bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sleep differentially affects early and late neuronal responses to sounds in auditory and perirhinal cortices
Authors: Sela Y. , Krom AJ. , Bergman L. , Regev N. , Nir Y.
Published: August 2019

A fundamental feature of sleep is reduced behavioral responsiveness to external events, but the extent of processing along sensory pathways remains poorly understood. While responses are comparable across wakefulness and sleep in auditory cortex (AC), neuronal activity in downstream regions remains unknown. Here we recorded spiking activity in 435 neuronal clusters evoked by acoustic stimuli in the perirhinal cortex (PRC) and in AC of freely behaving male rats across wakefulness and sleep. Neuronal responses in AC showed modest (around 10%) differences in response gain across vigilance states, replicating previous studies. By contrast, PRC neuronal responses were robustly attenuated by 47% and 36% during NREM sleep and REM sleep, respectively. Beyond the separation according to cortical region, response latency in each neuronal cluster was correlated with the degree of NREM sleep attenuation, such that late (>40ms) responses in all monitored regions diminished during NREM sleep. The robust attenuation of late responses prevalent in PRC represents a novel neural correlate of sensory disconnection during sleep, opening new avenues for investigating the mediating mechanisms.

Significance Statement

Reduced behavioral responsiveness to sensory stimulation is at the core of sleep’s definition, but it is still unclear how the sleeping brain responds differently to sensory stimuli. In the current study we recorded neuronal spiking responses to sounds along the cortical processing hierarchy of rats during wakefulness and natural sleep. Responses in auditory cortex only showed modest changes during sleep, whereas sleep robustly attenuated the responses of neurons in high-level perirhinal cortex. We also found that during NREM sleep, the response latency predicts the degree of sleep attenuation in individual neurons above and beyond their anatomical location. These results provide anatomical and temporal signatures of sensory disconnection during sleep and pave the way to understanding the underlying mechanisms.
A Multidimensional Systems Biology Analysis of Cellular Senescence in Ageing and Disease
Authors: Avelar Roberto A. , Ortega Javier Gómez , Tacutu Robi , Tyler Eleanor , Bennett Dominic , Binetti Paolo , Budovsky Arie , Chatsirisupachai Kasit , Johnson Emily , Murray Alex , Shields Samuel , Tejada-Martinez Daniela , Thornton Daniel , Fraifeld Vadim E. , Bishop Cleo L. , de Magalhães João Pedro
Published: August 2019

Cellular senescence, a permanent state of replicative arrest in otherwise proliferating cells, is a hallmark of ageing and has been linked to ageing-related diseases like cancer. Senescent cells have been shown to accumulate in tissues of aged organisms which in turn can lead to chronic inflammation. Many genes have been associated with cell senescence, yet a comprehensive understanding of cell senescence pathways is still lacking. To this end, we created CellAge (http://genomics.senescence.info/cells), a manually curated database of 279 human genes associated with cellular senescence, and performed various integrative and functional analyses. We observed that genes promoting cell senescence tend to be overexpressed with age in human tissues and are also significantly overrepresented in anti-longevity and tumour-suppressor gene databases. By contrast, genes inhibiting cell senescence overlapped with pro-longevity genes and oncogenes. Furthermore, an evolutionary analysis revealed a strong conservation of senescence-associated genes in mammals, but not in invertebrates. Using the CellAge genes as seed nodes, we also built protein-protein interaction and co-expression networks. Clusters in the networks were enriched for cell cycle and immunological processes. Network topological parameters also revealed novel potential senescence-associated regulators. We then used siRNAs and observed that of 26 candidates tested, 19 induced markers of senescence. Overall, our work provides a new resource for researchers to study cell senescence and our systems biology analyses provide new insights and novel genes regarding cell senescence.
APPENDICULAR MORPHOLOGY AND LOCOMOTOR PERFORMANCE OF TWO MORPHOTYPES OF CONTINENTAL ANOLES:Anolis heterodermusANDAnolis tolimensis
Authors: Ríos-Orjuela Juan Camilo , Camacho-Bastidas Juan Sebastián , Jerez Adriana
Published: August 2019

Anolislizards have been a model of study in ecomorphology in the Caribbean islands because species with the same type of microhabitat share similar morphological features. But despite their great diversity, little is known about continental species. We analyzed the relationship between the anatomical characteristics of the appendicular skeleton and the locomotor performance of twoAnolisspecies found in Colombia that have different use of habitat.Anolis heterodermusa strictly arboreal species was compared withAnolis tolimensisthat inhabits the lower strata of vegetation. These two species differ in their body plan, not only in body shape and external morphological features, but also in the skeleton and appendicular musculature. The results highlight the muscle and bone specializations associated with the use of habitat in this genus, such as the presence of more robust bones to enlarge the surface of muscle insertion, the thickening and loss of carpal parts, thickening of tendons associated with the manus, and greater development of muscle mass in the forelimbs byA. heterodermuswith respect toA. tolimensis. These differences are related to the use of the microhabitat and the locomotor style of each species.
Genome-wide analysis of GATA factors in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) unveils that PeGATAs regulate shoot rapid-growth and rhizome development
Authors: Wang Taotao , Yang Yong , Lou Shuaitong , Wei Wei , Zhao Zhixin , Lin Chentao , Ma Liuyin
Published: August 2019

Background

Moso bamboo is well-known for its rapid-growth shoots and widespread rhizomes. However, the regulatory genes of these two processes are largely unexplored. GATA factors regulate many developmental processes, but its role in plant height control and rhizome development remains unclear.

Results

Here, we found that bamboo GATA factors (PeGATAs) are involved in the growth regulation of bamboo shoots and rhizomes. Bioinformatics and evolutionary analysis showed that there are 31 PeGATA factors in bamboo, which can be divided into three subfamilies. Light, hormone, and stress-relatedcis-elements were found in the promoter region of thePeGATAgenes. Gene expression of 12PeGATAgenes was regulated by phytohormone-GA but there was no correlation between auxin andPeGATAgene expression. More than 27PeGATAgenes were differentially expressed in different tissues of rhizomes, and almost allPeGATAshave dynamic gene expression level during the rapid-growth of bamboo shoots. These results indicate thatPeGATAsregulate rhizome development and bamboo shoot growth partially via GA signaling pathway. In addition,PeGATA26,a rapid-growth negative regulatory candidate gene modulated by GA treatment, was overexpressed in Arabidopsis, and over-expression ofPeGATA26significantly repressed Arabidopsis primary root length and plant height. The PeGATA26 overexpressing lines were also resistant to exogenous GA treatment, further emphasizing that PeGATA26 inhibits plant height from Arabidopsis to moso bamboo via GA signaling pathway.

Conclusions

Our results provide an insight into the function of GATA transcription factors in regulating shoot rapid-growth and rhizome development, and provide genetic resources for engineering plant height.
Microhabitat partitioning correlates with opsin gene expression in coral reef cardinalfishes (Apogonidae)
Authors: Luehrmann Martin , Cortesi Fabio , Cheney Karen L. , de Busserolles Fanny , Marshall N. Justin
Published: August 2019

Vertebrates exhibit diverse visual systems that vary in terms of morphology, number and distribution of spectrally distinct photoreceptor types, visual opsin genes and gene expression levels.

In fish, such adaptations are driven by two main factors: differences in the light environment and behavioural tasks, including foraging, predator avoidance and mate selection. Whether visual systems also adapt to small-scale spectral differences in light, between microhabitats, is less clear.

We suggest that differences in microhabitat use by cardinalfishes (Apogonidae) on coral reefs drive morphological and molecular adaptations in their visual systems. To test this, we investigated diurnal microhabitat use in 17 cardinalfish species and assessed whether this correlated with differences in visual opsin gene expression and eye morphology.

We found that cardinalfishes display six types of partitioning behaviours during the day, ranging from specialists found exclusively in the water column to species that are always hidden inside the reef matrix.

Using data on visual opsin gene expression previously characterized in this family, it was discovered that species in exposed habitats had increased expression of the short-wavelength sensitive violet opsin (SWS2B) and decreased expression of the dim-light active rod opsin (RH1). Species of intermediate exposure, on the other hand, expressed opsins that are mostly sensitive to the blue-green central part of the light spectrum (SWS2AsandRH2s), while fishes entirely hidden in the reef substrate had an increased expression of the long-wavelength sensitive red opsin (LWS).

We found that eye size relative to body size significantly differed between cardinalfish species, and relative eye size decreased with an increase in habitat exposure.

Retinal topography did not show co-adaptation with microhabitat use, but instead with feeding mode.

We suggest that, although most cardinalfishes are nocturnal foragers, their visual systems are also adapted to both the light intensity and the light spectrum of their preferred diurnal microhabitat.
LINE-1 ORF2p Expression is Nearly Imperceptible in Human Cancers
Authors: Ardeljan Daniel , Wang Xuya , Oghbaie Mehrnoosh , Taylor Martin S. , Husband David , Deshpande Vikram , Steranka Jared P. , Gorbounov Mikhail , Yang Wan Rou , Sie Brandon , Larman H. Benjamin , Jiang Hua , Molloy Kelly R. , Altukhov Ilya , Li Zhi , McKerrow Wilson , Fenyö David , Burns Kathleen H. , LaCava John
Published: August 2019

Abstract

Background

Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1, L1) is the major driver of mobile DNA activity in modern humans. When expressed, LINE-1 loci produce bicistronic transcripts encoding two proteins essential for retrotransposition, ORF1p and ORF2p. Many types of human cancers are characterized by L1 promoter hypomethylation, L1 transcription, L1 ORF1p protein expression, and somatic L1 retrotransposition. ORF2p encodes the endonuclease and reverse transcriptase activities required for L1 retrotransposition. Its expression is poorly characterized in human tissues and cell lines.

Results

We report mass spectrometry based tumor proteome profiling studies wherein ORF2p eludes detection. To test whether ORF2p could be detected with specific reagents, we developed and validated five rabbit monoclonal antibodies with immunoreactivity for specific epitopes on the protein. These reagents readily detect ectopic ORF2p expressed from bicistronic L1 constructs. However, endogenous ORF2p is not detected in human tumor samples or cell lines by western blot, immunoprecipitation, or immunohistochemistry despite high levels of ORF1p expression. Moreover, we report endogenous ORF1p-associated interactomes, affinity isolated from colorectal cancers, wherein we similarly fail to detect ORF2p. These samples include primary tumors harboring hundreds of somatically-acquired L1 insertions. The new data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD013743.

Conclusions

Although somatic retrotransposition provides unequivocal genetic evidence for the expression of ORF2p in human cancers, we are unable to directly measure its presence using several standard methods. Experimental systems have previously indicated an unequal stoichiometry between ORF1p and ORF2p, but in vivo, the expression of these two proteins may be more strikingly uncoupled. These findings are consistent with observations that ORF2p is not tolerable for cell growth.
OPTN translocates to an ATG9A-positive compartment to regulate innate immune signalling and cytokine secretion
Authors: O’Loughlin Thomas , Kruppa Antonina J , Ribeiro Andre LR , Edgar James R , Ghannam Abdulaziz , Smith Andrew M , Buss Folma
Published: August 2019

Optineurin (OPTN) is a multifunctional protein involved in autophagy, secretion as well as NF-κB and IRF3 signalling and mutations are associated with several human diseases including primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Paget’s disease of bone (PDB) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Here we show that, in response to viral RNA, OPTN translocates to foci in the perinuclear region, where it negatively regulates NF-κB and IRF3 signalling pathways and downstream pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. These OPTN foci consist of a tight cluster of small membrane vesicles, which are positive for marker proteins of the trans-Golgi network/recycling compartment – most notably ATG9A. Disease mutations linked to POAG cause aberrant formation of this compartment in the absence of stimuli, which correlates with the ability of OPTN to inhibit signalling. Using proximity labelling proteomics (BioID), we identify the linear ubiquitin assembly complex (LUBAC), CYLD and TBK1 as part of the OPTN interactome and show that these proteins, along with NEMO, are recruited to this OPTN-positive perinuclear compartment. Together, we propose OPTN might be responsible for dampening the NF-κB and IRF3 signalling responses through the sequestration of LUBAC and other positive regulators of these pathways in this dsRNA-induced compartment leading to altered pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion.

Disease associated OPTN mutations impact on the formation of the perinuclear compartment and result in hypo- or hyper-activation of the immune response, which could drive the development of human diseases such as POAG, ALS and also Paget’s disease of bone.
DeepMF: Deciphering the Latent Patterns in Omics Profiles with a Deep Learning Method
Authors: Chen Lingxi , Xu Jiao , Cheng Li Shuai
Published: August 2019

With recent advances in high-throughput technologies, matrix factorization techniques are increasingly being utilized for mapping quantitative omics profiling matrix data into low-dimensional embedding space, in the hope of uncovering insights in the underlying biological processes. Nevertheless, current matrix factorization tools fall short in handling noisy data and missing entries, both deficiencies that are often found in real-life data. Here, we propose DeepMF, a deep neural network-based factorization model. DeepMF disentangles the association between molecular feature-associated and sample-associated latent matrices, and is tolerant to noisy and missing values. It exhibited feasible subtype discovery efficacy on mRNA, miRNA, and protein profiles of medulloblastoma cancer, leukemia cancer, breast cancer, and small-blue-round-cell cancer, achieving the highest clustering accuracy of 76%, 100%, 92%, and 100% respectively. When analyzing data sets with 70% missing entries, DeepMF gave the best recovery capacity with silhouette values of 0.47, 0.6, 0.28, and 0.44, outperforming other state-of-the-art MF tools on the cancer data sets Medulloblastoma, Leukemia, TCGA BRCA, and SRBCT. Its embedding strength as measured by clustering accuracy is 88%, 100%, 84%, and 96% on these data sets, which improves on the current best methods 76%, 100%, 78%, and 87%. DeepMF demonstrated robust denoising, imputation, and embedding ability. It offers insights to uncover the underlying biological processes such as cancer subtype discovery. Our implementation of DeepMF can be found at https://gitlab.deepomics.org/jiaox96/DeepMF.
Haploinsufficient maternal effect of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor A mutation in zebrafish
Authors: Ciano Margherita , Kemp Paul R. , Sathyapala S. Amanda , Hughes Simon M.
Published: August 2019

Generation of viable offspring depends both on genetic and environmental factors of both mother and child. Analysis of a likely amorphic allele of the zebrafishepidermal growth factor receptor a(egfra) gene revealed that heterozygous females were infertile due to death of all fertilized eggs during embryonic and early larval life with cardiac, tail and other defects. Comparison of the severe dominant maternal effect with previous studies using pharmacological inhibitors of Egfrs or antisense morpholino injection indicate that a normal level of maternal Egfra is required for viability of offspring both during egg development and in the embryo after fertilisation. As heterozygous mothers were not fertile, the homozygous zygoticegfrakg134phenotype could not be analysed. Heterozygousegfra+/kg134males crossed to wild type females produced fully viable offspring, among whichegfra+/kg134individuals had increased slow muscle but no functional motility defect. Our findings suggest that Egfra activity is crucial for early development both before and after fertilisation and are likely to constitute a rare example of a haploinsufficient maternal effect in a species lacking imprinting.
Direct RNA nanopore sequencing of full-length coronavirus genomes provides novel insights into structural variants and enables modification analysis
Authors: Viehweger Adrian , Krautwurst Sebastian , Lamkiewicz Kevin , Madhugiri Ramakanth , Ziebuhr John , Hölzer Martin , Marz Manja
Published: August 2019

Sequence analyses of RNA virus genomes remain challenging owing to the exceptional genetic plasticity of these viruses. Because of high mutation and recombination rates, genome replication by viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases leads to populations of closely related viruses, so-called “quasispecies.” Standard (short-read) sequencing technologies are ill-suited to reconstruct large numbers of full-length haplotypes of (1) RNA virus genomes and (2) subgenome-length (sg) RNAs composed of noncontiguous genome regions. Here, we used a full-length, direct RNA sequencing (DRS) approach based on nanopores to characterize viral RNAs produced in cells infected with a human coronavirus. By using DRS, we were able to map the longest (∼26-kb) contiguous read to the viral reference genome. By combining Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencing, we reconstructed a highly accurate consensus sequence of the human coronavirus (HCoV)-229E genome (27.3 kb). Furthermore, by using long reads that did not require an assembly step, we were able to identify, in infected cells, diverse and novel HCoV-229E sg RNAs that remain to be characterized. Also, the DRS approach, which circumvents reverse transcription and amplification of RNA, allowed us to detect methylation sites in viral RNAs. Our work paves the way for haplotype-based analyses of viral quasispecies by showing the feasibility of intra-sample haplotype separation. Even though several technical challenges remain to be addressed to exploit the potential of the nanopore technology fully, our work illustrates that DRS may significantly advance genomic studies of complex virus populations, including predictions on long-range interactions in individual full-length viral RNA haplotypes.
Effects of annealing parameters on residual stress and piezoelectric performance of ZnO thin films studied by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy
Authors: Shen Jie-Nan , Zeng Yi-Bo , Xu Ma-Hui , Zhu Lin-Hui , Liu Bao-Lin , Guo Hang
Published: August 2019

The residual stresses and piezoelectric performance of ZnO thin films under different annealing parameters have been studied by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM). First, ZnO thin films with a thickness of 800 nm were grown on a Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by magnetron sputtering. Second, the orthogonal experimental method was selected to study the effects of annealing temperature, annealing time and oxygen content on the residual stresses of the ZnO thin films. The residual stresses of the ZnO thin films were measured by X-ray diffraction and the sin2ψ method. Finally, the three-dimensional topography and piezoelectric performance of the ZnO thin films were measured by AFM. The results showed that the oxygen content during the annealing process has the greatest effect on the residual stress, followed by the annealing temperature and annealing time. A minimum residual stress and optimal piezoelectric performance can be realized by annealing the ZnO thin film in pure oxygen at 723 K for 30 min.
The DRS–AIMP2–EPRS subcomplex acts as a pivot in the multi-tRNA synthetase complex
Authors: Hahn Hyunggu , Park Sang Ho , Kim Hyun-Jung , Kim Sunghoon , Han Byung Woo
Published: August 2019

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) play essential roles in protein biosynthesis as well as in other cellular processes, often using evolutionarily acquired domains. For possible cooperativity and synergistic effects, nine ARSs assemble into the multi-tRNA synthetase complex (MSC) with three scaffold proteins: aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase complex-interacting multifunctional proteins 1, 2 and 3 (AIMP1, AIMP2 and AIMP3). X-ray crystallographic methods were implemented in order to determine the structure of a ternary subcomplex of the MSC comprising aspartyl-tRNA synthetase (DRS) and two glutathione S-transferase (GST) domains from AIMP2 and glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (AIMP2GST and EPRSGST, respectively). While AIMP2GST and EPRSGST interact via conventional GST heterodimerization, DRS strongly interacts with AIMP2GST via hydrogen bonds between the α7–β9 loop of DRS and the β2–α2 loop of AIMP2GST, where Ser156 of AIMP2GST is essential for the assembly. Structural analyses of DRS–AIMP2GST–EPRSGST reveal its pivotal architecture in the MSC and provide valuable insights into the overall assembly and conditionally required disassembly of the MSC.
An adaptive PI control design for multi-phase machines in healthy and faulty operations
Authors: Hajary Ali , Seifossadat Seyed Ghodratollah , Kianinezhad Reza , Saffarian Alireza , Mortazavi Seyed Saeedollah
Published: August 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to present a novel robust control method based on an adaptive PI controller (APIC) to compensate for different disturbances and unknown dynamics for multi-phase induction machines.

Design/methodology/approach

The gains of the APIC are adapted online according to the tracking error. Proposed APIC is accompanied with designed linear disturbance observer (LDO) to present robust behavior to machine parameter variations and fault disturbances.

Findings

The results show remarkable dynamic performance in both healthy and faulty conditions when the six-phase induction machine works under APIC and LDO schemes.

Originality/value

The proposed controller need not readjust current controllers for the post-fault condition. The developed Simulink model efficiency is confirmed through experimental tests.
Outer space and neo-colonial injustice
Authors: Sutch Peter , Roberts Peri
Published: August 2019

Purpose

Recent developments in US rhetoric and policy advocating the militarisation and marketisation of outer space challenge the global commons values and regimes that developed partly in response to decolonisation. These regimes embodied aspirations to post-colonial distributive justice, as well as to international management for peaceful purposes. The purpose of this paper is to argue that global commons values should be defended against these challenges in order to avoid the risk of exporting colonial legacies of injustice into outer space.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is an exercise in normative International Political Theory and so develops normative arguments by drawing on approaches in political theory and international law.

Findings

This paper demonstrates that the commons values endorsed in the aftermath of colonialism retain their relevance in a global politics that remains structured by post-colonial power relations. This paper also demonstrates that these commons values have evolved and found expression in central elements of international law, persisting as resources to be drawn on in normative argument.

Originality/value

This study places recent moves to assert US hegemony in space in the context of persistent post-colonial power relations and develops novel arguments in renewed support of commons values.
Mandatory reporting and adult safeguarding: a rapid realist review
Authors: Donnelly Sarah
Published: August 2019

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically analyse the concept of mandatory reporting in adult safeguarding in the jurisdictions of Australia, Canada, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Design/methodology/approach

A rapid realist evaluation of the literature on this topic was carried out in order to answer the question: "what works, for whom and in what circumstances?” Particular attention was paid to Context(s), Mechanism(s) and Outcome(s) configurations of adult safeguarding reporting systems and processes.

Findings

The evaluation found a range of arguments for and against mandatory reporting and international variations on the scope and powers of mandatory reporting.

Research limitations/implications

This review was undertaken in late 2018 so subsequent policy and practice developments will be missing from the evaluation. The evaluation focussed on five jurisdictions therefore, the findings are not necessarily translatable to other contexts.

Practical implications

Some jurisdictions have introduced mandatory reporting and others are considering doing so. The potential advantages and challenges of introducing mandatory reporting are highlighted.

Social implications

The introduction of mandatory reporting may offer professionals increased powers to prevent and reduce the abuse of adults, but this could also change the dynamic of relationships within families, and between families and professionals.

Originality/value

This paper provides an accessible discussion of mandatory reporting across Ireland and internationally which to date has been lacking from the literature.
Social capital and SME performance: the moderating role of emotional intelligence
Authors: Boohene Rosemond , Gyimah Regina Appiah , Osei Martin Boakye
Published: August 2019

Purpose

Lack of extant studies on the moderating role of emotional intelligence on the relationship between social capital and firm performance necessitated this study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between social capital and small and medium-scaled enterprises’ (SMEs’) performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 1,532 SMEs were selected through simple random sampling technique from a population of 5,009 SMEs. Structural equation modelling using AMOS was used to analyse the relationship between the variables.

Findings

The results revealed that social capital has a positive and significant relationship with emotional intelligence. Moreover, the study also showed that emotional intelligence has a positive and significant relationship with SME performance. Finally, the study found that emotional intelligence enhances the relationship between social capital and SME performance.

Practical implications

SME owner/managers are advised to enact policies that encourage the establishment of meaningful social networks and also help employees understand their emotions while creating social capital as both would help improve the performance of their firms.

Originality/value

This paper breaks new ground by identifying emotional intelligence as an enabler of SMEs performance where there is adequate social capital.
Older female consumers’ environmentally sustainable apparel consumption
Authors: Kim Gwia , Jin Byoungho Ellie
Published: August 2019

Purpose

Built on the socioemotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to analyze elderly female consumers’ consumption of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) according to their time perspective (TP) (expansive vs limited) and different types of advertising appeals (emotional vs rational and positive vs negative emotional appeals).

Design/methodology/approach

The study conducted a survey and experiments with 154 US female consumers who were 65 years of age or older. Data were analyzed through regression and ANCOVA.

Findings

The results showed that older female adults with an expansive TP tended to consume ESA, with their fashion consciousness moderating the results. Rational and either positive or negative emotional advertisements with environmental messages were found to encourage the higher purchase intentions of elderly consumers more effectively than advertisements with no environmental messages.

Practical implications

Apparel retailers are recommended to consider the factor of TP when encouraging environmental consumption. Environmental messages containing rational information and eliciting positive and negative emotions are suggested to promote purchase intention toward ESA among elderly consumers.

Originality/value

This study addressed an under-studied segment in ESA consumption – elderly female consumers – built on the socioemotional selective theory, and confirmed that this group’s ESA consumption can be explained by their perspective on time. In addition, this study confirmed which advertising appeals would effectively encourage their ESA consumption, and provided theoretical explanations for these findings.
The impact of involvement on engagement with brand posts
Authors: Barreto Ana Margarida , Ramalho Diogo
Published: August 2019

Purpose

This paper aims to look at the effects of different levels of involvement (high and low) on social media (Facebook) users' engagement (likes, shares and comments) with different types and formats of brand content.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed user reactions to 1,156 Facebook posts from eight business-to-consumer brands (goods and services). Based on a post hoc test, four product/services were identified as belonging to the group of high-involvement and the other four as low involvement.

Findings

The data suggest that, when involvement is low, users in general engage more with brand posts regardless their format (text, image and post) or type (hedonic and informative), or even the interaction of both. Moreover, low involvement leads users prefer to comment on brand content, whereas higher involvement is associated with to sharing it. Exceptions were observed for images (both hedonic and informative) and for hedonic image and video in both low and high involvement users.

Research limitations/implications

The goal was not to measure users’ attention to each type of post. Moreover, the authors did not have access to information regarding which devices were used to access the online content and whether that aspect might have an impact on users’ reactions. Neither do they claim that engagement necessarily reflects positive reactions, as any content analysis of users’ reactions was beyond the scope of this project.

Practical implications

These findings are expected to help brand managers and social media strategists to better select content based on their marketing goals, as well as to provide a potential explanation for the success of campaigns.

Originality/value

As far as we are aware, no previous study has attempted to observe the mediated effect of consumer involvement on brand posts considering their type and format. We also believe that this is the first observation of how behavior differentiates according to the target audience’s level of involvement. This paper also proposes a convenient framework for categorizing social network sites content. Suggestions for future research are made at the end.
Prosumption: bibliometric analysis using HistCite and VOSviewer
Authors: Shah Syed Hamad Hassan , Lei Shen , Ali Muhammad , Doronin Dmitrii , Hussain Syed Talib
Published: August 2019

Purpose

Over the past decade, the term prosumption (denoting simultaneous consumption and production) has exhibited a dramatic increase in frequency of use in publications in the social sciences and business studies. This paper aims to explore the current state of research into prosumption, particularly related to marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

This study systematically reviews papers on prosumption extracted from the Web of Science, using two bibliometric analyses on 20 years of data: citation counts from HistCite and bibliographic coupling and cartography analysis from the visualization of similarities software VOSviewer. A total of 75 papers on prosumption were found from the period 1997-2017, and the most influential authors, articles, journals, institutions and countries among these were determined. Furthermore, bibliographic coupling and most co-occurrent keywords in the title, keywords and abstracts were found.

Findings

This study found that the USA and the UK were the most influential among prosumption publications. Ritzer was the most prominent author and Journal of Consumer Culture was the top-ranking journal. Three clusters were found using bibliographic coupling and cartography analysis: prosumer and co-creation, prosumer and user-generated content and prosumer and informational capital.

Research limitations/implications

This analysis provided a basis for conceptualizing publications on prosumption related to business and sociology in the discipline of marketing. Content analysis found that prosumption research in marketing is in early stages: little quantitative study has been conducted yet. Researchers have not yet constructed a quantitative measure for prosumption.

Practical implications

Business firms can engage prosumers to gain market share and competitive advantage, especially relative to value co-creation, with near-zero marginal cost.

Originality/value

This may be the first bibliometric analysis and systematic review of prosumption research in marketing studies. The achievements of this paper open new avenues for other prosumption researchers.
Business simulation and assurance of learning
Authors: Alstete Jeffrey W. , Beutell Nicholas J.
Published: August 2019

Purpose

This study aims to consider assurance of learning among undergraduate business students enrolled in capstone business strategy courses using the GLO-BUS competitive simulation. Gender, academic major and business core course performance were examined.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were 595 undergraduate capstone business students from 21 course sections taught over a four-year period. Variables included learning assurance measures, simulation performance, gender, major, business core course grades, capstone course grade and cumulative grade point average. Correlations, linear regression, multiple regression and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Learning assurance report scores were strongly related to simulation performance. Simulation performance was related to capstone course grade, which, in turn, was significantly related to the grade point average (GPA). Core business courses were related to learning assurance and performance indicators. Significant differences for gender and degree major were found for academic performance measures. Women and men did not differ in simulation performance.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include the use of one simulation (GLO-BUS) and studying students at one university taught by one professor. Assurance of learning measures needs further study as factors in business program evaluation. Future research should analyze post-graduate performance and career achievements in relation to assurance of learning outcomes.

Originality/value

This study conducts empirical analyses of simulation learning that focuses entirely on direct measures, including student characteristics (gender, major), learning assurance measures, business core course grades, capstone course grades and student GPAs.
User participation: what can be learned from the information systems domain?
Authors: Engvall Tove
Published: August 2019

Purpose

Many records professionals are involved in the design and development of recordkeeping systems. To design recordkeeping systems that meet user needs, their perspectives have to be included in the design process. The purpose of this paper is to explore what can be learned from the domain of information systems (IS) regarding user participation in design, and then to reflect on what related to the recordkeeping dimension should be further considered.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a review of literature in the IS development field about user participation.

Findings

Analysing how users participate in IS development reveals several aspects of interest for records professionals. There are different approaches to, purposes of and driving values in user participation, which should be transparent. For user participation to be successful, an infrastructure has to be in place. The idea of user participation may be a way to include the secondary values of records in the near term, but it may also challenge traditional roles. New issues, such as the archivist’s role as a trusted third party, should be analysed further.

Originality/value

This study uses knowledge from the information system field to acquire new knowledge about user participation in design, and relate it to the recordkeeping domain. This study addresses issues surrounding user participation, which has been indicated as an area in need of further development in archives and information science.
Balancing sampling intensity against spatial coverage for a community science monitoring programme
Authors: Weiser Emily L. , Diffendorfer Jay E. , Grundel Ralph , López‐Hoffman Laura , Pecoraro Samuel , Semmens Darius , Thogmartin Wayne E.
Published: August 2019

Community science is an increasingly integral part of biodiversity research and monitoring, often achieving broad spatial and temporal coverage but lower sampling intensity than studies conducted by professional scientists. When designing a community‐science monitoring programme, careful assessment of sampling designs that could be both feasible and successful at meeting programme goals is essential.

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are the focus of several successful community‐science projects in the U.S., but broader coverage is needed to monitor breeding areas and explain population declines observed in overwintering areas. The U.S. Monarch Conservation Science Partnership's Integrated Monarch Monitoring Program (IMMP) will representatively monitor monarchs and milkweed across North America. We performed a simulation‐based power analysis to predict trade‐offs between sampling breadth (number of sites and years) and sampling intensity (number of visits or subplots per site and year) for the IMMP. We evaluated whether each sampling design would produce sufficient statistical power to detect population trends and differences among land‐use sectors in densities of milkweed, monarch eggs, and adult monarchs.

Sampling breadth had much stronger effects than sampling intensity on statistical power for all three monitoring targets. Depending on land‐use sector, monitoring 400–800 sites over 10–15 years would detect trends in densities of milkweed and adult monarchs, but no scenarios were successful for monarch eggs. Sampling 400–800 sites would also detect small (for adult monarchs) to large (for milkweed) differences among land‐use sectors in density of all three monitoring targets within the first 2–5 years. As more data become available from the IMMP, the sampling goals can be updated.

Synthesis and applications. Careful sample design is an essential step in developing a successful monitoring programme. For monarchs and milkweed, we found that sampling breadth (number of sites and years) had a much stronger effect on statistical power than sampling intensity (number of visits or subsamples per site), suggesting field protocols could be tailored to maximize recruitment and retention of volunteers by minimizing the effort required to monitor each site. Many long‐term monitoring programmes might similarly benefit from evaluating the statistical trade‐offs between sampling breadth and intensity in their sampling designs.
Direct and indirect effects of pine silviculture on the larval occupancy and breeding of declining amphibian species
Authors: Haggerty Christopher J. E. , Crisman Thomas L. , Rohr Jason R.
Published: August 2019

Plantation silviculture is increasing globally and is particularly intensive in temperate coniferous forests, where densely planting trees requires practices common to non‐conifer systems that can alter forest floor microhabitat, and potentially threaten amphibian persistence. Most declining amphibian species depend on specific forest microhabitats as terrestrial refugia, but amphibian extirpation associated with tree harvest alone appears unlikely, suggesting that impacts of planting forests on groundcover might better predict recent declines in amphibian occupancy.

We repeatedly sampled larval presence or absence of 10 amphibian species native to temperate coniferous forest in the Southeastern United States for one year at 62 isolated wetlands, located in either naturally regenerating or planted forest (plantation). We assessed three direct ways that planted forests might reduce amphibian breeding site occupancy by: (a) increasing conifer densities, (b) decreasing groundcover, and (c) an indirect pathway, whereby increased tree densities at plantations might reduce groundcover and thus amphibian site occupancy.

After controlling for wetland traits and accounting for differences in detection, breeding site occupancy for 8/10 amphibian species was dependent upon whether forests were planted surrounding wetlands (within 300 m). Herbaceous groundcover, not canopy, most commonly influenced occupancy and increased occupancy for declining surface active or fossorial amphibians.

Path analyses showed that, by directly and indirectly reducing groundcover (via conifer densities), plantations had significantly lower occupancy of two declining surface active or fossorial frog species, whereas two common aquatic frog species were tolerant to planting conifers. Among declining species, salamanders showed a greater reduction in occupancy than anurans, likely because of greater vulnerability to the drier forest floor conditions of plantation than naturally regenerating forests.

Synthesis and applications. Direct negative impacts of coniferous plantation on amphibians can be addressed by limiting groundcover and soil impacts, including switching from high intensity practices, such as mechanical chopping vegetation or bedding soil, to lower intensity site preparation treatments that are less likely to significantly disturb groundcover. Indirect negative effects of dense canopy cover at planted forests could be lowered by periodically thinning canopies prior to final harvest, thus increasing intact forest groundcover and the conservation of both common and declining amphibians.
For the Want of Certainty: Vnuk, Juliana and Andrade and the Obligation to Insure
Authors: Marson James , Ferris Katy
Published: August 2019

In 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Damijan Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Triglav extended the requirement for the owner of a motor vehicle to possess insurance cover where the vehicle is used on a road or other public place to vehicles on private land. Beyond disquiet as to this extension, there remains uncertainty at statutory and jurisprudential levels. According to Fundo de Garantia Automóvel v Juliana, immobilised vehicles stored on private land but which are capable of being driven are subject to compulsory motor vehicle insurance whereas in Andrade v Crédito Agrícola Seguros, insurance is required only where the vehicle is used as a means of transport. Andrade appears overly restrictive and may operate to defeat the protections of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directives. Clarification is needed, through a seventh MVID or direction from the CJEU, as to the authority of Andrade and the circumstances in which motor vehicles must be insured.
Natural Antifungal Peptides/Proteins as Model for Novel Food Preservatives
Authors: Thery Thibaut , Lynch Kieran M. , Arendt Elke K.
Published: August 2019

A large range of ingredients for food and food products are subject to fungal contamination, which is a major cause of destruction of crops, exposure of animals and humans to invasive mycotoxins, and food spoilage. The resistance of fungal species to common preservation methods highlights the necessity of new ways to increase the shelf life of raw material for food and food products. Antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) are essential members of the immune system of most living organisms. Due to their broad range of activity and their stability to commonly used food processes, they represent promising alternatives to traditional preservatives. However, despite the growing number of reports of potential food applications of these AMPs, the number of approved peptides is low. Poor solubility, toxicity, and a time‐consuming extraction are hurdles that limit their application in food products. Thanks to a deep understanding of the key determinants of their activity, the development of optimized synthetic peptides has reduced these drawbacks. This review presents natural and synthetic antifungal peptides/proteins (AFPs), effective against food‐related fungi, with particular emphasis on AFPs from plant sources. The design of novel antifungal peptides via key elements of antifungal activity is also reviewed. The potential applications of natural and synthetic AFPs as novel antifungal food preservatives are finally discussed.
Testing a rational choice model of “desistance:” Decomposing changing expectations and changing utilities
Authors: Thomas Kyle J. , Vogel Matt
Published: August 2019

We argue that a rational choice framework can be used to explain declines in offending from adolescence to young adulthood in two ways. First, subjective expectations of offending can be age graded such that perceptions of rewards decrease and perceptions of risks and costs increase. Second, the marginal (dis)utility of crime may be age graded (e.g., preferences for risks, costs, and rewards). We examine changes in offending from adolescence to young adulthood among a subset of individuals from the Pathways to Desistance Study (N = 585) and employ a nonlinear decomposition model to partition differences in offending attributable to changing subjective expectations (X) and changing marginal utilities (β). The results indicate that both have direct and independent effects on changes in offending over time. The results of a detailed decomposition on the subjective expectations also indicate that differences exist across the type of incentives. That is, the effect of changing expectations is attributed mainly to changes in perceived rewards (both social and intrinsic). Changing expectations of social costs and risk of arrest from offending have weak effects on changes in criminal behavior, which suggests that they must be accompanied by increases in the weight placed on these expectations to promote appreciable declines in offending.