bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
EMDomics: a robust and powerful method for the identification of genes differentially expressed between heterogeneous classes
Authors: Nabavi Sheida , Schmolze Daniel , Maitituoheti Mayinuer , Malladi Sadhika , Beck Andrew H.
Published: October 2015

Motivation: A major goal of biomedical research is to identify molecular features associated with a biological or clinical class of interest. Differential expression analysis has long been used for this purpose; however, conventional methods perform poorly when applied to data with high within class heterogeneity.

Results: To address this challenge, we developed EMDomics, a new method that uses the Earth mover’s distance to measure the overall difference between the distributions of a gene’s expression in two classes of samples and uses permutations to obtain q-values for each gene. We applied EMDomics to the challenging problem of identifying genes associated with drug resistance in ovarian cancer. We also used simulated data to evaluate the performance of EMDomics, in terms of sensitivity and specificity for identifying differentially expressed gene in classes with high within class heterogeneity. In both the simulated and real biological data, EMDomics outperformed competing approaches for the identification of differentially expressed genes, and EMDomics was significantly more powerful than conventional methods for the identification of drug resistance-associated gene sets. EMDomics represents a new approach for the identification of genes differentially expressed between heterogeneous classes and has utility in a wide range of complex biomedical conditions in which sample classes show within class heterogeneity.

Availability and implementation: The R package is available at http://www.bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/EMDomics.html

Contact:  abeck2@bidmc.harvard.edu

Supplementary information:  supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Gapped sequence alignment using artificial neural networks: application to the MHC class I system
Authors: Andreatta Massimo , Nielsen Morten
Published: October 2015

Motivation: Many biological processes are guided by receptor interactions with linear ligands of variable length. One such receptor is the MHC class I molecule. The length preferences vary depending on the MHC allele, but are generally limited to peptides of length 8–11 amino acids. On this relatively simple system, we developed a sequence alignment method based on artificial neural networks that allows insertions and deletions in the alignment.

Results: We show that prediction methods based on alignments that include insertions and deletions have significantly higher performance than methods trained on peptides of single lengths. Also, we illustrate how the location of deletions can aid the interpretation of the modes of binding of the peptide-MHC, as in the case of long peptides bulging out of the MHC groove or protruding at either terminus. Finally, we demonstrate that the method can learn the length profile of different MHC molecules, and quantified the reduction of the experimental effort required to identify potential epitopes using our prediction algorithm.

Availability and implementation: The NetMHC-4.0 method for the prediction of peptide-MHC class I binding affinity using gapped sequence alignment is publicly available at: http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/NetMHC-4.0.

Contact:  mniel@cbs.dtu.dk

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
What hat are you wearing? On the multiple roles of fishery scientists in the ICES community
Authors: Dankel Dorothy J. , Stange Kari , Nielsen Kåre Nolde
Published: October 2015

Trends towards a more participatory agenda in policy-relevant science imply that the roles and work tasks of scientists become more multifaceted. In Europe, the increased use of multiannual plans creates a need for fishery scientists to contribute with their expertise in a wide variety of situations. We identify and characterize four roles for scientists as developers , reviewers , judges , and messengers in arenas where management plans are produced and evaluated. Using examples of producing and evaluating management plans for pelagic fish stocks in Europe, we present different scientific roles and how they may intertwine. The examples illustrate that fishery scientists increasingly interact with advisory councils and industry stakeholders when performing roles as developers and messengers. The roles as reviewers and judges are typically affiliated with evaluation processes carried out under the auspices of the marine science and advisory organization International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). While it may be difficult to separate the roles in practice, we argue that it must be emphasized to be aware of their different requirements to ensure that scientific credibility is not compromised. By asking the question “What hat are you wearing?”, we encourage individual fishery scientists, their employers, and ICES as a network organization of expertise to reflect on roles, affiliations, mandates, and possible consequences of wearing different “hats”.
Care and Control: Are the National Minimum Wage Entitlements of Homecare Workers at Risk under the Care Act 2014?
Authors: Hayes LJB
Published: October 2015

Homecare is a major source of women’s low-wage employment in the UK. Practices of unpaid working time are widespread and many workers are not paid in accordance with their existing national minimum wage entitlements. On 1 April 2015, a new duty of well-being in social care came into force and local authorities are required to promote the control of care by service-users. As a consequence, homecare workers will increasingly be engaged in complex multi-lateral work relations and subject to multi-party control. This article examines how the national minimum wage entitlements of homecare workers have been legally interpreted and questions if their entitlements might be adversely affected under provisions of the Care Act 2014. There is a legacy of judicial decision-making in which care-giving is not recognised as ‘work’ for the purposes of the national minimum wage. Yet recent decisions have produced a more satisfactory entitlement framework by establishing that employer control over working time determines ‘work’. However, it seems this framework is put at risk by the statutory promotion of service-user control. As work relations are re-cast, contractual relationships in which care-giving falls outside the protection of national minimum wage law will appear increasingly attractive because they may both enhance service-user control and facilitate very low cost labour. Without innovation in legal treatments of multi-party control and sustained attention to the worth of care-giving as employment, the rights of homecare workers are at risk under the Care Act 2014.
Prolonged Use of Oritavancin for Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis
Authors: Johnson Jennifer A. , Feeney Eoin R. , Kubiak David W. , Corey G. Ralph
Published: October 2015

Oritavancin is a novel lipoglycopeptide with activity against Gram-positive organisms including streptococci, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant S aureus (VRSA), and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) [1–3]. The US Food and Drug Administration approved oritavancin as a single intravenous dose of 1200 mg for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections on the basis of 2 clinical trials demonstrating noninferiority compared with vancomycin [4, 5].

There are limited options for treatment of serious VRE infections. Monotherapy with daptomycin or tigecycline or linezolid may be sufficient in some cases, but combination therapy is often indicated for severe or complicated infections such as endocarditis. Several antibiotic combinations have been used in isolated case reports with some efficacy, including the following: high-dose ampicillin with an aminoglycoside [6], ampicillin with ceftriaxone or imipenem [7, 8], high-dose daptomycin with ampicillin and gentamicin [9] or with gentamicin and rifampin [10], daptomycin with tigecycline [11, 12], quinupristin-dalfopristin with high-dose ampicillin [13] or doxycycline and rifampin [14], and linezolid with tigecycline [15]. The limited efficacy, limited susceptibility, and extensive toxicities with many of these agents and combinations present barriers to effective treatment. Additional treatment options for VRE endocarditis would be valuable. Although oritavancin has been shown to have in vitro activity against some isolates of VRE, clinical data are lacking. We describe the first use of a prolonged course of oritavancin in the treatment of a serious VRE infection, prosthetic valve endocarditis.
Fracture risk and correlating factors of a pediatric population with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a nationwide matched study
Authors: Guo Nai-Wen , Lin Cheng-Li , Lin Cheng-Wei , Huang Ming-Tung , Chang Wei-Lun , Lu Tsung-Hsueh , Lin Chii-Jeng
Published: October 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of fracture and the difference between sexes from a nationwide database of fracture risk among children aged 4–17 years with or without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, ICD-9-CD codes 314). The Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID 2000) was used to analyze fracture characteristics of children from the National Health Insurance that covered 96.1% of the Taiwanese population (N=21.4 million). A total of 7200 ADHD children aged between 4 and 17 years whose diagnosis had been confirmed in at least three outpatient clinics between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2009 were included, and a cohort of 36 000 children without ADHD matched for age, sex, and urbanization was recruited for analysis. The incidence rate of fractures in ADHD children was 21.0 (95% confidence interval=19.4–22.7) per 1000 person-years, significantly (P<0.001) higher than 15.0 (95% confidence interval=14.4–15.6) in non-ADHDs. After adjusting by age, sex, urbanization level, and geographic region, the statistically significant (P<0.001) hazard ratios (HR) of fracture for ADHD children compared with non-ADHD children included 1.62 in girls and 1.38 in boys, 1.53 in the skull, neck, and trunk (ICD-9-CM 800–809), 1.28 in the upper extremity (ICD-9-CM 810–819), and 1.84 in the lower extremity (ICD-9-CM 820–829). The HR also (P<0.001) increased significantly in all age groups, including 1.35 in 4–6, 1.37 in 7–9, and 1.54 in 10–17 years. ADHD should be listed among risk factors of children’s fractures in each sex, all age groups, and all body areas that the parents, teachers, caregivers of ADHD children, and pediatric orthopedists should be aware of. Besides, ADHD girls were more affected than ADHD boys, especially after 10 years of age, whereas the adjusted HR was the highest in the lower extremities. Nationwide analysis matched for age and sex showed that ADHD should be considered the risk factor of children’s fracture, especially for girls older than 10 years of age.
New Approach to Exclude the Left Atrial Appendage during Minimally Invasive Cryothermic Surgical Ablation
Authors: Ad Niv , Massimiano Paul S. , Shuman Deborah J. , Pritchard Graciela , Holmes Sari D.
Published: October 2015

Objective

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with an increased risk for embolic stroke originating from the left atrial appendage (LAA). A recently introduced LAA epicardial clip occluder, the AtriClip PRO, can be applied through midsternotomy or small thoracotomy. We assessed the safety and efficacy of a new surgical approach to apply the AtriClip PRO and exclude the LAA through right minithoracotomy and transverse sinus.

Methods

The AtriClip PRO was applied in 24 patients with the new approach. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography was used to exclude LAA thrombi at baseline and evaluate LAA perfusion and residual neck postoperatively.

Results

Mean (SD) age was 64.5 (8.6) years; 95% of the patients had nonparoxysmal AF with median AF duration of 39 months (interquartile range, 9.3–85.3 months), and mean (SD) left atrium diameter was 4.5 (0.7) cm (range, 3.1–5.7 cm). In one attempt, the clip was not deployed because of severe adhesions in the transverse sinus area. The procedural success rate was 95%. Nine minimally invasive mitral valve repairs were combined with surgical ablation; the rest were isolated right minithoracotomy Cox maze procedures. There was no remaining LAA neck in 71% of the patients. Perioperative outcomes were acceptable, and median length of stay was 5.5 days.

Conclusions

The development of a reliable approach to LAA management during minimally invasive surgical ablation through right minithoracotomy has been challenging. This new approach is safe and effective and should offer a superior and consistent early and long-term solution compared with the current approach of endocardial stitch closure.
Phlegmonous Gastritis
Authors: Kelly Sean G. , Vanagunas Arvydas D. , Dinh Minh H.
Published: October 2015

Phlegmonous gastritis is a rare, life-threatening, rapidly progressive purulent infection of the gastric wall. Multiple pathogens have been associated with this disease, notably Streptococcus species. We report what we believe to be the first case of phlegmonous gastritis due to Listeria monocytogenes.
Suprasellar Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor in an Adult
Authors: Espino Barros Palau Angelina , Khan Khurrum , Morgan Michael L. , Powell Suzanne Z. , Lee Andrew G.
Published: October 2015

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) of the central nervous system (CNS) are a heterogeneous group of embryonal malignancies that are composed of undifferentiated or poorly differentiated neuroepithelial cells. Supratentorial PNET is the second most common CNS embryonal malignancy in children, but it is rare in adults. We report the case of a 31-year-old woman with bilateral vision loss and a bitemporal hemianopia. Neuroimaging revealed a suprasellar mass, and pathology was consistent with PNET. After surgical debulking of the tumor followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy, the patient had significant visual recovery and remained stable over 14 months of follow-up.
High efficiency transfection of thymic epithelial cell lines and primary thymic epithelial cells by Nucleofection
Authors: O’Neil Richard T. , Wei Qiaozhi , Condie Brian G.
Published: October 2015

Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) are required for the development and differentiation of T cells and are sufficient for the positive and negative selection of developing T cells. Although TECs play a critical role in T cell biology, simple, efficient and readily scalable methods for the transfection of TEC lines and primary TECs have not been described. We tested the efficiency of Nucleofection for the transfection of 4 different mouse thymic epithelial cell lines that had been derived from cortical or medullary epithelium. We also tested primary mouse thymic epithelial cells isolated from fetal and postnatal stages. We found that Nucleofection was highly efficient for the transfection of thymic epithelial cells, with transfection efficiencies of 30-70% for the cell lines and 15-35% for primary TECs with low amounts of cell death. Efficient transfection by Nucleofection can be performed with established cortical and medullary thymic epithelial cell lines as well as primary TECs isolated from E15.5 day fetal thymus or postnatal day 3 or 30 thymus tissue. The high efficiency of Nucleofection for TEC transfection will enable the use of TEC lines in high throughput transfection studies and simplifies the transfection of primary TECs forin vitroorin vivoanalysis.
MetaR: simple, high-level languages for data analysis with the R ecosystem
Authors: Campagne Fabien , Digan William ER , Simi Manuele
Published: October 2015

Data analysis tools have become essential to the study of biology. Here, we applied language workbench technology (LWT) to create data analysis languages tailored for biologists with a diverse range of experience: from beginners with no programming experience to expert bioinformaticians and statisticians. A key novelty of our approach is its ability to blend user interface with scripting in a single platform. This feature helps beginners and experts alike analyze data more productively. This new approach has several advantages over state of the art approaches currently popular for data analysis: experts can design simplified data analysis languages that require no programming experience, and behave like graphical user interfaces, yet have the advantages of scripting. We report on such a simple language, called MetaR, which we have used to teach complete beginners how to call differentially expressed genes and build heatmaps. We found that beginners can complete this task in less than 2 hours with MetaR, when more traditional teaching with R and its packages would require several training sessions (6-24hrs). Furthermore, MetaR seamlessly integrates with docker to enable reproducibility of analyses and simplified R package installations during training sessions. We used the same approach to develop the first composable R language. A composable language is a language that can be extended with micro-languages. We illustrate this capability with a Biomart micro-language designed to compose with R and help R programmers query Biomart interactively to assemble specific queries to retrieve data, (The same micro-language also composes with MetaR to help beginners query Biomart.) Our teaching experience suggests that language design with LWT can be a compelling approach for developing intelligent data analysis tools and can accelerate training for common data analysis task. LWT offers an interactive environment with the potential to promote exchanges between beginner and expert data analysts.
Structure of AadA fromSalmonella enterica: a monomeric aminoglycoside (3′′)(9) adenyltransferase
Authors: Chen Yang , Näsvall Joakim , Wu Shiying , Andersson Dan I. , Selmer Maria
Published: October 2015

Aminoglycoside resistance is commonly conferred by enzymatic modification of drugs by aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes such as aminoglycoside nucleotidyltransferases (ANTs). Here, the first crystal structure of an ANT(3′′)(9) adenyltransferase, AadA fromSalmonella enterica, is presented. AadA catalyses the magnesium-dependent transfer of adenosine monophosphate from ATP to the two chemically dissimilar drugs streptomycin and spectinomycin. The structure was solved using selenium SAD phasing and refined to 2.5 Å resolution. AadA consists of a nucleotidyltransferase domain and an α-helical bundle domain. AadA crystallizes as a monomer and is a monomer in solution as confirmed by small-angle X-ray scattering, in contrast to structurally similar homodimeric adenylating enzymes such as kanamycin nucleotidyltransferase. Isothermal titration calorimetry experiments show that ATP binding has to occur before binding of the aminoglycoside substrate, and structure analysis suggests that ATP binding repositions the two domains for aminoglycoside binding in the interdomain cleft. Candidate residues for ligand binding and catalysis were subjected to site-directed mutagenesis.In vivoresistance andin vitrobinding assays support the role of Glu87 as the catalytic base in adenylation, while Arg192 and Lys205 are shown to be critical for ATP binding.
The structure of the GemC1 coiled coil and its interaction with the Geminin family of coiled-coil proteins
Authors: Caillat Christophe , Fish Alexander , Pefani Dafni-Eleftheria , Taraviras Stavros , Lygerou Zoi , Perrakis Anastassis
Published: October 2015

GemC1, together with Idas and Geminin, an important regulator of DNA-replication licensing and differentiation decisions, constitute a superfamily sharing a homologous central coiled-coil domain. To better understand this family of proteins, the crystal structure of a GemC1 coiled-coil domain variant engineered for better solubility was determined to 2.2 Å resolution. GemC1 shows a less typical coiled coil compared with the Geminin homodimer and the Geminin–Idas heterodimer structures. It is also shown that bothin vitroand in cells GemC1 interacts with Geminin through its coiled-coil domain, forming a heterodimer that is more stable that the GemC1 homodimer. Comparative analysis of the thermal stability of all of the possible superfamily complexes, using circular dichroism to follow the unfolding of the entire helix of the coiled coil, or intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of a unique conserved N-terminal tryptophan, shows that the unfolding of the coiled coil is likely to take place from the C-terminus towards the N-terminus. It is also shown that homodimers show a single-state unfolding, while heterodimers show a two-state unfolding, suggesting that the dimer first falls apart and the helices then unfold according to the stability of each protein. The findings argue that Geminin-family members form homodimers and heterodimers between them, and this ability is likely to be important for modulating their function in cycling and differentiating cells.
Crystallographic study of a MATE transporter presents a difficult case in structure determination with low-resolution, anisotropic data and crystal twinning
Authors: Symersky Jindrich , Guo Yi , Wang Jimin , Lu Min
Published: October 2015

NorM fromNeisseria gonorrhoeae(NorM-NG) belongs to the multidrug and toxic compound extrusion (MATE) family of membrane-transport proteins, which can extrude cytotoxic chemicals across cell membranes and confer multidrug resistance. Here, the structure determination of NorM-NG is described, which had been hampered by low resolution (∼4 Å), data anisotropy and pseudo-merohedral twinning. The crystal structure was solved using molecular replacement and was corroborated by conducting a difference Fourier analysis. The NorM-NG structure displays an extracellular-facing conformation, similar to that of NorM-NG bound to a crystallization chaperone. The approaches taken to determine the NorM-NG structure and the lessons learned from this study are discussed, which may be useful for analyzing X-ray diffraction data with similar shortcomings.
The oxygenating constituent of 3,6-diketocamphane monooxygenase from the CAM plasmid ofPseudomonas putida: the first crystal structure of a type II Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenase
Authors: Isupov Michail N. , Schröder Ewald , Gibson Robert P. , Beecher Jean , Donadio Giuliana , Saneei Vahid , Dcunha Stephlina A. , McGhie Emma J. , Sayer Christopher , Davenport Colin F. , Lau Peter C. , Hasegawa Yoshie , Iwaki Hiroaki , Kadow Maria , Balke Kathleen , Bornscheuer Uwe T. , Bourenkov Gleb , Littlechild Jennifer A.
Published: October 2015

The three-dimensional structures of the native enzyme and the FMN complex of the overexpressed form of the oxygenating component of the type II Baeyer–Villiger 3,6-diketocamphane monooxygenase have been determined to 1.9 Å resolution. The structure of this dimeric FMN-dependent enzyme, which is encoded on the large CAM plasmid ofPseudomonas putida, has been solved by a combination of multiple anomalous dispersion from a bromine crystal soak and molecular replacement using a bacterial luciferase model. The orientation of the isoalloxazine ring of the FMN cofactor in the active site of this TIM-barrel fold enzyme differs significantly from that previously observed in enzymes of the bacterial luciferase-like superfamily. The Ala77 residue is in acisconformation and forms a β-bulge at the C-terminus of β-strand 3, which is a feature observed in many proteins of this superfamily.
Structural insights into the interaction of human IgG1 with FcγRI: no direct role of glycans in binding
Authors: Oganesyan Vaheh , Mazor Yariv , Yang Chunning , Cook Kimberly E. , Woods Robert M. , Ferguson Andrew , Bowen Michael A. , Martin Tom , Zhu Jie , Wu Herren , Dall'Acqua William F.
Published: October 2015

The three-dimensional structure of a human IgG1 Fc fragment bound to wild-type human FcγRI is reported. The structure of the corresponding complex was solved at a resolution of 2.4 Å using molecular replacement; this is the highest resolution achieved for an unmutated FcγRI molecule. This study highlights the critical structural and functional role played by the second extracellular subdomain of FcγRI. It also explains the long-known major energetic contribution of the Fc `LLGG' motif at positions 234–237, and particularly of Leu235, via a `lock-and-key' mechanism. Finally, a previously held belief is corrected and a differing view is offered on the recently proposed direct role of Fc carbohydrates in the corresponding interaction. Structural evidence is provided that such glycan-related effects are strictly indirect.
Crystal structure of 3′-(1H-indole-3-carbonyl)-1′-methyl-2-oxo-4′-(4-oxo-4H-chromen-3-yl)spiro[indoline-3,2′-pyrrolidine]-3′-carbonitrile
Authors: Savithri M. P. , Raja R. , Kathirvelan D. , Reddy B. S. R. , SubbiahPandi A.
Published: October 2015

In the title compound, C31H22N4O4, the pyrrolidine ring adopts a twist conformation on the N—CH2bond. The indolin-2-one and the 1H-indole rings are nearly planar (r.m.s. deviations = 0.06 and 0.011 Å, respectively) and are inclined to one another by 34.19 (9)°. The chromene ring system is also nearly planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.029 Å). It is almost normal to the 1H-indole ring system, with a dihedral angle of 88.71 (8)°, and is inclined to the indolin-2-one ring system by 72.76 (8)°. In the crystal, molecules are linkedviaN—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming slabs parallel to (10-1). The slabs are linked by C—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional structure.
Crystal structure of 2-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)quinoline-3-carbaldehyde
Authors: Nivedita Desai R , Sreenivasa S , Naveen S. , Lokanath N. K. , Suchetan P. A. , Aruna Kumar D. B.
Published: October 2015

In the title compound, C15H17N3O, the aldehyde group is twisted relative to the quinoline group by17.6 (2)° due to the presence of a bulky piperazinyl group in theorthoposition. The piperazine N atom attached to the aromatic ring issp3-hybridized and the dihedral angle between the mean planes through the the six piperazine ring atoms and through the quinoline ring system is 40.59 (7)°. Both piperazine substituents are in equatorial positions.
Crystal structure of the adduct (4-chlorophenyl)(4-hydroxypiperidin-1-yl)methanone–(4-chlorophenyl)(piperidin-1-yl)methanone (0.75/0.25)
Authors: Revathi B. K. , Reuben Jonathan D. , Kalai Sevi K. , Dhanalakshmi K. , Usha G.
Published: October 2015

In the title compound, 0.75C12H14ClNO2·0.25C12H14ClNO, which is an adduct comprising 0.75 4-hydroxypiperidin-1-yl or 0.25 4-piperidin-1-yl substituents on a common (4-chlorophenyl)methanone component; the dihedral angles between the benzene ring and the two piperidine rings are 51.6 (3) and 89.5 (7)°, respectively. The hydroxypiperidine ring is in a bisectional oriention (bi) with the phenyl ring. In the crystal, intermolecular O—H...O hydrogen bonds between the hydroxypiperidine group and the keto O atom lead to the formation of chains extending along thec- axis direction.
Crystal structure of [Co(NH3)6][Co(CO)4]2
Authors: Müller Thomas G. , Kraus Florian
Published: October 2015

Hexaamminecobalt(II) bis[tetracarbonylcobaltate(-I)], [Co(NH3)6][Co(CO)4]2, was synthesized by reaction of liquid ammonia with Co2(CO)8. The CoIIatom is coordinated by six ammine ligands. The resulting polyhedron, the hexaamminecobalt(II) cation, exhibits point group symmetry -3. The Co-Iatom is coordinated by four carbonyl ligands, leading to a tetracarbonylcobaltate(−I) anion in the shape of a slightly distorted tetrahedron, with point group symmetry 3. The crystal structure is related to that of high-pressure BaC2(space groupR-3m), with the [Co(NH3)6]2+cations replacing the Ba sites and the [Co(CO)4]−anions replacing the C sites. N—H...O hydrogen bonds between cations and anions stabilize the structural set-up in the title compound.
Why a feedback culture will transform your business
Authors: Cole Gary
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– Establishing a feedback culture can transform a business but only if feedback is defined in the right way and given and received constructively in pursuit of individual, team and company goals. This paper provides practical advice on how to establish an effective feedback culture.

Design/methodology/approach

– This was written from professional experience.

Findings

– The very essence of the term “feedback” is a key function to meeting (and possibly exceeding) the goal(s) of your business. In an organizational context, this must mean that all individuals and teams should seek and receive feedback about their progress toward the organizational goal(s), in additional to their team goal(s). Furthermore, when this is cascaded down and managed superbly and consistently at an individual level, the power of a feedback culture will drive and maintain outstanding business performance.

Originality/value

– Practical advice on how to establish and maintain a highly effective feedback culture in organizations.
Con-men and corporate trainers: show me the learning
Authors: Gray Jeremy Lamar
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to increase awareness of how organizations can better recruit and hire Workplace Educators to increase organizational effectiveness through heighten learning and development programs. As a Doctor of Education in the field of organizational leadership, I have witness the task of workplace learning and development relegated to inarticulate and inauthentic trainers who lack the skills-set to provide effective organizational strategy needed in the workplace. The paper gives insight on identifying the less qualified and hiring the better qualified.

Design/methodology/approach

– The approach to this paper was one of gathering information from the professional experience of the author, literature written on organizational behavior and workplace learning and development. This paper was designed to review the history and examine the current state of learning and development in the workplace.

Findings

– The findings from the literature review gives creditability to the author’s view that it is time for organizations to create more effective learning environments that starts with recruiting and hiring the most effective Workplace Educators, organizations should separate learning and development from human resources and Workplace Educators should be given a sit at the executive table.

Originality/value

– This paper provides information for organizations and human resource departments to enhance their knowledge of how they are choosing the people to educate their workplace in the study organizational behavior and learning and development. The focus of the paper is to review the history and build more appreciation and respect for the study of organizational behavior and workplace learning and development.
Why didn’t it work out? The effects of attributions on the efficacy of recovery strategies
Authors: Iglesias Víctor , Varela-Neira Concepción , Vázquez-Casielles Rodolfo
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of attributions on the efficacy of service recovery strategies in preventing customer defection following a service failure.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical investigation is carried out on the retail banking industry with a final sample of 448 real cases of customer retention or defection after a service failure.

Findings

– The results of the study not only highlight the relevance of intentionality as an additional factor in explaining customer defection, but also show the effects of some attributional dimensions (intentionality and controllability) on the efficacy of some recovery strategies (redress, apology and explanation) applied by companies to prevent post-complaint customer defection.

Practical implications

– The efficacy of the recovery strategies depends on the causal attributions that the customer makes about the service failure.

Originality/value

– This study analyzes not only the effects of traditional dimensions of attribution (stability and controllability), but also the additional effect that intentionality attributions may have on actual customer defection (not intentions). Moreover, it analyzes their effects on the effectiveness of recovery strategies in preventing customer defection. Most of these effects have never been empirically analyzed in the literature.
Service employee evaluations of customer tips: an expectations-disconfirmation tip gap approach
Authors: Saunders Stephen G.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– Many service employees rely on non-contractual voluntary customer tips as a major source of their income. The purpose of this paper is to empirically test the relationship between the service employee’s cognitive evaluation of the tip (expectations-disconfirmation tip gap), affective state (AS) and displayed emotions (DE) toward customers in the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

– An experimental, between-subjects, scenario-based research design was conducted on 107 waiters in the US restaurant industry. A simple mediation model was first tested, before testing a more complex moderated mediation model that was developed to investigate if employees self-control (SC) moderates the relationship between the employees tip gap, AS, and DE.

Findings

– An employee’s negative disconfirmation tip gap negatively influences the employee’s AS, which in turn results in negative DE toward customers in the workplace. However, an employee’s positive tip gap does not positively influence the employee’s AS, relative to the control. In addition, employees’ SC does not moderate the relationship, which suggests that when employees experience negative tip disconfirmation they may openly violate the service provider’s display rules and service scripts, and display negative emotions toward customers in the workplace.

Research limitations/implications

– The scenario-based research design was limited to self-reported perceived levels of SC and DE. The scenario was also limited to one country and one tipping context (i.e. restaurants). Future studies could compliment these findings by conducting both qualitative studies, and survey research that relies on actual tipping data or re-enactments of actual service encounters.

Practical implications

– Service managers not only need to manage display rules and service scripts to influence employee DE, but also need to manage employee tip expectations, especially when employees expect to receive tips that are greater than actual tips (i.e. negative disconfirmation). Communicating and educating employees on customer tipping and what tips to expect should be central to managing employees who rely on customer tips.

Originality/value

– Tipping has received very little attention in the services management literature. This study broadens the focus of tipping research in the literature by presenting a more complex expectations-disconfirmation tip gap model.
Consumer delight and outrage: scale development and validation
Authors: Liu Maggie Wenjing , Keh Hean Tat
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate measurement scales for consumer delight and outrage.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper used both qualitative, survey, and experiment methodology.

Findings

– First, develop and validate the scale of customer delight, second, conceptualize the construct of customer outrage, as well as develop and validate its scale; third, explore the differential behavioral results of delight vs satisfaction, and outrage vs dissatisfaction; and fourth, further our understanding of the satisfaction-dissatisfaction continuum.

Originality/value

– While researchers increasingly recognize that delight and outrage are distinct from satisfaction and dissatisfaction, it is important to have scales that differentiate between these constructs. To this end, this paper develops and validates scales to measure consumer delight and outrage, respectively. These scales will be useful to other researchers interested in measuring consumer delight and outrage in various research contexts.
Third-person perceptions of gambling sponsorship advertising
Authors: Johnston Margaret A. , Bourgeois Luc R.
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine perceptual and behavioural components of the third-person effect for sport sponsorship marketing communications by legalised gambling companies. Specifically, this research examines judgements about the perceived influence of gambling sponsorship on self, children, and other adults. It also investigates behavioural reactions towards the censorship of gambling sponsorship, and intentions to gamble with sponsors.

Design/methodology/approach

– An online survey was fielded to a commercial consumer database and yielded 511 usable responses. Four hypotheses were tested to examine perceptions of the effects of gambling sponsorship on self and on others, and whether perceived differences in self/other effects influenced pro-censorship behaviours and gambling intentions.

Findings

– Findings reveal a range of responses to sport sponsorship by gambling companies. Some individuals view gambling sponsorship positively, they are anti-censorship, and happy to bet with sponsors. Others, who bet on sports, but have no particular allegiance to gambling sponsors, appear highly protective of children, and endorse censorship.

Research limitations/implications

– This study focused on the perceived impact of gambling sponsorship on other adults and on children. Future research may consider targeting more specific groups such as other sports fans, others engaged in online sports betting, or primary/secondary school age children.

Originality/value

– This study provides new insights on sponsorship effects, specifically public perceptions of gambling sponsorship advertising and their associated behavioural consequences.
Talent development in football: are young talents given time to blossom?
Authors: Sæther Stig Arve , Solberg Harry Arne
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what degree football clubs recruit talents and give them playing time in matches. It also investigates if foreign players displace younger talents. Furthermore, it analyses to what degree the use of younger talents and foreign players influence the performances of clubs.

Design/methodology/approach

– The empirical data are from Norwegian elite clubs, and come from two web sites: www.altomfotball and www.nettavisen.no. The analyses were done by means of OLS-regressions.

Findings

– OLS-regressions showed that clubs that had many foreign players gave less playing time to U20 players than other clubs did. However, these clubs did not have fewer younger talents in the squad than other clubs did. This indicates that foreign players reduce the playing time being given to younger players, but not their ability to train with other teammates. The clubs that won the most points gave less playing time to U20 players (in terms of minutes). Surprisingly, the regression showed that the clubs that had most foreign players did not win more points than others.

Research limitations/implications

– Norwegian football clubs have significantly less financial resources than, for example, clubs in the big European football nations. Therefore, more research is necessary to find out whether the findings in this research corresponds with the pattern in other nations.

Originality/value

– So far, the discussions about these issues have mainly been based on anecdotal evidence and very little on the findings in academic research. Therefore, this research give new insight to a field that needs more empirical-based analyses.
Can social enterprises remain sustainable and mission-focused? Applying resiliency theory
Authors: Young Dennis R. , Kim Choony
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to adapt concepts from resiliency theory to understand the conditions under which social enterprises may remain true to form and purpose or are likely to change their character. This leads us to consider issues of governance, economic incentives associated with different organizational forms of social enterprise and the effects of the financial environment, the role of organizational slack and the influence of organizational leadership on the dynamics of social enterprises. Three case studies of organizations in the USA are analyzed to illustrate the application of resiliency theory to the stability of social enterprises. The fact that all forms of social enterprise must reconcile the tensions of social purpose and market raises important questions about the dynamics of these enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

– Theory and case study analysis.

Findings

– Governance, financial incentive structure, organizational slack and leadership influence the stability of social enterprises.

Originality/value

– First application of resiliency theory to the analysis of social enterprise stability.
The Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS): a validation study
Authors: Hockerts Kai
Published: October 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to develop and validate measures of four constructs that have often been identified as antecedents of social entrepreneurial behavior: empathy with marginalized people, a feeling of moral obligation to help these, a high level of self-efficacy concerning the ability to effect social change and perceived availability of social support. Nomological validity is demonstrated by showing that, as specified by Mair and Noboa (2006), empathy and moral obligation are positively associated with perceived desirability and self-efficacy and social support with perceived feasibility of starting a social venture. The Social Entrepreneurial Antecedents Scale (SEAS) provides a basis for future research into the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship education, allowing us to study how different educational interventions impact the four SEAS constructs.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper draws on data from two surveys of business school students. Data analysis used both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis for this study. Exploratory factor analysis was used on a first sample to establish the number of factors best representing the data, as well as to identify possibly issues with cross-loadings. Next confirmatory factor analysis was used on the second sample to verify the goodness of fit for the model. Finally, nomological validity was confirmed.

Findings

– First, this article develops and refines measures of empathy, moral obligation, self-efficacy and perceived social support within the context of social entrepreneurship. Second, the article tests the dimensionality of the constructs and shows that they are distinctive.

Originality/value

– The resulting SEAS instrument adapts constructs such as empathy, moral obligation, self-efficacy and perceived social support to the context of social entrepreneurship and thus provides the basis for future research into the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship education.
Evidence for arrested succession in a liana‐infested Amazonian forest
Authors: Tymen Blaise , Réjou‐Méchain Maxime , Dalling James W. , Fauset Sophie , Feldpausch Ted R. , Norden Natalia , Phillips Oliver L. , Turner Benjamin L. , Viers Jérôme , Chave Jérôme
Published: October 2015

Empirical evidence and modelling both suggest that global changes may lead to an increased dominance of lianas and thus to an increased prevalence of liana‐infested forest formations in tropical forests. The implications for tropical forest structure and the carbon cycle remain poorly understood.

We studied the ecological processes underpinning the structure and dynamics of a liana‐infested forest in French Guiana, using a combination of long‐term surveys (tree, liana, seedling and litterfall), soil chemical analyses and remote‐sensing approaches (LiDAR and Landsat).

At stand scale and for adult trees, the liana‐infested forest had higher growth, recruitment and mortality rates than the neighbouring high‐canopy forest. Both total seedling density and tree seedling recruitment were lower in the liana‐infested forest. Stand scale above‐ground biomass of the liana‐infested forest was 58% lower than in the high‐canopy forest.

Above‐ground net primary productivity (ANPP) was comparable in the liana‐infested and high‐canopy forests. However, due to more abundant leaf production, the relative contribution of fast turnover carbon pools to ANPP was larger in the liana‐infested forest and the carbon residence time was half that of the high‐canopy forest.

Although soils of the liana‐infested forest were richer in nutrients, soil elemental ratios suggest that liana‐infested forest and high‐canopy forest soils both derive from the same geological substrate. The higher nutrient concentration in the liana‐infested forest may therefore be the result of a release of nutrients from vegetation after a forest blowdown.

Using small‐footprint LiDAR campaigns, we show that the overall extent of the liana‐infested forest has remained stable from 2007 to 2012 but about 10% of the forest area changed in forest cover type. Landsat optical imagery confirms the liana‐infested forest presence in the landscape for at least 25 years.

Synthesis. Because persistently high rates of liana infestation are maintained by the fast dynamics of the liana‐infested forest, liana‐infested forests here appear to be the result of an arrested tropical forest succession. If the prevalence of such arrested succession forests were to increase in the future, this would have important implications for the carbon sink potential of Amazonian forests.
Curcumin alleviates glucocorticoid‐induced osteoporosis by protecting osteoblasts from apoptosis in vivo and in vitro
Authors: Chen Zhiguang , Xue Jinqi , Shen Tao , Ba Gen , Yu Dongdong , Fu Qin
Published: October 2015

Curcumin, an active component of the rhizomes of Curcumin longa L., possesses broad anti‐inflammation and anti‐cancer properties. Curcumin was previously reported to be capable of protecting ovariectomized rats against osteoporosis. However, the effect of curcumin on glucocorticoid‐induced osteoporosis (GIO) is not yet clear. The present study investigated the effects of curcumin on dexamethasone (Dex)‐induced osteoporosis in vivo and Dex‐induced osteoblast apoptosis in vivo and in vitro. The GIO rat model was induced by subcutaneous injection of Dex for 60 days and verified to be successful as evidenced by the significantly decreased bone mineral density (BMD) determined using dual X‐ray absorptiometry. Subsequently, curcumin administration (100 mg/kg) for 60 days obviously increased BMD and bone‐alkaline phosphatase, decreased carboxy‐terminal collagen cross links, enhanced bone mechanical strength, and improved trabecular microstructure, thereby alleviating Dex‐induced osteoporosis. Mechanically, curcumin remarkably reversed Dex‐induced femoral osteoblast apoptosis in vivo. In cultured primary osteoblasts, pretreatment with curcumin concentration‐dependently decreased the number of Dex‐induced apoptotic osteoblasts by down‐regulating the ratio of Bax/Bcl‐2 as well as the levels of cleaved caspase‐3 and cleaved poly ADP‐ribose polymerase (PARP). Moreover, curcumin pretreatment activated extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) signalling in Dex‐induced osteoblasts by up‐regulating the expression level of p‐ERK1/2. Taken together, our study demonstrated that curcumin could ameliorate GIO by protecting osteoblasts from apoptosis, which was possibly related to the activation of the ERK pathway. The results suggest that curcumin may be a promising drug for prevention and treatment of GIO.