bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Utilization of a photoactivatable antigen system to examine B-cell probing termination and the B-cell receptor sorting mechanisms during B-cell activation
Authors: Wang Jing , Tang Shan , Wan Zhengpeng , Gao Yiren , Cao Yiyun , Yi Junyang , Si Yanyan , Zhang Haowen , Liu Lei , Liu Wanli
Published: January 2016

Significance

B-cell receptor (BCR) and antigen engagement induces several responses resulting in B-cell activation. However, it has been difficult to study these responses due to their dynamic nature. To solve this problem, a photoactivatable antigen, caged 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl acetyl (caged-NP), was developed. B cells contacting caged-NP exhibited probing behaviors that are cell intrinsic with strict dependence on F-actin remodeling. B-cell probing behaviors were terminated within 4 s after the photoactivation of caged-NP. The termination of B-cell probing was concomitant with the accumulation response of the BCRs into the BCR microclusters. The analysis of temporally segregated single molecule images demonstrated that antigen binding induced trapping of BCRs into the BCR microclusters is a fundamental mechanism for B cells to acquire antigens.
The generalization of preposition para via fusion and ensuing loss of compositionality
Authors: Bauman Joseph , Torres Cacoullos Rena
Published: January 2016

This study traces two shifts in the distribution of the Spanish preposition para ‘for, in order to’: first, a drop in its allative uses and second, its replacement of the older preposition por ‘for’ with purposive infinitives. These distributional changes of the innovative para—across its own contexts of occurrence as well as in its variation with the older por—demonstrate the crosslinguistic allative-to-purposive grammaticalization path. Frequent co-occurrence of the source elements, por and a, foments their coalescence, reflected in changes in the orthographic/phonological form of the fused preposition as it loses structural analyzability. Semantic compositionality, whereby there was a discernable semantic contribution of the allative a component, is also lost as early prepositional objects designating persons decline. We find this account of the rise of para, based on gradual loss of analyzability and compositionality, to be more compatible with the quantitative patterns and insightful than an opaque and implicitly abrupt notion of reanalysis.
Romanian tough-constructions and multi-headed constituents
Authors: Giurgea Ion
Published: January 2016

I propose an account for the absence of agreement on tough-words in Romanian tough- constructions (TCs). I argue that absence of agreement cannot be explained by an A-bar movement derivation, because Romanian TCs involve A-movement, the non-finite complement having passive properties. I also argue against an adverb analysis of Romanian tough-words and against a subject analysis of the clausal argument of the tough-word. I propose a novel analysis, which is supported by West Germanic data: non-agreeing TCs are multi-headed constituents, in which the adjective is the internal head, selecting the supine CP, and the supine C is the external head. Since the adjective is not the external head, it cannot take part in agreement relations involving the [Adjective+Supine] constituent. I provide a technical implementation of the notion of multi-headed constituents which relies on Citko’s (2008) flexible label projection: in this case, it is the label of the complement that projects (an instance of Project-Goal). Finally, I discuss the correlation between the availability of multi-headed TCs and the morphological (in)distinctness between adjectives and adverbs.
Depictive secondary predicates in Spanish and the relative/absolute distinction
Authors: Gumiel-Molina Silvia , Moreno-Quibén Norberto , Pérez-Jiménez Isabel
Published: January 2016

This study accounts for the unacceptability of individual-level gradable adjectives as (depictive) secondary predicates on the basis of two factors: (a) the semantics of gradable adjectives—specifically the way their comparison classes are formed in the syntax, giving rise to the difference between relative/absolute adjectives; (b) the pragmatic inference of temporal persistence that characterizes IL predicates. Absolute adjectives are evaluated with respect to a comparison class composed of counterparts (stages) of an individual, so that the property they express must be interpreted as subject to variation. Therefore, the inference of temporal persistence which seems to be at the basis of the individual-level character of predicates does not arise, giving rise to the stage-level interpretation that absolute adjectives receive. The inference of temporal persistence arises by default in the case of relative adjectives since in the comparison class selected by these adjectives there are no stages (of an individual) instantiating different degrees of the property but just different individuals manifesting different degrees of it. The inference of temporal persistence associated with relative adjectives makes the simultaneity constraint required by secondary predication contexts (McNally 1994) trivial and uninformative. As a consequence, only absolute adjectives are allowed in this syntactic environment.
The linguistic competence of second-generation bilinguals
Authors: Otheguy Ricardo
Published: January 2016

This paper discusses the native linguistic competence of second-generation bilinguals born of immigrant, refugee, expatriate, or otherwise dislocated parents, concentrating on the grammars of second-generation Hispanics in the U.S. Scholarly opinion has gravitated toward the position that the Spanish of these speakers reflects a process of incomplete acquisition. This paper invites examination of the alternative view, namely: what we observe in second-generation bilingual Latinos is not errors, as they are frequently described in the literature, but rather points of divergence between their Spanish and that of the previous generation, due to normal intergenerational language change accelerated by conditions of language contact. The notion of incomplete acquisition rests on an incorrect view of child language acquisition as a process of perfect reproduction of parental grammars. But the process is one where children engage in grammar construction through hypothesis testing. Consequently, all next-generation grammars end up somewhat different from parental ones, paving the way for language change. The grammars of U.S.-born Latinos are thus, like all next-generation grammars, different, not incomplete. Examining the use of subjunctives for a brief illustration, grammarians regularly note variability in cases like Quizás venga (subjunctive) ~ Quizás viene (indicative) but obligatoriness in Quiero que lo llames (subjunctive), with the indicative alternative occurring seldom or never, and analyzable as ungrammatical, *Quiero que lo llamas (indicative). Second generation bilinguals have extended variability, so that for them the latter is usable, and analyzable as grammatical, a fact that disables these bilinguals from successful participation in experiments centered on somebody else’s grammaticality judgments, leading to conclusions of incompleteness.
From N to particle
Authors: Rossi Silvia
Published: January 2016

The paper addresses the distribution of preposition-drop with the noun casa ‘home’ in the spatial adpositions of some Northern Italian varieties. It is shown that in these varieties P-less home behaves syntactically as a locative adverb, which under specific circumstances, becomes a particle. It is suggested that P-less home is not a special noun but a proper member of the category P generated in a specific projection in the fine-grained PP (Cinque 2010), hosting viewpoint modifiers of the silent head PLACE. The adverb vs. particle nature of P-less home derives from motivated movements inside and outside the PP triggered by a directional context. The same analysis is extended to Modern (and Old) English home.
Mitochondrial anchorage and fusion contribute to mitochondrial inheritance and quality control in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Higuchi-Sanabria Ryo , Charalel Joseph K. , Viana Matheus P. , Garcia Enrique J. , Sing Cierra N. , Koenigsberg Andrea , Swayne Theresa C. , Vevea Jason D. , Boldogh Istvan R. , Rafelski Susanne M. , Pon Liza A.
Published: January 2016

Higher-functioning mitochondria that are more reduced and have less ROS are anchored in the yeast bud tip by the Dsl1-family protein Mmr1p. Here we report a role for mitochondrial fusion in bud-tip anchorage of mitochondria. Fluorescence loss in photobleaching (FLIP) and network analysis experiments revealed that mitochondria in large buds are a continuous reticulum that is physically distinct from mitochondria in mother cells. FLIP studies also showed that mitochondria that enter the bud can fuse with mitochondria that are anchored in the bud tip. In addition, loss of fusion and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) by deletion of mitochondrial outer or inner membrane fusion proteins (Fzo1p or Mgm1p) leads to decreased accumulation of mitochondria at the bud tip and inheritance of fitter mitochondria by buds compared with cells with no mtDNA. Conversely, increasing the accumulation and anchorage of mitochondria in the bud tip by overexpression of MMR1 results in inheritance of less-fit mitochondria by buds and decreased replicative lifespan and healthspan. Thus quantity and quality of mitochondrial inheritance are ensured by two opposing processes: bud-tip anchorage by mitochondrial fusion and Mmr1p, which favors bulk inheritance; and quality control mechanisms that promote segregation of fitter mitochondria to the bud.
Potential benefit of electronic pharmacy claims data to prevent medication history errors and resultant inpatient order errors
Authors: Pevnick Joshua M , Palmer Katherine A , Shane Rita , Wu Cindy N , Bell Douglas S , Diaz Frank , Cook-Wiens Galen , Jackevicius Cynthia A
Published: January 2016

Objective We sought to assess the potential of a widely available source of electronic medication data to prevent medication history errors and resultant inpatient order errors.

Methods We used admission medication history (AMH) data from a recent clinical trial that identified 1017 AMH errors and 419 resultant inpatient order errors among 194 hospital admissions of predominantly older adult patients on complex medication regimens. Among the subset of patients for whom we could access current Surescripts electronic pharmacy claims data (SEPCD), two pharmacists independently assessed error severity and our main outcome, which was whether SEPCD (1) was unrelated to the medication error; (2) probably would not have prevented the error; (3) might have prevented the error; or (4) probably would have prevented the error.

Results Seventy patients had both AMH errors and current, accessible SEPCD. SEPCD probably would have prevented 110 (35%) of 315 AMH errors and 46 (31%) of 147 resultant inpatient order errors. When we excluded the least severe medication errors, SEPCD probably would have prevented 99 (47%) of 209 AMH errors and 37 (61%) of 61 resultant inpatient order errors. SEPCD probably would have prevented at least one AMH error in 42 (60%) of 70 patients.

Conclusion When current SEPCD was available for older adult patients on complex medication regimens, it had substantial potential to prevent AMH errors and resultant inpatient order errors, with greater potential to prevent more severe errors. Further study is needed to measure the benefit of SEPCD in actual use at hospital admission.
The Innate Immune Signaling System as a Regulator of Disease Resistance and Induced Systemic Resistance Activity AgainstVerticillium dahliae
Authors: Gkizi Danai , Lehmann Silke , L’Haridon Floriane , Serrano Mario , Paplomatas Epaminondas J. , Métraux Jean-Pierre , Tjamos Sotirios E.
Published: January 2016

In the last decades, the plant innate immune responses against pathogens have been extensively studied, while biocontrol interactions between soilborne fungal pathogens and their hosts have received much less attention. Treatment of Arabidopsis thaliana with the nonpathogenic bacterium Paenibacillus alvei K165 was shown previously to protect against Verticillium dahliae by triggering induced systemic resistance (ISR). In the present study, we evaluated the involvement of the innate immune response in the K165-mediated protection of Arabidopsis against V. dahliae. Tests with Arabidopsis mutants impaired in several regulators of the early steps of the innate immune responses, including fls2, efr-1, bak1-4, mpk3, mpk6, wrky22, and wrky29 showed that FLS2 and WRKY22 have a central role in the K165-triggered ISR, while EFR1, MPK3, and MPK6 are possible susceptibility factors for V. dahliae and bak1 shows a tolerance phenomenon. The resistance induced by strain K165 is dependent on both salicylate and jasmonate-dependent defense pathways, as evidenced by an increased transient accumulation of PR1 and PDF1.2 transcripts in the aerial parts of infected plants treated with strain K165.
High-Throughput Sequencing Identifies Novel Viruses in Nectarine: Insights to the Etiology of Stem-Pitting Disease
Authors: Villamor D. E. V. , Mekuria T. A. , Pillai S. S. , Eastwell K. C.
Published: January 2016

Recent studies have shown the superiority of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology over many standard protocols for pathogen detection. HTS was initiated on fruit tree accessions from disparate sources to improve and advance virus-testing procedures. A virus with genomic features resembling most closely that of the recently described Nectarine stem-pitting-associated virus, putative member of genus Luteovirus, was found in three nectarine trees (Prunus persica cv. nectarina), each exhibiting stem-pitting symptoms on the woody cylinder above the graft union. In these samples, HTS also revealed the presence of a coinfecting virus with genome characteristics typical of members of the genus Marafivirus. The same marafivirus- and luteovirus-like viruses were detected in nonsymptomatic nectarine and peach selections, indicating only a loose relationship between these two viruses with nectarine stem-pitting disease symptoms. Two selections infected with each of these viruses had previously tested free of known virus or virus-like agents using the current biological, serological, and molecular tests employed at the Clean Plant Center Northwest. Overall, this study presents the characterization by HTS of novel marafivirus- and luteovirus-like viruses of nectarine, and provides further insights into the etiology of nectarine stem-pitting disease. The discovery of these new viruses emphasizes the ability of HTS to reveal viruses that are not detected by existing protocols.
Toughing It Out—Disease-Resistant Potato Mutants Have Enhanced Tuber Skin Defenses
Authors: Thangavel Tamilarasan , Tegg Robert S. , Wilson Calum R.
Published: January 2016

Common scab, a globally important potato disease, is caused by infection of tubers with pathogenic Streptomyces spp. Previously, disease-resistant potato somaclones were obtained through cell selections against the pathogen’s toxin, known to be essential for disease. Further testing revealed that these clones had broad-spectrum resistance to diverse tuber-invading pathogens, and that resistance was restricted to tuber tissues. The mechanism of enhanced disease resistance was not known. Tuber periderm tissues from disease-resistant clones and their susceptible parent were examined histologically following challenge with the pathogen and its purified toxin. Relative expression of genes associated with tuber suberin biosynthesis and innate defense pathways within these tissues were also examined. The disease-resistant somaclones reacted to both pathogen and toxin by producing more phellem cell layers in the tuber periderm, and accumulating greater suberin polyphenols in these tissues. Furthermore, they had greater expression of genes associated with suberin biosynthesis. In contrast, signaling genes associated with innate defense responses were not differentially expressed between resistant and susceptible clones. The resistance phenotype is due to induction of increased periderm cell layers and suberization of the tuber periderm preventing infection. The somaclones provide a valuable resource for further examination of suberization responses and its genetic control.
Is Reflective Ability Associated With Professionalism Lapses During Medical School?
Authors: Hoffman Leslie A. , Shew Ronald L. , Vu T. Robert , Brokaw James J. , Frankel Richard M.
Published: January 2016

Purpose

Recently, many have argued that learning to reflect on one’s experiences is a critical component of professional identity formation and of professionalism. However, little empirical evidence exists to support this claim. This study explored the association between reflective ability and professionalism lapses among medical students.

Method

The authors conducted a retrospective case–control study of all students who matriculated at Indiana University School of Medicine from 2001 to 2009. The case group (n = 70) included those students who had been cited for a professionalism lapse during medical school; the students in the control group (n = 230) were randomly selected from the students who had not been cited for a professionalism lapse. Students’ professionalism journal entries were scored using a validated rubric to assess reflective ability. Mean reflection scores were compared across groups using t tests, and logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between reflective ability and professionalism lapses.

Results

Reflection scores for students in the case group (2.46 ± 1.05) were significantly lower than those for students in the control group (2.82 ± 0.83) (P = .01). A lower reflection score was associated with an increased likelihood that the student had been cited for a professionalism lapse (odds ratio = 1.56; P < .01).

Conclusions

This study revealed a significant relationship between reflective ability and professionalism, although further study is needed to draw any conclusions regarding causation. These findings provide quantitative evidence to support current anecdotal claims about the relationship between reflection and professionalism.
Different food sources elicit fast changes to bacterial virulence
Authors: Ketola T. , Mikonranta L. , Laakso J. , Mappes J.
Published: January 2016

Environmentally transmitted, opportunistic bacterial pathogens have a life cycle that alternates between hosts and environmental reservoirs. Resources are often scarce and fluctuating in the outside-host environment, whereas overcoming the host immune system could allow pathogens to establish a new, resource abundant and stable niche within the host. We tested if short-term exposure to different outside-host resource types and concentrations affect
Serratia marcescens
—(bacterium)'s virulence in
Galleria mellonella
(moth). As expected, virulence was mostly dictated by the bacterial dose, but we also found a clear increase in virulence when the bacterium had inhabited a low (versus high) resource concentration, or animal-based (versus plant-based) resources for 48 h prior to injection. The results suggest that temporal changes in pathogen's resource environment can induce very rapid changes in virulence and affect infection severity. Such changes could also play an important role in shifts from environmental lifestyle to pathogenicity or switches in host range and have implications for the management of opportunistic pathogens and disease outbreaks.
Dogs recognize dog and human emotions
Authors: Albuquerque Natalia , Guo Kun , Wilkinson Anna , Savalli Carine , Otta Emma , Mills Daniel
Published: January 2016

The perception of emotional expressions allows animals to evaluate the social intentions and motivations of each other. This usually takes place within species; however, in the case of domestic dogs, it might be advantageous to recognize the emotions of humans as well as other dogs. In this sense, the combination of visual and auditory cues to categorize others' emotions facilitates the information processing and indicates high-level cognitive representations. Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm, we presented dogs with either human or dog faces with different emotional valences (happy/playful versus angry/aggressive) paired with a single vocalization from the same individual with either a positive or negative valence or Brownian noise. Dogs looked significantly longer at the face whose expression was congruent to the valence of vocalization, for both conspecifics and heterospecifics, an ability previously known only in humans. These results demonstrate that dogs can extract and integrate bimodal sensory emotional information, and discriminate between positive and negative emotions from both humans and dogs.
Analysis of iris surface features in populations of diverse ancestry
Authors: Edwards Melissa , Cha David , Krithika S. , Johnson Monique , Parra Esteban J.
Published: January 2016

There are many textural elements that can be found in the human eye, including Fuchs’ crypts, Wolfflin nodules, pigment spots, contraction furrows and conjunctival melanosis. Although iris surface features have been well-studied in populations of European ancestry, the worldwide distribution of these traits is poorly understood. In this paper, we develop a new method of characterizing iris features from photographs of the iris. We then apply this method to a diverse sample of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. All five iris features showed significant differences in frequency between the three populations, indicating that iris features are largely population dependent. Although none of the features were correlated with each other in the East and South Asian groups, Fuchs’ crypts were significantly correlated with contraction furrows and pigment spots and contraction furrows were significantly associated with pigment spots in the European group. The genetic marker
SEMA3A
rs10235789 was significantly associated with Fuchs’ crypt grade in the European, East Asian and South Asian samples and a borderline association between
TRAF3IP1
rs3739070 and contraction furrow grade was found in the European sample. The study of iris surface features in diverse populations may provide valuable information of forensic, biomedical and ophthalmological interest.
Variation in thermal stress response in two populations of the brown seaweed,Fucus distichus, from the Arctic and subarctic intertidal
Authors: Smolina Irina , Kollias Spyros , Jueterbock Alexander , Coyer James A. , Hoarau Galice
Published: January 2016

It is unclear whether intertidal organisms are ‘preadapted’ to cope with the increase of temperature and temperature variability or if they are currently at their thermal tolerance limits. To address the dichotomy, we focused on an important ecosystem engineer of the Arctic intertidal rocky shores, the seaweedFucus distichusand investigated thermal stress responses of two populations from different temperature regimes (Svalbard and Kirkenes, Norway). Thermal stress responses at 20°C, 24°C and 28°C were assessed by measuring photosynthetic performance and expression of heat shock protein (HSP) genes (shsp,hsp90andhsp70). We detected population-specific responses between the two populations ofF. distichus, as the Svalbard population revealed a smaller decrease in photosynthesis performance but a greater activation of molecular defence mechanisms (indicated by a wider repertoire of HSP genes and their stronger upregulation) compared with the Kirkenes population. Although the temperatures used in our study exceed temperatures encountered byF. distichusat the study sites, we believe response to these temperatures may serve as a proxy for the species’ potential to respond to climate-related stresses.
Mergeomics: integration of diverse genomics resources to identify pathogenic perturbations to biological systems
Authors: Shu Le , Zhao Yuqi , Kurt Zeyneb , Byars Sean Geoffrey , Tukiainen Taru , Kettunen Johannes , Ripatti Samuli , Zhang Bin , Inouye Michael , Makinen Ville-Petteri , Yang Xia
Published: January 2016

Mergeomics is a computational pipeline (http://mergeomics.research.idre.ucla.edu/Download/Package/) that integrates multidimensional omics-disease associations, functional genomics, canonical pathways and gene-gene interaction networks to generate mechanistic hypotheses. It first identifies biological pathways and tissue-specific gene subnetworks that are perturbed by disease-associated molecular entities. The disease-associated subnetworks are then projected onto tissue-specific gene-gene interaction networks to identify local hubs as potential key drivers of pathological perturbations. The pipeline is modular and can be applied across species and platform boundaries, and uniquely conducts pathway/network level meta-analysis of multiple genomic studies of various data types. Application of Mergeomics to cholesterol datasets revealed novel regulators of cholesterol metabolism.
Choosing panels of genomics assays using submodular optimization
Authors: Wei Kai , Libbrecht Maxwell W. , Bilmes Jeffrey A. , Stafford Noble William
Published: January 2016

Although the cost of high-throughput DNA sequencing continues to drop, extensively characterizing a given cell type using assays such as ChIP-seq and DNase-seq is still expensive. As a result, epigenomic characterization of a cell type is typically carried out using a small panel of assay types. Deciding aprioriwhich assays to perform—e.g., a few complementary histone modification ChIP-seq experiments, perhaps an open chromatin assay, plus a few diverse transcription factor assays—is thus a critical step in many studies. Unfortunately, the field currently lacks a principled method for making these choices. We present submodular selection of assays (SSA), a method for choosing a diverse panel of genomic assays that leverages methods from the field of submodular optimization. We also describe a series of evaluation methods that allow us to measure the quality of a selected assay panel in the context of inference tasks such as data imputation, functional element prediction, and semi-automated genome annotation. Applying this evaluation framework to data from the ENCODE and Roadmap Epigenomics Consortia, we provide empirical evidence that SSA provides high quality panels of assays. The method is computationally efficient and is theoretically optimal under certain assumptions. SSA is extremely flexible, and can be employed to select assays for a new cell type or to select additional assays to be performed in a partially characterized cell type. More generally, this application serves as a model for how submodular optimization can be applied to other discrete problems in biology. SSA is available athttp://melodi.ee.washington.edu/assay_panel_selection.html.
The role of contact inhibition in intratumoral heterogeneity: An off-lattice individual based model
Authors: Gallaher Jill , Anderson Alexander R.A.
Published: January 2016

We present a model that shows how intratumoral heterogeneity, in terms of tumor cell phenotypic traits, can evolve in a tumor mass as a result of selection when space is a limited resource. This model specifically looks at the traits of proliferation rate and migration speed. The competition for space amongst individuals in the tumor mass creates a selection pressure for the cells with the fittest traits. To allow for organic movement and capture the invasive behavior, we use an off-lattice individual-based model.
SC3 - consensus clustering of single-cell RNA-Seq data
Authors: Kiselev Vladimir Yu. , Kirschner Kristina , Schaub Michael T. , Andrews Tallulah , Yiu Andrew , Chandra Tamir , Natarajan Kedar N , Reik Wolf , Barahona Mauricio , Green Anthony R , Hemberg Martin
Published: January 2016

Using single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq), the full transcriptome of individual cells can be acquired, enabling a quantitative cell-type characterisation based on expression profiles. However, due to the large variability in gene expression, identifying cell types based on the transcriptome remains challenging. We present Single-Cell Consensus Clustering (SC3), a tool for unsupervised clustering of scRNA-seq data. SC3 achieves high accuracy and robustness by consistently integrating different clustering solutions through a consensus approach. Tests on twelve published datasets show that SC3 outperforms five existing methods while remaining scalable, as shown by the analysis of a large dataset containing 44,808 cells. Moreover, an interactive graphical implementation makes SC3 accessible to a wide audience of users, and SC3 aids biological interpretation by identifying marker genes, differentially expressed genes and outlier cells. We illustrate the capabilities of SC3 by characterising newly obtained transcriptomes from subclones of neoplastic cells collected from patients.
Principal component of explained variance: an efficient and optimal data dimension reduction framework for association studies
Authors: Turgeon Maxime , Oualkacha Karim , Ciampi Antonio , Dehghan Golsa , Zanke Brent W. , Benedet Andréa L. , Rosa-Neto Pedro , Greenwood Celia MT. , Labbe Aurélie ,   for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: January 2016

The genomics era has led to an increase in the dimensionality of the data collected to investigate biological questions. In this context, dimension-reduction techniques can be used to summarize high-dimensional signals into low-dimensional ones, to further test for association with one or more covariates of interest. This paper revisits one such approach, previously known as Principal Component of Heritability and renamed here asPrincipal Component of Explained Variance(PCEV). As its name suggests, the PCEV seeks a linear combination of outcomes in an optimal manner, by maximising the proportion of variance explained by one or several covariates of interest. By construction, this method optimises power but limited by its computational complexity, it has unfortunately received little attention in the past. Here, we propose a general analytical PCEV framework that builds on the assets of the original method, i.e. conceptually simple and free of tuning parameters. Moreover, our framework extends the range of applications of the original procedure by providing a computationally simple strategy for high-dimensional outcomes, along with exact and asymptotic testing procedures that drastically reduce its computational cost. We investigate the merits of the PCEV using an extensive set of simulations. Furthermore, the use of the PCEV approach will be illustrated using three examples taken from the epigenetics and brain imaging areas.
Syntheses and structures of discrete copper(II) and cadmium(II) supramolecular complexes based on 1,4-diacylthiosemicarbazone ligands
Authors: Jiao Chen , Zhang Si-Si , Li Zuo-Yin , Liu Jian-Jun , Lin Mei-Jin , Huang Chang-Cang
Published: January 2016

Thiosemicarbazides and their metal complexes have attracted considerable interest because of their biological activities and their flexibility, which allows the ligands to bend and rotate freely to accommodate the coordination geometries of various metal centres. Discrete copper(II) and cadmium(II) complexes have been prepared by crystallization ofN-[2-(2-hydroxybenzoyl)hydrazinecarbonothioyl]propanamide (H3L) with Cu(CH3COO)2or Cd(NO3)2in a dimethylformamide/methanol mixed-solvent system at room temperature, affording the complexes di-μ-acetato-bis{μ4-1-[(2-oxidophenyl)carbonyl]-2-(propanamidomethanethioyl)hydrazine-1,2-diido}tetracopper(II) dimethylformamide disolvate, [Cu4(C11H10N3O3S)2(C2H3O2)2]·2C3H7NO, (I), and bis{μ2-[(2-hydroxyphenyl)formamido](propanamidomethanethioyl)azanido}bis[(4,4′-bipyridine)nitratocadmium(II)] dihydrate, [Cd2(C11H12N3O3S)2(NO3)2(C10H8N2)2]·2H2O, (II). Complex (I) consists of four CuIIcations, two μ4-bridging trianionic ligands and two μ2-bridging acetate ligands, while complex (II) is composed of two CdIIcations, two μ2-bridging monoanionic ligands, two nitrate ligands and two 4,4′-bipyridine ligands. These discrete complexes are connected by hydrogen bonds and van der Waals interactions to form a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture. Compared with (I), the phenolic hydroxy group and hydrazide N atom of the thiosemicarbazide ligand of (II) are not involved in coordination and lead to a binuclear CdIIcomplex. This different coordination mode may be attributed to the larger ionic radius of the CdIIion compared with the CuIIion.
A blueprint for food safety in China
Authors: Connolly Aidan J , Luo Leona Shaojing , Woolsey Michael , Lyons Mark , Phillips-Connolly Kate
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer a blueprint, or outline considerations for the continuing evolution of the Chinese food safety system.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper begins with the review of the current food safety system in China and the demonstration of the successes in national food safety programmes. It goes on to identify the specific problems through food sully China, and further to analyse the potential for implementing the key learnings from other national food safety programmes in the Chinese context.

Findings

– The paper suggests a five-point Blueprint for food safety in China and other countries, allowing for the development of a robust food safety system, by combining the elements with best practice from system created by food safety practitioners internationally.

Research limitations/implications

– It should be noted that even since the authors began developing this model China has already adopted a number of the recommendations covered by this Blueprint and is actively considering others.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfills an identified information/resources need and offers a blueprint, or outline of considerations for the continuing evolution of the Chinese food safety system.
Surface analysis of polymeric substrates used for inkjet printing technology
Authors: Pietrikova Alena , Lukacs Peter , Jakubeczyova Dagmar , Ballokova Beata , Potencki Jerzy , Tomaszewski Grzegorz , Pekarek Jan , Prikrylova Katerina , Fides Martin
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– This paper aims to find an optimal surface treatment of commonly used polymeric substrates for achieve the high adhesion of printed structures. For this reason, the investigation of substrates surfaces from different perspectives is presented in this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

– The contact angle measurements as well as the roughness measurements were realised for the analysis of surface properties of investigated substrates. The impact of applied chemical agents for surface treatment onto the wettability is analysed for polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene naphthalene substrates.

Findings

– The results prove the correlation among wettability, surface energy and work of adhesion with respect to the theoretical background. The surface treatment of polymeric substrates by chemical agents, such as acetone, toluene, ethanol, isopropyl and fluor silane polymer, has a significant impact onto the wettability of substrates which affects the final deposition process of nanoinks.

Originality/value

– The main benefit of the surfaces’ investigation presented in this paper lays in surface modification by readily available chemical agents for optimising the deposition process nanoinks used in inkjet printing technology.
The role of social media during the pre-purchasing stage
Authors: Song Sujin , Yoo Myongjee
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether social media may impact a customer’s purchasing decision during the pre-purchase stage of service consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study implemented a primary field survey design and developed an online self-administered questionnaire. A total of 285 usable questionnaires were collected. Factor analysis was performed to condense the large set of independent variables, and multiple regression analysis was performed to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

– The results indicate that the benefits of social media do have a positive relation with customers purchase decision, but not all items are crucial to a similar extent. Functional (convenience, efficiency, information, sharing experiences) and monetary (free coupons, price discounts, special deals) benefits from social media were found to have a positive impact on customers’ purchase decision (H1,H2), while socio-psychological benefits were found to have no relationship with customers’ decision (H4). Still, hedonic benefits (amusement, enjoyment, entertainment, fun) were found to have a relationship with purchase decision (H3).

Originality/value

– While social media received much attention in research due to its rapid development and its popularity, there are still limited studies that investigated the effect of social media during the pre-purchasing stage. Findings of this study are expected to contribute to the growing body of hospitality research on social media. Additionally, this research is expected to assist hospitality businesses to understand customers’ behavior regards to social media and develop appropriate marketing strategies.
Equilibrium liquidity premia of private equity funds
Authors: Buchner Axel
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel theory of the equilibrium liquidity premia of private equity funds and explore its asset-pricing implications.

Design/methodology/approach

– The theory assumes that investors are exposed to the risk of facing surprise liquidity shocks, which upon arrival force them to liquidate their positions on the secondary private equity markets at some stochastic discount to the fund’s current net asset value. Assuming a competitive market where fund managers capture all rents from managing the funds and investors just break even on their positions, liquidity premia are defined as the risk-adjusted excess returns that fund managers must generate to compensate investors for the costs of illiquidity. The model is calibrated to data of buyout funds and is illustrated by using numerical simulations.

Findings

– The model analysis generates a rich set of novel implications. These concern how fund characteristics affect liquidity premia, the role of the investors’ propensities of liquidity shocks in determining liquidity premia and the impact of market conditions and cycles on liquidity premia.

Originality/value

– This is the first paper that derives liquidity premia of private equity funds in an equilibrium setting in which investors are exposed to the risk of facing surprise liquidity shocks.
Performance management in healthcare: a critical analysis
Authors: Hewko Sarah J. , Cummings Greta G.
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying theoretical assumptions and implications of current micro-level performance management and evaluation (PME) practices, specifically within health-care organizations. PME encompasses all activities that are designed and conducted to align employee outputs with organizational goals.

Design/methodology/approach

– PME, in the context of healthcare, is analyzed through the lens of critical theory. Specifically, Habermas’ theory of communicative action is used to highlight some of the questions that arise in looking critically at PME. To provide a richer definition of key theoretical concepts, the authors conducted a preliminary, exploratory hermeneutic semantic analysis of the key words “performance” and “management” and of the term “performance management”.

Findings

– Analysis reveals that existing micro-level PME systems in health-care organizations have the potential to create a workforce that is compliant, dependent, technically oriented and passive, and to support health-care systems in which inequalities and power imbalances are perpetually reinforced.

Practical implications

– At a time when the health-care system is under increasing pressure to provide high-quality, affordable services with fewer resources, it may be wise to investigate new sector-specific ways of evaluating and managing performance.

Originality/value

– In this paper, written for health-care leaders and health human resource specialists, the theoretical assumptions and implications of current PME practices within health-care organizations are explored. It is hoped that readers will be inspired to support innovative PME practices within their organizations that encourage peak performance among health-care professionals.
The significance of perceived social-organization climate for creating employees’ innovativeness
Authors: Wojtczuk-Turek Agnieszka , Turek Dariusz
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the relationship between perceived social-organizational climate (PSOC), organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) of other employees and innovative workplace behaviors (IWB) initiated and performed by employees. The mediating role of person-organization fit (P-O Fit) is tested within the relationship of PSOC, OCB and IWB.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study was conducted anonymously on a group of 246 employees from 76 companies operating in Poland. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in the process of statistical analysis.

Findings

– The research confirmed a significant statistical relationship between IWB and all studied variables: PSOC, OCB and P-O Fit. On the basis of the analysis, using SEM, it may be concluded that PSOC and OCB of other employees have an indirect influence on IWB, via P-O Fit.

Research limitations/implications

– A cross-sectional design and use of self-reported questionnaire data are limitations of this study.

Originality/value

– The combination of variables presented in the research model may explain the significance of the chosen determinants of behaviors which are the key ones from the perspective of the company’s effectiveness and competitiveness on the market. The results of this research extend the knowledge in the area of relationships of innovation in the workplace with aspects of social functioning in the organization.
Services management and the growing number of Asian travellers – what needs re-thinking?
Authors: Dioko Leonardo (Don) A.N.
Published: January 2016

Purpose

– This paper aims to explore the rationale for the theme issue question “Services management and the growing number of Asian travellers – what needs re-thinking?” and profile the theme issue.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper explains the approach taken to investigate and respond to aspects of the theme issue question and the specific contribution of each article in the theme issue collection.

Findings

– This paper identifies a number of action points arising from the theme issue which are discussed in the final article: Conclusion: What needs re-thinking in services management in the dawning age of Asian travellers?

Originality/value

– There are very few articles that address the implications of rapidly growing outbound Asian travel for services management; so, this theme issue provides a significant step forward, with implications for both academics and practitioners.
Antifungal activity of Rubus chingii extract combined with fluconazole against fluconazole‐resistant Candida albicans
Authors: Han Bing , Chen Jia , Yu Yi‐qun , Cao Yong‐bing , Jiang Yuan‐ying
Published: January 2016

This study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of Rubus chingii extract in combination with fluconazole (FLC) against FLC‐resistant Candida albicans 100 in vitro. A R. chingii extract and FLC‐resistant C. albicans fungus suspension were prepared. The minimum inhibitory concentration and fractional inhibitory concentration index of R. chingii extract combined with FLC against C. albicans were determined, after which growth curves for C. albicans treated with R. chingii extract, FLC alone and a combination of these preparations were constructed. Additionally, the mechanisms of drug combination against C. albicans were explored by flow cytometry, gas chromatographic mass spectrometry and drug efflux pump function detection. R. chingii extract combined with FLC showed significant synergy. Flow cytometry suggested that C. albicans cells mainly arrest in G1 and S phases when they have been treated with the drug combination. The drug combination resulted in a marked decrease in the ergosterol content of the cell membrane. Additionally, efflux of Rhodamine 6G decreased with increasing concentrations of R. chingii extract. R. chingii extract combined with FLC has antifungal activity against FLC‐resistant C. albicans.
Bolstered physical defences under nutrient‐enriched conditions may facilitate a secondary foundational algal species in the South Pacific
Authors: Bittick Sarah Joy , Clausing Rachel Joy , Fong Caitlin Ryan , Fong Peggy
Published: January 2016

Humans have a long history of changing species' ranges and habitat distributions, making studies of the ecological processes that may facilitate these changes of key importance, particularly in cases where a primary foundation species is replaced by another, less desirable species.

We investigated the impact of nutrients and herbivory on Turbinaria ornata, a secondary foundational macroalga that depends on and likely competes with coral, the primary foundational community. T. ornata is also rapidly expanding in range and habitat across the South Pacific. We conducted (i) a mesocosm experiment assessing relative nutrient limitation, (ii) a field experiment comparing importance of nutrients (+/−) and herbivory (+/−) to biomass accumulation, and (iii) an herbivory assay and toughness test comparing enriched and ambient thalli to assess changes to anti‐herbivory defences.

We found no evidence of growth being nutrient limited in T. ornata; rather than stimulating growth, nutrient addition deterred herbivores. However, when physical toughness was removed, enriched algae were preferred, with consumption rates 25‐fold those of unenriched algae. Additionally, enriched thalli were tougher than ambient thalli, suggesting physical defences were bolstered by nutrient enrichment.

Synthesis. We found a unique interaction where nutrients inhibit herbivory and facilitate Turbinaria ornata biomass accumulation. While concern is often placed on degradation of foundation species via anthropogenic change, instead here we show that anthropogenic change can facilitate secondary foundation species. This facilitation may allow a secondary foundation species to better compete with primary foundation species.
Local adaptation to different phytogeographic regions: habitat‐related variations in seed germination in response to temperature and salinity for two medicinalSalviaspecies fromJordan
Authors: Al‐Gharaibeh Mohammad M. , Hamasha Hassan R. , Lachmuth Susanne , Hensen Isabell
Published: January 2016

Salvia spinosa L. andSalvia syriaca L. are perennial medicinal herbs that occur in theMediterranean,Irano‐Turanian andSaharo‐Arabian phytogeographic regions ofJordan. With respect to the seed germination requirements, prevailing environmental conditions in each phytogeographic region may promote local adaptation and consequently affect the distribution range of the species. Using seeds of both species collected from populations across the three regions, we tested responses to variations in temperature and salinity under laboratory conditions. Both species showed significant differences in cumulative germination percentages and germination rates (modifiedTimson Index) with temperature, while origin only significantly affectedS. spinosaseeds. Both species germinated best under the highest temperature regime (32/20°C). The low temperature regime (8/4°C) completely inhibited germination inS. syriaca, wheras it led to 80% to 95% germination inS. spinosa, with significant variation being recorded between the phytogeographic regions. For both species, salt solutions of 0, 25 and 50 mMNaCl yielded the highest germination percentages and rates, which sharply and significantly declined at higher concentrations (100 and 200 mMNaCl). Our results provide evidence of local adaptation of the study species to salinity and temperature in the respective maternal environments, particularly in theIrano‐Turanian andSaharo‐Arabian regions. Such differentiation should be accounted for in future conservation planning.