bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Political competition as a motivation for earnings management close to zero: the case of Portuguese municipalities
Authors: Ferreira Augusta , Carvalho João , Pinho Fátima 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to evaluate if, motivated by political competition, municipalities engage in earnings management practices through discretionary accruals.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methodology.FindingsResults indicate that, in those municipalities where political competition is greatest, there is a greater tendency to report positive net earnings close to zero. This study also indicates that for such purpose, discretionary accruals are used.Originality/valueThe purpose of this paper is to respond to the lack of information in the area of earnings management in the public sector, to be able to evaluate responsibility, performance and efficiency regarding the allocation of public resources and the degree of satisfaction of citizens/voters' needs-accountability.
A conceptual virtual research environment model for the management of research data, a South African perspective
Authors: Van Wyk Johann , Bothma Theo , Holmner Marlene 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to give an overview of the development of a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) conceptual model for the management of research data at a South African university.Design/methodology/approachThe research design of this article consists of empirical and non-empirical research. The non-empirical part consists of a critical literature review to synthesise the strengths, weaknesses (limitations) and omissions of identified VRE models as found in literature to develop a conceptual VRE model. As part of the critical literature review concepts were clarified and possible applications of VREs in research lifecycles and research data lifecycles were explored. The empirical part focused on the practical application of this model. This part of the article follows an interpretivist paradigm, and a qualitative research approach, using case studies as inquiry method. Case studies with a positivist perspective were selected through purposive sampling, and inferences were drawn from the sample to design and test a conceptual VRE model, and to investigate the management of research data through a VRE. Investigation was done through a process of participatory action research (PAR) and included semi-structured interviews and participant observation data collection techniques. Evaluation of findings was done through formative and summative evaluation.FindingsThe article presents a VRE conceptual model, with identified generic component layers and components that could potentially be applied and used in different research settings/disciplines. The article also reveals the role that VREs play in the successful management of research data throughout the research lifecycle. Guidelines for setting up a conceptual VRE model are offered.Practical implicationsThis article assisted in clarifying and validating the various components of a conceptual VRE model that could be used in different research settings and disciplines for research data management.Originality/valueThis article confirms/validates generic layers and components that would be needed in a VRE by synthesising these in a conceptual model in the context of a research lifecycle and presents guidelines for setting up a conceptual VRE model.
Financial well-being for a sustainable society: a road less travelled
Authors: Mahendru Mandeep 
Published: July 2020

PurposeMeasurement of financial well-being has remained a challenge for the governments for a long time. This paper responds to this challenge by taking an integrative approach, whereby the previous conceptualizations of financial well-being are examined. Further, we propose a new conceptualization of financial well-being using the parameters of objective and subjective well-being.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct a widespread review of the literature with regard to the linkage between financial literacy and financial capability.FindingsNumerous studies report the pertinent role of behavioural economics in rational decision making. This paper understands the role of behavioural economics in regard to financial well-being.Research limitations/implicationsEmpirical investigation in measuring the linkage between financial literacy and financial capability needs to be developed to achieve the goal of financial well-being.Originality/valueThis paper makes a noble contribution to the literature by proposing a new conceptualization of financial well-being spread over financial literacy, financial capability and psychological factors.
Foreign direct investment and the environment: disentangling the impact of greenfield investment and merger and acquisition sales
Authors: Ashraf Ayesha , Doytch Nadia , Uctum Merih 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effect of greenfield foreign direct investment (GFDI) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the environment and more specifically, on the sectoral emissions of CO2. The authors identify significant differential and income effects with various data classifications of foreign direct investment (FDI) mode of entry.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use system generalized method of moments with instruments for income and GFDI and M&A, which allows us to control for present reverse causality and endogeneity of income and the two modes of FDI.FindingsEvidence from the full sample reveals that GFDI increases pollution, supporting the pollution haven hypothesis, while M&As decrease pollution in line with the halo effect hypothesis. GFDI flowing into poorer countries worsens the environment, while M&As flowing to industrialized economies reduce pollution. Entry-mode effects are also present at the level of industry emissions. GFDI in developed economies decreases pollution in transport industry but increases it in poorer countries.Practical implicationsThe authors demonstrate: first, a recipient country level-of-development effect: GFDI investment flowing into poorer countries has harmful effects on environment, but no significant effect in rich economies, while M&As flowing to industrialized economies have a beneficial effect to the environment, supporting the halo hypothesis. Second, the authors demonstrate a differential entry-mode effect at the industry level: GFDI in developed economies decreases pollution from transport industry, while both modes of entry in developing economies increase it.Social implicationsM&As emerge as a type of FDI that is less harmful to the environment. This is especially true in the case of developed economies. However, policymakers should oversee strictly the inbound GFDI flows and determine whether they carry “dirty” or “clean” production processes. This is the type of FDI to be regulated and scrutinized to ensure that economic development is fostered alongside environmental conservation.Originality/valueIn existing theoretical and empirical literature, little guidance is available on which mode of entry would have greater effect on the environment of the host country. This paper answers this issue by disaggregating FDI flows into GFDI and M&As and examining how each mode of entry impacts pollution in host countries. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the environmental impact of the two modes of entry of FDI while disentangling the environmental Kuznets curve effect from the halo effect.
Love, money and ethnicity: money’s role in polygamous marriages among the Hui in Northwest China
Authors: NIU Xuan 
Published: July 2020

Purpose
This paper aims to understand the role that money plays in polygamous marriages among the Hui ethnic group in Northwest China.

Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observations based on snowball sampling of individuals who voluntarily agreed to participate from June to December 2010, and during the summer of 2011, in Qinghai in Northwest China. Follow-up interviews and observations were conducted in 2015.

Findings
This study examines how love and money intersect and work together to sustain the participants’ polygamous marriages. The study concludes that material desires unite love with money to make love consumable. With the help of money, love between the sexes is transformed into desirable consumption through economic activities associated with leisure, gift giving and religious beliefs to articulate individualism

Originality/value
This study is the first to explore money’s role in the experience of polygamy among the Hui ethnic group in China.
Voting is a right: a decade of societal, technological and experiential progress towards the goal of remote-access voting
Authors: Rosacker Kirsten M. , Rosacker Robert E. 
Published: July 2020

Purpose
This study aims to revisit and extends the work of Rosacker and Rosacker (2012) that called for increased interdisciplinary efforts to address and solve the critical issues (critical success factors) facing technologically-enabled remote-access voting platforms. It builds upon the background platform presented there, which included an historical timeline of information and communication technologies and an e-voting literature review, and extends that work by providing a state-of-the-art update and review of the rapidly changing voter environment from societal, technological and experiential studies over the past decade. Specific focus is directed at technology-enabled, remote-access voting, while also considering the important role technological advances can play in improving voter registration/confirmation procedures.

Design/methodology/approach
First, a brief review of significant societal and technological changes, including the rapid evolution of the internet of things, is undertaken to frame the discussion. Second, a sample of several technology-enabled, remote-access voting experiments are reviewed and critiqued. Third, currently available technical solutions targeting technology-enabled voter registration and vote casting are offered as the next step in the process that will ultimately lead to remote-access voting becoming widely deployed across smart devices. Finally, some contemporaneous conclusions are tendered.

Findings
Society and technology-enabled devices have each witnessed myriad changes and advancements in the second decade of the 21st century. These have led to numerous remote-access voting experiments across the globe that have overwhelmingly proven the concept of technology-enabled, remote-access voting to be viable while also identifying/reasserting issues (critical success factors) that continue to restrain its full implementation. Importantly, none of the problems identified is fatal to the concept.

Originality/value
This study considers the issue of technologically-enabled, remote-access voting focussing on the impacts associated with the portfolio of recent societal and technological advancements including the many vexing concerns and issues presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is limiting access to the traditional methods of in-person voting for both election officials and voters bringing into question the November 2020 US national election. Calls for expanded mail voting options and the requisite federal funding required to support these efforts are increasing, widespread and broadly persuasive. Wholly missing in this debate is an exhaustive consideration and discussion of technologically enhanced, remote-access voting systems and their role in filling the void.
Foundation species promote local adaptation and fine‐scale distribution of herbaceous plants
Authors: O'Brien Michael J. , Carbonell Elisa P. , Losapio Gianalberto , Schlüter Philipp M. , Schöb Christian 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Interactions among neighbours can alter demography and traits of commingled species via adaptation or plasticity in phenotypic expression, and understanding these two mechanisms in diverse communities is important for determining the ecological and evolutionary consequences of plant–plant interactions.

We reciprocally transplanted perennial species (Arenaria armerina and Festuca indigesta) among patches of two foundation shrub species and open ground to assess whether origin microsite (defined as the spatially distinct abiotic and biotic conditions associated with the two shrubs and open ground) determines germination, recruitment and growth that, in turn, promotes fine‐scale distribution of species among microsites. In addition, we tested the effect of origin microsite on traits, competitive ability, drought tolerance and outlier loci to assess whether origin microsite conditions drove differences in traits, strategies and adaptive loci.

Germination was consistently greater for seeds planted back into their origin microsite relative to seeds sourced from foreign microsites, although this effect was weakened for recruitment. Plant growth was best in open sites regardless of origin microsite. In the greenhouse, A. armerina had conserved traits within origin microsite but distinct trait values among origins, specifically plants from the most productive microsite (e.g. sufficient light, high nutrients and improved water availability) had distinct trait values. Festuca indigesta had conserved trait responses among microsites while within microsite, individuals had significant trait plasticity to different environmental conditions. The combined field and greenhouse results suggest that fine‐scale distributions are supported by local adaptation among microsites of A. armerina and phenotypic plasticity of F. indigesta.

Synthesis. Adaptation or plasticity in phenotypic expression has different implications for demographic rate and persistence of species in changing environments. Local adaptation to neighbours suggests that reductions in foundation species diversity could concomitantly lead to reduced genetic diversity of commingled species while a plastic response indicates a more robust and broad response to changing climatic and biotic conditions.
Passing the test: Lessons from a school district’s discourse of renewal before, during and after Hurricane Harvey
Authors: Lambiase Jacqueline , English Ashley E. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractThis case study tests the frameworks of the discourse of renewal theory and social legitimacy theory through an examination of the Fort Bend Independent School District's (Texas) communication strategies and tactics before, during and after Hurricane Harvey struck the Houston area in 2017. A focus of this case study is one characteristic of the discourse of renewal theory: the showcasing of leaders as “instrumental forces for renewal and overcoming crises” (Ulmer, Seeger & Sellnow, 2007, pp. 131–132), especially related to messages by the district's superintendent. Both the superintendent's and Fort Bend ISD’s communication efforts aligned with the tenets of renewal discourse and social legitimacy theory, with empathy an ingredient in many messages. Another important finding of this study is that the district used a discourse of renewal before, during, and after the storm, and not simply as a post‐crisis strategy. Overall, this strategy may have played a role in the district's organizational resilience—as shown through its sustained enrolment and continuing leadership team—after the second‐costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
cxr: A toolbox for modelling species coexistence in R
Authors: García‐Callejas David , Godoy Oscar , Bartomeus Ignasi 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Recent developments in modern coexistence theory (MCT) have advanced our understanding of how species interactions among themselves and with the environment influence community dynamics.

Although the formulation of MCT is mathematically clear, its application to empirical cases is still challenging, which precludes its adoption by a large range of ecologists and evolutionary biologists interested in broad questions related to community assembly and the maintenance of species diversity.

We developed cxr, an r package that provides a complete toolbox for calculating species vital rates and interaction parameters, from which the user can obtain estimates of coexistence outcomes based on stabilizing niche differences and average fitness differences.

Our aim is to offer a highly versatile package to accommodate different research needs. This means that the user can define population models, use different optimization algorithms and include the effect of external covariates on species interactions, which may include environmental variables (e.g. temperature, precipitation, salinity) and biotic controls (e.g. predation, pollination, mycorrhizae).

To illustrate the functionality and versatility of cxr, we provide a complete set of population dynamic models and a dataset from a highly diverse grassland community.

By building bridges between MCT formulation and its implementation, we provide tools to obtain a deeper mechanistic understanding of how species interactions determine basic patterns such as species abundances and dominance, which are core information for many applied fields, such as conservation, restoration and invasion biology.

Finally, the package is not limited taxonomically to any particular group. The application of tools derived from MCT to a wide range of different systems can create feedbacks between empirical and theoretical studies in a way that stimulates a better understanding of the processes maintaining biodiversity.
Risk to North American birds from climate change‐related threats
Authors: Bateman Brooke L. , Taylor Lotem , Wilsey Chad , Wu Joanna , LeBaron Geoffrey S. , Langham Gary 
Published: July 2020

AbstractClimate change is a significant threat to biodiversity globally. Here, we assessed the risk to 544 birds in the United States from future climate change‐related threats under a mitigation‐dependent global warming scenario of 1.5°C and an unmitigated scenario of 3.0°C. Threats considered included sea level rise, human land cover conversion, and extreme weather events. We identified potential impacts to individual species by overlaying future bird ranges with threats to calculate the proportion of species' ranges affected, and mapped a place‐based index of risk based on hazard (coincident threats), exposure (potential species richness), and vulnerability (potential richness of vulnerable species). Extreme weather events had the most extensive spatial coverage and contribution to risk, but urbanization and sea level rise also had disproportionate impacts on species relative to their coverage. With unmitigated climate change, multiple coincident threats affected over 88% of the area of the conterminous United States, and 97% of species could be affected by two or more climate‐related threats. Some habitat groups will see up to 96% of species facing three or more threats. Species of conservation concern also faced more threats regardless of climate change scenario. However, climate change mitigation would reduce risk to birds from climate change‐related threats across over 90% of the US.
Improving understanding of type 2 diabetes remission: research recommendations from Diabetes UK’s 2019 remission workshop
Authors: Hopkins M. , Andrews R. , Salem V. , Taylor R. , le Roux C. W. , Robertson E. , Burns E. 
Published: July 2020

AbstractAimTo describe the process and outputs of a workshop convened to identify key priorities for future research in the area of remission of type 2 diabetes, and provide recommendations to researchers and research funders on how best to address them. With the ultimate aim of enabling the remission of type 2 diabetes to become a possibility for more people.MethodsA 1‐day research workshop was conducted, bringing together 31 researchers, people living with diabetes, healthcare professionals and members of staff from Diabetes UK to identify and prioritize recommendations for future research into remission of type 2 diabetes.ResultsWorkshop attendees identified 10 key themes for further research. Four of these themes were prioritized for further focus: (i) understanding how to personalize lifestyle approaches based on biology, patient choice and subtypes; (ii) understanding the biology of remission; (iii) understanding the most effective approaches to implementation of lifestyle interventions; and (iv) understanding the best approaches to combining therapies (gut hormones, other drugs, lifestyle approaches and bariatric surgery).ConclusionsThis paper outlines recommendations to address the current gaps in knowledge related to remission of type 2 diabetes.
Impact of periodontal therapy on systemic markers of inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome: A randomized clinical trial
Authors: Montero Eduardo , López Mercedes , Vidal Honorato , Martínez María , Virto Leire , Marrero Jorge , Herrera David , Zapatero Antonio , Sanz Mariano 
Published: July 2020

AbstractAimTo determine the impact of periodontal treatment on systemic markers of inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and periodontitis.Materials and MethodsIn this parallel‐arm, double‐blind, randomized controlled clinical trial, 63 patients with MetS and severe periodontitis were randomly assigned to receive either intensive periodontal treatment (IPT; scaling and root planing plus azithromycin 500 mg every day for 3 days) or minimal periodontal treatment (MPT; supragingival professional mechanical plaque removal plus a placebo). The primary outcome was the impact of the tested interventions on high‐sensitivity C‐reactive protein (hs‐CRP) serum levels at 6 months. As secondary outcomes, differences in the levels of cytokines, markers of prothrombotic states, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, as well as blood pressure, were measured at 3 and 6 months after therapy.ResultsThe intention‐to‐treat population consisted of 63 subjects randomly assigned to either the MPT (n = 31) or the IPT (n = 32) group. At baseline, mean hs‐CRP was 3.9 mg/L (standard deviation [SD] = 2.9) and 3.9 mg/L (SD = 3.4), respectively, and no significant differences in cardiometabolic risk profiles were detected between the groups. Adjusting for baseline hs‐CRP, sex, age, smoking status and body mass index, hs‐CRP at 6 months was 1.2 mg/L (95% CI 0.4; 2.0; P = .004) lower in the IPT group than in the MPT group. In the secondary outcomes, significant reductions in IL‐1β, TNF‐α, HbA1c and blood pressure were observed in the IPT group at 3 months compared with the MPT group.ConclusionEffective periodontal treatment significantly reduced hs‐CRP after 6 months in patients with MetS and severe periodontitis. Periodontal therapy might be useful to reduce cardiovascular risk in these patients.