bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Embryonic and adult‐derived resident renal macrophages have different distribution and are maintained by distinctive mechanisms at steady state and during Inflammation
Authors: Shen Xiao (Gregory) , Zhu Qian , Cao Yangyang , Shi Peng
Published: April 2020

The mononuclear phagocytes, including macrophages, dendritic cells and monocytes, are present in the kidney and are greatly involved in the pathogenesis of most kidney diseases. However, it is difficult to discriminate them from each other in the kidney, partly due to the fact that the markers generally used to discriminate them in other organs, such as CD11c, MHC class II and CX3CR1, are highly expressed by many of them. Here, we developed a strategy of multicolor flow cytometry to clearly differentiate them and their subtypes. Their identities were further confirmed by fate mapping, function analyses and lineage‐specific depletion. Using this strategy, we were able to show their inflammatory kinetics and activation alteration in a murine model of renal ischemia‐reperfusion injury. Moreover, by lineage tracing, we found that in adult mice, there were about 25% renal macrophages derived from embryo which are self‐maintaining, while other macrophages were actively replenished from the bone marrow. The embryonic and adult‐derived macrophages were distinctive in transcriptome and in distributions, as the embryonic macrophages highly accumulated in the medulla. Renal epithelial cells highly express CX3CL1 and the CX3CL1‐CX3CR1 axis was required for the differentiation of monoctes to the adult‐derived macrophages but not for the recruitment of monocytes from blood into the kidney. Thus, our discriminating strategy can be widely exploited to analyze mononuclear phagocytes in the kidney and has unveiled the specificity of turnover of renal macrophages.

Support or Funding Information

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant# 81670378, 81700365 and 31771266)
Constructing Combinatorial Synthases Using Acyl Carrier Protein Chimeras
Authors: Armstrong Claire , Kokona Bashkim , Charkoudian Louise K.
Published: April 2020

Synthases encoded by biosynthetic gene clusters in microorganisms are capable of producing structurally complex molecules of diverse function. The ability to mix‐and‐match enzymes from different synthases to create “unnatural natural products” could enable the environmentally‐responsible construction of new pharmaceutically relevant molecules. Acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) are central hubs within biosynthetic pathways as they mediate the transport of molecular building blocks and intermediates to enzymatic partners that extend and tailor the growing natural product. Past combinatorial biosynthesis efforts have failed because of incompatible ACP‐enzyme interactions. To overcome this obstacle, chimeric ACPs capable of cross‐talk between different biosynthetic pathways were designed to serve as a lynchpin in functional hybrid synthases. Chimeric ACPs were constructed by combining features of the actinorhodin polyketide synthase ACP (ACT ACP) and of E. coli fatty acid synthase ACP (AcpP). Given the premise that AcpP interacts with its cognate ketosynthase, FabF, whereas ACT ACP does not, the ability of chimeric ACPs to form a mechanistically‐relevant crosslink with FabF was evaluated. A colorimetric assay was used to assess ACP interactions and revealed the role of Helix II of AcpP in driving ACP‐FabF binding. Results suggest that the residues guiding ACP‐FabF compatibility may reside in Helix II. Future directions will include using site directed mutagenesis to investigate the specific residues responsible for ACP‐FabF recognition.

Support or Funding Information

National Institutes of Health (R15GM120704 to L.K.C)National Science Foundation CAREER Award (CHE‐1652424 to L.K.C.)Cottrell Scholars Award (24350 to L.K.C.)
Identification and structure‐guided enzyme engineering of an extremophilic protein phosphatase
Authors: Chen Tiantian , Vander Kooi Carl D. , Anwar Humza , Sharma Savita , Murphy Robert D. , Gentry Matthew S. , Vander Kooi Craig W.
Published: April 2020

Glucan phosphatases are members of the dual‐specificity phosphatase (DSP) family of cysteine‐dependent phosphatases. In plants, glucan phosphatases regulate starch metabolism while in animals they regulate glycogen metabolism. All known glucan phosphatase family members possess a DSP with a highly conserved active site. There is significant interest in developing glucan phosphatases for utilization in industrial processes involving starch and other polyglucans. We identified a putative phosphatase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermogutta terrifontis (Tt‐phos). Tt‐phos was expressed, purified and found to have a high thermal stability and tyrosine phosphatase activity. Determination of the crystal structure of Tt‐phos demonstrated that it adopts a glucan phosphatase‐like fold and provided key details of its active site architecture. Structure‐guided design was utilized to engineer the enzyme to produce a novel chimeric enzyme that has robust glucan phosphatase activity at elevated temperature. This study establishes the structural mechanism of Tt‐phos and provides key insights into the relationship of glucan phosphatase to the broader phosphatase family. Further, these data demonstrate a successful application of protein engineering for industrial applications of glucan phosphatases.

Support or Funding Information

This work was funded by the NSF (CHE CLP:1808304). Data was collected at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) SER‐CAT.
Insomnia and the late nineteenth-century insomniac: the case of Albert Kimball
Authors: Beaumont Matthew
Published: April 2020

This article explores the emergence, in late nineteenth-century Britain and the USA, of the ‘insomniac’ as a distinct pathological and social archetype. Sleeplessness has of course been a human problem for millennia, but only since the late-Victorian period has there been a specific diagnostic name for the individual who suffers chronically from insufficient sleep. The introductory section of the article, which notes the current panic about sleep problems, offers a brief sketch of the history of sleeplessness, acknowledging the transhistorical nature of this condition but also pointing to the appearance, during the period of the Enlightenment, of the term ‘insomnia’ itself. The second section makes more specific historical claims about the rise of insomnia in the accelerating conditions of everyday life in urban society at the end of the nineteenth century. It traces the rise of the insomniac as such, especially in the context of medical debates about ‘neurasthenia’, as someone whose identity is constitutively defined by their inability to sleep. The third section, tightening the focus of the article, goes on to reconstruct the biography of one exemplary late nineteenth-century insomniac, the American dentist Albert Kimball, in order to illustrate the claim that insomnia was one of the pre-eminent symptoms of a certain crisis in industrial and metropolitan modernity as this social condition was lived by individuals at the
fin de siècle
.
Fagged out: overwork and sleeplessness in Victorian professional life
Authors: Shuttleworth Sally
Published: April 2020

The paper sets current concerns with insomnia in our 24/7 society in the context of nineteenth-century anxieties about the pressures of overwork and sleeplessness in professional culture. Following a case study of a sleepless prime minister, William Gladstone, it explores the early history of sleep research, including the first recordings of a brain pulse during sleep by Angelo Mosso. In parallel with current problems with addiction to sleeping pills, it explores accounts of addiction to choral, a sleeping remedy, and considers the forms of diet and regimes recommended for combatting insomnia. These are surprisingly similar to current advice, including a form of mindfulness breathing. Medical findings also anticipated recent research in arguing that sleeplessness could cause heart problems and what was termed ‘premature mental decay’. Concerns about overwork and lack of sleep were also extended to school children, with campaigns to reduce homework and examinations, in order to improve mental and bodily health. Nineteenth-century medicine offered a broad-based model for understanding the physiological, psychological and social causes of sleep problems from which we can still learn.
Historicising stress: anguish and insomnia in the middle ages
Authors: MacLehose William
Published: April 2020

While the concept of ‘stress' in the modern sense is a twentieth-century innovation, many of the symptoms we associate with the modern condition appear in historical materials going back many centuries. But how did premodern people understand and experience these symptoms and their relation to sleep? This study focuses on the rich materials from the central middle ages in Western Europe, a period during which understandings of the body, mind, emotions and sleep were radically different from the present. It analyses two examples, nightmares and insomnia, disease categories which illustrate medieval views of the impact of worries and anguish on sleep. Medical and other sources identified a number of ways in which the mind and body interacted with one another in complex ways which disrupted the humoral and mental balance of the individual.
Sleep, circadian rhythms and health
Authors: Foster Russell G.
Published: April 2020

At the core of human thought, for the majority of individuals in the developed nations at least, there is the tacit assumption that as a species we are unfettered by the demands imposed by our biology and that we can do what we want, at whatever time we choose, whereas in reality every aspect of our physiology and behaviour is constrained by a 24 h beat arising from deep within our evolution. Our daily circadian rhythms and sleep/wake cycle allow us to function optimally in a dynamic world, adjusting our biology to the demands imposed by the day/night cycle. The themes developed in this review focus upon the growing realization that we ignore the circadian and sleep systems at our peril, and this paper considers the mechanisms that generate and regulate circadian and sleep systems; what happens mechanistically when these systems collapse as a result of societal pressures and disease; how sleep disruption and stress are linked; why sleep disruption and mental illness invariably occur together; and how individuals and employers can attempt to mitigate some of the problems associated with working against our internal temporal biology. While some of the health costs of sleep disruption can be reduced, in the short-term at least, there will always be significant negative consequences associated with shift work and sleep loss. With this in mind, society needs to address this issue and decide when the consequences of sleep disruption are justified in the workplace.
Why sleep matters for young people who may get depressed
Authors: Goodwin Guy M.
Published: April 2020

Depression and anxiety are negative emotional states familiar to us all through personal experience. Less familiar are severe states of depression, in particular, which can actually shorten the lives of sufferers by over a decade. The relationship of these very severe states of illness to the milder cases more common earlier in development is important. Most patients who have suffered from depression will suffer from further episodes during their lifetime, and an early onset may make recurrence more likely. A number of factors increase the risk for depression, including family history, stressful life events, early life experiences, personality (particularly the traits of neuroticism and perfectionism) and mood lability (marked ups and downs). Sleep disturbance may both provoke and/or signal the onset of mood disorder. Sleep is therefore doubly important as a gateway to treatment. Understanding more about how sleep interacts with the established risk factors would allow vulnerable young people to be identified earlier for more effective intervention. Early identification of sleep disorder and depression allows psychological treatments to be used, which are less effective once a full depressive episode and a cascade of neurobiological and psychological effects have occurred.
Sleep, disruption and the ‘nightmare of total illumination’ in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century dystopian fiction
Authors: Ludtke Laura E.
Published: April 2020

This article addresses the charge that the introduction of the electric light in the late nineteenth century increased disruptions to the human body's biological processes and interfered with the oscillating sleeping–waking cycle. By considering the nineteenth century research into the factors that motivate and disrupt sleep in concert with contemporary discussions of the physiology of street lighting, this article exposes how social and political forces shaped the impact of artificial light on sleep and, more perniciously, on bodily autonomy. As a close reading of artificial light in three influential dystopian novels building on these historical contexts demonstrates, dystopian fiction challenges the commonplace assumption that the advent of the electric light, or of widespread street lighting in public urban spaces, posed an immediate or inherent threat to sleep. Beginning with H. G. Wells'sThe Sleeper Awakes(1899), in which the eponymous sleeper emerges from a cataleptic trance into a future in which electric light and power are used to control the populace, representations of artificial light in early dystopian fiction of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries depict a nightmare of total illumination in which the state exerted its control over the individual. In Aldous Huxley'sBrave New World(1932), constant artificial illumination plays a vital role in the chemical and behavioural conditioning undergone by individuals in a post-Fordian world. George Orwell intensifies this relationship between light and individual autonomy inNineteen Eighty-Four(1949), where access to electric current (and thus light) is limited at certain times of the day, brownouts and electrical rationing occur intermittently, and total illumination is used to torture and reprogram individuals believed to have betrayed Big Brother.
Artificial intelligence-enabled rapid diagnosis of COVID-19 patients
Authors: Mei Xueyan , Lee Hao-Chih , Diao Kai-yue , Huang Mingqian , Lin Bin , Liu Chenyu , Xie Zongyu , Ma Yixuan , Robson Philip M. , Chung Michael , Bernheim Adam , Mani Venkatesh , Calcagno Claudia , Li Kunwei , Li Shaolin , Shan Hong , Lv Jian , Zhao Tongtong , Xia Junli , Long Qihua , Steinberger Sharon , Jacobi Adam , Deyer Timothy , Luksza Marta , Liu Fang , Little Brent P. , Fayad Zahi A. , Yang Yang
Published: April 2020

For diagnosis of COVID-19, a SARS-CoV-2 virus-specific reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is routinely used. However, this test can take up to two days to complete, serial testing may be required to rule out the possibility of false negative results, and there is currently a shortage of RT-PCR test kits, underscoring the urgent need for alternative methods for rapid and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. Chest computed tomography (CT) is a valuable component in the evaluation of patients with suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nevertheless, CT alone may have limited negative predictive value for ruling out SARS-CoV-2 infection, as some patients may have normal radiologic findings at early stages of the disease. In this study, we used artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to integrate chest CT findings with clinical symptoms, exposure history, and laboratory testing to rapidly diagnose COVID-19 positive patients. Among a total of 905 patients tested by real-time RT-PCR assay and next-generation sequencing RT-PCR, 419 (46.3%) tested positive for SARSCoV-2. In a test set of 279 patients, the AI system achieved an AUC of 0.92 and had equal sensitivity as compared to a senior thoracic radiologist. The AI system also improved the detection of RT-PCR positive COVID-19 patients who presented with normal CT scans, correctly identifying 17 of 25 (68%) patients, whereas radiologists classified all of these patients as COVID-19 negative. When CT scans and associated clinical history are available, the proposed AI system can help to rapidly diagnose COVID-19 patients.
Risk Analysis and Prediction for COVID19 Demographics in Low Resource Settings using a Python Desktop App and Excel Models
Authors: Kyagulanyi Ali , Muhanguzi Joel Tibabwetiza , Oscar Dembe
Published: April 2020

While the novel covid19 disease caused by sar-cov-2 corona virus has proved a serious threat to mankind it being a pandemic, the rate at which technology in low resource income countries like Uganda has been used to predict the spread and impact of the disease in their economies has not been strongly employed. This paper presents a an excel model and desktop application software developed using open source python programming tools for carrying out risk analysis and prediction of demographics for covid19 disease. Prediction results for both models clearly stated using epidemiological curve, these results can vary based on the force of infection which varies based on government measures and actions. With a certain degree of certainty of the potential impact of the disease on low resource countries, it will foster proper planning and strategical methods to properly manage the pandemic.
Microbiome evaluation revealed salivary dysbiosis in addicts of betel nut preparations
Authors: Saleem Faizan , Mujtaba Ghulam , Kori Junaid Ahmed , Hassan Arshad , Azim M. Kamran
Published: April 2020

Betel nut addiction is recognized as the causative agent of oral microbiome dysbiosis and other systematic disorders. A number of betel nut preparations containing ingredients such as slaked lime, catechu extract and tobacco are being commonly used particularly in South Asia. The underlying variations in the oral microbiome due to usage of betel nut preparations are poorly understood. We evaluated salivary microbiome in response to chewing of betel nut preparation(s). In order to assess the microbiome dynamics, metagenomic analysis of 16S rRNA gene (V3-V4 hypervariable region) from salivary bacteria in chewers of betel nut preparation (n = 16) and non-chewers (n = 55) was carried out by Greengenes and SILVA ribosomal sequence databases. It was observed that Gutka chewers demonstrated lower alpha diversity and number of bacterial genera than the non-chewers. Taxonomic assignment on phylum level revealed Firmicutes (p-value = 0.042 at 95% confidence interval) to be significantly more abundant in Gutka chewers in comparison with non-chewers. Beta diversity analysis at genus level by weighted unifrac distance matrices unveiled both groups to be divergent from each other. On the genus level, Veillonella (p-value = 0.015), Streptococcus (p-value = 0.026), Leptotrichia (p-value = 0.022) and Serratia (p-value = 0.022) species appeared to be significantly more abundant in Gutka chewers in comparison to non-chewers. The present study suggests salivary dysbiosis in response to gutka chewing and concludes that gutka chewers possess higher abundance of acidogenic and aciduric bacteria. This study contributes additional information regarding oral microbiome variations with response to gutka consumption.
Demographic, spatial, and temporal dietary intake patterns among 526,774 23andMe research participants
Authors: Shelton Janie F. , Cameron Briana , Aslibekyan Stella ,   23andMe Research Team, Gentleman Robert
Published: April 2020

Objective

To characterize dietary habits, their temporal and spatial patterns, and associations with body mass index (BMI) in the 23andMe study population.

Design

We present a large-scale cross-sectional analysis of self-reported dietary intake data derived from the web-based NHANES 2009-2010 dietary screener. Survey-weighted estimates for each food item were characterized by age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, and BMI. Temporal patterns were plotted over a 2-year time period, and average consumption for select food items was mapped by state. Finally, dietary intake variables were tested for association with BMI.

Setting

U.S. based adults 20-85 years of age participating in the 23andMe research program.

Participants

Participants were 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research (n=526,774) and completed web-based surveys on demographic and dietary habits.

Results

Survey-weighted estimates show very few participants met federal recommendations for fruit: 2.6%, vegetables: 5.9%, and dairy intake: 2.8%. Between 2017-2019, fruit, vegetables, and milk intake frequency declined, while total dairy remained stable and added sugars increased. Seasonal patterns in reporting were most pronounced for ice cream, chocolate, fruits, and vegetables. Dietary habits varied across the U.S., with higher intake of sugar and calorie dense foods characterizing areas with higher average BMI. In multivariate-adjusted models, BMI was directly associated with intake of processed meat, red meat, dairy, and inversely associated with consumption of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

Conclusions

23andMe research participants have created an opportunity for rapid, large scale, real time nutritional data collection, informing demographic, seasonal and spatial patterns with broad geographical coverage across the U.S.
Exploring the causal effects of genetic liability to ADHD and Autism on Alzheimer’s disease
Authors: Pagoni Panagiota , Dardani Christina , Leppert Beate , Korologou-Linden Roxanna , Smith George Davey , Howe Laura D , Anderson Emma L , Stergiakouli Evie
Published: April 2020

Background

There are very few studies investigating possible links between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Alzheimer’s disease and these have been limited by small sample sizes, diagnostic and recall bias. However, neurocognitive deficits affecting educational attainment in individuals with ADHD could be risk factors for Alzheimer’s later in life while hyper plasticity of the brain in ASD and strong positive genetic correlations of ASD with IQ and educational attainment could be protective against Alzheimer’s.

Methods

We estimated the bidirectional total causal effects of genetic liability to ADHD and ASD on Alzheimer’s disease through two-sample Mendelian randomization. We investigated their direct effects, independent of educational attainment and IQ, through Multivariable Mendelian randomization.

Results

There was limited evidence to suggest that genetic liability to ADHD (OR=1.00, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.02, p=0.39) or ASD (OR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.97 to 1.01, p=0.70) was associated with risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Similar causal effect estimates were identified when the direct effects, independent of educational attainment (ADHD: OR=1.00, 95% CI: 0.99 to 1.01, p=0.07; ASD: OR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.00, p=0.28) and IQ (ADHD: OR=1.00, 95% CI: 0.99 to 1.02. p=0.29; ASD: OR=0.99, 95% CI: 0.98 to 1.01, p=0.99), were assessed. Finally, genetic liability to Alzheimer’s disease was not found to have a causal effect on risk of ADHD or ASD (ADHD: OR=1.12, 95% CI: 0.86 to 1.44, p=0.37; ASD: OR=1.19, 95% CI: 0.94 to 1.51, p=0.14).

Conclusions

In the first study to date investigating the causal associations between genetic liability to ADHD, ASD and Alzheimer’s, within an MR framework, we found limited evidence to suggest a causal effect. It is important to encourage future research using ADHD and ASD specific subtype data, as well as longitudinal data in order to further elucidate any associations between these conditions.
BRAIN RE-IRRADIATION IN LUNG CANCER – NOT AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY
Authors: Agarwal Jai Prakash , Karmakar Shreyasee , Tibdewal Anil , Mummudi Naveen
Published: April 2020

BACKGROUND

Whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) is an effective palliative measure and provides durable symptom relief in lung cancer patients with multiple brain metastases (BM). Clinico-radiological progression of BM after WBRT is a common and challenging scenario; treatment is tailored, with various factors like driver mutation status, age, performance status, progression free interval and time since last irradiation influencing the treatment decision. Surgery or focal RT with stereotactic techniques may be an option for patients with oligo-metastases. However, they might not be a feasible option for patients with multiple BM. We aim to study the impact and outcome of patients with BM from lung cancer receiving re-WBRT for clinico-radiological progression.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed patients with BM from lung cancer who were registered at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, India between January 2016 to January 2019 and had undergone two courses of WBRT. Data of patients were retrieved from electronic medical records. Patients were treated using conventional or conformal technique with either tele-cobalt or Linear accelerator.

RESULTS

Out of 446 patients with lung cancer, diagnosed and treated with WBRT for BM, 6% patients (n=28) received re-WBRT. There were 16 men and 12 women with a median age of 53 years (range 30 to 70 years). Primary histology was adenocarcinoma in all except two patients who had small cell histology. Eighteen patients had driver mutation positive disease (11 with EGFR and 7 with ALK mutation) and a majority of patients (54%) had BM at presentation. Clinico-radiological progression was the commonest indication of re-WBRT. A majority of these patients had developed new symptoms while about 25% had recurrence of previous symptoms. Mean Karnofsky performance score (KPS) prior to re-WBRT was more than 70 in 13 patients (57%). Mean time interval between the two courses of WBRT were 16 months (range 5-37 months). Most patients received WBRT using a conventional technique (91%) and were treated in a tele-cobalt unit (83%). Re-WBRT fractionation schedule was 25 Gy/10 fractions (n=17, 61%) or 20 Gy/5 fractions (n=10, 36%). Mean biological effective dose (BED2Gy) for the first and second courses of WBRT were 63Gy and 56Gy respectively. The average cumulative BED2Gy was 118.91Gy (range 116.25 – 120Gy). Almost all patients received short acting steroids during the course of re-WBRT. All patients except for one completed the course of treatment. At a median follow up of 2.5 years, median survival of patients after re-WBRT was 5 months. Median survival since re-WBRT was 8 months if pre first course of WBRT ds-GPA was 3.5-4 vs 1 month if it was 0-1 (p= 0.025).

CONCLUSION

In lung cancer patients with symptomatic progression of multiple BM and good prognostic features (driver mutation positive, good performance status and long time interval since last WBRT), re-WBRT is safe and associated with better outcomes.
Effect of hydrogen on semiconductor properties and pitting initiation of 2205 duplex stainless steel passivation film
Authors: Zheng Chuanbo , Huang Jiayan , Yi Gua
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to study the effect of current density of hydrogen charging on the semiconductor properties and pitting initiation of 2205 duplex stainless steel (DSS) passivation film.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, the 2205 DSS is pre-hydrogenated and passivated. Then, the passivation film is tested by electrochemical impedance method, Mott–Schottky curve method and dynamic potential scanning method. The influences of hydrogen on the properties of the passivation film and the corrosion behavior of the matrix were studied by analyzing the curves obtained in the electrochemical test. The surface of the passivation film after pre-hydrogenation and anodic polarization was observed by using the ultra-depth three-dimensional microscopy and the scanning electron microscope. The integrity, density and corrosion morphology of the passivation film were studied and discussed.

Findings

With the increase of the hydrogen current density, the growth of the passivation film is hindered, the concentrations of donor and acceptor in the film are increased, the conductivity of the passivation film increases. In the anodic polarization, the dimensional passive current density increases with the increase of the hydrogen current density, and the pitting potential is reversed, the more likely the sample is pitting. In general, hydrogen hinders the formation of the passive film on duplex stainless steel, which increases the concentration of point defects in the passive film. Finally, the passive film is easy to crack and pitting.

Originality/value

The performance of passive film is an important condition to influence the corrosion behavior of stainless steel. However, little research has been done on the effects of hydrogen on the electrochemistry and pitting sensitivity of 2205 DSS passivation films. The effect of hydrogen on semiconductor properties and pitting initiation of 2205 DSS passivation film is needed to be investigated.
Income diversification and cost-efficiency of Vietnamese banks
Authors: Nguyen Phong Hoang , Pham Duyen Thi Bich
Published: April 2020

Purpose

The study examines the impact of income diversification on cost efficiency of Vietnamese commercial banks over the period 2005–2017.

Design/methodology/approach

Income diversification indicators are designed based on measures of diversifying loan portfolio. Besides the traditional model, we use the Fractional Regression to estimate the model with dependent variables defined on the unit interval.

Findings

Through the two-stage DEA analysis, we find that the income diversification has a positive impact on the cost efficiency of banks. In addition, this impact is stronger for unlisted banks and in the phase of banking system ongoing restructuring.

Originality/value

The use of a variety of income diversification measures and estimation methods for models with bounded dependent variable has provided a reliable empirical evidence of the advantages of implementing a strategy on structural diversity of both interest and non-interest income in the emerging banking markets such as Vietnam.
The nexus between corporate governance and intellectual capital in Vietnam
Authors: Tran Ngoc Phu , Van Loan Thi-Hong , Vo Duc Hong
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the relationship between corporate governance and intellectual capital in the context of Vietnam. In this paper, corporate governance is proxied by various characteristics, including board size, a number of independent members in the board, board remuneration, major shareholder holding more than 20 per cent of the outstanding shares and duality of the CEO. In addition, intellectual capital is measured using the modified value-added intellectual coefficient model (MVAIC).

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses data of 45 Vietnamese listed firms during 2011-2018. The MVAIC model is used incorporating four components, namely, human capital, structural capital, capital used and relational capital. In addition, GMM regression technique is used in this paper.

Findings

Empirical findings from this paper indicate that key characteristics of corporate governance, except for board remuneration, may provide a negative effect on the efficient use of intellectual capital.

Research limitations/implications

Intellectual capital emerges as a new field of research that has not been widely examined in emerging countries such as Vietnam. As such, there have not been many studies focusing on understanding intellectual capital and its role in the performance of enterprises. Further studies can evaluate the relationship between intellectual capital and corporate performance, capital structure, corporate value and social responsibility. This study is limited to listed companies in Vietnam because of data limitations in an emerging market. Studies in the future should extend the sample and/or compare differences between manufacturing enterprises and financial institutions, or between countries.

Practical implications

Findings from this paper provide a valuable framework for executives, managers and policymakers in managing corporate governance and intellectual capital within the Vietnamese context.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study that has been conducted to examine the relationship between corporate governance and intellectual capital in the context of Vietnam.
Influences on purchase intentions of organic food consumers in an emerging economy
Authors: Dangi Neeraj , Narula Sapna A. , Gupta Sandeep Kumar
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of organic food buying behaviour in an emerging economy like India, where organic food yet has low market share in spite of its potential. Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as the underlying basis, it attempts to explain the effect of attitude, subjective norms and the perceived behaviour control (PBC) on buying intention towards organic food among respondents in Delhi-National capital region, India. Additionally, it attempts to discriminate functional and constructive attitudes.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative questionnaire survey approach was used on 306 respondents and multiple linear regression was used to validate the research model.

Findings

Attitudes and PBC have a significant positive impact on the intention to purchase organic food. This paper found subjective norms to be weak and barely significant to intention. The results conclude that health motives, past purchase behaviour, knowledge, affordability and trust in organic certification label are the main facilitators in organic food purchase. Primarily, the respondents see buying organic food regularly as being of value and enjoyable to them. A more favourable appearance vs conventional food was negatively related to behavioural intention.

Originality/value

This research could aid all stakeholders in the organic food sector, particularly emerging economies like India where the organic market is still nascent. It could be an essential driver to improve customer involvement and thus aid them in the decision-making process to choose organic food over conventional food. It also attempts to establish the usability of TPB in assessing functional attitudes based on constructive attitudes for organic food purchase.
Factors influencing liquidity position of Indian manufacturing companies
Authors: Tripathy Amit , Uzma Shigufta Hena
Published: April 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the increasing demand for corporate liquidity and examines the various factors influencing the cash position of firms in India. The financial policy to hold cash gained impetus after the financial crisis when the companies faced a severe cash crunch. However, the firms operating in emerging nations have an imperfect market mechanism with stringent regulatory norms. Thus, this paper attempts to examine the determinants of corporate cash holdings in an emerging country like India.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper focuses on the impact of various factors (leverage, firm size, profitability, growth along with other variables), on the cash structure of all the manufacturing companies listed on the Bombay stock exchange. The study employs panel data methodologies over a sample of 323 firms over a period of eight years from 2010 to 2017.

Findings

Significant estimators affecting cash holdings of a firm are the size of a firm, debt levels, tangibility, sales growth and research and development expense. Overall, the study finds evidence on the existence of Pecking Order theory in explaining the determinants of cash holdings in the Indian market.

Research limitations/implications

The study attempts to explore the critical determinants of cash in the Indian context which can be useful for managers and academicians to understand how the key theories of cash holdings operate in an emerging economy like India.

Originality/value

India is an emerging economy and has recently gained global attention and has become a hotspot for foreign investments. Thus, this paper explores pieces of evidence on the critical factors affecting cash holdings in India. The study would provide an understanding of the existing cash policy in the Indian context and attempts to find the changes in the financing structure adopted by the manufacturing industry in the given period.
The establishment of the OECD Asia-Pacific academy for tax and financial crime investigation
Authors: Matsuoka Akira
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This viewpoint paper has two purposes: One is to argue that the Academy activities should increasingly be promoted and used for disseminating the practical and useful skills for the related law enforcement people who fight against financial crime, while the other is to contribute to the basis of discussions and further academy research.

Design/methodology/approach

This study summarizes and indicates potential usefulness of the new academy, specializing in the related social and political contexts in qualitative and descriptive ways.

Findings

This study indicates that the new academy activities in Japan would continue for a long time, thus providing immediately useful skillsets for the investigators and officers at the very frontline who face against various financial crimes.

Originality/value

While little research has been done about the series of related academy activities by OECD, this study describes the historical background and usefulness of the academy of the OECD in a specialized manner, thus showing its linkage with FATF.
A strategic decision making tool for new product and service design
Authors: Pugna Adrian Pavel , Potra Sabina Alina , Negrea Romeo
Published: April 2020

Purpose

The present study aims to further research the theory of attractive quality for new offers by analyzing the HWWP (Health, Weapon, Wealth, Prospect) model and testing its uniformity. The purpose is to extend and refine the HWWP model based on meridian elasticity curves with the final scope of building a map for better understanding the potential value of the quality attributes in new product or strategic service design.

Design/methodology/approach

After a thorough analysis of the HWWP model for prepurchase value judgment, it has been observed that the classical form often presents a concentration of the quality attributes in its graphic representation, which limits managerial decision making. This paper presents a new methodology for testing the uniformity of the current HWWP model and a generalized approach for understanding the potential lifecycle of the new offer's features.

Findings

The results of the presented case study validate the novel tool’s applicability and can serve as a reference for managers to adequately classify customer requirements as the first step toward strategic design.

Originality/value

The author’s main contributions are: to have analyzed the current HWWP model and observed the limitations of this approach; to have proposed a statistical simple method used to test the uniformity of the HWWP model; to have developed a generalized new HWWP model that adequately explores each feature value and potential lifecycle base on meridian slices and elasticity orbits.
Do narcissistic CEOs rock the boat?
Authors: Aabo Tom , Hoejland Frederik , Pedersen Jesper
Published: April 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of narcissistic supply for the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors investigate a sample of 281 non-financial S&P 1500 firms and a corresponding 457 CEOs in the 10-yr period 2006–2015.

Findings

The association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking depends on the admiration, attention, and affirmation of own superiority (“narcissistic supply”) that the CEO receives given her/his current position. Thus, a narcissistic CEO with an insufficient narcissistic supply (small firm/small compensation) will crave for more and take more risks (“rock the boat”) while a narcissistic CEO with a sufficient narcissistic supply (large firm/large compensation) will protect the status quo and be reluctant to take new risks. Specifically, the authors find that a change from a slightly narcissistic CEO to a strongly narcissistic CEO, for positions entailing limited (abundant) narcissistic supply, is associated with an increase (a decrease) in corporate risk of 6%–8% (11%–27%).

Originality/value

Previous research indicates a positive association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking in specific domains such as M&A and R&D activities. This paper provides a novel contribution to the existing literature by identifying and assessing the important role of narcissistic supply for the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking in general.
Corporate social responsibility practices as the apex of giving?
Authors: Etogo Gabriel
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices from the epistemological position advocated by the MAUSS. The latter, beyond paying tribute to Marcel Mauss, refers to the project of combating all utilitarian and economistic reductionism.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper discusses the question of the definition of CSR practices by basing the analysis on the definition proposed by Etogo, which considers CSR practices as all forms of key-giving transactions, material or immaterial, which update the primary and secondary links between the company and its human and non-human environment.

Findings

The sociology of CSR practices is seeking the notion of gift in companies which are places of profit and utilitarian calculus. This research emphasizes that the triple duty of giving-receiving-returning structures CSR practices. The approach extends the perspective of Godbout’s gift, which recalls how Homo donator, along with Crozier and Friedberg’s Homo strategus, is at the center of CSR practices.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed approach comes up against a particular limit. Despite its sociological fruitfulness, the gift paradigm is not immediately operational from a managerial point of view.

Practical implications

This reflection suggests to consider that CSR practices participate in a form of reconfiguration of the efficiency of the company insofar as they call into question the partial analysis of the efficiency of the company for the benefit of the shareholders. For CSR practices to be effective, managers must understand the interdependence between society and business: the well-being of society and business development cannot be opposed. Managers therefore need to integrate CSR practices into the company's strategy.

Social implications

This reflection can have interesting implications in terms of building citizen identity. Specifically, it is a question of rebalancing the link between social and economic logics, by legitimizing the social utility of companies as well as their involvement in the organization and functioning of the city.

Originality/value

This note seeks to emphasize the fecundity of the epistemological position advocated by the MAUSS to reconstruct the role of CSR practices by adopting a balanced approach.
Bridging structural and micro-level factors in cultural labor studies
Authors: Shin Victor K.W. , Tsang Ling Tung , Tse Tommy H.L.
Published: April 2020

Purpose

This study aims to examine how the organizational structure of arts groups and their administrative personnel’s socio-demographic attributes affect the working conditions of and create tensions for their staff. Recent discussion about the cultural industries and labor has pursued two strands – macro-level research expounds on the organization of cultural industries and labor market; and micro-level studies focus on the work and employment of cultural practitioners. Very few of them, however, articulate the relationships between the two levels. This study contributes to the literature with a multilevel framework that examines the interplay between the structural conditions and personal factors in which labor–capital relationships evolve.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies a qualitative approach to collect and analyze data. It conducted 39 in-depth interviews with arts managers and administrators from a sample of 18 performing arts organizations across four performing arts sectors in Hong Kong, namely, drama, music, dance and opera. The stratified sample covers arts organizations of different funding models – the public “nationalized” form, the mixed-economy form, and the privatized form.

Findings

This study shows that the funding and organization model of arts organizations resulted in various forms of job structure, and that the practitioners’ socio-demographic background shapes their career expectations. The job structure and career expectations together affect the labor turnover and influence organization strategies.

Originality/value

This study’s methodological contribution lies on its application of a multilevel framework to analyze the relationships between the macro- and the micro-level factors underpinning the working conditions of labor in the cultural industries. Besides, it contributes to the discussion about “labor precariousness” with empirical evidence from a comparative study of arts managers and administrators from organizations across four performing arts sectors.
Tourism destination image based on tourism user generated content on internet
Authors: Wang Jun , Li Yunpeng , Wu Bihu , Wang Yao
Published: April 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study tourists’ spatial and psychological involvement reflected through tourism destination image (TDI), TDI is divided into on-site and after-trip groups and the two groups are compared in the frame of three-dimensional continuums.

Design/methodology/approach

By conducting latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) modeling to tourism user-generated content, structural topic models are established. The topics separated out from unstructured raw texts are structural themes and representations of TDI. Social network analysis (SNA) reveals the quantitative and structural differences of three-dimensional continuums of the two TDI groups.

Findings

The findings reveal that from the stage of on-site to after-trip, tourist perception of TDI shifts from psychologically to functionally-oriented, from common to unique, and from holistic to more attribute focused. Also, it is suggested that from a postmodernism perspective, TDI is never unique, fixed or universal, but has different image perceptions and feedbacks for different tourists.

Research limitations/implications

With the assistance of social sensing, a panoramic view of TDI could be established. Targeted and precision destination marketing and image promotion could be applied out to each individual tourist.

Originality/value

Combining with the perspectives of the tourist-destination space system and the tourism involvement theory, this research proposes a TDI transformation model and an explanation of the internal mechanism. The originality of research also lies in the methodological innovation of social sensing data and the LDA topic model.