bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Immunostimulatory guide RNAs mediate potent antiviral response
Authors: Cai Yujia , Knudsen Alice , Windross Samuel Joseph , Thomsen Martin K , Paludan Søren R
Published: March 2018

Genome-editing with CRISPR has emerged as a technology with broad therapeutic potential. However, it is unclear whether CRISPR will elicit innate immune responses, which could impact both positively and negatively on the desired therapeutic effects. Here, we have examined the immune-stimulatory properties of different variants of guide RNAs (gRNAs) – in vitro transcribed gRNA (IVT-gRNA) and synthetic gRNAs with or without chemical modifications, full-length or duplexed. We find that only IVT-gRNA evokes strong expression of cytokines in a panel of cell lines while all the synthetic RNAs do not. We further find that sensing of IVT-gRNA proceeds mainly through the RIG-I/MAVS RNA sensing axis. One potential use of CRISPR is for antiviral therapy. The antiviral actions of the gRNA tested up until now have been relying purely on the gene editing function of the CRISPR machinery, which weakens its feasibility due to the difficulty to target all infected cells. When IVT-gRNA was combined with unmodified Cas9 mRNA, which also induces cytokine expression, strong immune response was obtained while maintaining nuclease activity of CRISPR. Remarkably, such combination inhibited herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) replication even though the nuclease activity was modest, and provided ‘bystander protection’ to the cells that were not transfected with CRIPSR molecules. The antiviral activity of IVT-gRNA was also observed in vivo in HSV-1-infected Cas9+ mice, thus demonstrating the therapeutic potential. Our study further extends the applications of CRISPR by exploiting the immunostimulatory function of gRNAs.
ERASE: a novel surface reconditioning strategy for single-molecule experiments
Authors: Bo Broadwater D W , Altman Roger B , Blanchard Scott C , Kim Harold D
Published: March 2018

While surface-based single-molecule experiments have revolutionized our understanding of biology and biomolecules, the workflow in preparing for such experiments, especially surface cleaning and functionalization remains labor-intensive and time-consuming. Even worse, meticulously assembled flow channels can be used only once for most experiments. A reusable surface would thus dramatically increase productivity and efficiency of single-molecule experiments. In this paper, we report a novel surface reconditioning strategy termed ERASE (Epitaxial Removal Aided by Strand Exchange) that allows a single flow cell to be used for vast repetition of single-molecule experiments. In this method, biomolecules immobilized to the surface through a nucleic acid duplex are liberated when a competing DNA strand disrupts the duplex via toehold-mediated strand displacement. We demonstrate the wide-range applicability of this method with various common surface preparation techniques, fluorescent dyes, and biomolecules including the bacterial ribosome. Beyond time and cost savings, we also show ERASE can assort molecules based on a nucleic acid barcode sequence, thus allowing experiments on different molecules in parallel. Our method increases the utility of prepared surfaces and is a significant improvement to the current single-use paradigm.
Reversible inhibition of specific transcription factor-DNA interactions using CRISPR
Authors: Shariati Ali , Dominguez Antonia , Wernig Marius , Qi Lei S. , Skotheim Jan M.
Published: March 2018

The control of gene expression by transcription factor binding sites frequently determines phenotype. However, it has been difficult to assay the function of single transcription factor binding sites within larger transcription networks. Here, we developed such a method by using deactivated Cas9 to disrupt binding to specific sites on the genome. Since CRISPR guide RNAs are longer than transcription factor binding sites, flanking sequence can be used to target specific sites. Targeting deactivated Cas9 to a specific Oct4 binding site in the Nanog promoter blocked Oct4 binding, reduced Nanog expression, and slowed division. Multiple guide RNAs allows simultaneous inhibition of multiple binding sites and conditionally-destabilized dCas9 allows rapid reversibility. The method is a novel high-throughput approach to systematically interrogate cis-regulatory function within complex regulatory networks.
DIA-NN: Deep neural networks substantially improve the identification performance of Data-independent acquisition (DIA) in proteomics
Authors: Demichev Vadim , Messner Christoph B. , Lilley Kathryn S. , Ralser Markus
Published: March 2018

Data-independent acquisition (DIA-MS) strategies, like SWATH-MS, have been developed to increase consistency, quantification precision and proteomic depth in label-free proteomic experiments. They aim to overcome stochasticity in the selection of precursor ions by utilising (mass-) windowed acquisition that is followed by computational reconstruction of the chromatograms. While DIA methods increasingly outperform typical data-dependent methods in identification consistency and precision specifically on large sample series, possibilities remain for further improvements. At present, only a fraction of the information recorded in the complex DIA spectra is extracted by the software analysis pipelines. Here we present a software tool (DIA-NN) that introduces artificial neural nets and a new quantification strategy to enhance signal processing in DIA-data. DIA-NN greatly improves identification of precursor ions and, as a consequence, protein quantification accuracy. The performance of DIA-NN demonstrates that deep learning provides opportunities to boost the analysis of data-independent acquisition workflows in proteomics.
Shifted balance of dorsal versus ventral striatal communication with frontal reward and regulatory regions in cannabis dependence
Authors: Feng Zhou , Kaeli Zimmermann , Fei Xin , Scheele Dirk , Dau Wolfgang , Banger Markus , Weber Bernd , Hurlemann René , Kendrick Keith M , Becker Benjamin
Published: March 2018

The transition from voluntary to addictive behavior is characterized by a loss of regulatory control in favor of reward driven behavior. Animal models indicate that this process is neurally underpinned by a shift in ventral to dorsal striatal control of behavior, however this shift has not been directly examined in humans. Against this background the present resting state fMRI study employed a two-step approach to (1) precisely map striatal alterations using a novel, data-driven network classification strategy combining Intrinsic Connectivity Contrast (ICC) with Multivoxel Pattern Analysis (MVPA) and, (2) to determine whether a ventral to dorsal striatal shift in connectivity with reward and and regulatory control regions can be observed in abstinent (28 days) male cannabis-dependent individuals (n = 24) relative to matched controls (n = 28). Network classification revealed that the groups can be reliably discriminated by global connectivity profiles of two striatal regions that mapped onto the ventral (nucleus accumbens) and dorsal striatum (caudate). Subsequent functional connectivity analysis demonstrated a relative shift between ventral and dorsal striatal communication with fronto-limbic regions that have been consistently involved in reward processing (rostral ACC) and executive / regulatory functions (dorsomedial PFC). Specifically, in the cannabis dependent subjects connectivity between the ventral striatum with the rostral ACC increased, whereas both striatal regions were uncoupled from the regulatory dorsomedial PFC. Together these findings suggest a shift in the balance between dorsal and ventral striatal control in cannabis dependence. Similar changes have been observed in animal models and may promote the loss of control central to addictive behavior.
Inhibitory Units: An Organizing Nidus for Feature-Selective Sub-Networks in Area V1
Authors: Palagina Ganna , Meyer Jochen F. , Smirnakis Stelios M.
Published: March 2018

Sensory stimuli are encoded by the joint firing of neuronal groups composed of pyramidal cells and interneurons, rather than single isolated neurons (Uhlhaas et al, 2009, Buzsaki, 2010). However, the principles by which these groups are organized to encode information remain poorly understood. A leading hypothesis is that similarly tuned pyramidal cells that preferentially connect to each other may form multi-cellular encoding units yoked to a similar purpose. The existence of such groups would be reflected on the profile of spontaneous events observed in neocortical networks. We used 2-photon calcium imaging to study spontaneous population-burst events in layer 2/3 of mouse area V1 during postnatal maturation (postnatal day 8–52). Throughout the period examined both size and duration of spontaneously occurring population-bursts formed scale-free distributions obeying a power law. The same was true for the degree of “functional connectivity,” a measure of pairwise synchrony across cells. These observations are consistent with a hierarchical small-world-net architecture, characterized by groups of cells with high local connectivity (“small worlds”, cliques) connected to each other via a restricted number of “hub” cells” (Bonifazi et al., 2009, Sporns, 2011, Luce & Perry, 1949). To identify candidate “small world” groups we searched for cells whose calcium events had a consistent temporal relationship to events recorded from local inhibitory interneurons. This was guided by the intuition that groups of neurons whose synchronous firing represents a “temporally coherent computational unit” (or feature) ought to be inhibited together. This strategy allowed us to identify clusters of pyramidal neurons whose firing is temporally “linked” to one or more local interneurons. These “small-world” clusters did not remain static, during postnatal development: both cluster size and overlap with other clusters decreased over time as pyramidal neurons became progressively more selective, “linking” to fewer neighboring interneurons. Notably, pyramidal neurons in a cluster show higher tuning function similarity than expected with each other and with their “linked” interneurons. Our findings suggest that spontaneous population events in the visual cortex are shaped by “small-world” networks of pyramidal neurons that share functional properties and work in concert with one or more local interneurons. We argue that such groups represent a fundamental neocortical unit of computation at the population level.
A genetic perspective on the relationship between eudaimonic –and hedonic well-being
Authors: Baselmans B.M.L. , Bartels M.
Published: March 2018

Whether hedonism or eudaimonism are two distinguishable forms of well-being is a topic of ongoing debate. To shed light on the relation between the two, large-scale available molecular genetic data were leveraged to gain more insight into the genetic architecture of the overlap between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Hence, we conducted the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of eudaimonic well-being (N = ∼108K) and linked it to a GWAS of hedonic well-being (N = ∼ 222K). We identified the first two genome-wide significant independent loci for eudaimonic well-being and 6 independent loci for hedonic well-being. Joint analyses revealed a moderate phenotypic correlation (r = 0.53), but a high genetic correlation (rg = 0.78) between eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. For both traits we identified enrichment in the frontal cortex -and cingulate cortex as well as the cerebellum to be top ranked. Bi-directional Mendelian Randomization analyses using two-sample MR indicated some evidence for a causal relationship from hedonic well-being to eudaimonic well-being whereas no evidence was found for the reverse. Additionally, genetic correlations patterns with a range of positive and negative related phenotypes were largely similar for hedonic –and eudaimonic well-being. Our results reveal a large genetic overlap between hedonism and eudaimonism.
Cochaperones enable Hsp70 to fold proteins like a Maxwell’s demon
Authors: Xu Huafeng
Published: March 2018

The heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) chaperones, vital to the proper folding of proteins inside cells, consume ATP and require cochaperones in assisting protein folding. It is unclear whether Hsp70 can utilize the free energy from ATP hydrolysis to fold a protein into a native state that is thermodynamically unstable in the chaperone-free equilibrium. Here we present a model of Hsp70-mediated protein folding, which predicts that Hsp70, as a result of differential stimulation of ATP hydrolysis by its Hsp40 cochaperone, dissociates faster from a substrate in fold-competent conformations than from one in misfolding-prone conformations, thus elevating the native concentration above and suppressing the misfolded concentration below their respective equilibrium values. Previous models would not make or imply these predictions, which are experimentally testable. Our model quantitatively reproduces experimental refolding kinetics, predicts how modulations of the Hsp70/Hsp40 chaperone system affect protein folding, and suggests new approaches to regulating cellular protein quality.
Mechanisms of critical period in the hippocampus underlie object location learning and memory in infant rats
Authors: Travaglia Alessio , Steinmetz Adam B. , Miranda Janelle M. , Alberini Cristina M.
Published: March 2018

Episodic memories in early childhood are rapidly forgotten, a phenomenon that is associated with “infantile amnesia,” the inability of adults to remember early-life experiences. We recently showed that early aversive contextual memory in infant rats, which is in fact rapidly forgotten, is actually not lost, as reminders presented later in life reinstate a long-lasting and context-specific memory. We also showed that the formation of this infantile memory recruits in the hippocampus mechanisms typical of developmental critical periods. Here, we tested whether similar mechanisms apply to a nonaversive, hippocampal type of learning. We report that novel object location (nOL) learned at postnatal day 17 (PN17) undergoes the typical rapid forgetting of infantile learning. However, a later reminder reinstates memory expression. Furthermore, as for aversive experiences, nOL learning at PN17 engages critical period mechanisms in the dorsal hippocampus: it induces a switch in the GluN2A/2B-NMDA receptor ratio, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor injected bilaterally into the dorsal hippocampus immediately after training results in long-lasting memory expression. We conclude that in infancy the hippocampus plays a necessary role in processing episodic and contextual memories, including nonaversive ones, and matures through a developmental critical period.
Crystal structures of two isotypic lanthanide(III) complexes: triaqua[2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(benzoylhydrazone)]methanollanthanide(III) trichloride methanol disolvates (Ln
III = Tb and Dy)
Authors: Kachi-Terajima Chihiro , Kimura Norihisa
Published: March 2018

The title lanthanide complexes, [Ln(DAPBH2)(CH3OH)(H2O)3]Cl3·2CH3OH [Ln
III = Tb and Dy; DAPBH2 = 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(benzoylhydrazone), C23H21N5O2], are isotypic. The central lanthanide ions are nine-coordinate, being ligated by three N and two O atoms from the pentadentate DAPBH2 ligand, and four O atoms from the coordinated methanol molecule and three coordinated water molecules. The coordination geometry of the lanthanide ion is a distorted capped square antiprism. In the crystals, the various components are linked by O—H...Cl, N—H...Cl and O—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming three-dimensional supramolecular frameworks. Within the frameworks, there are C—H...Cl and C—H...O hydrogen bonds and offset π–π interactions (intercentroid distance ca 3.81 Å).
An immune genetic algorithm for simple assembly line balancing problem of type 1
Authors: Zhang Han-ye
Published: March 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop an immune genetic algorithm (IGA) to solve the simple assembly line balancing problem of type 1 (SALBP-1). The objective is to minimize the number of workstations and workstation load for a given cycle time of the assembly line.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops a new solution method for SALBP-1, and a user-defined function named ψ(·) is proposed to convert all the individuals to satisfy the precedence relationships during the operation of IGA.

Findings

Computational experiments suggest that the proposed method is efficient.

Originality/value

An IGA is proposed to solve the SALBP-1 for the first time.
Corporate risk-taking and performance in Malaysia: the effect of board composition, political connections and sustainability practices
Authors: Chong Lee-Lee , Ong Hway-Boon , Tan Siow-Hooi
Published: March 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how board composition, political connections and sustainability practices affect risk-taking and performance of firms.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used secondary data and regression technique to analyse the relationship. A sample consisting of 290 firm-year observations was applied in the analysis.

Findings

The findings show that a larger board size contributes to greater financial risk; however, this risk can be reduced with more independent directors in the boardroom. An optimal board size with appropriate number of independent directors is desired, as a large board size can be harmful to firm performance. Politically connected firms also generate lower risk-taking and performance, and the double-edged sword effect of political connections needs to be considered. In terms of sustainability practices, firms have to engage in sustainable development to maximise the firms’ value, not ignoring the vital role of women in strategising business performance. However, the effect of sustainability practices on firms’ risk-taking is still not noticeable.

Research limitations/implications

Even though the sample size is not large because of the limited availability of data, the findings, to a certain extent, could be generalised to emerging markets, as most emerging markets do have similar financial and economic developments.

Practical implications

The findings from this paper can be used to support the implementation of sustainability practices, especially in those countries where sustainability initiatives are yet to be widely accepted.

Originality/value

This is one of the first few studies that examined the effect of non-financial information on risk-taking and performance of firms. This study concludes the positive effect of sustainability practices on firm performance.
Ethnographies of parliament: culture and uncertainty in shallow democracies
Authors: Crewe Emma
Published: March 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider the challenges, advantages and limits of ethnographical approaches to the study of parliament. Challenges in the study of political institutions emerge because they can be fast-changing, difficult to gain access to, have starkly contrasting public and private faces and, in the case of national parliaments, are intimately connected to rest of the nation.

Design/methodology/approach

Ethnography usually tends to be difficult to plan in advance, but especially so when parliament is the focus.

Findings

Research in parliament requires clear questions but an emergent approach for answering them – working out your assumptions, deciding on the most appropriate methods depending on what wish to find out, and continually reviewing progress. Its great strengths are flexibility, ability to encompass wider historical and cultural practices into the study, getting under the surface and achieving philosophical rigour. Rigour is partly achieved through reflexivity.

Research limitations/implications

One implication of this is that not only will each study of parliament be different, because each is embedded in different histories, cultures, and politics, but the study of the same parliament will contain variations if a team is involved.

Originality/value

Ethnographical research is a social and political process of relating; interpreting texts, events and conversations; and representing the “other” as seen by observers.
Recommender systems
Authors: Alyari Fatemeh , Jafari Navimipour Nima
Published: March 2018

Purpose

This paper aims to identify, evaluate and integrate the findings of all relevant and high-quality individual studies addressing one or more research questions about recommender systems and performing a comprehensive study of empirical research on recommender systems that have been divided into five main categories. To achieve this aim, the authors use systematic literature review (SLR) as a powerful method to collect and critically analyze the research papers. Also, the authors discuss the selected recommender systems and its main techniques, as well as their benefits and drawbacks in general.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the SLR method is utilized with the aim of identifying, evaluating and integrating the findings of all relevant and high-quality individual studies addressing one or more research questions about recommender systems and performing a comprehensive study of empirical research on recommender systems that have been divided into five main categories. Also, the authors discussed recommender system and its techniques in general without a specific domain.

Findings

The major developments in categories of recommender systems are reviewed, and new challenges are outlined. Furthermore, insights on the identification of open issues and guidelines for future research are provided. Also, this paper presents the systematical analysis of the recommender system literature from 2005. The authors identified 536 papers, which were reduced to 51 primary studies through the paper selection process.

Originality/value

This survey will directly support academics and practical professionals in their understanding of developments in recommender systems and its techniques.
Implementing quality improvement through knowledge brokering: a Dutch case study
Authors: Quartz-Topp Julia
Published: March 2018

Purpose

Managerial quality improvement (QI) in terms of accountability management has become central to healthcare institutions. Yet, managerial QI is largely considered irrelevant by healthcare professionals. In consequence, the implementation of managerial QI implementation is hampered. Knowledge brokering is discussed as a means to foster the implementation of (QI) knowledge in healthcare. Yet, the benefit of knowledge brokering for managerial QI has so far been neglected. Therefore, this research asks how knowledge brokering can support the implementation of managerial QI.

Design/methodology/approach

This article builds on a single case study approach as a unit of analysis. Qualitative data collection comprises 21 semi-structured interviews at the managerial and clinical levels, 220 h of participant observation and document analysis.

Findings

This paper identifies three strategies of how brokers implement managerial QI into a hospital by means of knowledge brokering: prioritizing, obscuring and redefining. The strategies help to transform multiple external QI demands into one managerial QI strategy. Yet the strategies also reduce non-managerial perspectives on QI, which generates frustration among healthcare professionals.

Practical implications

The paper works out the benefits and costs of managerial knowledge brokering. This allows to spell out practical implications for managers, nurses and clinicians who have to deal with managerial QI in healthcare organizations.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study managerial knowledge brokering practices as a means to implement managerial QI into healthcare organizations. By doing that, the article adds to the body of research on knowledge translation in healthcare.
Which research institution performs better than average in a subject category or better than selected other institutions?
Authors: Bornmann Lutz
Published: March 2018

Purpose

Institutional bibliometric analyses compare as a rule the performance of different institutions. The purpose of this paper is to use a statistical approach which not only allows a comparison of the citation impact of papers from selected institutions, but also a comparison of the citation impact of the papers of these institutions with all other papers published in a particular time frame.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a randomly selected cluster sample (n=4,327,013 articles and reviews from 2000 to 2004), which is drawn from a bibliometric in-house database including Web of Science data. Regression models are used to analyze citation impact scores. Subsequent to the models, average predictions at specific interesting values are calculated to analyze which factors could have an effect on the impact scores-the journal impact factor (JIF), of the journals which published the papers and the number of affiliations given in a paper.

Findings

Three anonymous German institutions are compared with one another and with the set of all other papers in the time frame. As an indicator of institutional performance, fractionally counted PPtop 50%on the level of individual papers are used. This indicator is a normalized impact score whereas each paper is fractionally assigned to the 50 percent most frequently cited papers within its subject category and publication year. The results show that the JIF and the number of affiliations have a statistically significant effect on the institutional performance.

Originality/value

Fractional regression models are introduced to analyze the fractionally counted PPtop 50%on the level of individual papers.
Older workers as a source of wisdom capital: broadening perspectives
Authors: Vasconcelos Anselmo Ferreira
Published: March 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint some key variables that help shape the notion of older workers as a source of organizational wisdom capital.

Design/methodology/approach

Toward that end, the paper reviews a selective bibliography in order to support its arguments.

Findings

The evidence garnered throughout this paper – fundamentally through different lens of analysis – suggests that older workers may be considered as valuable assets. Furthermore, a sizeable number of members of this cohort continue, even in the latter stages of their careers, to be willing, well-equipped, and able to enhance, if properly utilized, companies to achieve other patterns of performance. Accordingly, it is advocated here that their knowledge and expertise constitutes an authentic source of organizational wisdom capital that deserves careful attention from organizations to maintain by means of suitable incentives and training.

Research limitations/implications

This paper highlights other aspects that should not be disdained by organizations such as career-ending, work characteristics, and mastery-avoidance goals. Thus, companies that are interested in keeping older talents must be attuned to their wishes and aspirations, as well as being proactive by offering tailor-made job-products to them.

Social implications

Given the trend of aging workforce, it is likely that organizations will be increasingly impacted by societal demands and public policies toward benefiting and respecting older talents.

Originality/value

This paper advocates that older workers are usually living memories of organizational life. Rather, they tend to keep in their minds those failures and successful ideas, projects, initiatives, and leaderships, which added or not value throughout their trajectories, as well as things that worked out or not. Fundamentally, they are able to provide answers to vital questions.
Operations social practices in safety and health at work
Authors: Caixeta de Castro Maia Leonardo , Masini Espindola Daniel , Henrique Antonelli da Veiga Cristiano
Published: March 2018

Purpose

Studying the gap between improvements in operational performance of a manufacturing organization does not necessarily represent the existent of safe and healthy work. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap validating a scale about social practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature was studied; data analysis instrument and the scale validated by Q-sort. The reliability and validity of research instrument indicators were drawing from the analysis of judges. The data were assessed by convergence matrix.

Findings

It was validated five social practices factors. It was enabled the adequacy of the name of the constructs and establishment which indicators better convergence to the constructs.

Research limitations/implications

The judge´s number that answered the research was low. The level of convergence related of two factors was above 50 percent.

Practical implications

It is possible to achieve better levels of performance through social practices. Organizations must rethink the management and the routine of the workers to implement the operational practices.

Social implications

The practices need to have with well-defined rules, as well as action to drive compliance. This vision also needs to be expanded to suppliers, customers and society.

Originality/value

Highlight five points: technology is the main factor for analyzes and decisions; the search for quality leads organizations to seek practices that improve workers’ well-being, health and safety; the activities of the worker are carried out on the factory, or in the work environment; Should not to belittle the local community; culture is an essential factor to continuous improvement.
Integrating perspectives: proposal for the analysis of work as a multifaceted phenomenon
Authors: Colomby Renato Koch , Oltramari Andrea Poleto , Rodrigues Maria Beatriz
Published: March 2018

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of work from eight different and subsidiary perspectives: physiological, cultural, spiritual, ideological, economic, political, legal and psychosocial.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on an exploratory quantitative survey with a probability sample composed of 407 cases. The bibliographic review resulted from several readings about the phenomenon of work and the impacts arising from these different perspectives.

Findings

The analysis of the data collected confirmed that the meaning and the sense of work are multifaceted. The authors also found that work is an important source of reflection and learning in people’s life. The research instrument promoted thinking and analysis of the participants’ careers. The research process resulted in mutual and interactive learning of investigators and investigation.

Research limitations/implications

The data collection came from a single source: a written questionnaire. This limits the scope of the data and raises interpretative discussion concerning the contents of the answers. For future reference, the authors suggest to complement it with different techniques of data collection, associating qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Practical implications

The main contributions of the paper are, on the one hand, the effort of synthetizing and recording eight different categories of analysis of the multiple and possible meanings of work, which were elaborated using the available literature, and on the other hand, to understand and analyze those categories using the perception of a numerically meaningful sample of the public, coming from different backgrounds.

Social implications

The purpose of this paper is to propose a guideline for future studies so that they could choose with increased awareness the initial perspectives at the basis of the analyses. This study could encourage continuity and provide greater incentives on this increasingly relevant subject.

Originality/value

After analyzing the data, it was acknowledged that work cannot be seen from a single perspective, but it must be viewed in its multifaceted character and sense. The published material on the meanings of work usually focuses on specific professions and careers, the authors argue that this fact limits the scope of perspectives and interpretations of the phenomenon.
A blueprint for the future of professional cycling
Authors: Van Reeth Daam , Lagae Wim
Published: March 2018

Purpose

Professional road cycling has the capacity to be a major worldwide spectator sport, but has yet, in the eyes of many, failed to realize its full potential. There is a growing awareness that profound reforms are crucial for the sport’s future success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions which the sport must address, and define a new business model for professional road cycling.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses qualitative data to screen professional road cycling’s current business model, and to present a coherent vision on the changes needed to reform the sport. Information was gathered from archival material and from talks with stakeholders.

Findings

The paper presents a blueprint for the future of professional cycling. It identifies 6 vital building blocks and 25 specific action points, beginning with the idea that professional road cycling needs a stable business model that produces a valuable core product.

Originality/value

Professional road cycling is is conservative by nature and changes are extremely difficult to implement. This contribution presents a glimpse of one possible future for professional cycling, if cycling’s policy makers acknowledge the need for profound reforms of the sport and are willing to make the necessary changes.
A continental‐scale assessment of variability in leaf traits: Within species, across sites and between seasons
Authors: Bloomfield Keith J. , Cernusak Lucas A. , Eamus Derek , Ellsworth David S. , Colin Prentice I. , Wright Ian J. , Boer Matthias M. , Bradford Matt G. , Cale Peter , Cleverly James , Egerton John J. G. , Evans Bradley J. , Hayes Lucy S. , Hutchinson Michael F. , Liddell Michael J. , Macfarlane Craig , Meyer Wayne S. , Prober Suzanne M. , Togashi Henrique F. , Wardlaw Tim , Zhu Lingling , Atkin Owen K.
Published: March 2018

Plant species show considerable leaf trait variability that should be accounted for in dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs). In particular, differences in the acclimation of leaf traits during periods more and less favourable to growth have rarely been examined.

We conducted a field study of leaf trait variation at seven sites spanning a range of climates and latitudes across the Australian continent; 80 native plant species were included. We measured key traits associated with leaf structure, chemistry and metabolism during the favourable and unfavourable growing seasons.

Leaf traits differed widely in the degree of seasonal variation displayed. Leaf mass per unit area (Ma) showed none. At the other extreme, seasonal variation accounted for nearly a third of total variability in dark respiration (Rdark).

At the non‐tropical sites, carboxylation capacity (Vcmax) at the prevailing growth temperature was typically higher in summer than in winter. When Vcmax was normalized to a common reference temperature (25°C), however, the opposite pattern was observed for about 30% of the species. This suggests that metabolic acclimation is possible, but far from universal.

Intraspecific variation—combining measurements of individual plants repeated at contrasting seasons, different leaves from the same individual, and multiple conspecific plants at a given site—dominated total variation for leaf metabolic traits Vcmax and Rdark. By contrast, site location was the major source of variation (53%) for Ma. Interspecific trait variation ranged from only 13% of total variation for Vcmax up to 43% for nitrogen content per unit leaf area.

These findings do not support a common practice in DGVMs of assigning fixed leaf trait values to plant functional types. Trait‐based models should allow for interspecific differences, together with spatial and temporal plasticity in leaf structural, chemical and metabolic traits.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
When is the best time to flower and disperse? A comparative analysis of plant reproductive phenology in the Mediterranean
Authors: Segrestin Jules , Bernard‐Verdier Maud , Violle Cyrille , Richarte Jean , Navas Marie‐Laure , Garnier Eric
Published: March 2018

The phenology of organisms corresponds to the temporal match between the components of their life cycle and the seasonal distribution of resources and hazards. Flowering has been extensively studied to describe the reproductive phenology of plants, but in comparison, other key events for reproductive success such as the seed maturation period and the time of seed dispersal have been considerably less investigated.

This study describes the temporal sequence of onset of flowering and seed dispersal, and the time necessary to mature seeds in 138 species growing in the strongly seasonal climate of Mediterranean southern France. Data for the three traits were compiled from several original surveys to characterize the reproductive phenology of 47 annual, 67 perennial herbaceous and 24 low stature woody species. The timing of these three phases was assessed in relation to local climatic conditions, and the degree to which they were coordinated was tested.

All three phenological traits spanned a wide range of values from early spring to late summer. Annuals flowered slightly earlier than perennials but the largest difference between these groups was found for the seed maturation period, which was much shorter in annuals. This resulted in earlier dispersal dates in these species, which occurred before periods of high water deficit. Significant positive correlations were found between onset of flowering, onset of seed dispersal and seed maturation period. This suggests a consistent pattern of coordination between the different phases of reproductive phenology across species.

Our results show that while the time slot for flowering appears restricted to periods with adequate temperature and water availability for most species, the seed maturation period and dispersal phase can occur during periods of substantial water deficit, at least for perennials. They also suggest that the different species can be arrayed along a fast‐slow continuum based on reproductive events, from early flowering species with short seed maturation and early dispersal to late flowering species with long seed maturation and late dispersal. Whether this relates to the postulated fast‐slow continuum identified for the functioning of vegetative organs is a promising avenue for future research.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
Internal and External Sources and the Adoption of Innovations in Organizations
Authors: Damanpour Fariborz , Sanchez‐Henriquez Fernando , Chiu Holly H.
Published: March 2018

Research on knowledge sources and innovation has focused mainly on external knowledge sources and the generation of technological innovations. This study contributes by examining the dual role of internal and external sources of knowledge and information on the adoption of managerial innovations, a type of non‐technological innovation deemed essential for organizational effectiveness but not examined sufficiently. It also contributes to the innovation adoption literature by analysing adoption as a process, rather than a dichotomous choice. We investigate how the involvement of stakeholders for the selection of a new programme, and organizational actions for the implementation of that programme, affect its adoption. Regression analyses of privatization of 64 services in 1,512 public organizations provide empirical evidence in support of the influence of internal and external involvement, and internal, but not external, implementation actions. We also find that while the relative influence of internal and external stakeholders’ involvement on innovation adoption does not differ, internal implementation actions have a stronger effect than external implementation actions. We discuss the implications of our findings for the adoption of innovations in organizations and offer research ideas for understanding non‐technological innovations and their effects on organizational conduct and outcomes.
Wage‐labour and a double separation in Papua New Guinea and beyond
Authors: Martin Keir
Published: March 2018

In this essay, I explore how the idea of wage‐labour is used to perform a double separation within and between persons. The first aspect of this separation is a separation of activities that are characterized as ‘labour’ from the person performing the activity thus characterized. This separation is the precondition for the second separation: namely a partial and often contested separation between the two parties to the contested wage‐labour transaction. Ethnographically, I explore how the idea of wage‐labour has been used to perform this double separation in Papua New Guinea in recent years. The analysis of these separations has a long pedigree in Western critical thought, the first being at the heart of Marx's conception of the worker as person in a capitalist political economy, for example. The second separation creates the possibility of momentary perspectives from which persons can present themselves increasingly as discrete individuals separate from the claims of others. Ethnographic analysis demonstrates how the category of ‘labour’ and related idioms create possibilities for the historically shifting emergence and dissolution of different idioms of the person in contemporary PNG, which is taken as a specific instance of an important global phenomenon.
Re‐learning to labour? ‘Activation Works’ and new politics of social assistance in the case of Slovak Roma
Authors: Grill Jan
Published: March 2018

Based on fieldwork among Roma/Gypsy groups in Slovakia, this essay explores the concept of ‘activation (to) work’ along the shifting lines of economic precariousness and the new politics of social assistance targeting formally unemployed subjects in the context of a neoliberalizing state. Focusing on how ideologies and policies of activation operate in everyday practices, the essay dissects lived experiences and the forms of sociability emerging in these spaces constituted by the centrifugal forces of the state. Particular attention is paid to the contested meanings, politics of waiting, and acts of compassion elicited by subjects’ labour and work simulations.
State, labour, and kin: tensions of value in an egalitarian community
Authors: Hoëm Ingjerd
Published: March 2018

This essay discusses the effects of a state apparatus and new forms of labour in a kin‐based egalitarian distributive economy. The atoll society of Tokelau is currently establishing a modern state, largely financed by aid, but also through revenue from Tokelau's fisheries zone. The new labour regime associated with the introduction of a state administration is in practice entangled with an egalitarian distributive system of production and reproduction. The local kin‐based leadership is able to incorporate and use the system of capital in an egalitarian fashion. Whether it will be able over time to accommodate social inequality – that is, the division of villagers into skilled and unskilled workers with potentially qualitatively different access to livelihoods – is, however, an open question. Where comparative studies from Aboriginal Australia describe unequal access to work and standards of livelihoods by reference to ontology, and hence by implication to ethnicity, the tensions experienced in Tokelau take place within one social network in which new forms of labour contribute to a devaluation of skills associated with gendered patterns of livelihoods. From this devaluation follows a potential loss of sustainability for the atoll society should the capital flow move elsewhere.
State against industry: time and labour among Dominican furniture makers
Authors: Krohn‐Hansen Christian
Published: March 2018

This essay analyses time and labour among small Dominican furniture producers. The Dominican Republic's small workshops and firms experience much waiting – not speed and political‐economic integration, but, instead, slowness, blockades, and marginalization. The national production of furniture has faced increasingly tough competition from imported commodities. In the early 1990s, the national finances were in crisis. Pressured by its international lenders, the state deregulated and opened the economy, while it has continued to spend little on the development of the country's workshops and industry. In addition, the country's electricity sector is in poor condition and long blackouts are the norm. Because of the situation, the country's small furniture makers are forced to live with contradictory and clashing social rhythms. The diversity among forms of time is navigated through concrete labour and in the everyday. Contemporary global capitalism ought to be understood as a contingent outcome of labour activity in the form of a myriad of localized, mundane efforts to ‘fix’ it. Such efforts always mirror a specific political and social history. By exploring contemporary capitalist time through a focus on particular forms of labour, we can analyse how global capitalism's discrepant rhythms help to give shape to, disrupt, and dislocate forms of labour in a given place. At the same time, we show how the involved agents seek to adapt to, and work on the effects of, the conflicts between rhythms.
Born like China, growing like China
Authors: Chen Xianjuan
Published: March 2018

This paper studies the effects of China's one‐child policy on saving and foreign reserve accumulation. Fertility control increases the saving rate both by altering saving decisions at the household level, and by altering the demographic composition of the population at the aggregate level. I show that demographically induced changes in saving explain the build‐up of a large foreign surplus in China. As in Song, Storesletten, and Zilibtti (2011), the model features contractual and financial market imperfections. Government‐owned firms are less productive but have full access to the credit market. Entrepreneurial firms are more productive but face credit constraints. As labour switches from less productive to more productive firms, demand for domestic bank borrowing decreases. As saving increases while demand for loans decreases, domestic savings are invested abroad, generating a foreign surplus. The model predicts that China's foreign reserve accumulation will soon begin to slow down in response to recent relaxation of the one‐child policy.
Update on the Health Services Research Doctoral Core Competencies
Authors: Burgess James F. , Menachemi Nir , Maciejewski Matthew L.
Published: March 2018

Objective

To present revised core competencies for doctoral programs in health services research (HSR), modalities to deliver these competencies, and suggested methods for assessing mastery of these competencies.

Data Sources and Data Collection

Core competencies were originally developed in 2005, updated (but unpublished) in 2008, modestly updated for a 2016 HSR workforce conference, and revised based on feedback from attendees. Additional feedback was obtained from doctoral program directors, employer/workforce experts and attendees of presentation on these competencies at the AcademyHealth's June 2017 Annual Research Meeting.

Principal Findings

The current version (V2.1) competencies include the ethical conduct of research, conceptual models, development of research questions, study designs, data measurement and collection methods, statistical methods for analyzing data, professional collaboration, and knowledge dissemination. These competencies represent a core that defines what HSR researchers should master in order to address the complexities of microsystem to macro‐system research that HSR entails. There are opportunities to conduct formal evaluation of newer delivery modalities (e.g., flipped classrooms) and to integrate new Learning Health System Researcher Core Competencies, developed by AHRQ, into the HSR core competencies.

Conclusions

Core competencies in HSR are a continually evolving work in progress because new research questions arise, new methods are developed, and the trans‐disciplinary nature of the field leads to new multidisciplinary and team building needs.