bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The channel activities of the full-length prion and truncated proteins
Authors: Wu Jinming , Lakkaraju Asvin , Aguzzi Adriano , Luo Jinghui
Published: January 2022

Prion disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder, in which the cellular prion protein PrPC is converted to a misfolded prion which in turn is hypothesized to permeabilize cellular membranes. The pathways leading to toxicity in prion disease are not yet completely elucidated and whether it also includes formation of membrane pores remains to be answered. Prion protein consists of two domains: a globular domain (GD) and a flexible N-terminus (FT) domain. Although a proximal nine polybasic amino acid (FT(23-31)) sequence of FT is a prerequisite for cellular membrane permeabilization, other functional domain regions may influence FT(23-31) and its permeabilization. By using single-channel electrical recordings, we reveal that FT(23-50) dominates the membrane permeabilization within the full-length mouse PrP (mPrP(23-230)). The other domain of FT(51-110) or C-terminal domain down-regulates the channel activity of FT(23-50) and the full-length mouse PrP (mPrP(23-230)). The addition of prion mimetic antibody, POM1 significantly enhances mPrP(23-230) membrane permeabilization, whereas POM1-Y104A, a POM1 mutant that binds to PrP but cannot elicit toxicity has negligible effect on membrane permeabilization. Additionally, anti-N-terminal antibody POM2 or Cu2+ stabilizes FT domain, thus provoking FT(23-110) channel activity. Furthermore, our setup provides a more direct method without an external fused protein to study the channel activity of truncated PrP in the lipid membranes. We therefore hypothesize that the primary N-terminal residues are essential for membranes permeabilization and other functional segments play a vital role to modulate the pathological effects of PrP-medicated neurotoxicity. This may yield essential insights into molecular mechanisms of prion neurotoxicity to cellular membranes in prion disease.
A whole-cell recording database of neuromodulatory action in the adult neocortex
Authors: Yan Xuan , Calcini Niccolo , Safavi Payam , Ak Asli , Kole Koen , Zeldenrust Fleur , Celikel Tansu
Published: January 2022

Background

The recent release of two large intracellular electrophysiological databases now allows high-dimensional systematic analysis of mechanisms of information processing in the neocortex. Here, to complement these efforts, we introduce a freely and publicly available database that provides a comparative insight into the role of various neuromodulatory transmitters in controlling neural information processing.

Findings

A database of in vitro whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from primary somatosensory and motor cortices (layers 2/3) of the adult mice (2-15 months old) from both sexes is introduced. A total of 464 current-clamp experiments from identified excitatory and inhibitory neurons are provided. Experiments include recordings with (i) Step-and-Hold protocol during which the current was transiently held at 10 steps, gradually increasing in amplitude, (ii) “Frozen Noise” injections that model the amplitude and time-varying nature of synaptic inputs to a neuron in biological networks. All experiments follow a within neuron across drug design which includes a vehicle control and a modulation of one of the following targets in the same neuron: dopamine and its receptors D1R, D2R, serotonin 5HT1f receptor, norepinephrine Alpha1, and acetylcholine M1 receptors.

Conclusions

This dataset is the first to provide a systematic and comparative insight into the role of the selected neuromodulators in controlling cellular excitability. The data will help to mechanistically address how bottom-up information processing can be modulated, providing a reference for studying neural coding characteristics and revealing the contribution of neuromodulation to information processing.
OKseqHMM: a genome-wide replication fork directionality analysis toolkit
Authors: Liu Yaqun , Wu Xia , D’aubenton-Carafa Yves , Thermes Claude , Chen Chun-Long
Published: January 2022

Motivation

During each cell division, tens of thousands of DNA replication origins are coordinately activated to ensure the complete duplication of the entire human genome. However, the progression of replication forks can be challenged by numerous factors. One such factor is transcription-replication conflicts (TRC), which can either be co-directional or head-on with the latter being revealed as more dangerous for genome integrity.

Results

In order to study the direction of replication fork movement and TRC, we developed a bioinformatics tool, called OKseqHMM, to directly measure the genome-wide replication fork directionality (RFD) as well as replication initiation and termination from data obtained by Okazaki fragment sequencing (OK-Seq) and related techniques.

Availability and Implementation

We have gathered and analyzed OK-seq data from a large number of organisms including yeast, mouse and human, to generate high-quality RFD profiles and determine initiation zones and termination zones by using Hidden Markov Model (HMM) algorithm (all tools and data are available at https://github.com/CL-CHEN-Lab/OK-Seq). In addition, we have extended our analysis to data obtained by related techniques, such as eSPAN and TrAEL-seq, which also contain RFD information. Our works, therefore, provide an important tool and resource for the community to further study TRC and genome instability, in a wide range of cell line models and growth conditions, which is of prime importance for human health.

Contact

Chun-Long Chen (Institut Curie), chunlong.chen@curie.fr

Category

Genome analysis
Cell adhesion and immune response, two main functions altered in the transcriptome of seasonally regressed testes of two mammalian species
Authors: Real Francisca M. , Lao-Pérez Miguel , Burgos Miguel , Mundlos Stefan , Lupiáñez Darío G. , Jiménez Rafael , Barrionuevo Francisco J.
Published: January 2022

In species with seasonal breeding, male specimens undergo substantial testicular regression during the non-breeding period of the year. However, the molecular mechanisms that control this biological process are largely unknown. Here, we report a transcriptomic analysis on the Iberian mole,Talpa occidentalis, in which the desquamation of live, non-apoptotic germ cells is the major cellular event responsible for testis regression. By comparing testes at different reproductive states (active, regressing and inactive), we demonstrate that the molecular pathways controlling the cell adhesion function in the seminiferous epithelium, such as the MAPK, ERK and TGF-β signalling, are altered during the regression process. In addition, inactive testes display a global upregulation of genes associated with immune response, indicating a selective loss of the “immune privilege” that normally operates in sexually active testes. Interspecies comparative analyses using analogous data from the Mediterranean pine vole, a rodent species where testis regression is controlled by halting meiosis entry, revealed a common gene expression signature in the regressed testes of these two evolutionary distant species. Our study advances in the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms associated to gonadal seasonal breeding, highlighting the existence of a conserved transcriptional program of testis involution across mammalian clades.

Research Highlights

By comparing the trascriptomes of the testes from males of the iberian mole,Talpa occidentalis(order Eulipotyphla), captured at different stages of the seasonal breeding cycle of this species, we show that two main functions are altered during seasonal testis regression: cell adhesion and immune response. The fact that the same functions alre also altered in the Mediterranean pine vole,Microtus duodecimcostatus(order Rodentia), evidences the existence of a conserved transcriptional program of testis regression across mammalian clades.
Coupling cryo-electron tomography with mixed-scale dense neural networks reveals re-organization of the invasion machinery of Toxoplasma gondii upon ionophore-stimulation
Authors: Segev-Zarko Li-av , Dahlberg Peter D. , Sun Stella Y. , Pelt Daniël M. , Kim Chi Yong , Egan Elizabeth S. , Sethian James A. , Chiu Wah , Boothroyd John C.
Published: January 2022

Host cell invasion by intracellular, eukaryotic parasites within the phylum Apicomplexa, is a remarkable and active process involving the coordinated action of apical organelles and other structures. To date, capturing how these structures interact during invasion has been difficult to observe in detail. Here, we used cryogenic electron tomography to image the apical complex of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites under conditions that mimic resting parasites and those primed to invade through stimulation with calcium ionophore. Through the application of Mixed Scale Dense networks for image-processing, we developed a highly efficient pipeline for annotation of tomograms, enabling us to identify and extract densities of relevant subcellular organelles and accurately analyze features in 3D. The results reveal a dramatic change in the shape of the anteriorly located apical vesicle upon its apparent fusion with a rhoptry, that occurs only in the stimulated parasites. We also present information indicating that this vesicle originates from the vesicles that parallel the intraconoidal microtubules and that the latter two structures are linked by a novel tether. We show that a rosette structure previously proposed to be involved in rhoptry secretion is associated with apical vesicles beyond just the most anterior one. This result, suggesting multiple vesicles are primed to enable rhoptry secretion, may shed light on the mechanisms Toxoplasma employs to enable repeated invasion attempts. Using the same approach, we examine Plasmodium falciparum merozoites and show that they too possess an apical vesicle just beneath a rosette, demonstrating evolutionary conservation of this overall subcellular organization.

Significance Statement

Parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa are responsible for some of the most important parasitic diseases of humans, such as malaria and toxoplasmosis. Invasion by these obligatory, intracellular parasites depends on protein injection into the host cell. Using cryogenic electron tomography, we reveal evolutionarily conserved features shared by the invasive forms of Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. By comparing resting Toxoplasma tachyzoites with those primed to invade we also gain new insight into the very first steps in invasion. For this work, we take an interdisciplinary approach, adopting a mixed-scale dense neural network that enables efficient and objective processing of the data. Combined, the results provide new information on how these important parasites accomplish the essential step of invasion.
Exogenous capture accounts for fundamental differences between prosaccade and antisaccade performance
Authors: Goldstein Allison T , Stanford Terrence R , Salinas Emilio
Published: January 2022

Oculomotor circuits generate eye movements based on the physical salience of objects and current behavioral goals, exogenous and endogenous influences, respectively. However, the interactions between exogenous and endogenous mechanisms and their dynamic contributions to target selection have been difficult to resolve because they evolve extremely rapidly. In a recent study (Salinas et al., 2019), we achieved the necessary temporal precision using an urgent variant of the antisaccade task wherein motor plans are initiated early and choice accuracy depends sharply on when exactly the visual cue information becomes available. Empirical and modeling results indicated that the exogenous signal arrives ∼80 ms after cue onset and rapidly accelerates the (incorrect) plan toward the cue, whereas the informed endogenous signal arrives ∼25 ms later to favor the (correct) plan away from the cue. Here, we scrutinize a key mechanistic hypothesis about this dynamic, that the exogenous and endogenous signals act at different times and independently of each other. We test quantitative model predictions by comparing the performance of human participants instructed to look toward a visual cue versus away from it under high urgency. We find that, indeed, the exogenous response is largely impervious to task instructions; it simply flips its sign relative to the correct choice, and this largely explains the drastic differences in psychometric performance between the two tasks. Thus, saccadic choices are strongly dictated by the alignment between salience and behavioral goals.
Accounting for motion in resting-state fMRI: What part of the spectrum are we characterizing in autism spectrum disorder?
Authors: Nebel Mary Beth , Lidstone Daniel E. , Wang Liwei , Benkeser David , Mostofsky Stewart H. , Risk Benjamin B.
Published: January 2022

The exclusion of high-motion participants can reduce the impact of motion in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data. However, the exclusion of high-motion participants may change the distribution of clinically relevant variables in the study sample, and the resulting sample may not be representative of the population. Our goals are two-fold: 1) to document the biases introduced by common motion exclusion practices in functional connectivity research and 2) to introduce a framework to address these biases by treating excluded scans as a missing data problem. We use a study of autism spectrum disorder in children without an intellectual disability to illustrate the problem and the potential solution. We aggregated data from 545 children (8-13 years old) who participated in resting-state fMRI studies at Kennedy Krieger Institute (173 autistic and 372 typically developing) between 2007 and 2020. We found that autistic children were more likely to be excluded than typically developing children, with 28.5% and 16.1% of autistic and typically developing children excluded, respectively, using a lenient criterion and 81.0% and 60.1% with a stricter criterion. The resulting sample of autistic children with usable data tended to be older, have milder social deficits, better motor control, and higher intellectual ability than the original sample. These measures were also related to functional connectivity strength among children with usable data. This suggests that the generalizability of previous studies reporting naïve analyses (i.e., based only on participants with usable data) may be limited by the selection of older children with less severe clinical profiles because these children are better able to remain still during an rs-fMRI scan. We adapt doubly robust targeted minimum loss based estimation with an ensemble of machine learning algorithms to address these data losses and the resulting biases. The proposed approach selects more edges that differ in functional connectivity between autistic and typically developing children than the naïve approach, supporting this as a promising solution to improve the study of heterogeneous populations in which motion is common.
An in silico method to assess antibody fragment polyreactivity
Authors: Harvey Edward P. , Shin Jung-Eun , Skiba Meredith A. , Nemeth Genevieve R. , Hurley Joseph D. , Wellner Alon , Shaw Ada Y. , Miranda Victor G. , Min Joseph K. , Liu Chang C. , Marks Debora S. , Kruse Andrew C.
Published: January 2022

Antibodies are essential biological research tools and important therapeutic agents, but some exhibit non-specific binding to off-target proteins and other biomolecules. Such polyreactive antibodies compromise screening pipelines, lead to incorrect and irreproducible experimental results, and are generally intractable for clinical development. We designed a set of experiments using a diverse naïve synthetic camelid antibody fragment (‘nanobody’) library to enable machine learning models to accurately assess polyreactivity from protein sequence (AUC > 0.8). Moreover, our models provide quantitative scoring metrics that predict the effect of amino acid substitutions on polyreactivity. We experimentally tested our model’s performance on three independent nanobody scaffolds, where over 90% of predicted substitutions successfully reduced polyreactivity. Importantly, the model allowed us to diminish the polyreactivity of an angiotensin II type I receptor antagonist nanobody, without compromising its pharmacological properties. We provide a companion web-server that offers a straightforward means of predicting polyreactivity and polyreactivity-reducing mutations for any given nanobody sequence.
Cryo-EM Structure of Adeno-associated virus-4 at 2.2 Å resolution
Authors: Zane Grant M. , Silveria Mark A. , Meyer Nancy L. , White Tommi A. , Chapman Michael S.
Published: January 2022

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is the vector of choice for several approved gene therapy treatments and is the basis for many ongoing clinical trials. Various strains of AAV exist (referred to as serotypes), each with their own transfection characteristics. Here, we present a high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure (2.2 Å) for AAV serotype 4 (AAV4). The receptor responsible for transduction of the AAV4 clade of AAV viruses (including AAV11, 12 and rh32.33) is unknown. Other AAVs interact with the same cell receptor, Adeno-associated virus receptor (AAVR), in one of two different ways. AAV5-like viruses interact exclusively with the polycystic kidney disease-like [PKD]-1 domain of AAVR while most other AAVs interact primarily with the PKD2 domain. A comparison of the present AAV4 structure with prior corresponding structures of AAV5, AAV2 and AAV1 in complex with AAVR, provides a foundation for understanding why the AAV4-like clade is unable to interact with either PKD1 or PKD2. The conformation of the AAV4 capsid in variable regions I, III, IV and V on the viral surface appears to be sufficiently different from AAV2 to ablate binding with PKD2. Differences between AAV4 and AAV5 in variable region VII appear sufficient to exclude binding with PKD1.
Modelling the abstract knots in supply chains using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approaches: a review-based comprehensive toolkit
Authors: Abbas Haidar , Mehdi Mohd , Azad Imran , Frederico Guilherme F.
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This study endeavours to (a) develop a comprehensive interpretive structural modelling (ISM) toolkit containing sufficient details about the suitability and procedural aspects of each ISM approach and offer points of reference for budding researchers, (b) highlight the compatibility of ISM approaches with other qualitative and quantitative approaches, and (c) chalk-out an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on an extensive review of 74 studies where researchers have used one or more ISM approaches. These studies span across the different industry sectors.

Findings

There exists a huge void in terms of the methodological synthesis of ISM approaches. ISM approaches are frequently used in sync with other qualitative and quantitative approaches. Furthermore, it highlights the need of improving the robustness of the proposed ISM models by sharing the critical details of research process.

Research limitations/implications

Being a review-based work, it could not illustrate the discussed ISM approaches with real data. However, it offers a research agenda for the prospective researchers.

Practical implications

The prerequisites, pitfalls, suitability and the procedural aspects of various ISM approaches contained in this toolkit are equally useful for the academicians as well as practitioners.

Originality/value

In the absence of a synthesized framework, this study contributes a comprehensive ISM toolkit which will help the researchers to choose a suitable ISM approach in a given case.
Comparing cultural diversity perspectives among public service employees in the Netherlands in 2008 and 2018
Authors: Hofhuis Joep
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The Netherlands' national government (Rijksoverheid) is an example of a large public organization that strives to recruit and retain employees from different cultural groups, and aims to reap the benefits of workplace diversity. Research has shown that a major predictor of the effectiveness of diversity policy and interventions is the diversity perspective of employees, i.e. which outcomes they associate with cultural diversity in their work environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study compares public servants' diversity perspectives in two similar independent samples, from 2008 (n = 1,617) and 2018 (n = 2,024), using the Benefits and Threats of Diversity Scale (BTDS; Hofhuis et al., 2015).

Findings

Results show that in 2018, employees of the Netherlands' national government perceived more benefits of diversity for gaining insight about and access to different groups within society. Additionally, contributions of cultural diversity to creativity and innovation within teams are reported significantly more often in 2018 than in 2008.

Originality/value

The findings may be of interest to diversity scholars, since data on changes in cultural diversity perspectives across time are rare, and the paper provides a unique comparison of measurements at two time points, one decade apart, within the same organization.
Improving health in the military and beyond using salutogenic design
Authors: Brick Stephanie
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Service members of the US Department of Defense (DoD) have alarmingly high rates of depression, anxiety, probable stress disorders and suicidality, all of which are negative health conditions exacerbated by various external stressors. High-stress work conditions – to include shift work, hazardous territories, high-stakes mission sets and generally disconnected sites – require a work environment that facilitates, rather than inhibits, stress reduction and mental well-being. This paper aims to present “salutogenic design” as an innovative approach: Salutogenic design offers demonstrated architectural solutions that improve health and well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes salutogenic design strategies beginning with the need for such an approach, the call to action to implement strategic and tactical solutions and the challenges and financial impacts of such a broad and innovative strategy to improve workplace health, well-being and performance in the DoD and beyond. Examples of these strategies, via biophilic design solutions, are presented in the central Table 1 as an easy-to-reference tool and supported by the voluminous literature as referenced, in part, through this research paper.

Findings

Salutogenic design strategies offer innovative, financially viable solutions to help mitigate stress and improve workforce well-being while maintaining the highest level of building security requirements in access-controlled spaces and disconnected sites, such as military installations and government compounds.

Research limitations/implications

Issues of mental and physical health are complex and multi-faceted, and they require complex and multi-faceted solutions. Salutogenic design is presented as one facet of that solution: a tangible solution to an often-intangible issue. Further, as a novel approach to address a critical DoD issue, Table 1 bridges the common gap between high-concept design theory and practical construction-application solutions, with positive value to the health, performance, quality-of-life and well-being of service members.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to approach the DoD’s imperative to reduce service members’ mental stress with “salutogenic design.”
The link between interpersonal conflict and knowledge hiding: mediated by relatedness need frustration, moderated by narcissistic rivalry
Authors: De Clercq Dirk , Fatima Tasneem , Jahanzeb Sadia
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employees’ experience of interpersonal conflict and their engagement in knowledge hiding, according to a mediating effect of their relatedness need frustration and a moderating effect of their narcissistic rivalry.

Design/methodology/approach

The tests of the hypotheses rely on three-wave, time-lagged data collected among employees in Pakistan.

Findings

A critical reason that emotion-based fights stimulate people to conceal valuable knowledge from their coworkers is that these employees believe their needs for belongingness or relatedness are not being met. This mediating role of relatedness need frustration is particularly salient among employees who are self-centered and see others as rivals, with no right to fight with or give them a hard time.

Practical implications

The findings indicate how organizations might mitigate the risk that negative relationship dynamics among their employees escalate into dysfunctional knowledge hiding behavior. They should work to hire and retain employees who are benevolent and encourage them to see colleagues as allies instead of rivals.

Originality/value

This research unpacks the link between interpersonal conflict and knowledge hiding by explicating the unexplored roles of two critical factors (relatedness need frustration and narcissistic rivalry) in this relationship.
Development and application of numerical model of thermal sensors for thermal protective clothing evaluation based on CFD simulation
Authors: Tang Yuqi , Mao Zhantong , Li Anni , Zhai Lina
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the heat transfer effect of copper sensor and skin simulant on skin.

Design/methodology/approach

For the sensor, the physical and mathematical models of the thermal sensors were used to obtain the definite conditions in the heat transfer process of the sensor, and the heat transfer models of the two sensors were developed and solved respectively by using ANSYS WORKBENCH 19.0 software. The simulation results were compared with the experimental test results. For the skin, the numerical model of the skin model was developed and calculated. Finally, the heat transfer simulation performance of the two sensors was analyzed.

Findings

It is concluded that the copper sensor is more stable than the skin simulant, but the material and structure of the skin simulant is more suitable for skin simulation. The skin simulant better simulates the skin heat transfer. For all the factors in the model, the thermal properties of the material and the heat flux level are the key factors. The convective heat transfer coefficient, radiation heat transfer rate and the initial temperature have little influence on the results, which can be ignored.

Research limitations/implications

The results show that there are still some differences between the experimental and numerical simulation values of the skin simulant. In the future, the thermal parameters of skin simulant and the influence of the thermocouple adhesion should be further examined during the calibration process.

Practical implications

The results suggest that the skin simulant needs to be further calibrated, especially for the thermal properties. The copper sensor on the flame manikin can be replaced by the skin simulant with higher accuracy, which will be helpful to improve the accuracy of performance evaluation of thermal protective clothing.

Social implications

The application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology can help to analyze the heat transfer simulation mechanism of thermal sensor, explore the influence of thermal performance of thermal sensor on skin simulation, provide basis for the development of thermal sensor and improve the application system of thermal sensor. Based on the current research status, this paper studies the internal heat transfer of the sensor through the numerical modeling of the copper sensor and skin simulant, so as to analyze the effect of the sensor simulating skin and the reasons for the difference.

Originality/value

In this paper, the sensor itself is numerically modeled and the heat transfer inside the sensor is studied.
Designing simple productive waqf models for Indonesia
Authors: Ascarya Ascarya , Hosen Muhamad Nadratuzzaman , Rahmawati Siti
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Productive waqf is one type of ethical business/investment, which should comply to Islamic law, with so many models to choose from. The purpose of this study is to determine factors of simple productive waqf, propose several simple productive waqf models and select the best simple productive waqf models appropriate to be adopted by waqf institution in Indonesia.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies the analytic network process, including field survey, focused group discussion and in-depth interview, with two groups of respondents, namely, expert and waqf practitioner.

Findings

The results show that the determinants of simple productive waqf in Indonesia are the waqf institution, productive waqf asset to be developed, how to finance the productive waqf, how to manage the productive waqf and the compliance of productive waqf. Proposed productive waqf models include cash-waqf and self-managed model, Islamic bank financing and self-managed model, Sukuk and external partnership model, cash-waqf and external partnership and cash-waqf + co-financing and external partnership. Moreover, the best simple productive waqf model is cash-waqf and self-managed model, followed by cash-waqf and external partnership, where they could achieve the most in all socio-economic variables, well-being compliance and moral/ethics within the theory of unity of knowledge, Tawhid.

Research limitations/implications

The simple productive waqf models proposed are not exhaustive, since there are so many variations of the model. Moreover, the case and respondents are all Indonesian, so that the results are possibly only applicable to Indonesia.

Practical implications

To increase the probability of successful productive waqf development, waqf institutions could apply cash-waqf and self-managed model first, while other models could be applied in staged in line with waqf institution experience.

Social implications

The successful development of productive waqf could increase the social programs provided by waqf institutions to the society.

Originality/value

Productive waqf development is desperately needed due to many unproductive waqf lands in Indonesia, while studies have been limited, and there is no study discussing the productive waqf model appropriate for Indonesia.
Friction condition of aluminum alloy AA6061 lubricated with bio-lubricant in cold forging test
Authors: Yahaya Aiman , Samion Syahrullail
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Cold forging operation is one of the widely used techniques in industry production. This paper aims to present a case study in highlighting and modelling the use of different type of palm oil-based [palm stearin (PS), palm kernel oil (PKO) and palm mid olein (PMO)] as a bio-lubricant in cold forging process using experimental and finite element method.

Design/methodology/approach

Ring compression test plays a fundamental role in the understanding of materials science and engineering because of the deformation, friction and wear behaviour. Aluminium (A6061) was used in this test to observe the deformation of the ring with different palm oil and its derivatives by comparing with commercial metal forming oil.

Findings

The presence of certain type of palm oil-based lubricant has a good performance compared to mineral-based oil in terms of surface roughness but when observed in terms of friction the result shows that palm oil-based lubricant has poor friction performance compared to mineral oil-based lubricant (m = 0.25), where PS has the lowest friction at m = 0.3 compared to PKO (m = 0.35) and PMO (m = 0.38).

Research limitations/implications

This research is using palm oil in cold forging test to study the friction, formation and stress at certain levels of stroke. The detail of the test is explained in the manuscript as attached.

Social implications

This research is trying to promote the use of biodegradable material to reduce pollution to the surrounding.

Originality/value

The originality of this paper has been checked using Turnitin and the result is 13%.
Influence of the global environment on capital flows in the London Office market
Authors: Fadeyi Olawumi , McGreal Stanley , McCord Michael J. , Berry Jim , Haran Martin
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The London office market is a major destination of international real estate capital and arguably the epicentre of international real estate investment over the past decade. However, the increase in global uncertainties in recent years due to socio-economic and political trends highlights the need for more insights into the behaviour of international real estate capital flows. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of the global and domestic environment on international real estate investment activities within the London office market over the period 2007–2017.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts an auto-regressive distributed lag approach using the real capital analytics (RCA) international real estate investment data. The RCA data analyses quarterly cross-border investment transactions within the central London office market for the period 2007–2017.

Findings

The study provides insights on the critical differences in the influence of the domestic and global environment on cross-border investment activities in this office market, specifically highlighting the significance of the influence of the global environment in the long run. In the short run, the influence of factors reflective of both the domestic and international environment are important indicating that international capital flows into the London office market is contextualised by the interaction of different factors.

Originality/value

The authors provide a holistic study of the influence of both the domestic and international environment on cross-border investment activities in the London office market, providing more insights on the behaviour of global real estate capital flows.
Adoption of cloud computing tools for sustainable construction: a structural equation modelling approach
Authors: Oke Ayodeji Emmanuel , Kineber Ahmed Farouk , Alsolami Badr , Kingsley Chukwuma
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the cloud computing (CC) methods and tools towards the achievement of construction project sustainability in Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were obtained from the literature, complemented by a quantitative method using a questionnaire distributed among 104 respondents comprising mainly construction professionals in Nigeria. Subsequently, data were analysed using the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) method. In addition, the partial least square structural modelling was used to generate a model for the adoption of CC tools for sustainable construction.

Findings

EFA results indicated that the CC implementation tools could be categorised into four significant constructs: platform, communication, software and data storage. Results obtained from the model showed that platform tools were the most crucial tools for implementing CC in the construction industry.

Practical implications

The findings from this study are essential to the pursuit of perception of methods and tools connected to the vagueness of CC for future employees. In addition, the identified CC tools are expected to enhance the success of construction projects.

Originality/value

The novelty of this research work will be a benchmark or board for decision-makers to quality by adopting CC methods and tools in Nigeria’s construction projects to achieve their sustainable projects.
Self-inflicted. Deliberate. Death-intentioned. A critical policy analysis of UK suicide prevention policies 2009-2019
Authors: Marzetti Hazel , Oaten Alexander , Chandler Amy , Jordan Ana
Published: January 2022

Purpose

With encouragement from the World Health Organisation, national suicide prevention policies have come to be regarded as an essential component of the global effort to reduce suicide. However, despite their global significance, the construction, conceptualisation and proposed provisions offered in suicide prevention policies have, to date, been under researched; this study aims to address this gap.

Design/methodology/approach

we critically analysed eight contemporary UK suicide prevention policy documents in use in all four nations of the UK between 2009 and 2019, using Bacchi and Goodwin’s post-structural critical policy analysis.

Findings

The authors argue that across this sample of suicide prevention policies, suicide is constructed as self-inflicted, deliberate and death-intentioned. Consequently, these supposedly neutral definitions of suicide have some significant and problematic effects, often individualising, pathologising and depoliticising suicide in ways that dislocate suicides from the emotional worlds in which they occur. Accordingly, although suicide prevention policies have the potential to think beyond the boundaries of clinical practice, and consider suicide prevention more holistically, the policies in this sample take a relatively narrow focus, often reducing suicide to a single momentary act and centring death prevention at the expense of considering ways to make individual lives more liveable.

Originality/value

UK suicide prevention policies have not been subject to critical analysis; to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to examine the way in which suicide is constructed in UK suicide prevention policy documents.
Augmented reality adoption intention among travel and tour operators in Malaysia: mediation effect of value alignment
Authors: Alam Syed Shah , Masukujjaman Mohammad , Susmit Samiha , Susmit Sumaiya , Aziz Hassanuddeen Abd
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This study evaluated the determinants of augmented reality (AR) adoption in Malaysia's travel and tour operator sectors through an integrated technology-organization-environmental (TOE) and diffusion of innovation (DOI) model.

Design/methodology/approach

The TOE and DOI were considered the primary theoretical models but are combined and extended by including few additional variables. Data were collected from 220 respondents of travel and tour operating businesses in Malaysia and analyzed by applying PLS structural equation model technique.

Findings

The empirical results established that perceived cost, relative advantages, complexity and compatibility, observability, competitor pressure, value alignment, customer pressure, and trialability are positively connected with the behavioral intention except for external support. The results reveal that value alignment partially mediates the association between relative advantages and behavioral intention, complexity and behavioral intention, compatibility and behavioral intention, perceived cost and behavioral intention except in between trialability and observability.

Originality/value

This research is unique as the value alignment construct is included in the model, and thus it fulfills the literature gap by adding the mediation construct. This study contributes to enhancing AR's understanding of the Malaysian travel and tour operator industry through the lenses of owners or managers. It offers an integrated model that combines the TOE and DOI models, rare in this sector, and can be replicated or extended with validated scales.
Designing a knowledge-based system (KBS) to study consumer purchase intention: the impact of digital influencers in Pakistan
Authors: Khan Sherbaz , Rashid Aamir , Rasheed Rizwana , Amirah Noor Aina
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present a complete framework that defines the link between choices and decision criteria based on existing research on digital influencers (DIs) connected to consumer purchase intentions. The primary goal of this article is to assess the effect of DIs on customer purchase intentions via the creation of an integrated knowledge-based system (KBS).

Design/methodology/approach

The suggested KBS is based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which creates a link between DI elements and their overall effect on consumer purchase intentions.

Findings

With the help of a KBS, the performance of DIs may be evaluated. It demonstrates the link between choices connected to factors and decision criteria of various variables, demonstrating the beneficial effect of DIs in molding customer purchase intentions in the organic skincare industry.

Practical implications

The proposed KBS would aid marketing managers and decision makers in assessing the effect of DIs on customer purchase intentions. This research would also give decision makers with extensive information on influencer marketing and crucial elements that have a significant effect on customer purchase intentions.

Originality/value

This is the first research to employ the fuzzy AHP methodology and KBS in relation to influencers' effect. No prior research has targeted the organic skincare industry to assess the effect of Internet influencers on consumer purchase intentions. Furthermore, the KBS offers a holistic and complete way to studying influencers' effect on cost per impression (CPI) by establishing a linkage between choices and decision criteria.
Queer futuring: an approach to critical futuring strategies for adult learners
Authors: Fleener M. Jayne , Coble Chrystal
Published: January 2022

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop queer futuring strategies that take into consideration adult learners’ needs in support of transformational and sustainable change for social justice and equity.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper develops the construct of queer futuring, which engages queer theory perspectives in a critical futures framework. Adult learning theory informs queer futuring strategies to support adults and inform education to sustain transformational changes for social justice and equity.

Findings

With social justice in mind, queer futuring opens spaces and supports opportunities for adults to engage in learning activities that address historical and layered forms of oppression. Building on learning needs of adults to create meaning and make a difference in the world around them, queer futuring strategies provide tools for activism, advocacy and building new relationships and ways of being-with.

Research limitations/implications

The sustainability of our current system of growth and financial well-being has already been called into question, and the current pandemic provides tangible evidence of values for contribution, connection and concern for others, even in the midst of political strife and conspiracy theories. These shifting values and values conflict of society point to the questions of equity and narrative inclusivity, challenging and disrupting dominant paradigms and structures that have perpetuated power and authority “over” rather than social participation “with” and harmony. Queer futuring is just the beginning of a bigger conversation about transforming society.

Practical implications

Queering spaces from the perspective of queer futuring keeps the adult learner and queering processes in mind with an emphasis on affiliation and belonging, identity and resistance and politics and change.

Social implications

The authors suggest queer futuring makes room for opening spaces of creativity and insight as traditional and reified rationality is problematized, further supporting development of emergentist relationships with the future as spaces of possibility and innovation.

Originality/value

Queer futuring connects ethical and pragmatic approaches to futuring for creating the kinds of futures needed to decolonize, delegitimize and disrupt hegemonic and categorical thinking and social structures. It builds on queer theory’s critical perspective, engaging critical futures strategies with adult learners at the forefront.
Recruiting on the Net: insights for employers from prospective employees
Authors: Chowdhury Md Sohel
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Drawing on the signaling theory and technology acceptance model, the main purpose of this study was to predict prospective employees' intentions to apply for jobs in a firm, with a special focus on the mediating role of attitudes toward corporate websites and the moderating role of perceived value fit.

Design/methodology/approach

Collecting data from a convenient sample of 318 prospective job candidates, the research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS (version 24) and SPSS Process Macro (version 3.4).

Findings

The test results revealed that prospective employees' attitudes toward corporate websites partially mediate the association of corporate reputations, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness with their intentions to apply for jobs in an organization. Noticeably, perceived value fit moderated the perceived usefulness–application intentions link in such a way that the impact of perceived usefulness on intentions to apply appears higher for individuals with a low level (than a high level) of perceived value fit.

Research limitations/implications

Consistent with the research findings, a notable theoretical contribution and practical implications for HR professionals have been discussed. This paper ends with outlining some limitations and future research directions.

Originality/value

Despite having the salient buffering effects of perceived value fit on the applicant attraction process, empirical study on this theoretical phenomenon is still sparse in a pre-employment context. This may be the first study that demonstrates under what circumstances prospective employees' job pursuit intentions could be optimized in respect of their perceived value fit within a single framework comprised of two theories.
The mediating effect of sustainability strategy between sustainability committees and business performance: can persistent assessment condition this effect?
Authors: López-Arceiz Francisco José , del Río Cristina , Bellostas Ana
Published: January 2022

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the role of persistence in the assessments carried out by sustainability agencies in the interaction between sustainability committee characteristics, sustainability strategies and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors accessed a sample of European sustainable multinational and transnational companies (EMNs) for the period 2008–2017 from RobecoSAM universe. Using a set of simultaneous equation models, the authors test the effect of the sustainability committee on sustainability performance considering the sustainability strategy as a mediating element. Moreover, the authors analysed if the persistent assessment of sustainability agencies conditions the previous interaction.

Findings

Persistence of the sustainability assessment performed by an external agency is necessary to support the sustainability strategy and the sustainability committee, legitimating an organization in its institutional context.

Practical implications

This study provides practitioners with relevant insights into the identification of the sustainability strategy followed by an EMN and the effects associated with it can be useful for social and economic agents in decision-making processes.

Social implications

A persistent assessment could be a signal over time of the evolution of organizations, reinforcing the monitoring mechanisms. It is a stimulus to EMNs as they obtain both an indicator of their levels of performance and public recognition.

Originality/value

The lack of similarity in the levels of sustainable performance observed among companies can be explained by the persistence, which is an omitted variable in previous studies.