bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The innate immune kinase TBK1 directly increases mTORC2 activity and downstream signaling to Akt
Authors: Tooley AS , Kazyken D , Bodur C , Gonzalez IE , Fingar DC 
Published: March 2021

AbstractTBK1 (TANK-binding kinase 1) responds to microbial pathogens to initiate cellular responses critical for host innate immune defense. We found previously that TBK1 phosphorylates mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) (on S2159) to increase mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) activity and signaling in response to the growth factor EGF and the viral dsRNA mimetic poly(I:C). mTORC1 and the less well studied mTORC2 respond to diverse cues to control cellular metabolism, proliferation, and survival. Here we demonstrate that TBK1 activates mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2) directly to increase Akt phosphorylation at physiological levels of protein expression. We find that TBK1 phosphorylates mTOR S2159 within mTORC2in vitro, phosphorylates mTOR S2159 in cells, and interacts with mTORC2 in cells. By studying MEFs lacking TBK1, as well as MEFs, macrophages, and mice bearing anMtor S2159Aknock-in allele (MtorA/A), we show that TBK1 and mTOR S2159 phosphorylation increase mTORC2 catalytic activity and promote mTOR-dependent downstream signaling to Akt in response to several growth factors and poly(I:C). While microbial-derived stimuli activate TBK1, we find that growth factors fail to activate TBK1 or increase mTOR S2159 phosphorylation in MEFs. Thus, we propose that basal TBK1 activity cooperates with growth factors in parallel to increase mTORC2 (and mTORC1) signaling. Collectively, these results reveal crosstalk between TBK1 and mTOR complexes (mTORCs), key nodes within two major signaling systems. As TBK1 and mTORCs have each been linked to tumorigenesis and metabolic disorders, these kinases may work together in a direct manner in a variety of physiological and pathological settings.One Sentence SummaryThe innate immune kinase TBK1 directly activates mTORC2
Robust numerical method for singularly perturbed differential equations having both large and small delay
Authors: Garoma Debela Habtamu 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop stable, convergent and accurate numerical method for solving singularly perturbed differential equations having both small and large delay.Design/methodology/approachThis study introduces a fitted nonpolynomial spline method for singularly perturbed differential equations having both small and large delay. The numerical scheme is developed on uniform mesh using fitted operator in the given differential equation.FindingsThe stability of the developed numerical method is established and its uniform convergence is proved. To validate the applicability of the method, one model problem is considered for numerical experimentation for different values of the perturbation parameter and mesh points.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors consider a new governing problem having both small delay on convection term and large delay. As far as the researchers' knowledge is considered numerical solution of singularly perturbed boundary value problem containing both small delay and large delay is first being considered.
Using existing site surveillance cameras to automatically measure the installation speed in prefabricated timber construction
Authors: Ahmadian Fard Fini Alireza , Maghrebi Mojtaba , Forsythe Perry John , Waller Travis Steven 
Published: March 2021

PurposeMeasuring onsite productivity has been a substance of debate in the construction industry, mainly due to concerns about accuracy, repeatability and unbiasedness. Such characteristics are central to demonstrate construction speed that can be achieved through adopting new prefabricated systems. Existing productivity measurement methods, however, cannot cost-effectively provide solid and replicable evidence of prefabrication benefits. This research proposes a low-cost automated method for measuring onsite installation productivity of prefabricated systems.Design/methodology/approachFirstly, the captured ultra-wide footages are undistorted by extracting the curvature contours and performing a developed meta-heuristic algorithm to straighten these contours. Then a preprocessing algorithm is developed that could automatically detect and remove the noises caused by vibrations and movements. Because this study aims to accurately measure the productivity the noise free images are double checked in a specific time window to make sure that even a tiny error, which have not been detected in the previous steps, will not been amplified through the process. In the next step, the existing side view provided by the camera is converted to a top view by using a spatial transformation method. Finally, the processed images are compared with the site drawings in order to detect the construction process over time and report the measured productivity.FindingsThe developed algorithms perform nearly real-time productivity computations through exact matching of actual installation process and digital design layout. The accuracy and noninterpretive use of the proposed method is demonstrated in construction of a multistorey cross-laminated timber building.Originality/valueThis study uses footages of an already installed surveillance camera where the camera's features are unknown and then image processing algorithms are deployed to retrieve accurate installation quantities and cycle times. The algorithms are almost generalized and versatile to be adjusted to measure installation productivity of other prefabricated building systems.
The effects of self-other rating agreement on ethical behavior: an experimental investigation
Authors: Kass Darrin S. , Kim Jung Seek , Zhu Weichun , Erdley-Kass Shiloh 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of self-other rating agreement (SOA) on ethical decisions and behavior.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 169 students (60 women and 109 men) enrolled in a part-time, regional MBA program was divided into three SOA categories: (1) Self-aware, individuals whose self-ratings matched observer ratings, (2) Underraters, those whose self-ratings were lower than observer ratings and (3) Overraters, individuals whose self-ratings were higher than other ratings. Ethical behavior was evaluated with the completion of a managerial in-basket assessment.FindingsThe results revealed that ethical behavior varied by SOA, with underraters exhibiting the highest levels of ethical behavior, followed by self-aware (i.e. accurate) and then overraters. One of the intriguing results is that underraters displayed more ethical behaviors than accurate raters, raising questions about the use of accurate self-assessments as an indicator of personal and professional effectiveness.Originality/valueThe results indicate that organizations should consider SOA in their human resource processes because it has important implications for employee training, selection and promotion. While prior research has examined the effect of SOA on performance, commitment and leadership perceptions, the authors contribute to the literature by examining whether SOA influences actual ethical decisions and actions.
The influences of lubricant groove shape on the tribological properties of journal bearing under the grease lubrication conditions
Authors: Yan Shicheng , Xue Yahong , Wei Liming , Wang Zhanchao 
Published: March 2021

Purpose
This paper aims to elucidate the effects of lubricant groove shape, vertical load, swing angle and grease injection cycle on the friction and wear performances of journal bearings under the grease lubrication condition.

Design/methodology/approach
Three different types of lubricant grooves, namely, numeral eight-shaped, axial straight line-shaped and circular blind hole-shaped, were designed and machined in the bearing bush of journal bearings. The tribological behaviors of these journal bearings were investigated on the self-developed reciprocating swing friction and wear tester. Experimental data including the friction coefficient, the friction temperature, the wear loss and wear time were analyzed in detail. The wear morphologies of friction pairs were observed by scanning electron microscope and confocal laser scanning microscope.

Findings
The load carrying capacity and service life of the journal bearing with circular blind hole-shaped lubricant grooves are not affected. However, the load carrying capacities of journal bearings with numeral eight-shaped and axial straight line-shaped lubricant grooves are declined. The coverage areas of lubricating grease in the bearing bush are associated with the swing angle. The smaller the swing angle is, the more limited the coverage areas of lubricating grease get. Among these journal bearings, the maintenance-free time of journal bearing with circular blind hole-shaped lubricant grooves is the longest because of its large grease storage capacity.

Originality/value
The journal bearing with circular blind hole-shaped lubricant grooves exhibits the excellent antifriction and wear-resistant properties, making it suitable for the application in the low-speed and heavy-load engineering conditions.
Voluntary disclosure and intellectual capital: how CEOs mobilise discretionary accounting narratives to account for value creation stemming from intellectual capital
Authors: Albertini Elisabeth , Berger-Remy Fabienne , Lefrancq Stephane , Morgana Laurence , Petković Miloš , Walliser Elisabeth 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThis research aims to contribute to the current discussion led by international accounting bodies on intellectual capital narratives. Before setting a standard, a preliminary step is to highlight intellectual capital components' sources of value. The objective of this exploratory paper is to contribute to the discussion by proposing a detailed description and taxonomy of intellectual capital based on an analysis of discretionary accounting narrative disclosures in CEO letters.Design/methodology/approachTo answer the research question, a computerised lexical content analysis was done of 241 letters from the CEOs of S&P Euro 350 companies addressed to shareholders.FindingsBeyond the required disclosures about balance sheet intangibles, this study brings to light discretionary narratives about human, digital, customer and environmental capital and their interactions. In particular, CEOs are promoting two new themes, environmental capital and digital capital, as major contributors to value creation.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this study are inherent in the media studied, namely the CEOs' letters to shareholders, which were written as part of the firms' official communication.Practical implicationsThe main contribution of the research is a detailed description of the intellectual capital components that CEOs consider to be at the heart of their companies' models to create value. Human and customer capital were already familiar under the previous classification, but CEOs present digital and environmental capital as areas of opportunity or risk in their discretionary narratives.Originality/valueThe article contributes to the current international discussions on intellectual capital by focusing on discretionary accounting narratives. It seeks to provide guidelines concerning future standards in the current stage of intellectual capital research.
Strategic visualization: the (real) usefulness of cognitive mapping in smart city conceptualization
Authors: Vaz Ana Luísa A. , Ferreira Fernando A.F. , Pereira Leandro F. , Correia Ricardo J.C. , Banaitis Audrius 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThe concept of smart city has recently become more topical in academic and policy discussions. This idea is considered a complex, non-consensual subject since its definition has not yet been agreed upon by most authors in the relevant fields. The need to identify and measure smart city indicators has also given rise to many different evaluation procedures. However, the available frameworks have yet to overcome challenges in structuring and measuring all the evaluation parameters of the cities in question. Thus, methods still need to be developed and applied that can structure criteria used to assess smart city success.Design/methodology/approachThis study sought to show cognitive mapping's tangible usefulness as an expedient tool for strategic analysis, using smart cities as a complex object of study. To this end, various cognitive maps were constructed and compared using the Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) approach.FindingsCognitive mapping's advantages and limitations in the strategic visualization research context are analyzed and discussed.Originality/valueThe authors know of no prior work reporting comparative analysis of this methodological approach in the same research context.
CEO vs. COO: shareholder perceptions of M&A announcements based on insider trades
Authors: Nguyen Vinh Huy , Gomez Carolina , Mishra Suchi , Parhizgari Ali M. 
Published: March 2021

PurposeWe examine how the net share purchases of top executives of acquiring firms, specifically the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Chief Operating Officer (COO), can impact shareholder perceptions of a merger and acquisition (M&A) around the announcement time.Design/methodology/approachRegression tests using the post-announcement cumulative returns as the dependent variables, and CEO and COO net purchases as independent test controlling for the net purchases of all other insiders, COO and CEO ownership, exercised options, unexercised exercisable options, merger type, pre-announcement firm size, past performance, industry growth, industry instability, year and industry fixed effects. The regression tests are used for various sub-samples (i.e. non-contemporaneous events, duality, operational complexity, economic conditions).FindingsWe find that overall shareholders value the COO's net purchases before the announcement but not those of the CEOs. If the COO is also the CEO, then executive buy-ins appear to have a negative reaction from the shareholders. When the firm has many business segments or when the announcement is made in an economic recession, the COO's net purchases do not have a positive influence on the shareholders.Originality/valueWe are the first to provide evidence that investors pay attention to the COO around M&A announcements. In the age of celebrity CEOs, who can instantaneously change the stock price with one press release, having another executive that can shape the opinion of investors can diversify the agency risk.
Financial distress, corporate takeovers and the distress anomaly
Authors: Kozlowski Steven E. , Puleo Michael R. 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThis paper examines the relation between takeover likelihood and the documented underperformance of distressed company stocks while exploring two competing hypotheses. The failure risk explanation predicts lower returns to distressed firms with high probability of being acquired because the acquisition reduces risk and investors' required return. Conversely, the agency conflicts explanation predicts lower returns when acquisition is unlikely.Design/methodology/approachThe likelihood of receiving a takeover bid is estimated, and portfolio tests explore the underperformance of distressed company stocks relative to non-distressed stocks across varying levels of takeover likelihood. Predictive regressions subsequently examine the relation between distress, takeover exposure and future firm operating performance including how the relation is affected by state anti-takeover laws.FindingsDistressed stocks underperform non-distressed company stocks by economically and statistically significant margins when takeover likelihood is low, yet there is no evidence of underperformance among distressed stocks with moderate or high takeover exposure. Consistent with agency conflicts playing a key role, distressed firms that are disciplined by takeover threats invest more, use more leverage and experience higher future profitability. State-level anti-takeover legislation limits this disciplinary effect, however.Originality/valueThe results show that the well-documented distress anomaly is driven by a subset of distressed firms whose managers face limited pressure from the external takeover market. The evidence casts doubt on the failure risk explanation and suggests that agency conflicts play a key role.
GCC countries’ geoeconomic significance to China’s geopolitical ends
Authors: Almujeem Noura Saleh 
Published: March 2021

PurposeThe study aims to examine the geoeconomic significance of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to China’s global geopolitical ends. In this vein, the paper also seeks to explore the interplay between China’s grand geoeconomic strategy and China’s geopolitical ends from a realist perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the realism theory to explore the interplay between China’s geoeconomic presence in the GCC countries and its geopolitical global ends.FindingsThe study concludes that China under President Xi Jinping has geopolitical ends, and they are the regional and global leadership. To achieve them, President Xi has formulated a grand geoeconomic strategy consisting of four strategies: going out strategy, periphery strategy, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. These strategies will maximize China’s economic power and presence around the world. From a realist perspective, this presence and its evolving consequences such as the balance of dependence will enable China to achieve its geopolitical ends. In this vein, China’s geoeconomic strategy in the GCC countries has largely maximized China’s economic presence in the Gulf. This presence highly serving China’s geopolitical global ends for two reasons: the economic weight of the GCC countries and their strategic location within BRI.Originality/valueThe study can prove the realistic dimension of geoeconomics in the neoliberal era on the application to China’s geoeconomic strategy.
From the leaf to the community: Distinct dimensions of phytochemical diversity shape insect–plant interactions within and among individual plants
Authors: Cosmo Leandro G. , Yamaguchi Lydia F. , Felix Gabriel M. F. , Kato Massuo J. , Cogni Rodrigo , Pareja Martín 
Published: March 2021

Abstract

Plant secondary chemistry is known to be an important driver of plant–insect community structure across ecological scales. Recently, the concept of phytochemical diversity (PD) has been introduced to help describe variation in plant secondary chemistry and explain how this variation affects community structure. Previous studies show that PD among individuals and species results in phytochemical mosaics, known as the phytochemical landscape. However, plant traits can vary at finer scales, such as within individuals, and even a single host plant may be perceived as an entire phytochemical landscape by an interacting insect.

Using the neotropical shrub Piper amalago, we tested and compared how herbivory, caterpillar biodiversity and plant–herbivore network structure are affected by the compositional (number and concentration of compounds) and structural (diversity of distinct chemical structures) dimensions of PD. We analysed variation among individual plants and among‐plant height strata within individual plants. This allowed us to decompose PD within and among plant individuals and analyse how variation at both scales affects the plant–herbivore network.

We found that both within and among plants greater structural diversity decreased herbivore feeding damage. Furthermore, each dimension of PD has different effects on herbivore biodiversity and network structure depending on the scale of biological organization.

Within plants, the compositional dimension, specifically low concentrations of compounds tentatively identified as Piper amides, increased herbivore biodiversity. This dimension also increased the capacity of strata within plants to mediate ecological cascades through direct and indirect effects on herbivore abundance in the plant–herbivore network. In contrast, a greater structural diversity among plants decreased herbivore biodiversity and the capacity of plants to affect all other herbivores and plants directly and indirectly in the network.

Synthesis. Based on our results we expand the concept of the phytochemical landscape to multiple scales of biological organization and provide evidence that PD may be maintained by how its multiple dimensions have distinct roles across scales of biological organization.
Do Majority‐of‐Minority Shareholder Voting Rights Reduce Expropriation? Evidence from Related Party Transactions
Authors: LI NAN 
Published: March 2021

ABSTRACTIn the presence of business groups, the expropriation through related party transactions (RPTs) is common and costly to minority shareholders. Using the setting of India's RPT voting rule, I find that a majority‐of‐minority shareholder voting mechanism helps mitigate expropriation. Minority shareholders actively raise their voice against RPT resolutions. A difference‐in‐differences analysis reveals that shareholder voting has a significant deterrence effect on RPT volume. I also find that stock markets react positively to the voting rule's passage, and that the rule makes Indian firms more attractive to foreign institutional investors.
Structural Setting and Kinematic Analysis of the Halaban Region, Eastern Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia
Authors: KASSEM Osama M. , ALAMRI Yousef A. , ZAIDI Faisal K. , AL BASSAM Abdel Aziz M. , AL‐HASHIM Mansour H. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe vorticity analysis technique was applied to measure the different lithological units, such as schist, metagranite and metavolcano‐sedimentary rocks, which are present in the Halaban region. This work aims to interpret the relationship between the different lithologies and the tectonic setting, in order to elucidate the nature of kinematic analysis in the Halaban region. The kinematic analyses were applied to feldspar porphyroclasts, quartz and hornblende for twenty‐six samples. The kinematic vorticity number (Wm) for deformed rocks in the study area ranged from ∼0.6 to 0.9. The direction of the long axes for finite strain data (X axes) revealed a WNW trend with shallow dipping. The direction of the short axes for finite strain data (Z axes) were represented by vertical with associated horizontal foliation. The results of the kinematic vorticity and strain analyses are characterized by simple shear with different degrees of deformation in the Halaban region. Furthermore, our finite strain data shows no significant volume change during deformation. The subhorizontal foliation was synchronized with thrusting and deformation. Furthermore, throughout the overlying nappes, the same attitudes of tectonic contacts are observable, the nappes in the orogens being formed from simple shear deformation.