bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The origin of heredity in protocells
Authors: West Timothy , Sojo Victor , Pomiankowski Andrew , Lane Nick
Published: October 2017

Here we develop a computational model that examines one of the first major biological innovations—the origin of heredity in simple protocells. The model assumes that the earliest protocells were autotrophic, producing organic matter from CO
2
and H
2
. Carbon fixation was facilitated by geologically sustained proton gradients across fatty acid membranes, via iron–sulfur nanocrystals lodged within the membranes. Thermodynamic models suggest that organics formed this way should include amino acids and fatty acids. We assume that fatty acids partition to the membrane. Some hydrophobic amino acids chelate FeS nanocrystals, producing three positive feedbacks: (i) an increase in catalytic surface area; (ii) partitioning of FeS nanocrystals to the membrane; and (iii) a proton-motive active site for carbon fixing that mimics the enzyme Ech. These positive feedbacks enable the fastest-growing protocells to dominate the early ecosystem through a simple form of heredity. We propose that as new organics are produced inside the protocells, the localized high-energy environment is more likely to form ribonucleotides, linking RNA replication to its ability to drive protocell growth from the beginning. Our novel conceptualization sets out conditions under which protocell heredity and competition could arise, and points to where crucial experimental work is required.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’.
Cooperation and cheating as innovation: insights from cellular societies
Authors: Aktipis Athena , Maley Carlo C.
Published: October 2017

The capacity to innovate is often considered a defining feature of human societies, but it is not a capacity that is unique to human societies: innovation occurs in cellular societies as well. Cellular societies such as multicellular bodies and microbial communities, including the human microbiome, are capable of innovation in response to novel opportunities and threats. Multicellularity represents a suite of innovations for cellular cooperation, but multicellularity also opened up novel opportunities for cells to cheat, exploiting the infrastructure and resources of the body. Multicellular bodies evolve less quickly than the cells within them, leaving them vulnerable to cellular innovations that can lead to cancer and infections. In order to counter these threats, multicellular bodies deploy additional innovations including the adaptive immune system and the development of partnerships with preferred microbial partners. What can we learn from examining these innovations in cooperation and cheating in cellular societies? First, innovation in social systems involves a constant tension between novel mechanisms that enable greater size and complexity of cooperative entities and novel ways of cheating. Second, cultivating cooperation with partners who can rapidly and effectively innovate (such as microbes) is important for large entities including multicellular bodies. And third, multicellularity enabled cells to manage risk socially, allowing organisms to survive in challenging environments where life would otherwise be impossible. Throughout, we ask how insights from cellular societies might be translated into new innovations in human health and medicine, promoting and protecting the cellular cooperation that makes us viable multicellular organisms.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’.
Sampling the mobile gene pool: innovation via horizontal gene transfer in bacteria
Authors: Hall James P. J. , Brockhurst Michael A. , Harrison Ellie
Published: October 2017

In biological systems, evolutionary innovations can spread not only from parent to offspring (i.e. vertical transmission), but also ‘horizontally’ between individuals, who may or may not be related. Nowhere is this more apparent than in bacteria, where novel ecological traits can spread rapidly within and between species through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). This important evolutionary process is predominantly a by-product of the infectious spread of mobile genetic elements (MGEs). We will discuss the ecological conditions that favour the spread of traits by HGT, the evolutionary and social consequences of sharing traits, and how HGT is shaped by inherent conflicts between bacteria and MGEs.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’.
Non-adaptive origins of evolutionary innovations increase network complexity in interacting digital organisms
Authors: Fortuna Miguel A. , Zaman Luis , Wagner Andreas , Bascompte Jordi
Published: October 2017

The origin of evolutionary innovations is a central problem in evolutionary biology. To what extent such innovations have adaptive or non-adaptive origins is hard to assess in real organisms. This limitation, however, can be overcome using digital organisms, i.e. self-replicating computer programs that mutate, evolve and coevolve within a user-defined computational environment. Here, we quantify the role of the non-adaptive origins of host resistance traits in determining the evolution of ecological interactions among host and parasite digital organisms. We find that host resistance traits arising spontaneously as exaptations increase the complexity of antagonistic host–parasite networks. Specifically, they lead to higher host phenotypic diversification, a larger number of ecological interactions and higher heterogeneity in interaction strengths. Given the potential of network architecture to affect network dynamics, such exaptations may increase the persistence of entire communities. Our
in silico
approach, therefore, may complement current theoretical advances aimed at disentangling the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms shaping species interaction networks.

This article is part of the themed issue ‘Process and pattern in innovations from cells to societies’.
Pseudo Dollo models for the evolution of binary characters along a tree
Authors: Bouckaert Remco R. , Robbeets Martine
Published: October 2017

The stochastic Dollo model is a model for capturing evolution of features, for example cognate data in language evolution. However, it is rather sensitive to borrowing events, coding errors, semantic shift and other anomalies, so other models, in particular the covarion model, tends to have a better fit to the data. Here, we introduce the pseudo Dollo model, a model of character evolution along a tree that can be formulated as a three-state continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) model. The initial state represent absence of a feature, then a birth event allows the feature to be present. A death event can follow so that the feature becomes absent again. However, no new birth events are allowed after a death event has taken place.

We examine the model in a fully Bayesian setting, and demonstrate it can have a better fit than some of the popular alternative models on some real world datasets. Some variations on the pseudo Dollo model are introduced as well, including the multi-state pseudo Dollo model and pseudo Dollo covarion model.

The model is implemented in open source software Babel, a package to BEAST [2] licensed under LGPL. A user friendly way to set up an analysis is available through BEAUti, the graphical user interface of BEAST.
Delirium, frailty and mortality: interactions in a prospective study of hospitalized older people
Authors: Dani Melanie , Owen Lucy H , Jackson Thomas A , Rockwood Kenneth , Sampson Elizabeth L , Davis Daniel
Published: October 2017

Background

It is unknown if the association between delirium and mortality is consistent for individuals across the whole range of health states. A bimodal relationship has been proposed, where delirium is particularly adverse for those with underlying frailty, but may have a smaller effect (perhaps even protective) if it is an early indicator of acute illness in fitter people. We investigated the impact of delirium on mortality in a cohort simultaneously evaluated for frailty.

Methods

We undertook an exploratory analysis of a cohort of consecutive acute medical admissions aged ≥70. Delirium on admission was ascertained by psychiatrists. A Frailty Index (FI) was derived according to a standard approach. Deaths were notified from linked national mortality statistics. Cox regression was used to estimate associations between delirium, frailty and their interactions on mortality.

Results

The sample consisted of 710 individuals. Both delirium and frailty were independently associated with increased mortality rates (delirium: HR 2.4, 95%CI 1.8-3.3, p<0.01; frailty (per SD): HR 3.5, 95%CI 1.2-9.9, p=0.02). Estimating the effect of delirium in tertiles of FI, mortality was greatest in the lowest tertile: tertile 1 HR 3.4 (95%CI 2.1-5.6); tertile 2 HR 2.7 (95%CI 1.5-4.6); tertile 3 HR 1.9 (95% CI 1.2-3.0).

Conclusion

While delirium and frailty contribute to mortality, the overall impact of delirium on admission appears to be greater at lower levels of frailty. In contrast to the hypothesis that there is a bimodal distribution for mortality, delirium appears to be particularly adverse when precipitated in fitter individuals.
Modelling isoscapes using mixed models
Authors: Courtiol Alexandre , Rousset Francois
Published: October 2017

Isoscapes are maps depicting the continuous spatial (and sometimes temporal) variation in isotope composition. They have various applications ranging from the study of isotope circulation in the main earth systems to the determination of the provenance of migratory animals. Isoscapes can be produced from the fit of statistical models to observations originating from a set of discrete locations. Mixed models are powerful tools for drawing inferences from correlated data. While they are widely used to study non-spatial variation, they are often overlooked in spatial analyses. In particular, they have not been used to study the spatial variation of isotope composition. Here, we introduce this statistical framework and illustrate the methodology by building isoscapes of the isotope composition of hydrogen for precipitation water in Europe. For this example, the approach based on mixed models presents a higher predictive power than a widespread alternative approach. We discuss other advantages offered by mixed models including: the ability to model the residual variance in isotope composition, the quantification of prediction uncertainty, and the simplicity of model comparison and selection using an adequate information criterion: the conditional AIC (cAIC). We provide all source code required for the replication of the results of this paper as a small R package to foster a transparent comparison between alternative frameworks used to model isoscapes.
HebbPlot: An intelligent tool for learning and visualizing chromatin mark signatures
Authors: Girgis Hani Z , Velasco Alfredo , Reyes Zachary E
Published: October 2017

Histone modifications play important roles in gene regulation, heredity, imprinting, and many human diseases. The histone code is complex, consisting of about 100 marks. Biologists need computational tools for characterizing general signatures representing the distributions of tens of chromatin marks around thousands of regions. To this end, we developed a software tool called HebbPlot, which utilizes a Hebbian neural network to learn such signatures. HebbPlot presents a signature as a digitized image, which can be easily interpreted. We validated HebbPlot in six case studies. HebbPlot is applicable to a wide array of studies, facilitating the deciphering of the histone code.
Accelerated DNA methylation aging and increased resilience in veterans: the biological cost for soldiering on
Authors: Mehta Divya , Bruenig Dagmar , Lawford Bruce , Harvey Wendy , Carrillo-Roa Tania , Morris Charles P , Jovanovic Tanja , Young Ross McD , Binder Elisabeth B , Voisey Joanne
Published: October 2017

Accelerated epigenetic aging, the difference between the DNA methylation-predicted age (DNAm age) and the chronological age, is associated with a myriad of diseases. This study investigates the relationship between epigenetic aging and risk and protective factors of PTSD. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis was performed in 211 individuals including combat-exposed Australian veterans (discovery cohort, n = 96 males) and trauma-exposed civilian males from the Grady Trauma Project (replication cohort, n = 115 males). Primary measures included the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CDRISC). DNAm age prediction was performed using the validated epigenetic clock calculator. Veterans with PTSD had increased PTSD symptom severity (P-value = 3.75 x 10-34) and lower CDRISC scores (P-value = 7.5 x 10-8) than veterans without PTSD. DNAm age was significantly correlated with the chronological age (P-value = 3.3 x 10-6), but DNAm age acceleration was not different between the PTSD and non-PTSD groups (P-value = 0.24). Evaluating potential protective factors, we found that DNAm age acceleration was significantly associated with CDRISC resilience scores in veterans with PTSD, these results remained significant after multiple testing correction (P-value = 0.023; r = 0.32). This finding was also replicated in an independent trauma-exposed civilian cohort (P-value = 0.02; r = 0.23). Post-hoc factor analyses revealed that this association was driven by “self-efficacy” items within the CDRISC (P-value = 0.015). These results suggest that among individuals already suffering from PTSD, some aspects of increased resilience might come at a biological cost.
Geometry of antiparallel microtubule bundles regulates relative sliding and stalling by PRC1 and Kif4A
Authors: Wijeratne Sithara S. , Subramanian Radhika
Published: October 2017

Motor and non-motor crosslinking proteins play critical roles in determining the size and stability of microtubule-based architectures. Currently, we have a limited understanding of how geometrical properties of microtubule arrays, in turn, regulate the output of crosslinking proteins. Here we investigate this problem in the context of microtubule sliding by two interacting proteins: the non-motor crosslinker PRC1 and the kinesin Kif4A. The collective activity of PRC1 and Kif4A also results in their accumulation at microtubule plus-ends (‘end-tag’). Sliding stalls when the end-tags on antiparallel microtubules collide, forming a stable overlap. Interestingly, we find that structural properties of the initial array regulate PRC1-Kif4A mediated microtubule organization. First, sliding velocity scales with initial microtubule-overlap length. Second, the width of the final overlap scales with microtubule lengths. Our analyses reveal how micron-scale geometrical features of antiparallel microtubules can regulate the activity of nanometersized proteins to define the structure and mechanics of microtubule-based architectures.
ascend: R package for analysis of single cell RNA-seq data
Authors: Senabouth Anne , Lukowski Samuel W , Alquicira Hernandez Jose , Andersen Stacey , Mei Xin , Nguyen Quan H , Powell Joseph E
Published: October 2017

ascend is an R package comprised of fast, streamlined analysis functions optimized to address the statistical challenges of single cell RNA-seq. The package incorporates novel and established methods to provide a flexible framework to perform filtering, quality control, normalization, dimension reduction, clustering, differential expression and a wide-range of plotting. ascend is designed to work with scRNA-seq data generated by any high-throughput platform, and includes functions to convert data objects between software packages.

Availability

The R package and associated vignettes are freely available at https://github.com/IMB-Computational-Genomics-Lab/ascend.

Contact

joseph.powell@uq.edu.au

Supplementary information

An example dataset is available at ArrayExpress, accession number E-MTAB-6108
A reliable and unbiased human protein network with the disparity filter
Authors: Alanis-Lobato Gregorio , Andrade-Navarro Miguel A.
Published: October 2017

The living cell operates thanks to an intricate network of protein interactions. Proteins activate, transport, degrade, stabilise and participate in the production of other proteins. As a result, a reliable and systematically generated protein wiring diagram is crucial for a deeper understanding of cellular functions. Unfortunately, current human protein networks are noisy and incomplete. Also, they suffer from both study and technical biases: heavily studied proteins (e.g. those of pharmaceutical interest) are known to be involved in more interactions than proteins described in only a few publications. Here, we use the experimental evidence supporting the interaction between proteins, in conjunction with the so-called disparity filter, to construct a reliable and unbiased proteome-scale human interactome. The application of a global filter, i.e. only considering interactions with multiple pieces of evidence, would result in an excessively pruned network. In contrast, the disparity filter preserves interactions supported by a statistically significant number of studies and does not overlook small-scale protein associations. The resulting disparity-filtered protein network covers 67% of the human proteome and retains most of the network’s weight and connectivity properties.
Lineage and stage-specific expressedCYCD7;1coordinates the single symmetric division that creates stomatal guard cells
Authors: Weimer Annika K. , Matos Juliana L. , Dewitte Walter , Murray James A.H. , Bergmann Dominique C.
Published: October 2017

Plants, with cells fixed in place by rigid walls, often utilize spatial and temporally distinct cell division programs to organize and maintain organs. This leads to the question of how developmental regulators interact with the cell cycle machinery to link cell division events with particular developmental trajectories. InArabidopsisleaves, the development of stomata, two-celled epidermal valves that mediate plant-atmosphere gas exchange, relies on a series of oriented stem-cell-like asymmetric divisions followed by a single symmetric division. The stomatal lineage is embedded in a tissue whose cells transition from proliferation to post-mitotic differentiation earlier, necessitating stomatal lineage-specific factors to prolong competence to divide. We show that the D-type cyclin, CYCD7;1 is specifically expressed just prior to the symmetric guard-cell forming division, and that it is limiting for this division. Further, we find that CYCD7;1 is capable of promoting divisions in multiple contexts, likely through RBR-dependent promotion of the G1/S transition, but that CYCD7;1 is regulated at the transcriptional level by cell-type specific transcription factors that confine its expression to the appropriate developmental window.
A novel approach for data integration and disease subtyping
Authors: Nguyen Tin , Tagett Rebecca , Diaz Diana , Draghici Sorin
Published: October 2017

Advances in high-throughput technologies allow for measurements of many types of omics data, yet the meaningful integration of several different data types remains a significant challenge. Another important and difficult problem is the discovery of molecular disease subtypes characterized by relevant clinical differences, such as survival. Here we present a novel approach, calledperturbation clustering for dataintegration and diseasesubtyping (PINS), which is able to address both challenges. The framework has been validated on thousands of cancer samples, using gene expression, DNA methylation, noncoding microRNA, and copy number variation data available from the Gene Expression Omnibus, the Broad Institute, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and the European Genome-Phenome Archive. This simultaneous subtyping approach accurately identifies known cancer subtypes and novel subgroups of patients with significantly different survival profiles. The results were obtained from genome-scale molecular data without any other type of prior knowledge. The approach is sufficiently general to replace existing unsupervised clustering approaches outside the scope of bio-medical research, with the additional ability to integrate multiple types of data.
HUG and SQUEEZE: using CRYSTALS to incorporate resonant scattering in the SQUEEZE structure-factor contributions to determine absolute structure
Authors: Cooper Richard I. , Flack Howard D. , Watkin David J.
Published: October 2017

The resonant-scattering contributions to single-crystal X-ray diffraction data enable the absolute structure of crystalline materials to be determined. Crystal structures can be determined even if they contain considerably disordered regions because a correction is available via a discrete Fourier transform of the residual electron density to approximate the X-ray scattering from the disordered region. However, the corrected model cannot normally account for resonant scattering from atoms in the disordered region. Straightforward determination of absolute structure from crystals where the strongly resonantly scattering atoms are not resolved has therefore not been possible. Using an approximate resonant-scattering correction to the X-ray scattering from the disordered regions, we have developed and tested a procedure (HUG) to recover the absolute structure using conventional Flack x refinement or other post-refinement determination methods. Results show that in favourable cases the HUG method works well and the absolute structure can be correctly determined. It offers no useful improvement in cases where the original correction for the disordered region scattering density is problematic, for example, when a large fraction of the scattering density in the crystal is disordered, or when voids are not occupied equally by the disordered species. Crucially, however, if the approach does not work for a given structure, the statistics for the absolute structure measures are not improved, meaning it is unlikely to lead to misassignment of absolute structure.
Two-dimensional coordination polymeric structures in the sodium, potassium and rubidium complex salts with (4-fluorophenoxy)acetic acid
Authors: Smith Graham
Published: October 2017

The structures of the sodium, potassium and rubidium complex salts of (4-fluorophenoxy)acetic acid (PFPA), namely poly[μ-aqua-aqua-μ-[2-(4-fluorophenoxy)acetato]-κ3
O
1,O
2:O
1′-sodium], [Na(C8H6FO3)(H2O)2]
n
, (I), and isotypic poly[μ5-[2-(4-fluorophenoxy)acetato]-κ5
O
1,O
2:O
1,O
1′:O
1′:O
1′:O
1′-potassium], [K(C8H6FO3)]
n
, (II), and poly[μ5-[2-(4-fluorophenoxy)acetato]-κ5
O
1,O
2:O
1,O
1′:O
1′:O
1′:O
1′-rubidium], [Rb(C8H6FO3)]
n
, (III), have been determined and their coordination polymeric structures described. In the structure of (I), the very distorted octahedral NaO6 coordination polyhedron comprises two bidentate chelating O-atom donors (carboxylate and phenoxy) of the PFPA ligand and three O-atom donors from water molecules, one monodentate and the other μ2-bridging between inversion-related Na centres in a cyclic manner. A bridging carboxylate donor generates two-dimensional polymer layers lying parallel to (001), in which intralayer water O—H...O hydrogen-bonding associations are also present. Structures (II) and (III) are isotypic, each having an irregular MO7 stereochemistry, with the primary metal–ligand bidentate chelate similar to that in (I) and extended into a two-dimensional polymeric layered structure, lying parallel to (100), through five additional bridging carboxylate O atoms. Two of these bonds are from an O,O′-bidentate chelate interaction and the other three are from μ3-O-atom bridges, generating cyclic links with short M...M separations [3.9064 (17) Å for (II) and 4.1001 (8) for (III)], the shortest being a centrosymmetric four-membered cyclic link. In the crystals of (I)–(III), intralayer C—H...F interactions are present, but no π–π ring interactions are found.
N-[2-(Benzylideneamino)phenyl]-N′-phenylurea
Authors: Atioğlu Zeliha , Buran Sümeyye , Doğan Dilem , Kökbudak Zülbiye , Aygün Muhittin , Akkurt Mehmet
Published: October 2017

In the title compound, C20H17N3O [systematic name: 1-phenyl-3-{2-[(E)- (phenylmethylidene)amino]phenyl}urea], the middle benzene ring forms dihedral angles of 17.65 (17) and 29.48 (14)°, respectively, with the N- and C-bound phenyl rings, while the dihedral angle between the terminal rings is 46.53 (18)°. In the crystal, molecules are linkedviaN—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming helical supramolecular chains running parallel to thecaxisviaanR12(6) ring motif. The structure was refined as a two-component twin with a 0.966 (3):0.034 (3) domain ratio.
Demographic challenges for the future business leader: evidence from a Greek survey
Authors: Galanaki Eleanna , Papalexandris Nancy
Published: October 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges posed to business leaders from major global demographic changes expected in the workforce composition, such as higher participation of women and more active involvement of elder and more experienced people in the future workforce.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors ran a survey among 733 middle managers, focusing on their ideal leadership behavior. The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior project methodology was applied for data collection and analyses.

Findings

Several significant differences were established in leadership ideals according to gender, age and managerial experience. The differences based on gender had higher practical significance than the ones based on age and experience of the respondents.

Research limitations/implications

The paper adds up to the pertinent in the implicit leadership approach dialogue over the existence of stable, global and unchanging aspects of leadership.

Practical implications

Leader behaviors traditionally deemed as positive, such as the participative and charismatic/value-based leadership, are shown to be critical for the future business leader. Leadership development in organizations should focus on these two aspects.

Social implications

Leaders who can meet the expectations of diverse groups of people will be able to achieve inclusion of least privileged groups at the business level, leading to higher inclusion at the social, aggregate level.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to explore how documented demographic trends could affect the way that leadership will evolve in the near future.
Enterprise social media impact on human resource practices
Authors: Offong Godwin Oscar , Costello Joyce
Published: October 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how individual attitudes toward using enterprise social media (ESM) impact trust, explicit and tacit knowledge sharing as well as work performance in emerging economies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use data from a survey of 293 employed individuals in Lagos, Nigeria, who work at organizations that have ESM systems.

Findings

The authors find that ESM usage is significantly associated with trust. However, ESM usage does not impact explicit or tacit knowledge transfer.

Practical implications

This paper provides empirical evidence that individuals who perceive high levels of performance expectancy will engage in ESM usage which in turn increases trust amongst colleagues. Human resource managers can argue that by adopting ESM, they can facilitate improved trust and collaboration through online engagement amongst employees. This is important for multi-national organizations wanting to expand into emerging economies where the organization and local workforce need to foster trust in knowledge sharing.

Originality/value

There has been little evidence regarding HRM use of ESM in emerging economies. By understanding individual attitudes toward ESM and how the use impacts knowledge sharing, the academic discussions concerning use of technology to enhance knowledge sharing can continue to evolve.
Pay is not everything
Authors: Peluso Alessandro M. , Innocenti Laura , Pilati Massimo
Published: October 2017

Purpose

Monetary and non-monetary rewards have rarely been considered together under the HRM perspective. Despite the vast literature on HRM, there is still a lack of studies that explicitly discuss the link between the adoption of a total reward system (TRS) and employee-related outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this important issue in order to provide insights that can help organisations devise compensation strategies that are effective in sustaining employees’ positive attitudes and behaviours.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a survey of 1,092 employees, the authors examine the effect of the overall TRS on three outcome variables (i.e. job satisfaction, affective commitment, and innovative behaviour at work). Furthermore, the authors examine the impact that each component of the TRS (i.e. base pay, training and development opportunities, and positive work environment) has on the dependent variables.

Findings

The results confirm that the adoption of a TRS exerts a positive influence on the aforementioned outcomes. However, interesting differences emerged when looking at the individual components in the overall sample.

Originality/value

This paper provides original insights into the complex relationship between TRS and the employee-related outcomes of job satisfaction, affective commitment, and innovative behaviour at work.
Perceptions of adaptation, resilience and climate knowledge in the Pacific
Authors: Walshe Rory A. , Chang Seng Denis , Bumpus Adam , Auffray Joelle
Published: October 2017

Purpose

While the South Pacific is often cited as highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, there is comparatively little known about how different groups perceive climate change. Understanding the gaps and differences between risk and perceived risk is a prerequisite to designing effective and sustainable adaptation strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

This research examined three key groups in Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu: secondary school teachers, media personnel, and rural subsistence livelihood-based communities that live near or in conservation areas. This study deployed a dual methodology of participatory focus groups, paired with a national mobile phone based survey to gauge perceptions of climate change. This was the first time mobile technology had been used to gather perceptual data regarding the environment in the South Pacific.

Findings

The research findings highlighted a number of important differences and similarities in ways that these groups perceive climate change issues, solutions, personal vulnerability and comprehension of science among other factors.

Practical implications

These differences and similarities are neglected in large-scale top-down climate change adaptation strategies and have key implications for the design of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and therefore sustainable development in the region.

Originality/value

The research was innovative in terms of its methods, as well as its distillation of the perceptions of climate change from teachers, media and rural communities.
Data envelopment analysis of efficiency of real estate investment trusts in Singapore
Authors: Ahmed Aminath Amany , Mohamad Azhar
Published: October 2017

Purpose

In this study, the authors use data envelopment analysis to assess the technical efficiency and performance of real estate investment trusts (REITs) in Singapore, for the years 2009 through 2013.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors apply the Malmquist Productivity Index to express the productivity change of the REITs over time.

Findings

The authors find that while most REITs have experienced efficiency improvements, there has been little productivity growth at the frontier during the study period.

Originality/value

The finding indicates that it is possible to improve the performance of the REITs by further improving technological efficiency because technological regress has been the main reason for the poor productivity growth of the REITs in Singapore.
Promoting brand engagement behaviors and loyalty through perceived service value and innovativeness
Authors: Leckie Civilai , Nyadzayo Munyaradzi W. , Johnson Lester W.
Published: October 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of perceived value and innovativeness (service concept newness and relative advantage) in promoting customer brand engagement behaviors (CBEBs) and brand loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual model was empirically tested using nationwide survey data from 430 customers of Uber in Australia. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results of this study show that collecting brand information is positively influenced by perceived value, service concept newness and relative advantage. Participating in brand marketing activities is positively influenced by service concept newness and relative advantage. Interacting with others is positively influenced by perceived value and service concept newness. Subsequently, brand loyalty is positively influenced by participating in brand marketing activities and interacting with others. The direct impacts of perceived value and relative advantage on brand loyalty are also established.

Research limitations/implications

This study only collected data from Uber customers. Another limitation of this study is the use of cross-sectional data.

Practical implications

To promote brand loyalty, service innovation needs to have both the right characteristics (i.e. perceived value, service concept newness and relative advantage) and practices that foster customer brand engagement behaviors.

Originality/value

Although service-dominant logic (SDL) is a theoretical lens used by research in the areas of service innovation and customer engagement, empirical studies that integrate the two areas remain limited. The findings of this study suggest a new mechanism in which service innovation can increase loyalty through increased CBEBs.
Influence of empathy on hotel guests’ emotional service experience
Authors: Umasuthan Hamsanandini , Park Oun-Joung , Ryu Jong-Hyun
Published: October 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to assess the comparative influence of two empathy dimensions (cognitive and emotional attributes) on emotional service experience and behavioral intention among business and leisure hotel guests. Studies relevant to empathy dimensions are relatively scarce in tourism and hospitality.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study reviewed the concepts of empathy, and empirically compared perceptions of empathy attributes between the two groups. The survey was intended to examine how well the hotel employees emotionally handle hotel guests’ incidents or inquiries related to any discomforts through personalized attention. The data were collected from 330 hotel guests who had actually complained about service failures while staying at the hotel during the record-breaking summer of 2013 in terms of number of visitors to Jeju. An active empathetic listening (AEL) tool has been taken to measure the hotel guest’s cognitive views and behavioral intentions, as well as emotional empathy measures under the empathic concern and emotional contagion.

Findings

The results revealed that empathetic dimensions strongly influenced the service experiences of hotel guests. While the emotional service experience of business guests was almost completely determined by the cognitive empathy, the emotional service experience of the leisure guests was mainly governed by the emotional empathy.

Practical implications

These outcomes suggest that the empathetic services through a “purpose of visit”-oriented manner might enhance the guest’s overall emotion positively.

Originality/value

According to the prior literatures and empirical findings in hospitality and tourism, empathy can be seen as subscale in SERVQUAL instrument. This paper focus on insights of empathy dimensions, and it was revealed that the interaction of both the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy conjointly determines the overall emotional service experience and intention of hotel guests.
Human development and climate affect hibernation in a large carnivore with implications for human–carnivore conflicts
Authors: Johnson Heather E. , Lewis David L. , Verzuh Tana L. , Wallace Cody F. , Much Rebecca M. , Willmarth Lyle K. , Breck Stewart W.
Published: October 2017

Expanding human development and climate change are dramatically altering habitat conditions for wildlife. While the initial response of wildlife to changing environmental conditions is typically a shift in behaviour, little is known about the effects of these stressors on hibernation behaviour, an important life‐history trait that can subsequently affect animal physiology, demography, interspecific interactions and human‐wildlife interactions. Given future trajectories of land use and climate change, it is important that wildlife professionals understand how animals that hibernate are adapting to altered landscape conditions so that management activities can be appropriately tailored.

We investigated the influence of human development and weather on hibernation in black bears (Ursus americanus), a species of high management concern, whose behaviour is strongly tied to natural food availability, anthropogenic foods around development and variation in annual weather conditions. Using GPS collar data from 131 den events of adult female bears (n = 51), we employed fine‐scale, animal‐specific habitat information to evaluate the relative and cumulative influence of natural food availability, anthropogenic food and weather on the start, duration and end of hibernation.

We found that weather and food availability (both natural and human) additively shaped black bear hibernation behaviour. Of the habitat variables we examined, warmer temperatures were most strongly associated with denning chronology, reducing the duration of hibernation and expediting emergence in the spring. Bears appeared to respond to natural and anthropogenic foods similarly, as more natural foods, and greater use of human foods around development, both postponed hibernation in the fall and decreased its duration.

Synthesis and applications. Warmer temperatures and use of anthropogenic food subsides additively reduced black bear hibernation, suggesting that future changes in climate and land use may further alter bear behaviour and increase the length of their active season. We speculate that longer active periods for bears will result in subsequent increases in human–bear conflicts and human‐caused bear mortalities. These metrics are commonly used by wildlife agencies to index trends in bear populations, but have the potential to be misleading when bear behaviour dynamically adapts to changing environmental conditions, and should be substituted with reliable demographic methods.
Species wood density and the location of planted seedlings drive early‐stage seedling survival during tropical forest restoration
Authors: Charles Lachlan S. , Dwyer John M. , Smith Tobias J. , Connors Sophie , Marschner Petra , Mayfield Margaret M.
Published: October 2017

The success of restoration projects is known to vary widely, with outcomes relating to numerous biotic and abiotic factors. Though many studies have examined the factors associated with long‐term restoration success, few have examined which factors impact the establishment of restoration plantings.

In Australia's Wet Tropics, we used a large replicated restoration experiment to assess seedling survival for 24 native rainforest species commonly used in local restoration efforts. The experiment allowed for a rigorous assessment of the effects of species functional traits, planting conditions, and landscape‐ and local‐scale biotic and abiotic factors on seedling survival. This study reports on seedling survival between three different time periods of 0–4, 4–9 and 9–31 months post planting.

The probability of seedling survival was influenced by multiple factors, varying in importance over time. Across the whole study period, seedlings with high wood density and which were planted closer to intact forest consistently displayed the highest probabilities of survival. Transient factors affecting seedling survival across the three time periods included plot aspect (0–4 months only), the identity of the planter and slope (4–9 and 9–31 months). Overall, species survival did not differ between the low (6 species) and high (24 species) diversity treatments, but was significantly lower in monocultures of Flindersia brayleyana by the end of the study.

We demonstrate that early‐stage seedling survival depends on species wood density and planting location. Our results support the use of species with more conservative growth strategies when limited funds are available for follow‐up plantings. High wood density species had significantly higher survival than lower wood density, early successional species typically used in rainforest restoration plantings.

Synthesis and applications. Our study highlights the importance of wood density and landscape structure to the initial survival of rainforest plantings. Factors influencing seedling survival shifted over time but, most importantly, our results highlight that, when planting into abandoned pastures, it may be preferable to select species with higher wood densities to maximize survival during the crucial early stages of establishment and growth.
Traditional farm expansion versus joint venture remote partnerships
Authors: Kingwell Ross , Thomas Quenten , Feldman David , Farré Imma , Plunkett Brad
Published: October 2017

Traditionally, farms expand by buying out a neighbour. But might remote partnerships be a better way of expanding a farm business given projected climate change and price volatility? This question is addressed using farm business financial modelling. Representative farms at 27 locations in Western Australia are constructed to enable comparison of the value of buying out a neighbour versus expansion using geographically distant joint venture (JV) partners. The farm models consider economies of size, bulk purchase price discounts, the variability and correlation of returns associated with farm expansion, and impacts of climate change. Random selection of a remote partner generates little improvement in wealth; on average only 2.3 and 1.6 per cent, respectively, under current and projected future climate across all locations. However, there is large variation in wealth appreciation opportunities for each location and between locations. Preferred partnerships are a function of each farm's characteristics. Locations highly preferred as JV partners under current climate are similarly preferred partners under projected future climate. The main sources of additional wealth come from economies of size advantages, risk‐spreading benefits of combining geographically separated farms and bulk discounts. Farmers seeking business expansion will often benefit greatly from careful selection of a remote partner.
Policy Implications from Multi‐scale Watershed Models of Biofuel Crop Adoption across the Corn Belt
Authors: Kling Catherine L. , Chaubey Indrajeet , Cibin Raj , Gassman Philip W. , Panagopoulos Yiannis
Published: October 2017

The implications and value of Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)‐based simulations of the productive potential and water quality impacts associated with switchgrass, Miscanthus, or corn stover removal biofuel cropping systems are discussed. Specifically, the three accompanying studies describe the water quality implications of adopting the three biofuel‐cropping systems via large‐scale conversion of cropland or targeting to marginal lands for three smaller watersheds located in the western or eastern Corn Belt, or across the Upper Mississippi and Ohio‐Tennessee River Basins. Other results such as climate change related impacts for two eastern Corn Belt watersheds are also discussed. These studies are supported by the CenUSA Bioenergy coordinated agricultural project funded by the USDA to develop a regional system for producing cellulosic biofuels. A description of the evolving federal policy related to cellulosic biofuel production and consumption is provided as are other potential drivers for encouraging the adoption of stover removal, switchgrass, and Miscanthus as perennial feedstocks. Findings from the SWAT studies and their implications for environmental and economic performance in their respective agroecosystems are discussed, and commonalities and divergences in results are identified. The potential for policy design to improve the performance of these systems based on the findings of these modeling studies, and continuing research needs and directions for improved policy design are discussed. Editor's note: This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.
Water Quality Assessment of Large‐scale Bioenergy Cropping Scenarios for the Upper Mississippi and Ohio‐Tennessee River Basins
Authors: Panagopoulos Yiannis , Gassman Philip W. , Kling Catherine L. , Cibin Raj , Chaubey Indrajeet
Published: October 2017

The Upper Mississippi River Basin and Ohio‐Tennessee River Basin comprise the majority of the United States Corn Belt region, resulting in degraded Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico water quality. To address the water quality implications of increased biofuel production, biofuel scenarios were tested with a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model revision featuring improved biofuel crop representation. Scenarios included corn stover removal and the inclusion of two perennial bioenergy crops, switchgrass and Miscanthus, grown on marginal lands (slopes >2% and erosion rates >2 t/ha) and nonmarginal lands. The SWAT model estimates show water quality is not very sensitive to stover removal. The perennial bioenergy crops reduce simulated sediment, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) yields by up to 60%. Simulated sediment and P reductions in marginal lands were generally twice that occurring in the nonmarginal lands. The highest unit area reductions of N occurred in the less sloping tile‐drained lands. Productivity showed corn grain yield was independent from stover removal, while yields of the two perennial bioenergy crops were similar in the marginal and nonmarginal lands. The results suggest planning for biofuel production in the Corn Belt could include the removal of stover in productive corn areas, and the planting of perennial bioenergy crops in marginal land and in low‐sloped tile‐drained areas characterized by high N pollution. Editor's note: This paper is part of the featured series on SWAT Applications for Emerging Hydrologic and Water Quality Challenges. See the February 2017 issue for the introduction and background to the series.