bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Dynamic chromatin regulatory landscape of human CAR T cell exhaustion
Authors: Gennert David G , Lynn Rachel C , Granja Jeff M , Weber Evan W , Mumbach Maxwell R , Zhao Yang , Duren Zhana , Sotillo Elena , Greenleaf William J. , Wong Wing H , Satpathy Ansuman T , Mackall Crystal L , Chang Howard Y 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTDysfunction in T cells limits the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy1–6. We profiled the epigenome, transcriptome, and enhancer connectome of exhaustion-prone GD2-targeting HA-28z chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and control CD19-targeting CAR T cells, which present less exhaustion-inducing tonic signaling, at multiple points during theirex vivoexpansion7. We found widespread, dynamic changes in chromatin accessibility and 3D chromosome conformation preceding changes in gene expression, notably at loci proximal to exhaustion-associated genes such asPDCD1, CTLA4, andHAVCR2, and increased DNA motif access for AP-1 family transcription factors, which are known to promote exhaustion. Although T cell exhaustion has been studied in detail in mouse, we find that the regulatory networks of T cell exhaustion differ between the species and involve distinct loci of accessible chromatin and cis-regulated target genes in human CAR T cell exhaustion. Deletion of exhaustion-specific candidate enhancers ofPDCD1suppress the expression of PD-1 in anin vitromodel of T cell dysfunction and in HA-28z CAR T cells, suggesting enhancer editing as a path forward in improving cancer immunotherapy.
Sense-and-respond payload delivery using a novel antigen-inducible promoter improves suboptimal CAR-T activation
Authors: Guo Tingxi , Ma Dacheng , Lu Timothy K. 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTChimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapies demonstrate the clinical potential of lymphocytes engineered with synthetic properties. However, CAR-T cells are ineffective in most solid tumors, partly due to inadequate activation of the infused lymphocytes at the site of malignancy. To selectively enhance anti-tumor efficacy without exacerbating off-target toxicities, CAR-T cells can be engineered to preferentially deliver immunostimulatory payloads in tumors. Here, we report a novel antigen-inducible promoter and single-vector sense-and-respond circuit for conditional payload expression in primary human T cells. In therapeutic T cell models, the novel NR4A-based promoter induced higher transgene expression than the conventional NFAT-based promoter under weakly immunogenic conditions, where payload expression is most needed. Minimal activity was detected from the inducible promoters in the absence of antigen and after withdrawal of stimulation. As a functional proof-of-concept, we used the NR4A-based promoter to express cytokines in an anti-mesothelin CAR-T model with suboptimal stimulation, and observed improved proliferation compared to T cells engineered with the conventional NFAT promoter or CAR alone. Our single-vector circuit achieves CAR-directed payload expression under weakly immunogenic conditions and could enable the next generation of cell therapies with enhanced anti-tumor efficacy.
Older adults’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about prescription opioids
Authors: Glose Susan , Arms Tamatha , Rowan Noell 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes surrounding prescription opioid medications of community living older adults in southeast North Carolina.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional, descriptive, anonymous survey design of participants aged 55 or over was used.FindingsStudy participants (N= 119) reported bias in their attitudes and beliefs about the use and misuse of prescription opioid medications. Multiple regression analyses revealed that gender, age, work, marital status and education level all had significant results in explaining variance in the statistical models. Even though study participants demonstrated high levels of education and understanding of the potential of addiction to opiates, there were a number of misconceptions about prescription pain medications revealed.Originality/valueThere is a dearth of studies looking at older adults’ knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about prescription pain medications. This urges the necessity of increased awareness via further research, presentations and creative discourse to assist in the understanding of precursors of addiction and ways to deal with pain that do not automatically depend on prescription opioid medicines. Implications include outreach to a larger and more diverse sample to address knowledge, beliefs and attitudes surrounding prescription opioid medications of community living older adults in southeast North Carolina and beyond.
Does board structure impact a firm's financial performance? Evidence from the Indian software sector
Authors: Bansal Deepika , Singh Shveta 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of board structure on financial performance of Indian software companies. It is an empirical study carried out on 92 software companies from 2011 to 2018.Design/methodology/approachThe board size, board independence, board meetings, CEO duality, audit, remuneration and nomination committee are used as board structure variables. Two accounting-based measures, return on assets (ROA), return on equity and one market-based measure Tobin's Q are used as a representative of financial performance of software companies. Panel regression is used to test the hypothesis.FindingsResults demonstrates that board size, board meetings, remuneration and nomination committee have positive impact on more than one performance measures, while audit committee do not have any relation with any of the performance measures. It is also found that CEO duality has negative but significant relation with firm's performance and board independence has negative influence on ROA.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study attract the attention of company's policymakers, shareholders to know the importance of board structure in increasing the firm's performance. The outcome of the study has relevance in other developing economies also. The results of the study can be utilised by policymakers and regulatory bodies in the formulation of good corporate government (CG) practices for the enhancement of profitability and market value of companies.Originality/valueThe findings suggest that special attention should be given to quality of CG, specifically board structure while measuring corporate financial performance.
Economic growth and income inequality: a non-linear econometrics analysis of the SADC region, 1990–2015
Authors: Zungu Lindokuhle Talent , Greyling Lorraine , Mbatha Nkanyiso 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe authors investigate the growth–inequality relationship, using panel data from 13 Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries over the period 1990–2015, to test the validity of the Kuznets and Tribble theories. Furthermore, the authors seek to determine the threshold level at which excessive growth hampers inequality.Design/methodology/approachThe panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model has several stages. The authors applied the Lagrange multiplier (LM) test to find the appropriate transition variable amongst all candidate variables, to assess the linearity between economic growth and income inequality and to find the sequence for selecting the ordermof the transition function. The authors then estimated the PSTR model, but before facilitating the results, the authors first used the wild cluster bootstrap (WCB)–LM-type test to assess the appropriateness of the selected transition.FindingsThe authors found that at lower growth, income inequality tends to be lower, while if growth increases above US$8,969, inequality tends to increase in the SADC region. The findings combine into aU-shaped relationship, contradicting the Kuznets and Tribble theories.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is that it becomes the first to provide the threshold level at which excessive growth increases inequality in the selected countries. This study proposes that policymakers should focus on activities aimed at stimulating growth, in other words, activities such as spending more on infrastructure, drawing up a suitable investment portfolio and spending on technological investment for countries that are below US$8,969. An improvement in these activities will create job opportunities, which in turn will add to economic growth and thus lead to lower income inequality and better social cohesion.
Robust active disturbance attenuation control of an uncertain quadrotor
Authors: Ahmed Nigar , Bhatia Ajeet kumar , Ali Shah Syed Awais 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe aim of this research is to design a robust active disturbance attenuation control (RADAC) technique combined with an extended high gain observer (EHGO) and low pass filter (LPF).Design/methodology/approachFor designing a RADAC technique, the sliding mode control (SMC) method is used. Since the standard method of SMC exhibits a chattering phenomenon in the controller, a multilayer sliding mode surface is designed for avoiding the chattering. In addition, to attenuate the unwanted uncertainties and disturbances (UUDs), the techniques of EHGO and LPF are deployed. Besides acting as a patch for disturbance attenuation, the EHGO design estimates the state variables. To investigate the stability and effectiveness of the designed control algorithm, the stability analysis followed by the simulation study is presented.FindingsThe major findings include the design of a chattering-free RADAC controller based on the multilayer sliding mode surface. Furthermore, a criterion of integrating the LPF scheme within the EHGO scheme is also developed to attenuate matched and mismatched UUDs.Practical implicationsIn practice, the quadrotor flight is opposed by different kinds of the UUDs. And, the model of the quadrotor is a highly nonlinear underactuated model. Thus, the dynamics of the quadrotor model become more complex and uncertain due to the additional UUDs. Hence, it is necessary to design a robust disturbance attenuation technique with the ability to estimate the state variables and attenuate the UUDs and also achieve the desired control objectives.Originality/valueDesigning control methods to attenuate the disturbances while assuming that the state variables are known is a common practice. However, investigating the uncertain plants with unknown states along with the disturbances is rarely taken in consideration for the control design. Hence, this paper presents a control algorithm to address the issues of the UUDs as well as investigate a criterion to reduce the chattering incurred in the controller due to the standard SMC algorithm.
Evidence-based coaching as a supplement to traditional lectures: impact on undergraduates' goal attainment and measures of mental well-being
Authors: Atad Ofer I. , Grant Anthony M. 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis study aimed to examine how the effects of traditional tertiary education (lecture format) on various outcomes – including goal attainment, psychopathology (stress, anxiety and depression), resilience, solution-focused thinking and self-insight – compare to effects of traditional education supplemented by health coaching, delivered through Zoom video-conferencing.Design/methodology/approachThe study, which involved mature-age Israeli undergraduate students enrolled in a health promotion course (n = 178), used a randomized controlled between-subjects (pre-post) design. Participants were each randomly assigned to a traditional-education condition (n = 90) or to a coaching condition (n = 88). All participants attended 13 weekly course lectures; those in the coaching condition also participated in weekly Zoom-based coaching sessions, with trained health coaches. Each participant completed online questionnaire measures at the beginning and at the end of the semester. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA.FindingsCompared with participants in the traditional-education condition, those in the coaching condition showed, over the course of the semester, significant improvement in goal attainment, solution-focused thinking, self-insight, resilience and psychopathology. Participants in the traditional-education condition showed no change in these measures.Originality/valueThe authors’ findings suggest that health coaching, as a supplement to traditional lectures, can enhance undergraduates' goal attainment and multiple facets of their mental well-being. These findings may have significant practical implications for the vast numbers of students struggling to cope in higher education systems worldwide. The authors further suggest a range of alternative, coaching-inspired interventions that do not require development of a full coaching program.
University lecturers' use of active teaching methods: a segmentation study concerning trust, empowerment, thinking styles and emotional intelligence
Authors: Nghiêm-Phú Bình , Nguyễn Thành Hưng 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the adoption of the active learning and teaching methods by university lecturers, taking into account the contribution of certain important factors, including trust, empowerment, thinking styles and emotional intelligence. In addition, this study further reveals the diverse nature of university lecturers with regards to their tendencies to adopt active teaching methods using the segmentation technique of marketing.Design/methodology/approachA structured survey was implemented with university lecturers in Hanoi (Vietnam), obtaining a sample of 218 respondents from six universities. Descriptive analysis was carried out to identify the extent of the adoption of these methods. In addition, cluster analysis and analysis of variance were computed to extract and define the segments of university lecturers.FindingsThe findings show that the lecturers, on average, had a tendency to apply active teaching methods. However, the extent of the application of these methods differed among four clusters: “conservatives,” “liberals,” “junior conservatives” and “junior liberals.” In addition, it was found that the degree to which active methods were applied may have been affected by the lecturers' trust in and their empowerment of the students. The application of active methods may also have been influenced by various covert characteristics of the lecturers, including thinking styles (cognition-based) and emotional intelligence (affect-based). The lecturers' overt characteristics, such as age, education and experience, may also have affected their application of active methods, while biological sex seems not to have been a significant factor.Originality/valueThe results of this study expand the literature by explaining the diversity of university lecturers from the perspective of the active teaching and learning methods. They also provide implications for the management of education reform based on the varied implementation of the said methods that has already taken place.
Is tourism pro-poor in India? An empirical investigation using ARDL approach
Authors: Sharma Manu , Mohapatra Geetilaxmi , Giri Arun Kumar 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between tourism sector development and poverty reduction in India using annual data from 1970 to 2018. The paper attempts to answer the critical question: Is tourism pro-poor in India?Design/methodology/approachStationarity properties of the series are checked by using the ADF unit root test. The paper uses the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration to examine the existence of long-run relationships; error-correction mechanism for the short-run dynamics, and Granger non-causality test to test the direction of causality.FindingsThe cointegration test confirms a long-run relationship between tourism development and poverty reduction for India. The ARDL test results suggest that tourism development and economic growth reduces poverty in both the long run and the short run. Furthermore, inflation had a negative and significant short-run impact on the poverty reduction variable. The causality test confirms that there is a positive and unidirectional causality running from tourism development to poverty reduction confirming that tourism development is pro-poor in India.Research limitations/implicationsThis study implies that poverty in India can be reduced by tourism sector growth and price stability. For a fast-growing economy with respect to economic growth and tourism sector growth, this may have far-reaching implications toward inclusive growth in India.Originality/valueThis paper is the first of its kind to empirically examine the causal relationship between tourism sector development and poverty reduction in India using modern econometric techniques.
Microfinancial inclusion nexus poverty alleviation: the case of Nigeria
Authors: Ngong Chi Aloysius , Thaddeus Kesuh Jude , Onwumere Josaphat Uchechukwu Joe 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThis research examines the long-run relationship between microfinancial inclusion and poverty alleviation in Nigeria from 1990 to 2018.Design/methodology/approachthe Engle–Granger two-step co-integration and autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) techniques. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita proxies poverty reduction. Number of microfinance banks, borrowers of microfinance institutions, commercial bank branches, commercial bank loan to small-scale businesses and broad money supply ratio measure microfinancial inclusion.FindingsThe results indicate a long-run relationship between microfinancial inclusion and poverty reduction. The error correction model reveals that microfinancial inclusion and poverty alleviation converge to long-run equilibrium. The number of microfinance banks, lagged value of borrowed funds and broad money supply negatively influences poverty while the lagged values of number of microfinance banks and broad money supply positively influence poverty.Research limitations/implicationsEffective ways to improve microcredit channels and liquidity flow to the poor through a microfinance bank's intermediation should be promoted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) using an aggressive policy, which provides access to credit to the poor.Practical implicationsTheoretically, microfinance institutions should increase credit to the poor, especially in rural areas at moderate cost. This study further suggests that many microfinance bank branches should be located in urban and rural areas targeting the poor.Social implicationsMicrofinancial inclusion reduces population's poverty in Nigeria and globally.Originality/valueContrary to other studies, this paper utilizes number of microfinance institutions and borrowers of microfinance institutions to examine the relationship between microfinancial inclusion and poverty alleviation in Nigeria.
Research of influence mechanism of corporate social responsibility for smart cities on consumers' purchasing intention
Authors: Zhuang Meier , Zhu Wenzhong , Huang Lihui , Pan Wen-Tsao 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to explore the influence mechanism of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for smart cities on consumers' purchase intention. The authors aim to identify the key components of CSR for smart cities based on the perspective of consumers, namely responsibility toward consumers, environment and community and validate their relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe authors exploit data collected by questionnaire surveys to estimate the effects of CSR for smart cities on consumers' purchase intentions and to investigate the statistical causality between them. The multilinear regression model is used to figure out the different impact levels of the three dimensions of CSR for smart cities on consumers' purchase intention.FindingsThe results illustrate that CSR for smart cities and its three dimensions all have significant positive impacts on consumers' purchase intentions. Besides, consumer–corporate identity (CCI) exerts a partial mediation effect on this influence mechanism.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is based on a rather small sample size. Besides, due to the time limitation and other factors, some other control variables are neglected in the regression model. Therefore, the impact level could be distorted.Practical implicationsThe authors put forward management implications according to research conclusions. Corporates should actively fulfill the CSR in the field of consumer responsibility to boost consumers' purchase intention. Corporate should strengthen the interaction with consumers to improve their corporate identity.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is to provide convincing evidence of the impacts of CSR for smart cities on consumer purchase intention (CPI), thus proposing effective measures for corporates to win more consumers by taking on social responsibility for smart cities. This paper takes CCI as mediating variable to deepen the understanding of the impacts of CSR for smart cities on CPI, which is innovative and beneficial to enriching literature in related fields.
Being suspicious in the workplace: the role of suspicion and negative views of others in the workplace in the perception of abusive supervision
Authors: Schyns Birgit 
Published: April 2021

PurposeResearch reported in this manuscript focuses on the relationship between trait suspicion and the perception of abusive supervision. Based on previous research, the authors assume that suspicion is positively related to the perception of abusive supervision. The role implicit theories play in this relationship is examined.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies are presented to examine the relationship between trait suspicion and the perception of abusive supervision as moderated by implicit leadership theories. The first study is a survey study, and the second study is an experimental vignette study.FindingsResults of both studies indicate that suspicion is positively related to the perception of abusive supervision and that implicit leadership theories moderate the relationship between suspicion and the perception of abusive supervision.Research limitations/implicationsResults are interpreted in terms of biases in leadership perception as well as the reversing-the-lens perspective.Originality/valueWhile there is progress in taking into account follower characteristics and the resulting perceptual biases in the study of constructive leadership phenomena such as transformational leadership, less is know about the follower perception aspect of destructive leadership phenomena. With this research, the authors extend research into the influence of follower characteristics on the perception of abusive supervision and also look at boundary conditions of this relationship by including implicit leadership theories as a moderator.
Sense of calling, job crafting, spiritual leadership and work meaningfulness: a moderated mediation model
Authors: Chang Po-Chien , Xiaoxiao Gao , Wu Ting 
Published: April 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between sense of calling and work meaningfulness with job crafting as a mediator and spiritual leadership as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachAdopting a three-wave procedure, data were collected from 333 participants across industries from Guangdong province, China.FindingsResults indicate that job crafting partially mediates the relationship between employee sense of calling and work meaningfulness. Moreover, the positive relationship between job crafting and work meaningfulness is more significant when spiritual leadership is high than when it is low. Additionally, spiritual leadership moderates the indirect relationship of sense of calling and work meaningfulness through job crafting such that the indirect effect of sense of calling is stronger when spiritual leadership is high than when it is low.Originality/valueBased on self-determination theory, this study adds to current literatures examining the importance of sense of calling on a person's career and explores the boundary conditions, which bring desirable outcomes.