bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The role of project managers (PMs) in construction health and safety implementation in Ghana
Authors: Agyekum Kofi , Ghansah Frank Ato , Tetteh Portia Atswei , Amudjie Judith 
Published: July 2020

Purpose
This study aims to examine the role of project managers (PMs) in construction health and safety in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach
Purposive sampling technique was used to select licenced PMs in Ghana where data was collected with the use of structured questionnaires. Mean score analysis, Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance, Relative Importance Index and Cronbach’s alpha were used to analyze the data.

Findings
The study discovered that most PMs on construction firms in Ghana allocate between 1% and 5% of the total project cost to health and safety. According to the study, client satisfaction is the most important parameter to consider in construction project management. Structural frame, method of fixing and edge of materials were the key design activities that caused PMs to make frequent reference to health and safety. It was revealed that PMs refer to health and safety when confronted by all the procurement-related situations.

Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to the built environment professionals in Ghana. The findings cannot be generalized and extended to other developing countries; however, it could serve as a lesson to them.

Practical implications
The findings of the study are anticipated to provide information about the critical role of PMs in promoting health and safety throughout the project life cycle.

Originality/value
The novelty of the study sought to delve into the complex nature of construction to identify the role of PMs in relation to the health and safety practices in the construction industry.
Here I come to save the day? Reassessing the efficacy of small business development centers in the Internet Era
Authors: Roth M. Garrett , Morris Ryan 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThis paper assesses the efficacy of the 18 small business development centers (SBDCs) located throughout the state of Pennsylvania during 2013–2016 as a proxy for publicly funded, small business consulting services in general.Design/methodology/approachThe paper compares the sales growth of SBDC clients, as reported in postconsultation surveys, to comparable growth measures for the corresponding business population using one- and two-samplet-tests.FindingsThe results show that respondent clients with existing businesses clearly outperform the broader population following consultation, both in aggregate and when decomposed by region and industry.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the best available data, the results are tempered by low response rates and self-reporting.Originality/valueThe paper empirically demonstrates that SBDC clients experience higher growth in sales and employment following their consultation than the broader business population. The net benefit of such services is, however, impossible to determine.
Insecurity versus immaturity: estimating the link between organizational age and indirect risks
Authors: Mazhar Ummad 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThis study explores the role of firm age as a mediating variable in the link between performance and the risk of terrorism. Theoretically, there can be vulnerabilities, liabilities or learning effects associated with age.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical strategy uses randomness in the occurrence of successful terrorist incidents to estimate the hypothesized link in a sample of 1,600 Pakistani firms.FindingsThe results suggest a significant effect of terrorism for organizations lying beyond the 50th percentile of the age distribution. In addition to relevant controls – like size, ownership and location effects – the baseline results withstand alternative empirical specifications and the use of instrumental variables.Originality/valueThe study helps us understand the role of firm age in its performance, taking into account the presence of risks posed by weak law and order.
Lesson learned in maintaining the precast concrete buildings
Authors: Ismail Zul-Atfi 
Published: July 2020

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify existing weaknesses in precast concrete building maintenance and how to overcome it. The contemporary practice of conventional methods in the pre-cast concrete (PC) building maintenance entails many issues such as PC component aesthetic and structural defects, no integration between maintenance systems and lack the intelligent capabilities of linking defect diagnosis operations in maintenance due to poor service delivery and defect repetition. A key problem impeding the widespread adoption of emerging technologies is the lack of competent contractor supporting the effectiveness of implemented information and communication technology than conventional methods and the returns on investment.

Design/methodology/approach
The shortcomings of conventional methods are assessed from the perspective of PC buildings. Several data were collected through a case study of eight PC buildings from high-rise and complex buildings.

Findings
The conventional methods had significantly little emphasis on defect diagnosis tools. It had also increased the inadequate strategic decision making to analyse information in improving the maintenance project outcomes for PC building.

Originality/value
Building information modelling tools is suggested from findings and lessons learned as a good practice to reduce the repetition of defects on the design specification used and construction practiced.
Social impact and performance measurement systems in an Italian social enterprise: a participatory action research project
Authors: Costa Ericka , Andreaus Michele 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the multidimensional nature of social and nonprofit organisations' accountability and performance measurement systems (PMSs). It further considers how these systems help in defining outcome performance indicators downward to beneficiariesDesign/methodology/approachThe paper discusses participatory action research (PAR) within an Italian social enterprise. In order to increase dialogue, participation and engagement, the researchers adopted focus groups as a preferred method of investigation and conducted a broad documental analysis from July 2016 to March 2018. The paper discusses the gathered data in light of the social impact value chain as well as the multiple-constituency approach.FindingsThe findings support the idea that social and nonprofit organisations lack the expertise and resources to evaluate outcomes and impact; however, through PAR, the organisation defined their desired outcomes and ascertained which internal output measures were most likely to be correlated with these outcomes. Moreover, the findings highlight that nonprofits develop outcome measurements less frequently because they have more control over their immediate activities and outputs.Practical implicationsThis research suggests the need to reinforce lateral and downward accountability based on mission and mission-based activities in order to make the performance management system of social and nonprofit organisation linked to the organisational strategies.Originality/valueThis paper innovates methodologically in two directions: 1) it adopts action research as a qualitative method, allowing the researcher to generate solutions to collectively-identified problems and 2) the paper's arguments are strongly supported by rich empirical exploration that occurred over a period of 20 months in an Italian social enterprise.
Examining the impact of ethical leadership on safety and task performance: a safety-critical context
Authors: Shafique Imran , Kalyar Masood Nawaz , Rani Tassadduq 
Published: July 2020

PurposeAiming at understanding the effectiveness of leadership styles on workers' outcomes in safety-critical context, this study explores the impact of ethical leadership on safety and task performance under contingent effects of two safety-critical factors (i.e. perceived accident likelihood and perceived hazard exposure).Design/methodology/approachThe study is cross-sectional in nature and survey questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were collected from 397 workers from ten organizations producing chemical products. Multiple hierarchical regression was performed to test the hypothesized relationships.FindingsResults show that ethical leadership has positive association with workers' safety performance, safety attitude and task performance. Further, perceived accident likelihood moderated the influence of ethical leadership on workers' safety performance and attitude in such a way the association is strong when accident likelihood is high. Perceived hazard exposure moderated the link between ethical leadership and task performance such that higher hazard exposure decreases the effectiveness of ethical leadership.Practical implicationsFindings imply that managers can optimize employee safety for jobs associated with high safety-critical context through demonstration of ethical leadership behaviors. The study suggests that ethical leadership can prove to be important tool to improve workers' occupational safety well-being, which in turn helps them to improve their health and general well-being.Originality/valueContextualization of ethical leadership in safety-critical context is novelty of the study.
Women candidates are unrewarded for “masculine” campaigning: Facebook campaigning during Israel's 2018 municipal elections
Authors: Samuel-Azran Tal , Yarchi Moran 
Published: July 2020

PurposeThis study examines the impact of gender on Facebook campaign strategies and the reception of these strategies during the 2018 Israeli municipal elections.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analyzed all the messages posted on 48 politicians' official Facebook pages during the week leading up to the elections. They analyzed messages posted by 152 candidates running for the position of head of a municipality, 68 of whom were women (48 had an active Facebook account), examining the amount of engagement they had created. The authors also analyzed the candidates' use of rhetoric and use of negative campaigning and the engagement it created.FindingsAnalysis of the overall engagement of Facebook users in respect to men versus women politicians showed that men politicians' posts were significantly more engaging in terms of the number of likes and shares they generated, although the multilevel analysis found no significant differences between engagement in the posts of men and women politicians. The Aristotelian rhetoric analysis revealed no significant differences between women and men contenders; however, in line with the role incongruity theory, the engagement analysis found that male candidates' logic-based posts attracted significantly more shares. The negative campaigning analysis found that, contrary to the study’s hypothesis, female candidates posted twice as many messages, attacking their opponents as their men counterparts. However, in line with the hypothesis based on the role incongruity theory, these posts gained significantly less engagement than those of their men counterparts.Originality/valueThe study highlights that female candidates do not conform to their perceived gender role as soft, emotional, and gentle in their social media campaigning. However, in line with role incongruity theory, they were not rewarded for this “unwomanly” behavior because they gained significantly less engagement with their logic-based posts and their attacks against other candidates than their men counterparts. Despite the fact that prior studies have indicated the potential of social networks service (SNS) to empower women leaders, the findings of the study highlight the continued gender discrimination and the validity of role incongruity theory during social media campaigning, particularly at the municipal elections level.
The learning organization from a pragmatist perspective
Authors: Elkjaer Bente 
Published: July 2020

Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the debate on what is a learning organization (LO). The author proposes that pragmatist philosophy may be a source of inspiration in this endeavor.

Design/methodology/approach
The author revisits a 25-year-old case study in which the process of implementing an LO in a public enterprise was observed. This was in the heyday of LOs, when they were regarded as an organizational form that could provide solutions for almost all organizational problems. The author starts by considering this case using the first four types of understanding in Örtenblad’s LO taxonomy (2018): “learning at work,” “climate for learning,” “organizational learning” and “learning structure.” Then the author uses Örtenblad’s fifth version of LOs, the “social perspective,” to show that the pragmatist concepts of experience, inquiry and commitment are helpful in revealing and explaining how learning happens as part of the “social”.

Findings
The author proposes the sixth version of Los, involving letting experience and inquiry loose. This is an extension of Örtenblad’s fifth version of LOs, which rests upon collective as the learning unit and learning as context-dependent cultural or social activity. The sixth version makes it possible to understand organizational learning and LOs as recursive processes of inquiry into tensions in experiences and the organizational affordances of voicing and enacting these tensions.

Originality/value
Regarding LOs from a pragmatist perspective makes it possible to view learning as cultural and social activity without making learning a matter of either motivational persons for learning or organizations as “conducive” for learning, but understands the two as connected in recursive, iterative and rhythmic processes of tensions and resolutions.
Root‐niche separation between savanna trees and grasses is greater on sandier soils
Authors: Case Madelon F. , Nippert Jesse B. , Holdo Ricardo M. , Staver A. Carla 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

In savannas, partitioning of below‐ground resources by depth could facilitate tree–grass coexistence and shape vegetation responses to changing rainfall patterns. However, most studies assessing tree versus grass root‐niche partitioning have focused on one or two sites, limiting generalization about how rainfall and soil conditions influence the degree of rooting overlap across environmental gradients.

We used two complementary stable isotope techniques to quantify variation (a) in water uptake depths and (b) in fine‐root biomass distributions among dominant trees and grasses at eight semi‐arid savanna sites in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Sites were located on contrasting soil textures (clayey basaltic soils vs. sandy granitic soils) and paired along a gradient of mean annual rainfall.

Soil texture predicted variation in mean water uptake depths and fine‐root allocation. While grasses maintained roots close to the surface and consistently used shallow water, trees on sandy soils distributed roots more evenly across soil depths and used deeper soil water, resulting in greater divergence between tree and grass rooting on sandy soils. Mean annual rainfall predicted some variation among sites in tree water uptake depth, but had a weaker influence on fine‐root allocation.

Synthesis. Savanna trees overlapped more with shallow‐rooted grasses on clayey soils and were more distinct in their use of deeper soil layers on sandy soils, consistent with expected differences in infiltration and percolation. These differences, which could allow trees to escape grass competition more effectively on sandy soils, may explain observed differences in tree densities and rates of woody encroachment with soil texture. Differences in the degree of root‐niche separation could also drive heterogeneous responses of savanna vegetation to predicted shifts in the frequency and intensity of rainfall.
A king and vassals' tale: Molecular signatures of clonal integration in Posidonia oceanica under chronic light shortage
Authors: Ruocco Miriam , Entrambasaguas Laura , Dattolo Emanuela , Milito Alfonsina , Marín‐Guirao Lazaro , Procaccini Gabriele 
Published: July 2020

Abstract

Under unfavourable conditions, clonal plants benefit from physiological integration among ramets, sharing resources and information. Clonal integration can buffer against environmental changes and lets the plant clone work as a ‘macro’ organism. Molecular signals that regulate this phenomenon are completely unknown in marine plants.

Here we present a first comprehensive study providing insights into the metabolic role of different types of ramets (i.e. apical vs. vertical) in the foundation species Posidonia oceanica. Plants were exposed to 80% diminishing irradiance level (LL) in a controlled mesocosm system. Subsequent multiscale variations in whole transcriptome expression, global DNA methylation level, photo‐physiology, morphology and fitness‐related traits, were explored at different exposure times. We tested the hypothesis that vertical shoots (the ‘vassals’) can provide vital resources to apical shoots (the ‘kings’) under energy shortage, thus safeguarding the whole clone survival.

Whole transcriptome analysis of leaves and shoot‐apical meristems (SAMs) emphasized signatures of molecular integration among ramets, which strongly correlated with higher organization‐level responses. In both shoots types, the exposure to LL resulted in a growth slowdown throughout the experiment, which started from immediate signals in SAMs. In apical shoots, this was linked to an acclimative response, where they were suffering a mild stress condition, while in vertical ones it fell in a more severe stress response. Yet, they suffered from sugar starvation and showed a clear cellular stress response in terms of protein refolding and DNA repair mechanisms. Several epigenetic mechanisms modulated the observed gene‐expression patterns and the cross‐talk between DNA methylation and the cellular energetic status appeared to regulate shoot metabolism under LL.

Synthesis. Our results demonstrate a high level of specialization of integrated ramets within seagrass clones and a ‘division of labour’ under adverse conditions. Vertical shoots appear to do ‘most of the job’ especially in terms of resource providing, whereas activated functions in apical shoots were restricted to few important processes, according to an ‘energy‐saving’ strategy. The response of vertical shoots could be seen as a ‘sacrificing response’ allowing the survival of ‘the king’ that is key for ensuring propagation and population maintenance, and for the colonization of new environments.
Pan‐genomic analysis reveals that the evolution of Dietzia species depends on their living habitats
Authors: Fang Hui , Xu Jin‐Bo , Nie Yong , Wu Xiao‐Lei 
Published: July 2020

SummaryThe bacterial genus Dietzia is widely distributed in various environments. The genomes of 26 diverse strains of Dietzia, including almost all the type strains, were analysed in this study. This analysis revealed a lipid metabolism gene richness, which could explain the ability of Dietzia to live in oil related environments. The pan‐genome consists of 83,976 genes assigned into 10,327 gene families, 792 of which are shared by all the genomes of Dietzia. Mathematical extrapolation of the data suggests that the Dietzia pan‐genome is open. Both gene duplication and gene loss contributed to the open pan‐genome, while horizontal gene transfer was limited. Dietzia strains primarily gained their diverse metabolic capacity through more ancient gene duplications. Phylogenetic analysis of Dietzia isolated from aquatic and terrestrial environments showed two distinct clades from the same ancestor. The genome sizes of Dietzia strains from aquatic environments were significantly larger than those from terrestrial environments, which was mainly due to the occurrence of more gene loss events during the evolutionary progress of the strains from terrestrial environments. The evolutionary history of Dietzia was tightly coupled to environmental conditions, and iron concentrations should be one of the key factors shaping the genomes of the Dietzia lineages.
Recalibrating the reported returns to agricultural R&D: what if we all heeded Griliches?*
Authors: Rao Xudong , Hurley Terrance M. , Pardey Philip G. 
Published: July 2020

Zvi Griliches’ seminal analysis of hybrid corn spawned a large literature seeking to quantify and demonstrate the value of agricultural research and development (R&D) investments. The most important metric for quantifying the rate of return to R&D emerging from this literature is the internal rate of return (IRR), even though Griliches was sceptical of its usefulness as a metric in this context. An alternative metric, also reported by Griliches but not as commonly used in the subsequent returns‐to‐research literature, is the benefit–cost ratio (BCR). We assess how the implications of the returns to agricultural R&D literature may have differed if the BCR had become the standard rather than the IRR. We reveal that the IRR and BCR produce substantially different rankings of agricultural R&D projects, differences that persist even under various commodity and geographical aggregations of the BCR and IRR estimates. The median across 2,627 reported IRRs is 37.5 per cent per year. Using data gleaned from 492 research evaluation studies, we developed and deployed a methodology to impute 2,126 BCRs (median of 5.4) and modified internal rates of returns (MIRRs, median of 16.4 per cent per year) assuming a uniform 10 per cent per year discount rate and a 30 year research timeline.
Psychiatric and Forensic Differences Between Men Charged with Sex Offences and Men Charged with Other Offences
Authors: Arbanas Goran , Marinović Paula , Buzina Nadica 
Published: July 2020

AbstractStudies on differences between individuals convicted of sexual offences and nonsexual offences are sparse and there is an on‐going debate as to whether sexual offenders differ from other offenders. The primary aim of this study was to determine demographic characteristics, prevalence of mental disorders, alcohol and drug use at the time of the crime and the criminal responsibility of individuals charged with sexual offences, compared to nonsexual crimes, with the aim of bringing awareness to the similarities and differences between men charged with sex offences and those charged with other crimes. This is a single‐institution retrospective study of subjects charged with sexual offences and sent for institutional psychiatric evaluation to a Forensic Psychiatric Centre in an urban, academic, tertiary‐care center. The control group consisted of individuals charged with nonsexual offences referred to the same center. Results showed significant differences between individuals charged with sexual offences and nonsexual offences. Men charged with sex offences more frequently committed their crimes alone and victimized children equally as often as adults. They also less frequently pleaded guilty in court. They were more likely to be abused in childhood and more often had antisocial personality disorder and paraphilias and less often substance‐related disorders. The majority were considered criminally responsible. Our results show that sex offenders are different from nonsex offenders in many characteristics of their personal history, offence characteristics and forensic evaluations and these particular differences warrant different approaches to the prevention of future re‐offending, compared to nonsex offenders.