bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Local school governance and school leadership: practices, processes and pillars
Authors: Leechman Gareth , McCulla Norman , Field Laurie
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the processes and relationships between school councils and school leadership teams in the local governance of 18 independent, faith-based schools in New South Wales, Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-phase, mixed-method research design was used incorporating development of a conceptual framework for local school governance drawn from current literature, face-to face interviews with chairs of school councils and principals, and a subsequent survey of school council members and within-school leadership teams.

Findings

Noting a lack of research into the practices and processes of school council operations and their interface with school leadership, the study identified five key areas that were seen to be foundational to the effectiveness of local governance.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributes an Australian perspective to an international need to better understand local governance arrangements in school leadership and management.

Practical implications

At a practical level, the study provides valuable insights to principals, and to those aspiring to the role, on the nature of the relationship between the school council and school leadership teams.

Social implications

The study responds to a marked increase internationally in local governance arrangements for schools by way of school councils or boards.

Originality/value

A review of literature reveals that, somewhat surprisingly, there has been relatively little research undertaken in this key area of leading and managing schools.
Senior citizens’ acceptance of connected health technologies in their homes
Authors: Etemad-Sajadi Reza , Gomes Dos Santos Gil
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to focus on seniors’ acceptance of the usage of connected healthcare technologies in their homes. The authors integrated into technology acceptance model (TAM) several latent variables such as social presence, trust and degree of intrusiveness perceived with the use of connected health technologies.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors distributed the survey by post to 605 seniors. The authors targeted elderly people using connected health technologies (assistive alarm, telecare, sensors, etc.) at home and/or receiving healthcare at home. The authors received 213 questionnaires back. As The authors had several latent variables, the authors used partial least squares (PLS), a variance-based structural equation modeling method.

Findings

The results show that the level of trust in these technologies impacts significantly the perception of usefulness and the degree of intrusiveness. In parallel, the degree of usefulness of these technologies impacts positively elderly people’s intention to accept their usage. Finally, one can claim that the perception of the social presence with the use of these technologies impacts positively the degree of perceived usefulness, trust and intrusiveness.

Research limitations/implications

The sample covers a population benefiting from similar connected health technologies. It was difficult to distinguish and interpret the added value of each technology separately. As more and more elderly people use or are least familiarizing themselves with a range of connected technologies it would be interesting to identify which sets of connected technologies contribute the most to a positive feeling of social presence.

Social implications

These results are particularly relevant to stakeholders in the health industry in their quest to improve their products/services. A better understanding of the relation that the elderly have with connected health technologies is an essential prerequisite to supporting the development of new solutions capable of meeting the specific needs of our seniors.

Originality/value

The authors want to apply the TAM to connected health technologies designed for elderly people and the authors also want to extend it by integrating the social presence, trust and degree of intrusiveness variables to our research model.
Ship detection and recognition for offshore and inshore applications: a survey
Authors: S. Iwin Thanakumar Joseph , J. Sasikala , D. Sujitha Juliet
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study various ship detection methodologies. The accuracy of ship detection using satellite images still suffers from disturbances due to cluttered scenes and varying ship sizes. The suitability of the techniques for various applications is explained in this survey.

Design/methodology/approach

A list of data on the subject was gathered and processed into tables. The test outcomes were then discussed to determine the most effective ship detection technique under various complex environments.

Findings

In this work, the advantages and disadvantages of different classification techniques of ship detection are highlighted. The suitability of the techniques for various applications is also explained in this survey. Several hybrid approaches can be developed in order to increase the accuracy of ship detection system. This survey also aids in highlighting the significant contributions of satellite images to effective ship detection system.

Originality/value

In this paper, studying various ship detection methodologies is given specific attention. A survey on ship detection and recognition is clarified with the detailed comparative analysis of various classifier techniques.
Leave policies in Europe: current policies, future directions
Authors: Moss Peter , Deven Fred
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the development of leave policies in Europe, both at a regional and national level, and to consider what future directions such policies might take to meet changing conditions and emerging needs.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on the work of an international network that the authors founded in 2004, which brings together experts on leave policy from over 40 countries, and in particular on an annual review of national leave policies conducted by network members.

Findings

The article presents developments in European legislation on leave policy stretching from 1883 to the present day, and outlines the extent of leave policies in European countries and the wide variations in the design of these policies. It suggests that future directions in leave policy need to address the relationship between this and other policy areas; the need for a life course perspective to leave policy, getting beyond parental leave; and that leave should turn away from being considered an employment benefit towards becoming a universal right to care.

Originality/value

The paper provides a concise overview of leave policy in the global region where leave policies began and are today most developed, at both a regional and national level. It is also intended to stimulate debate about the future directions that leave policy might take.
A conceptualization of corporate social (ir)responsibility and moral intensity in the supply chain
Authors: Ferguson Jodie , Brown Brian , Boyd D. Eric
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) within the supply chain. The discussion focuses on the social component of social responsibility and explores its effects on end-users. Moreover, this paper presents moral intensity, a construct introduced in the ethics literature, as a potential guide to managers who struggle to navigate the gray area between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSI.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conceptualizes CSI within the supply chain and offers a framework and propositions for understanding and preventing irresponsible behavior from a moral intensity perspective.

Findings

The moral intensity framework provides a normative approach with the potential to guide managers who face choices involving decisions that might lead to irresponsible behavior in interorganizational settings.

Originality/value

This paper draws attention to business-to-business CSI and the limited research that focuses on the social aspects of CSR, rather than the environmental and economic factors emphasized in prior research. It also introduces the moral intensity framework to the supply chain literature and highlights the end-user’s (i.e. consumer’s) role in influencing the performance of the overall value chain.
The importance of information service offerings of collaborative CRMs on decision-making in B2B marketing
Authors: Saura José Ramón , Palos-Sanchez Pedro , Blanco-González Alicia
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The importance of information service offerings is directly linked to decision-making processes for buying and selling in business-to-business (B2B) companies. B2B companies intend to offer information that helps other companies choose a product or service. This paper aims to identify the relationship between the types of information offered by a B2B company in its B2B marketing strategy and the decision-making of the companies which buy products and services.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, a data set has been consulted that contains 439 observations that are the result of transactions using customer relationship managements (CRMs) of B2B-type companies. A total of 9 different products were consulted from 20 B2B vendors that manage their transactions with CRM software for B2B operations. A total of 439 different transactions were recorded by these vendors during 2018 (n = 439) with their information service offerings strategies. The results were analyzed with the partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results showed that the significance of the relationship between internal control factors and external control factors (H4) is the strongest one when using information services offerings strategies in a B2B environment. The results of this research can help B2B companies to improve their decision-making strategies and to define the structure of the information offered in their B2B marketing plans.

Originality/value

This research makes a contribution to an existing gap, which is to identify what the most important information is for purchasing companies in B2B environments and the relationship with this information, so that B2B purchasers can make good decisions thanks to the information service offerings strategy of the selling companies using CRMs.
Design of services in servitized firms: gamification as an adequate tool
Authors: García-Magro Cristina , Soriano-Pinar Isabel
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aim to propose a model of analysis that justifies gamification as an adequate tool to improve the design of services through the human centered design (HCD) methodology.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study is a conceptual contribution. Based on the information provided by the academic literature on the design of services, HCD and gamification, the suitability of the proposed model is justified to help the servitized companies to improve the design of their services.

Findings

There is a gap in the academic literature about how a servitized company develops its service design process; consumers demand experiences through services; involving consumers in the co-creation of value and co-design of services can guide servitized companies to achieve success with servitization; gamification is an effective tool as a relational marketing strategy.

Research limitations/implications

The review of the literature carried out in this paper provides a solid theoretical basis for future researchers in the area of servitization, service design and relational marketing. However, given the conceptual nature of the research, it is necessary to validate empirically the proposed model.

Practical implications

The proposed model can be useful as a reference for manufacturing companies to guide their servitization process. The study extends the debate on how to integrate the design of services by presenting a model of development based on gamification.

Originality/value

Having knowledge of the end-user is essential throughout the service design process and gamification can be achieved as a HCD technique.
Exploring the opportunity of digital voice assistants in the logistics and transportation industry
Authors: Hsiao Wei-Hung , Chang Tsung-Sheng
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The logistics industry has benefited hugely from the growth of e-commerce. The logistics and transportation industry operators have realized that higher-quality service and logistics management provides the competitive edge as the primary channel of communication with consumers. Digital voice assistants (DVA) is an information system based on an artificial intelligence framework that can interact through voice, such that a deliveryman can query for or use information in a relatively short time. The purpose of this paper is to explore the value of DVA in logistic service.

Design/methodology/approach

This study aims to develop a framework for innovation and logistics service capabilities of logistics and transportation services to structure a model based on the analysis hierarchy process method to discuss the factors considered when adopting DVA.

Findings

The results of this study implied that common problem and expectations of current operators in the delivery of goods and their expectations of DVA.

Practical implications

Innovative operations and planning are possible with information technology-enabled logistic services. It is important to identify relevant DVA development avenues.

Originality/value

The purpose of this study is to show which factors are significant to the logistics and transportation industry using DVA to aid the deliverymen, and it provides guidance for manager evaluating adopted DVA and its object.
Designing a sustainable integrated forward/reverse logistics network
Authors: Farrokhi-Asl Hamed , Makui Ahmad , Ghousi Roozbeh , Rabbani Masoud
Published: October 2019

Purpose

In recent years, governmental regulations and the pressure of non-governmental organizations have convinced corporations to consider sustainable issues in their decisions. A simultaneous design of forward and reverse logistics can keep us away from sub-optimality caused by tackling these two phases (forward and reverse logistics) separately.

Design/methodology/approach

Hence, this paper presents a new multi-objective mathematical model for integrated forward and reverse logistics regarding economic, environmental and social issues. A new hybrid multi-objective metaheuristic algorithm is developed to obtain a set of efficient solutions (Pareto solutions). The proposed algorithm hybridizes a well-known, non-dominated genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) with a simulated annealing algorithm.

Findings

To validate the algorithm, its results are compared to the obtained solutions from simple NSGA-II with respect to some comparison metrics. The numerical results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Finally, concluding remarks and future research directions are provided.

Originality/value

By applying a model presented in this paper, one can reach to sustainable and integrated logistics network which considers forward and reverse flow of commodities simultaneously.
Transformational leadership, organizational justice and organizational outcomes
Authors: Alamir Iyad , Ayoubi Rami M. , Massoud Hiba , Hallak Louna Al
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transformational leadership (TL) on organizational commitment (OC) with the mediating role of organizational justice (OJ) in the higher education (HE) sector in Syria.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from 502 employees from six HE institutions. Two measures of organizational outcomes were selected for this study, namely, job satisfaction (JS) and OC. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), the authors tested four alternative models to indicate the relationship between leadership and organizational outcomes.

Findings

TL has both direct and indirect effects on OC through interactional justice (IJ). TL has an impact on JS through procedural justice (PJ) and IJ as intermediate variables, while transactional leadership (TrL) has an impact on JS through distributive justice (DJ). The three types of OJ have an impact on OC through JS. The authors found that the national culture may not influence the impact of the leader in the current globalization context, as the results were similar to the Western studies.

Practical implications

The findings of the study provide managers of the HE sector with insights into the formations of employees’ fairness perceptions, and with some guidelines for managing employees by documenting OJ to draw positive attitudinal and behavioral responses from employees.

Originality/value

While most previous research has focused on exploring the relationship between leadership and OJ or between OJ and JS in the business sector, the study, however, seeks in addition, to pinpoint the effect of OJ as a mediate variable between the leadership and JS and OC in HE.
Water governance in the USA
Authors: Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel Jorge Alejandro
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to look at how the topic of water governance in the USA reflects the discussion just prior to the contemporary wave of privatisation that now characterises a large section of water in the country.

Design/methodology/approach

In addition to select classic articles, the body of literature chosen for review includes studies published between 2000 and 2019, using The PRISMA statement. Studies chosen were published in recognised journals in core disciplines relating to governance, water management, policy and regulation.

Findings

Private equity firms and water-focused investment funds are significant investors in private companies that operate municipal water works in the USA. This has caused much of the public water infrastructure in the country (and globally) to become privatised and held by international investors as securitised assets.

Research limitations/implications

There is a need for further primary research to more comprehensively capture what actions the US government are taking to carve out a large policy-making space for themselves in a country that there is not an extensive body of literature on takeover decisions in water governance.

Originality/value

The confluence of privatisation in water governance within the US government is an area of growing concern to those interested in how water governance systems and protocols shape broader justice and equality developments across the country.
Entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance: an updated meta-analysis
Authors: Soares Mauren do Couto , Perin Marcelo Gattermann
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and organizational performance through an updated and extended meta-analytic review that includes EO, mediators, moderators and performance results.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Pearson correlations as effect size statistics, and based on 80 independent samples from 78 studies, with a total sample size of 19,514 cases, the meta-analysis consolidates the empirical findings of this field of research.

Findings

The results reveal that there is a direct and positive impact of EO on organizational performance, and this effect is stronger for multi-item measures of performance and for revenue-based performance measures. In addition, the authors found partial mediation effects of learning orientation and innovativeness on the relationship between EO and firm performance.

Originality/value

The work contributes to the literature by demonstrating the importance of EO to organizational performance with a meta-analysis, reporting the partially mediating variables in this relationship and seeking to explain the observed inconsistencies in preceding results, also examining methodological moderating variables. Hence, the research extends previous meta-analytic studies done in the area.
Insider econometrics: a guide to management scholars
Authors: Teodorovicz Thomaz , Cabral Sandro , Lazzarini Sergio
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to present a new trend in management research: the Insider Econometrics approach.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors argue that the use of internal organizational data not available in public sources can benefit both researchers interested in advancing theories and practitioners interested to improve the decision-making toward more solid and evidence-based grounds.

Findings

The authors demonstrate the subjects involved in Insider Econometrics realm and provide a framework to guide management scholars to successfully engage in research involving strong partnerships between academia and real world organizations.

Originality/value

This paper introduces a guide to Insider Econometric research to management scholars.
Entrepreneurial leadership and business performance
Authors: Paudel Samundra
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine effects of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and organizational innovation (OI) on business performance (BP) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as to determine whether environmental dynamism (ED) moderates the mediating effect of OI in the EL‒BP relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was carried out on the basis of questionnaire survey among 243 SME owners of Pokhara valley of Nepal. Hierarchical multiple regression and other different PROCESS models were considered to examine direct, mediation, moderation and moderated mediation relationships.

Findings

The findings suggest a significant positive effect of EL on OI and BP and significant mediating role of OI in EL‒BP relationship. But contrary to the prediction, the results indicate that the moderation and moderated mediation relationship are weaker under a dynamic environment than a stable environment.

Research limitations/implications

As research reveals, ED moderates the studied model differently, and it raises questions on applicability of western theories, scales and their relationship in the South Asian context. Besides this, it has few limitations, which also present opportunities for future research.

Practical implications

The findings of this research will be significant to entrepreneurs, educators and policymakers for better understanding about study variables, to use as consulting options as well as to prepare effective policies for entrepreneurship development.

Originality/value

This study is perhaps the first study that examines the complex moderated mediation model in the context of minimal work on EL‒BP relationship and facilitates more sophisticated understanding about their relationships as well as shows variables’ and model’s generalizability in the eastern context.
Strategic impact of retail 4.0 on retailers’ performance in Malaysia
Authors: Sakrabani Poorni , Teoh Ai Ping , Amran Azlan
Published: October 2019

Purpose

The Malaysian retail industry, which contributes toward almost 45 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is on a downward trend. As such, the main purpose of this study is to improve the performance of the Malaysian retail industry through the incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies. The incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies in the retail industry has led to the emergence of Retail 4.0 which can also be defined as omni-channel retailing.

Design/methodology/approach

The adoption of Retail 4.0, which is a combination of omni-channel retailing and also novel technologies, has been proven to improve the performance of retailers in many countries. As such, the authors have given suggestions on how Retail 4.0 can be incorporated by Malaysian retailers for the betterment of the Malaysian retail industry.

Findings

Problems faced by retailers these days are boring `brick and mortar' stores, out of stock (OOS) issues, price discrepancy and long queues. Retail 4.0 has enabled retailers to overcome these problems by creating novel shopping experiences, better inventory management, and improved operational efficiency and also more informed decision making in real time.

Limitations

The incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies in Malaysia is still in the infancy stage. As such, skilled professionals need to be brought in to help implement these technologies in the retail industry.

Practical implications

Omni-channel retailing and the usage of various technologies by `brick and mortar' stores is very appealing to Malaysia's Gen Y and Gen Z who make up 67 per cent of the country's population. The spending power of this young generation can help to boost the performance of the Malaysian retail industry.

Originality/value

To date, no known study has been done on the impact of Retail 4.0 on Malaysian retailers. The results of this study will be very valuable to managers who are keen to improve the performance of their respective retail channels.
Multi-ethnic Macao: from global village to migrant metropolis
Authors: Clayton Cathryn H.
Published: October 2019

Purpose

In the past 20 years, Macao has experienced phenomenal economic growth driven by the liberalization of its casino sector. This growth has been enabled by massive influxes of foreign capital and migrant labor that have dramatically altered the city’s ethnic landscape. In this paper, the author examines the demographic changes Macao has experienced as a result of the casino boom, and situates the city’s current economic growth and ethnic diversification within its long history as a multi-ethnic city.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on Nancy Foner’s notion of “contexts of settlement,” the study draws on census materials, policy statements, newspaper articles and ethnographic materials to examine how changing ideologies of globalization help shape the categories through which ethnic diversity itself is conceptualized.

Findings

The paper has three main findings. First, despite the Macao government’s multicultural rhetoric, its labor and residency policies that prevent migrant workers from settling in Macao may paradoxically serve to maintain the ethnic status quo ante. Second, the new contexts of settlement engendered by Macao’s casino globalization may be amplifying fissures within the ethnic category “Chinese.” And third, discourses of globalization, regulations on immigration, and classificatory systems governing ethnic diversity that were instituted under Portuguese rule have both helped shape these new contexts and been reworked in the process.

Originality/value

As the processes of urbanization, economic integration and transnational migration continue to accelerate throughout East Asia, the goal of creating inclusive, equitable multi-ethnic urban societies will require closer examination of the relationship between particular modes and ideologies of “global” engagement, patterns of and policies toward migration and the concepts and categories through which diversity is measured. This approach to understanding multi-ethnic Macao may serve as an example.
Effect of high performance work practices on service innovative behavior
Authors: Jaiswal Deepakshi , Tyagi Akansha
Published: October 2019

Purpose

This study aims to provide a holistic model for high performance work practices (HPWPs), work engagement (WE), job autonomy (JA) and service innovative behavior (SIB) of employees in hotel industry, taking social exchange theory as the base of the study. The present study examined the effect of HPWPs on hotel employees’ SIB, mediated by WE. This study further examined the moderating role of JA on the relationship between WE and SIB.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted in both the Garhwal and Kumaon Himalayan regions, Uttarakhand state, India. Using convenience sampling method and standardized questionnaire, data were collected from 384 employees working in 32 hotels and relationships were tested using Hayes’ method of regression analysis.

Findings

The findings of the study revealed that WE mediated the relationship between HPWPs and SIB. Furthermore, it was observed that JA acted as a moderator between WE and SIB.

Research limitations/implications

The responses were collected from the hotels of Uttarakhand region only, so the future studies may be carried out in other industries such as banking, automobile, IT, call centers, etc., as well as in some other region also.

Originality/value

The present study has made some crucial contributions to the existing literature and knowledge base. The study of different variables has been tested in western countries, but this integrated model is the first of its kind, which was tested in Indian context, i.e. Indian hotel employees, especially in Uttarakhand, India, that has completely different work settings/environment as compared to the western countries.
Using hierarchical joint models to study reproductive interactions in plant communities
Authors: Opedal Øystein H. , Hegland Stein J.
Published: October 2019

Pollinator‐mediated reproductive interactions among co‐flowering plant species are prime examples of how species interactions may affect fitness and community assembly. Despite considerable interest in these issues, statistical methods for assessing signal of reproductive interactions in observational data on co‐flowering species are currently lacking.

We propose a flexible method for quantifying potential reproductive interactions among co‐flowering plant species using the hierarchical latent‐variable joint models implemented in the Hierarchical Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) framework. The method accommodates any measure of reproductive success, including pollinator visitation, stigma pollen loads, and seed set. We demonstrate the method by analysing a dataset on bumblebee visitation to a set of co‐flowering plant species in a species‐rich meadow in Norway, and provide R tutorials for this and additional data types.

The example analysis revealed both positive and negative effects of heterospecific flower abundances on visitation to co‐flowering species, which we interpret as potential reproductive interactions.

Synthesis. Hierarchical joint models provide a flexible approach to analysing patterns of covariation in the reproductive success of co‐flowering species, thus identifying potential species interactions. Important strengths include explicit consideration of community‐level effects and the assessment of residual fitness correlations after controlling for covariates such as flower abundances and phenotypic traits, yielding more complete insights into pollinator‐mediated reproductive interactions.
Effects of elevated CO2 on Stipa baicalensis photosynthesis depend on precipitation and growth phase
Authors: Wang Hui , Zhou Guangsheng , Jiang Yanling , Shi Yaohui , Xu Zhenzhu
Published: October 2019

Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and simultaneous precipitation change affect plant physiology and growth either directly or indirectly. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of elevated CO2 and precipitation change, alone or in combination, on photosynthesis and growth in Stipa baicalensis under differential growth phases. Elevated CO2 showed a consistently significant increase in net photosynthesis rate (Anet), water‐use efficiency (WUE), leaf area and biomass. However, elevated CO2 did not mitigate the negative effects of severe drought stress. Increase of Anet under elevated CO2 attributed to Ci in the early growth phase, but WUE and Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax) was the main inductor in the later growth phase. Effects of elevated CO2 on S. baicalensis were closely associated with precipitation conditions, and the influence on photosynthetic capacity was also related to the growth phase. Drought significantly reduced Anet in June and August, increased WUE in June but did not show effect in August. Precipitation enhancement was beneficial to leaf area and biomass accumulation. Elevated CO2 and enhanced precipitation in combination promoted Anet by 158% and 93.4% in June and August, respectively; moreover, their interaction increased the total biomass by 44.4%. Our results suggested that the elevated CO2 concentration in the future might be beneficial to the growth of S. baicalensis, but elevated CO2 influence on S. baicalensis might strongly depend on precipitation conditions and the growth phase.
The unbearable weight of music: The intermezzo
Authors: FRIEDSON STEVEN M.
Published: October 2019

The affordances of musical experience, its capacity to become our mode of being‐in‐the‐world, especially in ritual situations, can be turned against us into an aversive sonic attack that bends the social arc into a liminality without end, a time in between that goes nowhere. And when this happens, we have entered the realm of music torture, a relatively recent innovation in that dark art that was ushered into the world in full force at the beginning of the 21st century. Music became part of a regime of no‐touch torture inflicted upon detainees in the ‘global war on terror’, itself a war without end. In this article, the author argues for an ontomusicology that understands music as ritual and ritual as music – in this case, ritual that inverts Victor Turner’s notion of communitas, with all of its attendant modes of being‐with, into a solitary mode of existence with no hope of escape, a musical ritual torture, a perpetual intermezzo.
The short‐term effects of the earned income tax credit on health care expenditures among US adults
Authors: Hamad Rita , Niedzwiecki Matthew J.
Published: October 2019

Objective

To test the hypothesis that the earned income tax credit (EITC)—the largest US poverty alleviation program—affects short‐term health care expenditures among US adults.

Data Sources

Adult participants in the 1997‐2012 waves of the US Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) (N = 1 282 080).

Study Design

We conducted difference‐in‐differences analyses, comparing health care expenditures among EITC‐eligible adults in February (immediately following EITC refund receipt) with expenditures during other months, using non‐EITC‐eligible individuals to difference out seasonal variation in health care expenditures. Outcomes included total out‐of‐pocket expenditures as well as spending on specific categories such as outpatient visits and inpatient hospitalizations. We conducted subgroup analyses to examine heterogeneity by insurance status.

Principal Findings

EITC refund receipt was not associated with short‐term changes in total expenditures, nor any expenditure subcategories. Results were similar by insurance status and robust to numerous alternative specifications.

Conclusions

EITC refunds are not associated with short‐term changes in health care expenditures among US adults. This may be because the refund is spent on other expenses, because of income smoothing, or because of similar refund‐related variation in health care expenditures among noneligible adults. Future studies should examine whether other types of income supplementation affect health care expenditures, particularly among individuals in poverty.
Frailty transitions and health care use in Europe
Authors: Sicsic Jonathan , Rapp Thomas
Published: October 2019

Objective

There is relative consensus that chronic conditions, disability, and time‐to‐death are key drivers of age‐related health care expenditures. In this paper, we analyze the specific impact of frailty transitions on a wide range of health care outcomes comprising hospital, ambulatory care, and dental care use.

Data Source

Five regular waves of the SHARE survey collected between 2004 and 2015.

Study Design

We estimate dynamic panel data models on the balanced panel (N = 6078; NT = 30 390 observations). Our models account for various sources of selection into frailty, that is, observed and unobserved time‐varying and time‐invariant characteristics.

Principal Findings

We confirm previous evidence showing that frailty transitions have a statistically significant and positive impact on hospital use. We find new evidence on ambulatory and dental care use. Becoming frail has greater impact on specialist compared to GP visit, and frail elderly are less likely to access dental care.

Conclusions

By preventing transitions toward frailty, policy planners could prevent hospital and ambulatory care uses. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between frailty and dental care by controlling for reverse causation.
Comparison of Different Analytical Methods for the Determination of Carbon Monoxide in Postmortem Blood
Authors: Zanaboni Moira , Roda Gabriella , Arnoldi Sebastiano , Casagni Eleonora , Gambaro Veniero , Dei Cas Michele
Published: October 2019

The determination of carbon monoxide (CO) and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) is of utmost importance in forensic toxicology to determine the cause of death in cases of CO poisoning, fire, and explosions. To this end, reliable and updated analytical methods are required. In this paper, four different methods for the determination of carbon monoxide in postmortem blood samples were compared: (i) the spectrophotometric determination of COHb applying the method proposed by Rodkey and modified by Beutler–West, (ii) the spectrophotometric determination of CO using a micro‐diffusion‐based method, (iii) the determination of CO by gas chromatography coupled to a TCD detector, and (iv) the determination of COHb by blood gas analysis. Three postmortem blood samples were analyzed with all methods, and the results were comparable. The applied methodologies showed different features depending on the sensitivity, sample preparation, and volume. The HS‐GC/TCD method in our hand was the most appropriate, on postmortem samples, and versatile to apply. Unfortunately, only a limited number of postmortem blood samples were available for this study due to the rarity of that kind of intoxication in our jurisdiction.
Microbial degradation of halogenated aromatics: molecular mechanisms and enzymatic reactions
Authors: Pimviriyakul Panu , Wongnate Thanyaporn , Tinikul Ruchanok , Chaiyen Pimchai
Published: October 2019

Halogenated aromatics are used widely in various industrial, agricultural and household applications. However, due to their stability, most of these compounds persist for a long time, leading to accumulation in the environment. Biological degradation of halogenated aromatics provides sustainable, low‐cost and environmentally friendly technologies for removing these toxicants from the environment. This minireview discusses the molecular mechanisms of the enzymatic reactions for degrading halogenated aromatics which naturally occur in various microorganisms. In general, the biodegradation process (especially for aerobic degradation) can be divided into three main steps: upper, middle and lower metabolic pathways which successively convert the toxic halogenated aromatics to common metabolites in cells. The most difficult step in the degradation of halogenated aromatics is the dehalogenation step in the middle pathway. Although a variety of enzymes are involved in the degradation of halogenated aromatics, these various pathways all share the common feature of eventually generating metabolites for utilizing in the energy‐producing metabolic pathways in cells. An in‐depth understanding of how microbes employ various enzymes in biodegradation can lead to the development of new biotechnologies via enzyme/cell/metabolic engineering or synthetic biology for sustainable biodegradation processes.
PHLPP2 as a novel metastatic and prognostic biomarker in non‐small cell lung cancer patients
Authors: Wang Hongmei , Gu Ruixue , Tian Fanglin , Liu Yuechao , Fan Weina , Xue Guiqin , Cai Li , Xing Ying
Published: October 2019

Background

PH domain and leucine‐rich repeat protein phosphatase 2 (PHLPP2) has been reported to be a potent tumor suppressor in many human cancers. However, PHLPP2 has not been fully researched as a putative clinical prognostic biomarker of lung cancer.

Methods

The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases including data on 1383 non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were used to determine PHLPP2 expression. PHLPP2 expression was then examined by immunohistochemistry, and its clinical significance analyzed in 134 NSCLC patients, including 73 patients with adenocarcinoma and 81 with squamous cell carcinoma.

Results

We found PHLPP2 expression to be less pronounced in NSCLC tissue samples than that in nontumoral lung tissues according to data taken from TCGA and GEO datasets; this outcome was further validated by immunohistochemistry assay. The low PHLPP2 expression level was found to be associated with the presence of lymph node metastasis (P = 0.003). Importantly, PHLPP2 was found to be an independent indicator of prognosis for overall (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.520, 95% confidence interval [Cl] = 0.327–0.827; P = 0.006) and disease‐free survival (HR = 0.489, 95% Cl = 0.308–0.775; P = 0.002) in patients with surgically‐resected NSCLC by multivariate analysis.

Conclusion

Taken together, our findings show that PHLPP2 is a robust clinical marker for NSCLC survival and could serve as a potential therapeutic target.
Chaco forest fragmentation effects on leaf litter decomposition are not explained by changes in litter fauna
Authors: Moreno María Laura , Bernaschini María Laura , Pérez‐Harguindeguy Natalia , Lomba Angela , Valladares Graciela
Published: October 2019

Forest fragmentation is a component of global change, with substantial impact on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Despite extensive evidence of forest fragmentation effects on above‐ground ecological processes, little is understood about its below‐ground effects. Abundance and richness of leaf litter fauna can be affected by forest fragmentation, and this can have cascading effects on the decomposition process. Here, we examine how fragmentation of a subtropical dry forest affects aspects of ecosystem structure and functioning, by unravel area and edge effects on leaf litter fauna and decomposition rates and testing whether changes in abundance or richness of litter fauna mediated fragment area and edge effects on litter decomposition. We incubated litterbags filled with a common substrate, at the edge and interior of 12 fragments of Chaco Serrano forest in Central Argentina, for 180 days. We found that invertebrate abundance was higher at the forest edge but independent of fragment area, whereas decomposition declined with fragment size independently of edge or interior location. According to our results, the effect of forest size on decomposition was not mediated by changes in abundance or richness of leaf litter fauna, suggesting independent changes in ecosystem structure and functioning.
Ten years of the horse reference genome: insights into equine biology, domestication and population dynamics in the post‐genome era
Authors: Raudsepp T. , Finno C. J. , Bellone R. R. , Petersen J. L.
Published: October 2019

The horse reference genome from the Thoroughbred mare Twilight has been available for a decade and, together with advances in genomics technologies, has led to unparalleled developments in equine genomics. At the core of this progress is the continuing improvement of the quality, contiguity and completeness of the reference genome, and its functional annotation. Recent achievements include the release of the next version of the reference genome (EquCab3.0) and generation of a reference sequence for the Y chromosome. Horse satellite‐free centromeres provide unique models for mammalian centromere research. Despite extremely low genetic diversity of the Y chromosome, it has been possible to trace patrilines of breeds and pedigrees and show that Y variation was lost in the past approximately 2300 years owing to selective breeding. The high‐quality reference genome has led to the development of three different SNP arrays and WGSs of almost 2000 modern individual horses. The collection of WGS of hundreds of ancient horses is unique and not available for any other domestic species. These tools and resources have led to global population studies dissecting the natural history of the species and genetic makeup and ancestry of modern breeds. Most importantly, the available tools and resources, together with the discovery of functional elements, are dissecting molecular causes of a growing number of Mendelian and complex traits. The improved understanding of molecular underpinnings of various traits continues to benefit the health and performance of the horse whereas also serving as a model for complex disease across species.
Genetic determination of sex and shell color in the Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai revealed by an integrated linkage map
Authors: Yang Z. , Xu F. , Zhang Z. , Li J. , Jia Y. , Li H. , Liu X.
Published: October 2019

Integrated linkage maps for each sex have been constructed for the Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai using three F1 mapping families based on co‐dominant markers. A total of 273 markers were placed on the female map, spanning 927.3 cM with an average interval of 3.64 cM, whereas 277 markers were mapped on the male map, covering 727.0 cM with an average spacing of 2.80 cM. Both female and male maps consisted of 18 linkage groups, corresponding well with the number of chromosomes. Furthermore, the sex‐determining locus and the green/orange shell color controlling locus were mapped to the linkage group 3 (LG3) and LG9 respectively. A marker completely linked to phenotypic sex was identified, and the sex determination system was further concluded as paternal heterogametic (males XY and females XX). Based on the segregation ratio of the shell color in the progeny, a simple recessive model of epistasis was proposed to explain the distribution of different color morphs (green, orange and blue): the recessive allele determining orange type masks the effect of the locus controlling green and blue types, whereas the dominant allele at the green/orange locus permits the expression of green and blue types controlled by another locus. The current consensus map provides a useful framework for genetic studies in the Pacific abalone. Mapping of the sex‐determining locus and the shell color‐controlling locus leads to further understanding of the mechanisms underlying these important traits.
A missense variant in the NSDHL gene in a Chihuahua with a congenital cornification disorder resembling inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevi
Authors: Leuthard F. , Lehner G. , Jagannathan V. , Leeb T. , Welle M.
Published: October 2019

Congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform nevus and limb defects syndrome in humans is a genodermatosis characterized by inflammatory linear verrucous epidermal nevi (ILVEN), often showing a striking lateralization pattern. It is caused by variants in the NSDHL gene encoding a 3β‐hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase involved in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway. In the present study, we investigated a female Chihuahua, which showed clinical and histological signs of ILVEN. We performed a candidate gene analysis in the affected animal. This analysis revealed a single missense variant in the NSDHL gene in the affected dog (XM_014111859.2:c.700G>A). The variant is predicted to cause a non‐conservative amino acid change from glycine to arginine, XP_013967334.1:p.(Gly234Arg). The mutant allele was absent from WGS data of 594 genetically diverse dogs and eight wolves. Sanger sequencing confirmed that the variant was heterozygous in the affected dog and absent from 22 control Chihuahuas. Based on the knowledge about the functional impact of NSDHL variants in dogs and other species, c.700G>A is probably pathogenic and a convincing candidate causative variant for the observed skin lesions in the affected Chihuahua.