bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The collaborative strategy in the Taiwan shoe industry
Authors: Lee Tzong‐Ru (Jiun‐Shen) , Venice Koh Toong‐Chinn
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the reason behind a sustainable guanxi network through the introduction of the collaborative strategy in the Taiwanese shoe industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature review in the area of Chinese business culture, and guanxi network is used to elaborate the information obtained from the company.

Findings

This paper highlights that the belief of sincerity and trustworthiness has refined to the organization culture that supports the sustainability of Taiwanese guanxi network. Besides, the transaction cost theory, resource‐based view, and specific relationship investment has become a hinder strategy for Taiwanese organization to maintain the business relationship. This paper introduces an interesting collaborative strategy between three parties, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier, the machinery manufacturer, and the end‐user (the branding). Although there is no direct business flows between the end‐user and the machinery manufacturer, the specific relationship investment between these two parties are tight and cannot be separated. This has ensured the proper business flows between the OEM supplier and the end‐user as well as the OEM supplier and the machinery manufacturer.

Originality/value

This paper illustrates that a guanxi network is not sufficient to ensure a long‐term business relationship to be established. Indeed, the organization culture as well as the consideration on the transaction cost and resources from each party does have a great impact on the collaboration relationship to be successful.
The key roles in the informal organization: a network analysis perspective
Authors: de Toni Alberto F. , Nonino Fabio
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key roles embedded in the informal organizational structure (informal networks) and to outline their contribution in the companies' performance. A major objective of the research is to find and characterize a new key informal role that synthesises problem solving, expertise, and accessibility characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework for an in‐depth informal structure analysis based on social network analysis (SNA) methodology is structured and applied in a case study of a knowledge‐based enterprise operating in the information systems industry.

Findings

The paper identifies and characterizes the key informal roles (namely opinion leaders, central connectors, bottlenecks, experts, consultants, or helpful people) and a new one, called pilus prior (first lancer) that synthesises problem solving, expertise, and accessibility characteristics.

Research limitations/implications

Future research will move through the enlargement of the sample that will allow a better generalization of the results and the development of a model to quantitatively evaluate the performances of individuals recognized as informal leaders.

Practical implications

The proposed framework has a general applicability and can be a valuable tool for an in‐depth organizational analysis based on SNA methodology. Consequently, some directions are provided to increase cooperation and knowledge sharing flows inside the company and to align the formal organizational processes to the informal one.

Originality/value

The results of the research have been achieved by using an original approach, the joint analysis of three informal networks. The case suggests that pilus priors are the informal emerging leaders in the company who outperform their colleagues.
Integrating user modeling approaches into a framework for recommender agents
Authors: Godoy Daniela , Schiaffino Silvia , Amandi Analía
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Recommender agents are used to make recommendations of interesting items in a wide variety of application domains, such as web page recommendation, music, e‐commerce, movie recommendation, tourism, restaurant recommendation, among others. Despite the various and different domains in which recommender agents are used and the variety of approaches they use to represent user interests and make recommendations, there is some functionality that is common to all of them, such as user model management and recommendation of interesting items. This paper aims at generalizing these common behaviors into a framework that enables developers to reuse recommender agents' main characteristics in their own developments.

Design/methodology/approach

This work presents a framework for recommendation that provides the control structures, the data structures and a set of algorithms and metrics for different recommendation methods. The proposed framework acts as the base design for recommender agents or applications that want to add the already modeled and implemented capabilities to their own functionality. In contrast with other proposals, this framework is designed to enable the integration of diverse user models, such as demographic, content‐based and item‐based. In addition to the different implementations provided for these components, new algorithms and user model representations can be easily added to the proposed approach. Thus, personal agents originally designed to assist a single user can reuse the behavior implemented in the framework to expand their recommendation strategies.

Findings

The paper describes three different recommender agents built by materializing the proposed framework: a movie recommender agent, a tourism recommender agent, and a web page recommender agent. Each agent uses a different recommendation approach. PersonalSearcher, an agent originally designed to suggest interesting web pages to a user, was extended to collaboratively assist a group of users using content‐based algorithms. MovieRecommender recommends interesting movies using an item‐based approach and Traveller suggests holiday packages using demographic user models. Findings encountered during the development of these agents and their empirical evaluation are described here.

Originality/value

The advantages of the proposed framework are twofold. On the one hand, the functionality provided by the framework enables the development of recommender agents without the need for implementing its whole set of capabilities from scratch. The main processes and data structures of recommender agents are already implemented. On the other hand, already existing agents can be enhanced by incorporating the functionality provided by the recommendation framework in order to act collaboratively.
An analysis of Internet banking offerings and its determinants in India
Authors: Malhotra Pooja , Singh Balwinder
Published: January 2010

Purpose

This exploratory study is an attempt to present the present status of Internet banking in India and the extent of Internet banking services offered by Internet banks. In addition, it seeks to examine the factors affecting the extent of Internet banking services.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for this study are based on a survey of bank websites explored during July 2008. The sample consists of 82 banks operating in India at 31 March 2007. Multiple regression technique is employed to explore the determinants of the extent of Internet banking services.

Findings

The results show that the private and foreign Internet banks have performed well in offering a wider range and more advanced services of Internet banking in comparison with public sector banks. Among the determinants affecting the extent of Internet banking services, size of the bank, experience of the bank in offering Internet banking, financing pattern and ownership of the bank are found to be significant.

Research limitations/implications

The primary limitation of the study is the scope and size of its sample as well as other variables (e.g. market, environmental, regulatory etc.) which may have an effect on the decision of the banks to offer a wide range of Internet banking services.

Originality/value

The purpose of the study is to help fill significant gaps in knowledge about the Internet banking landscape in India. The findings are expected to be of great use to the government, regulators, commercial banks, other financial institutions, e.g. co‐operative banks planning to offer Internet banking, bank customers and researchers. The bankers as well as society at large will come to know where the banks lag in terms of adoption of Internet banking and in providing different products and services. An understanding of the factors affecting the extent of Internet banking services is essential both for economists studying the determinants of growth and for the creators and producers of such technologies. Moreover, this paper contributes to the empirical literature on diffusion of financial innovations, particularly Internet banking, in a developing country, i.e. India.
The relationship among modularity, functional coordination, and mass customization
Authors: Ahmad Sohel , Schroeder Roger G. , Mallick Debasish N.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how product modularity (PM) is related to mass customization (MC) capability and plant competitiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper tests hypothesized relationships using structural equation modeling with an international dataset.

Findings

PM is not directly related to plant competitiveness. Inter‐functional design coordination (IDC) is found to be critical in fostering plant competitiveness.

Practical implications

Managers need to put IDC mechanisms in place to foster MC capabilities and, thereby, enhance plant competitiveness.

Originality/value

While the existing literature mostly argues for a direct relationship between PM and competitiveness, the paper shows that IDC and MC capability are crucial intervening variables in this relationship.
M‐banking in developing markets: competitive and regulatory implications
Authors: Anderson Jamie
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Mobile banking (M‐banking) involves the use of a mobile phone or another mobile device to undertake financial transactions linked to a client's account. M‐banking is one of the newest approaches to the provision of financial services through information communication technology (ICT), made possible by the widespread adoption of mobile phones even in low income countries. Emerging mobile banking (m‐banking platforms) in developing markets enable two sided markets, bringing together mobile handset users with other mobile users and commercial partners. It is the argument of this paper that the emergence of m‐banking platforms has the potential for spill‐over effects, and that these spill‐over effects will require regulatory authorities to develop appropriate policy responses.

Design/methodology/approach

This article derives from research on the m‐banking strategies of mobile network operators (MNOs) in developing markets, and the regulatory responses to these strategies. Field visits were made to the Philippines and Kenya where m‐banking platforms are well established, and in depth interviews took place with companies that had succeeded in launching m‐banking platforms, or were considering strategic responses in markets where competitors had launched platforms. Companies were identified from the existing body of literature, observation and personal contact. Additionally, data were collected from developing case studies.

Findings

M‐banking has the potential to bring basic banking and electronic transactions services to unbanked consumers in developing markets. But in enabling two‐sided markets, m‐banking solutions also provide specific questions for telecommunications industry regulators. Regulators need to question if the elements are in place for m‐banking networks to tip towards a single platform, especially in markets with dominant operators that hold significant market share.

Practical implications

Because of the multi‐homing costs inherent in most existing m‐banking platforms, these platforms introduce both economic and psychological switching costs for consumers. In turn, these switching costs can have the impact of reinforcing existing network effects in markets where the incumbent already holds significant market share for voice traffic. There are a number of options available to telecommunications regulators in responding to the emergence of m‐banking platforms, and authorities should take a measured approach to achieve optimal societal and industry outcomes.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an important void in the current literature related to the growth of m‐banking platforms in emerging markets. While there has been an increasing body of literature examining the potential socio‐economic impact of m‐banking in developing markets, the purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of m‐banking for competitive dynamics between competing firms, and the related issues for regulatory authorities.
New research paradigms in the built environment
Authors: Fellows Richard
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review aspects of innovation, research and development paradigms and paradigmatic changes which have occurred in construction over recent years.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach combines reviewing literature and some theory within the context of the author's experiences as a participant in the construction industry and associated research and education.

Findings

The paper concludes that much has been re‐cycled, often under amended titles. There is notable scope and advisability in paradigm shifts from reductionist/determinist approaches to stochastic approaches which accommodate complexities of interdependencies plus moves from “hard” positivism to “softer” constructivist perspectives.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is limited in validity and reliability due to the methods employed. However, the conclusion does stress the essential of researchers being aware of and articulating the limitations of their work; the need for sound theoretical foundations is stressed in regard to both topics and methods.

Practical implications

Proper examinations of research, including ontologies, epistemologies, validities and reliabilities, as well as the topics under investigation, promotes good research and its application and avoids recycling of “popular” topics in periodically amended guises.

Originality/value

The paper expresses the author's original views, developed over a quite extensive and varied career; however, it expresses views held fairly widely but seldom expressed beyond “closed doors”.
The case for “3D triangulation” when applied to construction management research
Authors: Edwards David J. , Holt Gary D.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Construction management research (CMR) embraces many research paradigms and resultantly, methodological debate can proliferate. Triangulation is one specific method employed and this too has attracted discussion. This paper aims to subjectively but critically assess the role of triangulation within CMR. Resultantly, a “3D triangulation” (3DT) decision support model is proffered whose purpose is to improve triangulation's use.

Design/methodology/approach

Following review of CMR methodological debate and the (multidisciplinary) application of triangulation to research; case study examples of triangulation applied among a sample of published CMR papers are observed in subjective detail, and contrasted with the invited opinions of researchers.

Findings

Triangulation is adduced as a methodological aspect of many CMR studies – but researchers' perceptions of how it should fit within a research design and the extent to which it can contribute or should be relied upon – is varied. The authors' viewpoint is that triangulation use in CMR could sometimes be afforded more thought; and the decision to use it, be better “justified” within the broader methodological context. Accordingly, a 3DT decision support model is developed to assist in these objectives.

Practical implications

It is argued that 3DT can lend toward a more robust methodological design, in the context of applying triangulation to CMR specifically, and management research generally.

Originality/value

The 3DT model is entirely novel and evolves as a result of this specific study alone.
Implementing strategies through management control systems: the case of sustainability
Authors: Riccaboni Angelo , Luisa Leone Emilia
Published: January 2010

Purpose

This paper aims to explore if and how management control sysems (MCS) have a role in implementing sustainable strategies. In particular, the paper aims to investigate how MCS work in order to translate these strategies into action and how they should be modified when a strategic change in a sustainable direction occurs.

Design/methodology/approach

The research relies upon a deeply conducted case study, drawing evidence from documentary research and field research.

Findings

Relying upon the case of Procter & Gamble (P&G), the paper finds that integration with the traditional planning and monitoring systems, combination of both formal and informal controls, coordination across business units and decentralized structures are key‐factors for successful implementation of sustainability‐oriented strategies.

Originality/value

From a theoretical point of view, it has been observed that research in the field of social and environmental accounting has been mainly focused on social and environmental reporting, disclosure initiatives and their linkages to other attributes of performance, such as economic or financial outcomes. The paper contributes to developing a debate on the potential of MCS in embracing social and environmental issues as well as in producing social and environmental information useful for internal users in decision‐making processes.
Dynamic capability through project portfolio management in service and manufacturing industries
Authors: Killen Catherine P. , Hunt Robert A.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to summarise a recent doctoral thesis on the relationship between project portfolio management (PPM) and competitive advantage in service and manufacturing organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

This two‐phase mixed method study comprises a quantitative questionnaire‐based survey and a qualitative multiple‐case study to address the “what” and the “how” of the research questions.

Findings

This paper adopts a “dynamic capabilities” perspective, drawing on organisational learning theory to explain the path‐dependent nature of PPM capability development and how PPM capabilities work with the resource base to enhance competitive advantage. Findings support prior PPM studies and suggest a positive relationship between structured PPM capabilities and improved outcomes. The research compares service and manufacturing environments; future challenges are likely to result from the increasing blurring of the boundaries between service and manufacturing industries.

Practical implications

The research has four main practical outcomes: development of a model representing the overall PPM capability; a benchmark for and guidance on specific PPM processes and methods; guidance on the types of organisational learning investments that enhance the establishment and evolution of PPM capabilities; and the initial development of an outcomes and learning‐based maturity model for PPM capabilities.

Originality/value

This paper produces the first benchmark of innovation PPM capabilities in Australia, and is the first to include service product‐focused portfolios. It is the first study that identifies PPM capabilities as dynamic capability, allowing existing research to be viewed through the dynamic capability lens and, more importantly, providing a theoretical underpinning that may influence future research and practice.
The emergent realities of project praxis in socially complex project environments
Authors: Small Jocelyn , Walker Derek
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of a completed doctoral action research thesis that moved beyond focussing on the instrumentality of project actuality to explore project praxis as social process.

Design/methodology/approach

Soft systems methodology is selected as the process of enquiry for the thesis, to explore a perceived complex problematic situation. A conceptual framework is designed to guide thinking to explore the social nature of projects, through acknowledging the interconnected nature of human realities, the pragmatism of knowledge and the emergent nature of cognition.

Findings

The paper reveals the reality of project complexity as being socially derived, necessitating an emergent project management response to the inherent differences created from human plurality. Organisational resilience emerged as dependent upon recognising and successfully managing the evolving cognition that arises from a multiplicity of human and project environmental interconnections.

Practical implications

The project context plays a significant role in determining project outcomes. Projects, as social process will benefit from a PM strategy that adaptively responds to manage the power and politics inherent in project practice, particularly in contexts involving socially disparate stakeholders.

Originality/value

The research is implemented in a Middle Eastern setting where local cultural constraints add to organisational and project complexity caused by socio‐cultural differences in an expatriate workforce. Portraying projects as “complex adaptive systems” has facilitated a shift in project management thinking from traditional linear, inflexible models, towards approaches which can more ably accommodate for human diversity in project practice.
Department store advertising in newspapers, radio, and television, 1920‐1960
Authors: Howard Vicki
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Focusing on the early development of the three major forms of local advertising employed by independent department stores across the USA – newspapers, radio, and television – this paper examines continuity in the industry's commercial use of new technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The research draws on different types of primary sources, including department store financial records and correspondence, retailing trade literature, industry publications, newspaper advertisements, and radio advertisement transcripts.

Findings

The local and regional markets of the independent department store, and to some extent, department store chains, required local advertising, something best served by newspapers in the period under study. While many retailers embrace the commercial potential of radio and television as they appear in the 1920s and late 1930s, respectively, others are reluctant to divert their advertising budget away from newspapers. Trade writers for the department store industry and radio and television reveal tension between the National Retail Dry Goods Association, with its progressive orientation and professionalizing goals, and the more traditional merchants these experts are trying to modernize. The paper also suggests, perhaps as a subject for future research, that as radio and television lost their local orientation and became increasingly commercialized and national, independent department store advertising would not have been able to compete with department store chains.

Originality/value

Although much has been written about national advertising, cultural, and business historians have conducted little research on local advertising, the type typically employed by independent department stores. This paper provides an introduction to the three major advertising formats most often used by independent department stores as each medium first emerged as a potential selling tool.
Determinants and performance index of foreign direct investment in China's agriculture
Authors: Lv Licai , Wen Simei , Xiong Qiquan
Published: January 2010

Purpose

Since attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to agriculture is now an important policy concern for the Chinese Government, it is necessary to develop benchmarks of the inward FDI performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of FDI and evaluate the inward FDI performance in China's agriculture.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi‐variable regression model is conducted to examine the determinants of FDI in China's agriculture over the period from 1985 to 2006. In order to evaluate the inward FDI performance, the inward FDI performance index is developed at industrial level.

Findings

The results indicate that agricultural market size has a significant positive effect but agricultural import has a negative effect on FDI inflow to China's agriculture. The effect of agricultural export is positive but not statistically significant. It is stated that the orientation of FDI policy during China's agricultural opening process is still not clear, and the decrease of the share of fiscal expenditure is apparently not conducive to attract more FDI in China's agriculture. In addition, the performance index shows the inward FDI performance in China's agriculture is improving but not satisfactory compared to its market size.

Originality/value

The inward FDI performance index is tentatively used to evaluate the performance of FDI inflow to China's agriculture. The results of this paper have significant policy implications for the government to determine where to head in using FDI in China's agriculture in the future.
Agricultural land tax and farm‐level land‐use changes and output supply response
Authors: Olubode‐Awosola Femi
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to land redistribution policy which is presently not only one of the most defining political and development issues, but also perhaps the most difficult in South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops a programming model for farm‐level land‐use changes and output supply response to estimate the effects of agricultural land tax in South Africa. The modeling approach is based on baseline statistics from a descriptive analysis.

Findings

The results indicate that changes in land use and output supply response are marginal. The highest effects are observed on irrigated areas of sunflower seed (0.23 percent) and wheat (0.17 percent). This results to declines in supply of 0.07 percent for sunflower seeds; 0.06 percent for wheat; 0.04 percent for soya beans; 0.03 percent for each of white maize and sorghum; and 0.02 percent for yellow maize production. Therefore, levying a land tax may discourage investment on irrigation facilities and consequently irrigated farming.

Originality/value

The programming modeling approach captures the significant differences in the farm characteristics and the overarching profit‐maximizing behaviour of farmers, which an econometric approach may not easily capture.
Welfare change of China's cotton supply chain under the shock of financial crisis
Authors: Xiao Shuangxi
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The financial crisis, which broke in the USA has impacted greatly on the world economy, especially on China's cotton supply chain. It is necessary to understand the welfare change of the cotton chain under this shock of financial crisis in order for relevant policy decisions to be made. The purpose of this paper is to measure the welfare change of all the consumers, producers, circulation and farmers in the cotton supply chain under the shock of financial crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

There is no existing mature method to calculate the welfare change of a special supply chain, such as the cotton supply chain. The method most used in such situations is the equilibrium displacement model, created by Muth, and developed by Gardner.

Findings

The financial crisis has had important impacts on China cotton industry. Farmers' losses are bigger than people estimate. Circulation link's loss is a little lower than cotton farmers'. Producers' loss is far lower than circulation and cotton farmers. Consumers' loss is the biggest loss in the whole cotton supply chain: however, some of these are foreign consumers – especially foreign wholesalers and retailers.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to study the quantitative welfare change of China's cotton supply chain under the shock of financial crisis, providing useful information for government and company decision making.
Estimating confidence intervals for technical efficiency of rainfed rice farming system in Nigeria
Authors: Ogundari K. , Amos T.T. , Ojo S.O.
Published: January 2010

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the technical efficiency (TE) of the rainfed rice farming system in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Special attention is directed to the construction of confidence interval (CI) for individual efficiency estimates using stochastic frontier production model.

Findings

The results show that the coefficient of the regression monotonically and significantly increased output level, while returns‐to‐scale (RTS) of 0.943 suggest decreasing RTS in the study. An average point estimate of TE of 0.669 is obtained from the analysis. CI show that the TE intervals are quite wide, as the assumption that farms originally identified to be on the frontier, or very close to the frontier, by the point estimate may be below the frontier. Age and years of schooling of the farmers are efficiency‐increasing policy variables found in the study.

Originality/value

Contrary to the previous efficiency studies, the present study demonstrates that economic inferences drawn on the basis of CI seem plausible to provide much more fruitful and insightful information about the TE of farms in the country, rather than the point estimation alone.
How E‐Commerce Is Transforming Business Processes
Authors: Keating Michael , Metz Philip D. , Holcomb Curtis , Nicholson Martha , Jones David L. , Welch James A.
Published: January 2010

Are you taking advantage of all the ways e‐commerce is transforming four key business processes—product development, manufacturing, supply chain management, and customer service?
E‐BUSINESS STRATEGIES
Authors: Pinsley Mark
Published: January 2010

You may have the technology to turn your traditional business into an e‐business. But do you have the people—and do you know what to do with them?
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Authors: Jonas Robert
Published: January 2010

Strategy has become a catch‐all term in today's business world. It's time to rediscover the basics of what strategy is and isn't.
Conoco's Leadership Development Program
Authors: Nelson David J. , Flower Evan W.
Published: January 2010

Conoco's Trailblazer™ Program, a “corporate university,” integrates personal development with individual and company business goals.
If You Want to Improve Your Company, Get Out
Authors: Nauert Peter W.
Published: January 2010

…of your office, that is. Here are some tips for reaching your employees, your sales force, your customers, and your industry peers.
Why Work‐Out Works: Lessons from GE's Transformation Process
Authors: Ashkenas Ron
Published: January 2010

GE's Work‐Out process enables a kind of communication that's often missing in large, complex, global organizations.
Transformative Strategic Planning
Authors: Cooperstein Paul , Barthelemy Bart
Published: January 2010

Strategic planning isn't just about making up a to‐do list Here's a planning process that can transform an organization's culture.
How to Create the Right IT Strategy for Your Firm
Authors: Nicolaisen Brad
Published: January 2010

Developing a stable and predictive IT structure to support changing business conditions is critical for long‐term success.
How to Accelerate Time to Market Acceptance
Authors: Soni Ameeta
Published: January 2010

Emphasize customer focus and collaboration.
The Story of an Effective Senior Team Development Process
Authors: Skolen Amy , Paul Dan
Published: January 2010

Here's how the new president of the fictional Alpine Corp. changed his corporate culture and forged a unified, effective senior management team.
Training the Watchdogs
Authors: Rosenbaum Michael
Published: January 2010

Directors need on‐the‐job training in order to deliver real value to their corporations.
We Just Fired Our Best People
Authors: Elliott George
Published: January 2010

When you reduce the work force, you also must reduce the work.
Leveraging Supply Chain Expertise
Authors: Forst Leland I.
Published: January 2010

Managing the supply chain with a leveraged service delivery unit creates quantifiable strategic value.
Rethinking Value‐Based Management
Authors: Olsen Eric
Published: January 2010

Value‐based management theories have fallen short in practice, especially when it comes to investor strategy.
Call Center Customer Service Management
Authors: Day Charles E.
Published: January 2010

Call center technology has become very sophisticated. But it's only as good as the employees who use it.
Web Analysis from Clickstream to Customer
Authors: Cotter Scott
Published: January 2010

Avoid becoming another CRM casualty by adopting an ROI‐based customer analytics strategy.
Expression and regulation mechanisms of Sonic Hedgehog in breast cancer
Authors: Cui Wei , Wang Li‐Hui , Wen Yuan‐Yuan , Song Min , Li Bai‐Lin , Chen Xiao‐Ling , Xu Man , An Su‐Xiang , Zhao Jing , Lu Yi‐Yan , Mi Xiao‐Yi , Wang En‐Hua
Published: January 2010

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) plays an essential role in vertebrate organogenesis as well as the development of some cancers, including breast cancer. The aim of the present study was to characterize more precisely its role in breast carcinogenesis and elucidate its regulation mechanisms. The expression of Shh was investigated in 97 breast carcinomas and 22 paired non‐tumorous tissues (distant from the primary tumor) by immunohistochemistry and in four breast cell lines by Western blotting. We also analyzed the methylation status of the Shh gene with methylation‐specific PCR and assessed whether nuclear factor‐kappa B (NF‐κB) and Gli1 were expressed in breast tissues by immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that Shh protein expression in breast carcinomas was significant higher than that in normal breast tissues (P < 0.01). The up‐regulation of Shh in breast carcinomas was correlated significantly with early clinical stage (P < 0.05). In addition, we found a substantial increase in Shh expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in several human breast carcinoma cell lines. The expression level of nuclear Gli1 was positively associated with the expression level of Shh in breast tissues (P < 0.001). Promoter region hypomethylation (43/61, 70.5%) was frequently observed in breast carcinomas and significantly associated with Shh up‐regulation (P < 0.05). The DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5‐azacytidine (5‐Aza) reduced the methylation of Shh promoter and increased the expression of Shh protein in MDA‐MB‐435 and MCF‐10A cells. Furthermore, most of the breast carcinoma cases with Shh up‐regulation had increased expression of NF‐κB (35/49, 71.4%; P < 0.001). Taken together, these observations suggest that Shh overexpression is a critical event in breast carcinogenesis, and Shh promoter hypomethylation and NF‐κB up‐regulation are responsible for the up‐regulation of Shh.

(Cancer Sci 2010; 101: 927–933)
Multiple T cell epitope peptides suppress allergic responses in an egg allergy mouse model by the elicitation of forkhead box transcription factor 3‐ and transforming growth factor‐β‐associated mechanisms
Authors: Yang M. , Yang C. , Mine Y.
Published: January 2010

Background
Peptide‐based immunotherapy (PIT) represents an attractive approach for targeted interventions in immunological disorders, but has not been widely explored in the context of food allergy.

Objective
In this study, we built on the information obtained from the recent identification of three immunodominant T cell epitopes of hen ovalbumin (OVA), a major egg allergen, to assess the therapeutic potential of PIT for food allergy, using the BALB/c mouse model.

Methods
Groups of mice were sensitized to OVA by repeated oral gavages, and subsequently administered with single or multiple synthetic peptides containing OVA T cell epitopes. Following the peptide administration period, all mice were orally challenged with high doses of OVA to elicit active anaphylaxis. Serum, spleen, and intestinal tissues were collected for the determination of immunoglobulin levels, cytokine secretions, and intestinal gene expression.

Results
Significantly lower anaphylactic scores were exhibited by mice that received multiple epitope‐containing peptides, accompanied by lower serum histamine and OVA‐specific IgE levels, compared with placebo‐treated mice. Mechanistically, the quantification of cytokine secretions in splenocyte cultures revealed a T helper type 1‐biased response (IFN‐γ) in all peptide‐treated mice to the detriment of a T helper type 2‐response (IL‐4). Interestingly, a similar cytokine expression profile was determined in intestinal tissues, accompanied by a pronounced mRNA expression of regulatory molecules TGF‐β and forkhead box transcription factor 3 (FOXP3). These data suggest the activation of local repressive mechanisms mediated by subsets of regulatory T cells.

Conclusion
We demonstrated the therapeutic potential of PIT in a mouse model of food allergy model and provided evidence that mechanistic pathways entailing regulatory molecules TGF‐β and FOXP3, stand as promising trails for the further understanding of peptide‐based strategies for food allergy.

Cite this as: M. Yang, C. Yang and Y. Mine, Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 2010 (40) 668–678.
Decrease of blood dendritic cells and increase of tissue-infiltrating dendritic cells are involved in the induction of Sjögren's syndrome but not in the maintenance
Authors: Ozaki Y , Ito T , Son Y , Amuro H , Shimamoto K , Sugimoto H , Katashiba Y , Ogata M , Miyamoto R , Murakami N , Amakawa R , Fukuhara S
Published: January 2010

We have demonstrated previously that, in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS), immature myeloid dendritic cells (DCs) are decreased in blood and mature myeloid DCs are accumulated in salivary glands, suggesting recruitment of the myeloid DCs from blood to salivary glands. To verify whether this finding is universal in patients of not only primary SS but also secondary SS, in this study we analysed the blood DCs of secondary SS patients. We examined 24 secondary SS and 29 primary SS patients. A direct correlation between the decreased number of myeloid DCs and the duration of Sicca syndrome in primary and secondary SS was observed; namely, the reduction of myeloid DCs in blood was restored spontaneously with duration time of Sicca syndrome. We also examined the immunohistochemical staining of salivary glands of SS patients with monoclonal antibodies against fascin, CD11c and human leucocyte antigen DR (HLA-DR). Fascin+ or CD11c+/HLA-DR+ mononuclear cells were present in the salivary glands of secondary SS patients, as in primary SS. However, fascin+ mononuclear cells were barely detected in the salivary glands of a chronic phase of SS patients. We also found a negative correlation between the frequency of blood myeloid DCs and salivary gland-infiltrating DCs in secondary SS patients, as well as primary SS. Our results suggest that the reduction of blood myeloid DCs and preferential trafficking of myeloid DCs into salivary glands is a common event in the early stage of SS. Myeloid DCs may play essential roles in the pathogenesis of Sicca syndrome of SS by initiating T helper cell immune responses.
Multiple stressors in coupled river–floodplain ecosystems
Authors: TOCKNER KLEMENT , PUSCH MARTIN , BORCHARDT DIETRICH , LORANG MARK S.
Published: January 2010

1. Riverine floodplains are highly complex, dynamic and diverse ecosystems. At the same time they are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems because of the pervasiveness of dams, levees and other factors such as rapid spreading of non‐native species. Hence, floodplains are ideal systems to study ecological impacts of multiple stressors at the local, regional and catchment scale.

2. Concepts such as the subsidy‐stress hypothesis and the stress‐induced community tolerance concept have been formulated to study the effect of stressors on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, as well as on their functional linkages.

3. Riverine floodplains are pulsed ecosystems with distinct flow, sediment, resource and thermal pulses – thereby creating distinct ‘windows of ecological opportunity’. Human modifications that truncate or amplify theses pulses will have cascading effects on river–floodplain interactions by shifting the thresholds of connectivity, resilience or resistance – causing drastic regime shifts.

4. Most aquatic insects and pond‐breeding amphibians have complex life cycles with aquatic and terrestrial stages. They are exposed to different stressors in their aquatic and terrestrial realm. Because most life history functions of aquatic insects are restricted to a short terrestrial period, we need to fully integrate the ‘airscape’ into the future management of river–floodplain ecosystems.

5. Riverine floodplains integrate and accumulate multiple stressors at the catchment level, as reflected by distinct catchment fingerprints. Based on the European Catchment Data Base we provide spatially explicit information on multiple stressors; a key prerequisite for setting priorities in conservation and management planning.

6. Thematic implications: the management of stressed river and floodplain ecosystems is a major challenge for the near future and water managers worldwide. Management approaches need to be adaptive and embedded within a catchment‐wide concept to cope with upcoming pressures originating from global change.
Multiple stressors in freshwater ecosystems
Authors: ORMEROD S. J. , DOBSON M. , HILDREW A. G. , TOWNSEND C. R.
Published: January 2010

1. The fundamental importance of freshwater resources, the rapid extinction rate among freshwater species and the pronounced sensitivity of freshwater ecosystems to climate change together signal a pre‐eminent need for renewed scientific focus and greater resources. Against this background, the Freshwater Biological Association in 2008 launched a new series of ‘summit’ Conferences in Aquatic Biology intended to develop and showcase the application of ecological science to major issues in freshwater management.

2. This collection of studies arose from the first summit entitled ‘Multiple Stressors in Freshwater Ecosystems’. Although freshwater science and management are replete with mutiple‐stressor problems, few studies have been designed explicitly to untangle their effects.

3. The individual case studies that follow reveal the wide array of freshwaters affected by multiple stressors, the spatial and temporal scales involved, the species and ecosystem processes affected, the complex interactions between ecology and socioeconomics that engender such effects, the approaches advocated to address the problems and the challenges of restoring affected systems. The studies also illustrate the extent to which new challenges are emerging (e.g. through climate change), but also they develop a vision of how freshwaters might be managed sustainably to offset multiple stressors in future.

4. More generically, these case studies illustrate (i) how freshwaters might be at particular risk of multiple‐stressor effects because of conflicts in water use, and because the hydrological cycle vectors stressor effects so effectively and so extensively; (ii) that dramatic, nonlinear, ‘ecological surprises’ sometimes emerge as multiple‐stressor effects develop and (iii) that good ecology and good ecologists add considerable value to other freshwater disciplines in understanding multiple stressors and managing their effects.
Inventory and phylogenomic distribution of meiotic genes in Nasonia vitripennis and among diverse arthropods
Authors: Schurko A. M. , Mazur D. J. , Logsdon Jr J. M.
Published: January 2010

The parasitoid jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis reproduces by haplodiploidy (arrhenotokous parthenogenesis). In diploid females, meiosis occurs during oogenesis, but in haploid males spermatogenesis is ameiotic and involves a single equational division. Here we describe the phylogenomic distribution of meiotic genes in N. vitripennis and in 10 additional arthropods. Homologues for 39 meiosis‐related genes (including seven meiosis‐specific genes) were identified in N. vitripennis. The meiotic genes missing from N. vitripennis are also sporadically absent in other arthropods, suggesting that certain meiotic genes are dispensable for meiosis. Among an additional set of 15 genes thought to be specific for male meiosis in Drosophila, two genes (bol and crl) were identified in N. vitripennis and Apis mellifera (both for which canonical meiosis is absent in males) and in other arthropods. The distribution of meiotic genes across arthropods and the impact of gene duplications and reproductive modes on meiotic gene evolution are discussed.
Maintenance of multiple lineages of R1 and R2 retrotransposable elements in the ribosomal RNA gene loci of Nasonia
Authors: Stage D. E. , Eickbush T. H.
Published: January 2010

Sequencing reads from the Nasonia genome project were used to study the ribosomal RNA gene loci and the retrotransposons R1 and R2 that insert specifically into the 28S genes. Five highly divergent R1 and five highly divergent R2 families were identified in the three sequenced species, as well as a non‐autonomous element that appears to use the retrotransposition machinery of R1. A duplication of the R1 target site within the spacer region of the rDNA units was also found to be extensively utilized by R1 elements. We document numerous instances where the R1 and R2 families appropriated parts of the retrotransposition machinery of other lineages and speculate that this enables rapid adaptation and the maintenance of multiple R1 and R2 families.
The insect chemoreceptor superfamily of the parasitoid jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis
Authors: Robertson H. M. , Gadau J. , Wanner K. W.
Published: January 2010

Chemoreception is important for locating food, mates and other resources in many insects, including the parasitoid jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis. In the insect chemoreceptor superfamily, Nasonia has 58 gustatory receptor (Gr) genes, of which 11 are pseudogenes, leaving 47 apparently intact proteins encoded. No carbon dioxide receptors, two candidate sugar receptors, a DmGr43a orthologue, and several additional Gr lineages were identified, including significant gene subfamily expansions related to the 10 Grs found in the honey bee Apis mellifera. Nasonia has a total of 301 odorant receptor (Or) genes, of which 76 are pseudogenes, leaving 225 apparently intact Ors. Phylogenetic comparison with the 174 honey bee Ors reveals differential gene subfamily expansion in each hymenopteran lineage, along with a few losses from each species. The only simple orthologous relationship is the expected single DmOr83b orthologue. The large number of Nasonia Ors is the result of several major subfamily expansions, including one of 55 genes. Nasonia does not have the elaborate social chemical communication of honey bees, nor the diversity of floral odours honey bees detect, however, Nasonia wasps might need to detect a diversity of odours to find potential mates and hosts or avoid harmful substances in its environment.