bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Contrastive Explanation
Authors: Lipton Peter
Published: January 2013

According to a causal model of explanation, we explain phenomena by giving their causes or, where the phenomena are themselves causal regularities, we explain them by giving a mechanism linking cause and effect. If we explain why smoking causes cancer, we do not give the cause of this causal connection, but we do give the causal mechanism that makes it. The claim that to explain is to give a cause is not only natural and plausible, but it also avoids many of the objections to other accounts of explanation, such as the views that to explain is to give a reason to believe the phenomenon occurred, to somehow make the phenomenon familiar, or to give a Deductive-Nomological argument. Unlike the reason for belief account, a causal model makes a clear distinction between understanding why a phenomenon occurs and merely knowing that it does, and the model does so in a way that makes understanding unmysterious and objective. Understanding is not some sort of super-knowledge, but simply more knowledge: knowledge of the phenomenon and knowledge of its causal history. A causal model makes it clear how something can explain without itself being explained, and so avoids the regress of whys, since we can know a phenomenon's cause without knowing the cause of the cause. It also accounts for legitimate self-evidencing explanations, explanations where the phenomenon is an essential part of the evidence that the explanation is correct, so the explanation can not supply a non-circular reason for believing the phenomenon occurred. There is no barrier to knowing a cause through its effects and also knowing that it is their cause. The speed of recession of a star explains its observed red-shift, even though the shift is an essential part of the evidence for its speed of recession. The model also avoids the most serious objection to the familiarity view, which is that some phenomena are familiar yet not understood, since a phenomenon can be perfectly familiar, such as the blueness of the sky or the fact that the same side of the moon always faces the earth, even if we do not know its cause. Finally, a causal model avoids many of the objections to the Deductive-Nomological model. Ordinary explanations do not have to meet the requirements of the Deductive-Nomological model, because one does not need to give a law to give a cause, and one does not need to know a law to have good reason to believe that a cause is a cause. As for the notorious over-permissiveness of the Deductive-Nomological model, the reason recession explains red-shift but not conversely, is simply that causes explain effects but not conversely, and the reason a conjunction of laws does not explain its conjuncts is that conjunctions do not cause their conjuncts.
Art and Technology: An Old Tension
Authors: O'Hear Anthony
Published: January 2013

This is not the first time the title ‘Art and Technology’ has been used, but to distinguish what I have to say from Walter Gropius's Bauhaus exhibition of 1923, I am subtitling my paper ‘an old tension’, where the architect spoke of ‘a new unity’. In a way, Gropius has been proved right; the structures of the future avoiding all romantic embellishment and whimsy, the cathedrals of socialism, the corporate planning of comprehensive Utopian designs have all gone up and some come down. We have a mass media culture also largely made possible by technology. Corporatist architecture, whether statist ‘social housing’ or freemarket inspired, films, videos, modern recording and musical techniques are all due to technological advances made mostly this century. Only in a very puritanical sense could what has happened be thought of as inevitably bringing with it enslavement. All kinds of possibilities are now open to artists and architects, which would have been imaginable a few decades ago. No one is forced to use these possibilities in any specific way.
Analysis of Biologically-Derived Small Particles—Searching for Geometry Correction Factors Using Monte Carlo Simulation
Authors: Tylko Grzegorz
Published: January 2013

A Monte Carlo simulation was used to determine geometry correction factors that increase accuracy of quantitative X-ray microanalysis of laterally semithick biological materials. A model composed of cellulose with homogeneously distributed biological elements and lateral dimensions between 0.5–25 μm was chosen. The specimen was exposed to 5, 10, and 15 keV electrons, the net intensities of characteristic X-rays registered for the elements, and presented as a function of the lateral dimensions of the model. This showed the double decay exponential function fitted the distribution of X-ray intensities in relation to the model size. The applicability of the function as a correction method was successfully tested for 30 specimens with varying composition and dimensions. The value of relative error decreased from ±60% to ±5% when the correction was applied. Moreover, the minimal lateral size of the material was defined, below which the correction is not required. The simulation also revealed that the difference of the weighted sum ofZ2/Abetween the unknown and the standard could reach 25% without significant influence on the quantitative results. The correction method could be helpful for accurate assessment of elemental composition in biological or organic matrices, when their lateral dimensions are smaller than the distribution range.
Exploring the wider potential of forage legumes collected from the highlands of Eritrea
Authors: Snowball Richard , Mahdere Amanuel , Tesfay Eskender , Aberra Mehreteab , Carr Regina M. , Antuono Mario F. D'
Published: January 2013

This is the first report of a pasture plant collecting mission to the highlands of Eritrea and a preliminary examination of the potential of species for both Eritrea and southern Australia. In 2004, seeds from 53 legume species were collected from 58 locations in the southern highlands between Keren, Adi Quala and Senafe. Strains of Rhizobium from 18 species were also collected. Seed collections of 11 species with Rhizobium were established in germplasm nurseries at the Medina Research Station, Western Australia between 2005 and 2010. Observations on their growth, flowering and seed production were recorded. Based on a climate match analysis and observations from germplasm nurseries, it was suggested that species with most promise for parts of southern Australia include the annual legume Biserrula pelecinus ssp. leiocarpa and the perennial shrub Colutea abyssinica. The greatest potential, however, is reserved for the highlands of Eritrea where germplasm is well adapted. Species found low in the landscape including from the genera Lotus, Trifolium and Medicago appeared well utilized. Different species found higher in the landscape including from the genera Indigofera, Tephrosia, Crotalaria, Trifolium schimperi, B. pelecinus ssp. leiocarpa and C. abyssinica were much less common, appeared under-utilized and may be under threat from genetic erosion. Animal production on the non-arable dry hillsides of the highlands would benefit from better utilization of these species through replanting some areas, careful grazing management and demonstration of the benefits of increasing the native legume component of these wild pastures.
The Hustling Candidate and the Advent of the Direct Primary: A California Case Study
Authors: Reynolds John F.
Published: January 2013

Many political scientists and historians attribute the candidate-centered campaign, a defining characteristic of the modern American political system, to the appearance of the direct primary during the Progressive Era. During the nineteenth century, when the major parties selected their nominees in conventions, office seekers maintained a lower profile, and partisan-minded voters were not overly influenced by the personal characteristics of the candidates. Using California as a case study, this essay traces the emergence of a new breed of aggressive office seekers at the turn of the twentieth century. It looks specifically at the canvassing activities of would-be gubernatorial nominees in the weeks leading up to the state convention. In its heyday, the convention system marginalized elective office seekers. The multilayered convention system was too decentralized and complex to be manipulated in the interests any one candidate. Candidates began to exert more influence over the nomination process in the waning years of the nominating convention. The introduction of state regulation of party functions took control of the process out of the hands of local partisan clubs and cliques. Delegates began to be selected on the basis of their affiliation with a gubernatorial candidate. Conventions lost much of their deliberative character, and voting blocs emerged tied to particular candidates through the unit rule. By the time the direct primary appeared on the scene in 1909, the aggressive office seeker was already a fixture on the political landscape. In short, scholars have exaggerated the impact of the shift from indirect to direct nominations and have overlooked the implications of the regulation of political parties when the convention system was still in place. The direct primary was part of a long tradition of reform designed to serve the interests of the parties' office-seeking or office-holding contingent at the expense of the party organization.
A novel approach, based on BLSOMs (Batch Learning Self-Organizing Maps), to the microbiome analysis of ticks
Authors: Nakao Ryo , Abe Takashi , Nijhof Ard M , Yamamoto Seigo , Jongejan Frans , Ikemura Toshimichi , Sugimoto Chihiro
Published: January 2013

Ticks transmit a variety of viral, bacterial and protozoal pathogens, which are often zoonotic. The aim of this study was to identify diverse tick microbiomes, which may contain as-yet unidentified pathogens, using a metagenomic approach. DNA prepared from bacteria/archaea-enriched fractions obtained from seven tick species, namely Amblyomma testudinarium, Amblyomma variegatum, Haemaphysalis formosensis, Haemaphysalis longicornis, Ixodes ovatus, Ixodes persulcatus and Ixodes ricinus, was subjected to pyrosequencing after whole-genome amplification. The resulting sequence reads were phylotyped using a Batch Learning Self-Organizing Map (BLSOM) program, which allowed phylogenetic estimation based on similarity of oligonucleotide frequencies, and functional annotation by BLASTX similarity searches. In addition to bacteria previously associated with human/animal diseases, such as Anaplasma, Bartonella, Borrelia, Ehrlichia, Francisella and Rickettsia, BLSOM analysis detected microorganisms belonging to the phylum Chlamydiae in some tick species. This was confirmed by pan-Chlamydia PCR and sequencing analysis. Gene sequences associated with bacterial pathogenesis were also identified, some of which were suspected to originate from horizontal gene transfer. These efforts to construct a database of tick microbes may lead to the ability to predict emerging tick-borne diseases. Furthermore, a comprehensive understanding of tick microbiomes will be useful for understanding tick biology, including vector competency and interactions with pathogens and symbionts.
A Social Communication Intervention to Increase Validating Comments by Children With Language Impairment
Authors: Fujiki Martin , Brinton Bonnie , McCleave Chelsea P. , Anderson Valyne W. , Chamberlain Janet P.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

Four children identified with language impairment (LI) participated in a social communication intervention to increase the production of validating comments, including making positive statements, sharing information, and asking peers questions about themselves.

Method

A case study design was used. Baseline measures were collected from 3 cooperative learning sessions for each participant. The intervention lasted 10 weeks, with 40 (15-min) sessions for 3 of the children and 20 (30-min) sessions for the remaining child. Each week, participants took part in sessions of group instruction, novel peer play, and review with the clinician. Data monitoring the production of validating comments were taken from the novel peer play interactions.

Results

One child produced a notable increase in validating comments during intervention, and 2 other participants produced more modest improvement. All 3 maintained these gains in the follow-up sessions. The remaining participant produced little change from baseline during the intervention. With respect to social outcomes, changes were not noted in peer acceptance and friendship. Teachers reported notable improvement in the sociable behavior of 2 of the children.

Conclusion

The 4 participants showed varied increases in the production of validating comments. Possible factors influencing the successful application of the intervention are discussed.
Some results on complexity of μ-calculus
evaluation in the black-box model
Authors: Parys Paweł
Published: January 2013

We consider μ-calculus formulas in a normal form: after a prefix of
fixed-point quantifiers follows a quantifier-free expression. We are interested in the
problem of evaluating (model checking) such formulas in a powerset lattice. We assume that
the quantifier-free part of the expression can be any monotone function given by a
black-box – we may only ask for its value for given arguments. As a first result we prove
that when the lattice is fixed, the problem becomes polynomial (the assumption about the
quantifier-free part strengthens this result). As a second result we show that any
algorithm solving the problem has to ask at least about n2
(namely Ω(n2/log n)) queries to the function, even when the expression
consists of one μ and one ν (the assumption about the
quantifier-free part weakens this result).
Peculiarities of Employment of Polymeric Miniplates for Mandibular Osteosynthesis: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Vares Yan
Published: January 2013

Searching for new materials for bone substitution, fixation, and reconstruction is a challenging task that attracts scientists and researchers of different fields of medicine. During the last few decades, much interest has been paid to polymeric materials, polyethylene in particular. The aim of this study is to present generalizations about our own experience in the employment of polyethylene miniplates for the surgical treatment of mandibular fractures. Ninety patients with 139 uni- and bilateral mandibular fractures in different locations were involved. Treatment modalities included open reduction and internal fixation with self-made polyethylene miniplates of straight, T-shaped, Y-shaped, and X-shaped configurations and titanium screws. In 88 (97.8%) cases of surgical treatment of mandibular fractures using polymer miniplates, good anatomical and functional results were achieved. Regardless of the necessity for improvement of some mechanical properties of polyethylene, the results obtained in our clinical investigation allow us to recommend polyethylene miniplates for routine practice.
Topological constraint in ring polymers under theta conditions studied by Monte Carlo simulation
Authors: Suzuki Jiro , Takano Atsushi , Matsushita Yushu
Published: January 2013

We studied equilibrium conformations of trivial-, 31-, and 51-knotted ring polymers together with a linear counterpart over the wide range of segment numbers, N, from 32 up through 2048 using a Monte Carlo simulation to obtain the dependence of the radius of gyration of these simulated polymer chains, Rg, on the number of segments, N. The polymer chains treated in this study are composed of beads and bonds placed on a face-centered-cubic lattice respecting the excluded volume. The Flory's critical exponent, ν, for a linear polymer is 1/2 at the θ-temperature, where the excluded volume is screened by the attractive force generated among polymer segments. The trajectories of linear polymers at the θ-condition were confirmed to be described by the Gaussian chain, while the ν values for trivial-, 31-, and 51-knots at the θ-temperature of a linear polymer are larger than that for a linear chain. This ν value increase is due to the constraint of preserving ring topology because the polymer chains dealt with in this study cannot cross themselves even though they are at the θ-condition. The expansion parameter, β, where N-dependence vanishes by the definition, for trivial-, 31-, and 51-knotted ring polymers is obtained at the condition of ν = 1/2. It has been found that β decreases with increasing the degree of the topological constraint in the order of trivial (0.526), 31 (0.422), and 51 knot (0.354). Since the reference β value for a random knot is 0.5, the trivial ring polymer is swollen at ν = 1/2 and the other knotted ring polymers are squeezed.
Band offset determination of atomic-layer-deposited Al2O3 and HfO2 on InP by internal photoemission and spectroscopic ellipsometry
Authors: Xu K. , Sio H. , Kirillov O. A. , Dong L. , Xu M. , Ye P. D. , Gundlach D. , Nguyen N. V.
Published: January 2013

Band offsets at the interfaces of n- and p-type InP ((100) and (111)A) and atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) Al2O3 were measured with internal photoemission and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Similarly, the band offsets at the interface of semi-insulating InP (100) and ALD HfO2 were also determined. The barrier between the top of InP valence band (VB) and the bottom of Al2O3 conduction band (CB) is found to be 3.44 eV for p-type material and 3.53 eV for n-type. The photoemission thresholds are found to be sensitive to the annealing conditions, and blue shifts are observed after annealing. The offsets from InP valence band to the HfO2 conduction band for the HfO2/InP stack are found to be 3.89 eV, and we observed an increase of 60 meV if the InP surface is passivated.
Field emission model of carbon nanotubes to simulate gas breakdown in ionization gas sensor
Authors: Mahmood Salman , Arif Burhanudin Zainal , Salman Aysha
Published: January 2013

A new field emission model of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to simulate gas detection mechanism in CNT based ionization gas sensor has been developed. The new model consists of three modules which are combined together and embedded in the standard particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision codes. The functionality of the enhanced model is checked by varying the gas pressure and gap spacing in the simulations. From the results, around one order of magnitude decrease in the breakdown voltages and two orders of magnitude faster response time is observed. The lowest breakdown voltages are observed when intertube spacing is equal to height of the nanotube. The field enhancement factor β is calculated from our model and compared with the β of the well established model. The closeness among the values of β validates the performance of our field emission model. Furthermore, the β of our model is compared with the β of the existing ionization gas sensors. It was found that the β of our sensor is around 3 times better than the β of the gold nanowire based ionization gas sensor and 28 times better than the β of the other CNT based ionization gas sensor. These results suggest that by properly controlling the growth of CNT structures, an optimized CNT based ionization gas sensor can be realized.
Investigation of phosphorus and arsenic as dopants in polycrystalline thin films of zinc oxide
Authors: Ye Zhi , Wong Man
Published: January 2013

The use of implanted phosphorus and arsenic has been systematically investigated and compared with implanted boron as n-type dopants in thin films of polycrystalline zinc oxide. For a given heat-treatment schedule and without fluorine co-doping, the steady-state resistivity of the phosphorus-doped ZnO is found to be consistently lower than that of the boron-doped ZnO. Both are in turn lower than that of the arsenic-doped ZnO. A resistivity of 3 mΩ cm has been obtained for a phosphorus dose of 1016/cm2, if activated at 500 °C for 5 min in nitrogen. Direct exposure to an oxidizing ambience during a heat-treatment resulted in an increase in the resistivity of the phosphorus- or arsenic-doped zinc oxide thin films. However, the kinetics of the oxidation and reduction of arsenic in zinc oxide are found to be significantly slower than those of phosphorus or boron. Thin-film transistors with self-aligned phosphorus-doped source/drain regions and channel-lengths as short as 2 μm have been realized and characterized.
Top-down fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures for deterministic coupling to single quantum emitters
Authors: Pfaff Wolfgang , Vos Arthur , Hanson Ronald
Published: January 2013

Metal nanostructures can be used to harvest and guide the emission of single photon emitters on-chip via surface plasmon polaritons. In order to develop and characterize photonic devices based on emitter-plasmon hybrid structures, a deterministic and scalable fabrication method for such structures is desirable. Here, we demonstrate deterministic and scalable top-down fabrication of metal wires onto preselected nitrogen vacancy centers in nanodiamonds using clean room nano-fabrication methods. We observe a life-time reduction of the emitter emission that is consistent with earlier proof-of-principle experiments that used non-deterministic fabrication methods. This result indicates that top-down fabrication is a promising technique for processing future devices featuring single photon emitters and plasmonic nanostructures.
Is the spiritual bond bound by blood? An exploratory study of spiritual leadership in family firms
Authors: Madison Kristen , Kellermanns Franz W.
Published: January 2013

Our research is one of the first to examine spiritual leadership, which lies at the crossroads of workplace spirituality and transcendental leadership, within the context of family firms. We describe how the unique characteristics of family firms allow for and encompass spiritual leadership. First, we adapt the construct of spiritual leadership to the firm level. Then, analyzing dyadic data, we provide empirical support for the emerging theory of spiritual leadership by linking the spiritual bond between leader and follower to organizational citizenship behavior, a new dependent variable in the nomological net of spiritual leadership. We further explore the relationship in subsets of our data, finding that the relationship holds for family members but does not hold for non-family employees of the family business. Implications and avenues for future research are discussed.
COPII machinery cooperates with ER-localized Hsp40 to sequester misfolded membrane proteins into ER-associated compartments
Authors: Kakoi Shogo , Yorimitsu Tomohiro , Sato Ken
Published: January 2013

Proteins that fail to fold in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are subjected to ER-associated degradation (ERAD). Certain transmembrane ERAD substrates are segregated into specialized ER subdomains, termed ER-associated compartments (ERACs), before targeting to ubiquitin–proteasome degradation. The traffic-independent function of several proteins involved in COPII-mediated ER-to-Golgi transport have been implicated in the segregation of exogenously expressed human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) into ERACs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we focus on the properties of COPII components in the sequestration of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)–CFTR into ERACs. It has been demonstrated that the temperature-sensitive growth defects in many COPII mutants can be suppressed by overexpressing other genes involved in COPII vesicle formation. However, we show that these suppression abilities are not always correlated with the ability to rescue the ERAC formation defect, suggesting that COPII-mediated EGFP-CFTR entry into ERACs is independent of its ER-to-Golgi trafficking function. In addition to COPII machinery, we find that ER-associated Hsp40s are also involved in the sequestration process by directly interacting with EGFP-CFTR. COPII components and ER-associated Hsp40, Hlj1p, act in the same pathway to sequester EGFP-CFTR into ERACs. Our findings point to an as-yet-undefined role of COPII proteins in the formation of ERACs.
Fragment recruitment on metabolic pathways: comparative metabolic profiling of metagenomes and metatranscriptomes
Authors: Desai Dhwani K. , Schunck Harald , Löser Johannes W. , LaRoche Julie
Published: January 2013

Motivation: The sheer scale of the metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets that are now available warrants the development of automated protocols for organizing, annotating and comparing the samples in terms of their metabolic profiles. We describe a user-friendly java program FROMP (Fragment Recruitment on Metabolic Pathways) for mapping and visualizing enzyme annotations onto the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) metabolic pathways or custom-made pathways and comparing the samples in terms of their Pathway Completeness Scores, their relative Activity Scores or enzyme enrichment odds ratios. This program along with our fully configurable PERL-based annotation organization pipeline Meta2Pro (METAbolic PROfiling of META-omic data) offers a quick and accurate standalone solution for metabolic profiling of environmental samples or cultures from different treatments. Apart from pictorial comparisons, FROMP can also generate score matrices for multiple meta-omics samples, which can be used directly by other statistical programs.

Availability: The source code and documentation for FROMP can be downloaded from https://sites.google.com/site/dhwanidesai/home/software along with the Meta2Pro collection of PERL scripts. Supplementary data are available at https://sites.google.com/site/dhwanidesai/home/fromp_suppl.

Contact: Dhwani.Desai@Dal.Ca

Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Fisheries Management
Authors: Laitin David D.
Published: January 2013

Both papers in this volume on which I was asked to comment (James E. Monogan III, “A Case for Registering Studies of Political Outcomes: An Application in the 2010 House Elections” and Macartan Humphreys, Raul Sanchez de la Sierra, and Peter van der Windt, “Fishing, Commitment, and Communication: A Proposal for Comprehensive Nonbinding Research Registration”) advocate registration regimes for our discipline. The recommendations in both are incremental [promoting, as Lindblom (1965) might have said it, the “intelligence of research” and cognizant of the costs in scientific learning from such a regime if rigidly enforced. Moreover, both papers cite studies by Gerber and various co-authors (e.g., Gerber, Green, and Nickerson 2001) demonstrating publication bias in political science, incentivizing researchers to manipulate their regression models until they can show a z-statistic ≥ 1.96, and thereby reaching standard levels of significance. I fully accept that Gerber et al.'s papers have detected a serious flaw in our scientific practices; there is a problem to be solved. The Monogan and Humphreys et al. proposals are therefore worthy of consideration.
Registration and Replication: A Comment
Authors: Anderson Richard G.
Published: January 2013

Social scientists long have debated how closely their research methods resemble the pure, classical ideal: sequentially (and absent pejorative “data snooping”) formulate a theory; develop empirically falsifiable hypotheses; collect data; and conduct the appropriate statistical tests. Meanwhile, in private quarters, they acknowledged that true research seldom proceeds in this fashion. Rather, in the event, the world is observed, data are collected, hypotheses formed, tests conducted, more data collected, and hypotheses revised (e.g., the classic Bernal 1974). Results are collected by the field's scientists into a body of knowledge that defines “known science” and sets the accepted boundaries for future research. Kuhn (1970) labeled this a paradigm. Occasionally, he argued, results appear that lie outside the bounds of the extant paradigm—then, innovation occurs.

The articles included in this issue's symposium discuss “registration” of empirical studies. The purpose is to reduce “publication bias,” that is, to prevent the scientific equivalent of schoolboy cheating: reporting tests of hypotheses that became evident only after the data were in hand. Registration has little power against the type of research fraud that is discovered from time to time. There are costs, however, when scientists operating within an accepted paradigm discourage researchers from exploring and reporting any/all relationships and correlations in a data set.
Tissue-specific control of brain-enriched miR-7 biogenesis
Authors: Choudhury Nila Roy , de Lima Alves Flavia , de Andrés-Aguayo Luisa , Graf Thomas , Cáceres Javier F. , Rappsilber Juri , Michlewski Gracjan
Published: January 2013

MicroRNA (miRNA) biogenesis is a highly regulated process in eukaryotic cells. Several mature miRNAs exhibit a tissue-specific pattern of expression without an apparent tissue-specific pattern for their corresponding primary transcripts. This discrepancy is suggestive of post-transcriptional regulation of miRNA abundance. Here, we demonstrate that the brain-enriched expression of miR-7, which is processed from the ubiquitous hnRNP K pre-mRNA transcript, is achieved by inhibition of its biogenesis in nonbrain cells in both human and mouse systems. Using stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) mass spectrometry combined with RNase-assisted RNA pull-down, we identified Musashi homolog 2 (MSI2) and Hu antigen R (HuR) proteins as inhibitors of miR-7 processing in nonneural cells. This is achieved through HuR-mediated binding of MSI2 to the conserved terminal loop of pri-miR-7. Footprinting and electrophoretic gel mobility shift analysis (EMSA) provide further evidence for a direct interaction between pri-miR-7-1 and the HuR/MSI2 complex, resulting in stabilization of the pri-miR-7-1 structure. We also confirmed the physiological relevance of this inhibitory mechanism in a neuronal differentiation system using human SH-SY5Y cells. Finally, we show elevated levels of miR-7 in selected tissues from MSI2 knockout (KO) mice without apparent changes in the abundance of the pri-miR-7 transcript. Altogether, our data provide the first insight into the regulation of brain-enriched miRNA processing by defined tissue-specific factors.
Regulation of AID, the B-cell genome mutator
Authors: Keim Celia , Kazadi David , Rothschild Gerson , Basu Uttiya
Published: January 2013

The mechanisms by which B cells somatically engineer their genomes to generate the vast diversity of antibodies required to challenge the nearly infinite number of antigens that immune systems encounter are of tremendous clinical and academic interest. The DNA cytidine deaminase activation-induced deaminase (AID) catalyzes two of these mechanisms: class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). Recent discoveries indicate a significant promiscuous targeting of this B-cell mutator enzyme genome-wide. Here we discuss the various regulatory elements that control AID activity and prevent AID from inducing genomic instability and thereby initiating oncogenesis.
All the world wide web's a stage
Authors: Thornton David E. , Kaya Ebru
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to describe a collaborative project organised by Bilkent University Library, Turkey, to produce a series of instructional videos that are both informative and entertaining and also serve to market the library.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper will outline the theoretical basis for the use of videos for library instruction, especially with reference to the habits and preferences of so‐called Generation Y students and to the potential value of video for facilitating memory and learning.

Findings

The use of humorous and interesting content, in a dramatised style, were found to improve Generation Y students' learning and enjoyment of instructional videos.

Practical implications

The development of the project demonstrates the practical and marketing benefits of collaboration by academic librarians with students and faculty. However, it proved more difficult to evaluate the efficiency of the final product in terms of influencing the attitude of students toward the library and library resources and thereby changing their behaviour when studying.

Originality/value

The authors recommend that such library videos should definitely form part of an academic library's information literacy programme, but should not constitute the sole element.
Project management assets and project management performance outcomes
Authors: Mathur Gita , Jugdev Kam , Shing Fung Tak
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes as a step towards exploring the link between assets being valuable, rare, inimitable, and having organizational support and the achievement of competitive advantage.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute®members. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify characteristics of project management assets and project management performance outcomes.

Findings

In total, six factors that comprised the characteristics of project management assets, three factors that comprised organizational support for project management assets, and two factors that comprised the project management performance outcomes were extracted.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of this study include sample size, response rate, and self‐report bias, calling for a larger sample in ongoing research. This study is a step towards making the link between project management assets and performance outcomes.

Practical implications

This study draws managerial attention to project management assets as sources of competitive advantage, applying the resource based view of the firm that assets are sources of competitive advantage if they add economic value, are rare, are difficult to imitate, and have organizational support.

Originality/value

Few papers have applied the resource based view of the firm to examine project management capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the resource based view of the firm and contributes to an improved understanding of project management as a source of competitive advantage.
Public relations in academic libraries in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states
Authors: Alansari Husain A.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate the nature and extent of public relations activities in academic libraries in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The focus is on understanding how academic libraries conduct and provide their public relations products and services.

Design/methodology/approach

The study reported here used the survey method, done in two phases. The first phase consisted of a questionnaire survey and the second phase was a focus group discussion based on the results of the survey.

Findings

Although all libraries indicated that public relations are important, a clear majority (72.2 percent) does not have a public relations unit or division, they have a very small number of staff involved in public relations work, and half of the responding libraries (50 percent) do not have full‐time staff for public relations. Library web site, traditional mail, displays and bulletin boards and library guides/brochures are major channels of communication. The study also reported on the main problems that prevent academic libraries from performing effective PR activities.

Practical implications

The results have implications for the planning and development of public relations programs and activities in academic libraries in GCC countries. It also indicates existing obstacles, suggestion and recommendations for further development.

Originality/value

This study reports the results of one of the few studies of public relations in academic libraries in developing countries. It increases the understanding and awareness of what public relations encompasses and how it can be utilized. It also advocates that the social media should be used in promoting library resources and services.
Let your hands do the thinking!
Authors: Hadida Allègre L.
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The aim of this viewpoint article is to offer a reflection on the author's personal understanding and experience of using the Lego® Serious Play® methodology to help teams address core strategy and creativity challenges within their organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a viewpoint paper.

Findings

By using metaphors, imagination and story‐making to facilitate a better understanding of core strategic challenges and defining moments in the life of organizations and teams, LSP also satiates the current organizational thirst for stories and meaning.

Originality/value

The rewards of serious play are tangible and plentiful.
The impact of corporate governance on working capital management efficiency of American manufacturing firms
Authors: Gill Amarjit S. , Biger Nahum
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of corporate governance on working capital management efficiency. This study also seeks to extend the findings of Gill and Shah.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applied a co‐relational research design. A sample was selected of 180 American manufacturing firms listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for a period of 3 years (from 2009‐2011).

Findings

The findings of this study indicate that corporate governance plays some role in improving the efficiency of working capital management.

Research limitations/implications

This is a co‐relational study that investigated the association between corporate governance and working capital management efficiency. There is not necessarily a causal relationship between the two, although the paper provides some conjectures to the findings. The findings of this study may only be generalized to firms similar to those that were included in this research.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the factors that improve the efficiency of working capital management, and in particular on the association between several features of corporate governance and the efficiency of working capital management. The findings may be useful for financial managers, investors, financial management consultants, and other stakeholders.
Gender identities and career aspirations of middle leaders
Authors: Lin Choi Pik
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine gender identities of Chinese male and female middle leaders in secondary schools and how gender dynamics play in the leadership process and impact on career aspirations and career development.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on the data of a larger qualitative study conducted using the life history approach. Cases of four male and female middle leaders, which are able to demonstrate the “efficacy” of life stories to enhancing our appreciation of the process of gender negotiation and the impact of gender dynamics on leadership behaviour, are reported.

Findings

Evidence suggests that traditional Chinese gender identities played out in the leader‐follower relationships although signs of hybrid gender identities were also evident in some cases. Gender identities and the family role perception of the middle leaders have impact on their career aspirations and development.

Research limitations/implications

Findings yield implications for the professional development needs of Chinese middle leaders not only regarding their professional role but also their personal understanding of how gender identities and family role perception impact on their career development. Further study with overlapping and complementary methods to a larger sample could be more illuminating to this complex and multifaceted issue.

Originality value

In the context of global concerns about the shortage of leader talent, the present study illuminates gender identities and the dynamics of the interactions between Chinese superiors and subordinates of different sexes and adds perspective to the leadership development literature.
“Leadership” and the social: time, space and the epistemic
Authors: Eacott Scott
Published: January 2013

Purpose

“Leadership” is arguably the central concept of interest in contemporary scholarship on educational administration. Within this scholarly discourse, there is an explicit assumption that leadership is a “real” phenomenon that is not only important, but also necessary for educational institutions. However, few scholars engage with issues surrounding the confusion of a socially constructed label with an assumed empirical reality. The aim of this paper is to mobilise critical social theory and to discuss the concept of leadership in educational administration.

Design/methodology/approach

To engage with this matter, the author mobilises critical social theory, specifically that of Pierre Bourdieu, to discuss the concept of leadership in educational administration.

Findings

In doing so, the author argues that: “leadership” is a label taken from common language into scholarly discourse for the purpose of solving a perceived problem in the empirical world, and that this is made possible through a particular constitution of the social space.

Research limitations/implications

The central argument of this paper challenges the hegemonic position of educational leadership scholarship, particularly its mobilisation of context, both time and space.

Originality/value

Unlike scholarship focused on developing an explanation of what constitutes leadership, this paper engages with the abstraction of “leadership” as an educational administration concept.
The challenges of Nigerian agricultural firms in implementing the marketing concept
Authors: Herstein Ram , Jaffe Eugene
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the study traces 30 international marketing strategies of Nigerian agri‐business firms in order to learn whether these firms work today according to the marketing concept in their attempts to export their products. The second purpose is to identify gaps between the current international marketing strategy of Nigerian agri‐business firms and the required international marketing strategy that these firms should carry out in five stages of implementing the marketing concept.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study was conducted by interviewing 30 CEOs and senior managers in five focus groups, in order to learn more about the difficulties and challenges that agri‐business managers in Nigeria must cope with, while trying to work according to the marketing concept.

Findings

Although most senior managers of leading agri‐business firms in Nigeria are aware and fully understand the meaning of the marketing concept, there is a major gap between what should be implemented and what is carried out in practice, mainly because of the structure of the Nigerian market economy.

Originality/value

This pioneering study provides useful knowledge for any agri‐business firm in Nigeria and other firms in Africa in order to improve their marketing capabilities to gain a competitive advantage in international markets.
Commentary on “Enabling access to information by people with learning disabilities”
Authors: Walmsley Jan
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on Oldreive and Waight's article on enabling access to information by people with learning disabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

The article reflects on the issues raised by Oldreive and Waight, drawing on 25 years' experience and research.

Findings

Accessible information needs to be tailored to the individual and part of a wider approach to improving access.

Practical implications

We should not rely on “easy read”. Instead we should be prepared to offer individualised support to people with learning disabilities, using “easy read” as a tool.

Social implications

It is unlikely that any technology will replace support from skilled people.

Originality/value

The issues discussed provide a reminder that translating information does not equate to inclusion.
Resisting loneliness' dark pit: a narrative therapy approach
Authors: Stacey James , Edwards Adrian
Published: January 2013

Purpose

People with learning disabilities want and value friendships and close, intimate, or romantic relationships. However, many people with learning disabilities are socially and emotionally lonely. The purpose of this paper is to describe a novel intervention, using a narrative therapy based group approach, which aimed to ameliorate the negative effects of loneliness in adult men with a mild learning disability.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explored the group process, examined participants' experiences of the narrative therapy approach, and used an amended version of the UCLA loneliness scale (3rd ed.) to evaluate the effectiveness of a narrative therapy group approach.

Findings

The group enabled participants to develop “experience near” descriptions of loneliness and its effects and to identify and strengthen their abilities, strengths, and resources. Qualitative feedback from participants indicated that the group was experienced positively and helped participants to feel less lonely. Quantitative feedback from an adapted version of the UCLA loneliness scale suggested that most participants felt less lonely following the intervention.

Research limitations/implications

There are several limitations of the current study. Most importantly, because of the small sample size (n=5), the results of the current study lack generalisability. Future, larger‐scale research should be carried out to address these limitations.

Originality/value

The current study draws attention to a significant problem experienced by many people with a learning disability. It also adds to the emerging evidence that narrative therapy approaches may be useful within learning disability contexts.
The zone of parental control: a reasonable idea or an unusable concept?
Authors: Watts John , Mackenzie Robin
Published: January 2013

Purpose

The Zone of Parental Control (ZPC) is a concept that has been introduced in the Code of Practice for the revised Mental Health Act 1983, but guidance on its scope remains scanty. The purpose of this paper is to bring together recent rulings from case law and the original guidance, and make suggestions for clinicians when deciding if an intervention is within the Zone.

Design/methodology/approach

Review and examination of case law, legislation and legal guidance.

Findings

Deprivations of liberty fall outside the ZPC, but restrictions of liberty lie within; parental disagreement with care correlates strongly with care that lies outside the ZPC.

Originality/value

The findings of this article should aid clinicians in deciding whether a treatment regime lies within the ZPC.