bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perioperative Morbidity and Mortality of Patients With COVID-19 Who Undergo Urgent and Emergent Surgical Procedures
Authors: Knisely Anne , Zhou Zhen Ni , Wu Jenny , Huang Yongmei , Holcomb Kevin , Melamed Alexander , Advincula Arnold P. , Lalwani Anil , Khoury-Collado Fady , Tergas Ana I. , St. Clair Caryn M. , Hou June Y. , Hershman Dawn L. , D’Alton Mary E. , Huang Yolanda Ya-Chin , Wright Jason D.
Published: October 2020

Objective:

To evaluate the perioperative morbidity and mortality of patients with COVID-19 who undergo urgent and emergent surgery.

Summary Background Data:

Although COVID-19 infection is usually associated with mild disease, it can lead to severe respiratory complications. Little is known about the perioperative outcomes of patients with COVID-19.

Methods:

We examined patients who underwent urgent and emergent surgery at 2 hospitals in New York City from March 17 to April 15, 2020. Elective surgical procedures were cancelled throughout and routine, laboratory based COVID-19 screening was instituted on April 1. Mortality, complications, and admission to the intensive care unit were compared between patients with COVID-19 detected perioperatively and controls.

Results:

Among 468 subjects, 36 (7.7%) had confirmed COVID-19. Among those with COVID-19, 55.6% were detected preoperatively and 44.4% postoperatively. Before the routine preoperative COVID-19 laboratory screening, 7.7% of cases were diagnosed preoperatively compared to 65.2% after institution of screening (P = 0.0008). The perioperative mortality rate was 16.7% in those with COVID-19 compared to 1.4% in COVID-19 negative subjects [aRR = 9.29; 95% confidence interval (CI), 5.68–15.21]. Serious complications were identified in 58.3% of COVID-19 subjects versus 6.0% of controls (aRR = 7.02; 95%CI, 4.96–9.92). Cardiac arrest, sepsis/shock, respiratory failure, pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and acute kidney injury were more common in those with COVID-19. The intensive care unit admission rate was 36.1% in those with COVID-19 compared to 16.4% of controls (aRR = 1.34; 95%CI, 0.86–2.09).

Conclusions:

COVID-19 is associated with an increased risk for serious perioperative morbidity and mortality. A substantial number of patients with COVID-19 are not identified until after surgery.
Growth–fragmentation–coagulation equations with unbounded coagulation kernels
Authors: Banasiak J. , Lamb W.
Published: October 2020

In this paper, we prove the global in time solvability of the continuous growth–fragmentation–coagulation equation with unbounded coagulation kernels, in spaces of functions having finite moments of sufficiently high order. The main tool is the recently established result on moment regularization of the linear growth–fragmentation semigroup that allows us to consider coagulation kernels whose growth for large clusters is controlled by how good the regularization is, in a similar manner to the case when the semigroup is analytic.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Semigroup applications everywhere’.
Towards a Koopman theory for dynamical systems on completely regular spaces
Authors: Farkas Bálint , Kreidler Henrik
Published: October 2020

The Koopman linearization of measure-preserving systems or topological dynamical systems on compact spaces has proven to be extremely useful. In this article, we look at dynamics given by continuous semiflows on completely regular spaces, which arise naturally from solutions of PDEs. We introduce Koopman semigroups for these semiflows on spaces of bounded continuous functions. As a first step we study their continuity properties as well as their infinitesimal generators. We then characterize them algebraically (via derivations) and lattice theoretically (via Kato’s equality). Finally, we demonstrate—using the example of attractors—how this Koopman approach can be used to examine properties of dynamical systems.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Semigroup applications everywhere’.
Semigroups for dynamical processes on metric graphs
Authors: Kramar Fijavž Marjeta , Puchalska Aleksandra
Published: October 2020

We present the operator semigroups approach to the first- and second-order dynamical systems taking place on metric graphs. We briefly survey the existing results and focus on the well-posedness of the problems with standard vertex conditions. Finally, we show two applications to biological models.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Semigroup applications everywhere’.
Yeosuana marina sp. nov., isolated from shallow-sea hydrothermal systems off Kueishantao Island
Authors: Zhang Qingfeng , Lin Dan , Ye Jianing , Lin Ta-Hui , Li Chenlan , Lin Huaying , Sun Xueqiong , Tang Kai
Published: October 2020

A novel Gram-stain-negative, non-flagellated, non-motile, rod-shaped (0.4–0.6×1.8–2.5 µm), aerobic bacterial strain, designated JLT21T, was isolated from seawater of a shallow-sea hydrothermal system. Growth occurred with 0–4.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2.0 % NaCl), at 8–45 °C (optimum, 25 °C) and at pH 3.0–10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0). Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain JLT21T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to

Gaetbulibacter aquiaggeris

KEM-8T (97.2 %),

Gaetbulibacter marinus

IMCC1914T (96.9 %) and

Yeosuana aromativorans

GW1-1T (96.9 %). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain JLT21T clustered with

Y. aromativorans

GW1-1T. The predominant respiratory quinone of strain JLT21T was menaquinone-6 (MK-6). Polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, three unidentified glycolipids and four unidentified lipids. The major fatty acids of strain JLT21T were iso-C15 : 0 (21.7 %), C16 : 1
 ω6c/ω7c (11.5 %) and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH (10.9 %). The DNA G+C content of strain JLT21T was 32.6 %. On the basis of polyphasic analysis, strain JLT21T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus

Yeosuana

, for which the name Yeosuana marina sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Yeosuana marina is JLT21T (=CGMCC 1.15787T=JCM 31511T). The study helps us better understand the bacterial species in the shallow-sea hydrothermal system and their adaptations to the hydrothermal environment.
Identification of the conjugative and mobilizable plasmid fragments in the plasmidome using sequence signatures
Authors: Fang Zhencheng , Zhou Hongwei
Published: October 2020

Plasmids are the key element in horizontal gene transfer in the microbial community. Recently, a large number of experimental and computational methods have been developed to obtain the plasmidomes of microbial communities. Distinguishing transmissible plasmid sequences, which are derived from conjugative or at least mobilizable plasmids, from non-transmissible plasmid sequences in the plasmidome is essential for understanding the diversity of plasmids and how they regulate the microbial community. Unfortunately, due to the highly fragmented characteristics of DNA sequences in the plasmidome, effective identification methods are lacking. In this work, we used information entropy from information theory to assess the randomness of synonymous codon usage over 4424 plasmid genomes. The results showed that for all amino acids, the choice of a synonymous codon in conjugative and mobilizable plasmids is more random than that in non-transmissible plasmids, indicating that transmissible plasmids have different sequence signatures from non-transmissible plasmids. Inspired by this phenomenon, we further developed a novel algorithm named PlasTrans. PlasTrans takes the triplet code sequences and base sequences of plasmid DNA fragments as input and uses the convolutional neural network of the deep learning technique to further extract the more complex signatures of the plasmid sequences and identify the conjugative and mobilizable DNA fragments. Tests showed that PlasTrans could achieve an AUC of as high as 84–91%, even though the fragments only contained hundreds of base pairs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantitative analysis of the difference in sequence signatures between transmissible and non-transmissible plasmids, and we developed the first tool to perform transferability annotation for DNA fragments in the plasmidome. We expect that PlasTrans will be a useful tool for researchers who analyse the properties of novel plasmids in the microbial community and horizontal gene transfer, especially the spread of resistance genes and virulence factors associated with plasmids. PlasTrans is freely available via https://github.com/zhenchengfang/PlasTrans
Siderophore piracy enhances Vibrio cholerae environmental survival and pathogenesis
Authors: Byun Hyuntae , Jung I-Ji , Chen Jiandong , Larios Valencia Jessie , Zhu Jay
Published: October 2020

Vibrio cholerae, the aetiological agent of cholera, possesses multiple iron acquisition systems, including those for the transport of siderophores. How these systems benefit

V. cholerae

in low-iron, polymicrobial communities in environmental settings or during infection remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that in iron-limiting conditions, co-culture of

V. cholerae

with a number of individual siderophore-producing microbes significantly promoted

V. cholerae

growth in vitro. We further show that in the host environment with low iron,

V. cholerae

colonizes better in adult mice in the presence of the siderophore-producing commensal

Escherichia coli

. Taken together, our results suggest that in aquatic reservoirs or during infection,

V. cholerae

may overcome environmental and host iron restriction by hijacking siderophores from other microbes.
Estimating divergence times from DNA sequences
Authors: Sjödin Per , McKenna James , Jakobsson Mattias
Published: October 2020

The patterns of genetic variation within and among individuals and populations can be used to make inferences about the evolutionary forces that generated those patterns. Numerous population genetic approaches have been developed in order to infer evolutionary history. Here, we present the ‘Two-Two (TT)’ and the ‘Two-Two-outgroup (TTo)’ methods; two closely related approaches for estimating divergence time based in coalescent theory. They rely on sequence data from two haploid genomes (or a single diploid individual) from each of two populations. Under a simple population-divergence model, we derive the probabilities of the possible sample configurations. These probabilities form a set of equations that can be solved to obtain estimates of the model parameters, including population split-times, directly from the sequence data. This transparent and computationally efficient approach to infer population divergence time makes it possible to estimate time scaled in generations (assuming a mutation rate), and not as a compound parameter of genetic drift. Using simulations under a range of demographic scenarios, we show that the method is relatively robust to migration and that the TTo-method can alleviate biases that can appear from drastic ancestral population size changes. We illustrate the utility of the approaches with some examples, including estimating split times for pairs of human populations as well as providing further evidence for the complex relationship among Neandertals and Denisovans and their ancestors.
Metagenomics and quantitative stable isotope probing offer insights into metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degraders in chronically polluted seawater
Authors: Sieradzki Ella T. , Morando Michael , Fuhrman Jed A.
Published: October 2020

Bacterial biodegradation is a significant contributor to remineralization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): toxic and recalcitrant components of crude oil as well as byproducts of partial combustion chronically introduced into seawater via atmospheric deposition. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill demonstrated the speed at which a seed PAH-degrading community maintained by low chronic inputs can respond to acute pollution. We investigated the diversity and functional potential of a similar seed community in the Port of Los Angeles, a chronically polluted site, using stable isotope probing with naphthalene, deep-sequenced metagenomes and carbon incorporation rate measurements at the port and in two sites further into the San Pedro Channel. We demonstrate the ability of a local seed community of degraders at the Port of LA to incorporate carbon from naphthalene, leading to a quick shift in the microbial community composition to be dominated by these normally rare taxa. We were able to directly show that assembled genomes belonged to naphthalene degraders by matching their 16S-rRNA gene with experimental stable isotope probing data. Surprisingly, we did not find a full PAH degradation pathway in those genomes and even when combining genes from the entire microbial community. We analyze metabolic pathways identified in 29 genomes whose abundance increased in the presence of naphthalene to generate metagenomic-based recommendations for future optimization of PAHs bioremediation.

Importance

Oil spills in the marine environment have a devastating effect on marine life and biogeochemical cycles. Oil-degrading bacteria occur naturally in the ocean, especially where they are supported by chronic inputs of oil, and have a significant role in degradation of oil spills. The most recalcitrant and toxic component of oil is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Therefore, the bacteria who can break those molecules down are of particular importance. We identified such bacteria at the port of Los Angeles, one of the busiest ports worldwide, and characterized their metabolic capabilities. Based on those analyses we proposed chemical targets to stimulate the activity of these bacteria in case of an oil spill in the port of LA.
Cysteine residues in the C-terminal tail of connexin32 regulate its trafficking
Authors: Ray Anuttoma , Mehta Parmender P.
Published: October 2020

Gap junctions (GJ)s are formed by the assembly of constituent transmembrane proteins called connexins (Cxs). Aberrations in this assembly of Cxs are observed in several genetic diseases as well as in cancers. Hence it becomes imperative to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying such assembly defect. The polarized cells in the epithelia express Connexin32 (Cx32). The carboxyl-terminal tail (CT) of Cx32 orchestrates several aspects of GJ dynamics, function and growth. The study here was aimed at determining if post-translational modifications, specifically, palmitoylation of cysteine residues, present in the CT of Cx32, has any effect on GJ assembly. The CT of Cx32 was found to harbor three cysteine residues, which are likely to be modified by palmitoylation. The study here has revealed for the first time that Cx32 is palmitoylated at cysteine 217 (C217). However, it was found that mutating C217 to alanine affected neither the trafficking nor the ability of Cx32 to assemble into GJs. Intriguingly, it was discovered that mutating cysteine 280 and 283 in combination, blocked the transport of Cx32 from the Golgi to the cell surface. Overall, the findings reveal the importance of the two terminal cysteine residues of Cx32 in regulating its trafficking and stability and hence is ability to assemble into GJs, possibly as being part of a CAAX motif in its CT.
RNA-Seq Time Series ofVitis viniferaBud Development Reveals Correlation of Expression Patterns with the Local Temperature Profile
Authors: Pucker Boas , Schwandner Anna , Becker Sarah , Hausmann Ludger , Viehöver Prisca , Töpfer Reinhard , Weisshaar Bernd , Holtgräwe Daniela
Published: October 2020

Plants display sophisticated mechanisms to tolerate challenging environmental conditions and need to manage their ontogenesis in parallel. Here, we set out to generate an RNA-Seq time series dataset throughout grapevine (Vitis vinifera) early bud development. The expression of the developmental regulatorVviAP1served as an indicator for progress of development. We investigated the impact of changing temperatures on gene expression levels during the time series and detected a correlation between increased temperatures and a high expression level of genes encoding heat-shock proteins. The data set also allowed the exemplary investigation of expression patterns of genes from three transcription factor (TF) gene families, namely MADS-box, WRKY, and R2R3-MYB genes. Inspection of the expression profiles from all three TF gene families indicated that a switch in the developmental program takes place in July which coincides with increased expression of the bud dormancy marker geneVviDRM1.
Feeding habits and novel prey of larval fishes in the northern San Francisco Estuary
Authors: Jungbluth Michelle J. , Burns Jillian , Grimaldo Lenny , Slaughter Anne , Katla Aspen , Kimmerer Wim
Published: October 2020

Food limitation can dampen survival and growth of fish during early development. To investigate prey diversity important to the planktivorous larval longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleichthys) and Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) from the San Francisco Estuary, we used DNA metabarcoding analysis of the cytochrome oxidase I gene on the guts of these fishes and on environmental zooplankton samples. Differential abundance analysis suggested that both species consumed the most abundant zooplankton at a lower rate than their availability in the environment. Both fish consumed the prey that were commonly available and relatively abundant. Prey taxa substantially overlapped between the two species (Schoener’s index = 0.66), and alpha diversity analysis suggested high variability in the content of individual guts. Abundant prey taxa in both fish species included the copepodsEurytemora carolleeae, Acanthocyclops americanus, andA. robustus; theAcanthocyclopsspp. are difficult to identify morphologically. A few uncommon prey in the diets hint at variable feeding strategies, such as herring (presumably egg) DNA in the longfin smelt diets, which suggests feeding near substrates. Herring consumed the small (<0.5 mm) copepodLimnoithona tetraspinamore frequently (30%) than did smelt (2%), possibly indicating differences in foraging behavior or sensory abilities. Among the unexpected prey found in the diets was the cnidarianHydra oligactis, the polychaeteDasybranchussp., and a newly identified speciesMesocyclops pehpeiensis. “Unknown” DNA was in 56% of longfin smelt diets and 57% of herring diets, and made up 17% and 21% of the relative read abundance in the two species, respectively. Our results suggest that these two fishes, which overlap in nursery habitat, also largely overlap in food resources necessary for larval survival.
Individual-based simulations of genome evolution with ancestry: the GenomeAdmixR R package
Authors: Janzen Thijs , Diaz Fernando
Published: October 2020

Hybridization between populations or species results in a mosaic of the two parental genomes. This and other types of genome admixture have received increasing attention for their implications in speciation, human evolution, Evolve and Resequence (E&R) and genetic mapping. However, a thorough understanding of how local ancestry changes after admixture, and how selection affects patterns of local ancestry remains elusive. The complexity of these questions limits analytical treatment, but these scenarios are specifically suitable for simulation.

Here, we present the R package GenomeAdmixR, which uses an individual-based model to simulate genomic patterns following admixture forward in time. GenomeAdmixR provides user-friendly functions to set up and analyze simulations under evolutionary scenarios with selection, linkage and migration.

We show the flexible functionality of the GenomeAdmixR workflow by demonstrating 1) how to design an E&R simulation using GenomeAdmixR and 2) how to use GenomeAdmixR to verify analytical expectations following from the theory of junctions.

GenomeAdmixR provides a mechanistic approach to explore expected genome responses to realistic admixture scenarios. With this package, we aim to aid researchers in testing specific hypotheses based on empirical findings involving admixing populations.
Correction of the X-ray wavefront from compound refractive lenses using 3D printed refractive structures
Authors: Dhamgaye Vishal , Laundy David , Baldock Sara , Moxham Thomas , Sawhney Kawal
Published: October 2020

A refractive phase corrector optics is proposed for the compensation of fabrication error of X-ray optical elements. Here, at-wavelength wavefront measurements of the focused X-ray beam by knife-edge imaging technique, the design of a three-dimensional corrector plate, its fabrication by 3D printing, and use of a corrector to compensate for X-ray lens figure errors are presented. A rotationally invariant corrector was manufactured in the polymer IP-STM using additive manufacturing based on the two-photon polymerization technique. The fabricated corrector was characterized at the B16 Test beamline, Diamond Light Source, UK, showing a reduction in r.m.s. wavefront error of a Be compound refractive Lens (CRL) by a factor of six. The r.m.s. wavefront error is a figure of merit for the wavefront quality but, for X-ray lenses, with significant X-ray absorption, a form of the r.m.s. error with weighting proportional to the transmitted X-ray intensity has been proposed. The knife-edge imaging wavefront-sensing technique was adapted to measure rotationally variant wavefront errors from two different sets of Be CRL consisting of 98 and 24 lenses. The optical aberrations were then quantified using a Zernike polynomial expansion of the 2D wavefront error. The compensation by a rotationally invariant corrector plate was partial as the Be CRL wavefront error distribution was found to vary with polar angle indicating the presence of non-spherical aberration terms. A wavefront correction plate with rotationally anisotropic thickness is proposed to compensate for anisotropy in order to achieve good focusing by CRLs at beamlines operating at diffraction-limited storage rings.
Extracting contrast in an X-ray speckle visibility spectroscopy experiment under imperfect conditions
Authors: Hua Nelson , Zaluzhnyy Ivan A. , Hrkac Stjepan B. , Shabalin Anatoly G. , Shpyrko Oleg G.
Published: October 2020

Pump–probe experiments at synchrotrons and free-electron lasers to study ultrafast dynamics in materials far from equilibrium have been well established, but techniques to investigate equilibrium dynamics on the nano- and pico-second timescales remain underdeveloped and experimentally challenging. A promising approach relies on a double-probe X-ray speckle visibility spectroscopy setup at split-and-delay beamlines of X-ray free-electron lasers. However, the logistics in consistently producing two collinear, perfectly overlapping pulses necessary to conduct a faithful experiment is difficult to achieve. In this paper, a method is introduced to extract contrast in the case where an angular misalignment and imperfect overlap exists between the two pulses. Numerical simulations of a dynamical system show that contrast can still be extracted for significant angular misalignments accompanied by partial overlap between the two pulses.
Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya, Vallabh Vidyanagar
Authors: Chand Vijaya Sherry , Vasavada Mukul
Published: October 2020

Dr. F. S. Umarigar, Principal of Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya, Vallabh Vidyanagar is facing the challenge of responding to the change of status of the college, from that of Grant-in-Aid to a college with autonomous status. This significant change is contemplated as a part of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme Phase II (TEQIP II), a government initiative, funded by World Bank. The case presents the operational challenges for improving and sustaining the quality of technical education within the larger transition to autonomous status. It also provides an opportunity to examine the tension between autonomy and governance.
Load balancing in the internet of things using fuzzy logic and shark smell optimization algorithm
Authors: Rui Xin , Wu Junying , Zhao Jianbin , Khamesinia Maryam Sadat
Published: October 2020

Purpose

Based on the positive features of the shark smell optimization (SSO) algorithm, the purpose of this paper is to propose a method based on this algorithm, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) model and fuzzy logic to minimize the energy consumption of integrated circuits of internet of things (IoT) nodes and maximize the load-balancing among them.

Design/methodology/approach

Load balancing is a key problem in any distributed environment such as cloud and IoT. It is useful when a few nodes are overloaded, a few are under-loaded and the remainders are idle without interrupting the functioning. As this problem is known as an NP-hard one and SSO is a powerful meta-hybrid method that inspires shark hunting behavior and their skill to detect and feel the smell of the bait even from far away, in this research, this study have provided a new method to solve this problem using the SSO algorithm. Also, the study have synthesized the fuzzy logic to counterbalance the load distribution. Furthermore, DVFS, as a powerful energy management method, is used to reduce the energy consumption of integrated circuits of IoT nodes such as processor and circuit bus by reducing the frequency.

Findings

The outcomes of the simulation have indicated that the proposed method has outperformed the hybrid ant colony optimization – particle swarm optimization and PSO regarding energy consumption. Similarly, it has enhanced the load balance better than the moth flame optimization approach and task execution node assignment algorithm.

Research limitations/implications

There are many aspects and features of IoT load-balancing that are beyond the scope of this paper. Also, given that the environment was considered static, future research can be in a dynamic environment.

Practical implications

The introduced method is useful for improving the performance of IoT-based applications. We can use these systems to jointly and collaboratively check, handle and control the networks in real-time. Also, the platform can be applied to monitor and control various IoT applications in manufacturing environments such as transportation systems, automated work cells, storage systems and logistics.

Originality/value

This study have proposed a novel load balancing technique for decreasing energy consumption using the SSO algorithm and fuzzy logic.
Injecting courage into strategy: the perspective of competitive advantage
Authors: Radomska Joanna , Wołczek Przemysław , Szpulak Aleksandra
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This study aims to examine the mediating effect of four antecedents of competitive advantage on the linkage of risky strategy to firm performance, measured by revenue dynamics. It considers the roots of competitive advantage to highlight different patterns and foundations of achieving superior performance. It investigates whether pursuing a risky strategy fosters revenue dynamics growth and whether different mediators are included in that relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Path analysis (structural equation modeling) method is used to analyze data from 122 companies of various sizes and industries. All respondents were responsible for executing strategic management processes. The paper used the subjective perspective, which is based on the individual opinion of senior company managers and owners.

Findings

The authors find a positive relationship between risky strategy and firm performance, but no evidence of a mediating role of competitive advantage and dynamic growth in this relationship. Competitive advantage should be perceived as a set of integrated factors that can be analyzed from an aggregated perspective. Integrating all antecedents requires a holistic and systematic approach and the development of a particular mindset. Aggregated competitive advantage is related to setting dynamic growth as a priority. However, no relationship between risky strategy and achieving competitive advantage, or between implementing a risky strategy and setting dynamic growth as a priority, is observed, which was assumed to explain the revenue dynamics growth.

Research limitations/implications

Secondary data should be analyzed to explore how risky strategies are manifested, and which managerial decisions are reflected in high-level risk. A multidimensional scale could be developed to check how risk shapes the constructs’ interdependence. Therefore, the dynamic capabilities approach could be further expanded.

Practical implications

This research offers insights into the short-term relationship between risky strategy and revenue dynamics, although competitive advantage does not mediate that relationship. Special attention should be paid to the selected antecedents of competitive advantage, as they influence dynamic growth.

Originality/value

This work provides insights into different antecedents of competitive advantage, which is not necessarily based on making risky decisions, and into factors that facilitate firm performance measured by revenue dynamics.
The impact of economic factors on the relationships between psychological contract breach and work outcomes: a meta-analysis
Authors: Jayaweera Thushel , Bal Matthijs , Chudzikowski Katharina , de Jong Simon
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the macroeconomic factors that may moderate the psychological contract breach (PCB) and work outcome relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study conducted a meta-analysis based on data from 134 studies.

Findings

The study revealed that the inflation rate and the unemployment rate of a country moderated the association among employee PCB, job performance and turnover.

Research limitations/implications

The availability of more detailed macroeconomic data against the PCB and outcome relationship for other countries and studies examining the impact of micro-economic data for PCB and outcome relationship would provide a better understanding of the context.

Practical implications

The authors believe that the results highlight the importance of the national economy since it impacts individual outcomes following a breach.

Social implications

Employment policies to capture the impact of macroeconomic circumstances as discussed.

Originality/value

One of the valuable contributions made by this paper is that the authors capture the current accumulative knowledge regarding the breach and performance and breach and turnover relationship. Second, the study examines how the inflation rate and unemployment rate could moderate the association between PCB and job performance and turnover.
Does economic freedom improve health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa?
Authors: Sharma Anand
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on four key health indicators (namely, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate) by using a panel dataset of 34 sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016.

Design/methodology/approach

The study obtains data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute. It uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of economic freedom on health outcomes and attempts to resolve the endogeneity problems by using two-stage least squares regression (2SLS).

Findings

The results indicate a favourable impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. That is, higher levels of economic freedom reduce mortality rates and increase life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. All areas of economic freedom, except government size, have a significant and positive effect on health outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

This study analyses the effect of economic freedom on health at a broad level. Country-specific studies at a disaggregated level may provide additional information about the impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. Also, this study does not control for some important variables such as education, income inequality and foreign aid due to data constraints.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should focus on enhancing the quality of economic institutions to improve their health outcomes. This may include policy reforms that support a robust legal system, protect property rights, promote free trade and stabilise the macroeconomic environment. In addition, policies that raise urbanisation, increase immunisation and lower the incidence of HIV are likely to produce a substantial improvement in health outcomes.

Originality/value

Extant economic freedom-health literature does not focus on endogeneity problems. This study uses instrumental variables regression to deal with endogeneity. Also, this is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the relationship between economic freedom and health in the case of sub-Saharan Africa.
Self-counciousness competence as driver of innovation and environmental commitment in higher education students
Authors: Fabregá Marian Buil , Masferrer Núria , Patau Josep , Miró Pérez Albert-P.
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to analyse the relationship between entrepreneurial skills and innovation commitment and entrepreneurial skills and environmental commitment as drivers of awareness on sustainable development of higher education students.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 1,318 business and management students out of the 3,535 students of Tecnocampus Pompeu Fabra University in Spain during the 2017-2018 academic year was selected to conduct a survey regarding their entrepreneurial skills and sustainability commitment, resulting in a total number of responses of 515. A structural equation model is proposed to contrast the hypothesis.

Findings

The statistical analysis showed the existence of a positive relation between the entrepreneurial skill of self-consciousness, innovation and environmental commitment to foster sustainability and sustainable development. It is one of the few studies related to the self-conciousness competence of the entrepreneurial skills which found, as a novelty, that the entrepreneurial skill of self-consciousness is the skill with the greater impact on innovation and environmental commitment.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of the study are that it is based on a sample of students taking entrepreneurship courses at a specific Spanish University that is not representative of all entrepreneurs in all universities.

Practical implications

The research proposes including entrepreneurial skills programmes in higher education and research programmes as a way to assure commitment to innovation and environmental sustainability.

Originality/value

Promoting entrepreneurial skills among higher education students could act as drivers for sustainable development.
The behaviour of wine consumers towards organic wine: a statistical analysis through the non-parametric combination test
Authors: Lanfranchi Maurizio , Zirilli Agata , Alibrandi Angela , Giannetto Carlo
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between consumers and organic wine purchases and how this production process can affect their willingness to pay a premium price. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to assess the role of organic attributes on the consumer’s choice, and how consumer socio-demographic characteristics influence the premium price for organic wine.

Design/methodology/approach

This survey represents the continuation of a paper already published by the same authors, which was aimed at identifying the factors that influence the preference and consumption of wine. The information about wine consumers was collected by the use of an ad hoc questionnaire, administered near very busy places, (supermarkets, main squares, theatres, universities and municipal offices) in a random way, within several municipalities in the province of Messina (Italy). The questionnaire, which was anonymous, was distributed directly with the face-to-face method. In total, 1,097 subjects compose the obtained sample. Among these, 459 subjects (42%) said they consumed organic wine, while the remaining 638 (58%) said they did not consume it. In this research, the non-parametric combination test is used, based on a permutation test, chosen for the several optimal properties which characterize it. Permutation tests represent an effective solution for problems concerning the testing of multidimensional hypotheses that are difficult to face in a parametric context.

Findings

The results obtained may have interesting implications for wineries in the prediction and choice of the company to convert traditional production into organic production, to meet new markets and new segments of consumers. In this direction, without any doubt, organic wines represent an opportunity for the wineries.

Research limitations/implications

Although field experiments are extremely useful for testing behavioural hypotheses, they are often limited by the small sample.

Originality/value

The originality of the research lies mainly in a deeper knowledge of organic wine consumption trends. The study carried out highlights how important it is to know which factors restrain consumers from buying wine so that companies can review their promotion and communication policies and, if possible, meet the needs of the market. The strength of this paper is the use of an adequate statistical instrument. This multivariate and multistrata procedure allows us to reach effective solutions concerning problems of multidimensional hypotheses verifying within the non-parametric permutation inference; it is used in different application fields that deal with the verifying of multidimensional hypotheses with a complexity that cannot be managed in a parametric context.
Understanding the internal audit function in a digitalised business environment
Authors: Betti Nathanaël , Sarens Gerrit
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to gain an in-depth understanding of how the internal audit function evolves in an increasingly digitalised business environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on 29 semi-structured interviews with members of management committees and internal auditors based in Belgium.

Findings

The analysis reveals that a digitalised business environment affects the internal audit function in three respects. First, it impacts its scope. The agility of the internal audit planning and the required digital knowledge are expected to increase and information technology (IT) risks gain importance, especially cybersecurity threats. Second, the demand for consulting activities performed by internal auditors is higher and third, digitalisation modifies the working practices of internal auditors in their day-to-day tasks. New technologies such as data analytics tools are being implemented progressively in internal audit departments and digital skills are considered a critical asset.

Research limitations/implications

This research was conducted in the European Union and gathers opinions of members of management committees and internal auditors. Future research could focus on other internal auditing stakeholders in other legal contexts.

Practical implications

The internal audit function needs to integrate IT and data analytics skills. In addition, the internal audit function should develop consulting activities to help organisations deal with the digitalisation of the business environment.

Originality/value

The impact of digitalisation on the internal audit function and its effect on internal audit practices is an underexplored area.
Constructing certainty through public budgeting: budgetary responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland, Norway and Sweden
Authors: Argento Daniela , Kaarbøe Katarina , Vakkuri Jarmo
Published: October 2020

Purpose

This paper provides a reflective comparison of the budgetary implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for three Nordic countries: Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

By drawing from the notion of ambiguity and constructions of certainty, this study analyzes the most relevant budgetary allocations and packages implemented by the governments of Finland, Norway and Sweden in response to the COVID-19 crisis using empirical documentary data.

Findings

Influenced by the need to save citizens' lives and protect the economy, the three countries have interpreted the COVID-19 threat in different ways. While Finland and Norway seem to be fighting a war against the virus, Sweden appears to view COVID-19 as an exceptionally difficult flu. These different perspectives are reflected in the strategies and budgetary responses implemented in the three countries.

Originality/value

By elaborating on the ambiguities of reality, causality and intentionality, this paper shows how the budgeting mindset aimed at creating certainties among citizens varies among the Nordic countries, which are generally assumed to be similar.
Study of the annealing influence on the mechanical performance of PA12 and PA12 fibre reinforced FFF printed specimens
Authors: Ferreira Isaac , Melo Carolina , Neto Rui , Machado Margarida , Alves Jorge Lino , Mould Sacha
Published: October 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the mechanical performance of FFF parts when subjected to post processing thermal treatment. Therefore, a study of the annealing treatment influence on the mechanical properties was performed. For this, two different types of Nylon (PA12) were used, FX256 and CF15, being the second a short fibre reinforcement version of the first one.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, tensile and flexural properties of specimens produced via FFF were determined after being annealed at temperatures of 135°C, 150°C or 165°C during 3, 6, 12 or 18 h and compared with the non-treated conditions. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was performed to determine the degree of crystallinity. To evaluate the annealing parameters’ influence on the mechanical properties, a full factorial design of experiments was developed, followed by an analysis of variance, as well as post hoc comparisons, to determine the most significative intervening factors and their effect on the results.

Findings

The results indicate that CF15 increased its tensile modulus, strength, flexural modulus and flexural strength around 11%, while FX256 presented similar values for tensile properties, doubling for flexural results. Flexural strain presented an improvement, indicating an increased interlayer behaviour. Concerning to the DSC analysis, an increase in the degree of crystallinity for all the annealed parts.

Originality/value

Overall, the annealing treatment process cause a significant improvement in the mechanical performance of the material, with the exception of 165°C annealed specimens, in which a decrease of the mechanical properties was observed, resultant of material degradation.
The multiple meanings of omnivory influence empirical, modular theory and whole food web stability relationships
Authors: McLeod Anne M. , Leroux Shawn J.
Published: October 2020

The persistence of whole communities hinges on the presence of select interactions which act to stabilize communities making the identification of these keystone interactions critical. One potential candidate is omnivory, yet theoretical research on omnivory thus far has been dominated by a modular theory approach whereby an omnivore and consumer compete for a shared resource. Empirical research, however, has highlighted the presence of a broader suite of omnivory modules.

Here, we integrate empirical data analysis and mathematical models to explore the influence of both omnivory module (including classic, multi‐resource, higher level, mutual predation and cannibalism) and omnivore–resource interaction type on food web stability.

We use six classic empirical food webs to examine the prevalence of the different types of omnivory, a multi‐species consumer–resource model to determine the stability of these different kinds of omnivory within a module context, and finally extend these models to a 50 species, whole food web model to examine the influence of omnivory on whole food web persistence.

Our results challenge the concept that omnivory is broadly stabilizing. In particular, we demonstrate that the impact of omnivory depends on the type of omnivory being examined with multi‐resource omnivory having the largest correlation with whole food web persistence. Moreover, our results highlight that we need to exercise caution when scaling modular theory to whole food web theory. Cannibalism, for example, was the most persistent and stable omnivory module in the modular theory analysis, but only demonstrated a weak correlation with whole food web persistence. Lastly, our results demonstrate that the frequency of omnivory modules are more important for whole food web persistence than the frequency of omnivore–resource interactions.

Together, these results demonstrate that the role of omnivory often depends both on the type of omnivory being examined and the food web within which it is nested. In whole food web models, omnivory acts less as a keystone interaction, rather, specific types of omnivory, particularly multi‐resource omnivory, act as keystone modules. Future work integrating module and whole food web theory is critical for resolving the role of key interactions in food webs.
Salinity controls soil microbial community structure and function in coastal estuarine wetlands
Authors: Zhang Guangliang , Bai Junhong , Tebbe Christoph C. , Zhao Qingqing , Jia Jia , Wang Wei , Wang Xin , Yu Lu
Published: October 2020

Soil salinity acts as a critical environmental filter on microbial communities, but the consequences for microbial diversity and biogeochemical processes are poorly understood. Here, we characterized soil bacterial communities and microbial functional genes in a coastal estuarine wetland ecosystem across a gradient (~5 km) ranging from oligohaline to hypersaline habitats by applying the PCR‐amplified 16S rRNA (rRNA) genes sequencing and microarray‐based GeoChip 5.0 respectively. Results showed that saline soils in marine intertidal and supratidal zone exhibited higher bacterial richness and Faith's phylogenetic diversity than that in the freshwater‐affected habitats. The relative abundance of taxa assigned toGammaproteobacteria,BacteroidetesandFirmicuteswas higher with increasing salinity, while those affiliated withAcidobacteria,ChloroflexiandCyanobacteriawere more prevalent in wetland soils with low salinity. The phylogenetic inferences demonstrated the deterministic role of salinity filtering on the bacterial community assembly processes. The abundance of most functional genes involved in carbon degradation and nitrogen cycling correlated negatively with salinity, except for thehzogene, suggesting a critical role of the anammox process in tidal affected zones. Overall, the salinity filtering effect shapes the soil bacterial community composition, and soil salinity act as a critical inhibitor in the soil biogeochemical processes in estuary ecosystems.