bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sequential breakdown of 3-phosphorylated phosphoinositides is essential for the completion of macropinocytosis
Authors: Maekawa Masashi , Terasaka Shimpei , Mochizuki Yasuhiro , Kawai Katsuhisa , Ikeda Yuka , Araki Nobukazu , Skolnik Edward Y. , Taguchi Tomohiko , Arai Hiroyuki
Published: March 2014

Significance

Macropinocytosis is a form of endocytosis that is accompanied by ruffling of plasma membrane and participates in a diverse range of pathophysiological processes, such as antigen uptake by immune cells and tumor growth. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process is poorly understood. By exploiting the studies of fluid-phase endocytosis in
Caenorhabditis elegans
, we found that dephosphorylation of phosphoinositide PI(3)P is essential for macropinocytosis in mammalian cells. We also found that the sequential dephosphorylation of PI(3,4,5)P
3
→ PI(3,4)P
2
→ PI(3)P → PI at membrane ruffles is required for macropinocytosis. Identification of phosphoinositide phosphatases in the dephosphorylation cascade and a PI(3)P-sensitive K
+
channel as essential factors for macropinocytosis may provide the way to selectively control macropinocytosis among various endocytic pathways.
C1q as a unique player in angiogenesis with therapeutic implication in wound healing
Authors: Bossi Fleur , Tripodo Claudio , Rizzi Lucia , Bulla Roberta , Agostinis Chiara , Guarnotta Carla , Munaut Carine , Baldassarre Gustavo , Papa Giovanni , Zorzet Sonia , Ghebrehiwet Berhane , Ling Guang Sheng , Botto Marina , Tedesco Francesco
Published: March 2014

Significance

C1q is a well-known initiator of the complement classical pathway and interacts with several immune and nonimmune cells inducing complement activation-independent functions. Endothelial cells represent one of the potential targets of C1q that binds to cell surface-expressed receptors and stimulates inflammation. Here we report a unique and hitherto unrecognized function of C1q to promote angiogenesis acting through the globular heads. The angiogenic activity of C1q was supported by its ability to induce new vessel formation in in vitro and in vivo models of wound healing. These findings have important implications for the treatment of clinical diseases associated with impaired angiogenesis such as chronic skin ulcers in diabetic patients.
Marginal zone CD169+macrophages coordinate apoptotic cell-driven cellular recruitment and tolerance
Authors: Ravishankar Buvana , Shinde Rahul , Liu Haiyun , Chaudhary Kapil , Bradley Jillian , Lemos Henrique P. , Chandler Phillip , Tanaka Masato , Munn David H. , Mellor Andrew L. , McGaha Tracy L.
Published: March 2014

Significance

Apoptotic cell-mediated suppression is critical to prevent inflammatory pathology and fatal autoimmunity. Integral to this process is early recognition by innate phagocytes driving downstream suppressive mechanisms. Though significant progress has been made identifying adaptive immune components involved in apoptotic cell-driven tolerance, early innate mechanisms involved in this process are relatively unknown. Here we report that apoptotic cell capture by CD169+macrophages promotes rapid expression of the chemokine CCL22, inducing migration and activation of FoxP3+Tregs and dendritic cells. Moreover, we found CCL22 function is required for generation of stable allograft tolerance and prevention of apoptotic cell-driven autoimmunity. Thus, our findings highlight a previously unknown mechanism whereby stromal macrophages coordinate early cellular interactions required for stable apoptotic cell-driven immune tolerance.
Hippocampal molecular mechanisms involved in the enhancement of fear extinction caused by exposure to novelty
Authors: de Carvalho Myskiw Jociane , Furini Cristiane Regina Guerino , Benetti Fernando , Izquierdo Ivan
Published: March 2014

Significance

Within a restricted time window, a brief exposure to a novel environment enhances the extinction of contextual fear. This can be explained by a hippocampal process of behaviorally induced synaptic tagging and capture. Here, we report that the effect requires glutamate NMDA receptors and L-voltage–dependent calcium channels and involves the activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, in addition to both ribosomal and nonribosomal protein synthesis. All these mechanisms operate only when the proteasomal-ubiquitin protein degradation system is intact, which suggests that they depend on synaptic protein turnover. Extinction enhancement by novelty is of great potential importance in the treatment of fear memories, such as those of posttraumatic stress disorder; the treatments of choice for such conditions are based on extinction procedures.
Whole-genome sequencing of cultivated and wild peppers provides insights into
Capsicum
domestication and specialization
Authors: Qin Cheng , Yu Changshui , Shen Yaou , Fang Xiaodong , Chen Lang , Min Jiumeng , Cheng Jiaowen , Zhao Shancen , Xu Meng , Luo Yong , Yang Yulan , Wu Zhiming , Mao Likai , Wu Haiyang , Ling-Hu Changying , Zhou Huangkai , Lin Haijian , González-Morales Sandra , Trejo-Saavedra Diana L. , Tian Hao , Tang Xin , Zhao Maojun , Huang Zhiyong , Zhou Anwei , Yao Xiaoming , Cui Junjie , Li Wenqi , Chen Zhe , Feng Yongqiang , Niu Yongchao , Bi Shimin , Yang Xiuwei , Li Weipeng , Cai Huimin , Luo Xirong , Montes-Hernández Salvador , Leyva-González Marco A. , Xiong Zhiqiang , He Xiujing , Bai Lijun , Tan Shu , Tang Xiangqun , Liu Dan , Liu Jinwen , Zhang Shangxing , Chen Maoshan , Zhang Lu , Zhang Li , Zhang Yinchao , Liao Weiqin , Zhang Yan , Wang Min , Lv Xiaodan , Wen Bo , Liu Hongjun , Luan Hemi , Zhang Yonggang , Yang Shuang , Wang Xiaodian , Xu Jiaohui , Li Xueqin , Li Shuaicheng , Wang Junyi , Palloix Alain , Bosland Paul W. , Li Yingrui , Krogh Anders , Rivera-Bustamante Rafael F. , Herrera-Estrella Luis , Yin Ye , Yu Jiping , Hu Kailin , Zhang Zhiming
Published: March 2014

Significance

The two pepper genomes together with 20 resequencing accessions, including 3 accessions that are classified as semiwild/wild, provide a better understanding of the evolution, domestication, and divergence of various pepper species and ultimately, will enhance future genetic improvement of this important worldwide crop.
microRNAs are biomarkers of oncogenic human papillomavirus infections
Authors: Wang Xiaohong , Wang Hsu-Kun , Li Yang , Hafner Markus , Banerjee Nilam Sanjib , Tang Shuang , Briskin Daniel , Meyers Craig , Chow Louise T. , Xie Xing , Tuschl Thomas , Zheng Zhi-Ming
Published: March 2014

Significance

Persistent infections with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) lead to development of cervical, penile, anal, and oropharyngeal cancers. The ability to diagnose HPV infections has been dependent on the detection of viral DNA, on virus-associated cytological and histological abnormalities, and on a few virus-induced host proteins. In this study, we identified a subset of host microRNAs regulated specifically by HPV16 or HPV18 infection in in vitro model systems. The elevated expression of miR-16, miR-25, miR-92a, and miR-378 and the decreased expression of miR-22, miR-27a, miR-29a, and miR-100 were attributed to viral oncoprotein E6 or E7. An expression ratio ≥1.5 of miR-25/92a group over miR-22/29a group was found to be informative in distinguishing normal cervix from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancers.
Requirement of MEF2A, C, and D for skeletal muscle regeneration
Authors: Liu Ning , Nelson Benjamin R. , Bezprozvannaya Svetlana , Shelton John M. , Richardson James A. , Bassel-Duby Rhonda , Olson Eric N.
Published: March 2014

Significance

In response to injury or disease, skeletal muscle has the capacity for regeneration and repair. Muscle regeneration is orchestrated by a population of stem cells called satellite cells that reside between the basal lamina and sarcolemma of muscle fibers. Upon muscle injury, activated satellite cells proliferate and undergo differentiation to recreate functional muscle tissue. In this work, we show that deletion of three members of the MEF2 family of transcription factors, MEF2A, C, and D, in satellite cells prevents muscle regeneration because of a failure of differentiation. Also, we identify a collection of muscle genes regulated by MEF2 in satellite cells. These findings provide a potential molecular inroad into the process of muscle regeneration through modulation of MEF2 activity.
Binding of Pro-Gly-Pro at the active site of leukotriene A
4
hydrolase/aminopeptidase and development of an epoxide hydrolase selective inhibitor
Authors: Stsiapanava Alena , Olsson Ulrika , Wan Min , Kleinschmidt Thea , Rutishauser Dorothea , Zubarev Roman A. , Samuelsson Bengt , Rinaldo-Matthis Agnes , Haeggström Jesper Z.
Published: March 2014

Significance

Leukotriene (LT) A
4
hydrolase/aminopeptidase (LTA4H) is a bifunctional zinc metalloenzyme that catalyzes biosynthesis of the proinflammatory mediator, LTB
4
, implicated in chronic inflammatory diseases. Recently, the chemotactic tripeptide Pro-Gly-Pro was identified as the enzyme’s endogenous peptidase substrate. Pro-Gly-Pro is cleaved and inactivated by LTA4H, suggesting that LTA4H plays a role in both the initiation and the resolution phase of inflammation. Here, we defined the binding and cleavage mechanism for Pro-Gly-Pro at the active site of LTA4H. Moreover, we designed a small molecule that selectively blocks synthesis of LTB
4
, although sparing the peptidase activity for inactivation of Pro-Gly-Pro, thus representing a novel type of LTA4H inhibitor that may pave the way for development of better treatments of inflammatory diseases.
The automated function prediction SIG looks back at 2013 and prepares for 2014
Authors: Wass Mark N. , Mooney Sean D. , Linial Michal , Radivojac Predrag , Friedberg Iddo
Published: March 2014

Contact:  m.n.wass@kent.ac.uk or mark@wass.com
Protein fold recognition using geometric kernel data fusion
Authors: Zakeri Pooya , Jeuris Ben , Vandebril Raf , Moreau Yves
Published: March 2014

Motivation: Various approaches based on features extracted from protein sequences and often machine learning methods have been used in the prediction of protein folds. Finding an efficient technique for integrating these different protein features has received increasing attention. In particular, kernel methods are an interesting class of techniques for integrating heterogeneous data. Various methods have been proposed to fuse multiple kernels. Most techniques for multiple kernel learning focus on learning a convex linear combination of base kernels. In addition to the limitation of linear combinations, working with such approaches could cause a loss of potentially useful information.

Results: We design several techniques to combine kernel matrices by taking more involved, geometry inspired means of these matrices instead of convex linear combinations. We consider various sequence-based protein features including information extracted directly from position-specific scoring matrices and local sequence alignment. We evaluate our methods for classification on the SCOP PDB-40D benchmark dataset for protein fold recognition. The best overall accuracy on the protein fold recognition test set obtained by our methods is ∼86.7%. This is an improvement over the results of the best existing approach. Moreover, our computational model has been developed by incorporating the functional domain composition of proteins through a hybridization model. It is observed that by using our proposed hybridization model, the protein fold recognition accuracy is further improved to 89.30%. Furthermore, we investigate the performance of our approach on the protein remote homology detection problem by fusing multiple string kernels.

Availability and implementation: The MATLAB code used for our proposed geometric kernel fusion frameworks are publicly available at http://people.cs.kuleuven.be/∼raf.vandebril/homepage/software/geomean.php?menu=5/

Contact:  pooyapaydar@gmail.com or yves.moreau@esat.kuleuven.be

Supplementary information:  Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Changing the light environment: chloroplast signalling and response mechanisms
Authors: Spetea Cornelia , Rintamäki Eevi , Schoefs Benoît
Published: March 2014

Light is an essential environmental factor required for photosynthesis, but it also mediates signals to control plant development and growth and induces stress tolerance. The photosynthetic organelle (chloroplast) is a key component in the signalling and response network in plants. This theme issue of
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biology
provides updates, highlights and summaries of the most recent findings on chloroplast-initiated signalling cascades and responses to environmental changes, including light and biotic stress. Besides plant molecular cell biology and physiology, the theme issue includes aspects from the cross-disciplinary fields of environmental adaptation, ecology and agronomy.
On the origin of a slowly reversible fluorescence decay component in the
Arabidopsis npq4
mutant
Authors: Dall'Osto Luca , Cazzaniga Stefano , Wada Masamitsu , Bassi Roberto
Published: March 2014

Over-excitation of photosynthetic apparatus causing photoinhibition is counteracted by non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence, dissipating excess absorbed energy into heat. The PsbS protein plays a key role in this process, thus making the PsbS-less
npq4
mutant unable to carry out qE, the major and most rapid component of NPQ. It was proposed that
npq4
does perform qE-type quenching, although at lower rate than WT
Arabidopsis
. Here, we investigated the kinetics of NPQ in PsbS-depleted mutants of
Arabidopsis
. We show that red light was less effective than white light in decreasing maximal fluorescence in
npq4
mutants. Also, the kinetics of fluorescence dark recovery included a decay component, qM, exhibiting the same amplitude and half-life in both WT and
npq4
mutants. This component was uncoupler-sensitive and unaffected by photosystem II repair or mitochondrial ATP synthesis inhibitors. Targeted reverse genetic analysis showed that traits affecting composition of the photosynthetic apparatus, carotenoid biosynthesis and state transitions did not affect qM. This was depleted in the
npq4phot2
mutant which is impaired in chloroplast photorelocation, implying that fluorescence decay, previously described as a quenching component in
npq4
is, in fact, the result of decreased photon absorption caused by chloroplast relocation rather than a change in the activity of quenching reactions.
Melaminivora alkalimesophila gen. nov., sp. nov., a melamine-degrading betaproteobacterium isolated from a melamine-producing factory
Authors: Wang Han , Li Jiangwei , Hu Anyi , Qin Dan , Xu Heli , Yu Chang-Ping
Published: March 2014

A taxonomic study was carried out on strain CY1T, which is a novel bacterium isolated from wastewater sludge of a melamine-producing factory in Sanming city, Fujian, China. Strain CY1T was shown to rapidly and completely degrade melamine to NH3 and CO2 under aerobic conditions. The isolate was Gram-stain-negative, short-rod-shaped and motile by one unipolar flagellum. Growth was observed at salinities from 0 to 7 % NaCl (optimum, 0.1 %), at temperatures from 15 to 50 °C (optimum, 40–45 °C) and at pH 7–9.5 (optimum pH 9.5). Quinone-8 was detected as the major respiratory quinone. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that strain CY1T was affiliated to the family

Comamonadaceae

in the class

Betaproteobacteria

. It was most closely related to members of the genera

Alicycliphilus

(95.5 %),

Diaphorobacter

(94.6–95.1 %),

Acidovorax

(92.9–95.4 %),

Delftia

(93.0–93.6 %) and

Comamonas

(92.6–93.9 %). The average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between strain CY1T and those representing related genera ranged from 84.0 to 86.1 % using Mummer, and from 74.9 to 81.1 % using blast. The dominant fatty acids were C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c, C16 : 0, C10 : 0 3-OH and C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c, and the major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified phospholipid and one unidentified aminophospholipid. The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 69.5 mol%. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain CY1T represents a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Melaminivora alkalimesophila gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Melaminivora alkalimesophila is CY1T ( = CCTCC AB 2012024T = DSM 26006T).
Meiosis-specific cohesin mediates homolog recognition in mouse spermatocytes
Authors: Ishiguro Kei-ichiro , Kim Jihye , Shibuya Hiroki , Hernández-Hernández Abrahan , Suzuki Aussie , Fukagawa Tatsuo , Shioi Go , Kiyonari Hiroshi , Li Xin C. , Schimenti John , Höög Christer , Watanabe Yoshinori
Published: March 2014

During meiosis, homologous chromosome (homolog) pairing is promoted by several layers of regulation that include dynamic chromosome movement and meiotic recombination. However, the way in which homologs recognize each other remains a fundamental issue in chromosome biology. Here, we show that homolog recognition or association initiates upon entry into meiotic prophase before axis assembly and double-strand break (DSB) formation. This homolog association develops into tight pairing only during or after axis formation. Intriguingly, the ability to recognize homologs is retained in Sun1 knockout spermatocytes, in which telomere-directed chromosome movement is abolished, and this is the case even in Spo11 knockout spermatocytes, in which DSB-dependent DNA homology search is absent. Disruption of meiosis-specific cohesin RAD21L precludes the initial association of homologs as well as the subsequent pairing in spermatocytes. These findings suggest the intriguing possibility that homolog recognition is achieved primarily by searching for homology in the chromosome architecture as defined by meiosis-specific cohesin rather than in the DNA sequence itself.
Diaquabis[5-(pyrazin-2-yl-κN1)-3-(pyridin-3-yl)-1,2,4-triazolido-κN1]zinc
Authors: Wang Ye-Nan , Dong Wen-Wen
Published: March 2014

In the title compound, [Zn(C11H7N6)2(H2O)2], the ZnIIcation, located on an inversion center, isN,N′-chelated by two 5-(pyrazin-2-yl)-3-(pyridin-3-yl)-1,2,4-triazolide anions and is further coordinated by two water molecules in a distorted N4O2octahedral geometry. In the anionic ligand, the pyrazine and pyridine rings are twisted with respect to the central triazole ring by 5.77 (10) and 11.54 (10)°, respectively. In the crystal, classical O—H...N and weak C—H...O hydrogen bonds and π–π stacking interactions between aromatic rings [the centroid–centroid distances between triazole and pyrazine rings, and between triazole and pyridine rings are 3.623 (2) and 3.852 (2) Å, respectively] connect the molecules into a three-dimensional supramolecular architecture.
2-Amino-6-methylpyridinium 2,2,2-trichloroacetate
Authors: Babu K. Syed Suresh , Peramaiyan G. , NizamMohideen M. , Mohan R.
Published: March 2014

In the asymmetric unit of the title molecular salt, C6H9N2+·C2Cl3O2−, there are two independent 2-amino-6-methylpyridinium cations and two independent trichloroacetate anions. The pyridine N atom of the 2-amino-6-methylpyridine molecule is protonated and the geometries of these cations reveal amine–imine tautomerism. Both protonated 2-amino-6-methylpyridinium cations are essentially planar [maximum deviations = 0.026 (2) and 0.012 (2) Å]. In the crystal, the protonated N atom and the 2-amino group of the cation are hydrogen bonded to the carboxylate O atoms of the anionviaa pair of N—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming anR22(8) ring motif. These motifs are connectedviaN—H...O and C—H...O hydrogen bonds to form slabs parallel to (101).
m-Xylylenediaminium dinitrate
Authors: Gatfaoui Sofian , Dhaouadi Hassouna , Roisnel Thierry , Rzaigui Mohamed , Marouani Houda
Published: March 2014

The asymmetric unit of the title salt, C8H14N22+·2NO3−, contains two independent dications and four independent nitrate anions. The crystal structure consists of discrete nitrate ions, three of which stack in layers parallel to (001) atz= 0 and 0.5. These layers are connectedvia m-xylylenediaminium dications. The fourth anion is sandwiched by the two independent organic cations in the asymmetric unit. In the crystal, the ions are connected by a large number of bifurcated and non-bifurcated N—H...O(O) hydrogen bonds, forming sheets parallel to (100). These sheets are connected by C—H...O hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional network.
Higher education and sustainable development
Authors: Godemann Jasmin , Bebbington Jan , Herzig Christian , Moon Jeremy
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This paper seeks to create the context within which research into how higher education institutions (HEIs) might engage with the goal of sustainable development. In particular, the paper outlines the context in which papers in a special section on this topic might be understood as well as developing propositions for how a research focus might emerge in this area. The paper, therefore, seeks to contribute to discussions about whether, under which circumstances and how social accountability and engagement processes focusing on sustainable development might trigger, frame and/or promote change processes in HEIs. The papers that compose this special section are also introduced and future research avenues offered.

Design/methodology/approach

– Literature review

Findings

– Despite a dearth of literature in the area of HEI responsiveness to sustainable development (and leaving side education/learning and research for sustainable development), numerous points of intersection exist. Foremost among these is the role of HEIs as shapers of the values of society (and a place for debates about these values). In addition, HEIs are substantive organisations with sustainable development impacts. The paper suggests, however, that understanding HEIs and self-consciously seeking change in their activities has to seriously engage with the characterisation of these organisations as loosely coupled systems.

Originality/value

– The paper discusses the distinctive characteristics of HEIs and considers the higher education context as a challenging case to explore the capacity of social accountability and stakeholder engagement to foster change towards the goal of sustainable development.
Effectiveness of psychotherapy for traumatized refugees without a secure residency status
Authors: Brune Michael , José Eiroá-Orosa Francisco , Fischer-Ortman Julia , Haasen Christian
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– Psychotherapy with refugees in the western world is quite often complicated because many refugees live without a secure residency status. It is difficult to have a structured therapeutic perspective when doing psychotherapy with these patients because of their fears and daily problems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate psychotherapy results for 190 traumatized refugees (40 per cent without a secure residency).

Design/methodology/approach

– To measure the outcome of the psychotherapies the paper used HAM-D and CGI at baseline and at the end of the therapeutic process.

Findings

– The study shows that, although refugees without a legal status had more depressive symptoms and lived with much higher psychosocial stress, psychotherapy was as effective as for traumatized refugees with a legal status.

Research limitations/implications

– Heterogeneity, convenience sampling and retrospective completion of some of the baseline assessments.

Practical implications

– Psychotherapeutic treatment of refugees has a clear positive effect on them and should be applied even in those without legal residence status in the host country.

Originality/value

– This is the first study assessing the effectiveness of daily practice psychotherapy for refugees with and without a legal status in a comparative fashion.
Research-based knowledge utilization in a community sport evaluation: a case study
Authors: Hills Laura , Maitland Alison
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore key determinants of knowledge utilization in a community sport initiative, with particular attention to key facets of social-organizational approaches including: organizational context including perceived user needs, characteristics of the researcher-user relationship, and adaption of dissemination materials.

Design/methodology/approach

– The case study applies established theoretical and conceptual understandings of knowledge utilization to a research evaluation of a national initiative to increase young women's participation in sport.

Findings

– This case study illustrates that academics engaging in evaluation work with sports organizations are well-placed to develop relationships with organizations that will be conducive to the use of research. Qualities that facilitate the use of research include an organizational context that is positively disposed towards using research. This can entail developing a researcher-practitioner relationship that involves shared learning and appreciating each other's aims, values and priorities.

Research limitations/implications

– The research initiates a discussion on the knowledge utilization in community sport evaluation; however, it is limited to a particular case which may not be representative of the spectrum of sports development initiatives.

Practical implications

– This case study highlights some useful features of how researchers and practitioners can work together effectively and use research to improve delivery.

Originality/value

– This case study contributes to new understandings of the immediate as well as long-term value of research in the evaluation of community sports initiatives.
Bridging the gaps between e-government practice and research
Authors: Kromidha Endrit , Cordoba-Pachon Jose-Rodrigo
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This study aims to map the dynamics of e-government rhetoric through a discourse analysis. The discussion and understanding is based on an identification and interpretation of emerging concepts in e-government reports and research journals. The goal is to unveil established concepts that influence e-government policy development in the public administration context.

Design/methodology/approach

– Institutional discourse and a policy cycle model are initially selected to guide an inter-textual meta-analysis and meta-synthesis of relevant e-government and public administration outlets. Key concepts are analysed based on their frequency in order of appearance and proximity to each-other. Themes emerging from concept-ideas feed-back to the theory by helping us to suggest a new e-government policy development framework informed by practice and research domains.

Findings

– The findings suggest that although a number of concept-ideas are being institutionalized in the field of e-government, there are persisting differences and discourses between public administration and e-government reports and journals. Most of the conceptual gaps identified by this study are related to emerging issues like e-government evaluation, engagement with end-users and connection gaps between policy, practice and research.

Originality/value

– This study advances the use of discursive institutionalism in e-government research by suggesting that concepts and ideas are institutionalized not only through discourse assimilation, but also by attracting and being able to keep other concept-ideas closely related into themes. Different policy development paths identified in e-government practice and research domains should be jointly considered by policy makers, managers and researchers to improve their implementation.
Exploring determinants of state employee union density in the United States
Authors: Kim Chon-Kyun
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– To explore state employee union density, this paper discusses determinants of state sector union density and then empirically examines the linkages of the determinants and state union membership in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

– After operationalizing and measuring the indicators of the crucial determinants of state employee union density, this study conducts a cross-sectional analysis on state sector union density. The dependent variable used in this study is state employee union density in the USA. The independent variables used in this study are the presence of a liberal state government, the presence of collective bargaining laws, the size of a budget deficit, and an unemployment rate which could determine state sector union density.

Findings

– This study finds that state union density is not determined by the size of budget deficits and the presence of liberal governors but by the presence of collective bargaining laws and liberal state legislatures and unemployment rates. Additionally, this study reveals that unified governments can make a difference in state employee union density. For instance, liberal states controlling both the state executive and legislative branches have a positive impact on state employee union density, while conservative states ruling both branches have a negative impact on state union density.

Originality/value

– This paper analyzed pooled cross-sectional data on state employee union density in the US with regards to crucial legal, political, financial, and economic variables.
Measuring capacity to perform across local government services – managers' perceptions
Authors: Björk Lisa , Szücs Stefan , Härenstam Annika
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This study aims at developing a measure that can be used to evaluate organizational capacity to perform across local government jurisdictions, using operational managers' own assessments.

Design/methodology/approach

– The “management matters” literature that links organizational capacity to service performance is far from reaching any consensus on how to operationalize organizational capacity. In this study, over 400 operational managers were asked, at two different time points and in thirty different local government departments, about what opportunities they have to fulfill their responsibilities and about their perceptions of service performance. The data are factor analyzed, and the proportion of higher level variance of the resulting capacity measure is explored.

Findings

– Organizational capacity to perform represents a consistent measure that covers essential aspects of the managerial assignment and is empirically distinct, yet positively related to the managers' perceptions of service performance. Results further show that up to 12 percent of the variance in organizational capacity to perform can be attributed to the organization in which managers work.

Practical implications

– A service-neutral measure of organizational capacity to perform should be useful to strategic managers in organizations as guidance for resource allocation, and for the design of solid organizational structures and support systems for operational managers.

Originality/value

– Recent public management research indicates that rationalistic management models are often inadequately grounded in the day-to-day practices of operative managerial work. The construct of organizational capacity to perform presented in this study could be a valuable instrument that can bridge this strategic-operational disconnect and provide an insider perspective of the organizational prerequisites that underpin any public service achievement.
Moon phase effect on investor psychology and stock trading performance
Authors: Brahmana Rayenda , Hooy Chee-Wooi , Ahmad Zamri
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This article aims to examine how investor moods and aggressiveness differ in their state and influence investor stock market performance associated with the moon phase. The mechanisms and impact of full moon gravity on investor stock trading performance are explored through an experimental approach and econometrics model.

Design/methodology/approach

– A time-series quasi-experimental study, using the full moon and new moon time periods, was coupled with a psychometric test of investors' behaviours, administered through an online survey, similar to a pre-post experiment. Confirmation of the results was achieved by using an econometric model, adopted from Dichev and Janes.

Findings

– This research found that investor psychology is influenced by the full moon, but no effect was recorded during the new moon phase. Confirmed by the pairedt-difference test, the small correlation, in addition to the quantitative model, the results show the full moon impacts market behaviour during its orbital phase. Consequently, the authors surmise that the full moon does influence investor cognition and emotion disarray, mood disorders, and aggressiveness, resulting in poor stock trading performance.

Practical implications

– The need for an active investment strategy is the major implication of this study. During the full moon phase, investors tend to be more aggressive and moody and seek hedonic utility instead of the traditional economics utility, meaning that they tend to follow the sentiment of the market.

Originality/value

– This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the full moon affects investor stock trading performance.
“Landholding-patriarchy hypothesis” and women's autonomy in rural India
Authors: Goli Srinivas , Maikho Apollo Pou Ladumai
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The paper aims to find out how far the size of household landholding directs patriarchal traits and thus influence women's autonomy.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study used a two-part methodology. The first part provides theoretical background based on existing literature on women's autonomy and related information in formulating the “landholding-patriarchy hypotheses”. The second part of this study evaluates the empirical evidences of the association between the size of household landholding and women's autonomy.

Findings

– Results indicate considerable variation in women's autonomy with the size of their household landholding: women's autonomy decreases with increasing size of household landholding. Evidence suggests that landholding directs patriarchal traits, as manifested in a reasonable influence on women's autonomy in rural India.

Originality/value

– The paper innovates a means to understand the contributing factors to lowering women's autonomy, thus explore the relevance of “landholding-patriarchy hypothesis”.
Social economy of quality food
Authors: Otsuki Kei
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This paper aims to examine the implications of the efforts to promote a quality-oriented economy that incorporates a vision of environmental sustainability and equitable social development.

Design/methodology/approach

– The analysis builds on a case study of food procurement in Brazil, which intended to improve the quality of food used in public schools. The case study follows ways that the promotion of quality food has localised the procurement operation, connecting smallholders to citizen-consumers.

Findings

– The efforts to promote quality food procurement worked to shape reflexive governance in a decentralised political environment and create an institutional device based on cooperative civic participation and state engagement. However, this process highlighted socioeconomic inequality within the country due to uneven local capacities to connect good-quality services to the citizens' everyday places. The study identifies the following paths to tackle this unevenness: improvement of place-based infrastructure; promotion of trans-local cooperation; and building on the existing informal institutional arrangements.

Originality/value

– The focus on quality and sustainability in general has been blind to the inequality in local capacities to define and promote the quality-oriented economy in the first place. Recognising inequality through a case study, the paper outlines specific ways for the author to link quality to trans-local equality.
Evaluating the legitimacy of entrepreneurship and small business as a field of study
Authors: C. Heriot Kirk , Jauregui Andres , Huning Tobias , Harris Michael
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The paper aims to clarify a debate about the legitimacy of entrepreneurship as a field of study. Katz and Kuratko continued this discussion by evaluating the legitimacy as an academic discipline. Their work extends the earlier contributions of Stephenson, Meyer, Finkleet al., and Fiet. Their research focused on the use of secondary data to consider this research question. This study uses an empirical evaluation of the actors that form the basis of this field of study, the faculty that teach entrepreneurship.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study used an online survey to ascertain the academic background, dissertation subject, doctoral course work, teaching assignments, and research output of individuals that described themselves as entrepreneurship faculty.

Findings

– The results show that a significant percentage of the sample of college instructors did not have a doctorate in entrepreneurship, nor did they study entrepreneurship in their curriculum thereby potentially undermining perceptions of legitimacy.

Research limitations/implications

– This study was based upon feedback from 112 faculty. A test using aχ2 goodness-of-fit showed there was no significant difference between the geographic location of respondents to non-respondents. The findings paint a distressing picture of the academic qualifications of the faculty assigned to teach entrepreneurship. In addition, the results were disappointing for the research productivity of faculty in the field. The fact that so many of them view themselves as entrepreneurship and small business faculty reinforces the significance of the findings. In general, the authors find empirical evidence in the sample that entrepreneurship and small business may not be viewed as a legitimate field due to the lack of academic credentials and the extensive professional credentials of their instructors.

Practical implications

– The findings demonstrate that entrepreneurship is likely not considered legitimate, in part, due to a lack of academic preparation or research productivity of instructors within the field of entrepreneurship. The lack of doctoral preparation is a critical problem. This issue would not be paramount where faculty publishing solely in the field. However, the findings demonstrate self-described entrepreneurship instructors publish in other fields of study. Thus, the fact that faculty do not solely teach in the field is also testimony to the challenges of legitimacy faced by individuals that teach entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

– The authors are not aware of any studies that specifically evaluate the academic background, dissertation subject, doctoral course work, teaching assignments, and research output of individuals that teach entrepreneurship.
American influences on Irish advertising and consumerism 1900-1960: fashioning Irishwomen
Authors: Whelan Bernadette
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The aim of this article is to explore how, and to what extent, American advertising and its consumerist messages infiltrated Irish society in the period 1922-1960.

Design/methodology/approach

– The article is based on an analysis of primary and secondary sources.

Findings

– The article argues that American advertising practices and messages influenced the advertising industry in Ireland. It also contributed to the technical, style and content of Irish advertising and informed the Irish woman's view of American consumerism. Finally, it suggests that Irish society was more open to external influences, which challenges the narrative of Ireland as a closed society before 1960.

Originality/value

– The article is based on extensive original research and opens up a number of new areas of research relating to the history of consumerism and advertising in Ireland.
The drastic change of the EU relationship with ACP countries in the context of international economic relations
Authors: Manero Salvador Ana
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to analyze the adjustment of relations between the EU and ACP countries to multilateral requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

– Has been carried out an analysis of the previous situation, the reasons and the result of the adjustment. To do this, they have been pursued literary and documentary sources.

Findings

– The European Union's relations with the ACP countries have changed drastically. Now there is no unity of action of ACP, and the relations with the EU relations are atomized.

Originality/value

– The submitted article summarizes and critically analyzes the evolution of the European Union's relations with ACP countries. The relationship with the ACP has been historically and currently lost its specificity, so it is diluted in the context of the external action of the European Union.
A heuristic model for explaining diversity's paradox
Authors: C. Ofori-Dankwa Joseph , Julian Scott
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a heuristic model to better understand the inherently paradoxical and concomitant positive and negative organizational outcomes associated with demographic diversity and value congruence in organizations. It further illustrates the resultant organizational dynamics that result from shifting levels of diversity and value congruence.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper adopts the supply and demand heuristic from the economics discipline and further develops the diversity and similarity curves (DSC) model proposed by Ofori-Dankwa and Julian. Further, this analysis is carried out from both short-run (static) and long-run (dynamic) perspectives.

Findings

– This study illustrates how different levels of organizational diversity and value congruence (reflected by diversity and similarity curves respectively) could concurrently result in both positive and negative levels of organizational creativity and competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

– As a heuristic, this study's model is a simplistic representation of the inherently complex set of relationships and outcomes that are associated with paradox in a social setting.

Practical implications

– This model has managerial utility for explaining how different levels of diversity in an organizational setting could potentially have different positive and negative outcomes.

Originality/value

– This study unpacks the implications of different levels of diversity in an organizational setting and sheds original light on the dynamic nature of virtuous and vicious organizational cycles associated with diversity.
An empirical investigation of the influence of organizational culture on individual readiness for change in Syrian manufacturing organizations
Authors: Haffar Mohamed , Al-Karaghouli Wafi , Ghoneim Ahmad
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– While few recent studies have paid attention to the relationship between organizational culture (OC) and individual readiness for change (IRFC), there is still a lack of systematic and empirical studies regarding the influence of all OC types on the IRFC components within the change management literature. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by empirically examining the influence of all four organizational culture types of the competing values framework (CVF) on the components of IRFC regarding TQM implementation, within the context of manufacturing organizations operating in Syria.

Design/methodology/approach

– A total of four hypotheses were proposed for testing. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 350 Syrian manufacturing organizations (SMOs) in order to measure the level of IRFC and to identify the cultural profiles and characteristics of these organizations.

Findings

– The analysis of the data collected shows that certain types of organizational culture are conducive to fostering IRFC. In particular, the findings of an empirical investigation revealed that group culture and adhocracy culture are the most supportive culture types for IRFC.

Originality/value

– This paper contributes to the existing literature of change management by providing empirical evidence leading to advancement of knowledge and the understanding of the relationship between OC types and IRFC components. Furthermore, the paper adds value via its contextual originality; being the first study that empirically examined the Syrian cultural context, and hence contributing to the scarce body of literature of both OC and IRFC, and in particular the developing countries.
Organizational justice: what changes, what remains the same?
Authors: Rita Silva Maria , Caetano António
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– This study aims to examine workers' distributive and interactional justice perceptions at three different moments in time over a period of eight years, assess their degree of stability and identify their most stable antecedents and outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data was collected through an overlapping repeated cross-sectional design. Of the participants involved, 334 were surveyed in 2000, 259 participated in 2004, and 285 participated in 2008.

Findings

– Distributive justice is more stable than interactional justice. Organizational support is the most stable predictor of distributive justice, and the quality of supervisor practices is the most stable predictor of interactional justice. Contrary to expected, interactional justice has a stronger relationship to workers' attitudes directed both at the organization and supervisor, and at the immediate work context.

Originality/value

– This study adopts a long-term perspective covering an eight-year period. Furthermore, it focuses on two dimensions of justice that have been less studied over time.
The effect of change in organizational identity on knowledge creation by mobile R&D workers in M&As
Authors: Lee Jeonghwan , K. Park Namgyoo , Kim Hyojung
Published: March 2014

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between change in organizational identity and knowledge creation of mobile research and development (R&D) workers by combining the literature on human mobility and mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

Design/methodology/approach

– Negative binomial regression was used to test the hypotheses, based on knowledge creation of 410 mobile R&D workers in 75 high-technology M&As.

Findings

– The findings showed that while a change in organizational identity after M&As decreased the knowledge creation by R&D workers who moved before M&As, a higher degree of human capital in mobile R&D workers could increase knowledge creation after M&As. A moderating effect of the change in organizational identity on the relationship between knowledge creation and human capital of mobile R&D workers was also found.

Research limitations/implications

– This paper augmented the research opportunity on the organizational change and knowledge creation during an M&A by combining study of individual-level human mobility during firm-level M&As, suggesting change in organizational identity affects knowledge creation of mobile R&D workers. A limitation of this study is the focus of human capital accumulated in the prior company before movement.

Practical implications

– The study suggests that managers intending to acquire knowledge through human mobility and M&As must implement post-mergers activities such as structural integration with care.

Originality/value

– Much of the literature on human mobility has focused on knowledge creation after movement, regardless of the changes that may occur in of focal dyadic companies during M&As. The paper might be one of the first studies of knowledge creation of mobile R&D workers within the context of M&As.