bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intermediate and Long-term Outcomes of Mitomycin C–enhanced Trabeculectomy as a First Glaucoma Procedure in Uveitic Glaucoma
Authors: Almobarak Faisal A. , Alharbi Ali H. , Morales Jose , Aljadaan Ibrahim
Published: February 2017

Objectives:

To evaluate the intermediate and long-term outcomes of mitomycin C–enhanced trabeculectomy as a first glaucoma procedure in uveitic glaucoma.

Materials and Methods:

Retrospective cohort study included 70 eyes of 50 patients with uveitic glaucoma who underwent mitomycin C–enhanced trabeculectomy as a first glaucoma procedure at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 1996 and 2014. The main outcome measures were: the intraocular pressure (IOP), the number of antiglaucoma medications, the presence of visually threatening complications, and the need for further surgeries to control the IOP. Surgical outcome of each eye was classified as an absolute success, qualified success, or failure, based on the main outcome measures.

Results:

The mean follow-up period was 77.0 months (±40.9). The IOP and number of antiglaucoma medications decreased significantly from a mean of 39.5 mm Hg (±8.9) and 3.7 (±0.8) to 14.4 mm Hg (±6.9) and 1 (±1.3) at the last follow-up, respectively (P<0.001 for both). The cumulative probabilities of success were 60% and 35.7% at 36 and 60 months postoperatively, respectively. The most common complications were cataract development and progression (45.3%), hypotony (IOP ≤5 mm Hg) (30%) and IOP spike≥30 mm Hg (10%). Eighteen eyes (25.7%) needed a second procedure to control the IOP.

Conclusions:

Although mitomycin C–enhanced trabeculectomy offers reasonable intermediate and long-term IOP control and safety in uveitic glaucoma, a significant number of patients needed further procedures to control the pressure. Thus, continuous monitoring of the pressure and inflammation are crucial.
Food Insecurity
Authors: Browne Nancy T.
Published: February 2017

Food insecurity is a threat to the physical and mental health of children and their families. In this article, food insecurity prevalence, definitions, and related concepts will be reviewed. Using a theoretical framework, food insecurity will be related to assessment and interventions appropriate to food-insecure situations. Assessment tools appropriate for the clinical setting will be discussed. Interventions both at the clinical and community levels will be proposed.

Food insecurity is a dynamic, complex issue associated with health, educational, and economic factors. Food insecurity of any severity impacts families and communities in multiple ways. For health care providers, assessing for food insecurity reveals more about a family's struggles than about the availability of food in their home; it is a window into a broader view of the family's strengths and challenges.
Treatment of Lateral Skull Base and Posterior Cranial Fossa Lesions Utilizing the Extended Middle Cranial Fossa Approach
Authors: Roche Joseph P. , Goates Andrew J. , Hasan David M. , Howard Matthew A. , Menezes Arnold H. , Hansen Marlan R. , Gantz Bruce J.
Published: February 2017

Objective:

Define the indications and outcomes for subjects undergoing treatment utilizing the extended middle cranial fossa approach (EMCF).

Study Design:

Retrospective records review.

Setting:

University-based tertiary referral center.

Patients:

Subjects undergoing treatment of posterior cranial fossa (PCF) lesions.

Intervention(s):

EMCF exposure and treatment of the indicating PCF lesion.

Main Outcome Measure(s):

Demographic, audiometric, and cranial nerve functioning variables were assessed.

Results:

Thirty-five subjects who underwent an EMCF exposure were identified over a 12-year period. The most common indication was meningioma (18; 51%) followed by schwannomas (six, 17%), and vascular lesions (five, 14%). Preoperative cranial nerve complaints were common (32, 94%) as were objective cranial nerve abnormalities on physical examination (21; 60%). Preoperative audiometric data from subjects with hearing demonstrated good functioning including pure-tone average (PTA) (21.7 ± 15.6 dB HL) and word understanding scores (95.1 ± 7.4%). Most (34, 97%) subjects had intact facial nerve function. The average length of stay was 11.6 days (median = 9). Cranial neuropathies were common postoperatively with 27 (79%) subjects demonstrating some objective cranial nerve dysfunction, the most common of which was trigeminal nerve hypesthesia (21, 61.7%). Subjects with identifiable pre- and postoperative audiometric data and preoperative hearing demonstrated small declines in the four-tone average (16.2 dB) and word recognition scores (22.4%). Two subjects (6%) had new profound hearing loss postoperatively.

Conclusions:

The EMCF approach can provide safe and effective exposure of the anterior PCF.
Malignant pheochromocytoma–paraganglioma: pathogenesis, TNM staging, and current clinical trials
Authors: Roman-Gonzalez Alejandro , Jimenez Camilo
Published: February 2017

Purpose of review

Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (PPGs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors. Over the last 15 years, substantial progress has been made toward understanding the clinical aspects and molecular origins of this disease. Nevertheless, predicting and managing malignancy remains the biggest challenge in clinical practice. The natural history of patients with malignant PPGs has not yet been described, and their prognosis varies. Currently, the diagnosis of malignant PPGs relies on the presence of metastases, by which time the disease is usually advanced. Better understanding of the clinical and molecular characteristics of patients with malignant PPGs has spurred several prospective clinical trials.

Recent findings

Several molecular targeted therapies, a novel radiopharmaceutical medication that targets the catecholamine transporter, and immunotherapy are under evaluation for the treatment of patients with malignant PPGs. Furthermore, the identification of clinical predictors of malignancy and survival has led to the first TNM staging classification for PPGs.

Prospective clinical trials are providing patients with therapeutic options beyond systemic chemotherapy. The knowledge derived from these trials and from the evaluation of the TNM staging in clinical practice will help to clarify how to most effectively treat malignant PPGs.
Androgens and athletic performance of elite female athletes
Authors: Bermon Stéphane
Published: February 2017

Purpose of review

During the last decades androgens have been used illicitly by athletes of both genders. Because of some obvious ethical limitations, mechanisms underlying the performance-enhancing effects of these hormone or drugs, as well as the magnitude of their effects, have been poorly addressed. This review aims to combine findings from field and from the laboratory to provide new insights into the ergogenic properties of endogenous or exogenous androgens on female athletes.

Recent findings

Results obtained from recent neuropsychological studies indicated that testosterone, and not the sex chromosomes, is responsible for the sexual differentiation of visuospatial neural activation. These findings could explain how males and hyperandrogenic females benefit from androgens performance-enhancing effects in sports where visuospatial abilities are closely linked to better performance. Another study conducted on elite female athletes showed that, in some athletic events, where muscle power is of critical importance, individuals with the highest free testosterone concentration significantly outperformed competitors with the lowest free testosterone concentration.

In some sport events, female athletes with high or very high androgen levels (whether it is from endogenous or exogenous origin) have an estimated competitive benefit of 2–5% over those with androgen levels within the normal female range. These findings are to be taken into account in the actual controversy about eligibility of females with hyperandrogenism to compete in women's sports.
Prevalence of naturally occurring protease inhibitor resistance-associated variants in hemodialysis and renal transplant patients with hepatitis C virus infection
Authors: Tavares Rita C.F. , Feldner Ana C.C.A. , Pinho João R.R. , Uehara Silvia N.O. , Emori Christini T. , Carvalho-Filho Roberto J. , Silva Ivonete S.S. , Santana Rúbia A.F. , de Castro Vanessa F.D. , Castoli Gregório T. F. , Cristovão Charliana U. , Ferraz Maria L.C.G.
Published: February 2017

Background NS3 protease inhibitors (PIs) were the first direct antiviral agents used for the treatment of hepatitis C virus. The combination of second-wave PIs with other direct antiviral agents enabled the use of interferon-free regimens for chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis and renal transplant (RTx) recipients, populations in which the use of interferon and ribavirin is limited. However, the occurrence of PI resistance-associated variants (RAVs), both baseline and induced by therapy, has resulted in the failure of many treatment strategies. Methods The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of PI RAVs and of the Q80K polymorphism in chronic kidney disease patients on hemodialysis and RTx recipients. Direct sequencing of the NS3 protease was performed in 67 patients (32 hemodialysis and 35 RTx).Results RAVs to PIs were detected in 18% of the patients: V55A (9%), V36L (1.5%), T54S (1.5%), S122N (1.5%), I170L (1.5%), and M175L (1.5%). Only 1.5% of the patients carried the Q80K polymorphism. The frequency of these mutations was more than two times higher in patients infected with GT1a (25%) than GT1b (9.7%) (P=0.1). The mutations were detected in 20% of treatment-naive patients and in 15.6% of peginterferon/ribavirin-experienced patients (P=0.64). Furthermore, no mutation that would confer high resistance to PIs was detected.Conclusion The Q80K polymorphism was rare in the population studied. The occurrence of RAVs was common, with predominance in GT1a. However, the variants observed were those associated with a low level of resistance to PIs, facilitating the use of these drugs in this special group of patients.
Delayed Appearance of Cutaneous Lesions of Cutaneovisceral Angiomatosis (CAT) Leading to Misdiagnosis of Immune Thrombocytopenia
Authors: Com Gulnur , Awad Samah , Trenor Cameron C.
Published: February 2017

Cutaneovisceral angiomatosis with thrombocytopenia (CAT), also called multifocal lymphangioendotheliomatosis with thrombocytopenia (MLT), is a rare and newly described vascular malformation. Skin manifestations and thrombocytopenia are the hallmark of CAT/MLT, and visceral lesions are described. We report an infant with pulmonary hemorrhage, thrombocytopenia, and antiplatelet antibodies. There was no cutaneous involvement and the child was initially diagnosed with immune thrombocytopenia. Poor response to immune thrombocytopenia–directed therapy raised suspicion for an alternative diagnosis, and the ultimate diagnosis of CAT/MLT was made by lung tissue sampling. Unexpectedly, 2 years after resolution of pulmonary lesions and thrombocytopenia, the child developed typical cutaneous lesions.
Childbirth and New Mother Experiences of Arab Migrant Women
Authors: Bawadi Hala , Ahmad Muayyad M.
Published: February 2017

Purpose:

To explore the experience of childbirth and becoming a new mother for Arab migrant women in the United Kingdom.

Study Design & Methods:

Hermeneutic phenomenology design was used to investigate the childbirth and early mothering experience of migrant Arab Muslim women from several countries to United Kingdom. Purposive sampling was chosen. Data collection was conducted through in-depth interviews.

Results:

The emerging theme “displacement and reformation of the self” includes four subthemes from analyses of participants' interviews. These were the emerging dominance of the nuclear family over the extended family: self-contained/self-worth; moving from dependence: self-governing/self-reliance; freedom from cultural constraints: self-determination; and achieving peace of mind: self-satisfaction.

Conclusion:

Exploring the perception of migrant Muslim women's childbirth and new mother experiences in a foreign land may help caregivers better understand their healthcare needs.
Validity of the Worth 4 Dot Test in Patients with Red-Green Color Vision Defect
Authors: Bak Eunoo , Yang Hee Kyung , Hwang Jeong-Min
Published: February 2017

Purpose

The Worth four dot test uses red and green glasses for binocular dissociation, and although it has been believed that patients with red-green color vision defects cannot accurately perform the Worth four dot test, this has not been validated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate the validity of the Worth four dot test in patients with congenital red-green color vision defects who have normal or abnormal binocular vision.

Methods

A retrospective review of medical records was performed on 30 consecutive congenital red-green color vision defect patients who underwent the Worth four dot test. The type of color vision anomaly was determined by the Hardy Rand and Rittler (HRR) pseudoisochromatic plate test, Ishihara color test, anomaloscope, and/or the 100 hue test. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination. Binocular sensory status was evaluated with the Worth four dot test and Randot stereotest. The results were interpreted according to the presence of strabismus or amblyopia.

Results

Among the 30 patients, 24 had normal visual acuity without strabismus nor amblyopia and 6 patients had strabismus and/or amblyopia. The 24 patients without strabismus nor amblyopia all showed binocular fusional responses by seeing four dots of the Worth four dot test. Meanwhile, the six patients with strabismus or amblyopia showed various results of fusion, suppression, and diplopia.

Conclusions

Congenital red-green color vision defect patients of different types and variable degree of binocularity could successfully perform the Worth four dot test. They showed reliable results that were in accordance with their estimated binocular sensory status.
A National Study of Patient Safety Culture in Hospitals in Sweden
Authors: Danielsson Marita , Nilsen Per , Rutberg Hans , Årestedt Kristofer
Published: February 2017

Objective

Using the Hospital Survey on Patient Culture, our aim was to investigate the patient safety culture in all Swedish hospitals and to compare the culture among managers, physicians, registered nurses, and enrolled nurses and to identify factors associated with high overall patient safety.

Methods

The study used a correlational design based on cross-sectional surveys from health care practitioners in Swedish health care (N = 23,781). We analyzed the associations between overall patient safety (outcome variable) and 12 culture dimensions and 5 background characteristics (explanatory variables). Simple logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the bivariate association between each explanatory variable and the outcome variable. The explanatory variables were entered to determine the multivariate associations between the variables and the outcome variable.

Results

The highest rated culture dimensions were “teamwork within units” and “nonpunitive response to error,” and the lowest rated dimensions were “management support for patient safety” and “staffing.” The multivariate analysis showed that long professional experience (>15 years) was associated with increased probability for high overall patient safety. Compared with general wards, the probability for high overall patient safety was higher for emergency care but lower for psychiatric care. The probability for high overall patient safety was higher for both enrolled nurses and physicians compared with managers.

Conclusions

The safety culture dimensions of the Hospital Survey on Patient Culture contributed far more to overall patient safety than the background characteristics, suggesting that these dimensions are very important in efforts to improve the overall patient safety culture.
Sensitivity of Neurons in the Middle Temporal Area of Marmoset Monkeys to Random Dot Motion
Authors: Chaplin Tristan A. , Allitt Benjamin J. , Hagan Maureen A. , Price Nicholas S. , Rajan Ramesh , Rosa Marcello G.P. , Lui Leo L.
Published: February 2017

Neurons in the Middle Temporal area (MT) of the primate cerebral cortex respond to moving visual stimuli. The sensitivity of MT neurons to motion signals can be characterized by using random-dot stimuli, in which the strength of the motion signal is manipulated by adding different levels of noise (elements that move in random directions). In macaques, this has allowed the calculation of “neurometric” thresholds. We characterized the responses of MT neurons in sufentanil/nitrous oxide anesthetized marmoset monkeys, a species which has attracted considerable recent interest as an animal model for vision research. We found that MT neurons show a wide range of neurometric thresholds, and that the responses of the most sensitive neurons could account for the behavioral performance of macaques and humans. We also investigated factors that contributed to the wide range of observed thresholds. The difference in firing rate between responses to motion in the preferred and null directions was the most effective predictor of neurometric threshold, whereas the direction tuning bandwidth had no correlation with the threshold. We also showed that it is possible to obtain reliable estimates of neurometric thresholds using stimuli that were not highly optimized for each neuron, as is often necessary when recording from large populations of neurons with different receptive field concurrently, as was the case in this study. These results demonstrate that marmoset MT shows an essential physiological similarity to macaque MT, and suggest that its neurons are capable of representing motion signals that allow for comparable motion-in-noise judgments.

New and Noteworthy

We report the activity of neurons in marmoset MT in response to random-dot motion stimuli of varying coherence. The information carried by individual MT neurons was comparable to that of the macaque, and that the maximum firing rates were a strong predictor of sensitivity. Our study provides key information regarding the neural basis of motion perception in the marmoset, a small primate species that is becoming increasingly popular as an experimental model.
PAYOFF-BIASED SOCIAL LEARNING UNDERLIES THE DIFFUSION OF NOVEL EXTRACTIVE FORAGING TRADITIONS IN A WILD PRIMATE
Authors: Barrett Brendan J , McElreath Richard L , Perry Susan E
Published: February 2017

Abstract

The type and variety of learning strategies used by individuals to acquire behaviours in the wild are poorly understood, despite the presence of behavioural traditions in diverse taxa. Social learning strategies such as conformity can be broadly adaptive, but may also retard the spread of adaptive innovations. Strategies like payoff-biased learning, in contrast, are effective at diffusing new behaviour but may perform poorly when adaptive behaviour is common. We present a field experiment in a wild primate,Cebus capucinus, that introduced a novel food item and documented the innovation and diffusion of successful extraction techniques. We develop a multilevel, Bayesian statistical analysis that allows us to quantify individual-level evidence for different social and individual learning strategies. We find that payoff-biased social learning and age-biased social learning are primarily responsible for the diffusion of new techniques. We find no evidence of conformity; instead rare techniques receive slightly increased attention. We also find substantial and important variation in individual learning strategies that is patterned by age, with younger individuals being more influenced by both social information and their own individual experience. The aggregate cultural dynamics in turn depend upon the variation in learning strategies and the age structure of the wild population.
Preprinting Microbiology
Authors: Schloss Patrick D.
Published: February 2017

The field of microbiology has experienced significant growth due to transformative advances in technology and the influx of scientists driven by a curiosity to understand how microbes sustain myriad biochemical processes that maintain the Earth. With this explosion in scientific output, a significant bottleneck has been the ability to rapidly disseminate new knowledge to peers and the public. Preprints have emerged as a tool that a growing number of microbiologists are using to overcome this bottleneck. Posting preprints can help to transparently recruit a more diverse pool of reviewers prior to submitting to a journal for formal peer-review. Although use of preprints is still limited in the biological sciences, early indications are that preprints are a robust tool that can complement and enhance peer-reviewed publications. As publishing moves to embrace advances in internet technology, there are many opportunities for preprints and peer-reviewed journals to coexist in the same ecosystem.
The spatial and metabolic basis of colony size variation
Authors: Chacón Jeremy , Möbius Wolfram , Harcombe William
Published: February 2017

Spatial structure impacts microbial growth and interactions, with ecological and evolutionary consequences. It is therefore important to quantitatively understand how spatial proximity affects interactions in different environments. We test how proximity influences colony size when eitherEscherichia coliorSalmonella entericaare grown on different carbon sources. The importance of colony location changes with species and carbon source. Spatially-explicit, genome-scale metabolic modeling predicts colony size variation, supporting the hypothesis that metabolic mechanisms and diffusion are sufficient to explain the majority of observed variation. Geometrically, individual colony sizes are best predicted by Voronoi diagrams, which identify the territory that is closest to each colony. This means that relative colony growth is largely independent of the distance to colonies beyond those that set territory boundaries. Further, the effect of location increases when colonies take-up resource quickly relative to the diffusion of limiting resources. These analyses made it apparent that the importance of location was smaller than expected for experiments with colonies growing on sugars. The accumulation of toxic byproducts appears to limit the growth of large colonies and reduce variation in colony size. Our work provides an experimentally and theoretically grounded understanding of how location interacts with metabolism and diffusion to influence microbial interactions.
Metabolic enzyme cost explains variable trade-offs between microbial growth rate and yield
Authors: Wortel Meike T. , Noor Elad , Ferris Michael , Bruggeman Frank J. , Liebermeister Wolfram
Published: February 2017

Microbes may maximize the number of daughter cells per time or per amount of nutrients consumed. These two strategies correspond, respectively, to the use of enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways. In reality, fast growth is often associated with wasteful, yield-inefficient metabolism, and a general thermodynamic trade-off between growth rate and biomass yield has been proposed to explain this. We studied growth rate/yield trade-offs by using a novel modeling framework, Enzyme-Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM) and by assuming that the growth rate depends directly on the enzyme investment per rate of biomass production. In a comprehensive mathematical model of core metabolism inE. coli, we screened all elementary flux modes leading to cell synthesis, characterized them by the growth rates and yields they provide, and studied the shape of the resulting rate/yield Pareto front. By varying the model parameters, we found that the rate/yield trade-off is not universal, but depends on metabolic kinetics and environmental conditions. A prominent trade-off emerges under oxygen-limited growth, where yield-inefficient pathways support a 2-to-3 times higher growth rate than yield-efficient pathways. EFCM can be widely used to predict optimal metabolic states and growth rates under varying nutrient levels, perturbations of enzyme parameters, and single or multiple gene knockouts.

Author Summary

When cells compete for nutrients, those that grow faster and produce more offspring per time are favored by natural selection. In contrast, when cells need to maximize the cell number at a limited nutrient supply, fast growth does not matter and an efficient use of nutrients (i.e. high biomass yield) is essential. This raises a basic question about metabolism: can cells achieve high growth rates and yields simultaneously, or is there a conflict between the two goals? Using a new modeling method called Enzymatic Flux Cost Minimization (EFCM), we predict cellular growth rates and find that growth rate/yield trade-offs and the ensuing preference for enzyme-efficient or substrate-efficient metabolic pathways are not universal, but depend on growth conditions such as external glucose and oxygen concentrations.
Dietary adaptation ofFADSgenes in Europe varied across time and geography
Authors: Ye Kaixiong , Gao Feng , Wang David , Bar-Yosef Ofer , Keinan Alon
Published: February 2017

Fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genes encode rate-limiting enzymes for the biosynthesis of omega-6 and omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs). This biosynthesis is essential for individuals subsisting on LCPUFAs-poor, plant-based diets. Positive selection onFADSgenes has been reported in multiple populations, but its presence and pattern in Europeans remain elusive. Here, with analyses of ancient and modern DNA, we demonstrated that positive selection acted on the sameFADSvariants both before and after the advent of farming in Europe, but on opposite alleles. Selection in recent farmers also varied geographically, with the strongest signal in Southern Europe. These varying selection patterns concur with anthropological evidence of differences in diets, and with the association of recently-adaptive alleles with higherFADS1expression and enhanced LCPUFAs biosynthesis. Genome-wide association studies revealed associations of recently-adaptive alleles with not only LCPUFAs, but also other lipids and decreased risk of several inflammation-related diseases.
Critical threshold levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 are required to maintain DNA methylation across the genome in human cancer cells
Authors: Cai Yi , Tsai Hsing-Chen , Yen Ray-Whay Chiu , Zhang Yang W. , Kong Xiangqian , Wang Wei , Xia Limin , Baylin Stephen B.
Published: February 2017

Reversing DNA methylation abnormalities and associated gene silencing, through inhibiting DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) is an important potential cancer therapy paradigm. Maximizing this potential requires defining precisely how these enzymes maintain genome-wide, cancer-specific DNA methylation. To date, there is incomplete understanding of precisely how the three DNMTs, 1, 3A, and 3B, interact for maintaining DNA methylation abnormalities in cancer. By combining genetic and shRNA depletion strategies, we define not only a dominant role for DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) but also distinct roles of 3A and 3B in genome-wide DNA methylation maintenance. Lowering DNMT1 below a threshold level is required for maximal loss of DNA methylation at all genomic regions, including gene body and enhancer regions, and for maximally reversing abnormal promoter DNA hypermethylation and associated gene silencing to reexpress key genes. It is difficult to reach this threshold with patient-tolerable doses of current DNMT inhibitors (DNMTIs). We show that new approaches, like decreasing the DNMT targeting protein, UHRF1, can augment the DNA demethylation capacities of existing DNA methylation inhibitors for fully realizing their therapeutic potential.
WONKAandOOMMPPAA: analysis of protein–ligand interaction data to direct structure-based drug design
Authors: Deane Charlotte M. , Wall Ian D. , Green Darren V. S. , Marsden Brian D. , Bradley Anthony R.
Published: February 2017

In this work, two freely available web-based interactive computational tools that facilitate the analysis and interpretation of protein–ligand interaction data are described. Firstly,WONKA, which assists in uncovering interesting and unusual features (for example residue motions) within ensembles of protein–ligand structures and enables the facile sharing of observations between scientists. Secondly,OOMMPPAA, which incorporates protein–ligand activity data with protein–ligand structural data using three-dimensional matched molecular pairs.OOMMPPAAhighlights nuanced structure–activity relationships (SAR) and summarizes available protein–ligand activity data in the protein context. In this paper, the background that led to the development of both tools is described. Their implementation is outlined and their utility using in-house Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) data sets and openly available data from the PDB and ChEMBL is described. Both tools are freely available to use and download at http://wonka.sgc.ox.ac.uk/WONKA/ and http://oommppaa.sgc.ox.ac.uk/OOMMPPAA/.
Unlocking consumers’ environmental value orientations and green lifestyle behaviors
Authors: Sony Alisa , Ferguson David
Published: February 2017

Purpose

As consumers’ needs and wants are often reflected in their thoughts and behaviors, the purpose of this paper is to seek to understand Thai consumers’ environmental value orientations and green lifestyle behaviors. Additionally, this study explores whether a notable relationship was specifically formed between the devastating impacts of the 2011 floods on the consumers’ lives and their environmental value and green lifestyle behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

A consumer survey was conducted across Bangkok during the first two weeks of May 2012, following a seven-month nationwide flooding within Thailand, which lasted between July 2011 and January 2012.

Findings

Thai consumers demonstrate high environmental value, which is predominantly motivated by egoistic and biospheric-based values. Nevertheless, they exhibit low levels of green lifestyle behaviors. In addition, only a low positive relationship appears to exist between consumers’ environmental value and their green lifestyle behavior. Moreover, the Thai consumers’ green lifestyle behavior is mainly driven by their egoistic and social-altruistic values. Surprisingly, no distinctive positive relationship was detected between the effects of the 2011 Thailand floods on consumers’ lives and their environmental value or green lifestyle behavior.

Originality/value

Firms are encouraged to capitalize on Thai consumers’ egoistic and biospheric values when seeking to raise their environmental awareness. To encourage green lifestyle behavior responses, however, firms should emphasize egoistic and social-altruistic values. Furthermore, firms are encouraged to incorporate recycling aspects as notable features within their green offerings. Firms are to be discouraged, however, from specifically using natural disaster concern appeals when seeking to explicitly stimulate Thai consumers to think or act greener.
Developing visibility to mitigate supplier risk: the role of power-dependence structure
Authors: Nguyen Hung Vu , Nguyen Hieu Thanh , Deligonul Seyda , Cavusgil S. Tamer
Published: February 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model to build visibility for mitigating supplier risk. The model has shown that visibility can be an important information-based capability for a buying firm to mitigate supplier risk. Such an importance, however, may not hold in all settings but is contingent on the power-dependence structure between a buyer and its supplier. In particular, under high dependence of buyer on supplier, visibility is more needed to mitigate risk. In reverse, the importance of visibility is reduced if buyer is not dependent on its supplier. Two sides of antecedents to visibility are also posited and tested.

Design/methodology/approach

Seafood processing firms in Vietnam are surveyed to test the model. Reliabilities and validities of measures are tested before the structured analysis. To test the model, partial least square (variance-based structural equation modeling) with 500 boostrapping samples is used.

Findings

For the samples of seafood processing firms in Vietnam, visibility into their suppliers are found to be the key in mitigating supplier risks when the firms depend highly on their suppliers. In the reverse cases, the importance of visibility is reduced. Visibility is also found to be anteceded by information technology integration between buying firms and their suppliers.

Originality/value

The model helps develop and empirically test an important approach in proactively mitigating supplier risk. That is to develop buying firm’s visibility into a key supplier. Further, the model is developed to test the ways that visibility can be built. Those include both soft and hard sides of facilitating information exchange from supplier to its buyer. Thus the model is contributed to both the literature of supplier risk and power-dependence.
Does GRI reporting impact environmental sustainability? A cross-industry analysis of CO2 emissions performance between GRI-reporting and non-reporting companies
Authors: Belkhir Lotfi , Bernard Sneha , Abdelgadir Samih
Published: February 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting has any direct and positive impact on environmental sustainability performance, and more specifically on CO2 emissions of the reporting companies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze the CO2 emissions data from 40 A-level GRI-reporting companies, over a period of six years and across five industry sectors, comparing them with a control group of 24 non-reporting companies, to assess any direct impact of reporting on emissions. Using one-way analysis of variance statistical analysis, the authors perform a cross-industry analysis of the five-year cumulative change in absolute emissions and emissions intensity for both groups of companies from 2008 to 2012.

Findings

The authors find that for both metrics, the p-value between the two groups of companies far exceeds the threshold of 0.05, hence strongly favouring the “null hypothesis” that there is no correlation between GRI-reporting and sustainability improvement. More specifically, the authors find that the mean of the five-year cumulative change for the GRI group is an actual increase of about 6 percent in absolute emissions and a decrease of 15 percent emissions intensity, while the mean for non-GRI entities shows a decrease of about 3 percent and a decrease of 17 percent in absolute emissions and emission intensity, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

The authors are limited by the small sample of companies that have five or more years of reliable reporting of CO2 emissions at Scopes 1 and 2. Nonetheless, a normality test shows that the sample size is sufficiently representative of the entire population.

Practical implications

The lack of any correlation between GRI reporting, which often consists of the lion share of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investment, and any material improvement in CO2 performance, suggests that the current CSR strategies are futile as far as environmental sustainability is concerned, and hence need to be drastically modified.

Originality/value

This work is the first of its kind to investigate quantitatively, and using rigorous statistical methods, the correlation between GRI reporting and carbon emissions performance.
How to make knowledge resources valuable
Authors: Hussain Syed Amjad
Published: February 2017

Purpose

This paper aims to offer an integration point for newly acquired heterogeneous knowledge resources to be assessed if these resources qualify to be a part of a firm’s existing knowledge resource portfolio. Focus of this paper will be on the development of knowledge integration point (KIP), in addition to the factors helping in determination of this KIP, for example, manager’s judgment about the firms’ knowledge requirements, knowledge reserve a potential employee should have and firm’s existing knowledge resource portfolio.

Design/methodology/approach

This study includes a content analysis.

Findings

Firms should have only those resources which contribute to value creation for the customers and the organization. Presence of any other knowledge resource which does not have the ability to create value is a waste of value. It is the knowledge managers’ responsibility to decide whether a knowledge resource should be a part of a firm’s existing knowledge portfolio. This decision should be taken before the acquisition of that knowledge resource, i.e. at KIP, then it would be more easy for knowledge managers to handle and integrate them with the existing set of firm’s knowledge resources.

Practical implications

If the potential knowledge resource is evaluated at KIP to know its level of integration and configuration ability with the existing firms’ knowledge resource portfolio, then it will take less time and efforts to integrate. It will take such firms far ahead than those whose acquired resources took much time to integrate. Hence, resource’s integration and configuration ability levels affect the speed of integration, which ultimately provides opportunity to firms to perform well.

Originality/value

KIP may help to make speedier integration process, which eventually leads firms to perform better.
Organizational structure, sense making activities and SMEs’ competitiveness
Authors: Valaei Naser
Published: February 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model of competitiveness for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by investigating the structural relationship between organizational structure, knowledge quality (KQ) dimensions, improvisational creativity, compositional creativity and innovation in an emerging market – Malaysia – grounding in sense-making and organizational improvisational theories.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 358 valid questionnaires administered among SMEs’ top management were used in examining the measurement model and structural relationship between latent constructs using partial least squares (PLS) path-modelling approach.

Findings

The findings indicate that a flat organizational structure influences business entities’ sense-making activities in the way they realize the intrinsic value of knowledge (intrinsic KQ) and take action to apply the organizational knowledge (actionable KQ). These sense-making activities are also conducive to SMEs’ improvisational creativity, compositional creativity and innovative capabilities. All KQ dimensions are positively interrelated, thus supporting sense-making theory.

Originality/value

A sustainable competitive advantage for SMEs requires a setting that is based on a lean, decentralized and cooperative organizational structure that shapes organizational KQ. As a contribution to the literature, accessibility KQ is introduced as a KQ dimension. Even though previous research was unclear on the reflectiveness/formativeness of KQ, by applying confirmatory tetrad analysis-PLS, this study empirically supports that KQ is a formative construct.
Knowledge sharing through inter-organizational knowledge sharing systems
Authors: Al-Busaidi Kamla Ali , Olfman Lorne
Published: February 2017

Purpose

Inter-organizational knowledge sharing systems (IOKSS) are crucial for scientific, social and economic development especially in knowledge-intensive sectors. Knowledge sharing processes and systems will not only be challenged by individual and organizational factors but also by social, technical and political inter-organizational factors. This paper aims to investigate the impact of knowledge worker, peer, IOKSS, organization and sector factors on knowledge workers’ intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Knowledge workers are the key stakeholders that enable the survival of IOKSS.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected, through a questionnaire, from knowledge workers in the education and the health sectors.

Findings

This study found that the human factors (related to knowledge workers and their peers) have significant direct impact on intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Other factors, such as IOKSS system, organization and sector factors showed indirect impacts on knowledge workers’ intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Such investigation can be very valuable for developing countries as technological innovations such as IOKSS can be crucial for training and building human resources, and national knowledge management.

Originality/value

Little is empirically known about the enablers of sharing knowledge in systems that connect organizations in horizontal linkage in a specific sector or industry. The study also adds value to under investigated region.
Do impacts of an invasive nitrogen‐fixing shrub on Douglas‐fir and its ectomycorrhizal mutualism change over time following invasion?
Authors: Grove Sara , Parker Ingrid M. , Haubensak Karen A.
Published: February 2017

Impacts of invasive species may change in magnitude and even direction with invasion age. Impacts could increase as the population increases, individuals grow in size and ecological changes accumulate.

We used a chronosequence approach to characterize the development of soil impacts over time following the invasion of Cytisus scoparius, a widespread nitrogen‐fixing shrub thought to limit reforestation success. In a greenhouse experiment, we evaluated how abundance of ectomycorrhizal fungi, Douglas‐fir performance and leaf nitrogen changed across a 3‐ to 31‐year chronosequence of invasion. Each of the chronosequence sites were clearcuts where reforestation efforts were unsuccessful and where C. scoparius invaded. To estimate the contributions of the invasion separately from contributions of the accompanying disturbance, i.e. deforestation, we included soils from both invaded and uninvaded patches in each site of the chronosequence. In a complementary soil conditioning experiment, we examined the separate effects of host absence and invader presence on the mycorrhizal mutualism, leaf nitrogen and seedling growth.

Ectomycorrhizal colonization was lower in invaded soil, but this effect did not intensify with time. Despite the suppression of the mutualism, Douglas‐fir grew larger in invaded soils. This positive response is likely due to nitrogen fertilization, a conclusion supported by higher concentrations of leaf nitrogen of Douglas‐fir grown in invaded soils. While leaf N concentration increased with invasion duration, Douglas‐fir survival and growth did not.

Synthesis. Our findings suggest that soil impacts of an invader can develop rapidly and can be surprisingly stable over time. In such systems, recently invaded areas may be as difficult to restore as long‐invaded areas, especially where ectomycorrhizal fungi are important drivers of reforestation success. More chronosequence studies or long time series are needed to evaluate whether this is a general pattern.
The relation between orthographic processing and spelling in grade 1 French immersion children
Authors: Chung Sheila Cira , Chen Xi , Deacon S. Hélène
Published: February 2017

This study investigates the within‐ and cross‐language relations between orthographic processing and spelling for children learning to read in languages that share the same Roman script: namely, English and French. We examined these relations in a group of 152 children attending grade 1 in a French immersion program. Measures of English and French lexical orthographic processing (e.g., dream‐dreem; jaune‐jeaune) as well as English and French spelling were administered. Control measures included nonverbal ability, English phonological awareness, as well as rapid automatised naming, vocabulary, and word reading in English and French. We found a within‐language relation between orthographic processing and spelling in each of English and French. Cross‐language transfer from French orthographic processing to English spelling was also observed; there were no relations in the other direction. Our results suggest that orthographic processing is important for spelling development among bilingual children learning English and French.

What is already known about this topic

Orthographic processing plays an important role in monolingual children's word reading and spelling

Orthographic processing in one language is significantly related to word reading in the other language in bilingual children who are acquiring languages that share the same script

The extent to which orthographic processing is related to spelling is not clear in bilingual children

What this paper adds

Orthographic processing contributes to spelling within English and French in a novel group of bilingual children in French immersion

Orthographic processing in French transfers to spelling in English

The direction of cross‐language transfer of orthographic processing to spelling occurs from the more consistent orthography to the less consistent one

Implications for theory, policy, or practice

Cross‐language transfer of orthographic processing may be due to shared orthographic structures and common underlying processes involved in extracting orthographic information in English and French

The educational context in which second language is acquired may play an important role in spelling development in both English and French

French immersion educators should highlight similarities in orthographic conventions in English and French during literacy instruction to facilitate spelling development
Exploring the antecedents of employees’ developmental network characteristics: does context matter?
Authors: Lee Jeong Won
Published: February 2017

Reflecting today's turbulent business environment, mentoring research has broadened its focus from traditional dyadic relationships to developmental networks. Drawing on developmental network and social information processing theory, the present study examined the effects of work context on employees’ developmental network characteristics. The multi‐level data collected from 681 employees at 42 companies in Korea provided empirical evidence of the influence of three contextual factors (industry sector, organizational culture, and HR practice). Specifically, service firms showed a positive relationship with employees’ network range and relationship strength with developers (or multiple mentors). Adhocracy culture was positively associated with the range, strength, and size of developmental networks, whereas market culture showed a negative relationship with tie strength. Finally, formal mentoring programs were found to be positively related to tie strength and negatively related to network size. These findings extend previous developmental network research by integrating contextual factors, which have thus far been neglected.
CAN HOT SPOTS POLICING REDUCE CRIME IN URBAN AREAS? AN AGENT‐BASED SIMULATION*
Authors: WEISBURD DAVID , BRAGA ANTHONY A. , GROFF ELIZABETH R. , WOODITCH ALESE
Published: February 2017

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing consensus among researchers that hot spots policing is an effective strategy to prevent crime. Although strong evidence exists that hot spots policing will reduce crime at hot spots without immediate spatial displacement, we know little about its possible jurisdictional or large‐area impacts. We cannot isolate such effects in previous experiments because they (appropriately) compare treatment and control hot spots within large urban communities, thus, confounding estimates of area‐wide impacts. An agent‐based model is used to estimate area‐wide impacts of hot spots policing on street robbery. We test two implementations of hot spots policing (representing different levels of resource allocation) in a simulated borough of a city, and we compare them with two control conditions, one model with constant random patrol and another with no police officers. Our models estimate the short‐ and long‐term impacts on large‐area robbery levels of these different schemes of policing resources. These experiments reveal statistically significant effects for hot spots policing beyond both a random patrol model and a landscape without police. These simulations suggest that wider application of hot spots policing can have significant impacts on overall levels of crime in urban areas.