bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fit in your genes: an introduction to genes and epigenetics for forensic practitioners
Authors: Walton Jamie Stephen 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
This paper aims to provide a brief and accessible introduction to genetics and epigenetics for forensic practitioners. It provides two primers which define key genetic concepts and explain what epigenetic mechanisms actually are. The primers are provided alongside sections that focus on genetic research relevant to forensic practice, with a range of key messages that support the call to contextualise harmful behaviour and build better awareness of gene-environment relationships.

Design/methodology/approach
This is an opinion paper.

Findings
Select and seminal studies from the genetic literature that have forensic practice relevance are cited. These include studies from candidate gene research and epigenetic research. They highlight a number of key themes, including the way neurodevelopment and behaviour are contextually adjusted to fit certain environments, with epigenetic changes being an underpinning biological mechanism that facilitates this.

Research limitations/implications
This article aims to introduce forensic practitioners to basic concepts in genetics and epigenetics so that they are able to engage with the relevant literature and understand the far-reaching implications for forensic practice.

Practical implications
It is becoming increasingly useful for forensic practitioners to appreciate how life experiences are encoded into biology through epigenetics. This paper highlights the potential of genetic and epigenetic research to provide major contributions to real-world practice in the coming years. It provides a modern biopsychosocial perspective on harmful behaviour and helps deepen the understanding of our efforts to support behaviour change. It offers ways to think of social and rehabilitative initiatives in biological terms.

Originality/value
This paper is one of few modern texts that focusses on the relevance of genetic and epigenetic research in applied forensic practice. It aims to introduce relevant concepts in an accessible manor. It intends to introduce biologically informed ways of understanding harmful behaviour within context and with attention to its function. It contributes to a de-pathologising narrative.
Assessing environmental efficiency of China’s industry system using two-stage range-adjusted measure model
Authors: Wang Meiqiang , Chen Yingwen , Zhou Zhixiang 
Published: August 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the industrial production efficiency, pollution treatment efficiency, total factor energy efficiency and water efficiency in China with the consideration of technological innovation. This study also explores the distribution proportion of technological innovation between industrial production substage and pollution treatment substage.Design/methodology/approachA nonparametric method, data envelopment analysis (DEA), is used as the model foundation of this study. Specifically, a novel two-stage range-adjusted measure (RAM-DEA) with shared inputs is constructed to analyze the China’s industrial system. In this study, the panel data of 30 provinces from 2008 to 2015 are used.FindingsThis study found that although the current environmental regulation reduced the efficiency of industrial production, it could significantly improve the pollution treatment level. However, the lack of pollution treatment capacity was still an obstacle for development of China's industrial system. Compared with the total factor energy efficiency, the total factor water efficiency had more room for improvement. The optimal distribution of technological innovation in the two substages performed little change and the distribution roughly followed the “three-seven principle”.Practical implicationsMore attention should be paid to improve the pollution treatment level and total factor water efficiency. And more R&D expenditure should be used in the industrial production substage in the eastern coastal areas, while in the inland areas, more R&D expenditure should be used in the pollution treatment substage.Originality/valueThis study proposed a model to environmental efficiency score with considering interval data under two-stage evaluation structure, which could strengthen the theory and expand the application scope of DEA approach.
How cultural distance affects the formation of international strategic alliance – an explanation of the transaction costs theory
Authors: Xiong Ming Ning , Wang Tao , Zhao Peng 
Published: August 2021

PurposeBased on the transaction cost theory, this paper aims to investigate the impact of cultural distance on international strategic alliance formation and its underlying mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses the investment of foreign firms in the Chinese Venture Capital market as an empirical background, Obtaining VC data from Zero2IPO Private Equity, CVsource Investment Database (2001–2015). This paper chooses the Logit regression method, according to Lind’s three-step method to test the inverted U-shaped relationship.FindingsThe empirical analysis of foreign venture capital firms invested in China revealed that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between cultural distance and the possibility of international strategic alliances. This relationship is the result of two opposing mechanisms, which are the need and the feasibility of international strategic alliances. In addition, this study further examined the moderating effects of social embeddedness and social reputation, revealing the boundary effects on the complex relationship between cultural distance and possible international strategic alliance formation.Originality/valueThis study focuses on cultural difference, which is a key factor leading to a firm’s transaction costs. Based on the transaction cost theory, this paper investigates the impact of cultural distance on international strategic alliance formation and its underlying mechanisms.
Creating novel furniture through topology optimization and advanced manufacturing
Authors: Ma Jiaming , Li Zhi , Zhao Zi-Long , Xie Yi Min 
Published: August 2021

PurposeFurniture plays a significant role in daily life. Advanced computational and manufacturing technologies provide new opportunities to create novel, high-performance and customized furniture. This paper aims to enhance furniture design and production by developing a new workflow in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are integrated to achieve innovative outcomes.Design/methodology/approachWorkflow development is conducted by exploring state-of-the-art computational and manufacturing technologies to improve furniture design and production. Structural design and fabrication using the workflow are implemented.FindingsAn efficient transdisciplinary workflow is developed, in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are combined. The workflow consists of the initial design, the optimization of the initial design, the postprocessing of the optimized results and the manufacturing and surface treatment of the physical prototypes. Novel chairs and tables, including flat pack designs, are produced using this workflow. The design and fabrication processes are simple, efficient and low-cost. Both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing are used.Practical implicationsThe research outcomes are directly applicable to the creation of novel furniture, as well as many other structures and devices.Originality/valueA new workflow is developed by taking advantage of the latest topology optimization methods and advanced manufacturing techniques for furniture design and fabrication. Several pieces of innovative furniture are designed and fabricated as examples of the presented workflow.
Something beyond paycheque to boosting employee retention: evidence from a South Indian hospital
Authors: Bharath M. 
Published: August 2021

Purpose
This paper aims to emphasize the need for a strategic approach to employee retention beyond financial benefits. This is directly proportional to employee retention. Bringing out the retention measures preferred by employees, depicting the relationship of demographic profile with employee retention tendency and exploring implications giving importance to beyond paycheque factors are the objectives of the study.

Design/methodology/approach
This study uses applied qualitative approach with a realistic view to collect the details of retention measures and practices from purposively selected 36 health-care experts by the conduct of interview using a one-to-one discussion with written notes. With quantitative approach, opinion survey was administered to receive the perceived opinion of randomly selected 350 health-care employees on paycheque and on beyond paycheque factors boosting their intention to stay. Bhattacharya and Ramachandran’s health-care study framework on retention was applied for the identification of the factors.

Findings
Both paycheque and beyond paycheque benefits are important for retention. Most respondents prefer beyond paycheque factors practiced at sampled hospital. Age, marital status and residence of employees are significantly associated with retention. The strategic initiatives of the sampled hospital to retention concerning motivational needs of employees in the workplace are thank you board, camp head, ad act camp, success corner and so forth.

Research limitations/implications
Addressing health-care work and relationship-related issues in terms of employee retention giving importance to beyond paycheque benefits – remedy for compassion fatigue health-care employees face in routine works, meeting promises made by management regarding paycheque or beyond paycheque benefits, employees participative in decisions in medical, clinical and in functional areas, reducing workload and role stress by the conduct of role analysis.

Originality/value
Many research studies are emphasizing the contribution of financial benefits to employee retention. Only a few studies have been carried out exploring and emphasizing the importance of beyond financial benefits motivating employee retention. This is the study of evidence from a hospital that gives strategic importance to beyond paycheque elements as well as paycheque elements.
Short‐ and long‐term effects of nutrient enrichment on salt marsh plant production and microbial community structure
Authors: Hanley Torrance C. , Bowen Jennifer L. , Kearns Patrick J. , Hughes A. Randall 
Published: August 2021

Abstract

Nutrient enrichment impacts ecosystems globally. Population history, especially past resource environments, of numerically dominant plant species may affect their responses to subsequent changes in nutrient availability. Eutrophication can also alter plant–microbe interactions via direct effects on associated microbial communities or indirect effects on dominant species’ biomass production/allocation as a result of modified plant–soil interactions.

We combined a greenhouse common garden and a field reciprocal transplant of a salt marsh foundation species (Spartina alterniflora) within a long‐term, whole‐ecosystem, nutrient‐enrichment study to determine whether enrichment affects plant production and microbial community structure differently depending on plant population history. For the greenhouse portion, we collected 20 S. alterniflora genotypes—10 from an enriched creek that had received elevated nutrient inputs for 10 years and 10 from an unenriched reference creek—and reared them in a common garden for 1 year. For the field portion, we conducted a 2‐year, fully crossed reciprocal transplant experiment with two gardens each at the enriched and unenriched sites; we examined the effects of source site (i.e. population history), garden site and plant genotype.

After 2 years, plants in enriched gardens had higher above‐ground biomass and altered below‐ground allocation compared to plants in unenriched gardens. However, performance also depended on plant population history: plants from the enriched site had decreased above‐ground and rhizome production compared to plants from the unenriched site, most notably in unenriched gardens. In addition, almost all above‐ and below‐ground traits varied depending on plant genotypic identity.

Effects of nutrient enrichment on the associated microbial community were also pronounced. Following 1 year in common garden, microbial community structure varied by plant population history and S. alterniflora genotypic identity. However, at the end of the reciprocal transplant, microbial communities differed primarily between enriched and unenriched gardens.

Synthesis. Nutrient enrichment can impact plant foundation species and associated soil microbes in the short term. Most importantly, nutrient enrichment can also have long‐lasting effects on plant populations and associated microbial communities that potentially compromise their ability to respond to changing resource conditions in the future.
Gestational age and birth growth parameters as early predictors of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders
Authors: Hasken Julie M. , Marais Anna‐Susan , de Vries Marlene , Joubert Belinda , Cloete Marise , Botha Isobel , Symington Sumien Roux , Kalberg Wendy O. , Buckley David , Robinson Luther K. , Manning Melanie A. , Parry Charles D. H. , Seedat Soraya , Hoyme H. Eugene , May Philip A. 
Published: August 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate gestational age and growth at birth as predictors of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).MethodsThe sample analyzed here comprises 737 randomly selected children who were assessed for growth, dysmorphology, and neurobehavior at 7 years of age. Maternal interviews were conducted to ascertain prenatal alcohol exposure and other maternal risk factors. Birth data originated from clinic records and the data at 7 years of age originated from population‐based, in‐school studies. Binary linear regression assessed the relationship between preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and their combination on the odds of a specific FASD diagnosis or any FASD.ResultsAmong children diagnosed with FASD at 7 years of age (n = 255), a review of birth records indicated that 18.4% were born preterm, 51.4% were SGA, and 5.9% were both preterm and SGA. When compared to non‐FASD controls (n = 482), the birth percentages born preterm, SGA, and both preterm and SGA were respectively 12.0%, 27.7%, and 0.5%. Mothers of children with FASD reported more drinking during all trimesters, higher gravidity, lower educational attainment, and older age at pregnancy. After controlling for usual drinks per drinking day in the first trimester, number of trimesters of drinking, maternal education, tobacco use, and maternal age, the odds ratio of an FASD diagnosis by age 7 was significantly associated with SGA (OR = 2.16, 95% CI: 1.35 to 3.45). SGA was also significantly associated with each of the 3 most common specific diagnoses within the FASD continuum: fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS; OR = 3.1), partial FAS (OR = 2.1), and alcohol‐related neurodevelopmental disorder (OR = 2.0).ConclusionSGA is a robust early indicator for FASD in this random sample of children assessed at 7 years of age.
Maternal choline supplementation mitigates alcohol exposure effects on neonatal brain volumes
Authors: Warton Fleur L. , Molteno Christopher D. , Warton Christopher M. R. , Wintermark Pia , Lindinger Nadine M. , Dodge Neil C. , Zöllei Lilla , van der Kouwe Andre J.W. , Carter R. Colin , Jacobson Joseph L. , Jacobson Sandra W. , Meintjes Ernesta M. 
Published: August 2021

AbstractBackgroundPrenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with smaller regional and global brain volumes. In rats, gestational choline supplementation mitigates adverse developmental effects of ethanol exposure. Our recent randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled maternal choline supplementation trial showed improved somatic and functional outcomes in infants at 6.5 and 12 months postpartum. Here, we examined whether maternal choline supplementation protected the newborn brain from PAE‐related volume reductions and, if so, whether these volume changes were associated with improved infant recognition memory.MethodsFifty‐two infants born to heavy‐drinking women who had participated in a choline supplementation trial during pregnancy underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging with a multi‐echo FLASH protocol on a 3T Siemens Allegra MRI (median age = 2.8 weeks postpartum). Subcortical regions were manually segmented. Recognition memory was assessed at 12 months on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII). We examined the effects of choline on regional brain volumes, whether choline‐related volume increases were associated with higher FTII scores, and the degree to which the regional volume increases mediated the effects of choline on the FTII.ResultsUsable MRI data were acquired in 50 infants (choline: n = 27; placebo: n = 23). Normalized volumes were larger in six of 12 regions in the choline than placebo arm (t ≥ 2.05, p ≤ 0.05) and were correlated with the degree of maternal choline adherence (β ≥ 0.28, p ≤ 0.04). Larger right putamen and corpus callosum were related to higher FTII scores (r = 0.36, p = 0.02) with a trend toward partial mediation of the choline effect on recognition memory.ConclusionsHigh‐dose choline supplementation during pregnancy mitigated PAE‐related regional volume reductions, with larger volumes associated with improved 12‐month recognition memory. These results provide the first evidence that choline may be neuroprotective against PAE‐related brain structural deficits in humans.
Disruptions in global network segregation and integration in adolescents and young adults with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Authors: Rodriguez Carlos I. , Vergara Victor M. , Calhoun Vince D. , Savage Daniel D. , Hamilton Derek A. , Tesche Claudia D. , Stephen Julia M. 
Published: August 2021

AbstractBackgroundFetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a significant public health problem that is associated with a broad range of physical, neurocognitive, and behavioral effects resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been an important tool for advancing our knowledge of abnormal brain structure and function in individuals with FASD. However, whereas only a small number of studies have applied graph theory‐based network analysis to resting‐state functional MRI (fMRI) data in individuals with FASD additional research in this area is needed.MethodsResting‐state fMRI data were collected from adolescent and young adult participants (ages 12–22) with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or alcohol‐related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) and neurotypically developing controls (CNTRL) from previous studies. Group independent components analysis (gICA) was applied to fMRI data to extract components representing functional brain networks. Functional network connectivity (FNC), measured by Pearson correlation of the average independent component (IC) time series, was analyzed under a graph theory framework to compare network modularity, the average clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and global efficiency between groups. Cognitive intelligence, measured by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), was compared and correlated to global network measures.ResultsGroup comparisons revealed significant differences in the average clustering coefficient, characteristic path length, and global efficiency. Modularity was not significantly different between groups. The FAS and ARND groups scored significantly lower than the CNTRL group on Full Scale IQ (FS‐IQ) and the Vocabulary subtest, but not the Matrix Reasoning subtest. No significant associations between intelligence and graph theory measures were detected.ConclusionOur results partially agree with previous studies examining global graph theory metrics in children and adolescents with FASD and suggest that the exposure to alcohol during prenatal development leads to disruptions in aspects of functional network segregation and integration.
Consideration of an upper‐bound continuous maximum drinks measure for adolescent binge and high‐intensity drinking prevalence
Authors: Patrick Megan E. , Terry‐McElrath Yvonne M. 
Published: August 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe degree to which binge and high‐intensity drinking prevalence estimates vary from fixed threshold frequency and continuous maximum drinks measures is unknown. The current study compared prevalence estimates for adolescent binge and high‐intensity drinking (5+ drinks, 10+ drinks, respectively) and sex‐specific thresholds using fixed threshold frequency and continuous maximum drinks measures.MethodsData were obtained from 7911 respondents participating in the 2018 and 2019 nationally representative Monitoring the Future 12th‐grade surveys. Comparisons of frequency prevalence (e.g., any occasions of 5+ drinking using the frequency measure) versus maximum drinks prevalence (e.g., reporting 5 or more drinks using the maximum number of drinks measure) were made using all respondents and then separately within males and females.ResultsAmong the sample overall and within sex, binge drinking estimates from the 5+ frequency prevalence and 5+ maximum drinks prevalence measures evidenced overlapping confidence intervals (estimates were slightly higher for frequency prevalence); similar results were observed for high‐intensity drinking 10+ frequency prevalence and 10+ maximum drinks prevalence. For example, among the sample overall, 5+ frequency prevalence was 11.4% [95% CI 10.3, 12.6]; 5+ maximum drinks prevalence was 10.7% [9.6, 11.8]; 10+ frequency prevalence was 5.1% [4.4, 5.8]; and 10+ maximum drinks prevalence was 4.1% [3.5, 4.7]. Using sex‐specific thresholds (i.e., 4+ drinks for females and 5+ drinks for males), binge frequency and maximum drinks levels also had overlapping confidence intervals. Binge drinking prevalence estimates for females were approximately 1.5 times higher using sex‐specific (4+) versus universal (5+) thresholds.ConclusionsIn this nationally representative sample of 12th‐grade students, prevalence levels for 5+ and 10+ drinking did not differ significantly when using frequency versus maximum drinks measures. Among females, binge drinking prevalence was higher using sex‐specific versus universal thresholds. Both the frequency and maximum drinks measures provided comparable estimates of binge and high‐intensity drinking prevalence among older adolescents.