bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prediction of multiple drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis against drug sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis by CT nodular consolidation sign
Authors: Huang Xi-Ling , Skrahin Aliaksandr , Lu Pu-Xuan , Alexandru Sofia , Crudu Valeriu , Astrovko Andrei , Skrahina Alena , Taaffe Jessica , Harris Michael , Long Alyssa , Wollenberg Kurt , Engle Eric , Hurt Darrell E. , Akhundova Irada , Ismayilov Sharafat , Mammadbayov Elcan , Gadirova Hagigat , Abuzarov Rafik , Seyfaddinova Mehriban , Avaliani Zaza , Vashakidze Sergo , Shubladze Natalia , Nanava Ucha , Strambu Irina , Zaharia Dragos , Muntean Alexandru , Ghita Eugenia , Bogdan Miron , Mindru Roxana , Spinu Victor , Sora Alexandra , Ene Catalina , Sergueev Eugene , Kirichenko Valery , Lapitski Vladzimir , Snezhko Eduard , Kovalev Vassili , Tuzikov Alexander , Gabrielian Andrei , Rosenthal Alex , Tartakovsky Michael , Wang Yi Xiang J
Published: November 2019

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (mdrtb) refers to TB infection resistant to at least two most powerful anti-TB drugs, isoniazid and rifampincin. It has been estimated that globally 3.5% (which can be much higher in some regions) of newly diagnosed TB patients, and 20.5% of previously treated patients had mdrtb. Extensively drug-resistant TB (xdrtb) has resistance to rifampin and isoniazid, as well as to any member of the quinolone family and at least one of the second line injectable drugs: kanamycin, amikacin and capreomycin. xdrtb accounts for 4-20% of mdrtb. Early detection and targeted treatment are priorities for mdrtb/xdrtb control. The suspicion of mdr/xdr -pulmonary TB (mdrptb or xdrptb) by chest imaging shall suggest intensive diagnostic testing for mdrptb/xdrptb. We hypothesize that multiple nodular consolidation (NC) may serve one of the differentiators for separating dsptb vs mdrptb/xdrptb cases. For this study, mdrptb cases (n=310) and XDR-PTB cases (⋂=I58) were from the NIAID TB Portals Program (TBPP) . Drug sensitive pulmonary TB (dsptb) cases were from the TBPP collection (n=112) as well as the Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control (n=111), Shenzhen, China, and we excluded patients with HIV(+) status. Our study shows NC, particularly multiple NCs, is more common in mdrptb than in dsptb, and more common in xdrptb than in mdrptb. For example, 2.24% of dsptb patients, 13.23% of mdrptb patients, and 20.89% of xdrptb patients, respectively, have NCs with diameter >= 10mm equal or more than 2 in number.
A novel resistance pathway for calcineurin inhibitors in the human pathogenic MucoralesMucor circinelloides
Authors: Vellanki Sandeep , Billmyre R. Blake , Lorenzen Alejandra , Campbell Micaela , Turner Broderick , Huh Eun Young , Heitman Joseph , Lee Soo Chan
Published: November 2019

Mucormycosis is an emerging lethal fungal infection in immunocompromised patients.Mucor circinelloidesis a causal agent of mucormycosis and serves as a model system to understand genetics in Mucorales. Calcineurin is a conserved virulence factor in many pathogenic fungi and calcineurin inhibition or deletion of the calcineurin regulatory subunit (CnbR) inMucorresults in a shift from hyphal to yeast growth. We analyzed thirty-six calcineurin inhibitor resistant or bypass mutants that exhibited hyphal growth in the presence of calcineurin inhibitors or in the yeast-lockedcnbRΔ mutant background without carrying any mutations in known calcineurin components. We found that a majority of the mutants had altered sequence in a gene, named herebycA(bypass ofcalcineurinA).bycAencodes an amino acid permease. We verified that bothbycAΔ, and thebycAΔcnbRΔ double mutant are resistant to the calcineurin inhibitor FK506, thereby demonstrating a novel resistance mechanism against calcineurin inhibitors. We also found that the expression ofbycAwas significantly higher in the wild type strain treated with FK506 and in thecnbRΔ mutants, but significantly lower in the wild type without FK506. These findings suggest thatbycAis a negative regulator of hyphal growth and/or a positive regulator of yeast growth inMucorand calcineurin suppresses thebycAgene at the mRNA level to promote hyphal growth. BycA is involved in theMucorhyphal-yeast transition as our data demonstrates a positive correlation betweenbycAexpression, protein kinase A activity, andMucoryeast-growth. Also calcineurin, independent of its role in morphogenesis, contributes to virulence traits including phagosome maturation blockade, host cell damages, and pro-angiogenic growth factor induction during interactions with hosts.

Importance

Mucoris intrinsically resistant to most known antifungals, which makes mucormycosis treatment challenging. Calcineurin is a serine/threonine phosphatase widely conserved across eukaryotes. When calcineurin function is inhibited inMucor, growth shifts to a less-virulent yeast growth form which makes calcineurin an attractive target for development of new antifungal drugs. Previously we identified two distinct mechanisms through whichMucorcan become resistant to calcineurin inhibitors involving Mendelian mutations in the gene for FKBP12, calcineurin A or B subunits and epimutations silencing the FKBP12 gene. Here, we identified a third novel mechanism where loss of function mutations in the amino acid permease encoding thebycAgene contribute to resistance against calcineurin inhibitors. When calcineurin activity is absent, BycA can activate PKA to promote yeast growth via a cAMP-independent pathway. Our data also shows that calcineurin activity, primarily contributes to host - pathogen interactions in the pathogenesis ofMucor.
Improving tuberculosis surveillance by detecting international transmission using publicly available whole-genome sequencing data
Authors: Sanchini Andrea , Jandrasits Christine , Tembrockhaus Julius , Kohl Thomas Andreas , Utpatel Christian , Maurer Florian P. , Niemann Stefan , Haas Walter , Renard Bernhard Y. , Kröger Stefan
Published: November 2019

Introduction

Improving the surveillance of tuberculosis (TB) is especially important for multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB. The large amount of publicly available whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data for TB gives us the chance to re-use data and to perform additional analysis at a large scale.

Aim

We assessed the usefulness of raw WGS data of global MDR/XDR-TB isolates available from public repositories to improve TB surveillance.

Methods

We extracted raw WGS data and the related metadata of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates available from the Sequence Read Archive. We compared this public dataset with WGS data and metadata of 131 MDR- and XDR-TB isolates from Germany in 2012-2013.

Results

We aggregated a dataset that includes 1,081 MDR and 250 XDR isolates among which we identified 133 molecular clusters. In 16 clusters, the isolates were from at least two different countries. For example, cluster2 included 56 MDR/XDR isolates from Moldova, Georgia, and Germany. By comparing the WGS data from Germany and the public dataset, we found that 11 clusters contained at least one isolate from Germany and at least one isolate from another country. We could, therefore, connect TB cases despite missing epidemiological information.

Conclusion

We demonstrated the added value of using WGS raw data from public repositories to contribute to TB surveillance. By comparing the German and the public dataset, we identified potential international transmission events. Thus, using this approach might support the interpretation of national surveillance results in an international context.
LincRNAs involved in DCS-induced fear extinction: Shedding light on the transcriptomic dark matter
Authors: Malan-Müller Stefanie , de Souza Vladimir Barbosa C. , Daniels Willie MU , Seedat Soraya , Robinson Mark D. , Hemmings Sîan M.J
Published: November 2019

There is a growing appreciation of the role of non-coding RNAs in the regulation of gene and protein expression. Long non-coding RNAs can modulate splicing by hybridizing with precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs) and influence RNA editing, mRNA stability, translation activation and microRNA-mRNA interactions by binding to mature mRNAs. LncRNAs are highly abundant in the brain and have been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders. Long intergenic non-coding RNAs are the largest subclass of lncRNAs and play a crucial role in gene regulation. We used RNA sequencing and bioinformatic analyses to identify lincRNAs and their predicted mRNA targets associated with fear extinction that was induced by intra-hippocampally administered D-cycloserine in an animal model investigating the core phenotypes of PTSD. We identified 43 differentially expressed fear extinction related lincRNAs and 190 differentially expressed fear extinction related mRNAs. Eight of these lincRNAs were predicted to interact with and regulate 108 of these mRNAs and seven lincRNAs were predicted to interact with 22 of their pre-mRNA transcripts. On the basis of the functions of their target RNAs, we inferred that these lincRNAs bind to nucleotides, ribonucleotides and proteins and subsequently influence nervous system development, and morphology, immune system functioning, and are associated with nervous system and mental health disorders. Quantitative trait loci that overlapped with fear extinction related lincRNAs, included serum corticosterone level, neuroinflammation, anxiety, stress and despair related responses. This is the first study to identify lincRNAs and their RNA targets with a putative role in transcriptional regulation during fear extinction.
Comparative Anatomical, Ultrasonographical and Radiological studies of the biliary system of Rabbits and Domestic cats in Egypt
Authors: Reem R.T. , Maher M.A. , Alaa H.E. , Farghali H.A.
Published: November 2019

Under the prevailing overall Conditions of all veterinarians for the diagnosis of biliary diseases, application of surgical procedures and liver transplantation in Cats as carnivorous pet animal, and Rabbits as herbivorous pet animal and also as a human model in research. The present study was constructed on twelve native breeds of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and eighteen adult domestic cats (Felis catus domesticus). We concluded that, in brief; the rabbit gall bladder was relatively small, fixed by several small hepato-cystic ducts to its fossa. The rabbit bile duct was formed commonly by the junction of the left hepatic duct and the cystic duct. The cystic duct was commonly fairly large, received the right hepatic duct that collected the right lobe in its route to enter the duodenum, the bile duct receives the branch of the caudate process of the caudate lobe. The present study revealed other four anatomic variations dealing with the shape and size of the feline native breed’s gall bladder from fundic duplication, bilobed, truncated fundus and distended rounded fundus. Commonly, the bile duct was formed by the triple convergence of the left and the right hepatic ducts with the cystic duct. However, in some exceptional cases a short common hepatic duct was formed. Sonographically, the normal gall bladder in rabbit appeared small, elongated with anechoic lumen bordered by right lobe laterally and quadrate lobe medially and has no visible wall, but in cat varied in conformation, bordered by the right medial lobe laterally and the quadrate lobe medially surrounded by echogenic wall.
mRNA decapping machinery targetsLBD3/ASL9transcripts to authorize developmental reprogramming in Arabidopsis
Authors: Zuo Zhangli , Roux Milena Edna , Chevalier Jonathan Renaud , Dagdas Yasin F. , Yamashino Takafumi , Højgaard Søren Diers , Knight Emilie , Østergaard Lars , Petersen Morten
Published: November 2019

Multicellular organisms perceive and transduce multiple cues to optimize developmental reprogramming and cell state switching. Key transcription factors drive developmental changes, but transitions also require the attenuation of previous states. Here, we demonstrate that the mRNA levels of theLATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES DOMAIN 3 (LBD3) / ASYMMETRIC LEAVES 2-LIKE 9 (ASL9)transcription factor are directly regulated by mRNA decapping. CappedASL9transcripts accumulate in decapping deficient plants andASL9mRNAs are found together with decapping components. Accumulation ofASL9inhibits apical hook and lateral roots formation and interestingly, exogenous auxin application restores lateral roots formation in bothASL9overexpressor and mRNA decay-deficient mutants. Moreover, mutations in the cytokinin transcription factors type-B ARABIDOPSIS RESPONSE REGULATORS (B-ARRs)ARR10andARR12restore the developmental defects in apical hooking and lateral root formation caused by over-accumulation of cappedASL9transcript uponASL9overexpression. Thus, the mRNA decay machinery directly targetsASL9transcripts for decay to balance cytokinin/auxin responses during developmental reprogramming.
A fly model establishes distinct mechanisms for synthetic CRISPR/Cas9 sex distorters
Authors: Fasulo Barbara , Meccariello Angela , Morgan Maya , Borufka Carl , Papathanos Philippos Aris , Windbichler Nikolai
Published: November 2019

Synthetic sex distorters have recently been developed in the malaria mosquito, relying on endonucleases that target the X-chromosome during spermatogenesis. Although inspired by naturally-occurring traits, it has remained unclear how they function and, given their potential for genetic control, how portable this strategy is across species. We establishedDrosophilamodels for two distinct mechanisms for CRISPR/Cas9 sex-ratio distortion - “X-shredding” and “X-meddling” - and dissected their target-site requirements and repair dynamics. X-shredding relies on sufficient meiotic activity of the endonuclease to overpower DNA repair and can operate on a single repeat cluster of non-essential sequences. X-meddling by contrast, i.e. targeting putative haplolethal X-linked genes, induced a bias towards males that is coupled to a loss in reproductive output, although a dominant-negative effect may drive the mechanism of female lethality. Our model system will guide the study and the application of sex distorters to medically or agriculturally important insect target species.
Characterizing the floral resources of a North American metropolis using a honey bee foraging assay
Authors: Sponsler Douglas B. , Shump Don , Richardson Rodney T. , Grozinger Christina M.
Published: November 2019

Roughly a third of described insect species visit flowers, making the flower-insect interface one of the chief pillars of global biodiversity. Studying flower-insect relationships at the scale of communities and landscapes has been hindered, however, by the methodological challenges of quantifying landscape-scale floral resources. This challenge is especially acute in urban landscapes, where traditional floral surveying techniques are ill-suited to the unique constraints of built environments. To surmount these challenges, we devised a “honey bee foraging assay” approach to floral resource surveying, wherein continuous colony weight tracking and DNA metabarcoding of pollen samples are used to capture both the overall availability and taxonomic composition of floral resources. We deploy this methodology in the complex urban ecosystem of Philadelphia, PA, U.S. Our results reveal distinct seasonality of floral resource availability, with pulses of high availability in May, June, and September, and a period of prolonged scarcity in August. Pollen genus richness mirrored this pattern, with peak richness in May and June. The taxonomic composition of pollen samples varied seasonally, reflecting underlying floral phenology, with especially strong turnover between May and June samples and between August and September samples delineating well-defined spring, summer, and fall floral resource communities. Trait analysis also revealed marked seasonal structure, with spring samples characterized by trees and shrubs, summer samples including a stronger presence of herbaceous “weeds”, and fall samples dominated by woody vines. Native flora predominated in spring, giving way to a preponderance of exotic flora in summer and fall. Our study provides a detailed portrait of floral resources in a complex urban environment. At a basic level, this yields insight into the assembly of novel urban floral resource communities, showcasing, for example, the emergence of a woody-vine-dominated fall flora. At an applied level, our data can inform urban land management, such as the design of ecologically functional ornamental plantings, while also providing practical guidance to beekeepers seeking to adapt their management activities to floral resource seasonality. Methodologically, our study demonstrates the potential of the honey bee foraging assay as an efficient and standardizable technique for landscape-scale floral resource surveying.
Generation and molecular characterization of CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations in 63 immunity-associated genes in tomato reveals specificity and a range of gene modifications
Authors: Zhang Ning , Roberts Holly M. , Van Eck Joyce , Martin Gregory B.
Published: November 2019

The CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful tool for targeted gene editing in many organisms including plants. However, most of the reported uses of CRISPR/Cas9 in plants have focused on modifying one or a few genes, and thus the overall specificity, types of mutations, and heritability of gene alterations remain unclear. Here we describe the molecular characterization of 361 T0 transgenic tomato plants that were generated using CRISPR/Cas9 to induce mutations in 63 immunity-associated genes. Among the T0 transformed plants, 245 carried mutations (68%), with 20% of those plants being homozygous for the mutation, 30% being heterozygous, 32% having two different mutations (biallelic) and 18% having multiple mutations (chimeric). The mutations were predominantly short insertions or deletions, with 87% of the affected sequences being smaller than 10 bp. The majority of 1 bp insertions were A (50%) or T (29%). The mutations from the T0 generation were stably transmitted to later generations, although new mutations were detected in some T1 plants. No mutations were detected in 18 potential off-target sites among 144 plants. Our study provides a broad and detailed view into the effectiveness of CRISPR/Cas9 for genome editing in an economically important plant species.
Optimising Renewal Models for Real-Time Epidemic Prediction and Estimation
Authors: Parag KV , Donnelly CA
Published: November 2019

The effective reproduction number, Rt, is an important prognostic for infectious disease epidemics. Significant changes in Rt can forewarn about new transmissions or predict the efficacy of interventions. The renewal model infers Rt from incidence data and has been applied to Ebola virus disease and pandemic influenza outbreaks, among others. This model estimates Rt using a sliding window of length k. While this facilitates real-time detection of statistically significant Rt fluctuations, inference is highly k -sensitive. Models with too large or small k might ignore meaningful changes or over-interpret noise-induced ones. No principled k -selection scheme exists. We develop a practical yet rigorous scheme using the accumulated prediction error (APE) metric from information theory. We derive exact incidence prediction distributions and integrate these within an APE framework to identify the k best supported by available data. We find that this k optimises short-term prediction accuracy and expose how common, heuristic k -choices, which seem sensible, could be misleading.
Dual indexed design of in-Drop single-cell RNA-seq libraries improves sequencing quality and throughput
Authors: Smith Austin N. Southard , Simmons Alan J. , Chen Bob , Jones Angela L. , Solano Marisol A. Ramirez , Vega Paige N. , Scurrah Cherie’ R. , Zhao Yue , Brenan Michael J. , Xuan Jiekun , Porter Ely B. , Chen Xi , Brenan Colin J.H. , Liu Qi , Quigley Lauren N.M. , Lau Ken S.
Published: November 2019

The increasing demand of single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) experiments, such as the number of experiments and cells queried per experiment, necessitates higher sequencing depth coupled to high data quality. New high-throughput sequencers, such as the Illumina NovaSeq 6000, enables this demand to be filled in a cost-effective manner. However, current scRNA-seq library designs present compatibility challenges with newer sequencing technologies, such as index-hopping, and their ability to generate high quality data has yet to be systematically evaluated. Here, we engineered a new dual-indexed library structure, called TruDrop, on top of the inDrop scRNA-seq platform to solve these compatibility challenges, such that TruDrop libraries and standard Illumina libraries can be sequenced alongside each other on the NovaSeq. We overcame the index-hopping issue, demonstrated significant improvements in base-calling accuracy, and provided an example of multiplexing twenty-four scRNA-seq libraries simultaneously. We showed favorable comparisons in transcriptional diversity of TruDrop compared with prior library structures. Our approach enables cost-effective, high throughput generation of sequencing data with high quality, which should enable more routine use of scRNA-seq technologies.
Data-driven inference of crosstalk in the tumor microenvironment
Authors: Ghoshdastider Umesh , Naeini Marjan Mojtabavi , Rohatgi Neha , Revkov Egor , Wong Angeline , Solai Sundar , Nguyen Tin Trung , Yeong Joe , Iqbal Jabed , Tan Puay Hoon , Chowbay Balram , DasGupta Ramanuj , Skanderup Anders Jacobsen
Published: November 2019

Signaling between cancer and nonmalignant (stromal) cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) is key to tumorigenesis yet challenging to decipher from tumor transcriptomes. Here, we report an unbiased, data-driven approach to deconvolute bulk tumor transcriptomes and predict crosstalk between ligands and receptors on cancer and stromal cells in the TME of 20 solid tumor types. Our approach recovers known transcriptional hallmarks of cancer and stromal cells and is concordant with single-cell and immunohistochemistry data, underlining its robustness. Pan-cancer analysis reveals previously unrecognized features of cancer-stromal crosstalk. We find that autocrine cancer cell cross-talk varied between tissues but often converged on known cancer signaling pathways. In contrast, many stromal cross-talk interactions were highly conserved across tumor types. Interestingly, the immune checkpoint ligand PD-L1 was overexpressed in stromal rather than cancer cells across all tumor types. Moreover, we predicted and experimentally validated aberrant ligand and receptor expression in cancer cells of basal and luminal breast cancer, respectively. Collectively, our findings validate a data-driven method for tumor transcriptome deconvolution and establishes a new resource for hypothesis generation and downstream functional interrogation of the TME in tumorigenesis and disease progression.
The Genome of the Charophyte AlgaPenium margaritaceumBears Footprints of the Evolutionary Origins of Land Plants
Authors: Jiao Chen , Sørensen Iben , Sun Xuepeng , Sun Honghe , Behar Hila , Alseekh Saleh , Philippe Glenn , Lopez Kattia Palacio , Sun Li , Reed Reagan , Jeon Susan , Kiyonami Reiko , Zhang Sheng , Fernie Alisdair R. , Brumer Harry , Domozych David S. , Fei Zhangjun , Rose Jocelyn K. C.
Published: November 2019

The colonization of land by plants was a pivotal event in the history of the biosphere, and yet the underlying evolutionary features and innovations of the first land plant ancestors are not well understood. Here we present the genome sequence of the unicellular algaPenium margaritaceum, a member of the Zygnematophyceae, the sister lineage to land plants. TheP. margaritaceumgenome has a high proportion of repeat sequences, which are associated with massive segmental gene duplications, likely facilitating neofunctionalization. Compared with earlier diverging plant lineages,P. margaritaceumhas uniquely expanded repertoires of gene families, signaling networks and adaptive responses, supporting its phylogenetic placement and highlighting the evolutionary trajectory towards terrestrialization. These encompass a broad range of physiological processes and cellular structures, such as large families of extracellular polymer biosynthetic and modifying enzymes involved in cell wall assembly and remodeling. Transcriptome profiling of cells exposed to conditions that are common in terrestrial habitats, namely high light and desiccation, further elucidated key adaptations to the semi-aquatic ecosystems that are home to the Zygnematophyceae. Such habitats, in which a simpler body plan would be advantageous, likely provided the evolutionary crucible in which selective pressures shaped the transition to land. Earlier diverging charophyte lineages that are characterized by more complex land plant-like anatomies have either remained exclusively aquatic, or developed alternative life styles that allow periods of desiccation.
Analysis of combined passively and actively morphing blade root chord length and blade taper for helicopter control
Authors: Sal Firat
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of passive and active morphing of blade root chord length and blade taper on the control effort of the flight control system (FCS) of a helicopter.

Design/methodology/approach

Physics-based helicopter models, which are functions of passive and active morphing, are created and applied in helicopter FCS design to determine the control effort.

Findings

Helicopters, having both passively and actively morphing blade root chord length and blade taper, experience less control effort than the ones having either only passively morphing blade root chord length or only blade taper or only actively morphing blade root chord length and blade taper.

Practical implications

Both passively and actively morphing blade root chord length and blade taper can be implemented for more economical autonomous helicopter flights.

Originality/value

Main novelty of our article is simultaneous application of passive and active morphing ideas on helicopter root chord length and blade taper. It is also proved in this study that using both passive and active morphing ideas on helicopter blade root chord and blade taper causes much less energy consumption than using either only passive morphing idea on helicopter blade root chord and blade taper or only active morphing idea on helicopter blade root chord and blade taper. This also reduces fuel consumption and also makes environment cleaner.
Empirical evidence of the suitability of IFRS in emerging markets
Authors: Mardini Ghassan H. , Wadi Rula S. , Mah’d Osama A.
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to assess the suitability of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in emerging markets such as Qatar. The current research attempts to obtain insights into the advantages and disadvantages of IFRS implementation in Qatar based on the perceptions of top management, academics in accounting and external auditors.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire survey was the main tool used in this research. A total of 120 questionnaires were distributed to financial managers, academics and external auditors. Of the 97 replies (80 per cent), 91 completed questionnaires were analysed.

Findings

The results suggest that IFRS implementation is suitable for the business environment of Qatar because the adoption of IFRS provides many advantages to the Qatari business environment, regulations and stock market without incurring additional major costs. Moreover, IFRS imposes no major constraints on the business environment or Islamic social responsibility and education in Qatar.

Practical implications

The results of this research paper will help regulators in Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries develop accounting regulations.

Originality/value

This paper provides empirical evidence of the suitability of IFRS in emerging markets in general and the GCC region in particular and enhances the level of understanding of IFRS worldwide.
Content analysis of literature on big data in smart cities
Authors: Tiwari Pulkit , Ilavarasan P. Vigneswara , Punia Sushil
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review on the technological aspects of smart cities and to give insights about current trends, sources of research, contributing authors and countries. It is required to understand technical concepts like information technology, big data analytics, Internet of Things and blockchain needed to implement smart city models successfully.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from the Scopus database, and analysis techniques like bibliometric analysis, network analysis and content analysis were used to obtain research trends, publications growth, top contributing authors and nations in the domain of smart cities. Also, these analytical techniques identified various fields within the literature on smart cities and supported to design a conceptual framework for Industry 4.0 adoption in a smart city.

Findings

The bibliometric analysis shows that research publications have increased significantly over the last couple of years. It has found that developing countries like China is leading the research on smart cities. The network analytics and article classification identified six domains within the literature on smart cities. A conceptual framework for the smart city has proposed for the successful implementation of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Originality/value

This paper explores the role of Industry 4.0 technologies in smart cities. The bibliometric data on publications from the year 2013 to 2018 were used and investigated by using advanced analytical techniques. The paper reviewS key technical concepts for the successful execution of a smart city model. It also gives an idea about various technical considerations required for the implementation of the smart city model through a conceptual framework.
How social capital affects innovation in a cultural network
Authors: Ceci Federica , Masciarelli Francesca , Poledrini Simone
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how bonding (i.e. tightly knit, emotionally close social relationships) and bridging social capital (i.e. outward looking open social relationships) affect opportunity recognition and innovation implementation in a cultural network of firms, investigating the main benefits of and drawbacks to both bonding and bridging social capital.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on a case study of a cultural network of firms which share the same norms, principles and values. The method adopted is content analysis of qualitative data.

Findings

The authors find that in cultural network bridging social capital facilitates experimentation and combination of ideas from distant sources, while bonding social capital, which underpins the need for more conformity, is more effective for supporting innovation implementation. Innovation results from the interplay between the two dimensions of social capital, and each dimension contributes to the final outcome in a distinct and unique way.

Research limitations/implications

There are some limitations which arise from the case study methodology; the limited set of industries analysed affects the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

The research has some practical implications for firms that belong to cultural networks. It offers suggestions about how to manage social relationships in different stages of the innovation process.

Originality/value

The authors examine the effects of bonding and bridging social capital on innovation in a cultural network of firms. The authors show that in a cultural network, different moments in the innovation process require different efforts related to the firm’s network relationships.
A customer-oriented skin detection and care system in telemedicine applications
Authors: Hsu Wei-Yen
Published: November 2019

Purposed

Virtual medical instrumentation plays a vital role in a telemedicine system that obtains data from the medical instrument, required by doctors at remote location to diagnose a patient. In recent years, the analysis of skin quality by telemedicine system has become an emerging trend. To allow the skin to complement the beauty products and achieve better improvement results, the purpose of this study is to provide advice on a system that can objectively evaluate the condition of the skin of the face and to match appropriate beauty and cosmetic products.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel customer-oriented medical system is proposed for the applications of telemedicine in this study, whose aim is to improve information transfer quality and rate to further enhance the communication between medical staffs and patients in the telemedicine. More specifically, facial skin will be recorded with digital images, and skin detection will be performed using image processing technology to facilitate doctors to provide medical treatment for the patients at far end.

Findings

The roughness, freckles and acne indicators were evaluated after obtaining skin images. These three indicators were used as input to the system, and skin scores were then calculated to evaluate skin conditions to further provide more matching skin care.

Originality/value

This can improve the health problems that have occurred and can also record the skin condition for each test. Experimental results suggest that it is suitable for the applications of telemedicine.
BIM in the Saudi Arabian construction industry: state of the art, benefit and barriers
Authors: Al-Yami Abdullah , Sanni-Anibire Muizz O.
Published: November 2019

Purpose

Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study.

Design/methodology/approach

A broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach.

Findings

The study’s findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is “detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication,” whereas the most important barrier is “the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM.”

Originality/value

The study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.
Bundling/unbundling decision in PPP infrastructure projects – the case of Guwahati city, India
Authors: Dolla Tharun , Laishram Boeing
Published: November 2019

Purpose

Bundled mode of public–private partnership (PPP) procurement has been a widely advocated governance structure of infrastructure delivery. The purpose of this paper is to identify the various aspects of how this bundling phenomenon has to be played out in practice and examines the implications of such decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal case study with an Indian municipal solid waste (MSW) PPP project provides the necessary evidence on the identification of constructs which are deemed important in the decision making of bundling in PPP MSW projects. Transaction cost economics theory, agency theory and auction theory informed the development of theoretical constructs. The longitudinal case study used interviews, observations and documents analysis.

Findings

This study has highlighted the complexity inherent in bundling decision, arising out of the relatively scanty rationale by which stakeholders first developed. Not only they are very different from the practice, but also many assumptions are proved otherwise. Poor sectoral developments, hindrances arguably caused to innovation, increase in transaction cost and a decrease in the competition along with ex post characteristics such as unfavourable transaction attributes made bundling a too early proposition to Guwahati MSW project. This study suggests that strong liability of the bundling phenomenon was the above the rationale of typical PPP bundling benefits envisaged in the extant literature. It also shows that poor practice and decision making by immature clients would lead to project failure.

Research limitations/implications

A cognitive map emerged from the study on the failure of Guwahati project. An empirical generalisation can be attempted using multiple contrasting case studies to make the theory more acceptable.

Practical implications

The case illustrated why naïve clients should not try PPPs in a bundled model. Accordingly, the developed framework would help the governments to create the right projects catalysing the bundling benefits and harness the full potential of private sector participation in future PPP projects.

Originality/value

The current study would be novel in advancing the theory of bundling in PPP projects. This would be of interest to academia and to industrial practice and policy.
Spatial variability modeling and reliability analysis of flexible pavement through mechanistic–empirical model
Authors: Srivastava Amit , Srivastava Dharmendra Kumar , Misra Anil Kumar
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The present study aims to demonstrate the performance assessment of flexible pavement structure in probabilistic framework with due consideration of spatial variability modeling of input parameter.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis incorporates mechanistic–empirical approach in which numerical analysis with spatial variability modeling of input parameters, Monte Carlo simulations (MCS) and First Order Reliability Method (FORM) are combined together for the reliability analysis of the flexible pavement. Random field concept along with Cholesky decomposition technique is used for the spatial variability modeling of the input parameter and implemented in commercially available finite difference code FLAC for the numerical analysis of pavement structure.

Findings

Results of the reliability analysis, with spatial variability modeling of input parameter, are compared with the corresponding results obtained without considering spatial variability of parameters. Analyzing a particular three-layered flexible pavement structure, it is demonstrated that spatial variability modeling of input parameter provides more realistic treatment to property variations in space and influences the response of the pavement structure, as well as its performance assessment.

Originality/value

Research is based on reliability analysis approach, which can also be used in decision-making for quality control and flexible pavement design in a given environment of uncertainty and extent of spatially varying input parameters in a space.
The value of reputation in electronic marketplaces
Authors: Yang Ying , Sun Xinyu , Wang Jiayin
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of customer experience moderating the relationship between reputation (online consumer reviews) and price premium.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper collected half-year period transaction of Nokia 5230XM and Kingston SD card from Taobao.com, the largest e-commerce platform in China. This paper combined theoretical analysis and empirical analysis together. Two-stage regression and logistic regression analysis was applied in this empirical analysis. The sensitivity analyses (robustness check) were also conducted in this paper.

Findings

Customer experience negatively moderates reputation price premium; thus, the positive effect of the reputation system is weaker for the experienced customer than for the naïve customer. Customers with more experience are less likely to pay the price premium and rely on a reputation system.

Practical implications

The results help sellers to strategize in the online marketplace. Sellers that wish to compete in the e-market must understand the type of customers they are addressing and differentiate the way they treat customers based on the level of customer experience.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the reputation management and customer behavior literature by identifying the effects of customer experience on the relationship between the reputation system and price premium. The results address the conflicts found in previous studies by extending the explanation of the negative reputation price premium.
A 21st century appreciation for: quality, excellence and complex human adaptive systems
Authors: Kennedy Bob
Published: November 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a coherent theory and strategy for the achievement of quality outcomes that is meaningful and relevant to people at all levels of society. These should help the quality professional engage with people at all levels of society in the development of a culture that appreciates quality, systems and excellence. The research draws on the work of the community quality councils movement in the USA and sought to build on this experience in a village in northwest Ireland.

Design/methodology/approach

Action research employing an ethnographic type approach to a four year immersion period in a small industrious community. Its inductive nature and naturalist mode of enquiry did not lend itself to either the generation or analysis of quantitative data. Nevertheless it yielded many rich complex pictures or patterns of qualitative information requiring long periods of reflection to decipher the sense and meaning in them.

Findings

The findings can be encapsulated in one sentence “To achieve quality outcomes we must practise excellence and maintain systems that are fit for purpose”. This requires a radical reworking of Deming’s system of profound knowledge (SoPK) to make it relevant to the human complex adaptive systems that permeate the twenty-first century. These operate as autonomous service providers in a rapidly changing environment.

Research limitations/implications

The findings of this research have transferability to all sectors in society pursuing purposeful activity. It is relevant at individual, interest-group, industry, institution and community level. It should make the development of a “quality culture” more attainable at all levels.

Practical implications

Provides quality professionals with new terminology and imagery to engage with, analyse and help autonomous human activity systems in the twenty-first century. It moves Deming’s SoPK to a new level more suited to human systems.

Social implications

By explaining quality, excellence and systems in easily understood and accepted terms the Grange Excellence Model allows every individual, interest-group, industry and institution share the same language and images as they pursue quality outcomes. This unified approach could transform communities and society in general.

Originality/value

The research generates a seismic shift in the appreciation of quality, excellence and systems making them relevant and meaningful to people at all levels of society. This provides quality professionals with a methodology, images and vocabulary that will facilitate productive engagement with purposeful systems at all levels of complexity.
Higher Cholesterol Level Predicts Cardiovascular Event and Inversely Associates With Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients: 10‐Year Outcomes of the Q‐Cohort Study
Authors: Nakano Toshiaki , Hiyamuta Hiroto , Yotsueda Ryusuke , Tanaka Shigeru , Taniguchi Masatomo , Tsuruya Kazuhiko , Kitazono Takanari
Published: November 2019

The prevalence of atherosclerotic diseases is higher in hemodialysis patients. The aim of the current study was to investigate associations between cholesterol level and the incidences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality in hemodialysis patients. A total of 3517 participants undergoing maintenance hemodialysis were followed up for 10 years. Total cholesterol (TC) level was divided into quartile in baseline data. The multivariate analyses were calculated by a Cox proportional hazards model. The incidences of ischemic heart disease (IHD), peripheral artery disease (PAD), and CVD were significantly positively associated with higher cholesterol levels after adjustment for confounding factors (P < 0.01, P = 0.04, and P < 0.01, respectively). Furthermore, the incidences of cancer‐associated mortality and all‐cause mortality were significantly positively associated with lower cholesterol levels after adjustment for confounding factors (both P < 0.01). The lowest TC level at all‐cause mortality risk was 179 mg/dL. From these results, higher TC predicts IHD, PAD, and CVD events, and lower TC predicts cancer‐associated mortality and all‐cause mortality in patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.
Retreatment with anti‐PD‐1 antibody in non‐small cell lung cancer patients previously treated with anti‐PD‐L1 antibody
Authors: Fujita Kohei , Yamamoto Yuki , Kanai Osamu , Okamura Misato , Hashimoto Masayuki , Nakatani Koichi , Sawai Satoru , Mio Tadashi
Published: November 2019

Background

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of retreatment with anti‐programmed death 1 (anti‐PD‐1) antibodies in patients with advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after prior treatment with anti‐programmed death‐ligand 1 (anti‐PD‐L1) antibodies.

Methods

Data (N = 15) on patients' characteristics, number of cycles, regimens, their best response and immune‐related adverse events (irAEs) were recorded retrospectively.

Results

NSCLC was initially treated with anti‐PD‐L1 antibody atezolizumab (N = 14) or durvalumab (N = 1). No patients had a high (≥50%) tumor expression of PD‐L1. The median cycles for atezolizumab were five (range 1–15), and median progression‐free survival was 2.8 and 6.0 months for atezolizumab and durvalumab, respectively. Five (33.3%) and nine (60.0%) patients showed stable and progressive disease as their best response, respectively. No differences in irAEs between anti‐PD‐L1 and anti‐PD‐1 antibodies occurred.

Conclusion

Patients treated with anti‐PD‐L1 antibodies for NSCLC received limited benefits from retreatment with anti‐PD‐1 antibodies.