bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Computational discovery of hidden breaks in 28S ribosomal RNAs across eukaryotes and consequences for RNA Integrity Numbers
Authors: Natsidis Paschalis , Schiffer Philipp H. , Salvador-Martínez Irepan , Telford Maximilian J.
Published: September 2019

In some eukaryotes, a ‘hidden break’ has been described in which the 28S ribosomal RNA molecule is cleaved into two subparts. The break is common in protostome animals (arthropods, molluscs, annelids etc.) but a break has also been reported in some vertebrates and non-metazoan eukaryotes. We present a new computational approach to determine the presence of the hidden break in 28S rRNAs using mapping of RNA-Seq data. We find a homologous break is present across protostomes although has been lost in a small number of taxa. We show that rare breaks in vertebrate 28S rRNAs are not homologous to the protostome break. A break is found in just 4 out of 331 species of non-animal eukaryotes studied and three of these are located in the same position as the protostome break suggesting a striking instance of convergent evolution. RNA Integrity Numbers (RIN) rely on intact 28s rRNA and will be consistently underestimated in the great majority of animal species with a break.
Aging-associated alterations in the mammary gland revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing
Authors: Li Carman Man-Chung , Shapiro Hana , Tsiobikas Christina , Selfors Laura , Chen Huidong , Gray G. Kenneth , Oren Yaara , Pinello Luca , Regev Aviv , Brugge Joan S.
Published: September 2019

Aging of the mammary gland is closely associated with increased susceptibility to diseases such as cancer, but there have been limited systematic studies of aging-induced alterations within this organ. We performed high-throughput single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) profiling of mammary tissues from young and old nulliparous mice, including both epithelial and stromal cell types. Our analysis identified altered proportions and distinct gene expression patterns in numerous cell populations as a consequence of the aging process, independent of parity and lactation. In addition, we detected a subset of luminal cells that express both hormone-sensing and alveolar markers and decrease in relative abundance with age. These data provide a high-resolution landscape of aging mammary tissues, with potential implications for normal tissue functions and cancer predisposition.
The impact of consumption value on consumer behaviour
Authors: Muhamed Ariff Azly , Ab Rahman Mohd Nizam , Mohd Hamzah Firdaus , Che Mohd Zain Che Rosmawati , Zailani Suhaiza
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of halal concern as well as emotional and epistemic values on consumer behaviour in the choice and purchase of halal-certified food supplies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a quantitative methodology of convenience sampling to collect survey data from 1,550 Muslim respondents in Malaysia. It also employed multiple regressions by covariance-based structural equation modelling in the data analysis as well as in the validation of the proposed model.

Findings

The empirical results showed that the importance of halal certification had the highest impact on consumer choice behaviour, particularly in the purchase of halal-certified food supplies. Also, epistemic and emotional values were both statistically significant in terms of their influence on the consumer decision-making process.

Research limitations/implications

The results emphasize the importance of enhancing the hedonic (halal concern and emotional value) aspect as a way for the halal food industries to obtain an added value advantage for their products and services.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to employ an empirical approach to consider the halal sentiment as a determinant of consumer purchasing behaviour in the context of halal-certified food supplies.
Do characteristics of the board of directors and top executives have an effect on corporate performance among the financial sector? Evidence using stock
Authors: Al-Matari Ebrahim Mohammed
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Consistent with the board of directors and top executive management’s role in ensuring and promoting investments for economic development, this paper aims to examine Omani executive management’s role in helping goals achievement in firms. This paper examines the relationships among the study variables, which are top executive management characteristics and corporate performance in the context of Omani listed firms, with the help of two control variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The study focused on a unique context, a developing nation, Oman and its exchange market for the past seven years (2011-2017). In addition, the data were collected from annual report according to board of directors and top executive management variables, and the financial data were obtained from DataStream. The study used the panel data approach to test the relationships characteristics of board of directors, top executive management and corporate performance.

Findings

Based on the obtained results, showed positive and significant positive relationships between some characteristics of top executive management and corporate performance, and significant negative relationships between others and the same. Specifically, board size, non-executive directors, general experience and account experience were in the former category, while board meeting was in the latter category. Finally, size and professional certificate of top executive management did not have a significant relationship with corporate performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study, like previous studies has some limitations such as sample, country, variables and years; therefore, at the end of this study, many limitations and suggestions for future research studies are provided. Moreover, the study findings can be used by the market to assist managers to enhance corporate weaknesses.

Originality/value

The focus of the study was placed on the top executive management and corporate governance of Omani listed firms that has implications for practitioners particularly concerning the top executive management role. Added to this, the study conducted an investigation of the integration between board of directors and top executive management, with corporate governance among Omani listed firms. The study also provided information that has implications to academics when it comes to board of directors and top executive management strategies to encourage consideration of the relationship to develop best practices.
Brand experience effects on brand attachment: the role of brand trust, age, and income
Authors: Huaman-Ramirez Richard , Merunka Dwight
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine how brand attachment is related to brand experience. The model tests the partial mediating role of brand trust and the moderating role of age and income.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 334 participants consuming brands with an experiential offering completed an online questionnaire in a cross-sectional study. The data were analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), and advanced methods such as the heterotrait–monotrait ratio and the Henseler’s multigroup analysis were used.

Findings

Brand experience is positively related to brand attachment, more so for younger consumers. This relationship holds for both hedonic and utilitarian brands. Results demonstrate the partial mediation of brand trust in this relationship, especially for utilitarian brands, and with a weaker indirect relationship for high-income consumers.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted in one country (Peru). Generalizability of results should be established by carrying out additional studies in other settings or countries.

Practical implications

Experiential marketing both as a positioning strategy and through marketing operations may help brands to increase consumer attachment. This may be managed both through the direct effect of favoring positive experiences and through the enhancement of brand trust. This is particularly the case for target markets composed of young and low-to-medium-income consumers.

Originality/value

Results confirm the impact of brand experience on brand attachment for both utilitarian and hedonic brands, and establish both the mediating role of brand trust and the moderating role of age and income. These are new insights on the process itself and on boundary conditions of an important established relationship.
Codes of ethics content: UK and Australian corporations
Authors: Wood Greg , Whyatt Georgina , Callaghan Michael , Svensson Goran
Published: September 2019

Purpose

This study aims to compare the content of the codes of ethics of the top 50 corporations in the UK and Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

The code of each of the 50 top companies listed on the London Stock Exchange and the 50 top companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange based on market capitalization was read against an updated version of a previous code content classification system.

Findings

This research provides valuable insights into the similarities and differences that exist between the expected ethical standards in corporations based in two historically linked and culturally related countries: corporate approaches that are worthy of comment.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does provide a sound basis for further investigation and cross-country comparisons of corporate codes of ethics.

Practical implications

The instrument used for classifying code content gives an insight into the top companies operating in the UK and Australia and what they consider important to cover within a code of ethics.

Social implications

In light of increasing societal expectations of corporate ethical standards, this research study offers improved understanding of/insight into the development of codes of ethics as a means to guide organizational behaviours/conduct.

Originality/value

This study proposes a contemporary instrument for the analysis of codes of ethics that has built upon the work of others over the past 30 years.
A comparative analysis of grey ranking approaches
Authors: Darvishi Davood , Forrest Jeffrey , Liu Sifeng
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Ranking and comparing grey numbers represent a very important decision-making procedure in any given grey environment. The purpose of this paper is to study the existing approaches of ordering interval grey numbers in the context of decision making by surveying existing definitions.

Design/methodology/approach

Different methods developed for comparing grey numbers are presented along with their disadvantages and advantages in terms of comparison outcomes. Practical examples are employed to show the importance and necessity of using appropriate methods to compare grey numbers.

Findings

Most the available methods are not suitable for pointing out which number is larger when the nuclei of the grey numbers of concern are the same. Also, these available methods are also considered in terms of partial order and total order. Kernel and degree of greyness of grey numbers method is more advantageous than other methods and almost eliminates the shortcomings of other methods.

Originality/value

Different methods for ranking grey numbers are presented where each of them has disadvantages and advantages. By using different methods, grey interval numbers are compared and the results show that some methods cannot make grey number comparisons in some situations. The authors intend to find a method that can compare grey numbers in any situation. The findings of this research can prevent errors that may occur based on inaccurate comparisons of grey numbers in decision making. There are various research studies on the comparison of grey numbers, but there is no research on the comparison of these methods and their disadvantages, advantages or their total or partial order.
Flat roof hygrothermal performance testing and evaluation
Authors: Erkoreka Aitor , Flores-Abascal Ivan , Escudero Cesar , Martin Koldo , Millan Jose Antonio , Sala Jose Maria
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Understanding the dynamic hygrothermal behavior of building elements is very important to ensure the optimal performance of buildings. The Laboratory for Quality Control in Buildings of the Basque Government tested a flat roof designed by a construction company that developed a building to be constructed using prefabricated modules. This is a five to eight floor building with ventilated façade and a flat roof covered by gravel with the possibility of changing it to a green cover. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The interest of this research was threefold. The first objective was to accurately test, under real dynamic weather conditions, the roof design in a PASLINK test cell to obtain the U-value and the thermal capacitance of the different roof layers, and of the roof as a whole, through the precise calibration of resistance-capacitance mathematical models of the roof. Based on the parameters and experimental information of these calibrated models, a second goal was to calibrate and validate a Wufi model of the roof.

Findings

This second calibrated model was then used to simulate the dynamic hygrothermal behavior of the roof, obtaining the roof’s hourly thermal demand per square meter for a whole year in different locations considered in the Spanish Building Code. These simulations also permitted the authors to study the risk of condensation and mold growth of the tested component under different climatic conditions.

Originality/value

The successful combination of the PASLINK method to calibrate the Wufi hygrothermal model is the main novelty of this research.
Deep renovation of historic buildings
Authors: Herrera-Avellanosa Daniel , Haas Franziska , Leijonhufvud Gustaf , Brostrom Tor , Buda Alessia , Pracchi Valeria , Webb Amanda Laurel , Hüttler Walter , Troi Alexandra
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Improving the energy performance of historic buildings has the potential to reduce carbon emissions while protecting built heritage through its continued use. However, implementing energy retrofits in these buildings faces social, economic, and technical barriers. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present the approach of IEA-SHC Task 59 to address some of these barriers.

Design/methodology/approach

Task 59 aims to achieve the lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings. This paper proposes a definition for this concept and identifies three key socio-technical barriers to achieving this goal: the decision-makers’ lack of engagement in the renovation of historic buildings, a lack of support during the design process and limited access to proven retrofit solutions. Two methods – dissemination of best-practice and guidelines – are discussed in this paper as critical approaches for addressing the first two barriers.

Findings

An assessment of existing databases indicates a lack of best-practice examples focused specifically on historic buildings and the need for tailored information describing these case studies. Similarly, an initial evaluation of guidelines highlighted the need for process-oriented guidance and its evaluation in practice.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel definition of lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings that is broadly applicable in both practice and research. Both best-practices and guidelines are intended to be widely disseminated throughout the field.
Learning in higher education: towards knowledge, skills and competency acquisition
Authors: Gachino Geoffrey Gatharia , Worku Genanew Bekele
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Considering the importance of human capital in innovation, entrepreneurship and thus economic development, this study attempts to examine formal learning as a mechanism of human capital development in institutions of higher learning. Ironically, students in such institutions are automatically assumed to learn and accumulate pertinent capacity, which would then enable them to compete in the business world or pursue further studies in future. Consequently, lack of this cognizance culminates in little being known about how students learn to accumulate knowledge, skills and requisite competencies. Notwithstanding this, the challenges posed in the twenty-first century require well-rounded students those especially who can address the global transformations witnessed in the business arena. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to fill this gap using data from the University of Dubai (UD) to examine how formal learning takes place in an institution and what determines it.

Design/methodology/approach

Learning is conceptualized in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies accumulated as proxied by cumulative general point aggregate. All the data used came from the UD. In addition to in-depth descriptive analysis, the study uses limited dependent techniques to identify the most significant determinants of institutional learning.

Findings

The empirical results generated indicate that demographic characteristics such as age, nationality and gender had a positive effect on learning. Moreover, a student’s initial condition influenced his/her learning positively. Whereas the mode of study under personal preferences did not seem to affect learning, the number of course sections taken had a positive influence on learning. As anticipated, student transfer had a negative influence on learning. The number of credit hours accumulated affected learning positively.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this study is that results are only applicable within a limited geographical scope, and thus they cannot be generalized for global consumption. Nonetheless, the discussion and results obtained make insights to any future-related studies.

Originality/value

As pointed out in the previous sections, learning will be conceptualized in the form of knowledge, skills and competency acquisition. In a school setting, knowledge, skills and competencies are better captured by the grade attained in each subject. The general student learning can, therefore, be equally captured by the cumulative grade point aggregate. The authors purport that learning can be visualized, or in other words conceptualized, as a complex process that is determined by five main factors that include demographic characteristics; student initial condition; personal preferences and choices; and time factor curriculum and anticipated future career.
Encouraging student independence
Authors: Zackariasson Maria
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine if and how supervisors’ use of two kinds of potential scaffolding means – asking questions and giving instructions – could contribute to fulfilling the scaffolding intention of student independence, in the context of supervision of degree projects within higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on qualitative content analysis of two series of supervision meetings between a supervisor and a student in Swedish higher education, comprising a total of eight recorded sessions. The theoretical framework of the paper is centered on scaffolding and independent learning, and central concepts are contingency, fading, transfer of responsibility and student independence.

Findings

The analysis shows how the supervisors’ use of questions, and in some respect instructions, could contribute to fulfilling the scaffolding intention of student independence through enabling active participation of both student and supervisor and that the supervision was based on contingency. The analysis further shows that the supervisors tended to become more directive as the work came along, especially when students appeared to be running out of time. The supervision processes did thus not appear to be characterized by fading and transfer of responsibility.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the research field of higher education through discussing student independence as a potential scaffolding intention within supervision of degree projects, based on recorded supervision meetings. Supervision of degree projects is a highly relevant context for discussing scaffolding, since it combines increased student independence with close interaction between student and supervisor for an extended period.
A dynamic supply chain resilience model for medical equipment’s industry
Authors: Jafarnejad Ahmad , Momeni Mansoor , Razavi Hajiagha Seyed Hossein , Faridi Khorshidi Maryam
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Medical equipment’s supply chains play a vital role in performance of national 1healthcare systems. This supply chain is confronted with different internal and external risks. The purpose of this study is to investigate and find the key factors affecting the resilience of the supply chain of medical equipment and to examine the dynamic relations among these factors.

Design/methodology/approach

A hybrid methodology is used for meeting the purpose of this study. First, the Delphi method is extended by using hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets to identify the key factors of supply chain resilience. At the second phase, using the system dynamic methodology, the dynamic relations among identified resilience factors are analyzed.

Findings

Using the Delphi method, agility, collaboration among actors, sharing of information, trust among actors, explicitness of supply chain, risk management culture, adaptability, structure, funding and environment conditions are identified as ten major factors affecting medical equipment’s supply chain resilience. Also, four scenarios are simulated along with their impacts on the system.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this study is extending a hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets-based Delphi and applying it along a system dynamic analysis to identify the key factors affecting resilience of medical equipment’s supply chain for the first time.
The general health questionnaire as a measure of emotional wellbeing in pregnant women
Authors: Kuipers Yvonne , Jomeen Julie , Dilles Tinne , Van Rompaey Bart
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure reliability, validity and accuracy of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) as a measure of emotional wellbeing in pregnant women; utility and threshold in particular.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors measured self-reported emotional wellbeing responses of 164 low-risk pregnant Dutch women with the GHQ-12 and a dichotomous case-finding item (Gold standard). The authors established internal consistency of the 12 GHQ-items (Cronbach’s coefficient α); construct validity: factor analysis using Oblimin rotation; convergent validity (Pearson’s correlation) and discriminatory ability (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and index of union); and external validity of the dichotomous criterion standard against the GHQ-12 responses (sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratios and predictive values), applying a cut-off value of ⩾ 12 and ⩾ 17, respectively.

Findings

A coefficient of 0.85 showed construct reliability. The GHQ-12 items in the pattern matrix showed a three-dimensional factorial model: factor 1, anxiety and depression; factor 2, coping; and factor 3, significance/effect on life, with a total variance of 59 per cent. The GHQ-12 showed good accuracy (0.84; p=<0.001) and external validity (r=0.57; p=<0.001) when the cut-off value was set at the ⩾ 17 value. Using a cut-off value of ⩾ 17 demonstrated higher sensitivity (72.32 vs 41.07 per cent) but lower specificity (32.69 vs 55.77 per cent) compared to the commonly used cut-off value of ⩾ 12.

Research limitations/implications

Findings generally support the reliability, validity and accuracy of the Dutch version of the GHQ-12. Further evaluation of the measure, at more than one timepoint during pregnancy, is recommended.

Practical implications

The GHQ-12 holds the potential to measure antenatal emotional wellbeing and women’s emotional responses and coping mechanisms with reduced antenatal emotional wellbeing.

Social implications

Adapting the GHQ-12 cut-off value enables effective identification of reduced emotional wellbeing to provide adequate care and allows potential reduction of anxiety among healthy pregnant women who are incorrectly screened as positive.

Originality/value

A novel aspect is adapting the threshold of the GHQ-12 to ⩾ 17 in antenatal care.
Corporate makerspaces as innovation driver in companies: a literature review-based framework
Authors: Rieken Finn , Boehm Thomas , Heinzen Mareike , Meboldt Mirko
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Corporates have recently invested in company-owned makerspaces with the goal to skim the potential of makerspaces as innovation driver. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the first framework describing elements and the innovation-related impact on users of corporate makerspaces (CMSs).

Design/methodology/approach

The CMS framework is based on a critical review of 116 scientific articles on makerspaces and the embedding of the review findings into the corporate context.

Findings

A prototyping infrastructure, a community infrastructure and facilitators are proposed to be key elements of CMSs. Further, CMSs are suggested to have an impact on ideation, concept iteration during the innovation process and collaboration of its users.

Research limitations/implications

The framework on CMSs is based on a critical review of makerspace literature and not on empirical research data.

Practical implications

This paper sheds light on key elements and the expected innovation-related impact of a CMS on the users and thus contains useful information for corporate innovation management on how to plan, build and implement a CMS.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first review of makerspace literature with focus on their elements and innovation-related impact. Additionally, the review provides the first academic definition of the growing phenomenon of CMSs and describes elements and the innovation-related impact of CMSs on its users in companies, which paves the way for further research on CMSs.
Lean manufacturing and operational performance
Authors: Hernandez-Matias Juan Carlos , Ocampo Jared R. , Hidalgo Antonio , Vizan Antonio
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Lean manufacturing (LM) constitutes a consolidated alternative that has been successfully used to increase company effectiveness and performance. However, different studies have shown that many companies that attempt to integrate LM into their manufacturing operations fail in their efforts. Recent studies have shown that soft practices are a key factor for a successful LM implementation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze an in-depth review of the different human-related lean practices (HRLP) referenced in the recent literature and to identify which of them are more relevant to a successful LM implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

The findings presented in this paper are based on the results of a study about the situation of LM in Spain carried out with lean production managers and frontline supervisors of 202 Spanish companies with a high percent (74 percent) of international firms with factories in different countries. The implemented methodology uses factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results shows statistical evidence of the relationship between management’s HRLP (fostering a lean culture, providing support to lean), employees’ HRLP (employee involvement and employee empowerment) and operational performance (OP) (waste reduction and flexibility).

Practical implications

The results have academic and practical relevance for clarifying lean phenomena, helping managers to define a sequence in which a company should implement HRLP to successfully implement LM and increase its OP.

Originality/value

This study fills a research gap by exploring the existing causal relationships between a greater number of variables, both dependent and independent in relation to human factors in LM implementations.
“Bring yourself to work”: rewriting the feeling rules in “personalized” social work
Authors: Whitaker Emilie Morwenna
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how feeling rules are constructed, experienced and contested within personalised social work practice. It considers how organisations seek to shape practitioners towards certain forms of emotional display in increasingly market-oriented conditions. It contributes to our understanding of the place of “backstage” emotional labour in seeking to shape and direct social work practice.

Design/methodology/approach

A single immersive ethnographic case study of an English social work department was undertaken over a period of six months.

Findings

This paper reveals embedded tensions that emerge when practitioners are caught between traditional bureaucratic function, the incursions of the market and feeling rules of relatability, commitment and creativity.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the scant literature on frontline experiences of personalisation in children’s services and the importance of “backstage” emotional labour for shaping and directing social work practice. Importantly, it considers the complexity of emotional labour within an organisational context, which is neither fully marketised, nor fully welfarised, a position many welfare organisations now find themselves in.
Generation Z talking: transformative experience in educational travel
Authors: Wee Desmond
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to position experience as an immersive process through the documentation of student reflections of place involving the intricacies of embodied learning and experiential mobilities. This study is framed through situational positionalities and placed movements of the tourist, the non-tourist and more specifically, students of Generation Z engaged in educational experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper explores a student fieldtrip (on the island of Corfu, Greece) as a medium of expression for situated learning, involving a case study of tourism students learning critical tourism through sensual and haptic dimensions of reflection. The students “experienced” Corfu by participating in an international tourism conference, stayed on a yacht, went on various tours, met with tourism industry representatives and reflected their experiences in a collaborative photo story book.

Findings

Generation Z seemed to have the ability to discern the environment and decipher the role tourism plays. Their critical impressions of place in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, beauty, etc., force a rethink of traditional tourist typologies. It is necessary to reconsider the categorizations of tourism, challenging the need for tourism marketers to encapsulate experiences as both a single, yet multi-varied segment. What remains crucial is a deeper comprehension of this generation through their consumption patterns in relation to the various stakeholders of tourism.

Originality/value

This paper documents an engagement of self through experience as part of the “experience.” Hence, the transformative experiences of place reflections as opposed to linear post-trip representations of experience may be insightful for tourism practitioners dealing with a tourism of the future.
“I’ve found it extremely draining”
Authors: Richards James , Sang Kate , Marks Abigail , Gill Susannah
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address a significant gap in the line manager, HRM and the diversity management literature, that of exploring the role and significance of emotional labour (EL) in relation to the lived experienced of line managing neurodiversity.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was used to explore lived experiences of line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees. Interviews were conducted with line managers employed in the UK transport industry.

Findings

The findings provide rich insights into line managing neurodiversity. A key overall finding is reasonable adjustments deemed essential to support neurodiverse employees require a myriad of hidden, complex, time consuming and often emotionally draining interactions with disabled employees, the employee’s wider team, and HRM and occupational health (OH) practitioners.

Research limitations/implications

This is an exploratory study and therefore limited by nature of the research design, industry focus, scope of study and sample size.

Practical implications

The findings have the potential to inform HRM and OH practitioner support for line managers responsible for managing neurodiverse employees.

Social implications

The study contributes to wider societal attempts to make employment more inclusive to a range of historically disadvantaged groups.

Originality/value

The study fills an important gap in the HRM literature on line managing neurodiverse employees. The study makes a specific and unique contribution to extensive literatures on line management, disability and EL.
A moderated-mediated model of youth safety
Authors: McPhee Deborah , Samnani Al-Karim , Schlosser Francine
Published: September 2019

Purpose

Workplace injury and death of young persons are important concerns. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the mediating role of safety behaviours underpinning the relationship between perceived safety climate (PSC) and injuries, and the moderating roles of safety-specific transformational leadership (SSTL), general transformational leadership (GTL) and training in influencing the mediation, for young workers.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory, online questionnaire was completed by 367 university students employed in various industries. Data were analysed using moderated mediation.

Findings

Safety behaviours mediated the relationship between PSC and injuries. SSTL moderated the relationship between PSC and safety behaviours, but GTL did not. Training did not positively moderate the relationship between safety behaviour and injuries, yet may still inform us on the training by referent others since safety behaviour mediated the relationship between PSC and injuries when SSTL, GTL and training were high.

Research limitations/implications

A student sample was utilised, but was appropriate in this context as it is representative of the type of workers being studied. Longitudinal data with larger diverse data sets should be incorporated.

Practical implications

Business owners must utilise both forms of leadership to promote a safe workplace. HR and H&S professionals must continue to encourage this promotion.

Social implications

Safety training and leadership are important for policy makers and regulators to reduce workplace injuries for youth workers.

Originality/value

This study is the first to test youth H&S using moderated mediation. Safety specific and general forms of leadership and training are important predictors.
Effects of informal learning on work engagement
Authors: Susomrith Pattanee , Coetzer Alan
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between task-based and interactional informal learning practices in small professional services firms and the moderating role of proactivity in the relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Job demand-resources theory was used to develop theoretical arguments for a link between informal learning and work engagement. Data were collected from 203 employees in professional services firms and analysed using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Analysis of the data showed that opportunities to learn through task-based learning processes and through interactions with supervisors and colleagues were positively related to employees’ levels of work engagement. Furthermore, the strength of relationships between these informal learning practices and work engagement was influenced by employees’ proactivity.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations pertain to the non-random sampling procedure, cross-sectional nature of the study and the use of self-report measures. These limitations were mitigated by employing rigorous analytical procedures.

Practical implications

The results suggest that managers are able to influence the quantity and quality of informal workplace learning through strategies such as selecting employees who have a propensity for proactive behaviour, encouraging proactive behaviour, enabling experimentation and reflection and fostering positive interpersonal relations.

Originality/value

The study links two streams of research that have seemingly not been connected previously. The results suggest that small firms are sites with abundant potential for development of employees’ knowledge and skills and the associated experiences of work engagement.
Modelling the barriers of Lean Six Sigma for Indian micro-small medium enterprises
Authors: Singh Mahipal , Kumar Pankaj , Rathi Rajeev
Published: September 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and develop the interrelationship among them using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matriced Impact Croises Multiplication Appliquee a un Classement (MICMAC).

Design/methodology/approach

Using systematic literature review and expert’s opinions, 26 LSS barriers have been extracted and finalized through statistical analysis, that is importance-index analysis and corrected item minus total correlation methods. The statistical analysis of purified 22 LSS barriers has been carried out and consistency of finalized barriers has been checked through reliability statistical test in Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software. Finally, the contextual relationship among finalized LSS barriers is developed using ISM and MICMAC approach.

Findings

The ISM model indicates that insufficient management commitment and involvement, lack of resources, lack of training and education, lack of strategic thinking, lack of training funds are strategic factors; improper project selection, poor selection of employee for belt training, lack of total employee involvement, lack of awareness of about LSS are prudent factors; unclear vision, high implementation cost, resistance to culture change, weak supplier linkage, poor alignment between company’s goal and customer demand are burst factors. Furthermore, MICMAC analysis is splitting the LSSBs in four clusters according to their driving power and dependency. These results provide a clear mind-set to engineering manager for focusing more on LSS barriers according to their driving power and dependency.

Research limitations/implications

There may be biasness in making pairwise comparison matrix of barriers due to involvement of expert’s opinion as human error.

Practical implications

The outcome of this paper provides robust practical implication for LSS researchers and practitioners. The researcher and practitioners must consciously concentrate on the identified LSSBs more conventionally during LSS implementation, and they need to plan strategically to avoid any implementation failure.

Originality/value

For successful implementation of LSS in any organization, it is necessary and permeable to make strategy for controlling LSS barriers at initial stage. So this paper is a leading attempt to highlight main LSS barriers and interrelate them using ISM and MICMAC approach. It provides a clear path for tackling LSS barriers to engineering managers, researchers and consultants.
Habitat and fishing control grazing potential on coral reefs
Authors: Robinson James P. W. , McDevitt‐Irwin Jamie M. , Dajka Jan‐Claas , Hadj‐Hammou Jeneen , Howlett Samantha , Graba‐Landry Alexia , Hoey Andrew S. , Nash Kirsty L. , Wilson Shaun K. , Graham Nicholas A. J.
Published: September 2019

Herbivory is a key process on coral reefs, which, through grazing of algae, can help sustain coral‐dominated states on frequently disturbed reefs and reverse macroalgal regime shifts on degraded ones.

Our understanding of herbivory on reefs is largely founded on feeding observations at small spatial scales, yet the biomass and structure of herbivore populations is more closely linked to processes which can be highly variable across large areas, such as benthic habitat turnover and fishing pressure. Though our understanding of spatiotemporal variation in grazer biomass is well developed, equivalent macroscale approaches to understanding bottom‐up and top‐down controls on herbivory are lacking.

Here, we integrate underwater survey data of fish abundances from four Indo‐Pacific island regions with herbivore feeding observations to estimate grazing rates for two herbivore functions, cropping (which controls turf algae) and scraping (which promotes coral settlement by clearing benthic substrate), for 72 coral reefs. By including a range of reef states, from coral to algal dominance and heavily fished to remote wilderness areas, we evaluate the influences of benthic habitat and fishing on the grazing rates of fish assemblages.

Cropping rates were primarily influenced by benthic condition, with cropping maximized on structurally complex reefs with high substratum availability and low macroalgal cover. Fishing was the primary driver of scraping function, with scraping rates depleted at most reefs relative to remote, unfished reefs, though scraping did increase with substratum availability and structural complexity.

Ultimately, benthic and fishing conditions influenced herbivore functioning through their effect on grazer biomass, which was tightly correlated to grazing rates. For a given level of biomass, we show that grazing rates are higher on reefs dominated by small‐bodied fishes, suggesting that grazing pressure is greatest when grazer size structure is truncated.

Stressors which cause coral declines and clear substrate for turf algae will likely stimulate increases in cropping rates, in both fished and protected areas. In contrast, scraping functions are already impaired at reefs inhabited by people, particularly where structural complexity has collapsed, indicating that restoration of these key processes will require scraper biomass to be rebuilt towards wilderness levels.

A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Why leveraging sex differences in immune trade‐offs may illuminate the evolution of senescence
Authors: Metcalf Charlotte Jessica E. , Roth Olivia , Graham Andrea L.
Published: September 2019

The immune system affects senescence (declines in probabilities of survival or reproduction with age), by shaping late age vulnerability to chronic inflammatory diseases and infections. It is also a dynamic interactive system that must balance competing demands across the life course. Thus, immune system function remains an important frontier in understanding the evolution of senescence.

Here, we review our expanding mechanistic understanding of immune function over the life course, in the context of theoretical predictions from life‐history evolution. We are especially interested in stage‐ and sex‐dependent costs and benefits of investment in the immune system, given differential life‐history priorities of the life stages and sexes.

We introduce the costs likely to govern immune allocation across the life course. We then discuss theoretical expectations for differences between the sexes and their likely consequences in terms of how the immune system is both modulated by and may modulate senescence, building on information from life‐history theory, experimental immunology and demography.

We argue that sex differences in immune function provide a potentially powerful probe of selection pressures on the immune system across the life course. In particular, differences in ‘competing’ and ‘caring’ between the sexes have evolved across the tree of life, providing repeated instances of divergent selection pressures on immune function occurring within the same overall bauplan.

We conclude by detailing an agenda for future research, including development of theoretical predictions of the differences between the sexes under an array of existing models for sex differences in immunity, and empirical tests of such predictions across the tree of life.

A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
Vascular effects of a single bout of electronic cigarette use
Authors: Cossio Ramon , Cerra Zachary A. , Tanaka Hirofumi
Published: September 2019

Electronic cigarettes (EC) are commonly marketed as a safe alternative to traditional tobacco cigarettes (TC), but recent studies have observed adverse effects on vascular functions from EC vapours similar to those observed from TC. Currently, it is not clear if differing levels of nicotine and compounds from heating in e‐cigarettes influence vascular functions. Sixteen young, apparently healthy tobacco product naïve participants were studied. Each participant underwent three separate “vaping” trials with menthol‐flavoured quit smoking aid, electronically heated menthol‐flavoured EC with 0% or 5.4% nicotine. During each visit, measurements were performed at baseline, immediately post, 1, and 2 h post‐EC exposure. There were no significant changes in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, endothelial function (via flow‐mediated dilation), and arterial stiffness (via cardio‐ankle vascular index) throughout the experiments. In conclusion, vaping electronic cigarettes did not produce acute and persistent effects on subclinical vascular functions over the course of a 2‐h trial in young, healthy, tobacco product naïve participants.
Differences in Psychosexual Development Among Child, Peer, and Mixed Juvenile Sex Offenders
Authors: Lillard Colleen M. , Cooper‐Lehki Christi , Fremouw William J. , DiSciullo Victoria A.
Published: September 2019

Researchers have examined a number of typologies of juvenile sex offenders, including victim age. Using data from psychological evaluations and the Multiphasic Sex Inventory‐II (MSI‐II; [Psychological assessment of sex offenders, 2010]), this study compared child offenders (i.e., victims were more than 4 years younger), peer offenders (i.e., victims were 4 years younger or less), and mixed offenders (i.e., both child and peer victims) on variables including victim, offender, and offense characteristics, and psychosexual development. Peer offenders had more severe sexual offenses, prior status/nonviolent charges, and issues with sexual functioning. Mixed offenders began offending at a younger age and were indiscriminate in gender and relationship of the victim. Mixed offenders were also more likely than child and peer offenders to have prior sex offender treatment, meaning they had previously failed treatment. As juvenile sex offenders are a heterogeneous group, these research findings suggest that child offenders, peer offenders, and mixed offenders’ treatment needs differ from each other.
You can't ignore millennials: Needed changes and a new way forward in entitlement research
Authors: Brant Katarina K. , Castro Stephanie L.
Published: September 2019

As millennials flood the workplace, both researchers and practitioners agree that entitlement is increasing. Given the increasing number of millennials in the workforce and their high levels of entitlement, HRM must find ways to capitalise on this phenomenon. However, the existing state of the field is problematic. Past entitlement research has overwhelmingly ignored millennials, used a limiting trait conceptualisation, and primarily investigated negative effects for the entitled individuals. This article seeks to provoke that HRM must address the millennial entitlement phenomenon by making needed changes and taking a new way forward in entitlement research. Specifically, we argue that HRM scholars must (a) adopt a new state conceptualisation of entitlement and (b) move beyond the sole focus on negative effects to look for positive effects for individuals, teams, organisations, and society. Millennial entitlement—for better or worse—is a pressing issue for HRM, and we believe it may be for the better.