bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Growth is impeded by gastrointestinal nematodes in weaned rather than suckling meat-breed lambs in a high summer rainfall region, on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales
Authors: Dever M. L. , Kahn L. P. , Doyle E. K.
Published: June 2016

The hypothesis tested in this experiment was that the effects of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) on growth of meat-breed lambs would be absent during the suckling period and greatest after weaning. The experiment was a single factor design conducted on five farms over 2012–2014, using meat-breed lambs (Poll Dorset × Border Leicester/Merino), which were either GIN-suppressed (SUP) or not (NSUP). The experiment commenced at lamb marking and continued for 5 months. SUP lambs were serially treated with short- and long-acting anthelmintics. NSUP lambs were not treated before weaning and at weaning received a short-acting multi-active drench with subsequent treatments varying between farms. Worm egg count (WEC) of NSUP lambs were significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than SUP lambs at weaning (1170 and 10 epg) and thereafter (P < 0.0001) reaching 920 epg 2 months after weaning. Haemonchus contortus was the predominant species present in NSUP lambs with smaller contributions from Trichostrongylus spp. There was no effect of GIN control on lamb growth during the pre-weaning period (SUP 17.2 kg vs NSUP 17.0 kg, P = 0.093), whereas GIN reduced growth of lambs by 0.5 kg (SUP 7.1 kg vs NSUP 6.6 kg, P = 0.002) in the last month of observation. There was no effect of GIN control on lamb mortality. GIN did not affect growth of suckling meat-breed lambs despite high WEC at weaning indicating resilience to GIN infection in lambs growing at 200 g/day. In contrast, post-weaning growth was reduced by GIN infection, despite effective treatment at weaning and movement to GIN ‘safe’ pastures. The susceptibility of weaned lambs to the effects of GIN infection highlights the importance of effective control measures at this time.
Plasma membrane/cell wall perturbation activates a novel cell cycle checkpoint during G1 in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Kono Keiko , Al-Zain Amr , Schroeder Lea , Nakanishi Makoto , Ikui Amy E.
Published: June 2016

Significance

Cells need to rapidly control their cell cycle profile, gene expression, or protein stability in response to the activation of stress-response pathways. One such type of stress results from plasma membrane damage, which can arise because of physical damage or pathogen invasion. Here, we report that plasma membrane stress inhibits polarized cell growth and DNA replication through a novel cell cycle checkpoint pathway in
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
. To our knowledge, this is the first study to link a plasma membrane signaling pathway with the cell cycle and DNA replication control, which is relevant to plasma membrane repair and the role of stress and cell proliferation control in higher eukaryotes.
Speech community theory and the language / dialect debate
Authors: Xu Daming
Published: June 2016

Much research has been done addressing the issue of language and dialect and has attracted much interest in the Sinophone world. In this paper, the issue is approached from the perspective of Speech Community Theory (SCT) with discussion of the identification of Chinese varieties. There are mainly two approaches in previous research: linguistic and sociolinguistic. In the linguistic approach, the classification of languages and dialects is through comparison of linguistic descriptions and intelligibility. In the sociolinguistic approach, actual language use and attitudes of the speakers are investigated and ethnic and political factors are considered. The two approaches tend to result in different classifications. The purely linguistic classification tends to be narrower than the classification invoking attitudinal, cultural and political factors, resulting in a larger number of languages than the sociolinguistic approach. The different approaches are traced to divergent understandings of what a language is. A language is often understood purely as a tool of communication or, alternatively, it is regarded primarily as an identity device. Applying SCT, we analyze the connection between communication and identity formation, taking the example of Cantonese speakers. That case shows a correlation of linguistic contact with linguistic identity among native speakers. Consequently, the relevance of cultural and socio-political factors is explained through their impact on communication rather than directly on a linguistic identity.
Contesting the monolingual mindset
Authors: De Wilde July , Van Praet Ellen , Rillof Pascal
Published: June 2016

This paper focuses on the day-to-day practices of service providers working with multilingual immigrants. It reports on 74 video recorded conversations between service providers and immigrant mothers, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork atKind en Gezin, the organization that monitors childcare for the Flemish authorities in Belgium. In discussing the findings, we focus on two principal themes: First, we demonstrate what the language requirements enshrined in Belgium’s language policies entail for the day-to-day practices of service providers working with multilingual clients. Secondly, we argue that, in superdiverse contexts, the growing need is towards delegitimizing language policy makers’ protectionist claim that the national language should be the only language used in public service encounters.
Rethinking Bosnia and Herzegovina’s post-coloniality
Authors: Majstorović Danijela , Vučkovac Zoran
Published: June 2016

This paper investigates politico-media discourses of the international community revolving for the last few decades around the process of Europeanization in Bosnia and Herzegovina from its Dayton inception until 2015. We first explain the contours of the BiH context and then use a critical discourse analysis to assess the data collected between 1997 and 2015 drawn from a variety of textual resources such as mainstream newspapers, online media, and international community websites to explain the main trends of the Europeanization discourse in the country. Grounding our analysis within the postcolonial theory and post-communist studies, we critically examine the post-1996 peace and state building as well as Europeanization processes in BiH with respect to signs of postcolonial condition including perpetual transition and a state of exception.
People’s right to keep and bear arms
Authors: Põiklik Pille
Published: June 2016

The article presents an analysis of the majority and minority opinions from the Supreme Court of the United States issued onDistrict of Columbia v. Hellerin 2008. The court case addressed the meaning of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution that establishes gun rights in a famously confusing wording. The analysis applies parts of Fairclough and Fairclough’s (2011, 2012) model of analysing argumentation and also discusses intertextuality to account for how the justices construct their arguments. The analysis shows how the justices shape their arguments on the basis of their values and beliefs, presenting contradictory readings of the amendment, sources of evidence and the preferred application of the amendment.
Towards a linguistic model of crisis response (CRModel)
Authors: Rachfał Edyta
Published: June 2016

The paper handles public crisis communication (cc) done by top public figures involved in what has been dubbed the News International Phone Hacking Scandal of 2011 in the UK. It contributes to the field by proposing an approach which reflects a “linguistic leaning” in cc (response) research. Hence, by applying sociolinguistic (face) and linguistic (stance) concepts we examine the texts released, with a view to discovering how crisis communicators ‘negotiate’ language to persuade/ manipulate the stakeholders to alter their perceptions about the crisis and the people implicated. The examination focuses primarily ongrammatical stance marking devices(Biber el al. 1999) yielding results in three dimensions: 1) structural, 2) semantic and 3) stance attribution, and shows that besides rhetorical goals, the underlying objectives the speakers pursue areface maintenanceand, consequently,faceworkthat must be done in the circumstances that have occurred.
Protective effect of composite earthworm powder against diabetic complications via increased fibrinolytic function and improvement of lipid metabolism in ZDF rats
Authors: Kawakami Tomoko , Fujikawa Airi , Ishiyama Yohei , Hosojima Michihiro , Saito Akihiko , Kubota Masatoshi , Fujimura Shinobu , Kadowaki Motoni
Published: June 2016

Thrombosis is the leading cause of mortality globally. It is not only a complication but also a risk factor for progression of diabetes. However, alternative oral therapies and prophylaxis with less adverse effect for thrombosis have not been well studied. In this study, composite powder containing earthworm (CEP) was used and its fibrinolytic activity was measured. CEP was found to have a high urokinase-type plasminogen activator like activity in an in vitro assay. It also had significantly shortened euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLT) at 4 and 24 h after ingestion in Sprague Dawley rats. Zucker Diabetic Fatty rats were used to assess the effect of CEP on diabetes and diabetic nephropathy. After 10 weeks of feeding, CEP significantly shortened ECLT and attenuated HbA1c, hepatic lipid accumulation, and urinary albumin excretion and improved glomerular mesangial matrix score. Therefore, CEP may have beneficial effects on diabetes and diabetic nephropathy.
Wielding soft power in strategic regions: an analysis of China’s power of attraction in Africa and the Middle East
Authors: Tella Oluwaseun
Published: June 2016

While there is a rich body of scholarly literature on China’s soft power, it has tended to focus on how China’s soft power currencies complement its hard-power resources. Little is known about how China wields its soft power currencies in strategic regions, as the literature has focused on a particular region, particularly Asia and Africa. Thus, this study examines China’s geopolitical influence, drawing attention to its soft power currencies in Africa and the Middle East. It employs both primary and secondary data. The primary data were personal in-depth interviews and internet polls. Interviews were conducted with experts, particularly in the field of international relations. Using purposive sampling, these experts were drawn from the United States, China, South Africa and Nigeria. Low-cadre bureaucrats were also interviewed. The study argues that China’s soft power in Africa and the Middle East is a double-edged sword. While some appreciate China’s presence in these regions, others are either ambivalent or have negative perceptions of this Asian powerhouse. The study concludes that China still requires huge investment in its soft power in order to win the hearts and minds of the majority of the citizens in these regions.
Immunophysiological Response of Pacific White Shrimp Exposed to a Probiotic Mixture of Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in Farm Conditions
Authors: Vargas-Albores Francisco , Martínez-Porchas Marcel , Arvayo Miguel A , Villalpando-Canchola Enrique , Gollas-Galván Teresa , Porchas-Cornejo Marco A
Published: June 2016

The effect of a probiotic mixture (Proteobacteria–Firmicutes) on the immune and physiological responses of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei reared at commercial scale was evaluated. Shrimp were cultured into two different systems: a traditional system and a probiotic-based system using the probiotic mixture every day of culture. Hemolymph parameters and the expression of immune-related genes were monitored during the culture cycle. Shrimp reared in the probiotic-based system registered an upregulation of clotting protein (CP), prophenoloxidase (proPO), alpha-2-macrogolbulin (A2M), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and heat shock protein (hsp) 60 genes in hemocytes compared with those reared in the traditional system. Also, high transcription levels of CP, proPO, transglutaminase, beta glucan binding protein, SOD, hsp60, and hsp90 genes were detected in the hepatopancreatic tissue of shrimp reared with probiotics. While no significant differences were detected for hemolymphatic concentrations of glucose, lactate, and protein, lower concentrations of cholesterol and acylglycerides were detected in shrimp cultured with probiotics; in addition, we detected a higher activity of proPO and a lower activity of aminotransferases, and recorded better survival in these shrimp. Results suggest that the probiotic mixture we used had an immunostimulatory effect on the shrimp; the upregulation of all the genes studied suggests the activation of the complex immune network. From a physiological perspective, the results also indicate that probiotics can be effective at the commercial shrimp farm scale.
Understanding the within-host dynamics of influenza A virus: from theory to clinical implications
Authors: Hadjichrysanthou Christoforos , Cauët Emilie , Lawrence Emma , Vegvari Carolin , de Wolf Frank , Anderson Roy M.
Published: June 2016

Mathematical models have provided important insights into acute viral dynamics within individual patients. In this paper, we study the simplest target cell-limited models to investigate the within-host dynamics of influenza A virus infection in humans. Despite the biological simplicity of the models, we show how these can be used to understand the severity of the infection and the key attributes of possible immunotherapy and antiviral drugs for the treatment of infection at different times post infection. Through an analytic approach, we derive and estimate simple summary biological quantities that can provide novel insights into the infection dynamics and the definition of clinical endpoints. We focus on nine quantities, including the area under the viral load curve, peak viral load, the time to peak viral load and the level of cell death due to infection. Using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, we fitted the models to data collected from 12 untreated volunteers who participated in two clinical studies that tested the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. Based on the results, we also discuss various difficulties in deriving precise estimates of the parameters, even in the very simple models considered, when experimental data are limited to viral load measures and/or there is a limited number of viral load measurements post infection.
Effect of cryopreservation and post-cryopreservation somatic embryogenesis on the epigenetic fidelity of cocoa (Theobroma cacaoL.)
Authors: Adu-Gyamfi Raphael , Wetten Andy , Marcelino Carlos , López Rodríguez
Published: June 2016

While cocoa plants regenerated from cryopreserved somatic embryos can demonstrate high levels of phenotypic variability, little is known about the sources of the observed variability. Previous studies have shown that the encapsulation-dehydration cryopreservation methodology imposes no significant extra mutational load since embryos carrying high levels of genetic variability are selected against during protracted culture. Also, the use of secondary rather than primary somatic embryos has been shown to further reduce the incidence of genetic somaclonal variation. Here, the effect ofin vitroconservation, cryopreservation and post-cryopreservation generation of somatic embryos on the appearance of epigenetic somaclonal variation were comparatively assessed. To achieve this we compared the epigenetic profiles, generated using Methylation Sensitive Amplified Polymorphisms, of leaves collected from the ortet tree and from cocoa somatic embryos derived from threein vitroconditions: somatic embryos, somatic embryos cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen and somatic embryos generated from cryoproserved somatic embryos. Somatic embryos accumulated epigenetic changes but these were less extensive than in those regenerated after storage in LN. Furthermore, the passage of cryopreserved embryos through another embryogenic stage led to further increase in variation. Interestingly, this detected variability appears to be in some measure reversible. The outcome of this study indicates that the cryopreservation induced phenotypic variability could be, at least partially, due to DNA methylation changes.

Key message

Phenotypic variability observed in cryostored cocoa somatic-embryos is epigenetic in nature. This variability is partially reversible, not stochastic in nature but a directed response to thein-vitroculture and cryopreservation.
Looking for a Signal in the Noise: Revisiting Obesity and the Microbiome
Authors: Sze Marc A , Schloss Patrick D
Published: June 2016

Two recent studies have re-analyzed published data and found that when datasets are analyzed independently there was limited support for the widely accepted hypothesis that changes in the microbiome are associated with obesity. This hypothesis was reconsidered by increasing the number of datasets and pooling the results across the individual datasets. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were applied to identify 10 studies for an updated and more synthetic analysis. Alpha diversity metrics and the relative risk of obesity based on those metrics were used to identify a limited number of significant associations with obesity; however, when the results of the studies were pooled using a random effects model significant associations were observed between Shannon diversity, number of observed OTUs, and Shannon evenness and obesity status. They were not observed for the ratio of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutesor their individual relative abundances. Although these tests yielded small P-values, the difference between the Shannon diversity index of non-obese and obese individuals was 2.07%. A power analysis demonstrated that only one of the studies had sufficient power to detect a 5% difference in diversity. When Random Forest machine learning models were trained on one dataset and then tested using the other 9 datasets, the median accuracy varied between 33.01 and 64.77% (median=56.68%). Although there was support for a relationship between the microbial communities found in human feces and obesity status, this association was relatively weak and its detection is confounded by large interpersonal variation and insufficient sample sizes.

Importance

As interest in the human microbiome grows there is an increasing number of studies that can be used to test numerous hypotheses across human populations. The hypothesis that variation in the gut microbiota can explain or be used to predict obesity status has received considerable attention and is frequently mentioned as an example for the role of the microbiome in human health. Here we assess this hypothesis using ten independent studies and find that although there is an association, it is smaller than can be detected by most microbiome studies. Furthermore, we directly tested the ability to predict obesity status based on the composition of an individual’s microbiome and find that the median classification accuracy is between 33.01 and 64.77%. This type of analysis can be used to design future studies and expanded to explore other hypotheses.
Functional brain segmentation using inter-subject correlation in fMRI
Authors: Kauppi Jukka-Pekka , Pajula Juha , Niemi Jari , Hari Riitta , Tohka Jussi
Published: June 2016

The human brain continuously processes massive amounts of rich sensory information. To better understand such highly complex brain processes, modern neuroimaging studies are increasingly utilizing experimental setups that better mimic daily-life situations. We propose a new exploratory data-analysis approach, functional segmentation intersubject correlation analysis (FuSeISC), to facilitate the analysis of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) data sets collected in these experiments. The method provides a new type of functional segmentation of brain areas, not only characterizing areas that display similar processing across subjects but also areas in which processing across subjects is highly variable.

We tested FuSeISC using fMRI data sets collected during traditional block-design stimuli (37 subjects) as well as naturalistic auditory narratives (19 subjects). The method identified spatially local and/or bilaterally symmetric clusters in several cortical areas, many of which are known to be processing the types of stimuli used in the experiments. The method is not only prominent for spatial exploration of large fMRI data sets obtained using naturalistic stimuli, but has other potential applications such as generation of a functional brain atlases including both lower-and higher-order processing areas.

Finally, as a part of FuSeISC, we propose a criterion-based sparsification of the shared nearest-neighbor graph for detecting clusters in noisy data. In our tests with synthetic data, this technique was superior to well-known clustering methods, such as Ward's method, affinity propagation and K-means++.
CASEIN KINASE1-LIKE PROTEIN2 Regulates Actin Filament Stability and Stomatal Closure via Phosphorylation of Actin Depolymerizing Factor
Authors: Zhao Shuangshuang , Jiang Yuxiang , Zhao Yang , Huang Shanjin , Yuan Ming , Zhao Yanxiu , Guo Yan
Published: June 2016

The opening and closing of stomata are crucial for plant photosynthesis and transpiration. Actin filaments undergo dynamic reorganization during stomatal closure, but the underlying mechanism for this cytoskeletal reorganization remains largely unclear. In this study, we identified and characterized Arabidopsis thaliana casein kinase 1-like protein 2 (CKL2), which responds to abscisic acid (ABA) treatment and participates in ABA- and drought-induced stomatal closure. Although CKL2 does not bind to actin filaments directly and has no effect on actin assembly in vitro, it colocalizes with and stabilizes actin filaments in guard cells. Further investigation revealed that CKL2 physically interacts with and phosphorylates actin depolymerizing factor 4 (ADF4) and inhibits its activity in actin filament disassembly. During ABA-induced stomatal closure, deletion of CKL2 in Arabidopsis alters actin reorganization in stomata and renders stomatal closure less sensitive to ABA, whereas deletion of ADF4 impairs the disassembly of actin filaments and causes stomatal closure to be more sensitive to ABA. Deletion of ADF4 in the ckl2 mutant partially recues its ABA-insensitive stomatal closure phenotype. Moreover, Arabidopsis ADFs from subclass I are targets of CKL2 in vitro. Thus, our results suggest that CKL2 regulates actin filament reorganization and stomatal closure mainly through phosphorylation of ADF.
Symmetrized Bingham distribution for representing texture: parameter estimation with respect to crystal and sample symmetries
Authors: Niezgoda Stephen R. , Magnuson Eric A. , Glover Jared
Published: June 2016

The quaternion Bingham distribution has been used to model preferred crystallographic orientation, or crystallographic texture, in polycrystalline materials in the materials science and geological communities. A primary difficulty in applying the Bingham distribution has been the lack of an efficient method for fitting the distribution parameters with respect to the material's underlying crystallographic symmetry or any statistical sample symmetry due to processing. This paper presents a symmetrized distribution, based on the quaternion Bingham, which can account for any general combination of crystallographic or sample symmetries. A numerical scheme is also introduced for estimating the parameters of the symmetrized distribution based on the well known expectation maximization algorithm.
Investigation of dissimilar metal welds by energy-resolved neutron imaging
Authors: Tremsin Anton S. , Ganguly Supriyo , Meco Sonia M. , Pardal Goncalo R. , Shinohara Takenao , Feller W. Bruce
Published: June 2016

A nondestructive study of the internal structure and compositional gradient of dissimilar metal-alloy welds through energy-resolved neutron imaging is described in this paper. The ability of neutrons to penetrate thick metal objects (up to several cm) provides a unique possibility to examine samples which are opaque to other conventional techniques. The presence of Bragg edges in the measured neutron transmission spectra can be used to characterize the internal residual strain within the samples and some microstructural features,e.g.texture within the grains, while neutron resonance absorption provides the possibility to map the degree of uniformity in mixing of the participating alloys and intermetallic formation within the welds. In addition, voids and other defects can be revealed by the variation of neutron attenuation across the samples. This paper demonstrates the potential of neutron energy-resolved imaging to measure all these characteristics simultaneously in a single experiment with sub-mm spatial resolution. Two dissimilar alloy welds are used in this study: Al autogenously laser welded to steel, and Ti gas metal arc welded (GMAW) to stainless steel using Cu as a filler alloy. The cold metal transfer variant of the GMAW process was used in joining the Ti to the stainless steel in order to minimize the heat input. The distributions of the lattice parameter and texture variation in these welds as well as the presence of voids and defects in the melt region are mapped across the welds. The depth of the thermal front in the Al–steel weld is clearly resolved and could be used to optimize the welding process. A highly textured structure is revealed in the Ti to stainless steel joint where copper was used as a filler wire. The limited diffusion of Ti into the weld region is also verified by the resonance absorption.
Measurement and modeling of polarized specular neutron reflectivity in large magnetic fields
Authors: Maranville Brian B. , Kirby Brian J. , Grutter Alexander J. , Kienzle Paul A. , Majkrzak Charles F. , Liu Yaohua , Dennis Cindi L.
Published: June 2016

The presence of a large applied magnetic field removes the degeneracy of the vacuum energy states for spin-up and spin-down neutrons. For polarized neutron reflectometry, this must be included in the reference potential energy of the Schrödinger equation that is used to calculate the expected scattering from a magnetic layered structure. For samples with magnetization that is purely parallel or antiparallel to the applied field which defines the quantization axis, there is no mixing of the spin states (no spin-flip scattering) and so this additional potential is constant throughout the scattering region. When there is non-collinear magnetization in the sample, however, there will be significant scattering from one spin state into the other, and the reference potentials will differ between the incoming and outgoing wavefunctions, changing the angle and intensities of the scattering. The theory of the scattering and recommended experimental practices for this type of measurement are presented, as well as an example measurement.
An approach to solving an ill posed inverse problem of residual stress depth profiling in thin films and compact solid materials
Authors: Tolstikhin Konstantin , Scholtes Berthold
Published: June 2016

The inverse problem of evaluating residual stresses σ(z) in real space using residual stresses σ(τ) in image space is discussed. This problem is ill posed and special solution methods are required in order to obtain a stable solution. Moreover, the real-space solution must be localized in reflecting layers only in multilayer systems. This requirement imposes strong restrictions on the solution methods and does not allow one to use methods based on the inverse Laplace transform employed for compact solid materials. Besides, in the case of solid materials, the use of the inverse Laplace transform often leads to extremely unstable solutions. The stable numerical solution of the discussed inverse problem can be found using a method based on the Tikhonov regularization. Given the measured data and their pointwise error estimation, this method provides stable approximate solutions for both solid materials and thin films in the form of piecewise functions defined solely in diffracting layers. The approximations are shown to converge to the exact function when the noise in the experimental data approaches zero. If the initial data satisfy certain constraints, the method provides a stable exact solution for the inverse problem. A freely available MATLAB package has been developed, and its efficiency was demonstrated in the numerical residual stress calculations carried out for solid materials and thin films.
Coherent diffraction imaging: consistency of the assembled three-dimensional distribution
Authors: Tegze Miklós , Bortel Gábor
Published: June 2016

The short pulses of X-ray free-electron lasers can produce diffraction patterns with structural information before radiation damage destroys the particle. From the recorded diffraction patterns the structure of particles or molecules can be determined on the nano- or even atomic scale. In a coherent diffraction imaging experiment thousands of diffraction patterns of identical particles are recorded and assembled into a three-dimensional distribution which is subsequently used to solve the structure of the particle. It is essential to know, but not always obvious, that the assembled three-dimensional reciprocal-space intensity distribution is really consistent with the measured diffraction patterns. This paper shows that, with the use of correlation maps and a single parameter calculated from them, the consistency of the three-dimensional distribution can be reliably validated.
Magnetohydrodynamic effects on flow structures and heat transfer over two cylinders wrapped with a porous layer in side
Authors: Rashidi Saman , Abolfazli Esfahani Javad , Valipour Mohammad Sadegh , Bovand Masoud , Pop Ioan
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The analysis of the flow field and heat transfer around a tube row or tube banks wrapped with porous layer have many related engineering applications. Examples include the reactor safety analysis, combustion, compact heat exchangers, solar power collectors, high-performance insulation for buildings and many another applications. The purpose of this paper is to perform a numerical study on flows passing through two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement wrapped with a porous layer under the influence of a magnetic field. The authors focus the attention to the effects of magnetic field, Darcy number and pitch ratio on the mechanism of convection heat transfer and flow structures.

Design/methodology/approach

– The Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model for simulating the flow in porous medium along with the Maxwell equations for providing the coupling between the flow field and the magnetic field have been used. Equations with the relevant boundary conditions are numerically solved using a finite volume approach. In this study, Stuart and Darcy numbers are varied within the range of 0
<
N
<
3 and 1e-6
<
Da
<
1e-2, respectively, and Reynolds and Prandtl numbers are equal to Re=100 and Pr=0.71, respectively.

Findings

– The results show that the drag coefficient decreases for N
<
0.6 and increases for N
>
0.6. Also, the effect of magnetic field is negligible in the gap between two cylinders because the magnetic field for two cylinders counteracts each other in these regions.

Originality/value

– To the authors knowledge, in the open literature, flow passing over two circular cylinders in side-by-side arrangement wrapped with a porous layer has been rarely investigated especially under the influence of a magnetic field.
Symmetry group and numerical study of non-Newtonian nanofluid transport in a porous medium with multiple convective boundary and nonlinear radiation
Authors: Uddin Md. Jashim , Bég O. Anwar , Ismail Izani Md.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study two-dimensional nonlinear radiative-convective, steady-state boundary layer flow of non-Newtonian power-law nanofluids along a flat vertical plate in a saturated porous medium taking into account thermal and mass convective boundary conditions numerically.

Design/methodology/approach

– The governing equations are reduced to a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations with relevant boundary conditions. The transformed equations are then solved using the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg fourth-fifth order numerical method with Maple 17 and Adomian decomposition method (ADM) in Mathematica.

Findings

– The transformed equations are controlled by the parameter: power-law exponent, n; temperature ratio, Tr; Rosseland radiation-conduction, R; conduction-convection, Nc; and diffusion-convection, Nd. Temperature and nanoparticle concentration is enhanced with convection-diffusion parameter as are temperatures. Velocities are depressed with greater power-law rheological index whereas temperatures are elevated. Increasing thermal radiation flux accelerate the flow but to strongly heat the boundary layer. Very good correlation of the Maple solutions with previous stationary free stream and ADM solutions for a moving free stream, are obtained.

Practical implications

– The study is relevant to high temperature nano-polymer manufacturing systems.

Originality/value

– Lie symmetry group is used for the first time to transform the governing equations into a set of coupled nonlinear ordinary differential equations with relevant boundary conditions. The study is relevant to high temperature nano-polymer manufacturing systems.
Hostility in firefighters: personality and mental health
Authors: Wagner Shannon , Pasca Romana , Crosina Jordan
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of personality factors, especially hostility, as they related to traumatic stress and mental health symptoms in firefighters.

Design/methodology/approach

– A group of paid-professional firefighters (n=94) completed a questionnaire study that included a demographic questionnaire, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory-Revised, the Framingham Type A Scale, and the Symptom Checklist-90. Multiple regressions were used to evaluate the relationship between neuroticism or lack of agreeableness with hostility, controlling for Type A, years of service and age. Subsequently, hostility was used to predict traumatic stress and mental health symptoms, controlling for Type A, years of service, age, neuroticism, and lack of agreeableness.

Findings

– Both neuroticism and lack of agreeableness were determined to be significant predictors of hostility. Further, hostility positively predicted somatization, obsessive-compulsive, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, Global Severity Index, Positive Symptom Distress Index, and Positive Symptoms Total. Although not significant, trends that hostility also predicted traumatic stress and phobic anxiety were evident.

Originality/value

– To the knowledge, this is the first study to specifically investigate the impact of hostility on mental health of paid-professional firefighters. In addition, the findings suggest that interventions to screen for and subsequently reduce hostility in firefighters may be beneficial for overall mental health (e.g. anger management training, etc.).
Stress and stress management in European crisis managers
Authors: Haus Mirjam , Adler Christine , Hagl Maria , Maragkos Markos , Duschek Stefan
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine specific stressors and demands, perceived control, received support and stress management strategies of crisis managers (i.e. executives and supervisors of organizations involved in disaster response) in the context of large-scale missions.

Design/methodology/approach

– Totally, 31 semi-structured interviews with crisis managers were conducted in five European countries and analyzed with the qualitative text analysis method GABEK®.

Findings

– The sample reported high demands and various sources of stress, including event-specific stressors as well as group specific, occupational stressors such as responsibility for decision making, justification of failures or dealing with press and media. While possibilities for control were perceived as limited during large-scale missions, organizational and peer support played an important role in mitigating mission-related stress. Effective stress management strategies were reported as crucial to ensure successful crisis management, and a need for more comprehensive stress management trainings was emphasized.

Originality/value

– While stressors and coping strategies in first responders and emergency services personnel have been previously examined, corresponding research regarding the professional group of crisis management leaders remains scarce. Therefore, this study makes an important contribution by examining influential stressors within the work environment of crisis managers and by identifying starting points and requirements for stress management trainings and psychosocial support programs.
Working capital management: evidence from Norway
Authors: Lyngstadaas Hakim , Berg Terje
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of whether working capital management (WCM) has an effect on the profitability of small- and medium-sized Norwegian firms.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data comprise 21,075 Norwegian small- and medium-sized enterprises and 84,300 observations made between 2010 and 2013. Panel data regressions were applied with fixed effects and a two-stage least squares analysis was employed to control for endogeneity.

Findings

– The results indicate that reducing cash conversion cycle will increase profitability. Even though endogeneity may exist, this does not affect the results from the previous analysis. Similar results are also obtained when industry-specific effects are controlled for, supporting the robustness of the results. The relevance of quadratic dependencies of the profitability on independent variables was also identified and suggests a decreasing trend of return on assets with increasing values of the WCM’s characteristic variables.

Research limitations/implications

– Drawing on similar studies, this study confirms that WCM is relevant for firms’ profitability.

Practical implications

– The practice of aggressive working capital policy in Norwegian firms is confirmed by the results of this study.

Originality/value

– This study contributes to the current research on the relationship between WCM and profitability by using a large dataset to add further robustness to results, and thus verifying whether or not the results in previous studies may be confirmed or not. Moreover, this is the first published study about this relationship among Norwegian firms in different industries, thus filling a gap in similar research conducted in other European countries.
The effect of underwriter’s market share, spread and management earnings forecasts bias and accuracy on underpricing of Malaysian IPOs
Authors: Ammer Mohammed Abdullah , Ahmad-Zaluki Nurwati A.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– Underpricing is one of the most important anomalies associated with initial public offerings (IPOs). The purpose of this paper is twofold; first, it examines the impact of underwriter’s market share and spread on the underpricing of IPOs; and second, it investigates the effect of management earnings forecasts bias and accuracy on the underpricing of IPOs.

Design/methodology/approach

– A sample of 190 Malaysian IPOs listing on the main market of Bursa Malaysia from January 1, 2002 to February 29, 2012 was used and collected data were analyzed through univariate analysis and pooled ordinary least squares regression.

Findings

– The empirical evidence shows that IPOs underwritten by underwriters as having high market share and charging low underwriting spread experience higher level of underpricing. The paper also finds that IPOs issued more biased earnings forecasts are related with severe underpricing. Finally, this paper reveals that the more accurate the earnings forecasts are, the more minimized will be the asymmetric information and hence, the less will be IPO underpricing.

Practical implications

– The paper has some implications for policy makers, investors and underwriters. First, this study offers some insights for policy makers who are responsible for Malaysian financial markets current reforms. Further, knowing the importance of the economic outcomes of the earnings forecasts on underpricing for policy makers, they may adopt the findings in their discussion of costs of litigation and potential modifications in the requirements of issuing earnings forecasts. For the investors, findings may improve their understanding of equity valuation and for the underwriters, it would assist them in identifying underwriting cost.

Originality/value

– This paper is considered the first study to extend IPO literature by investigating the relationships between underwriter’s market share, underwriter’s spread, earnings forecasts bias, earnings forecasts accuracy and IPO underpricing in an emerging country, such as Malaysia.
The impact of pharmaceutical industry salesperson regulations, guidance statements, and laws on their sales behaviours
Authors: Riggs John F. , Widmier Scott , Plank Richard E.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to develop a taxonomy of the impact of sales process regulations, guidance statements and laws (henceforth, referred to as “regulations”) on sales behaviours within the pharmaceutical industry, particularly as it relates to those within the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Given the large number of regulations, guidance statements and laws and sales behaviours that comprise the domain of this study, this research uses a “multicenter, parallel-arm clinical trial data gathering method”. This approach aggregated or “stacked” the responses from three individual questionnaires; 7,493 total observations generated by 381 respondents were analyzed.

Findings

The analysis produced a six-cluster solution of regulations, guidance statements and laws indicating distinct taxonomic structures of items that affect selling activities.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted with a single firm in the USA. Therefore, results may not be applicable to other geographical areas, firms and industries.

Practical Implications

The knowledge of which behaviours are perceived by the salespeople to be impacted by what regulations, guidance statements and laws provides managers with a useful tool to sort their own companies’ regulations on the basis of the classification scheme.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel taxonomic approach to organize sales activities affected by regulations, guidance statements and laws which provides a look at the unintended consequences of the item not compliance. Additionally, it uses a research methodology relatively unknown to social science inquiry.
Mindfulness training and employee well-being
Authors: Mellor Nadine Joelle , Ingram Leanne , Van Huizen Marc , Arnold John , Harding Anne-Helen
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to assess the effects of mindfulness training (MT) on employee well-being. Mindfulness is the awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, sensations, actions and surroundings in the present moment.

Design/methodology/approach

– The authors used pre-post training measures and a four-week follow-up on a sample of 23 employees from a UK-based organization. The MT group (n=12) received a weekly two-hour training over eight weeks whilst the control group (n=11) received no training. Qualitative interviews (n=36) were conducted with the MT group at three time points to further assess the subjective experiences of training participants.

Findings

– Compared to the control group, the MT group significantly increased their mindfulness skills including observing and acting with awareness. Scores on well-being, i.e. satisfaction with life, hope and anxiety also improved and were generally maintained at follow-up. Some improvements were seen in the control group too but there was a larger difference in change scores in the MT group on most variables. Qualitative data show additional benefits of MT such as improved concentration at work and better interpersonal relationships. More practice at home led to greater benefits suggesting a dose-response relationship between the amount of practice and substantial benefits.

Research limitations/implications

– Inviting participants to have a greater amount of practice between sessions may further increase the benefits of mindfulness. Future research should consider a longer follow-up period to further explore the sustainability of the training benefits.

Originality/value

– Employing a mixed-method approach, this study showed that MT is a viable psychological intervention for enhancing employee well-being.
The world is your library, or the state of international interlibrary loan in 2015
Authors: Munson Kurt , Thompson Hilary H. , Cabaniss Jason , Nance Heidi , Erlandsen Poul
Published: June 2016

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide preliminary results of the 2015 international interlending survey conducted by the ALA RUSA STARS International Interlibrary Loan Committee and compare these results to those of the survey conducted in 2011.

Design/methodology/approach

An international survey was developed using Qualtrics to both gather and analyze the results received after the survey was distributed via listservs and personal contacts.

Findings

The 2015 survey’s results generally showed similarities to those in 2011 with most participants both borrowing and lending materials internationally. The differences between the 2011 and 2015 survey are highlighted as are barriers to international interlending.

Originality/value

This study illustrates the most recent survey of international interlending practices with comparison to previous studies and will yield potential methods and activities for improving resource sharing globally.
Drivers and customer satisfaction outcomes of CSR in supply chains in different institutional contexts
Authors: Jean Ruey-Jer "Bryan" , Wang Zhiqiang , Zhao Xiande , Sinkovics Rudolf R.
Published: June 2016

Purpose

– While firms have widely adopted corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in their supply chains, there is little work simultaneously examining the drivers and outcomes of such initiatives. Specifically, it is not clear how different institutional contexts may shape them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers and performance outcomes of CSR in supply chains in two different institutional contexts: Mainland China (a transition economy) and Taiwan (a market economy).

Design/methodology/approach

– Data were collected from Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturing factories engaging in CSR in supply chains. Relationships are examined using “soft-modeling” partial least squares analysis.

Findings

– The findings suggest that CSR in supply chains positively impact on customer satisfaction in both Mainland China and Taiwan. Yet, the influence on CSR in supply chains of different drivers differs according to institutional context. In the transition economy of China, CSR initiatives are driven by regulatory and efficiency forces but not by the competitive advantage force. In contrast, in the market economy of Taiwan, CSR initiatives are driven by the competitive advantage force but not by the other two.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper provides some empirical evidence of the influence of different institutional contexts on CSR initiatives and their impact on customer satisfaction. The research contributes to the emerging theme of institutional theory in international marketing.

Practical implications

– Managers should be aware that different institutional contexts may shape firms’ CSR in supply chains. However, CSR in supply chains does matter in terms of enhancing customer satisfaction in all institutional contexts.

Originality/value

– The authors develop and test a framework of drivers and customer satisfaction outcomes of CSR in supply chains in both a transition and a market economy.