bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Rhythm in dyadic interactions
Authors: de Reus Koen , Soma Masayo , Anichini Marianna , Gamba Marco , de Heer Kloots Marianne , Lense Miriam , Bruno Julia Hyland , Trainor Laurel , Ravignani Andrea
Published: August 2021

This review paper discussesrhythmicinteractions and distinguishes them fromnon-rhythmicinteractions. We report on communicative behaviours in social and sexual contexts, as found in dyads of humans, non-human primates, non-primate mammals, birds, anurans and insects. We discuss observed instances of rhythm in dyadic interactions, identify knowledge gaps and propose suggestions for future research. We find that most studies on rhythmicity in interactive signals mainly focus on one modality (acoustic or visual) and we suggest more work should be performed on multimodal signals. Although the social functions of interactive rhythms have been fairly well described, developmental research on rhythms used to regulate social interactions is still lacking. Future work should also focus on identifying the exact timing mechanisms involved. Rhythmic signalling behaviours are widespread and critical in regulating social interactions across taxa, but many questions remain unexplored. A multidisciplinary, comparative cross-species approach may help provide answers.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.
Socially stratified epigenetic profiles are associated with cognitive functioning in children and adolescents
Authors: Raffington L. , Tanksley P.T. , Sabhlok A. , Vinnik L. , Mallard T. , King L.S. , Goosby B. , Harden K.P. , Tucker-Drob E.M.
Published: August 2021

Children’s cognitive functioning and educational performance are socially stratified. Social inequality, including classism and racism, may operate partly via epigenetic mechanisms that modulate neurocognitive development. Following preregistered analyses of data from 1,183 8-to 19-year-olds from the Texas Twin Project, we examined whether salivary DNA-methylation measures of inflammation (DNAm-CRP), cognitive functioning (Epigenetic-g), and pace of biological aging (DunedinPoAm) are socially stratified and associated with performance on tests of cognitive functions. We find that children growing up in more disadvantaged families and neighborhoods and children from marginalized racial/ethnic groups exhibit DNA-methylation profiles associated with higher chronic inflammation, lower cognitive functioning, and faster pace of biological aging. These salivary DNA-methylation profiles were associated with processing speed, general executive function, perceptual reasoning, verbal comprehension, reading, and math. Given that the DNA-methylation measures we examined were originally developed in adults, our results suggest that social inequalities may produce in children molecular signatures that, when observed in adults, are associated with chronic inflammation, advanced aging, and reduced cognitive function. Salivary DNA-methylation profiles might be useful as a surrogate endpoint in assessing the effectiveness of psychological and economic interventions that aim to reduce negative effects of childhood social inequality on lifespan development.

Significance Statement

Children’s cognitive functioning differs by dimensions of social inequality, such as class and race. Epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression might be critically involved in the biological embedding of environmental privilege and adversity. We find that children growing up in more disadvantaged families and neighborhoods and from marginalized racial/ethnic groups exhibit higher chronic inflammation, lower cognitive functioning, and a faster pace of biological aging, as indicated by novel salivary DNA-methylation measures. These DNA-methylation measures of higher inflammation, lower cognitive functioning, and a faster pace of biological aging were, in turn, associated with performance on multiple cognitive tests. DNA-methylation measures might be useful as a surrogate endpoint in evaluation of programs to address the childhood social determinants of lifelong cognitive disparities.
Limited evidence of a genetic basis for sex determination in the common creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatus
Authors: Meuser Amanda V. , Pyne Cassandre B. , Mandeville Elizabeth G.
Published: August 2021

1

Sexual reproduction is almost universal in the animal kingdom; therefore, each species must have a mechanism for designating sex as male or female. Fish especially have a wide range of sex determining systems. While incompatible systems are thought to increase reproductive isolation, interspecific hybridization is common among groups such as cyprinid minnows, thus, studies such as this can provide insight into hybridization and evolutionary diversification of this clade. In the present study, we aimed to identify a genetic basis for sex determination in the common creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus) using genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) data. No sex-associated markers were found by RADSex or a GWAS using GEMMA, however, our Weir and Cockerham locus-specific FST analysis and discriminant analysis of principal components revealed some genetic differentiation between the sexes at several loci. While no explicit sex determination mechanism has been yet discovered in creek chub, these loci are potential candidates for future studies. This study also highlights technical challenges involved in studying sex determination in species with extremely variable mechanisms.
Teasing apart the host-related, nutrient-related and temperature-related effects shaping the phenology and microbiome of the tropical seagrassHalophila stipulacea
Authors: Szitenberg Amir , Beca-Carretero Pedro , Azcárate-García Tomás , Yergaliyev Timur , Alexander-Shani Rivka , Winters Gidon
Published: August 2021

Background

Halophila stipulaceaseagrass meadows are an ecologically important and threatened component of the ecosystem in the Gulf of Aqaba. Recent studies have demonstrated correlated geographic patterns for leaf endophytic community composition and leaf morphology, also coinciding with different levels of water turbidity and nutrient concentrations. Based on these observations, workers have suggested an environmental microbial fingerprint, which may reflect various environmental stress factors seagrasses have experienced, and may add a holobiont level of plasticity to seagrasses, assisting their acclimation to changing environments and through range expansion. However, it is difficult to tease apart environmental effects from host-diversity dependent effects, which have covaried in field studies, although this is required in order to establish that differences in microbial community compositions among sites are driven by environmental conditions rather than by features governed by the host.

Results

In this study we carried out a mesocosm experiment, in which we studied the effects of warming and nutrient stress on the composition of epiphytic bacterial communities and on some phenological traits. We studiedH. stipulaceacollected from two different meadows in the Gulf of Aqaba, representing differences in the host and the environment alike. We found that the source site from which seagrasses were collected was the major factor governing seagrass phenology, although heat increased shoot mortality and nutrient loading delayed new shoot emergence. Bacterial diversity, however, mostly depended on the environmental conditions. The most prominent pattern was the increase in Rhodobacteraceae under nutrient stress without heat stress, along with an increase in Microtrichaceae. Together, the two taxa have the potential to maintain nitrate reduction followed by an anammox process, which can together buffer the increase in nutrient concentrations across the leaf surface.

Conclusions

Our results thus corroborate the existence of environmental microbial fingerprints, which are independent from the host diversity, and support the notion of a holobiont level plasticity, both important to understand and monitorH. stipulaceaecology under the changing climate.
Upstrap for Estimating Power and Sample Size in Complex Models
Authors: Karas Marta , Crainiceanu Ciprian M.
Published: August 2021

Power and sample size calculation are major components of statistical analyses. The upstrap resampling method introduced by Crainiceanu and Crainiceanu (2018) was proposed as a general solution to this problem but has not been assessed in numerical experiments. We evaluate the power estimation properties of the upstrap for target data sets that are larger or smaller than the original observed data set. We also expand the scope of upstrap and propose a solution to estimate the power to detect: (1) an effect size observed in the original data; and (2) an effect size chosen by a researcher. Simulations include the following scenarios: one- and two-sample t-tests; linear regression with both Gaussian and binary outcomes; multilevel mixed effects models with both Gaussian and binary outcomes. In addition, our simulations consider cases where the distribution of a covariate in the target setting is preserved and when it is purposefully changed compared to the original data set. We illustrate the approach using a reanalysis of a cluster-randomized controlled trial of malaria transmission. The GitHub repository with R code used in manuscript analyses is available at https://git.io/J0TH1. The accompanying data are publicly available.
TP53-mediated clonal hematopoiesis confers increased risk for incident peripheral artery disease
Authors: Zekavat Seyedeh M. , Viana-Huete Vanesa , Jorshery Saman Doroodgar , Zuriaga María A. , Uddin Md Mesbah , Trinder Mark , Paruchuri Kaavya , Matesanz Nuria , Zorita Virginia , Ferrer-Pérez Alba , Amorós-Pérez Marta , Damrauer Scott M. , Ballantyne Christie M. , Niroula Abhishek , Gibson Christopher J. , Pirruccello James , Griffin Gabriel , Ebert Benjamin L. , Libby Peter , Fuster Valentín , Zhao Hongyu , Ghassemi Marzyeh , Natarajan Pradeep , Bick Alexander G. , Fuster José J , Klarin Derek
Published: August 2021

Background

Somatic mutations in blood indicative of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP), particularly inDNMT3A,TET2, andJAK2, are associated with an increased risk of hematologic malignancy, coronary artery disease, and all-cause mortality. However, whether CHIP is associated with increased risk of peripheral artery disease (PAD) remains unknown. In addition, chemotherapy frequently causes mutations in DNA Damage Repair (DDR) genesTP53andPPM1D, and whether CHIP caused by somatic mutations in DDR genes results in increased risk of atherosclerosis is unclear. We sought to test whether CHIP, and CHIP caused by DDR genes, associates with incident peripheral artery disease (PAD) and atherosclerosis.

Methods

We identified CHIP among 50,122 exome sequences in individuals from UK and Mass General Brigham Biobanks and tested CHIP status (N=2,851) with incident PAD and atherosclerosis across multiple arterial beds. To mimic the human scenario of clonal hematopoiesis and test whether the expansion of p53-deficient hematopoietic cells contributes to atherosclerosis, a competitive bone marrow transplantation (BMT) strategy was used to generate atherosclerosis-proneLdlr-/- chimeric mice carrying 20%Trp53-/- hematopoietic cells (20% KO-BMT mice). We then evaluated aortic plaque burden and plaque macrophage accumulation 12 weeks after grafting.

Results

CHIP associated with incident PAD (HR 1.7; P=2.2×10-5) and atherosclerosis in multiple beds (HR 1.3; P=9.7×10-5), with increased risk among individuals with DDR CHIP (HR 2.0; P=0.0084). Among atherosclerosis-proneLdlrnull mice, the p53 -/- 20% KO-BMT mice demonstrated increased aortic plaque size (p=0.013) and accumulation of p53-/- plaque macrophages (P<0.001), driven by an abundance of p53-deficient plaque macrophages. The expansion of p53-deficient cells did not affect the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1β in the atherosclerotic aortic wall.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the role of CHIP as a broad driver of atherosclerosis across the entire arterial system, with evidence of increased plaque among p53 -/- 20% KO-BMT mice via expansion of plaque macrophages. These observations provide new insight into the link between CHIP and cardiovascular disease, and lend human genetic support to the concept that post-cytotoxic chemotherapy patients may benefit from surveillance for atherosclerotic conditions in addition to therapy-related myeloid neoplasms.
WITHDRAWN: Sucrose-dependence of sugar uptake, quorum sensing and virulence of the rice blight pathogenXanthomonas oryzaepv.oryzae
Authors: Sadoine Mayuri , Long Juying , Song Congfeng , Arra Yugander , Frommer Wolf B. , Yang Bing
Published: August 2021

Withdrawal Statement

The authors have withdrawn their manuscript owing to potential issues with the qRT-PCR data and issues with accessing some of the raw data from one of the authors (FAIR principle requirements). Therefore, the authors do not wish this work to be cited as reference for the project. If you have any questions, please contact the corresponding author.
Pro-IL-18 secreted by keratinocytes detects the group A streptococcal protease SpeB
Authors: Johnson Anders F. , Sands Jenna S. , Trivedi Keya , Russell Raedeen , LaRock Doris L. , LaRock Christopher N.
Published: August 2021

Group AStreptococcus(GAS,Streptococcus pyogenes) is a professional human pathogen that commonly infects the skin. Keratinocytes are one of the first cells to contact GAS, and by inducing inflammation, they can initiate the earliest immune responses to pathogen invasion. Here, we characterized the proinflammatory cytokine repertoire produced by primary human keratinocytes and surrogate cell lines commonly usedin vitro. Infection induces several cytokines and chemokines, but keratinocytes constitutively secrete IL-18 in a form that is inert (pro-IL-18) and lacks proinflammatory activity. Canonically, IL-18 activation and secretion are coupled through a single proteolytic event that is regulated intracellularly by the inflammasome protease caspase-1 in myeloid cells. The pool of extracellular pro-IL-18 generated by keratinocytes is poised to sense extracellular proteases and is directly processed into a mature active form by SpeB, a secreted GAS protease that is a critical virulent factor during skin infection. This mechanism contributes to the proinflammatory response against GAS, resulting in T cell activation and the secretion of IFN-γ that restrict GAS growth. Other major bacterial pathogens and microbiota of this skin did not have significant IL-18-maturing ability. Taken together, these results suggest keratinocyte-secreted IL-18 is a sentinel that sounds an early alarm that is highly sensitive to GAS, yet tolerant to non-invasive members of the microbiota.
Bayesian inference of multi-point macromolecular architecture mixtures at nanometre resolution
Authors: Embacher Peter A , Germanova Tsvetelina E , Roscioli Emanuele , McAinsh Andrew D , Burroughs Nigel J
Published: August 2021

Abstract

Gaussian spot fitting methods have significantly extended the spatial range where fluorescent microscopy can be used, with recent techniques approaching nanometre (nm) resolutions. However, small inter-fluorophore distances are systematically over-estimated for typical molecular scales (≲ 50nm). This bias can be corrected computationally, but current algorithms are limited to correcting distances between pairs of fluorophores. Here we present a flexible Bayesian computational approach that infers the distances and angles between multiple markers and has several advantages over these previous methods. Specifically it improves confidence intervals for small lengths, estimates measurement errors of each fluorescent marker individually and infers the correlations between polygon lengths. The latter is essential for determining the full multi-fluorophore 3D architecture. We further developed the algorithm to infer the mixture composition of a heterogeneous population of multiple polygon states. We use our algorithm to analyse the 3D architecture of the human kinetochore, a macro-molecular complex that is essential for high fidelity cell division. We examine the conformational change induced by microtubule attachment using triple fluorophore marked data and demonstrate for the first time that in metaphase kinetochore conformation is heterogeneous.
TWIST1 interacts with adherens junction proteins during neural tube development and regulates fate transition in cranial neural crest cells
Authors: Bertol Jessica W. , Johnston Shelby , Ahmed Rabia , Xie Victoria K. , Hubka Kelsea M. , Cruz Lissette , Nitschke Larissa , Stetsiv Marta , Goering Jeremy P. , Nistor Paul , Lowell Sally , Hoskens Hanne , Claes Peter , Weinberg Seth M. , Saadi Irfan , Farach-Carson Mary C. , Fakhouri Walid D.
Published: August 2021

Cell fate determination is a necessary and tightly regulated process for producing different cell types and structures during development. Cranial neural crest cells (CNCCs) are unique to vertebrate embryos and emerge from the neural fold borders into multiple cell lineages that differentiate into bone, cartilage, neurons, and glial cells. We previously reported thatIrf6genetically interacts withTwist1during CNCC-derived tissue formation. Here, we investigated the mechanistic role ofTwist1andIrf6at early stages of craniofacial development. Our data indicates that TWIST1 interacts with α/β/γ-CATENINS during neural tube closure, andIrf6is involved in the structural integrity of the neural tube.Twist1suppressesIrf6and other epithelial genes in CNCCs during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and cell migration. Conversely, a loss ofTwist1leads to a sustained expression of epithelial and cell adhesion markers in migratory CNCCs. Disruption of TWIST1 phosphorylationin vivoleads to epidermal blebbing, edema, neural tube defects, and CNCC-derived structural abnormalities. Altogether, this study describes an uncharacterized function ofTwist1andIrf6in the neural tube and CNCCs and provides new target genes ofTwist1involved in cytoskeletal remodeling. Furthermore, the association between DNA variations within TWIST1 putative enhancers and human facial morphology is also investigated.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

This study uncovers a new function ofTwist1in neural tube development and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cranial neural crest cells. Data further shows thatTwist1-interactingIrf6is involved in regulating neural tube integrity.
A ChIP-exo screen of 887 Protein Capture Reagents Program transcription factor antibodies in human cells
Authors: Lai William K.M. , Mariani Luca , Rothschild Gerson , Smith Edwin R. , Venters Bryan J. , Blanda Thomas R. , Kuntala Prashant K. , Bocklund Kylie , Mairose Joshua , Dweikat Sarah N. , Mistretta Katelyn , Rossi Matthew J. , James Daniela , Anderson James T. , Phanor Sabrina K. , Zhang Wanwei , Zhao Zibo , Shah Avani P. , Novitzky Katherine , McAnarney Eileen , Keogh Michael-C. , Shilatifard Ali , Basu Uttiya , Bulyk Martha L. , Pugh B. Franklin
Published: August 2021

Antibodies offer a powerful means to interrogate specific proteins in a complex milieu. However, antibody availability and reliability can be problematic, whereas epitope tagging can be impractical in many cases. To address these limitations, the Protein Capture Reagents Program (PCRP) generated over a thousand renewable monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against human presumptive chromatin proteins. However, these reagents have not been widely field-tested. We therefore performed a screen to test their ability to enrich genomic regions via chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and a variety of orthogonal assays. Eight hundred eighty-seven unique antibodies against 681 unique human transcription factors (TFs) were assayed by ultra-high-resolution ChIP-exo/seq, generating approximately 1200 ChIP-exo data sets, primarily in a single pass in one cell type (K562). Subsets of PCRP mAbs were further tested in ChIP-seq, CUT&RUN, STORM super-resolution microscopy, immunoblots, and protein binding microarray (PBM) experiments. About 5% of the tested antibodies displayed high-confidence target (i.e., cognate antigen) enrichment across at least one assay and are strong candidates for additional validation. An additional 34% produced ChIP-exo data that were distinct from background and thus warrant further testing. The remaining 61% were not substantially different from background, and likely require consideration of a much broader survey of cell types and/or assay optimizations. We show and discuss the metrics and challenges to antibody validation in chromatin-based assays.
Inferring genes that escape X-Chromosome inactivation reveals important contribution of variable escape genes to sex-biased diseases
Authors: Sauteraud Renan , Stahl Jill M. , James Jesica , Englebright Marisa , Chen Fang , Zhan Xiaowei , Carrel Laura , Liu Dajiang J.
Published: August 2021

The X Chromosome plays an important role in human development and disease. However, functional genomic and disease association studies of X genes greatly lag behind autosomal gene studies, in part owing to the unique biology of X-Chromosome inactivation (XCI). Because of XCI, most genes are only expressed from one allele. Yet, ∼30% of X genes “escape” XCI and are transcribed from both alleles, many only in a proportion of the population. Such interindividual differences are likely to be disease relevant, particularly for sex-biased disorders. To understand the functional biology for X-linked genes, we developed X-Chromosome inactivation for RNA-seq (XCIR), a novel approach to identify escape genes using bulk RNA-seq data. Our method, available as an R package, is more powerful than alternative approaches and is computationally efficient to handle large population-scale data sets. Using annotated XCI states, we examined the contribution of X-linked genes to the disease heritability in the United Kingdom Biobank data set. We show that escape and variable escape genes explain the largest proportion of X heritability, which is in large part attributable to X genes with Y homology. Finally, we investigated the role of each XCI state in sex-biased diseases and found that although XY homologous gene pairs have a larger overall effect size, enrichment for variable escape genes is significantly increased in female-biased diseases. Our results, for the first time, quantitate the importance of variable escape genes for the etiology of sex-biased disease, and our pipeline allows analysis of larger data sets for a broad range of phenotypes.
Deep restricted and additive homomorphic ElGamal privacy preservations over big healthcare data
Authors: Sujatha K. , Udayarani V.
Published: August 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to improve the privacy in healthcare datasets that hold sensitive information. Putting a stop to privacy divulgence and bestowing relevant information to legitimate users are at the same time said to be of differing goals. Also, the swift evolution of big data has put forward considerable ease to all chores of life. As far as the big data era is concerned, propagation and information sharing are said to be the two main facets. Despite several research works performed on these aspects, with the incremental nature of data, the likelihood of privacy leakage is also substantially expanded through various benefits availed of big data. Hence, safeguarding data privacy in a complicated environment has become a major setback.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a method called deep restricted additive homomorphic ElGamal privacy preservation (DR-AHEPP) to preserve the privacy of data even in case of incremental data is proposed. An entropy-based differential privacy quasi identification and DR-AHEPP algorithms are designed, respectively, for obtaining privacy-preserved minimum falsified quasi-identifier set and computationally efficient privacy-preserved data.

Findings

Analysis results using Diabetes 130-US hospitals illustrate that the proposed DR-AHEPP method is more significant in preserving privacy on incremental data than existing methods. A comparative analysis of state-of-the-art works with the objective to minimize information loss, false positive rate and execution time with higher accuracy is calibrated.

Originality/value

The paper provides better performance using Diabetes 130-US hospitals for achieving high accuracy, low information loss and false positive rate. The result illustrates that the proposed method increases the accuracy by 4% and reduces the false positive rate and information loss by 25 and 35%, respectively, as compared to state-of-the-art works.
Empowerment leadership as a predictor of expatriates job performance and creative work involvement
Authors: AlMazrouei Hanan
Published: August 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between empowering leadership and organizational commitment and its effect on job performance and creative work involvement within the expatriate society of the UAE.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper suggests a theoretical model derived from survey responses gathered from expatriates used in multinational organizations located in Dubai city in the UAE.

Findings

The results show that organizational commitment partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and job performance. Furthermore, the results show that organizational commitment partially mediates the relationship between empowering leadership and creative work involvement.

Originality/value

This research adds to the existing body of knowledge on international business by investigating the effects that organizational commitment and empowering leadership have on creative work involvement and job performance of expatriates.
The impact of organizational practices on formation and development of psychological contract: expatriates' perception-based view
Authors: Bashir Hafsa , Ahmad Bashir , Bari Muhammad Waseem , Khan Qurat Ul Ain
Published: August 2021

Purpose

Based on signaling and motivation theories, this study investigates the impact of organizational practices on the formation and development of expatriates' psychological contracts in three stages. Stage 1: the impact of the selection process on psychological contract formation with the mediating role of perceived organizational justice. Stage 2: the impact of pre-departure training on psychological contract formation with the mediating role of individual absorptive capacity. Stage 3: the impact of perceived organizational support on psychological contract development with the mediating role of expatriates' adjustment.

Design/methodology/approach

By using a purposive sampling technique, the respondents were approached via e-mails and personal visits in three waves, each wave had 45 days gap. After three waves, a total of 402 complete questionnaires were received back. To test the hypotheses, the partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used.

Findings

Stage 1: effective selection process and perceived organizational justice positively support the psychological contract formation. Stage 2: the pre-departure training and individual absorptive capacity have a positive influence on the psychological contract formation of expatriates. Stage 3: the perceived organizational support and psychological contract development have a positive direct association. However, expatriates' adjustment does not mediate the association between perceived organizational support and the psychological contract development of expatriates.

Practical implications

The implications of this study are supportive to the organizations that deal with expatriates. The organizations should adopt practices (i.e. effective selection process, pre-departure training and perceived organizational support) for effective formation of psychological contract formation and development. In addition, perceived organizational justice, individual absorptive capacity and expatriates' adjustment can help out in the formation and development of the psychological contract of expatriates.

Originality/value

This study highlights the role of organizational best practices in the formation and development of the psychological contract of expatriates.
Pedagogies for sustainability: insights from a foundational sustainability course in the built environment
Authors: Sandri Orana , Holdsworth Sarah
Published: August 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of an undergraduate sustainability education course to show the extent of pedagogical reflection and teaching capability demonstrated in lived practice to support transformative, systemic and capability building learning processes, as advocated in the literature, for effective sustainability education.

Design/methodology/approach

Transformative learning and capability building are an essential part of sustainability education according to the growing body of literature. This approach to education, however, necessitates critical, learner-centred pedagogies which challenge traditional transmissive modes of teaching.

Findings

This paper finds that pedagogy which supports the learning experiences and outcomes advocated in sustainability education literature requires significant reflection on behalf of the educator and also motivation, capability and experience to do this, thus more research and academic support is needed which focusses on pedagogical development within sustainability education.

Originality/value

Literature on sustainability education often assumes that teachers are capable of reflecting on and transforming their pedagogical practice, and therefore, the pedagogical implications of sustainability education are often understated in research findings. This paper highlights why pedagogical reflection plays a crucial role in the effective implementation of sustainability education.
Acting the part: how social and organisational factors shape managers' actions towards employees with repeated short-term sickness absence
Authors: Norvell Gustavsson Isa , Müssener Ulrika , Ståhl Christian
Published: August 2021

Purpose

The aim of the study was to understand the social and organisational factors in the workplace that shape managers' actions and attitudes towards workers with repeated short-term sickness absence.

Design/methodology/approach

This was a qualitative interview study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 managers at 15 different workplaces. The analysis had an abductive approach, using thematic analysis which focused on the latent content of managers attitudes towards employees with repeated short-term sickness absence.

Findings

Results indicate that the managers' views of people on short-term sick leave shift and move through several phases, which was analysed as they were acts in a play, where their given roles are prescribing which actions to take given the available resources for acting these parts. These acts depict an increasingly controlling attitude, where the sick leave is ultimately seen as an individual problem best managed by repressive tactics.

Originality/value

Role theory offers the possibility to analyse managers' attitudes and behaviours by considering the workplace and the manager-employee relationship as regulated by norms and organisational factors.
Fitting in as an outsider: a resource dependence theory approach to outside boards
Authors: Ng Desmond , Khodakarami Nima
Published: August 2021

Purpose

This study draws on resource dependence theory (RDT) to explain a board's governance function in the United States (US) nonprofit healthcare industry. Specifically, while various nonprofit research studies have appealed to agency theory (AT) to explain the monitoring role of an outside board, RDT offers an alternative explanation that emphasizes an outside board's resource gathering role.

Design/methodology/approach

In drawing on the nonprofit GuideStar database, a fixed effect (FE) panel estimation was conducted on a sample of 230 US Non Profit Healthcare Organizations (NPHCOs). This panel estimation examines the relationship between the composition of an outside board and an NPHCO’s revenue and public support performance.

Findings

A key finding of this study is that the composition of an outside board involving its' number, compensation and gender impacts an NPHCO’s revenue and public support.

Research limitations/implications

This study shows that the composition of an outside board impacts an NPHCO’s ability to gain access to external resources. As NPHCOs face increasing pressure to seek external forms of revenue support, this study suggests that boards should favor a larger number, compensation and female representation of outside members.

Practical implications

The composition of an outsider board can offer external sources of revenue support that lower the poor's requirements for financial assistance and thus affirm an NPHCO’s identity as a charitable organization.

Originality/value

As an NPHCO’s identity as a charitable organization is dependent on serving the medical needs of the poor, an outside board not only introduces a resource gathering function that is absent in the monitoring explanations of AT, but that this resource gathering function is important to affirming this identity.
Improving multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH) services: frontline worker responses to insecure attachment styles
Authors: Theodorou Nikoletta , Johnsen Sarah , Watts Beth , Burley Adam
Published: August 2021

Purpose

This study aims to examine the emotional and cognitive responses of frontline homelessness service support staff to the highly insecure attachment styles (AS) exhibited by people experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH), that is, a combination of homelessness and other forms of deep social exclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

Focus groups were conducted with frontline staff (N = 19) in four homelessness support services in Scotland. Hypothetical case vignettes depicting four insecure AS (enmeshed, fearful, withdrawn and angry-dismissive) were used to facilitate discussions. Data is analysed thematically.

Findings

Service users with AS characterised by high anxiety (enmeshed or fearful) often evoked feelings of compassion in staff. Their openness to accepting help led to more effective interactions between staff and service users. However, the high ambivalence and at times overdependence associated with these AS placed staff at risk of study-related stress and exhaustion. Avoidant service users (withdrawn or angry-dismissive) evoked feelings of frustration in staff. Their high need for self-reliance and defensive attitudes were experienced as hostile and dismissing. This often led to job dissatisfaction and acted as a barrier to staff engagement, leaving this group more likely to “fall through the net” of support.

Originality/value

Existing literature describes challenges that support staff encounter when attempting to engage with people experiencing MEH, but provides little insight into the causes or consequences of “difficult” interactions. This study suggests that an attachment-informed approach to care can promote more constructive engagement between staff and service users in the homelessness sector.
Economic theory and social pressure: audit committee director departures in India
Authors: Narayanaswamy R. , Raghunandan K. , Rama Dasaratha V.
Published: August 2021

Purpose

This study aims to examine the resignations of Indian audit committee directors after a systemic shock (failure of Satyam Computer Services Ltd.).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors develop the research questions based on interviews with company directors and audit partners, in addition to economic theory. The authors then use archival data to test the research questions.

Findings

The authors find that social and peer pressure is a very important factor in explaining such departures and provides the basis for some counter-intuitive empirical results, for example, directors were less likely to resign from companies audited by Indian affiliates of PricewaterhouseCoopers even though Satyam was audited by one such auditor and ownership by founding families was not associated with director departures.

Research limitations/implications

Going beyond economic theory and analyzes can be useful in examining issues related to corporate boards and audit committees.

Practical implications

Regulators should consider requiring disclosure about director attendance percentages, in addition to the number of meetings, at audit committee – and, perhaps, other board sub-committee – meetings.

Social implications

Caution is warranted when using results from the USA and other Anglo-Saxon countries to address governance-related issues in India or other Asian countries.

Originality/value

A triangulation of economic theory and societal norms enables us to gain valuable insights about the resignations of audit committee directors in India.
The informal culture of a direct care staff team supporting people with intellectual disabilities who present with behaviours that challenge
Authors: Banks Faye , Fielden Amy , O'Sullivan David , Ingham Barry
Published: August 2021

Purpose

Research into culture within intellectual disability services, has predominantly focussed on small group homes in Australia. The current investigation aimed to explore the transferability of the dimensions of culture identified in the literature, to a residential Intellectual Disability service in the UK. The purpose of this study was to better understand the impact of informal culture upon the behaviour of direct care staff, particularly around managing behaviour that challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with direct care staff. Interview transcripts were analysed thematically using template analysis.

Findings

Themes regarding leadership, perceptions of managers, team functioning, and relationships between direct care staff and service users, were identified, corroborating the existing literature. Additional themes relating to being aware of the risks posed by service users, and the emotional impact of behaviour that challenges, also emerged.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first qualitative study to explore informal culture within a community residential Intellectual Disability service in the UK.
Origin of the Neoproterozoic Baijianshan Banded Iron Formation at the Southeastern Margin of the Tarim Block in NW China: Implication for an Extremely Reducing Ocean
Authors: HAO Xiaoshu , ZHANG Chuanlin , ZHANG Huichao , DING Teng , YE Xiantao
Published: August 2021

The Neoproterozoic banded iron formations (BIFs) were closely associated with the “Snowball Earth” during the breakup of the Rodinia, thus they played an important role in our understanding of the atmospheric and oceanic oxygen levels during this period. In this contribution, the Neoproterozoic (ca. 737 Ma) Baijianshan BIF at Southeast Tarim, northwestern China was identified. Magnetite is the dominated iron‐species, which occurs as the lamina interbedded with chert. The BIF contains low concentrations of trace elements, and is depleted in light rare earth elements (LREEs) based on comparison with the Post‐Archean Australian Shale (PAAS). In addition, the BIF exhibits slightly positive La‐Eu anomalies, negligible Ce anomalies, insignificant Y anomalies, chondritic Y/Ho ratios (23–32), and slightly chondritic initial ∊Nd (t = 737 Ma) values (–0.45 to 1.46, averaging 0.37). All these features indicate that the precipitation of Baijianshan BIF was closely related to the submarine low‐T hydrothermal fluids with little detrital contribution. Moreover, the Baijianshan BIF is characterized by the significant enrichment of heavy Fe isotopes, with δ57FeIRMM‐014 values ranging from 1.78‰ to 3.05‰, revealing the partial oxidation of Fe2+ into Fe3+ during the precipitation of this BIF. Our data suggest that the formation of Baijianshan BIF was closely associated with a significantly reducing ocean, which most likely was isolated from the oxidized atmosphere by a local ice sheet. This Neoproterozoic Baijianshan ocean has the initial oxygen levels as low as, or even lower than that of Archean and Paleoproterozoic oceans.
Shale Lithofacies and Sedimentary Environment of the Third Member, Shahejie Formation, Zhanhua Sag, Eastern China
Authors: ZHU Xiaomin , ZHANG Meizhou , ZHU Shifa , DONG Yanlei , LI Chao , BI Yuequan , MA Lichi
Published: August 2021

Researches into shale lithofacies, their sedimentary environments and relationship benefit understanding both of sedimentary cycle division and unconventional hydrocarbon exploration in lacustrine basins. Based on a 100∼300‐m‐thick dark shale, mudstone and limestone encountered in the lower third member of the Eocene Shahejie Formation (Es3l member) in Zhanhua Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China, routine core analysis, thin sectioning, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mineralogical and geochemical measurements were used to understand detailed facies characterization and paleoclimate in the member. This Es3l shale sediment includes three sedimentary cycles (C3, C2 and C1), from bottom to top, with complex sedimentary characters and spatial distribution. In terms of the composition, texture, bedding and thickness, six lithofacies are recognized in this succession. Some geochemical parameters, such as trace elements (Sr/Ba, Na/Al, V/Ni, V/(V + Ni), U/Th), carbon and oxygen isotopes (δ18O, δ13C), and total organic carbon content (TOC) indicate that the shales were deposited in a deep to semi‐deep lake, with the water column being salty, stratified, enclosed and reductive. During cycles C3 and C2 of the middle‐lower sections, the climate was arid, and the water was salty and stratified. Laminated and laminar mudstone–limestone was deposited with moderate organic matter (average TOC 1.8%) and good reservoir quality (average porosity 6.5%), which can be regarded as favorable reservoir. During the C1 cycle, a large amount of organic matter was input from outside the basin and this led to high productivity with a more humid climate. Massive calcareous mudstone was deposited, and this is characterized by high TOC (average 3.6%) and moderate porosity (average 4%), and provides favorable source rocks.
An International Comparison of the Academic Accounting Professoriate*
Authors: Oler Derek K. , Skousen Christopher J. , Smith Kevin R. , Talakai Jayson
Published: August 2021

An international comparison of the accounting professoriate provides useful information to both key decision makers and individual faculty. We compare characteristics of the academic accounting professoriate in the United States and Canada. Our comparison includes the size of accounting departments (measured by the average number of accounting faculty) and the relative level of research versus teaching focus in accounting departments (proxied by the proportion of tenure‐track vs. non‐tenure‐track faculty). We also examine the relative mobility of accounting faculty (proxied by the number of faculty employed in the same country where they received their final degree vs. the number of faculty employed in a different country). We examine the time it takes for tenure‐track faculty to obtain tenure and the time for tenured associates to become full professors, broken out by obtaining their final degree in the same country where they are employed versus faculty who obtained their final degree in a different country.
Umm an‐Nar settlement pottery from Dahwa 7 (DH7), northern al‐Batinah, Oman
Authors: Douglas Khaled A. , Al‐Jahwari Nasser S. , Méry Sophie , Hesein Mohamad , Williams Kimberly D.
Published: August 2021

This research focuses on studying the pottery sherds collected in the period 2018–19 from settlement DH7 in the northern al‐Batinah region in north‐eastern Oman. The material mainly comes from stratified contexts from the largest building at the settlement, building S42, whose function is interpreted as a warehouse. Three main classes of pottery are recognised: The Indus red micaceous ware, the Umm an‐Nar fine red ware and the Dahwa sandy buff ware. Compared with most of the other known Umm an‐Nar settlements, the black‐slipped jars (Indus red micaceous ware) are clearly over‐represented at DH7. Intriguingly, local pottery Dahwa sandy buff ware shows a typical Indus rim form. This is presumably a result of existing Indus potters in the al‐Batinah region who adapted to the local market. Radiocarbon dating places the beginning of the occupation of settlement DH7 to c.2500 cal. BCE. Such a date accords well with the results of stylistic comparisons of DH7 pottery with other sites of the Umm an‐Nar period.
Dermoscopy, confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography features of main inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases: A systematic review
Authors: Guida Stefania , Longhitano Sabrina , Ardigò Marco , Pampena Riccardo , Ciardo Silvana , Bigi Laura , Mandel Victor Desmond , Vaschieri Cristina , Manfredini Marco , Pezzini Claudia , Arginelli Federica , Farnetani Francesca , Zerbinati Nicola , Longo Caterina , Pellacani Giovanni
Published: August 2021

Background/Objectives

Non‐invasive skin imaging features of main skin inflammatory and autoimmune diseases have been reported, although a comprehensive review of their correlation with histopathologic features is currently lacking. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to review the correlation of dermoscopic, reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) criteria of main inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases with their corresponding histopathologic criteria correlation.

Methods

Studies on human subjects affected by main inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, defining the correlation of dermoscopic, RCM or OCT with histopathologic criteria, were included in the review. Five groups of diseases were identified and described: psoriasiform, spongiotic and interface dermatitis, bullous diseases and scleroderma.

Results

Psoriasiform dermatitis was typified by white scales, corresponding to hyperkeratosis, and vessels, observed with RCM and OCT. Spongiosis, corresponding to dark areas within the epidermis with RCM and OCT, was the main feature of spongiotic dermatitis. Interface dermatitis was characterised by dermoepidermal junction obscuration. Blisters, typical of bullous diseases, were visualised as dark areas with RCM and OCT while scleroderma lesions were characterised by dermoscopic fibrotic beams, related to dermal thickness variations, with specific OCT and histopathologic correlations.

Conclusions

Although the role of RCM and OCT has yet to be defined in clinical practice, non‐invasive skin imaging shows promising results on inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases, due to the correlation with histopathologic features.