bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cell-size distribution in epithelial tissue formation and homeostasis
Authors: Puliafito Alberto , Primo Luca , Celani Antonio
Published: March 2017

How cell growth and proliferation are orchestrated in living tissues to achieve a given biological function is a central problem in biology. During development, tissue regeneration and homeostasis, cell proliferation must be coordinated by spatial cues in order for cells to attain the correct size and shape. Biological tissues also feature a notable homogeneity of cell size, which, in specific cases, represents a physiological need. Here, we study the temporal evolution of the cell-size distribution by applying the theory of kinetic fragmentation to tissue development and homeostasis. Our theory predicts self-similar probability density function (PDF) of cell size and explains how division times and redistribution ensure cell size homogeneity across the tissue. Theoretical predictions and numerical simulations of confluent non-homeostatic tissue cultures show that cell size distribution is self-similar. Our experimental data confirm predictions and reveal that, as assumed in the theory, cell division times scale like a power-law of the cell size. We find that in homeostatic conditions there is a stationary distribution with lognormal tails, consistently with our experimental data. Our theoretical predictions and numerical simulations show that the shape of the PDF depends on how the space inherited by apoptotic cells is redistributed and that apoptotic cell rates might also depend on size.
East African origins for Madagascan chickens as indicated by mitochondrial DNA
Authors: Herrera Michael B. , Thomson Vicki A. , Wadley Jessica J. , Piper Philip J. , Sulandari Sri , Dharmayanthi Anik Budhi , Kraitsek Spiridoula , Gongora Jaime , Austin Jeremy J.
Published: March 2017

The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50–500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens (
Gallus gallus
) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-speaking populations that reached Madagascar via the Indian Ocean or were they late arrivals with Arabian and African sea-farers? To address this question, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA control region diversity of modern chickens sampled from around the Indian Ocean rim (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Madagascar). In contrast to the linguistic and human genetic evidence indicating dual African and Southeast Asian ancestry of the Malagasy people, we find that chickens in Madagascar only share a common ancestor with East Africa, which together are genetically closer to South Asian chickens than to those in Southeast Asia. This suggests that the earliest expansion of Austronesian-speaking people across the Indian Ocean did not successfully introduce chickens to Madagascar. Our results further demonstrate the complexity of the translocation history of introduced domesticates in Madagascar.
Cranial arterial patterns of the alpaca (Camelidae:Vicugna pacos)
Authors: O'Brien Haley D.
Published: March 2017

Artiodactyl cranial arterial patterns deviate significantly from the standard mammalian pattern, most notably in the possession of a structure called the carotid rete (CR)—a subdural arterial meshwork that is housed within the cavernous venous sinus, replacing the internal carotid artery (ICA). This relationship between the CR and the cavernous sinus facilitates a suite of unique physiologies, including selective brain cooling. The CR has been studied in a number of artiodactyls; however, to my knowledge, only a single study to date documents a subset of the cranial arteries of New World camelids (llamas, alpacas, vicugñas and guanacoes). This study is the first complete description of the cranial arteries of a New World camelid species, the alpaca (Vicugna pacos), and the first description of near-parturition cranial arterial morphology within New World camelids. This study finds that the carotid arterial system is conserved between developmental stages in the alpaca, and differs significantly from the pattern emphasized in other long-necked ruminant artiodactyls in that a patent, homologous ICA persists through the animal's life.
Red fluorescence of the triplefinTripterygion delaisiis increasingly visible against background light with increasing depth
Authors: Bitton Pierre-Paul , Harant Ulrike K. , Fritsch Roland , Champ Connor M. , Temple Shelby E. , Michiels Nico K.
Published: March 2017

The light environment in water bodies changes with depth due to the absorption of short and long wavelengths. Below 10 m depth, red wavelengths are almost completely absent rendering any red-reflecting animal dark and achromatic. However, fluorescence may produce red coloration even when red light is not available for reflection. A large number of marine taxa including over 270 fish species are known to produce red fluorescence, yet it is unclear under which natural light environment fluorescence contributes perceptively to their colours. To address this question we: (i) characterized the visual system ofTripterygion delaisi,which possesses fluorescent irides, (ii) separated the colour of the irides into its reflectance and fluorescence components and (iii) combined these data with field measurements of the ambient light environment to calculate depth-dependent perceptual chromatic and achromatic contrasts using visual modelling. We found that triplefins have cones with at least three different spectral sensitivities, including differences between the two members of the double cones, giving them the potential for trichromatic colour vision. We also show that fluorescence contributes increasingly to the radiance of the irides with increasing depth. Our results support the potential functionality of red fluorescence, including communicative roles such as species and sex identity, and non-communicative roles such as camouflage.
Pulse of inflammatory proteins in the pregnant uterus of European polecats (
Mustela putorius
) leading to the time of implantation
Authors: Lindeberg Heli , Burchmore Richard J. S. , Kennedy Malcolm W.
Published: March 2017

Uterine secretory proteins protect the uterus and conceptuses against infection, facilitate implantation, control cellular damage resulting from implantation, and supply pre-implantation embryos with nutrients. Unlike in humans, the early conceptus of the European polecat (
Mustela putorius
; ferret) grows and develops free in the uterus until implanting at about 12 days after mating. We found that the proteins appearing in polecat uteri changed dramatically with time leading to implantation. Several of these proteins have also been found in pregnant uteri of other eutherian mammals. However, we found a combination of two increasingly abundant proteins that have not been recorded before in pre-placentation uteri. First, the broad-spectrum proteinase inhibitor α
2
-macroglobulin rose to dominate the protein profile by the time of implantation. Its functions may be to limit damage caused by the release of proteinases during implantation or infection, and to control other processes around sites of implantation. Second, lipocalin-1 (also known as tear lipocalin) also increased substantially in concentration. This protein has not previously been recorded as a uterine secretion in pregnancy in any species. If polecat lipocalin-1 has similar biological properties to that of humans, then it may have a combined function in antimicrobial protection and transporting or scavenging lipids. The changes in the uterine secretory protein repertoire of European polecats is therefore unusual, and may be representative of pre-placentation supportive uterine secretions in mustelids (otters, weasels, badgers, mink, wolverines) in general.
Efficient generation of receiver operating characteristics for the evaluation of damage detection in practical structural health monitoring applications
Authors: Liu Chang , Dobson Jacob , Cawley Peter
Published: March 2017

Permanently installed guided wave monitoring systems are attractive for monitoring large structures. By frequently interrogating the test structure over a long period of time, such systems have the potential to detect defects much earlier than with conventional one-off inspection, and reduce the time and labour cost involved. However, for the systems to be accepted under real operational conditions, their damage detection performance needs to be evaluated in these practical settings. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) is an established performance metric for one-off inspections, but the generation of the ROC requires many test structures with realistic damage growth at different locations and different environmental conditions, and this is often impractical. In this paper, we propose an evaluation framework using experimental data collected over multiple environmental cycles on an undamaged structure with synthetic damage signatures added by superposition. Recent advances in computation power enable examples covering a wide range of practical scenarios to be generated, and for multiple cases of each scenario to be tested so that the statistics of the performance can be evaluated. The proposed methodology has been demonstrated using data collected from a laboratory pipe specimen over many temperature cycles, superposed with damage signatures predicted for a flat-bottom hole growing at different rates at various locations. Three damage detection schemes, conventional baseline subtraction, singular value decomposition (SVD) and independent component analysis (ICA), have been evaluated. It has been shown that in all cases, the component methods perform significantly better than the residual method, with ICA generally the better of the two. The results have been validated using experimental data monitoring a pipe in which a flat-bottom hole was drilled and enlarged over successive temperature cycles. The methodology can be used to evaluate the performance of an installed monitoring system and to show whether it is capable of detecting particular damage growth at any given location. It will enable monitoring results to be evaluated rigorously and will be valuable in the development of safety cases.
A computational continuum model of poroelastic beds
Authors: Lācis U. , Zampogna G. A. , Bagheri S.
Published: March 2017

Despite the ubiquity of fluid flows interacting with porous and elastic materials, we lack a validated non-empirical macroscale method for characterizing the flow over and through a poroelastic medium. We propose a computational tool to describe such configurations by deriving and validating a continuum model for the poroelastic bed and its interface with the above free fluid. We show that, using stress continuity condition and slip velocity condition at the interface, the effective model captures the effects of small changes in the microstructure anisotropy correctly and predicts the overall behaviour in a physically consistent and controllable manner. Moreover, we show that the performance of the effective model is accurate by validating with fully microscopic resolved simulations. The proposed computational tool can be used in investigations in a wide range of fields, including mechanical engineering, bio-engineering and geophysics.
Metabolic rate associates with, but does not generate covariation between, behaviours in western stutter-trilling crickets,
Gryllus integer
Authors: Krams Indrikis A. , Niemelä Petri T. , Trakimas Giedrius , Krams Ronalds , Burghardt Gordon M. , Krama Tatjana , Kuusik Aare , Mänd Marika , Rantala Markus J. , Mänd Raivo , Kekäläinen Jukka , Sirkka Ilkka , Luoto Severi , Kortet Raine
Published: March 2017

The causes and consequences of among-individual variation and covariation in behaviours are of substantial interest to behavioural ecology, but the proximate mechanisms underpinning this (co)variation are still unclear. Previous research suggests metabolic rate as a potential proximate mechanism to explain behavioural covariation. We measured the resting metabolic rate (RMR), boldness and exploration in western stutter-trilling crickets,
Gryllus integer
, selected differentially for short and fast development over two generations. After applying mixed-effects models to reveal the sign of the covariation, we applied structural equation models to an individual-level covariance matrix to examine whether the RMR generates covariation between the measured behaviours. All traits showed among-individual variation and covariation: RMR and boldness were positively correlated, RMR and exploration were negatively correlated, and boldness and exploration were negatively correlated. However, the RMR was not a causal factor generating covariation between boldness and exploration. Instead, the covariation between all three traits was explained by another, unmeasured mechanism. The selection lines differed from each other in all measured traits and significantly affected the covariance matrix structure between the traits, suggesting that there is a genetic component in the trait integration. Our results emphasize that interpretations made solely from the correlation matrix might be misleading.
Exploring the role of competition induced by non-vaccine serotypes for herd protection
Authors: Masala G. L. , Lipsitch M. , Bottomley C. , Flasche S.
Published: March 2017

The competitive pressure from non-vaccine serotypes may have helped pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) to limit vaccine serotype (VT) prevalence. We aim to investigate if, consequently, the indirect protection of higher valency vaccines could fall short of the profound effects of current formulations.

We compare three previously described pneumococcal models harmonized to simulate 20 serotypes with a combined pre-vaccination prevalence in <5y old children of 40%. We simulate vaccines of increasing valency by adding serotypes in order of their competitiveness and explore their ability to reduce VT carriage by 95% within 10 years after introduction.

All models predict that additional valency will reduce indirect vaccine effects and hence the overall vaccine impact on carriage both in children and adults. Consequently, the minimal effective coverage (efficacy against carriage * vaccine coverage) needed to eliminate vaccine type carriage increases with increasing valency. One model predicts this effect to be modest while the other two predict that high-valency vaccines may struggle to eliminate VT pneumococci unless vaccine efficacy against carriage can be substantially improved. Similar results were obtained when settings of higher transmission intensity and different PCV formulations were explored.

Failure to eliminate carriage as a result of increased valency could lead to overall decreased impact of vaccination if the disease burden caused by the added serotypes is low. Hence a comparison of vaccine formulations of varying valency, and pan-valent formulations in particular, should consider the invasiveness of targeted serotypes, as well as efficacy against carriage.
SmartScope2: Simultaneous Imaging and Reconstruction of Neuronal Morphology
Authors: Long Brian , Zhou Zhi , Cetin Ali , Ting Jonathan , Gwinn Ryder , Tasic Bosiljka , Daigle Tanya , Lein Ed , Zeng Hongkui , Saggau Peter , Hawrylycz Michael , Peng Hanchuan
Published: March 2017

Quantitative analysis of neuronal morphology is critical in cell type classification and for deciphering how structure gives rise to function in the brain. Most current approaches to imaging and tracing neuronal 3D morphology are data intensive. We introduce SmartScope2, the first open source, automated neuron reconstruction machine integrating online image analysis with automated multiphoton imaging. SmartScope2 takes advantage of a neuron’s sparse morphology to improve imaging speed and reduce image data stored, transferred and analyzed. We show that SmartScope2 is able to produce the complex 3D morphology of human and mouse cortical neurons with six-fold reduction in image data requirements and three times the imaging speed compared to conventional methods.
Normal spindle positioning in the absence of EBPs and dynein plus-end tracking inC. elegans
Authors: Schmidt Ruben , Akhmanova Anna , van den Heuvel Sander
Published: March 2017

The position of the mitotic spindle is tightly controlled in animal cells, as it determines the plane and orientation of cell division. Interactions between cytoplasmic dynein at the cortex and astral microtubules generate pulling forces that position the spindle. In yeast, dynein is actively delivered to the cortex through microtubule plus-end tracking complexes. In animal cells, an evolutionarily conserved Gα-GPR-1/2Pins/LGN–LIN-5NuMAcortical complex interacts with dynein and is required to generate pulling forces, but the mechanism of dynein recruitment to the cortex is unclear. Using CRISPR/Cas9-assisted recombineering, we fluorescently labeled endogenous DHC-1 dynein inC. elegans.We observed strong dynein plus-end tracking, which depended on the end-binding protein EBP-2. Complete removal of the EBP family abolished dynein plus-end tracking but not LIN-5-dependent cortical localization. Theebp-1/2/3deletion mutant, which was viable and fertile, showed increased cortical microtubule retention; however, pulling forces and spindle positioning were normal. These data indicate that dynein recruited from the cytoplasm creates robust pulling forces.
Investigating the genetic regulation of the expression of 63 lipid metabolism genes in the pig skeletal muscle
Authors: González-Prendes Rayner , Quintanilla Raquel , Amills Marcel
Published: March 2017

Despite their potential involvement in the determination of fatness phenotypes, a comprehensive and systematic view about the genetic regulation of lipid metabolism genes is still lacking in pigs. Herewith, we have used a dataset of 104 pigs, with available genotypes for 62,163 single nucleotide polymorphisms and microarray gene expression measurements in thegluteus mediusmuscle, to investigate the genetic regulation of 63 genes with crucial roles in the uptake, transport, synthesis and catabolism of lipids. By performing an eQTL scan with the GEMMA software, we have detected 12 cis- and 18 trans-eQTL modulating the expression of 19 loci. Genes regulated by eQTL had a variety of functions such as the β-oxidation of fatty acids, lipid biosynthesis and lipolysis, fatty acid activation and desaturation, lipoprotein uptake, apolipoprotein assembly and cholesterol trafficking. These data provide a first picture about the genetic regulation of loci involved in porcine lipid metabolism.
Assessing dynamic functional connectivity in heterogeneous samples
Authors: Lehmann B. C. L. , White S. R. , Henson R. N. , Cam-CAN  , Geerligs L.
Published: March 2017

Several methods have been developed to measure dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) in fMRI data. These methods are often based on a sliding-window analysis, which aims to capture how the brain’s functional organization varies over the course of a scan. The aim of many studies is to compare dFC across groups, such as younger versus older people. However, spurious group differences in measured dFC may be caused by other sources of heterogeneity between people. For example, the shape of the haemodynamic response function (HRF) and levels of measurement noise have been found to vary with age. We use a generic simulation framework for fMRI data to investigate the effect of such heterogeneity on estimates of dFC. Our findings show that, despite no differences in true dFC, individual differences in measured dFC can result from other (non-dynamic) features of the data, such as differences in neural autocorrelation, HRF shape, connectivity strength and measurement noise. We also find that common dFC methods such as k-means and multilayer modularity approaches can detect spurious group differences in dynamic connectivity due to inappropriate setting of their hyperparameters. fMRI studies therefore need to consider alternative sources of heterogeneity across individuals before concluding differences in dFC.
Prior expectations induce pre-stimulus sensory templates
Authors: Kok Peter , Mostert Pim , de Lange Floris P.
Published: March 2017

Perception can be described as a process of inference, integrating bottom-up sensory inputs and top-down expectations. However, it is unclear how this process is neurally implemented. It has been proposed that expectations lead to pre-stimulus baseline increases in sensory neurons tuned to the expected stimulus, which in turn affects the processing of subsequent stimuli. Recent fMRI studies have revealed stimulus-specific patterns of activation in sensory cortex as a result of expectation, but this method lacks the temporal resolution necessary to distinguish pre- from post-stimulus processes. Here, we combined human MEG with multivariate decoding techniques to probe the representational content of neural signals in a time-resolved manner. We observed a representation of expected stimuli in the neural signal well before they were presented, demonstrating that expectations indeed induce a pre-activation of stimulus templates. These results suggest a mechanism for how predictive perception can be neurally implemented.
Reversing the Thyroid Hormone Mediated Repression of a HSV-1 Promoter through Computationally Guided Site Directed Mutagenesis
Authors: Figliozzi Robert W , Chen Feng , Hsia Shaochung V
Published: March 2017

Thyroid hormones (TH or T3) and their DNA binding nuclear receptors (TRs), direct transcriptional regulation in different ways depending on the host cell environment and specific promoter characteristics of TH sensitive genes. This study sought to elucidate the impact on repression of nucleotide sequence/orientation of TR binding sites, TR elements, (TREs) within TH sensitive promoters. Computational analysis of the HSV-1 thymidine kinase (TK) gene TRE bound by TR and RXR revealed a single TRE point mutation sufficient to reverse the TRE orientation. In vitro experiments corroborated that the TRE point mutation exhibited distinct impacts on promoter activity, sufficient to reverse the TH dependent negative regulation in neuro-endocrine differentiated cells. EMSA and ChIP experiments suggest that this point mutation altered the promoter’s regulatory mechanism through discrete changes in transcription factor Sp1 and TR occupancy and altered enrichment of repressive chromatin, histone-3-lysine-9-trimethyl (H3K9Me3). Incites relating to this negative TRE (nTRE) mechanism impacts the understanding of other nTREs and TRE mutations associated with TH and herpes diseases.
Phenotypic diversity and genotypic flexibility of Burkholderia cenocepacia during long-term chronic infection of cystic fibrosis lungs
Authors: Lee Amy Huei-Yi , Flibotte Stephane , Sinha Sunita , Paiero Adrianna , Ehrlich Rachel L. , Balashov Sergey , Ehrlich Garth D. , Zlosnik James E.A. , Mell Joshua Chang , Nislow Corey
Published: March 2017

Chronic bacterial infections of the lung are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis patients. Tracking bacterial evolution during chronic infections can provide insights into how host selection pressures—including immune responses and therapeutic interventions—shape bacterial genomes. We carried out genomic and phenotypic analyses of 215 serially collected Burkholderia cenocepacia isolates from 16 cystic fibrosis patients, spanning a period of 2–20 yr and a broad range of epidemic lineages. Systematic phenotypic tests identified longitudinal bacterial series that manifested progressive changes in liquid media growth, motility, biofilm formation, and acute insect virulence, but not in mucoidy. The results suggest that distinct lineages follow distinct evolutionary trajectories during lung infection. Pan-genome analysis identified 10,110 homologous gene clusters present only in a subset of strains, including genes restricted to different molecular types. Our phylogenetic analysis based on 2148 orthologous gene clusters from all isolates is consistent with patient-specific clades. This suggests that initial colonization of patients was likely by individual strains, followed by subsequent diversification. Evidence of clonal lineages shared by some patients was observed, suggesting inter-patient transmission. We observed recurrent gene losses in multiple independent longitudinal series, including complete loss of Chromosome III and deletions on other chromosomes. Recurrently observed loss-of-function mutations were associated with decreases in motility and biofilm formation. Together, our study provides the first comprehensive genome-phenome analyses of B. cenocepacia infection in cystic fibrosis lungs and serves as a valuable resource for understanding the genomic and phenotypic underpinnings of bacterial evolution.
Quantification of supplementary cementitious content in blended Portland cement using an iterative Rietveld–PONKCS technique
Authors: Stetsko Yuri P. , Shanahan Natallia , Deford Harvey , Zayed A.
Published: March 2017

An iterative Rietveld–PONKCS (partial or no known crystal structure) technique has been developed for precise and accurate determination of the weight percentages of predominantly amorphous supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) contained in Portland cement–SCM blends. This technique involves the iterative refinement of the SCM amorphous phase (SCMAP) content, with the separation of the refinement of the SCMAP shape parameters from background refinement. The technique also includes an internal and external standard refinement of both the calibration SCM and the cement–SCM blend. This approach enables the separation of the contributions of the SCMs and the cement to the amorphous content of the cement–SCM blend. The technique has been successfully applied to binary systems of cement–slag and cement–fly ash, and ternary blends of cement–fly ash–slag, over a wide range of cement replacement levels. In the ternary systems, the proposed technique was successfully able to separate the individual amorphous contributions of slag and fly ash to the total amorphous content of the system. The approach was also implemented on a pair of commercially available binary blended cements containing 30% slag and 30% fly ash, respectively.
Crystallization and X-ray analysis of the extracellular adhesion domain ofHelicobacter pyloriadhesin A: the significance of the cation composition in the crystallization precipitant
Authors: Guo Ling , Zhang Jinyong , Cui Liwei , Liu Dong , Ma Bo , Wang Shufeng , Li Haibo , Wu Yuzhang , Liu Wei
Published: March 2017

Adherence to host cells is a crucial step in the process of bacterial infection, which is usually mediated by a number of outer membrane proteins identified as adhesins.Helicobacter pyloriadhesin A (HpaA) is a member of the adhesin family that mediates the adherence ofHelicobacter pylorito gastric epithelial cells, and consequently assists the bacteria in becoming a life-long colonizer of the human stomach. In this study, two constructs were made for the production of truncated HpaA proteins comprising residues 31–260 and 53–260, respectively. The products of both constructs were crystallized, but only the protein from the shorter construct (residues 53–260) formed crystals that were capable of diffraction. In the subsequent optimization trials, crystals in different forms were unexpectedly obtained by using lithium sulfate and ammonium sulfate as the precipitant. An X-ray data set was collected to 1.95 Å resolution on beamline BL18U1 at SSRF using a crystal grown with 1.92 Mlithium sulfate, which belonged to space groupP65with unit-cell parametersa=b= 95.42,c = 54.72 Å, γ = 120°, while another crystal grown with 1.9 Mammonium sulfate diffracted to 2.60 Å resolution and the collected data set was indexed in space groupP21212, with unit-cell parametersa= 121.01,b= 190.56,c= 106.31 Å. The collection of diffraction data has established a solid basis for structure determination.
Crystal structure of the human heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein A18 RNA-recognition motif
Authors: Coburn Katherine , Melville Zephan , Aligholizadeh Ehson , Roth Braden M. , Varney Kristen M. , Carrier France , Pozharski Edwin , Weber David J.
Published: March 2017

The heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein A18 (hnRNP A18) is upregulated in hypoxic regions of various solid tumors and promotes tumor growthviathe coordination of mRNA transcripts associated with pro-survival genes. Thus, hnRNP A18 represents an important therapeutic target in tumor cells. Presented here is the first X-ray crystal structure to be reported for the RNA-recognition motif of hnRNP A18. By comparing this structure with those of homologous RNA-binding proteins (i.e.hnRNP A1), three residues on one face of an antiparallel β-sheet (Arg48, Phe50 and Phe52) and one residue in an unstructured loop (Arg41) were identified as likely to be involved in protein–nucleic acid interactions. This structure helps to serve as a foundation for biophysical studies of this RNA-binding protein and structure-based drug-design efforts for targeting hnRNP A18 in cancer, such as malignant melanoma, where hnRNP A18 levels are elevated and contribute to disease progression.
Benchmarking of best practices: an overview of the academic literature
Authors: Castro Vinicius Ferreira de , Frazzon Enzo Morosini
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to overview the academic literature on benchmarking of best practices tracking the most important articles and understanding the similarity between studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The most relevant articles were identified using techniques such as the PageRank algorithm and co-citation maps. An analysis of the most relevant articles presents the main concepts, methods and updated discussions on this research field.

Findings

The analysis of academic output substantiates the increase in the production of articles on this research topic. There were identified two main clusters of co-cited articles, one related to data envelopment analysis (DEA) and other that presents a wide variation of methods for benchmarking. There are important critiques towards the past research on benchmarking of best practices, yet, new DEA approaches seem to address most of the criticized issues.

Practical implications

From time to time, a review of the literature of a certain field of knowledge is useful for other researchers to identify and organize its main theories, new trends, most relevant works, influent authors and important publications.

Originality/value

This paper delivers two important values: the updated discussion on benchmarking of best practices, clearing both DEA and non-DEA studies; and the methods adopted to systematically review the literature, which is original on this field of research.
The effect of trust with suppliers on hospital supply chain performance
Authors: Abdallah Ayman Bahjat , Abdullah Mais Issam , Mahmoud Saleh Firas Izzat
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of trust with suppliers on hospital-supplier integration (SI) and hospital supply chain (SC) performance. Additionally, the mediating effect of SI on trust-hospital SC performance is investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model and hypotheses were developed based on literature review. The study is based on survey data collected from 152 respondents in 55 private hospitals in Jordan. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The paper finds that trust with suppliers has a positive impact on hospital-SI and hospital SC performance. Hospital-SI partially mediates the relationship between trust and hospital SC performance.

Practical implications

The findings of this research provide useful insights into the role of trust in boosting SC performance in the healthcare sector. High levels of SI not only improve hospital SC performance but also enhance the transformation of trust benefits into SC performance.

Originality/value

This research is one of the limited studies that investigated the effect of trust on hospital-SI and hospital SC performance in the healthcare sector. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate those relationships in the Middle East in general and in Jordan in particular.
The emergence and evolution of benchmarking: a management fashion perspective
Authors: Madsen Dag Øivind , Slåtten Kåre , Johanson Daniel
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the benchmarking literature by examining the historical emergence and evolution of benchmarking using the management fashion perspective as a theoretical lens.

Design/methodology/approach

The research approach followed in this paper can be characterized as explorative and theoretical. Insights from different data sources have been combined to provide a rich description of the emergence and evolution of benchmarking.

Findings

This analysis casts new light on several aspects of benchmarking’s emergence and evolution pattern. The characteristics of the benchmarking idea give it potential as a fashionable management tool. The widespread popularity and longevity of benchmarking can to a large extent be explained by the efforts of various actors to turn benchmarking into an institution.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is explorative and is limited by a reliance on secondary sources.

Originality/value

Although some researchers have noted that benchmarking could be viewed as a management fashion, management fashion theory has, only to a very limited extent, been used as a theoretical lens in the context of benchmarking. This research paper demonstrates that management fashion theory can provide valuable insights for research on benchmarking.
Healthcare waste disposal strategy selection using grey-AHP approach
Authors: Thakur Vikas , Ramesh A.
Published: March 2017

Purpose

Nowadays healthcare waste (HCW) has become a big challenge for the hospital management, especially, in developing countries like India. Like other developing countries, Indian healthcare waste disposal (HCWD) industry is also fragmented, as some hospitals are having their own in-house waste treatment facilities and others are outsourcing the process to government authorized Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities. Literature also lacks the quantitative studies in selecting the HCWD strategy and, hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the factors, which affect the selection of HCWD strategy and to propose the model to select the HCWD strategy and to apply the proposed model to select the HCWD strategy in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India.

Design/methodology/approach

Grey theory-based analytic hierarchy process approach has been applied to evaluate the HCWD options and select the appropriate strategy for the healthcare facilities (HCFs).

Findings

From the literature, six criteria have been used to evaluate the HCWD strategies: “access to expertise,” “overdependence,” “transportation & risk associated,” “Government rules,” “environmental factors,” and “economic factors.” “Outsourcing” strategic option (0.61) got the higher desirability index than “in-house treatment” (0.39).

Research limitations/implications

The proposed methodology can be used by the researchers and experts in the field to evaluate the strategic options and select the appropriate strategy.

Practical implications

The HCFs and other generators of HCW can select the alternative, whether they should treat the infectious waste in-house or they should go for outsourcing.

Originality/value

In the field of HCW management, this is the first study of its kind, which helps to evaluate and select the HCWD strategies. The proposed model has been applied in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India to make the comparison between “in-house” and “outsource” strategies.
Foliated networks to analyze moral responsibility: a conceptual model
Authors: Eriksson David , Hilletofth Per
Published: March 2017

Purpose

This study aims to explore how the flow of moral responsibility in supply chains can be understood through an analysis of material, monetary and information flows.

Design/methodology/approach

Social responsibility, foliated networks and morality are used to present a conceptual framework that suggests responsibility links in supply chains.

Findings

By understanding the flows of material, money and information, it is possible to see how different types (liable and political) of responsibility can be identified. Conventional supply chain flows are thus connected with moral responsibility.

Research limitations/implications

Responsibility issues in supply chain management need to include supply chain links created by monetary and information flows, as well as material flows.

Practical implications

Supply chain actors need to consider responsibility across their entire supply chain, which includes material, monetary and information flows.

Originality/value

Foliated transportation networks, moral disengagement and different types of responsibility are combined in a novel way to facilitate a better understanding of responsibility in supply chains.
“We have always been responsible”
Authors: Brunninge Olof , Fridriksson Helgi-Valur
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The aim of this study is to discuss what implications referencing to the past can have on how firms manage their supply chains and communicate about them, drawing on the social memory literature.

Design/methodology/approach

In a conceptual manner, the authors connect the field of responsible supply chain management to the growing literature on corporate heritage and social memory in organizations.

Findings

The authors develop seven propositions related to the communication of the past and its connection to responsible supply chain management.

Research limitations/implications

A social memory perspective can inform supply chain management research, by helping to better understand how and with what consequences the past can be used in communication about supply chains. This paper is conceptual in nature and empirical investigations would be needed to support and/or modify the literature-based findings.

Practical implications

Managers should be aware that both opportunities and risks are associated with communicating the past in connection to responsible supply chain management. Deployed in the right way, such communication can be valuable both in marketing and in internal management processes.

Originality/value

This article introduces the social memory perspective to the supply chain management field and shows what implications it can have for research on responsibility in supply chains.
Professionalism as social responsibility in procurement and administration
Authors: Steinfeld Joshua , McCue Clifford , Prier Eric
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this empirical study is to identify the job tasks where decisions regarding social responsibility are likely to occur and assess the potential connections between social responsibility and professionalism.

Design/methodology/approach

A job study conducted by the Universal Public Procurement Certification Council (UPPCC) of 2,593 practitioners is used for data collection. Factor analysis is applied to a set of 75 procurement job tasks to determine the relationship between practitioners’ performance and management of job tasks and social responsibility variables.

Findings

The results suggest that there are specific job tasks performed and managed in both public and private sector procurement that share a unique relationship with social responsibility variables.

Research limitations/implications

The manuscript advances the research on professionalism in procurement and administration through empirically testing job tasks performed and managed by practitioners and identifying relationships between job tasks according to a professional orientation toward social responsibility.

Practical implications

The study shows that specific job tasks are performed and managed in procurement and administration with a social responsibility consideration.

Social implications

The technical nature of job tasks found to be related to social responsibility suggests a paradoxical view of the politics-administration dichotomy, and the notion that neutral tasks of both the public and private sectors are not void of a social function.

Originality/value

One attribute of professionalism in the literature, social responsibility, is operationalized through actual performance and management of job tasks by practitioners.
Towards socially sustainable supply chains – themes and challenges
Authors: Abbasi Maisam
Published: March 2017

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to explore and classify the pattern of themes and challenges in developing socially sustainable supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is based on a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature to explore what major themes and challenges have been discussed and the significant gaps where opportunities for further research can be found.

Findings

In total, four categories of themes were identified, namely, human-centric, focal organization-centric, supply chain-centric and governance-centric. Challenges were classified into seven categories, namely, inadequate and asymmetric knowledge, difficulties of operationalization, shifting the values, subjectivity in evaluation, governance complexity, difficulties of small- and medium-sized enterprises and sustainability fade.

Research limitations/implications

The focus of the article is on the social pillar of sustainable development in the context of supply chains. A more holistic systematic investigation of synergy of all the three pillars/bottom lines of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social) can be an opportunity for further research.

Practical implications

Taking a more holistic view of the pattern of currently discussed themes and challenges may be beneficial in increasing the absorptive capacity of industrial and business practitioners, by accumulating and assimilating external knowledge, when they design and operationalize innovative strategies in developing sustainable supply chains.

Originality/value

This article may increase awareness about the social responsibilities of supply chains actors and stakeholders in different scales. It may also guide managers, decision makers and practitioners to better understand the difficulties, obstacles or dilemmas that can hinder the sustainable development of supply chains. The results section presents a framework driven from the emerged themes, and the discussion section provides propositions for tackling the challenges and opportunities for further research.
FATMOLS lodges of Zambia: reaching international travelers
Authors: Reed Marlene M. , Sikobela Steven
Published: March 2017

Study level/applicability

Undergraduate.

Case overview

This case deals with a Zambian entrepreneur named Frank Ngambi who had developed several lodges in Ndola and Lusaka, Zambia. His original intention had been to build lodges that would provide inexpensive lodging for domestic travelers. That strategy had succeeded, and the lodges had been so successful that Frank had been able to increase the size of his lodges in both cities. However, by the summer of 2015, Frank had decided to seek the patronage of international travelers. He knew that this change in strategy would be difficult to achieve. After analyzing one of his competitors, the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, he realized that he needed to increase his product offerings and also offer outstanding customer service. One problem in attaining that goal was the fact that there was very little training for human resources involved in the hospitality industry in Ndola where two of his lodges were located. Another problem he faced was figuring out how to market his lodges to international travelers, as he had never sought that segment of the market before.

Expected learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the case discussion, the student should be able to apply Michael Porter’s General Business-Level Strategy to the present and anticipated strategies for the FATMOLS Lodges; to identify tactics that would apply to a low cost leadership strategy; to identify tactics that would apply to a differentiation strategy; to discuss reasons tourism has increased in Zambia in the twenty-first century; to analyze the financial strategy used in developing the FATMOLS Lodges; and to develop a plan for moving a company from a low-cost leadership strategy to one of differentiation.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 11: Strategy.
Calculating social return on investment: Bookbridge learning center
Authors: Stadtmann Georg , Markova Marina
Published: March 2017

Subject area

Social entrepreneurship.

Study level/applicability

Students in the middle or at the end of their undergraduate studies (BA level) in management and economics, graduate students (MA level).

Case overview

This case study deals with activities of the company, which has a direct social significance and social impact. Based on analysis of benefits and limitations of the stakeholders of the company, principles and tools of social return on investment (SROI) analysis, students should try to understand, how the company can ensure a stable market position and optimize its value proposition on the criterion of target stakeholders’ satisfaction in the implementation of social projects.

Expected learning outcomes

In this case study, students should learn to differ socially responsible companies and social entrepreneurs; be able to value and compare the costs and benefits of different kinds of companies’ activities for the stakeholders; be able to perform SROI analysis; strengthen their communication skills by summarizing the main arguments of articles from economic and business press, as well as from corporate sustainability reporting.

Supplementary materials

Bookbridge (2014): Impact Report 2013 – 2014, http://bookbridge.org/en/impact-downloads/SROINetwork(2012): A guide to Social Return on Investment, http://socialvalueuk.org/what-is-sroi/the-sroi-guide. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.