bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Managing design for innovative new products and services
Authors: Nakata Cheryl , Bahadir S. Cem
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine how design should be managed to develop truly innovative products and services. Three management levers were examined: design leadership, design inclusion and design thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was carried out as a survey of innovation managers in the USA. The survey measures were developed from the design and innovation literature. Over 300 managers participated in the survey, and their responses were analyzed by using multiple regressions and other statistical tools.

Findings

All three aspects of design that were studied – leadership, team inclusion and thinking – were found to significantly and positively impact new product and service innovativeness. Of these factors, the most important contributor to innovativeness was design thinking, with having more than three times the impact of the other two. Also, firms that are large, publicly held and technology-intensive are on average more innovative.

Practical implications

To increase the innovativeness – or novelty, interest in and influential – of new products and services, managers should appoint designers as leaders on innovation project, include designers in development teams and above all integrate the design thinking process in organizations.

Originality/value

This study determines that design leadership, inclusion and thinking increases the innovativeness of new products and services.
Factors identifying musician entrepreneurship in a less-developed country: a case of Indonesia's independent musician
Authors: Hermawan Marko S. , Abiyusuf Bastian
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to examine Indonesian independent musicians' (indie) adaptation to the environmental business model. The research on institutional entrepreneurship (IE) has been used in organizational studies, including the music profession. However, the music industry's information and technology advancement has not been scrutinized in a less developed country (LDC) context.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach is used to conduct semi-structured interviews with 14 independent music professionals and enthusiasts. The interview result was three stages of coding, including open, axial and selective, as well as generating appropriate themes.

Findings

The results summarize entrepreneurial behavior, socio-economy and technology factors. The existing literature supports these results, though new perspectives are only identified in the LDC context. Internal factors drive IE, while socio-economy, including music literacy, education and legal issues, influence its sub-setting. On the other hand, technology positively or negatively impacts IE based on individual utilization.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the massive piracy and copyright issues, independent musicians require creativity and innovation beyond product creation. Weak and unclear regulations in Indonesia prevent musicians from revealing their identity and publishing their artwork, preventing or obstructing them from their goals.

Practical implications

This paper illustrates the urgency to implement copyright regulations for musicians in Indonesia, which are insufficiently enforced by law enforcement. Such conditions prevents musicians from revealing their identity and publishing their artwork.

Social implications

This paper addresses the extent to which a community such as independent musician, struggles to find its identity toward the changing of its business model. By mapping the factors associated with an independent musician, the paper suggests that this community has strategic economic potential as a creative entity.

Originality/value

This paper examines the music industry in less-developed nations by contextualizing their institutions using the IE framework. It contributes to identifying the environmental factors influencing independent institutional musicians. Internal and external factors significantly contribute to identifying Indonesia's independent musician setting through IE.
Appraising the role of age among senior entrepreneurial intentions. European analysis based on HDI
Authors: Linardi Marcelo Augusto , Costa Joana
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The research aims to examine the underlying factors of entrepreneurial intentions among seniors. In this vein, it evaluates the role of social context proxied by the human development index (HDI) along with individual characteristics towards these initiatives. Emerging economies deliver great potential for income generation swiftly approaching the standards of their developed counterparts. Their present ageing trends severely threaten growth prospects because of workforce withering. European insights will help anticipating constraints through alternative models of human capital allocation.

Design/methodology/approach

Four logistic regressions were run to address hypotheses in test, relying upon the global entrepreneurship monitor – adult population survey. Estimations include 20,386 individuals from database and 21 European Union countries. Ex-post robustness checks corroborate the global significance of the proposed model.

Findings

Empirical findings reinforce the importance of the macroeconomic context among senior endeavours and the non-linearities in terms of the age effect. Moreover, context can help eroding gender gaps in this field and refine the opportunity perception These results go in line with the literature and extend the importance of promoting a favourable ecosystem. Promotion of senior endeavours must consider smart policy packages encompassing the individual singularities as this age range will be too important to be wasted. Senior entrepreneurs are key to the latent job market crisis, needing to be encouraged through positive discrimination.

Research limitations/implications

Originally, by incorporating an exogenous variable encompassing the role of the entrepreneurial context, this study contributes academically to evaluating the determinants of entrepreneurial activity among the elderly. In addition, the development of cohorts highlights the specific importance of individual characteristics in entrepreneurial propensity in each context. The heterogenous results proves the ineffectiveness of “one sizes fits all” policies.

Practical implications

This research reinforces extant literature, notwithstanding the empirical refinements implemented brought up two additional perspectives: complementing previous towards the relevance of HDI cohorts along with the non-linearities of the effect of age. Learning from the European context and acknowledging efficacy of policy instruments will avoid serendipitous actions or failures, enhancing promising ecosystems such as emerging economies.

Originality/value

The study academically contributes to the appraisal of the determinants of entrepreneurial activity among seniors, thus, in an original way, by incorporating an exogenous variable to appraise the role of the context. Development cohorts evidence the existence of singularities in entrepreneurial propensity and individual characteristics according to their levels, such that policy actions should consider their differences.
Research on green innovation countermeasures of supporting the circular economy to green finance under big data
Authors: Yaoteng Zhao , Xin Li
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the sustainable development strategy of green finance under the background of big data.

Design/methodology/approach

From the perspective of big data, this paper uses quantitative and qualitative analysis methods to judge the correlation among green finance, environmental supervision and financial supervision. Green finance gives the entropy method to calculate the score of green finance and environmental regulation, and establishes the spatial lag model under the double fixed effects of time and space.

Findings

Spatial autocorrelation test shows that economic spatial weight matrix has obvious spatial effect on green innovation. Through the model selection test, the space lag model with fixed time and space is selected. The regression coefficients of green finance, environmental regulation and their interaction are 0.1598, 0.0541 and 0.1763, respectively, which significantly promote green innovation. The regression coefficients of openness, higher education level and per capita GDP are 0.0361, 0.0819 and 0.0686, respectively, which can significantly promote green innovation.

Originality/value

In view of the current situation of large-scale application of big data technology in green innovation of domestic energy-saving and environmental protection enterprises, this paper establishes a fixed time lag evaluation model of green innovation. M-test statistics show that the original hypothesis with no obvious spatial effect is rejected.
Spirituality to organizational citizenship behavior from Islamic perspective: mediating role of spirituality at work and organizational commitment
Authors: Sani Achmad , Ekowati Vivin Maharani
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This study aims to determine the direct and indirect effects of Islamic spirituality on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) Islamic perspective (OCBIP), identifying the role of spiritual and marketing strategy at work and organizational commitment to mediate the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP.

Design/methodology/approach

The research population is all employees of Sidoarjo BRI Syari'ah Branch Office. Total sample involves 130 fulltime employees. Proportional random sampling technique is a selected technique. Data is collected directly from respondents. The analysis used in this study uses Partial Least Square.

Findings

The research results show that Islamic spirituality has no direct effect on OCBIP. Spiritual at work mediates the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP; organizational commitment mediates the effect of Islamic spirituality on OCBIP.

Originality/value

The OCBIP variable is used as the originality in this study. Another finding in this research is the marketing strategy of sharia-based companies. There has not been a comprehensive examination of the influence of Islamic spirituality and marketing strategies on OCB with spirituality at work and organizational commitment as a mediating variable. This Islamic perspective is very important considering the majority of Indonesian citizens are Muslims.
Jersey as an investment funds domicile: benefits and regulations
Authors: Griffin Christopher , Milner Robert , Mulholland James , O’Connor Daniel
Published: July 2021

Purpose

To explain the benefits and the regulations pertaining to Jersey as a domicile for investment funds.

Design/methodology/approach

Provides an overview of Jersey as an international financial center followed by a detailed description of Jersey regulations applying to private funds, expert funds, listed funds, regulated investor funds, retail and other collective investment funds (CIFs), and notification-only funds. Explains fund vehicles including unit trusts, limited partnerships, and companies. Discusses taxes and fund service providers.

Findings

Jersey is one of the world’s major international finance centers, offering location and time-zone benefits; stability and reliability; tax neutrality; a stable political, fiscal and regulatory infrastructure; and highly-skilled financial-service providers.

Originality/value

Expert guidance from experienced investment-funds lawyers
Board gender diversity and the timing of CEO stock option awards
Authors: Guizani Moncef , Ajmi Ahdi Noomen
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This study aims to explore the role of board gender diversity in mitigating chief executive officer (CEO) luck. CEOs are “lucky” when they receive stock option grants on days when the stock price is the lowest in the month of the grant, implying opportunistic timing.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a logistic regression analysis and an instrumental-variable analysis. The sample consists of 3,249 firm-year observations from 2010 through 2015.

Findings

The results show that female directors significantly deter the opportunistic timing of option grants. This study finds that gender diversity – as measured by the percentage of women on the board, the percentage of female independent directors and the percentage of female directors on the compensation committee are likely to reduce the odds that CEOs receive opportunistically timed lucky grants. The results are consistent with those in prior research that documents the benefits of board gender diversity.

Practical implications

The research findings are beneficial to policymakers and regulators, as it allows them to assess the importance of diversity on boards in the monitoring of the managers, particularly as it pertains to the design of CEO compensation packages. Furthermore, these findings have implications for Ibero-American countries as they shed light on the importance to undertake measures and reforms to promote board effectiveness by the introduction of gender diversity.

Originality/value

While prior research has examined the effect of board gender diversity on firm performance, the study is the first to investigate the effect of female directors on the opportunistic timing of option grants, using a rigorous empirical framework that explicitly accounts for endogeneity.
Evaluation of dynamic cointegration-based pairs trading strategy in the cryptocurrency market
Authors: Tadi Masood , Kortchemski Irina
Published: July 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to demonstrate a dynamic cointegration-based pairs trading strategy, including an optimal look-back window framework in the cryptocurrency market and evaluate its return and risk by applying three different scenarios.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses the Engle-Granger methodology, the Kapetanios-Snell-Shin test and the Johansen test as cointegration tests in different scenarios. This study calibrates the mean-reversion speed of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to obtain the half-life used for the asset selection phase and look-back window estimation.

Findings

By considering the main limitations in the market microstructure, the strategy of this paper exceeds the naive buy-and-hold approach in the Bitmex exchange. Another significant finding is that this study implements a numerous collection of cryptocurrency coins to formulate the model’s spread, which improves the risk-adjusted profitability of the pairs trading strategy. Besides, the strategy’s maximum drawdown level is reasonably low, which makes it useful to be deployed. The results also indicate that a class of coins has better potential arbitrage opportunities than others.

Originality/value

This research has some noticeable advantages, making it stand out from similar studies in the cryptocurrency market. First is the accuracy of data in which minute-binned data create the signals in the formation period. Besides, to backtest the strategy during the trading period, this study simulates the trading signals using best bid/ask quotes and market trades. This study exclusively takes the order execution into account when the asset size is already available at its quoted price (with one or more period gaps after signal generation). This action makes the backtesting much more realistic.
The Imagination Premium: an anticipative performance metric
Authors: McGrath Rita Gunther , van Putten Alex , Pierantozzi Ron
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The authors offer a new metric for assessing a company's potential for growth that CEO's and leadership teams can actively manage.

Design/methodology/approach

The Imagination Premium metric reflects the value of a company's equity, beyond what can be readily explained by its ability to throw off cash.

Findings

For a CEO, TIP provides support for an argument that investments in future growth are well warranted.

Practical/implications

A negative TIP signals that investors will not even pay for the capitalized value of current cash flow and this usually leads to activist investors, hostile acquisition threats and C-suite turnover.

Originality/value

The article shows executives how to drive the premium investors will pay for corporate growth initiatives. One of the first things strategists can do to manage their company's TIP is a portfolio analysis that looks at how uncertain each current investment is, and whether the whole portfolio is one growth investors will reward with an increased TIP.
Mastering the challenge of business ecosystems
Authors: Denning Stephen
Published: July 2021

Purpose

The author discusses the challenges of implementing a digital ecosystem, a way of transcending the boundaries of a firm to include additional producers to provide more value to customers and also by making customers active partners.

Design/methodology/approach

An ecosystem is intentionally organized to generate, facilitate and benefit from interactions rather than transactions.

Findings

The author explains how firms can make the customers active participants in creating and evolving the network by embracing the dynamic concept of an ecosystem.

Practical/implications

The ecosystem becomes more valuable to users as more users join.

Originality/value

Essential reading for executives experimenting with corporate digital platforms.
Human cytomegalovirus UL42 protein inhibits the degradation of glycoprotein B through inhibition of Nedd4 family ubiquitin E3 ligases
Authors: Koshizuka Tetsuo , Kondo Hiroki , Kato Hiroki , Takahashi Keita
Published: July 2021

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a globally ubiquitous pathogen and causes congenital infection as well as opportunistic infection in immunocompromised patients. The HCMV UL42 gene encodes a membrane protein that regulates the function of Nedd4 family ubiquitin E3 ligases through its PPxY motif. As HCMV envelope glycoprotein B (gB) also has a PPxY motif at its C‐terminal cytoplasmic domain, we examined whether there was any relationship between UL42 protein and gB. Among the Nedd4 family proteins, Nedd4, Nedd4L, and Itch induced the degradation of gB in transiently expressing cells. The degradation of gB by Nedd4 was inhibited by proteasome inhibitor MG132, lysosome inhibitor chloroquine, and the co‐expression of UL42 proteins. Among those Nedd4 family proteins, Itch was relocalized by the co‐expression of gB to the perinuclear region of the cytoplasm. A co‐immunoprecipitation assay demonstrated an interaction between gB and Itch through its PPxY motif. The 150 kDa gB precursor was aberrantly ubiquitinated, and the total amount of gB was quickly decreased in the absence of UL42. Our results indicate that UL42 prevents the degradation of gB by the inhibition of Nedd4 family proteins.
Behavioural change during dispersal and its relationship to survival and reproduction in a cooperative breeder
Authors: Harrison Natasha D. , Maag Nino , Haverkamp Paul J. , Ganswindt André , Manser Marta B. , Clutton‐Brock Tim H. , Ozgul Arpat , Cozzi Gabriele
Published: July 2021

The ability of dispersing individuals to adjust their behaviour to changing conditions is instrumental in overcoming challenges and reducing dispersal costs, consequently increasing overall dispersal success. Understanding how dispersers' behaviour and physiology change during the dispersal process, and how they differ from resident individuals, can shed light on the mechanisms by which dispersers increase survival and maximise reproduction.

By analysing individual behaviour and concentrations of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM), a stress‐associated biomarker, we sought to identify the proximate causes behind differences in survival and reproduction between dispersing and resident meerkats Suricata suricatta.

We used data collected on 67 dispersing and 108 resident females to investigate (a) which individual, social and environmental factors are correlated to foraging and vigilance, and whether the role of such factors differs among dispersal phases, and between dispersers and residents; (b) how time allocated to either foraging or vigilance correlated to survival in dispersers and residents and (c) the link between aggression and change in fGCM concentration, and their relationship with reproductive rates in dispersing groups and resident groups with either long‐established or newly established dominant females.

Time allocated to foraging increased across dispersal phases, whereas time allocated to vigilance decreased. Time allocated to foraging and vigilance correlated positively and negatively, respectively, with dispersers' group size. We did not find a group size effect for residents. High proportions of time allocated to foraging correlated with high survival, and more so in dispersers, suggesting that maintaining good physical condition may reduce mortality during dispersal. Furthermore, while subordinate individuals rarely reproduced in resident groups, the conception rate of subordinates in newly formed dispersing groups was equal to that of their dominant individuals. Mirroring conception rates, in resident groups, fGCM concentrations were lower in subordinates than in dominants, whereas in disperser groups, fGCM concentrations did not differ between subordinates and dominants.

Our results, which highlight the relationship between behavioural and physiological factors and demographic rates, provide insights into some of the mechanisms that individuals of a cooperative species can use to increase overall dispersal success.
Evaluation of seasonal dynamics of fungal DNA assemblages in a flow‐regulated stream in a restored forest using eDNA metabarcoding
Authors: Matsuoka Shunsuke , Sugiyama Yoriko , Shimono Yoshito , Ushio Masayuki , Doi Hideyuki
Published: July 2021

Investigation of seasonal variation in fungal communities is essential for understanding biodiversity and ecosystem functions. However, the conventional sampling method, with substrate removal and high spatial heterogeneity of community composition, makes surveying the seasonality of fungal communities challenging. Recently, water environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis has been explored for its utility in biodiversity surveys. In this study, we assessed whether the seasonality of fungal communities can be detected by monitoring eDNA in a forest stream. We conducted monthly water sampling in a forest stream over 2 years and used DNA metabarcoding to identify fungal eDNA. The stream water contained DNA from functionally diverse aquatic and terrestrial fungi, such as plant decomposers, parasites and mutualists. The variation in the fungal assemblage showed a regular annual periodicity, meaning that the assemblages in a given season were similar, irrespective of the year or sampling. Furthermore, the strength of the annual periodicity varied among functional groups. Our results suggest that forest streams may act as a ‘trap’ for terrestrial fungal DNA derived from different habitats, allowing the analysis of fungal DNA in stream water to provide information about the temporal variation in fungal communities in both the aquatic and the surrounding terrestrial ecosystems.
Airborne and indigenous microbiomes co‐drive the rebound of antibiotic resistome during compost storage
Authors: Liao Hanpeng , Bai Yudan , Liu Chen , Wen Chang , Yang Qiue , Chen Zhi , Banerjee Samiran , Zhou Shungui , Friman Ville‐Petri
Published: July 2021

Composting is widely used to reduce the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in solid waste. While ARG dynamics have been extensively investigated during composting, the fate and abundance of residual ARGs during the storage remain unexplored. Here, we tested experimentally how ARG and mobile genetic element (MGE) abundances change during compost storage using metagenomics, quantitative PCR and direct culturing. We found that 43.8% of ARGs and 39.9% of MGEs quickly recovered already during the first week of storage. This rebound effect was mainly driven by the regrowth of indigenous, antibiotic‐resistant bacteria that survived the composting. Bacterial transmission from the surrounding air had a much smaller effect, being most evident as MGE rebound during the later stages of storage. While hyperthermophilic composting was more efficient at reducing the relative abundance of ARGs and MGEs, relatively greater ARG rebound was observed during the storage of hyperthermophilic compost, exceeding the initial levels of untreated sewage sludge. Our study reveals that residual ARGs and MGEs left in the treated compost can quickly rebound during the storage via airborne introduction and regrowth of surviving bacteria, highlighting the need to develop better storage strategies to prevent the rebound of ARGs and MGEs after composting.
Status of Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2 resistance in field populations of Helicoverpa zea in Texas, USA
Authors: Santiago González José C. , Kerns David L. , Head Graham P. , Yang Fei
Published: July 2021

Helicoverpa zea is a major target pest of Bt corn and Bt cotton. Field‐evolved resistance of H. zea to Cry1 and Cry2 proteins has been widely reported in the United States. Understanding the frequency of resistance alleles in a target insect is critical for Bt resistance management. Despite multiple cases of practical resistance to Cry proteins having been documented in H. zea, there are no data on the current status of alleles conferring resistance to Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2 in field populations of this pest. During 2018‒2019, a total of 106 F2 families for Cry1Ac and 120 F2 families for Cry2Ab2 were established using mass mating and light trap strategy. We screened 13,568 and 15,360 neonates using a discriminatory dose of Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2, respectively. The results showed that 93.4% and 35.0% of the F2 families could survive on the discriminatory dose of Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2, respectively. The estimated resistance allele frequency for Cry1Ac in H. zea ranged from 0.4150 to 0.4975 and for Cry2Ab2 ranged from 0.1097 and 0.1228. These data indicate that the frequency of alleles conferring resistance to Cry1 and Cry2 proteins in H. zea in Texas are high. In addition, our data suggest the resistance to Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab2 in the screened families of H. zea varies from recessive to dominant. The information in this study provides precise estimates of Cry resistance allele frequencies in H. zea and increases our understanding of the risks to the sustainability of Bt crops.
Molecular assays of pollen use consistently reflect pollinator visitation patterns in a system of flowering plants
Authors: James Aubrie R. M. , Geber Monica A. , Toews David P. L.
Published: July 2021

Determining how pollinators visit plants vs. how they carry and transfer pollen is an ongoing project in pollination ecology. The current tools for identifying the pollens that bees carry have different strengths and weaknesses when used for ecological inference. In this study we use three methods to better understand a system of congeneric, coflowering plants in the genus Clarkia and their bee pollinators: observations of plant–pollinator contact in the field, and two different molecular methods to estimate the relative abundance of each Clarkia pollen in samples collected from pollinators. We use these methods to investigate if observations of plant–pollinator contact in the field correspond to the pollen bees carry; if individual bees carry Clarkia pollens in predictable ways, based on previous knowledge of their foraging behaviors; and how the three approaches differ for understanding plant–pollinator interactions. We find that observations of plant–pollinator contact are generally predictive of the pollens that bees carry while foraging, and network topologies using the three different methods are statistically indistinguishable from each other. Results from molecular pollen analysis also show that while bees can carry multiple species of Clarkia at the same time, they often carry one species of pollen. Our work contributes to the growing body of literature aimed at resolving how pollinators use floral resources. We suggest our novel relative amplicon quantification method as another tool in the developing molecular ecology and pollination biology toolbox.
Testing branding techniques on species common names to improve their fundraising profile for conservation
Authors: Díaz‐Restrepo Alejandra , Balcombe Kelvin , Fraser Iain , Smith Robert J. , Veríssimo Diogo
Published: July 2021

In the search for new ways to bring attention to the conservation of neglected species, marketing is increasingly recognised as offering new insights. Brand creation frameworks provide guidelines to create names or symbols for products that will differentiate them from the competition. In this paper, we examine if species common names that follow these guidelines can improve their fundraising potential. Using a novel choice experiment format that employs a budget allocation task, we evaluate if species common names influence donor preferences, where participants were given real money to donate to the species of their choosing. We model the data collected, which is fractional response data, using a Hierarchical Bayesian Dirichlet regression. Our results indicate that while all attributes are positively related to making a donation, Appeal and Familiarity coefficients are statistically significant but Name is not. There were also no statistically significant interactions between Name and any of the socio‐economic variables. Our results on the importance of Appeal and Familiarity follow past research but contradict past research on the importance of common names, although the latter looked at common names in isolation. This suggests that species traits should not be tested in isolation when trying to understand the drivers of donations to wildlife conservation, as some traits that may appear important when tested separately become comparatively irrelevant when placed in a more realistic context where respondents have to consider multiple species traits. Future research into the influence of common names should investigate the possible impact of name sentiment as well as whether names with geographic references increase support from donors from those areas.
Dentinal tubule penetration of gutta‐percha with syringe‐mix resin sealer using different obturation techniques: A confocal laser scanning microscopy study
Authors: Özdemir Olcay , Koçak Sibel , Hazar Ecehan , Sağlam Baran Can , Coşkun Ezgi , Koçak Mustafa Murat
Published: July 2021

This study aimed to evaluate dentinal tubule penetration of the root canal filling material using various techniques such as cold lateral compaction, new generation thermoplastic core carrier and continuous‐wave obturation. The root canals of premolar teeth were instrumented, and the teeth were allocated randomly to three groups (n = 15/group). After the obturation with three different techniques, three sections of 2‐mm thickness at 2, 5 and 8‐mm from the apex were examined under a confocal laser scanning microscope. The data were analysed of variance with a significance level of P < 0.05. There was no significant difference between techniques when parameters were evaluated in total (penetration depth P = 0.418, penetration area P = 0.701). The mean value of the cold lateral compaction group for maximum penetration depth was obtained higher than continuous wave (P = 0.004), whilst there was no significant difference between the thermoplastic core carrier and the other groups.
How to Measure Legislative District Compactness If You Only Know It When You See It
Authors: Kaufman Aaron R. , King Gary , Komisarchik Mayya
Published: July 2021

To deter gerrymandering, many state constitutions require legislative districts to be “compact.” Yet, the law offers few precise definitions other than “you know it when you see it,” which effectively implies a common understanding of the concept. In contrast, academics have shown that compactness has multiple dimensions and have generated many conflicting measures. We hypothesize that both are correct—that compactness is complex and multidimensional, but a common understanding exists across people. We develop a survey to elicit this understanding, with high reliability (in data where the standard paired comparisons approach fails). We create a statistical model that predicts, with high accuracy, solely from the geometric features of the district, compactness evaluations by judges and public officials responsible for redistricting, among others. We also offer compactness data from our validated measure for 17,896 state legislative and congressional districts, as well as software to compute this measure from any district.
The Play of Conspiracy and Democratic Erosion in Plato'sRepublic
Authors: Kasimis Demetra
Published: July 2021

Does theRepublicdepict a conspiracy? The ostensible impetus for discussing profound political change behind closed doors is a desire to discuss the meaning of justice, not to replace a political order with a new one. But the dialogue takes place during the Peloponnesian War, when fears of plots sporadically consumed an eroding Athenian democracy. Arguments about political instability and instances of plotting reverberate throughout dialogue that takes shape in this suspicious climate. Whether Socrates makes us privy to a conversation about a political world that does not exist or presents us with a strategy for talking about revolution undetected remains unresolved. I argue that Athenian fears of secret power and revolution express themselves in the style and arguments of theRepublicand suggest that already at the origins of democratic practice, critics like Plato were concerned with theorizing the subtleties of democratic erosion.
Clinical characteristics and the severity of coronary atherosclerosis of different subtypes of bundle‐branch block
Authors: Zhu Tongjian , Chen Mingxian , Hu Wei , Wang Benfang , Jiang Hong
Published: July 2021

Background

Right bundle‐branch block (RBBB) and left bundle‐branch block (LBBB) play a role in the pathogenesis and progression of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the clinical features and the severity of coronary artery disease associated with different subtypes of bundle‐branch block, according to time of new appearance, is not well characterized in patients with no known CAD.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed data pertaining to consecutive patients with RBBB or LBBB who underwent coronary angiography. The severity of coronary lesions was evaluated using the SYNTAX score. The differential effect of new‐onset RBBB, old RBBB, new‐onset LBBB, and old LBBB on the severity of CAD and its association with clinical characteristics was quantified. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of RBBB and LBBB on the degree of coronary atherosclerosis in patients without known CAD.

Results

Out of the 243 patients, 72 patients had old LBBB, 37 had new‐onset LBBB, 93 patients had old RBBB, and 41 patients had new‐onset RBBB. On univariate analysis, age, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, creatinine, serum glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin level were associated with high SYNTAX score (p < .05 for all). Patients in the new‐onset RBBB, old RBBB, new‐onset LBBB, and old LBBB groups showed significant differences in baseline characteristics and coronary atherosclerosis (p < .05 for all). However, there were no significant between‐group differences with respect to the degree of coronary atherosclerosis as assessed by SYNTAX score.

Conclusions

New‐onset RBBB, old RBBB, new‐onset LBBB, and old LBBB were not associated with the severity of coronary lesions as assessed by SYNTAX score in patients without known CAD.
Spectral and lifetime resolution of fundus autofluorescence in advanced age‐related macular degeneration revealing different signal sources
Authors: Schultz Rowena , Hasan Somar , Curcio Christine A. , Smith Roland T. , Meller Daniel , Hammer Martin
Published: July 2021

Purpose

To determine the fundus autofluorescence (FAF) lifetimes and spectral characteristics of individual drusen and hyperpigmentation independent of those with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in geographic atrophy (GA) areas in late‐stage age‐related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods

Three consecutive patients with complete RPE and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA) exhibiting drusen that were calcified or associated with hyperpigmentation were investigated with multimodal non‐invasive ophthalmic imaging including colour fundus photography (CFP), optical coherence tomography (OCT), near‐infrared reflectance (NIR), blue FAF and fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO). Fluorescence lifetimes were measured in two spectral channels (short‐wavelength spectral channel (SSC): 500–560 nm and long‐wavelength spectral channel (LSC): 560–720 nm).

Results

Drusen lacking RPE coverage, as confirmed by CFP and OCT, had longer FAF lifetimes than surrounding cRORA by 127 ± 66 ps (SSC) and 113 ± 48 ps (LSC, both p = 0.008 in Wilcoxon test, N = 9) and by 209 ± 100 ps (SSC) and 121 ± 56 ps (LSC, p < 0.001, N = 14) in two patients. Hyperpigmentation in CFP in a third patient shows strong FAF with prolonged lifetimes. In the SSC, persistent FAF was found inside cRORA. A crescent‐shaped hyperfluorescence in an area of continuous RPE but lacking outer retina was seen in one eye with a history of anti‐VEGF treatment.

Conclusions

Short‐wavelength fluorescence in cRORA points to fluorophores beyond RPE organelles. Fluorescence properties of drusen within cRORA differ from in vivo drusen covered by RPE. These limited findings from three patients give new insight into the sources of FAF that can be further elucidated in larger cohorts.
The impact of clonal diversity and mosaicism on haematopoietic function in Fanconi anaemia
Authors: Hughes Andrew D. , Kurre Peter
Published: July 2021

Recent advances have facilitated studies of the clonal architecture of the aging haematopoietic system, and provided clues to the mechanisms underlying the origins of hematopoietic malignancy. Much less is known about the clonal composition of haematopoiesis and its impact in bone marrow failure (BMF) disorders, including Fanconi anaemia (FA). Understanding clonality in FA is likely to inform both the marked predisposition to cancer and the rapid erosion of regenerative reserve seen with this disease. This may also hold broader lessons for haematopoietic stem cell biology in other diseases with a clonal restriction. In this review, we focus on the conceptual basis and available tools to study clonality, and highlight insights in somatic mosaicism and malignant evolution in FA in the context of haematopoietic failure and gene therapy.
Distinct Profiles of Relationships With Mothers, Fathers, and Best Friends and Social‐Behavioral Functioning in Early Adolescence: A Cross‐Cultural Study
Authors: Oh Wonjung , Bowker Julie C. , Santos António J. , Ribeiro Olívia , Guedes Maryse , Freitas Miguel , Kim Hyoun K. , Song Seowon , Rubin Kenneth H.
Published: July 2021

Adolescents’ dyadic relationships are likely influenced by the cultural context within which they exist. This study applied a person‐oriented approach to examine how perceived support and negativity were manifested across youths’ relationships with mothers, fathers, and best friends,simultaneously, and how distinct relationship profiles were linked to adaptive and maladaptive functioning (aggression, anxious‐withdrawal, prosociality) within and across cultures. Participants resided in metropolitan areas of South Korea, the United States, and Portugal (10–14 years;N = 1,233). Latent profile analyses identified relationship profiles that were culturally common or specific. Additional findings highlighted commonality in the relations between a high‐quality relationship profile and adaptive functioning, as well as cultural specificity in the buffering and differential effects of distinct relationship profiles on social‐behavioral outcomes.
Parsimony analysis of phylogenomic datasets (II): evaluation of PAUP*, MEGA and MPBoot
Authors: Goloboff Pablo A. , Catalano Santiago A. , Torres Ambrosio
Published: July 2021

This paper examines the implementation of parsimony methods in the programs PAUP*, MEGA and MPBoot, and compares them with TNT. PAUP* implements standard, well‐tested algorithms, and flexible search strategies and options for handling trees; its main drawback is the lack of advanced search algorithms, which makes it difficult to find most parsimonious trees for large and complex datasets. In addition, branch‐swapping can be much slower than in TNT for datasets with large numbers of taxa, although this is only occasionally a problem for phylogenomic datasets given that they typically have small numbers of taxa. The parsimony implementation of MEGA has major drawbacks. MEGA often fails to find parsimonious trees because it does not perform all possible branch swapping subtree pruning regrafting (SPR)/tree bisection‐reconnection (TBR) rearrangements. It furthermore fails to properly handle ambiguity or multiple equally parsimonious trees, and it uses the same addition sequence for all bootstrap replicates. The latter yields values of group support that depend on the order in which taxa are listed in the dataset. In addition, tree searches are very slow and do not facilitate the exploration of different starting points (as random seed is fixed). MPBoot searches for optimal trees using the ratchet, but it is based on SPR instead of TBR (and only evaluates by default a subset of the SPR rearrangements). MPBoot approximates bootstrap frequencies by first finding a sample of trees and then selecting from those trees for every replicate, without performing a tree‐search. The approximation is too rough in many cases, producing serious under‐ or overestimations of the correct support values and, for most kinds of datasets, slower estimations than can be obtained with TNT. In addition, bootstrapping with PAUP*, MEGA or MPBoot can attribute strong supports to groups that have no support at all under any meaningful concept of support, such as likelihood ratios or Bremer supports. In TNT, this problem is decreased by using the strict consensus tree to represent each replicate, or eliminated entirely by using different approximations of the Bremer support.
TRUST‐based features for detecting the intruders in the Internet of Things network using deep learning
Authors: Bhor Harsh Namdev , Kalla Mukesh
Published: July 2021

Internet of Things (IoT) is a trending domain and has acquired much interest for various kinds of civilian applications. The purpose of IoT is to make objects accessible and interconnected via internet. Hence, security to IoT devices is a major issue because devices connected to the IoT network are resource‐constrained. In IoT, the nodes exchange information using insecure internet, which makes the network exposed to different attacks. This article proposes a new intrusion detection strategy, namely, Taylor‐spider monkey optimization‐based deep belief network (Taylor‐SMO‐based DBN). The KDD features and the trust factors are employed for intrusion detection. The KDD features are subjected to the classification, which is progressed using a newly devised optimization algorithm, namely, Taylor‐spider monkey optimization (Taylor‐SMO)‐based DBN. The proposed Taylor‐SMO algorithm is designed by integrating the Taylor series and spider monkey optimization (SMO) algorithm and is employed to train the deep belief network (DBN) to achieve accurate intrusion detection. The proposed Taylor‐SMO‐based DBN outperformed other methods with maximal accuracy of 90%, false alarm rate of10%, precision of 90%, and recall of 92%, respectively.
The risk of unintended deforestation from scaling sustainable livestock production systems
Authors: Castro‐Nunez Augusto , Buriticá Alexander , Gonzalez Carolina , Villarino Eliza , Holmann Federico , Perez Lisset , Del Río Martha , Sandoval Danny , Eufemia Luca , Löhr Katharina , Durango Sandra , Romero Miguel , Lana Marcos , Sotelo Steven , Rivera Ovidio , Loboguerrero Ana Maria , Quintero Marcela
Published: July 2021

Silvopastoral systems (SPS)—production systems integrating trees, forages, and livestock within the same land area—are recognized as critical for reducing tropical deforestation and improving livelihoods, ecosystem services, and carbon sinks. Yet, research on how scaling SPS influences forest cover changes at large geographical scales is scant. Our study delves deeper into the interlinkages between scaling SPS and deforestation. In two surveys conducted among 144 Colombian Amazon livestock producers with traditional or SPS farms, we assessed changes in herd composition between 2016 and 2020. Results showed a change in herd composition, with fewer males and more cows/heifers, suggesting a shift toward specializing in milk production, which, with the appropriate environmental incentives and safeguards, would unlikely broaden deforestation. However, interlinkages between the dairy and beef value chains suggest that extra male cattle from SPS intensification would be moved for fattening as a source of beef to new pastures at the forest border. If SPS scaling interventions in the Colombian Amazon are to be truly deforestation‐free, they need to be designed based on a clear understanding of the interlinkages between food and land systems. Therefore, policies advancing the livestock and land‐use agenda must create mechanisms that support deforestation‐free livestock intensification, based on biophysical and socioeconomic evaluations.
Accelerating vaccine trial conduct in a pandemic with a hot spot‐based inclusion strategy using trial and epidemic simulation
Authors: van der Plas Johan L. , van Esdonk Michiel J. , Kamerling Ingrid M. C. , Cohen Adam F.
Published: July 2021

Clinical development of vaccines in a pandemic situation should be rigorous but expedited to tackle the pandemic threat as fast as possible. We explored the effects of a novel vaccine trial strategy that actively identifies and enrolls subjects in local areas with high infection rates. In addition, we assessed the practical requirements needed for such a strategy. Clinical trial simulations were used to assess the effects of utilizing these so‐called “hot spot strategy” compared to a traditional vaccine field trial. We used preset parameters of a pandemic outbreak and incorporated realistic aspects of conducting a trial in a pandemic setting. Our simulations demonstrated that incorporating a hot spot strategy shortened the duration of the vaccine trial considerably, even if only one hot spot was identified during the clinical trial. The active hot spot strategy described in this paper has clear advantages compared to a “wait‐and‐see” approach that is used in traditional vaccine efficacy trials. Completion of a clinical trial can be expedited by adapting to resurgences and outbreaks that will occur in a population during a pandemic. However, this approach requires a speed of response that is unusual for a traditional phase III clinical trial. Therefore, several recommendations are made to help accomplish rapid clinical trial setup in areas identified as local outbreaks. The described model and hot spot vaccination strategy can be adjusted to disease‐specific transmission characteristics and could therefore be applied to any future pandemic threat.
Melanoma mimicking atypical fibroxanthoma: Report of an unusual case
Authors: Wang Yanqing , Guo Ying
Published: July 2021

Melanoma may mimic a variety of skin lesions clinically and histopathologically, and presents diagnostic challenges. In this article, we describe a case of melanoma in an 89‐year‐old man with a very rare histopathologic presentation, namely the presence of pleomorphic and multinucleated giant cells with abundant cytoplasm, highly resembling an atypical fibroxanthoma. The differential diagnoses in conjunction with the findings in immunohistochemical study are also discussed.