bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Micron-scale plasma membrane curvature is recognized by the septin cytoskeleton
Authors: Bridges Andrew A. , Jentzsch Maximilian S. , Oakes Patrick W. , Occhipinti Patricia , Gladfelter Amy S.
Published: April 2016

Cells change shape in response to diverse environmental and developmental conditions, creating topologies with micron-scale features. Although individual proteins can sense nanometer-scale membrane curvature, it is unclear if a cell could also use nanometer-scale components to sense micron-scale contours, such as the cytokinetic furrow and base of neuronal branches. Septins are filament-forming proteins that serve as signaling platforms and are frequently associated with areas of the plasma membrane where there is micron-scale curvature, including the cytokinetic furrow and the base of cell protrusions. We report here that fungal and human septins are able to distinguish between different degrees of micron-scale curvature in cells. By preparing supported lipid bilayers on beads of different curvature, we reconstitute and measure the intrinsic septin curvature preference. We conclude that micron-scale curvature recognition is a fundamental property of the septin cytoskeleton that provides the cell with a mechanism to know its local shape.
Doa1 is a MAD adaptor for Cdc48
Authors: Zhang Ting , Ye Yihong
Published: April 2016

Dislocation of polypeptides from the mitochondrial outer membrane by the p97/Cdc48–Ufd1–Npl4 adenosine triphosphatase complex is essential for mitochondria-associated degradation and Parkin-mediated mitophagy. In this issue, Wu et al. (2016. J. Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201510098) identify Doa1 as a pivotal adaptor that recruits substrates to Cdc48 for processing.
Dickkopf-related protein 1 (Dkk1) regulates the accumulation and function of myeloid derived suppressor cells in cancer
Authors: D’Amico Lucia , Mahajan Sahil , Capietto Aude-Hélène , Yang Zhengfeng , Zamani Ali , Ricci Biancamaria , Bumpass David B. , Meyer Melissa , Su Xinming , Wang-Gillam Andrea , Weilbaecher Katherine , Stewart Sheila A. , DeNardo David G. , Faccio Roberta
Published: April 2016

Tumor–stroma interactions contribute to tumorigenesis. Tumor cells can educate the stroma at primary and distant sites to facilitate the recruitment of heterogeneous populations of immature myeloid cells, known as myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). MDSCs suppress T cell responses and promote tumor proliferation. One outstanding question is how the local and distant stroma modulate MDSCs during tumor progression. Down-regulation of β-catenin is critical for MDSC accumulation and immune suppressive functions in mice and humans. Here, we demonstrate that stroma-derived Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1) targets β-catenin in MDSCs, thus exerting immune suppressive effects during tumor progression. Mice bearing extraskeletal tumors show significantly elevated levels of Dkk1 in bone microenvironment relative to tumor site. Strikingly, Dkk1 neutralization decreases tumor growth and MDSC numbers by rescuing β-catenin in these cells and restores T cell recruitment at the tumor site. Recombinant Dkk1 suppresses β-catenin target genes in MDSCs from mice and humans and anti-Dkk1 loses its antitumor effects in mice lacking β-catenin in myeloid cells or after depletion of MDSCs, demonstrating that Dkk1 directly targets MDSCs. Furthermore, we find a correlation between CD15+ myeloid cells and Dkk1 in pancreatic cancer patients. We establish a novel immunomodulatory role for Dkk1 in regulating tumor-induced immune suppression via targeting β-catenin in MDSCs.
Killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor 3DL1 polymorphism defines distinct hierarchies of HLA class I recognition
Authors: Saunders Philippa M. , Pymm Phillip , Pietra Gabriella , Hughes Victoria A. , Hitchen Corinne , O’Connor Geraldine M. , Loiacono Fabrizio , Widjaja Jacqueline , Price David A. , Falco Michela , Mingari Maria Cristina , Moretta Lorenzo , McVicar Daniel W. , Rossjohn Jamie , Brooks Andrew G. , Vivian Julian P.
Published: April 2016

Natural killer (NK) cells play a key role in immunity, but how HLA class I (HLA-I) and killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor 3DL1 (KIR3DL1) polymorphism impacts disease outcome remains unclear. KIR3DL1 (*001/*005/*015) tetramers were screened for reactivity against a panel of HLA-I molecules. This revealed different and distinct hierarchies of specificity for each KIR3DL1 allotype, with KIR3DL1*005 recognizing the widest array of HLA-I ligands. These differences were further reflected in functional studies using NK clones expressing these specific KIR3DL1 allotypes. Unexpectedly, the Ile/Thr80 dimorphism in the Bw4-motif did not categorically define strong/weak KIR3DL1 recognition. Although the KIR3DL1*001, *005, and *015 polymorphisms are remote from the KIR3DL1–HLA-I interface, the structures of these three KIR3DL1–HLA-I complexes showed that the broader HLA-I specificity of KIR3DL1*005 correlated with an altered KIR3DL1*005 interdomain positioning and increased mobility within its ligand-binding site. Collectively, we provide a generic framework for understanding the impact of KIR3DL1 polymorphism on the recognition of HLA-I allomorphs.
The identification of post-starburst galaxies at z ∼ 1 using multiwavelength photometry: a spectroscopic verification
Authors: Maltby David T. , Almaini Omar , Wild Vivienne , Hatch Nina A. , Hartley William G. , Simpson Chris , McLure Ross J. , Dunlop James , Rowlands Kate , Cirasuolo Michele
Published: April 2016

Despite decades of study, we still do not fully understand why some massive galaxies abruptly switch off their star formation in the early Universe, and what causes their rapid transition to the red sequence. Post-starburst galaxies provide a rare opportunity to study this transition phase, but few have currently been spectroscopically identified at high redshift (z > 1). In this paper, we present the spectroscopic verification of a new photometric technique to identify post-starbursts in high-redshift surveys. The method classifies the broad-band optical–near-infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies using three spectral shape parameters (supercolours), derived from a principal component analysis of model SEDs. When applied to the multiwavelength photometric data in the UKIDSS Ultra Deep Survey, this technique identified over 900 candidate post-starbursts at redshifts 0.5 < z < 2.0. In this study, we present deep optical spectroscopy for a subset of these galaxies, in order to confirm their post-starburst nature. Where a spectroscopic assessment was possible, we find the majority (19/24 galaxies; ∼80 per cent) exhibit the strong Balmer absorption (H δ equivalent width Wλ > 5 Å) and Balmer break, characteristic of post-starburst galaxies. We conclude that photometric methods can be used to select large samples of recently-quenched galaxies in the distant Universe.
Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Reed Amber
Published: April 2016

Independence from colonial governments happened in rather quick succession across the African continent, roughly from the 1960s to the 1990s. Thus democratic movements in Africa in the early 21st century can only be understood through close attention to postcolonial politics and their role in social and economic life. New forms of nationalism took root alongside deeply entrenched colonial practices that often contributed to local understandings of democracy. Furthermore, the transitions to independence in most African countries both coincided with and were deeply influenced by global Cold War politics and the scramble for power by both Soviet and American governments. Thus the push for democratic forms of governance on the continent included political parties often backed by one of these two competing ideological and military forces. As the Cold War ended and Soviet influence on the continent declined, democratic movements coupled with new forms of capitalism began to dominate African politics. Meanwhile the push for Pan-Africanism and celebrations of black personhood had a profound effect on political movements across the continent, particularly as evidenced in the governments of Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, and Senegal’s Leopold Senghor, to name a few. Such instances of grassroots democracy and cultural and racial pride counter larger structural narratives of the global hegemony of Western liberalism. While the anthropology of democracy as its own area of study is relatively new, pioneers in the field such as Julia Paley have opened important and stimulating debates about local appropriations of democracy, the colonial legacy, problems with cultural translation of rights discourses, issues of multicultural citizenship, and the potentials of the ethnographic method in investigating these diverse arenas. The readings in this article draw on a wide variety of scholarship and related resources, incorporating both classic Africanist explications of particular native political systems as well as more recent works that question the intersections of spiritual insecurity, neoliberal capitalism, postcolonialism, and attempts at democracy in 21st-century African states.
The Church in Colonial Latin America
Authors: Schwaller John F.
Published: April 2016

The Catholic Church was undoubtedly the single most important institution in colonial Latin America. Everyone who lived in the region was nominally a member of the Church. The Church controlled all aspects of life from birth, through marriage, until death. The Church became the single largest landowner within the colony, developing commercial agriculture to support many of its activities. Religious orders within the Church created vertically integrated commercial activities such as sheep production and weaving, grape production and brandy. The missionaries of the Church had the principal responsibility of converting the millions of natives of the New World to the faith, which was a daunting task because of significant linguistic and cultural differences. Through the local bishop and the powers of the Inquisition, the Church also monitored the homogeneity of the philosophical underpinnings of the society, assuring conformity of thought. In short, the colonial Church touched nearly every aspect of life. At the same time, the Church was not a monolithic institution. On the most basic level the clergy fall into two large camps: the secular or diocesan clergy and the regular clergy. The former include the common parish priests who served under the supervision of the local bishop or archbishop, as well as high-ranking clerics such as those who served in the cathedrals. The latter include members of religious orders, both male and female. In this way the regular clergy can also be seen as highly fragmented since each religious order had its own internal governance and hierarchy reaching ultimately to the Pope. The Franciscans and Dominicans, while similar in many ways, had very different approaches to evangelization. The Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order, was a relative newcomer, being founded in the 1540s, and having very little in common with the older orders. At the same time, the diocesan clergy and the bishops who governed the dioceses fell administratively under the supervision of the King of Spain, thanks to a series of papal grants and privileges. This control over the Church in the New World was known as the Royal Patronage. The Church also evolved significantly over the 300 years of colonial rule. From humble beginnings with the early missionaries, the Church became wealthy and powerful. Jurisdictions shifted as local bishops came to regulate idolatry and heresy among the native population while the Inquisition focused more on larger political and social issues. In the end, the Spanish Crown recognized that the Church was a very powerful institution and sought to control many of its activities.
Jean-Luc Godard
Authors: Morrey Douglas
Published: April 2016

Few filmmakers have attracted as much academic and critical writing as Jean-Luc Godard. Perhaps only Alfred Hitchcock is comparable in terms of the sheer number of scholars who have approached his work over three or four generations. Unlike Hitchcock, Godard has spawned few imitators among other film directors. Godard’s style is so idiosyncratic that, still today, hardly any films could truthfully be described as “like Godard.” Godard scholarship is comparable to Hitchcock criticism, however, in that it has been the privileged site, over the past half century, for the development of key ideas, arguments, and theories within film studies. Godard’s own writing as a critic in the 1950s contributed to the development of key concepts in film theory, such as the auteur, montage, and mise-en-scène. The French New Wave, one of the most significant movements in global film history, would certainly not have had the same revolutionary impact on French and world cinemas without Godard’s first features. Godard’s work has been frequently cited by scholars seeking to catalogue the stylistic tendencies of a broadly defined “art cinema”: Godard’s films changed the way we think about narration, editing, mise-en-scène, sound and music, and work with actors. Godard’s departure from “mainstream” cinema in 1968 to experiment with collective filmmaking with an explicitly revolutionary Marxist agenda was a central inspiration to theorists in the 1970s and beyond in debating the forms and functions of political cinema. The director’s early experiments with video in the 1970s have enabled scholars to think through the relations among cinema, video, and television. The celebrated works of Godard’s return to 35mm filmmaking in the early 1980s helped generate certain key questions of representation that have resonated in film studies ever since: What is the relationship of film to painting? Under what conditions can cinema represent the sacred? Is it possible to conceive of a new way of filming bodies and sexuality (especially women’s bodies) without being complicit in exploitative conventions? The monumental Histoire(s) du Cinéma (1998) contributed to debates around the centenary of cinema, the medium’s much-heralded “death,” and its replacement by digital progeny. Godard’s most recent features—Film socialisme (2010) and Adieu au langage (2014)—have attracted immediate critical acclaim for their unparalleled formal innovation while tackling the contemporary political context of the global financial crisis. With such a rich legacy of work, the field of Godard studies will, without doubt, continue to grow rapidly in the decades to come.
Spatial Analysis
Authors: Grubesic Tony H. , Nelson Jake R.
Published: April 2016

Spatial analysis refers to a process that relies upon both exploratory and confirmatory techniques to answer important questions and enhance decision making with spatial data. This includes approaches to identify patterns and processes, detect outliers and anomalies, test hypotheses and theories, and generate spatial data and knowledge. Data qualify as “spatial” when their location is known and it has the potential to impact the outcome of an analysis. Most often, this space is tied to the geographic domain and concerns the Earth’s surface or subsurface. However, spatial data also exist within different scales and contexts, including nano- and picoscale processes in cellular electrophysiology and subatomic physics, among many others. When locational information is given about a particular piece of data, researchers in the field of spatial analysis can use that data to calculate statistical and mathematical relationships regarding time and space. If the data do not include locational information, such as a list of bicycle parts, spatial analysis would not be necessary. In fact, unless the data have some sort of locational information, spatial analysis is not possible. This article provides a foundation for exploring some of the most important works in spatial analysis. The General Overviews section provides readers with many of the most common and important techniques used in spatial analysis. Important Reference Resources are then discussed, followed by an overview of popular Journals that publish work pertaining to spatial analysis techniques and their applications. The two most common application areas for spatial analysis techniques, Gis and Remote Sensing, are then discussed, as are their respective software packages. The final section includes a more detailed overview of spatial analysis Techniques and their associated subdomains.
The heart side of brain neuromodulation
Authors: Rossi Simone , Santarnecchi Emiliano , Valenza Gaetano , Ulivelli Monica
Published: April 2016

Neuromodulation refers to invasive, minimally invasive or non-invasive techniques to stimulate discrete cortical or subcortical brain regions with therapeutic purposes in otherwise intractable patients: for example, thousands of advanced Parkinsonian patients, as well as patients with tremor or dystonia, benefited by deep brain stimulation (DBS) procedures (neural targets: basal ganglia nuclei). A new era for DBS is currently opening for patients with drug-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, severe epilepsy, migraine and chronic pain (neural targets: basal ganglia and other subcortical nuclei or associative fibres). Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) has shown clinical benefits in patients with pharmacoresistant epilepsy and depression. Non-invasive brain stimulation neuromodulatory techniques such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) are also being increasingly investigated for their therapeutic potential in several neurological and psychiatric disorders. In this review, we first address the most common neural targets of each of the mentioned brain stimulation techniques, and the known mechanisms of their neuromodulatory action on stimulated brain networks. Then, we discuss how DBS, VNS, rTMS and tDCS could impact on the function of brainstem centres controlling vital functions, critically reviewing their acute and long-term effects on brain sympathetic outflow controlling heart function and blood pressure. Finally, as there is clear experimental evidence in animals that brain stimulation can affect autonomic and heart functions, we will try to give a critical perspective on how it may enhance our understanding of the cortical/subcortical mechanisms of autonomic cardiovascular regulation, and also if it might find a place among therapeutic opportunities in patients with otherwise intractable autonomic dysfunctions.
Pan-genomic perspective on the evolution of the Staphylococcus aureus USA300 epidemic
Authors: Jamrozy Dorota M. , Harris Simon R. , Mohamed Naglaa , Peacock Sharon J. , Tan Charles Y. , Parkhill Julian , Anderson Annaliesa S. , Holden Matthew T. G.
Published: April 2016

Staphylococcus aureus USA300 represents the dominant community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus lineage in the USA, where it is a major cause of skin and soft tissue infections. Previous comparative genomic studies have described the population structure and evolution of USA300 based on geographically restricted isolate collections. Here, we investigated the USA300 population by sequencing genomes of a geographically distributed panel of 191 clinical S. aureus isolates belonging to clonal complex 8 (CC8), derived from the Tigecycline Evaluation and Surveillance Trial program. Isolates were collected at 12 healthcare centres across nine USA states in 2004, 2009 or 2010. Reconstruction of evolutionary relationships revealed that CC8 was dominated by USA300 isolates (154/191, 81 %), which were heterogeneous and demonstrated limited phylogeographic clustering. Analysis of the USA300 core genomes revealed an increase in median pairwise SNP distance from 62 to 98 between 2004 and 2010, with a stable pattern of above average dN/dS ratios. The phylogeny of the USA300 population indicated that early diversification events led to the formation of nested clades, which arose through cumulative acquisition of predominantly non-synonymous SNPs in various coding sequences. The accessory genome of USA300 was largely homogenous and consisted of elements previously associated with this lineage. We observed an emergence of SCCmec negative and ACME negative USA300 isolates amongst more recent samples, and an increase in the prevalence of ϕSa5 prophage. Together, the analysed S. aureus USA300 collection revealed an evolving pan-genome through increased core genome heterogeneity and temporal variation in the frequency of certain accessory elements.
“Is Voice A Marker for Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis”
Authors: Fusaroli Riccardo , Lambrechts Anna , Bang Dan , Bowler Dermot M , Gaigg Sebastian B
Published: April 2016

Lay Abstract

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are reported to speak in distinctive ways. Distinctive vocal production should be better understood as it can affect social interactions and social development and could represent a noninvasive marker for ASD. We systematically review the existing scientific literature reporting quantitative acoustic analysis of vocal production in ASD and identify repeated and consistent findings of higher pitch mean and variability but not of other differences in acoustic features. We also identify a recent approach relying on multiple aspects of vocal production and machine learning algorithms to automatically identify ASD from voice only. This latter approach is very promising, but requires more systematic replication and comparison across languages and contexts. We outline three recommendations to further develop the field: open data, open methods, and theory-driven research.

Scientific Abstract

Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) tend to show distinctive, atypical acoustic patterns of speech. These behaviours affect social interactions and social development and could represent a non-invasive marker for ASD. We systematically reviewed the literature quantifying acoustic patterns in ASD. Search terms were: (prosody OR intonation OR inflection OR intensity OR pitch OR fundamental frequency OR speech rate OR voice quality OR acoustic) AND (autis* OR Asperger). Results were filtered to include only: empirical studies quantifying acoustic features of vocal production in ASD, with a sample size > 2, and the inclusion of a neurotypical comparison group and/or correlations between acoustic measures and severity of clinical features. We identified 34 articles, including 30 univariate studies and 15 multivariate machine-learning studies. We performed meta-analyses of the univariate studies, identifying significant differences in mean pitch and pitch range between individuals with ASD and comparison participants (Cohen's d of 0.4–0.5 and discriminatory accuracy of about 61–64%). The multivariate studies reported higher accuracies than the univariate studies (63–96%). However, the methods used and the acoustic features investigated were too diverse for performing meta-analysis. We conclude that multivariate studies of acoustic patterns are a promising but yet unsystematic avenue for establishing ASD markers. We outline three recommendations for future studies: open data, open methods, and theory-driven research.
Potential pitfalls in estimating viral load heritability
Authors: Leventhal Gabriel E. , Bonhoeffer Sebastian
Published: April 2016

In HIV patients, the set-point viral load (SPVL) is the most widely used predictor of disease severity. Yet SPVL varies over several orders of magnitude between patients. The heritability of SPVL quantifies how much of the variation in SPVL is due to transmissible viral genetics. There is currently no clear consensus on the value of SPVL heritability, as multiple studies have reported apparently discrepant estimates. Here we illustrate that the discrepancies in estimates are most likely due to differences in the estimation methods, rather than the study populations. Importantly, phylogenetic estimates run the risk of being strongly confounded by unrealistic model assumptions. Care must be taken when interpreting and comparing the different estimates to each other.
Quantifying lymphocyte receptor diversity
Authors: Mora Thierry , Walczak Aleksandra M.
Published: April 2016

To recognize pathogens, B and T lymphocytes are endowed with a wide repertoire of receptors generated stochastically by V(D)J recombination. Measuring and estimating the diversity of these receptors is of great importance for understanding adaptive immunity. In this chapter we review recent modeling approaches for analyzing receptor diversity from high-throughput sequencing data. We first clarify the various existing notions of diversity, with its many competing mathematical indices, and the different biological levels at which it can be evaluated. We then describe inference methods for characterizing the statistical diversity of receptors at different stages of their history: generation, selection and somatic evolution. We discuss the intrinsic difficulty of estimating the diversity of receptors realized in a given individual from incomplete samples. Finally, we emphasize the limitations of diversity defined at the level of receptor sequences, and advocate the more relevant notion of functional diversity relative to the set of recognized antigens.
Statistical Analysis of Zika Virus Correlation to Microcephaly
Authors: Pasquini Pedro Simoni , Simoni Isabela Cristina
Published: April 2016

A Statistical Analysis was performed to probe the correlation between the Zika Virus (ZIKV) and its possibility to induce Microcephaly in infants. It was found that without considering a false positive on tests for ZIKV on mothers there seems to be a statistical significance on ZIKV to cause Microcephaly in infants with a probability of q=0.092 ±15%. It was also shown that without knowing the confidence of the false positive tests of ZIKV it is not possible to statistically assert that this significance is true. It is proposed that to be able to discard the hypothesis of ZIKV not to cause the disease it is necessary to have a 30% of confidence in the ZIKV test.
Devoted to you my love: brand devotion amongst young consumers in emerging Indian market
Authors: Sarkar Abhigyan , Sarkar Juhi Gahlot
Published: April 2016

Purpose

Research investigating brand devotion among young consumers is scarce particularly in emerging Asian market context. The objective of this study was to qualitatively explore the evolutionary process leading to brand devotion amongst the young Indian consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured depth interviews were conducted to collect data. Data was analyzed using grounded theory method.

Findings

The grounded theory framework developed shows single brand devotion in a product category as the key phenomenon along with the associated factors and evolutionary processes.

Originality/value

This study explores how single brand devotion is distinct from romantic brand love, as experienced by consumers. Value of this article also lies in developing a grounded theory framework for single brand devotion in emerging Asian market context.
The moderating effects of single vs multiple-grounds of perceived-discrimination on work-attitudes
Authors: Baruch Yehuda , Humbert Anne Laure , Wilson Doirean
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– Moving from a focus on a single aspect of diversity to multiple-diversity characteristics, the purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a model that examines whether self-efficacy (SE) and protean career (PC) measures relate to intention to stay (ITS), as a possible mediation of job satisfaction (JS). The authors then explored whether perceived discrimination – on single and multiple grounds – modify these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

– A survey of 316 US managers, of which 95 reported perceived discrimination: 51 perceived discrimination on a single ground and a further 44 on multiple grounds.

Findings

– SE and PC are associated with increased ITS where there is higher JS. Furthermore, multiple discrimination results in more negative outcomes compared to a single source of perceived discrimination.

Research limitations/implications

– Employees with multiple diversities might be more prone to feelings of discrimination, which in an organizational context that lacks diversity awareness can generate negative implications on performance, esteem, working relationships, and ultimately ITS.

Originality/value

– The research provides valuable insights into the issue of diversity and discrimination relating to more than one single source of diversity.
Exploring the social identity threat response framework
Authors: Holmes IV Oscar , Whitman Marilyn V. , Campbell Kim S. , Johnson Diane E.
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore what individuals perceive as social identity threats, the sources of the threat, individuals’ responses, and the consequences of the threat.

Design/methodology/approach

– Narratives from 224 individuals were collected. A sample of 84 narratives were analyzed in depth using a qualitative content analysis approach.

Findings

– Initial support for identity threat response theory was found. Three new distinct threat responses – constructive action, ignore, and seek assistance – were uncovered. Additionally, harm/loss appraisals were found to be perceived and reacted to similarly to Petriglieri-defined identity threats.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to identity scholarship by shedding further light on the “theoretical black box” associated with identity threat. Such insight is necessary in further enhancing our understanding of the impact that identity threat has at the individual and organizational level.
Reflections on organizational team diversity research
Authors: Schoenung Benjamin , Dikova Desislava
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– Research on organizational team diversity operates under the assumption that team diversity matters for organizational team behavior. The purpose of this paper is to outline this assumption by referring to three aspects which this type of research has conventionally employed, that is, the conceptual definition, IPO logic, and the concept’s operationalization. The authors subsequently search for its logical support.

Design/methodology/approach

– The search covers several pieces of information: the possible origins of organizational team diversity research, models on group composition, and models on collective behavior.

Findings

– The authors do not find strong evidence in favor of the field’s assumption.

Originality/value

– The implications of this are put into context with contemporary research practices and diversity’s popularity.
The contribution of subjective measures to the quantification of social progress
Authors: Messner Wolfgang
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– Statistical indicators, such as human health, are important for designing government policies, as well as for influencing the functioning of economic markets. However, there is often a discrepancy between statistical measures and the citizens’ prevalent feelings. In order to produce more relevant indicators of social progress, governments are currently shifting their measurement emphasis from objective to subjective measures. While the philosophical tradition of hedonic psychology views individuals as the best judges of their own conditions, little empirical evidence shows that individually reported health scores provide accurate information about a population’s health status. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate if subjective health questions contain genuine information about the status of human health, and are meaningful at an aggregated level.

Design/methodology/approach

– Subjective health data are extracted from the 2012/2013 European Social Survey (28 European countries plus Israel, n=54,427). Objective health data are based on the 2012 World Bank statistics for life expectancy at birth. The author check if aggregated subjective health correlates with life expectancy at country level, and can reliably be compared across countries.

Findings

– The findings support the idea of including subjective data into country statistics of social progress. Because of substantial between-country differences, social development programs should be devised individually for each country.

Originality/value

– By showing that subjective health measures can reliably contribute to the quantification of social progress, the author offer a bridge between objective neoclassical economics and subjective hedonic psychology.
Between rights and obligations – rethinking youth participation at the margins
Authors: Määttä Mirja , Aaltonen Sanna
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical view of participatory policies and measures by highlighting that participation is not only a right for young people, but also an obligation for many. This obligated participation is studied conceptually and empirically.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper introduces a novel typology of youth participation that demonstrates the dimensions of institutional framing and a degree of choice in participation. The typology is applied in an empirical study on how the participation rights and obligations are formed and handled within an educational programme, aiming to support young people at the margins.

Findings

– Young people are controlled by their participation obligations, and are guided to reach maturity and claim personal responsibility for their choices. The acceptance of an obligation to participate has to be negotiated with young people in services; otherwise they may opt out of supportive measures.

Research limitations/implications

– More research is needed on how youth participation terminology is used in political programmes and professional practices.

Social implications

– It is vital to discuss the options and obligations of young people in professional support measures and consider their implications for different groups of young people. At the policy level, the challenge is to ensure that the right to participate at community and political levels is not ignored or made inaccessible to young people at the margins.

Originality/value

– The typology diversifies understanding of youth participation and enables the analysis of participation types. It can be applied in youth studies, policy-making and practices.
Does sophisticated DCF outperform heuristics driven PE? Evidence from India
Authors: SAYED SAMIE AHMED
Published: April 2016

Purpose

PE and DCF are two popular valuation methodologies used by analysts to derive target price forecasts while performing equity research. Recent studies in developed markets show that analysts using sophisticated models like DCF produce more accurate target price forecasts as compared to heuristics driven models like PE. This study investigates if analysts using DCF outperform analysts using PE in an emerging market institutional set up.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth analysis of 392 equity research reports is conducted to understand the dominant valuation model used by analysts to derive target price forecasts. Research reports with clear mention of valuation methodology (PE or DCF) to derive target price forecast are used for the purpose of performing this analysis. Multivariate OLS and logit regression analysis has been conducted to investigate if analysts using DCF outperform analysts using PE to derive target price forecasts.

Findings

The study finds that analysts using PE produce significantly better short-term results than analysts using DCF i.e. when target price accuracy is measured anytime during forecast horizon of 12 months. However, there is no significant difference in target price performance or target price forecast error of PE and DCF model when analyst performance is measured at the end of the forecast horizon.

Practical implications

In contrast to results from developed markets, this study does not find evidence of superior target price performance of DCF. On the contrary, results suggest that PE outperforms DCF on the short-term measure of target price accuracy. This study shows that PE model which captures market moods and sentiments effectively is more suitable in dynamic, emerging markets like India.

Originality/value

Past studies have explored the performance of PE and DCF in developed markets and this study provides fresh empirical evidence on target price accuracy of valuation model from an emerging market like India. The superior short-term target price performance of PE as compared to DCF may be relevant exclusively in emerging markets like India.
Examining US principal perception of multiple leadership styles used to practice shared instructional leadership
Authors: Urick Angela
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– Decades of research on different leadership styles shows that effective school leadership is the degree of influence or synergy between teachers and principals around the core business of schools, instruction. While various styles, such as transformational, instructional, shared instructional, point to the similar measures of high organizational quality, the inconsistency in how these styles are defined and relate make it unclear how principals systematically improve schools. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study used the 1999-2000 schools and staffing survey, n=8,524 of US principals, since it includes a nationally representative sample of administrators who responded to a comprehensive set of leadership measures around a time of school restructuring reforms. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to identify different styles, and to measure the extent of their relationship. These factors were used to test a theory about why principals practice each of these styles to a different degree based on levels of shared instructional leadership.

Findings

– Based on the theoretical framework, principals should have a similar high influence over resources, safety and facilities regardless of degree of shared instructional leadership since these tasks address foundational school needs. However, principal and teacher influence over these resources differed across levels of shared instructional leadership more than principal-directed tasks of facilitating a mission, supervising instruction and building community.

Originality/value

– Differences in the practice of styles by shared instructional leadership did not fit changing, higher ordered needs as theorized instead seemed to vary by a hierarchy of control, the way in which principals shared influence with teachers.
Optimal maintenance scheduling for local public purpose buildings
Authors: Hopland Arnt O. , Kvamsdal Sturla F.
Published: April 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to set up and analyze a formal model for maintenance scheduling for local government purpose buildings.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors formulate the maintenance scheduling decision as a dynamic optimization problem, subject to an accelerating decay. This approach offers a formal, yet intuitive, weighting of an important trade-off when deciding a maintenance schedule.

Findings

– The optimal maintenance schedule reflects a trade-off between the interest rate and the rate at which the decay accelerates. The prior reflects the alternative cost, since the money spent on maintenance could be saved and earn interests, while the latter reflects the cost of postponing maintenance. Importantly, it turns out that it is sub-optimal to have a cyclical maintenance schedule where the building is allowed to decay and then be intensively maintained before decaying again. Rather, local governments should focus the maintenance either early in the building’s life-span and eventually let it decay toward replacement/abandonment or first let it decay to a target level and then keep it there until replacement/abandonment. Which of the two is optimal depends on the trade-off between the alternative cost and the cost of postponing maintenance.

Originality/value

– The paper provides a first formal inquiry into important trade-offs that are important for maintenance scheduling of local public purpose buildings.
Computer-based image elicitation technique for exploring students’ implicit concepts of an ideal English teacher
Authors: Setiawan Ardian Wahyu
Published: April 2016

Purpose

This article presents an account of a qualitative pilot study which evaluated computer-based image elicitation as an innovative technique for exploring students’ implicit concepts of an ideal English teacher in relation to the native speaker fallacy, the belief that ideal English teachers are native speakers of English.

Design/methodology/approach

Two types of analysis were conducted in the study: method and data quality analysis.

Findings

While interviews alone can inquire into the research problem, the results of this study indicate that the technique is practical and able to generate rich image and textual data, supplementing data from interviews. Based on the results, it is argued that computer-based image elicitation can potentially be used as a viable technique for investigating the problematic issue of the strong preference for native English teachers in the field of English language teaching, particularly its racial aspect.

Research limitations/implications

This pilot study gives methodological insights to researchers who aim to investigate relevant issues.

Originality/value

In relation to the issue, there has been no previous research employing visual methods in its inquiry.
Thermal Behaviour of Silk
Authors: K Murugesh Babu , Sen Kushal
Published: April 2016

Silk is a natural protein fibre. It is the only natural fibre available in continuous filament form. Earlier research studies on physical structure and mechanical properties of silk have indicated that the physical and chemical architecture varies between different varieties of silk and a substantial variation of these properties was observed within the cocoon. The amino acid composition and even the dyeing behaviour are different in different silk. Silk is considered as a non-thermoplastic fibre and is generally not expected to undergo significant morphological changes as a result of thermal shrinkage like synthetic fibres, viz., polyester and nylon. Needless to mention, silk fibres do undergo several kinds of heat treatments either in dry or wet state in the course of textile processing. Hence, an attempt has been made in this paper to deal with the response of different silk varieties (mulberry and non-mulberry) to thermal inputs. Five varieties of silk, two mulberry (bivoltine and crossbreed) and three non-mulberry (tasar, muga and eri) were subject to thermal treatments using TGA and DTA techniques. It was found that both mulberry and non-mulberry varieties behave differently to thermal inputs. Non-mulberry varieties show lower weight loss of 35-37% at 400oC as compared to about 41- 44% for mulberry varieties. They also exhibit a higher decomposition temperature. Interestingly, an additional transition at around 290°C is clearly observed with all the nonmulberry silks. The DTA results indicate higher stability of non-mulberry silks towards thermal treatments.
Inter Fiber Frictional Model
Authors: Nowrouzieh Shahram , Sinoimeri Artan , Drean Jean-Yves , Frydrych Richard , Gourlot Jean-Paul
Published: April 2016

One of the effective forces in the textile process is friction. A new and simple device is developed in order to quantify the friction forces during a quasi-static fibre slippage in sliver. The device is composed of two identical clamps, one of which is fixed and the other moving through a linear guide. A piece of sliver was maintained under controlled pressure in the zero gage position of the two clamps. The frictional force during the fibre slippage in the sliver was measured using three different speeds, eight different normal loads and three different sliver counts. Five replications were preceded for each factorial combination. In general, the frictional force increased with the speed, but the analysis of variance of the data indicated that the effect was not significant, whereas the effect of the normal load on frictional force was positive and highly significant. A statistic model based on these results is proposed with respect to sliver count and normal load. Following this model, the effects of the normal load and sliver count on the frictional force were not linear.
A Soft Computing Model for Predicting Yarn Tenacity
Authors: Chen Ting , Zhang Chong , Chen Xia , Li Liqing
Published: April 2016

A soft computing model for predicting yarn tenacity from fiber properties and yarn parameters is developed. Because the number of samples is limited, the artificial neural network to be established must be a small-scale one. This soft computing model includes two stages. Firstly, the fiber properties and yarn parameters were selected by utilizing a ranking method for identifying the most relevant fiber properties and yarn parameters as the input variables to fit the small-scale artificial neural network model. The first part of this method takes human knowledge of yarn tenacity into account. The second part utilizes a data sensitivity criterion based on a distance method. Secondly, the artificial neural network model of the relationship between fiber properties, yarn parameters and yarn tenacity is established. The results show that the artificial neural network model yields an accurate prediction, and a reasonably effective artificial neural network model can be achieved with relatively few data points integrated with the input variable selecting method developed in this research. The results also show that there is great potential for this research in the field of computer-assisted design in spinning technology.
A New Approach to Agility in The Apparel Industry
Authors: Curteza Antonela , Florea Adela
Published: April 2016

Presently, worldwide apparel companies are facing a turbulent market caused by permanent globalization, sustained economic growth, consolidation of industries and intense organization competition. The main problem faced by the managers is actually the opportunities and threats resulted. The concept of “enterprise agility ” has become increasingly relevant.

The concept and thematic for the apparel industry are still new to the world. In this study, they are used to underline the way in which an agile enterprise without automated processes reacts in an environment of variable or extreme turbulence and how it derives solutions to stimulating innovation capacity in extreme turbulence.

This study presents the main problems occurred while determining the agility of the apparel companies which manufacture ready-made clothing. Referrals are made to the main subsystems which are considered very important for the agility of apparel enterprises. The Design subsystem is modeled. The methods of selecting agility parameters and their transposing in comparable units for quantification are also presented.
Application of Microbial Transglutaminases in Anti-Crease Finish of Silk Fabric
Authors: Tian Xiaorui , Geo Weidong , Wang Hongbo , Deng Bingyao
Published: April 2016

In this paper, microbial transglutaminase (MTG) was applied to process silk fabric for improving its crease resistance under the prerequisite of maintaining other performances. Not only was the effect of MTG on silk fabric investigated through the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FR), but analysis was also undertaken in the microcosmic structure of fibroin through the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Solo MTG treatment as well as compound treatments of MTG followed by hydrogen peroxide, protease and ultrasonic, all showed that MTG can improve the crease resistance of silk fabric. It also enhanced its tensile breaking strength or amended damage in the tensile breaking strength caused by pretreatments.

Simultaneously, comparison with other treatments showed that compound treatment of MTG followed by ultrasonic exerted a better coordinated effect and conferred better performances, which made the wrinkle recovery angle (WRA) increase by 17.4% and tensile breaking strength improve by 11.2% respectively. At the same time, other performances were still maintained well.