bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Information flow and communication practice challenges
Authors: Cacciatore Michael A. , Meng Juan , Berger Bruce K.
Published: July 2017

Purpose

How to effectively manage information flow continues presenting challenges for effective responsive strategies in communication, reflecting the magnitude and impact of a data-driven and strategy-oriented market environment globally. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discover how concerns related to the rise of social media have affected communication leaders’ operational and managerial practice from an international perspective. The overarching aim is to better understand these concerns in order to contribute to effective responsive strategies in communication practice in the future.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors relied on data from an international online survey of public relations and communication professionals in multiple countries who were asked their perceptions and behaviors concerning the impact of information flow and the digital revolution on their practice. ANOVA analyses and hierarchical regression models were used to identify the heterogeneity across five clustered groups of countries.

Findings

Results confirmed a strong desire among communication professionals in multiple countries to learn more about information management in practice. Results identified the overall patterns of responsive strategies that have been widely adopted by public relations professionals in specific country clusters across the globe. In order to better manage social media and the digital revolution, all five of the surveyed country clusters indicated that it is effective to integrate more social media strategies and to train employees in social media.

Originality/value

The research has explored the importance surrounding information management in an era of widespread digital content, including how concerns in this area have affected strategic decision-making in communication practice. Equally important, the authors provide a more global perspective on this critical topic by analyzing communication professionals’ perceptions in grouped country clusters. Results of the research have identified the similarities and differences in responsive strategies to cope with information flow concerns across grouped country clusters.
Media positioning: comparing organizations’ standing in the news
Authors: Wonneberger Anke , Jacobs Sandra
Published: July 2017

Purpose

Visibility in the media is considered important for organizations, as it is alleged to affect their reputation, public legitimacy, and stakeholder relations. Strategies for media relations often discern corporations, public organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The media attention for those organizations is, however, often studied in isolation. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of media positioning to compare media coverage for corporations, public organizations, and NGOs.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative content analysis of the media coverage of 61 Dutch organizations was conducted. The comparison focused on three aspects of media positioning: prominence, context, and evaluation.

Findings

Public organizations and corporations were most similar, whereas corporations and NGOs differed most strongly in their media positioning. Corporations appeared most prominently in the media. While corporations and public organizations were more often related to organizational issues, NGOs were more often linked to substantial issues and received more positive coverage.

Originality/value

Insight into the content, amount, and tone of organizational media coverage is crucial for the formulation of public relations strategies by corporate communication professionals. The analysis shows whether and how the prominence, context, and evaluation differs among corporations, public organizations, and NGOs. The findings shed light on institutional factors that affect the visibility of different types of organizations, thus enabling future scholars in the field of visibility analyses in corporate communication to refine theories on drivers and characteristics of media coverage regarding different types of organizations.
Enacting the lean startup methodology
Authors: Mansoori Yashar
Published: July 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the instructions of the lean startup methodology influence entrepreneurs. It explores what happens when such instructions are enacted by entrepreneurs in the context of a “prescriptive accelerator”. The goal is to shine a light onto the mechanisms by which these instructions are acquired and then utilised by entrepreneurs and to outline in some detail the implications of adhering to the lean startup methodology.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper employs an in-depth phenomenological semi-structured interview design. Two rounds of interviews were conducted, one at the beginning and one at the end of the programme with the CEOs and founders of 11 entrepreneurial ventures, totalling 22 interviews. The analysis of the interviews resulted in five second-order themes that are discussed in light of the processes of experiential and vicarious learning.

Findings

The findings suggest that through two distinct modes of vicarious and experiential learning, the instructions of the lean startup methodology are acquired, internalised and consequently put into practice by entrepreneurs. The paper further highlights the modifications to entrepreneurs’ governing variables and action strategies, as well as the resulting consequences of these modifications. This provides insights into possible outcomes of following the lean startup methodology in the context of a prescriptive accelerator where a strong focus on adhering to a systematic entrepreneurial methodology is a characteristic feature.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to our understanding of the under-studied and novel phenomena of the lean startup methodology and prescriptive accelerators. It complements the prevailing understanding of entrepreneurial learning as being largely experiential by accounting for the vicarious learning processes that occur in pedagogical settings such as prescriptive accelerators. It therefore shows that prescriptive accelerators provide unique learning situations where the combination of vicarious and experiential learning impacts the business development activities. Further, it provides a model of entrepreneurs’ theory of action as the outcome of the interactions between the lean startup methodology and the two modes of vicarious and experiential learning.
The trinity of entrepreneurial team dynamics: cognition, conflicts and cohesion
Authors: Chen Ming-Huei , Chang Yu-Yu , Chang Yuan-Chieh
Published: July 2017

Purpose

Cognition, conflict and cohesion constitute an inseparable body of group dynamics in entrepreneurial teams. There have been few studies of how entrepreneurial team members interact with each other to enhance venture performance. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that explains the trinity of cognition, conflict and cohesion in terms of social interaction between entrepreneurial team members.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon the existing literature concerning entrepreneurial teams, the hypothesized model posits that shared cognition influences team cohesion through the mediating effects of intra-team conflicts. The model also postulates that team cohesion is positively associated with new venture performance and entrepreneurial satisfaction. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized model, using data that were collected from 203 entrepreneurial teams from technology-based companies in Taiwan.

Findings

The results show that shared cognition in entrepreneurial team members maintains team cohesion by restraining conflict and that team cohesion has a positive influence on entrepreneurial members’ satisfaction and new venture profitability.

Practical implications

The leader of a new venture team must endeavor to improve shared cognition between entrepreneurial members. To strengthen shared cognition, the leader can hold formal workshops to build consensus, informal meetings to share views, or use social media to enhance common understanding.

Originality/value

This paper verifies the connections between shared cognition, conflicts and cohesion in entrepreneurial teams in predicting new venture success and highlights the importance of cultivating a shared cognition in an entrepreneurial team to manage conflicts.
From websites to social media: exploring the adoption of internet marketing in emerging industrial markets
Authors: Shaltoni Abdel Monim
Published: July 2017

Purpose

This study aims to explore internet marketing adoption in emerging industrial markets across several internet-based technologies (i.e. social media platforms, static and transactional websites).

Design/methodology/approach

This study is mainly based on an exploratory research design and investigated the online presence of 570 industrial organizations in terms of their involvement in social media. This study also examines if websites are used for basic marketing communications (brochureware) or for conducting advanced marketing activities. An online survey is used to explore the relationships between several factors and internet marketing adoption.

Findings

The study found that half of the investigated organizations are using the internet as a one-way communication vehicle through static websites. The study also revealed that decision-makers in emerging industrial markets are enthusiastic about social media, particularly Facebook. In addition, internet marketing adoption was positively related to perceived relative advantage, compatibility, organizational innovativeness, competitor and customer pressure.

Practical implications

From practitioners’ perspectives, the findings can help decision-makers identify the current levels of involvement in internet marketing. At the macro level, the high percentage of organizations with minimum involvement in internet marketing calls for conducting awareness initiatives to educate industrial organizations, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, about the opportunities offered by the internet.

Originality/value

The findings from this study enrich internet marketing research because it focuses on industrial organizations in emerging markets, which is a rarely examined context despite its importance and potential.
Market orientation, innovation commercialization capability and firm performance relationships: the moderating role of supply chain influence
Authors: Lim Jeen-Su , Darley William K. , Marion David
Published: July 2017

Purpose

The study aims to explore supply chain influence (SCI) on the linkages among market orientation, innovation capabilities and firm performance (FP), using the resource-based view as a theoretical backdrop.

Design

Survey data from 182 top managers who are involved in strategy formulation and innovative direction of their companies was collected and analyzed using moderated multiple regression analysis.

Findings

Results revealed a moderating role of the SCI in that the proactive market orientation (PMO) and FP relationship is stronger when SCI is high, and innovation commercialization capability (ICC) and FP relationship is stronger when SCI is low.

Practical implications

Firms pursuing high PMO strategy must collaborate with supply chain function to achieve the full effect of PMO. Additionally, as supply chain is critical to meeting customers’ needs, these firms should allow supply chain to exert greater influence to enjoy the positive effects of PMO in addition to ensuring full integration into marketing strategy implementation. Also, firms with high ICC need to limit SCI to maximize the benefit of ICC on FP, just as innovation management needs to be cognizant of other functional areas.

Originality/value

The study investigates the potential moderating role of SCI on the relationships among market orientation, ICC and FP. The study fills a gap in the understanding of the nature and role of supply chain in the marketing–supply chain interaction, and the impact on FP.
Comparing two mechanisms for green consumption: cognitive-affect behavior vs theory of reasoned action
Authors: Liu Yu , Segev Sigal , Villar Maria Elena
Published: July 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of the cognitive-affect behavior (CAB) model and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) model as well as their extended forms (with product knowledge) in predicting everyday green consumption among non-Hispanic White and Hispanic consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data from a convenience sample of 249 non-Hispanic Whites and 425 Hispanic adults were used to test the two models through structural equation modeling analyses.

Findings

While all tested models explained green consumption in both samples adequately, the basic TRA and the TPB (extended TRA) models were superior to the basic and extended CAB models. Including product knowledge further enhanced the predictive power of the two basic models.

Research limitations/implications

Self-reported surveys are subject to social desirability bias in the reporting of intentions and actual purchases of green products. Future research may attempt to collect data on actual green purchases. The selection of a general consumption context is limited in distinguishing between high- and low-involvement products. Future research should test the relative effectiveness of these models among specific green products with different levels of involvement.

Practical implications

Marketing and strategic communication programs should focus on increasing consumers’ positive attitudes about purchasing green products and promote green purchase intentions using intention-generating promotional tactics. This paper also stresses the need to increase consumers’ concrete knowledge about green products to drive actual purchase behavior.

Social implications

This paper can help communicators to further promote green consumption for routinely purchased consumer goods, which will ultimately enhance a healthier and more sustainable environment.

Originality/value

This paper extends the literature about green consumption, providing insights about the relative effectiveness of two widely accepted consumer behavior models. It implies that some models excel over others in terms of their explanatory power across consumer populations regardless of socio-demographic differences. It also stresses the importance of specifying explicitly behavioral control variables in green consumption research and provides a viable basis for the development of strategic marketing.
Adaptive service e-contract information management reference architecture
Authors: Gill Asif Qumer , Braytee Ali , Hussain Farookh Khadeer
Published: July 2017

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to report on the adaptive e-contract information management reference architecture using the systematic literature review (SLR) method. Enterprises need to effectively design and implement complex adaptive e-contract information management architecture to support dynamic service interactions or transactions.

Design/methodology/approach

The SLR method is three-fold and was adopted as follows. First, a customized literature search with relevant selection criteria was developed, which was then applied to initially identify a set of 1,573 papers. Second, 55 of 1,573 papers were selected for review based on the initial review of each identified paper title and abstract. Finally, based on the second review, 24 papers relevant to this research were selected and reviewed in detail.

Findings

This detailed review resulted in the adaptive e-contract information management reference architecture elements including structure, life cycle and supporting technology.

Research limitations/implications

The reference architecture elements could serve as a taxonomy for researchers and practitioners to develop context-specific service e-contract information management architecture to support dynamic service interactions for value co-creation. The results are limited to the number of selected databases and papers reviewed in this study.

Originality/value

This paper offers a review of the body of knowledge and novel e-contract information management reference architecture, which is important to support the emerging trends of internet of services.
Determination of the cell tropism of serotype 1 feline infectious peritonitis virus using the spike affinity histochemistry in paraffin‐embedded tissues
Authors: Cham Tat‐Chuan , Chang Yen‐Chen , Tsai Pei‐Shiue , Wu Ching‐Ho , Chen Hui‐Wen , Jeng Chian‐Ren , Pang Victor Fei , Chang Hui‐Wen
Published: July 2017

Unlike for serotype II feline coronaviruses (FCoV II), the cellular receptor for serotype I FCoV (FCoV I), the most prevalent FCoV serotype, is unknown. To provide a platform for assessing the pattern by which FCoV I attaches to its host receptor(s), HEK293 cell lines that stably express the ectodomains of the spike (S) proteins derived from a FCoV I feline enteric coronavirus strain UU7 (FECV UU7) and a feline infectious peritonitis virus strain UU4 (FIPV UU4) were established. Using the recombinant S proteins as probes to perform S protein affinity histochemistry in paraffin‐embedded tissues, although no tissue or enteric binding of FECV UU7 S protein was detected, it was found that by immunohistochemistry that the tissue distribution of FIPV UU4 S protein‐bound cells correlated with that of FIPV antigen‐positive cells and lesions associated with FIP and that the affinity binding of FIPV UU4 S protein on macrophages was not affected by enzymatic removal of host cell‐surface sialic acid with neuraminidase. These findings suggest that a factor(s) other than sialic acid contribute(s) to the macrophage tropism of FIPV strain UU4. This approach allowed obtaining more information about both virus–host cell interactions and the biological characteristics of the unidentified cellular receptor for FCoV I.
Physicochemical, melting and sensory properties of ice cream incorporating processed ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Authors: Gabbi Davinder Kaur , Bajwa Usha , Goraya Rajpreet Kaur
Published: July 2017

Ginger juice and paste (from 2 to 8%, ginger candy from 5 to 20%, and ginger powder from 0.5 to 2%) were incorporated into the ice cream mix prior to freezing. Inclusion of the juice and paste reduced total solids, fat, protein and overrun, and increased antioxidant activity and phenols, whereas the ginger candy and powder increased solids, crude fibre, antioxidant activity and phenols, and diminished fat and overrun. Acidity increased with the ginger juice and powder, whereas it decreased with the ginger paste and candy. First dripping time amplified and melting rate declined with all the ginger preparations. Ice cream containing ginger juice, paste, candy and powder at 6, 4, 10 and 1%, respectively, achieved the highest overall acceptability scores.
Recent Advances on Edible Films Based on Fruits and Vegetables—A Review
Authors: Otoni Caio G. , Avena‐Bustillos Roberto J. , Azeredo Henriette M. C. , Lorevice Marcos V. , Moura Márcia R. , Mattoso Luiz H. C. , McHugh Tara H.
Published: July 2017

Food packaging materials are traditionally expected to contain foodstuffs and protect them from deteriorating agents. Although petroleum‐derived polymers have been widely used for this purpose, the rising concern with their nonrenewable and/or nonbiodegradable nature paves the route for the development of greener alternatives, including polysaccharides and polypeptides. The use of these food‐grade biomacromolecules, in addition to fruits and vegetables, provides edible packaging with suitable physical‐mechanical properties as well as unique sensory and nutritional characteristics. This text reviews the chronological development pathway of films based on fruit and vegetable purees, pomaces, and extracts. Recent advances are extensively reviewed with an emphasis on the role that each film component plays in the resulting materials, whose production methods are examined from a technical standpoint and essential properties are compiled and contrasted to their conventional, synthetic counterparts. Finally, this comprehensive review discusses advantages and limitations of edible films based on fruits and vegetables.
NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL CONTROL AND PERCEPTIONS OF CRIME AND DISORDER IN CONTEMPORARY URBAN CHINA*
Authors: ZHANG LENING , MESSNER STEVEN F. , ZHANG SHELDON
Published: July 2017

By drawing on the two streams of Western literature on “neighborhood effects” and perceptions of neighborhood disorder adapted to the distinctive organizational infrastructure of neighborhoods in contemporary urban China, we examine the contextual effects of different forms of neighborhood social control (i.e., collective efficacy, semipublic control, public control, and market‐based control) on different types of perceived disorder (i.e., criminal activity, social disorder, physical disorder, and total disorder) across neighborhoods. The analyses are based on data collected in the year 2013 from a survey of approximately 2,500 households in 50 neighborhoods across the city of Tianjin. Collective efficacy as a form of informal control has a significant effect only for perceived social disorder. Public control as measured by the activities of neighborhood police stations has a significant contextual effect on all forms of perceived disorder, whereas the role of market‐based control as represented by contracted community services is limited to perceived physical disorder. Finally, semipublic control as measured by the activities of neighborhood committees significantly affects all forms of perceived disorder, but the direction of the effect is positive. We interpret this positive effect with reference to the complex processes surrounding the “translation” of neighborhood disorderly conditions into perceptions of disorder.
Crop Insurance in the EU: Lessons and Caution from the US
Authors: Santeramo Fabio G. , Ford Ramsey A.
Published: July 2017

Recent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy suggest the possibility of an enlarged crop insurance programme in Europe (Art. 37–39 of EU Reg. 1305/2013). Several countries in the European Union already have national crop insurance schemes, but the performance of these programmes in terms of realised demand has been low, and at EU level the participation in crop insurance programmes is around 20 per cent. This situation can be contrasted with the federal crop insurance programme in the US which covers the majority of all agricultural land. We review the existing programmes in the EU and US to provide direction on two questions: is there any justification for subsidised crop insurance and how could such a scheme possibly be implemented in the EU? We argue that, while in the long run it may be desirable to establish an EU‐wide crop insurance programme, there are several serious impediments to implementation in terms of effectiveness and feasibility. A more immediate approach could be increased flexibility of national insurance systems. In particular, weather‐based index insurance and revenue insurance present possible solutions that may be worthy of consideration at the national level.
Post‐pyloric feeding tube placement in critically ill patients: Extending the scope of practice for Australian dietitians
Authors: Yandell Rosalie , Chapman Marianne , O'Connor Stephanie , Shanks Alison , Lange Kylie , Deane Adam
Published: July 2017

Aim

To determine whether the placement of a post‐pyloric feeding tube (PPFT) can be taught safely and effectively to a critical care dietitian.

Methods

This is a prospective observational study conducted in an adult intensive care unit (ICU). The intervention consisted of 19 attempts at post‐pyloric intubation by the dietitian. The 10 ‘learning’ attempts were performed by the dietitian under the direction of an experienced (having completed in excess of 50 successful tube placements) user. A subsequent nine ‘consolidation’ attempts were performed under the responsibility of the intensive care consultant on duty. The primary outcome measures were success (i.e. tip of the PPFT being visible in or distal to the duodenum on X‐ray) and time (minutes) to PPFT placement. Patients were observed for adverse events per standard clinical practice.

Results

A total of 19 post‐pyloric tube placements were attempted in 18 patients (52 (23–70) years, ICU admission diagnoses: trauma n = 4; respiratory failure n = 3; and burns, pancreatitis and renal failure n = 2 each). No adverse events occurred. Most (75%) patients were sedated, and mechanically ventilated. Prokinetics were used to assist tube placement in 11% (2/19) of attempts, both of which were successful. Placement of PPFT was successful in 58% (11/19) of attempts. Whilst training, the success rate was 40% (4/10) compared with 78% (7/9) once training was consolidated (P = 0.17). In the successful attempts, the mean time to placement was 11.0 minutes (3.9–27.1 minutes).

Conclusions

A dietitian can be trained to safely and successfully place PPFT in critically ill patients.
Whole mitochondrial genome capture from faecal samples and museum‐preserved specimens
Authors: van der Valk Tom , Lona Durazo Frida , Dalén Love , Guschanski Katerina
Published: July 2017

Population‐scale molecular studies of endangered and cryptic species are often limited by access to high‐quality samples. The use of noninvasively collected samples or museum‐preserved specimens reduces the pressure on modern populations by removing the need to capture and handle live animals. However, endogenous DNA content in such samples is low, making shotgun sequencing a financially prohibitive approach. Here, we apply a target enrichment method to retrieve mitochondrial genomes from 65 museum specimens and 56 noninvasively collected faecal samples of two endangered great ape species, Grauer's gorilla and the eastern chimpanzee. We show that the applied method is suitable for a wide range of sample types that differ in endogenous DNA content, increasing the proportion of target reads to over 300‐fold. By systematically evaluating biases introduced during target enrichment of pooled museum samples, we show that capture is less efficient for fragments shorter or longer than the baits, that the proportion of human contaminating reads increases postcapture although capture efficiency is lower for human compared to gorilla fragments with a gorilla‐generated bait, and that the rate of jumping PCR is considerable, but can be controlled for with a double‐barcoding approach. We succeed in capturing complete mitochondrial genomes from faecal samples, but observe reduced capture efficiency as sequence divergence increases between the bait and target species. As previously shown for museum specimens, we demonstrate here that mitochondrial genome capture from field‐collected faecal samples is a robust and reliable approach for population‐wide studies of nonmodel organisms.
Predicting QRS and PR interval prolongations in humans using nonclinical data
Authors: Bergenholm L , Parkinson J , Mettetal J , Evans N D , Chappell M J , Collins T
Published: July 2017

Background and Purpose

Risk of cardiac conduction slowing (QRS/PR prolongations) is assessed prior to clinical trials using in vitro and in vivo studies. Understanding the quantitative translation of these studies to the clinical situation enables improved risk assessment in the nonclinical phase.

Experimental Approach

Four compounds that prolong QRS and/or PR (AZD1305, flecainide, quinidine and verapamil) were characterized using in vitro (sodium/calcium channels), in vivo (guinea pigs/dogs) and clinical data. Concentration‐matched translational relationships were developed based on in vitro and in vivo modelling, and the in vitro to clinical translation of AZD1305 was quantified using an in vitro model.

Key Results

Meaningful (10%) human QRS/PR effects correlated with low levels of in vitro Nav1.5 block (3–7%) and Cav1.2 binding (13–21%) for all compounds. The in vitro model developed using AZD1305 successfully predicted QRS/PR effects for the remaining drugs. Meaningful QRS/PR changes in humans correlated with small effects in guinea pigs and dogs (QRS 2.3–4.6% and PR 2.3–10%), suggesting that worst‐case human effects can be predicted by assuming four times greater effects at the same concentration from dog/guinea pig data.

Conclusion and Implications

Small changes in vitro and in vivo consistently translated to meaningful PR/QRS changes in humans across compounds. Assuming broad applicability of these approaches to assess cardiovascular safety risk for non–arrhythmic drugs, this study provides a means of predicting human QRS/PR effects of new drugs from effects observed in nonclinical studies.
Brain serotoninergic nervous system is involved in bombesin‐induced frequent urination through brain 5‐HT7 receptors in rats
Authors: Shimizu Takahiro , Shimizu Shogo , Wada Naoki , Takai Shun , Shimizu Nobutaka , Higashi Youichirou , Kadekawa Katsumi , Majima Tsuyoshi , Saito Motoaki , Yoshimura Naoki
Published: July 2017

Background and Purpose

Psychological stress exacerbates symptoms of urinary bladder dysfunction; however, the underlying brain mechanisms are unclear. We have demonstrated that centrally administered bombesin, a stress‐related neuropeptide, facilitates the rat micturition reflex. Brain bombesin‐like peptides modulate the serotoninergic nervous system activity under stress conditions; therefore, we examined whether brain 5‐HT is involved in the bombesin‐induced increased frequency of urination in urethane‐anaesthetised male Sprague–Dawley rats.

Experimental Approach

Evaluation of intercontraction intervals (ICI) and maximal voiding pressure (MVP) during cystometrograms were started 1 h before i.c.v. administration of bombesin or i.c.v. pretreatment with the 5‐HT receptor antagonists.

Key Results

Bombesin (0.03 nmol per animal, i.c.v.) significantly reduced ICI without affecting MVP. The bombesin‐induced response was significantly suppressed by acute depletion of brain 5‐HT, which was induced by pretreatment with p‐chlorophenylalanine, a 5‐HT synthesis inhibitor. Bombesin at a lower dose (0.01 nmol per animal, i.c.v.) showed no significant effect on ICI, while it significantly reduced ICI in the presence of WAY‐100635 (5‐HT1A receptor antagonist, 0.1 or 0.3 μg per animal, i.c.v.), which can block the negative feedback control of 5‐HT release. Bombesin (0.03 nmol per animal)‐induced ICI reduction was significantly attenuated by SB269970 (5‐HT7 receptor antagonist, 0.1 or 0.3 μg per animal, i.c.v.) but not by ritanserin (5‐HT2 receptor antagonist, 0.3 or 1 μg per animal, i.c.v.).

Conclusions and Implications

The brain serotoninergic nervous system is involved in the facilitation of the rat micturition reflex induced by bombesin‐like peptides at least in part through brain 5‐HT7 receptors.
Open creative labs: Spatial settings at the intersection of communities and organizations
Authors: Schmidt Suntje , Brinks Verena
Published: July 2017

This paper explores the relation between the notion of “communities” and the emergence of new spatial settings for innovation and creativity that we subsume under the term ‘open creative labs’. The paper starts by observing the omnipresence of the term community in both, self‐descriptions of coworking spaces, fab labs, etc., and first scientific publications on these spatial phenomena. However, attempts to conceptualize the relation between communities and these new spatial settings are still rare. This paper assumes that this gap can be addressed by adding the relation between organizations and communities to the conceptual debate. Therefore, this paper first presents a brief literature review on different forms of community–organization relations. Here, communities are regarded as entities that may exist within organizations, as alternative structures to organizations, as substitutes for organizations or as intermediaries between individuals and organizations. Second, we take a fresh look at an empirical data set on open creative labs in Berlin. We present a taxonomy of four lab types (experimentation labs, working labs, open innovation labs, and investor‐driven labs) and explore differences in terms of their community orientation and objectives. Thus, this paper sets out to contribute to conceptualizing the relation of communities and space.
Managing for variability: A neuroscientific approach for developing strategic agility in organizations
Authors: Hill Mark E. , Cromartie Jane , McGinnis John
Published: July 2017

The neuroscientific literature reveals that the brain changes over time, and the type of change (plasticity) that results is not random. While the brain exhibits certain evolutionary prejudices, individual plasticity and the kind of thinking enabled can be shaped by, and can shape, organizational priorities and operations. Organizational focus on structure and procedural efficiency is shown to foster fixed thinking, while cultivation of “practiced varying” skills encourages thinking agility. Agile thinking is shown to be essential for the development of organizational plasticity, the foundation for organizational agility. Finally, suggestions for incorporating variability in the workplace are offered.
Compactly Supported Biorthogonal Wavelet Bases on the Body Centered Cubic Lattice
Authors: Horacsek J.J. , Alim U.R.
Published: July 2017

In this work, we present a family of compact, biorthogonal wavelet filter banks that are applicable to the Body Centered Cubic (BCC) lattice. While the BCC lattice has been shown to have superior approximation properties for volumetric data when compared to the Cartesian Cubic (CC) lattice, there has been little work in the way of designing wavelet filter banks that respect the geometry of the BCC lattice. Since wavelets have applications in signal de‐noising, compression, and sparse signal reconstruction, these filter banks are an important tool that addresses some of the scalability concerns presented by the BCC lattice. We use these filters in the context of volumetric data compression and reconstruction and qualitatively evaluate our results by rendering images of isosurfaces from compressed data.
Constructing and Evaluating Visualisation Task Classifications: Process and Considerations
Authors: Kerracher N. , Kennedy J.
Published: July 2017

Categorising tasks is a common pursuit in the visualisation research community, with a wide variety of taxonomies, typologies, design spaces, and frameworks having been developed over the last three decades. While these classifications are universally purported to be useful in both the design and evaluation processes and in guiding future research, remarkably little attention has been paid to how these frameworks have—and can be—constructed and evaluated. In this paper we review the task classification literature and report on current practices in construction and evaluation. We consider the stages of task classification construction and identify the associated threats to validity arising at each stage and in response to the different methods employed. We provide guidance on suitable validation approaches in order to mitigate these threats. We also consider the appropriateness of evaluation strategies according to the different aspects of the classification which they evaluate. In so doing, we seek to provide guidance for developers of classifications in determining appropriate construction and evaluation strategies when developing a classification, and also for those selecting between competing classifications for use in the design and evaluation processes.
Glyph‐Based Comparative Stress Tensor Visualization in Cerebral Aneurysms
Authors: Meuschke M. , Voß S. , Beuing O. , Preim B. , Lawonn K.
Published: July 2017

We present the first visualization tool that enables a comparative depiction of structural stress tensor data for vessel walls of cerebral aneurysms. Such aneurysms bear the risk of rupture, whereas their treatment also carries considerable risks for the patient. Medical researchers emphasize the importance of analyzing the interaction of morphological and hemodynamic information for the patient‐specific rupture risk evaluation and treatment analysis. Tensor data such as the stress inside the aneurysm walls characterizes the interplay between the morphology and blood flow and seems to be an important rupture‐prone criterion. We use different glyph‐based techniques to depict local stress tensors simultaneously and compare their applicability to cerebral aneurysms in a user study. We thus offer medical researchers an effective visual exploration tool to assess the aneurysm rupture risk. We developed a GPU‐based implementation of our techniques with a flexible interactive data exploration mechanism. Our depictions are designed in collaboration with domain experts, and we provide details about the evaluation.
Overview + Detail Visualization for Ensembles of Diffusion Tensors
Authors: Zhang C. , Caan M.W.A. , Höllt T. , Eisemann E. , Vilanova A.
Published: July 2017

A Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) group study consists of a collection of volumetric diffusion tensor datasets (i.e., an ensemble) acquired from a group of subjects. The multivariate nature of the diffusion tensor imposes challenges on the analysis and the visualization. These challenges are commonly tackled by reducing the diffusion tensors to scalar‐valued quantities that can be analyzed with common statistical tools. However, reducing tensors to scalars poses the risk of losing intrinsic information about the tensor. Visualization of tensor ensemble data without loss of information is still a largely unsolved problem. In this work, we propose an overview + detail visualization to facilitate the tensor ensemble exploration. We define an ensemble representative tensor and variations in terms of the three intrinsic tensor properties (i.e., scale, shape, and orientation) separately. The ensemble summary information is visually encoded into the newly designed aggregate tensor glyph which, in a spatial layout, functions as the overview. The aggregate tensor glyph guides the analyst to interesting areas that would need further detailed inspection. The detail views reveal the original information that is lost during aggregation. It helps the analyst to further understand the sources of variation and formulate hypotheses. To illustrate the applicability of our prototype, we compare with most relevant previous work through a user study and we present a case study on the analysis of a brain diffusion tensor dataset ensemble from healthy volunteers.
Interactive Regression Lens for Exploring Scatter Plots
Authors: Shao L. , Mahajan A. , Schreck T. , Lehmann D. J.
Published: July 2017

Data analysis often involves finding models that can explain patterns in data, and reduce possibly large data sets to more compact model‐based representations. In Statistics, many methods are available to compute model information. Among others, regression models are widely used to explain data. However, regression analysis typically searches for the best model based on the global distribution of data. On the other hand, a data set may be partitioned into subsets, each requiring individual models. While automatic data subsetting methods exist, these often require parameters or domain knowledge to work with. We propose a system for visual‐interactive regression analysis for scatter plot data, supporting both global and local regression modeling. We introduce a novel regression lens concept, allowing a user to interactively select a portion of data, on which regression analysis is run in interactive time. The lens gives encompassing visual feedback on the quality of candidate models as it is interactively navigated across the input data. While our regression lens can be used for fully interactive modeling, we also provide user guidance suggesting appropriate models and data subsets, by means of regression quality scores. We show, by means of use cases, that our regression lens is an effective tool for user‐driven regression modeling and supports model understanding.
Visual Exploration of Global Trade Networks with Time‐Dependent and Weighted Hierarchical Edge Bundles on GPU
Authors: Hofmann J. , Größler M. , Rubio‐Sánchez M. , Pichler P.‐P. , Lehmann D. J.
Published: July 2017

The UN Comtrade database is the world's largest repository of bilateral trade data. Their complexity poses a challenge to visualization systems, leading to issues such as scalability and visual clutter. Thus, we propose a radial layout‐based visual exploration system to enable the user to smoothly explore the change over time and to explore different commodity classes at once by using a novel edge bundling concept. We evaluated our system with the aid of a group of domain experts.
Measuring Symmetry in Drawings of Graphs
Authors: Welch E. , Kobourov S.
Published: July 2017

Layout symmetry is an important and desired feature in graph drawing. While there is a substantial body of work in computer vision around the detection and measurement of symmetry in images, there has been little effort to define and validate meaningful measures of the symmetry of graph drawings. In this paper, we evaluate two algorithms that have been proposed for measuring graph drawing symmetry, comparing their judgments to those of human subjects, and investigating the use of stress as an alternative measure of symmetry. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of these measures, possible ways to improve them, and implications for the design of algorithms that optimize the symmetry in the layout.
Reverse‐Engineering Visualizations: Recovering Visual Encodings from Chart Images
Authors: Poco Jorge , Heer Jeffrey
Published: July 2017

We investigate how to automatically recover visual encodings from a chart image, primarily using inferred text elements. We contribute an end‐to‐end pipeline which takes a bitmap image as input and returns a visual encoding specification as output. We present a text analysis pipeline which detects text elements in a chart, classifies their role (e.g., chart title, x‐axis label, y‐axis title, etc.), and recovers the text content using optical character recognition. We also train a Convolutional Neural Network for mark type classification. Using the identified text elements and graphical mark type, we can then infer the encoding specification of an input chart image. We evaluate our techniques on three chart corpora: a set of automatically labeled charts generated using Vega, charts from the Quartz news website, and charts extracted from academic papers. We demonstrate accurate automatic inference of text elements, mark types, and chart specifications across a variety of input chart types.
Finding a Clear Path: Structuring Strategies for Visualization Sequences
Authors: Hullman Jessica , Kosara Robert , Lam Heidi
Published: July 2017

Little is known about how people structure sets of visualizations to support sequential viewing. We contribute findings from several studies examining visualization sequencing and reception. In our first study, people made decisions between various possible structures as they ordered a set of related visualizations (consisting of either bar charts or thematic maps) into what they considered the clearest sequence for showing the data. We find that most people structure visualization sequences hierarchically: they create high level groupings based on shared data properties like time period, measure, level of aggregation, and spatial region, then order the views within these groupings. We also observe a tendency for certain types of similarities between views, like a common spatial region or aggregation level, to be seen as more appropriate categories for organizing views in a sequence than others, like a common time period or measure. In a second study, we find that viewers’ perceptions of the quality and intention of different sequences are largely consistent with the perceptions of the users who created them. The understanding of sequence preferences and perceptions that emerges from our studies has implications for the development of visualization authoring tools and sequence recommendations for guided analysis.
Linear Discriminative Star Coordinates for Exploring Class and Cluster Separation of High Dimensional Data
Authors: Wang Yunhai , Li Jingting , Nie Feiping , Theisel Holger , Gong Minglun , Lehmann Dirk J.
Published: July 2017

One main task for domain experts in analysing their nD data is to detect and interpret class/cluster separations and outliers. In fact, an important question is, which features/dimensions separate classes best or allow a cluster‐based data classification. Common approaches rely on projections from nD to 2D, which comes with some challenges, such as: The space of projection contains an infinite number of items. How to find the right one? The projection approaches suffers from distortions and misleading effects. How to rely to the projected class/cluster separation? The projections involve the complete set of dimensions/features. How to identify irrelevant dimensions? Thus, to address these challenges, we introduce a visual analytics concept for the feature selection based on linear discriminative star coordinates (DSC), which generate optimal cluster separating views in a linear sense for both labeled and unlabeled data. This way the user is able to explore how each dimension contributes to clustering. To support to explore relations between clusters and data dimensions, we provide a set of cluster‐aware interactions allowing to smartly iterate through subspaces of both records and features in a guided manner. We demonstrate our features selection approach for optimal cluster/class separation analysis with a couple of experiments on real‐life benchmark high‐dimensional data sets.
Minimum‐Displacement Overlap Removal for Geo‐referenced Data Visualization
Authors: van Garderen M. , Pampel B. , Nocaj A. , Brandes U.
Published: July 2017

Given a set of rectangles embedded in the plane, we consider the problem of adjusting the layout to remove all overlap while preserving the orthogonal order of the rectangles. The objective is to minimize the displacement of the rectangles. We call this problem Minimum-Displacement Overlap Removal (mdor). Our interest in this problem is motivated by the application of displaying metadata of archaeological sites. Because most existing overlap removal algorithms are not designed to minimize displacement while preserving orthogonal order, we present and compare several approaches which are tailored to our particular usecase. We introduce a new overlap removal heuristic which we call reArrange. Although conceptually simple, it is very effective in removing the overlap while keeping the displacement small. Furthermore, we propose an additional procedure to repair the orthogonal order after every iteration, with which we extend both our new heuristic and PRISM, a widely used overlap removal algorithm. We compare the performance of both approaches with and without this order repair method. The experimental results indicate that reArrange is very effective for heterogeneous input data where the overlap is concentrated in few dense regions.
Generating Tile Maps
Authors: McNeill Graham , Hale Scott A.
Published: July 2017

Tile maps are an important tool in thematic cartography with distinct qualities (and limitations) that distinguish them from better‐known techniques such as choropleths, cartograms and symbol maps. Specifically, tile maps display geographic regions as a grid of identical tiles so large regions do not dominate the viewer's attention and small regions are easily seen. Furthermore, complex data such as time series can be shown on each tile in a consistent format, and the grid layout facilitates comparisons across tiles. Whilst a small number of handcrafted tile maps have become popular, the time‐consuming process of creating new tile maps limits their wider use. To address this issue, we present an algorithm that generates a tile map of the specified type (e.g. square, hexagon, triangle) from raw shape data. Since the ‘best’ tile map depends on the specific geography visualized and the task to be performed, the algorithm generates and ranks multiple tile maps and allows the user to choose the most appropriate. The approach is demonstrated on a range of examples using a prototype browser‐based application.