bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Direct current stimulation boosts associative Hebbian synaptic plasticity and maintains its pathway specificity
Authors: Kronberg Greg , Rahman Asif , Lafon Belen , Parra Lucas C. , Bikson Marom 
Published: February 2019

AbstractThere is evidence that transcranial direct current stimulation can boost learning performance. Arguably, this boost is related to synaptic plasticity. However, the precise effects on synaptic plasticity and its underlying mechanisms are not known. We hypothesized that direct current stimulation modulates endogenous Hebbian plasticity mechanisms due to its ability to polarize cellular membrane. To test this we induced long term plasticity (LTP) using theta-burst stimulation (TBS) in rat hippocampus, and measured the effects of concurrent direct current stimulation (DCS). Soma-depolarizing DCS increased TBS-induced LTP. Oscillating current stimulation is equally effective provided the soma-depolarizing phase is time-aligned with the theta-bursts, suggesting that only instantaneous depolarization is relevant. Importantly, the effect is pathway-specific and associative. These findings are consistent with classic theory on the role of post-synaptic membrane potential in Hebbian plasticity. These data suggest that the effects of direct current stimulation are specific because they modulate endogenous Hebbian plasticity, thus inheriting its exquisite functional specificity.
Improving efficiency in roading projects: a New Zealand study
Authors: Haji Karimian Saeed , Mbachu Jasper , Egbelakin Temitope , Shahzad Wajiha 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the key productivity constraints faced by New Zealand (NZ) road pavement maintenance and rehabilitation contractors (RPMRCs) and the associated mitigation measures.

Design/methodology/approach
Interview-based exploratory research strategy was used to survey senior managers and directors of medium- to large-sized road contracting firms in NZ. Empirical data were analyzed using the multi-attribute analytical technique.

Findings
Results revealed 70 productivity constraints faced by the RPMRCs in NZ; in diminishing order of influence, these constraints were aggregated into eight broad categories as follows: finance, workforce, technology/process, statutory/regulatory compliance, project characteristics, project management/project team characteristics, unforeseen circumstances and other/external factors. The most important constraints in each of the eight broad categories were presented.

Research limitations/implications
The key limitation of the research is that it was based on feedback from a limited number of participants which were less than the minimum required to represent the views of the potential participants in the sampling frame for the study. As a result, the findings may not be reliably generalized beyond the scope of the data used. Further research on the subject is recommended to ensure that the representation of the views of the individuals and companies that comprised the sampling frame is achieved. The current findings could be formulated as propositions or hypotheses to be tested in future confirmatory research.

Practical implications
At the industry level, the findings could provide the basis for the skill development programs of the NZ RPMRCs. The application of the research findings by the RPMRCs and consultants could result in significant improvement in the productivity of the NZ roading sector and the sector’s enhanced contribution to the economy.

Originality/value
Currently, there is little research on the priority constraints to productivity and performance in the NZ roading sector. The findings contribute to knowledge by revealing critical factors constraining productivity performance of the NZ RMRCs and the associated improvement measures. New and more enriching viewpoints were provided on how contractors could leverage their limited resources to address the identified key constraints.
Design re-use: critical application of healthcare building design evidence
Authors: Wanigarathna Nadeeshani , Sherratt Fred , Price Andrew , Austin Simon 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The re-use of good design solutions is a key source of evidence and knowledge in the design of healthcare buildings. However, due to the unique nature of healthcare built environments, the critical application of this evidence is of paramount importance. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the features of such critical application and identify the aspects that need to be considered during the re-use of good designs.

Design/methodology/approach
Data from three case studies of hospital designs in the UK were used to explore the processes behind the adaption and re-use of design solutions during the design of healthcare buildings. Data were thematically analysed to distinguish the aspects that should be carefully compared and contrasted during design re-use.

Findings
Existing designs of healthcare buildings should be captured and evaluated along with: patient demographics, care models of the hospital, other local departmental needs and facility operational aspects in order to ensure the effectiveness of re-use. In addition, properly introducing the design to the users is also a part of successful design re-use.

Research limitations/implications
The findings of this research were integrated into a framework to support healthcare designers on the effective re-use of good designs. This data-driven framework could be validated further with design practitioners. Further, this research relied on memory recall of the interviewees and the accuracy and completeness of documentary records.

Practical implications
This research provides details of how healthcare built environment designs are embedded in project-unique circumstances. The results could therefore be used to develop meaningful and informative evaluation mechanisms for new and re-used healthcare building design features.

Originality/value
This research extends the understanding of the critical application of healthcare design evidence, by explaining how healthcare design solutions should be evaluated during the design process.
Managing information flow and design processes to reduce design risks in offsite construction projects
Authors: Sutrisna Monty , Goulding Jack 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
Following the increasing need for faster construction, improved quality and evidence value propositions, offsite construction is increasingly being proffered as a viable contender to “traditional” construction approaches. However, whilst evidence supports the move towards offsite, its uptake has been lower than expected. Whilst the precise reasons for this seem to be influenced by a number of issues, including contextual drivers and market maturity; some project stakeholders also view offsite as carrying greater risks. The purpose of this paper is to report on the quality of information flow, in particular, the impact and influence of this on design risks in offsite construction projects.

Design/methodology/approach
An existing design risk framework is used as the point of departure for this research. This is further expanded into a specific model for evaluating offsite construction projects design risks, the rubrics of which were informed by two case studies of offsite construction projects in Australia and the UK analysed with a process-tracing technique. Whilst these cases were geographically separated, the constructs were aligned to uncover fundamental design information requirements and concomitant risks associated with offsite.

Findings
The findings of the research reported in this paper include the crucial information feeding into the design process emanating from the lifecycle of offsite construction projects, namely, design, offsite (manufacturing), handling and transporting, site works and installation and also occupancy. These are contextualised within the four categories, namely, client requirements, project requirements, regulation aspects and social aspects and the final outcomes were summarised into a holistic diagram.

Originality/value
Given that the offsite construction has shifted the working paradigm into assigning a significant level of efforts and emphasis at the front end of the construction projects, the importance of its design process and hence design risks management has gone up significantly in construction projects delivered using this technique. This research and paper contributes significantly to the built environment domain by identifying the crucial aspects along the project lifecycle to be considered to minimise the potential occurrence of design risks and hence increasing the confidence of project stakeholders in adopting offsite construction techniques in their projects.
I never thought that you would do this to me …: a breach of trust at Fortune Weddings Inc.
Authors: Mohammad Jihad , Quoquab Farzana 
Published: February 2019

Learning outcomes
Using this case, the students will be able to: understand the ethical issues such as “Management by Trust”, and having specific “Code of Conducts” in an organization; analyse the unethical behaviour that can occur inside the organization based on ethical theories such as egoism, utilitarian, deontology and virtue theory; discuss elements that promote fraudulent behaviour using the fraud triangle framework; explain how internal control contributes in deterring fraudulent employee behaviour; and analyse strategic approach to handle employee misconduct to reduce the risk of fraud.

Case overview/synopsis
The owner of Fortune Weddings, Anis, realized that his business was not as profitable as it used to be in the early years. He was suspicious of his employee Samera, for the sudden change of her luxurious lifestyle, but he did not inquire her as she was a hard working employee and customers were fond of her friendly attitude. Nissa, the wife of Anis, received message from customer to confirm the payment, but when she checked the bank account, the money was not there. Further investigation by Nissa revealed that it was Samera who was stealing money from the company. She used to give her personal bank account to customers to transfer their payment. Anis must decide the appropriate course of action to resolve the issues as soon as possible. Failing to do so will incur more incidences of stealing.

Complexity academic level
The intended audience for this case study are both undergraduate (BBA) and postgraduate students (MBA, MSc) who are taking the Business Ethics course.

Supplementary materials
Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Subject code
CSS 7: Management science.
Industry innovation spending and openness to collaboration as levers for firm performance
Authors: Caldas Luiz Fernando de Paris , Paula Fabio de Oliveira , Macedo-Soares T. Diana L. van Aduard de 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent spending on innovation activities and collaboration at the industry level affects the relationship between firm innovation and performance.

Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model was proposed and empirically tested using multiple linear regression. The data were obtained from the Community Innovation Survey 2012, composing a sample of 890 Italian manufacturing firms.

Findings
The results provided full support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry innovation spending and partial support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry collaboration, both regarding the relationship between firm innovation spending and performance. Knowledge spillovers derived from intra-industry innovation spending and intra-industry collaboration affect firm performance. While this finding corroborates other studies that have found that the intra-industry R&D spending influences firms’ innovation and performance, it also contributes to improve the understanding about the complementarity of internal innovation activities and knowledge spillovers.

Originality/value
This study contributes to theory by filling a gap concerning the complementarity of internal innovation activities and the effect of knowledge spillovers to improve firm performance. Our findings suggested that intra-industry openness to collaboration and innovation spending, as proxies of knowledge spillovers, plays an important role in complementing firm level innovative efforts, even in the case of firms that spend less on innovation and have a lower degree of collaboration. This is especially relevant for small and medium enterprises, which can take advantage of access to the necessary information to overcome their internal resource constraints for R&D and innovation. The originality of these findings adds value in terms of furthering the understanding of this phenomenon.
An index-based ranking of conferences in a distinctive manner
Authors: Farooq Muhammad , Khan Hikmat Ullah , Iqbal Tassawar , Iqbal Saqib 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
Bibliometrics is one of the research fields in library and information science that deals with the analysis of academic entities. In this regard, to gauge the productivity and popularity of authors, publication counts and citation counts are common bibliometric measures. Similarly, the significance of a journal is measured using another bibliometric measure, impact factor. However, scarce attention has been paid to find the impact and productivity of conferences using these bibliometric measures. Moreover, the application of the existing techniques rarely finds the impact of conferences in a distinctive manner. The purpose of this paper is to propose and compare the DS-index with existing bibliometric indices, such as h-index, g-index and R-index, to study and rank conferences distinctively based on their significance.

Design/methodology/approach
The DS-index is applied to the self-developed large DBLP data set having publication data over 50 years covering more than 10,000 conferences.

Findings
The empirical results of the proposed index are compared with the existing indices using the standard performance evaluation measures. The results confirm that the DS-index performs better than other indices in ranking the conferences in a distinctive manner.

Originality/value
Scarce attention is paid to rank conferences in distinctive manner using bibliometric measures. In addition, exploiting the DS-index to assign unique ranks to the different conferences makes this research work novel.
Efficient computation of key performance indicators in a distance learning university
Authors: Pecori Riccardo , Suraci Vincenzo , Ducange Pietro 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
Managing efficiently educational Big Data, produced by Virtual Learning Environments, is becoming a compelling necessity, especially for those universities providing distance learning. This paper aims to propose a possible framework to compute efficiently key performance indicators, summarizing the trends of students’ academic careers, by using educational Big Data.

Design/methodology/approach
The framework is designed and implemented in a distributed fashion. The parallel computation of the indicators through Map and Reduce nodes is carefully described, together with the workflow of data, from the educational sources to a NoSQL database and to the learning analytics engine.

Findings
This framework was tested at eCampus University, an Italian distance learning institution, and it was able to significantly reduce the amount of time needed to compute key performance indicators. Moreover, by implementing a proper data representation dashboard, it resulted in a useful help and support for educational decisions and performance analyses and for revealing possible criticalities.

Originality/value
The framework proposed integrates for the first time, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, a set of modules, designed and implemented in a distributed fashion, to compute key performance indicators for distance learning institutions. It can be used to analyze the dropouts and the outcomes of students and, therefore, to evaluate the performances of universities, which can, in turn, propose effective improvements toward enhancing the overall e-learning scenario.
The impact of cognitive style, consumer demographics and cultural values on the acceptance of Islamic insurance products among American consumers
Authors: Paton Schmidt Alex 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent by which consumer acceptance of an Islamic insurance product (Takaful) in a non-Muslim majority country would be affected by consumer knowledge about its Islamic origins. Furthermore, this study identifies the degree to which various psychological traits and demographics of the consumers influence purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was distributed to a national sample of 390 respondents, half of whom were told that this insurance product is Islamic and the other half were not. The questionnaire was identical between the two groups and the only difference was the disclosure of the product’s Islamic origins. Additional measures related to consumer demographics, cognitive style and prior experience with insurance products were obtained from the respondents. Regression analysis was used to determine the drivers of consumers’ purchase intentions.

Findings
Purchase intentions for Takaful were found to be lower when the product was presented to subjects as Islamic. In addition, it was established that a consumer’s cognitive style, political orientation, yearly insurance expenditure and views of Islam influence purchase intentions for Takaful.

Originality/value
This paper is the first to explore the degree of acceptance of an Islamic insurance product in a non-Muslim majority country (USA) and to investigate the effects of a product’s religion of origin on the purchase intentions of American consumers.
Values and women-led social entrepreneurship
Authors: Borquist Bruce R. , de Bruin Anne 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to identify and categorise the values expressed in women-led social entrepreneurship based on a typology of universal values. It explores the influence of gender and religious faith on the values that inspire social entrepreneurial organisations to engage in positive social change.

Design/methodology/approach
Inductive multiple case study research investigates the values manifest in five social entrepreneurial organisations founded and led by women in three Southeast Asian countries.

Findings
Organisations and their women-leaders express values related to benevolence, universalism, self-direction and security. Gender and religious faith are found to be mediators that influence approaches to social transformation.

Research limitations/implications
Purposive sampling and interpretive research design favour rich description but limit the generalisability of the findings. Further enquiry is needed into the gender-values-religion nexus in social entrepreneurship.

Practical implications
Social entrepreneurship is shown to be a process embedded in and motivated by prosocial values of benevolence and social justice and other values of self-direction and security. Findings provide evidence for the critical but often overlooked influence of gender and religious faith on the values foundation of social entrepreneurship.

Social implications
Social entrepreneurial organisations led by women contribute to positive social change through the values they incorporate and express.

Originality/value
Research on the link between gender, values and religious faith in social entrepreneurship is virtually non-existent.
The EMDR DeTUR protocol for the treatment of self-injury in a patient with severe personality disorder: a case report
Authors: Annesley Phyllis , Alabi Adedayo , Longdon Laura 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment of an adult female patient detained within a high secure hospital with complex mental health difficulties, including complex trauma, factitious disorder, self-injury and a history of offending. The EMDR treatment addressed the patient’s urges to engage in severe and sometimes life-threatening self-injury, a primary motive of which was to access physical healthcare interventions within a general hospital. The paper describes the wide-ranging benefits of the treatment and incorporates feedback from the patient and clinicians within her multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

Design/methodology/approach
Four triggers for self-injury were processed during the therapy using the DeTUR Protocol (Popky, 2005, 2009) and the Constant Installation of Present Orientation and Safety (CIPOS, Knipe, 2009a) method. In total, 18 one hour therapy sessions were delivered plus three follow-up sessions to continue to offer support and complete the post-treatment evaluation.

Findings
The level of urge for each trigger was reduced to 0 which the patient defined as “no urge to self-injure”. Benefits went well beyond self-injury with reported positive impacts on mood, thinking, sleep, concentration, memory and experience of flashbacks.

Practical implications
This case report demonstrates that the EMDR DeTUR Protocol together with the CIPOS method can be extremely valuable in the treatment of patients who self-injure.

Originality/value
The case report offers an important contribution to an area that requires much further research.
The psychology of the corrupt: some preliminary findings
Authors: Nee Claire , Button Mark , Shepherd David , Blackbourn Dean , Leal Sharon 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThis paper aims to present findings based on the psychological profile of 17 offenders who have been convicted of occupational fraud, bribery or related offences. It provides findings on their specific psychological profiles using well-established psychological techniques to gauge personality. The study is also aimed to provide the foundations for further research on such profiles, which could eventually provide a screening tool to identify individuals who might be a higher risk of engaging in corrupt behaviours for organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based upon 17 interviews with white-collar offenders who were also asked to complete an Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to identify their profile.FindingsThis study postulates that sensation seeking, risk appetite, impulsivity and lower non-aggressive self-regulation dominate the E scale traits of white-collar offenders.Originality/valueThis paper is very much original in its design with few studies having been performed in this area.
Does insider trading pay?
Authors: Spaic Aneta , Nolasco Claire Angelique , Tsai Lily Chi-Fang , Vaughn Michael S. 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThis paper analyzes trading and tipping activities in insider trading litigation decided by federal courts from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014.Design/methodology/approachLegal documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, LexisNexis and Westlaw databases were coded to determine profile, patterns of trading and settlement outcomes.FindingsResults of statistical analysis indicate that a defendant in both civil and criminal cases is more likely to trade on the information when he/she receives a direct, financial benefit from breaching his/her duty of confidentiality. The defendant tipper is also more likely to pass on the information to a close personal friend, business associate or family member. The average amount of profit of defendants in both civil and criminal proceedings substantially exceeds the average amount of their settlements.Originality/valueThis paper offers support for the rational choice model – insider trading is often based on rational calculations of benefits not only to the defendant but also to his/her family and associates. Although the threat of civil enforcement and criminal proceedings may possibly deter him/her from committing the crime, results indicate that the amounts of settlement in both proceedings are considerably lower than the amount of profits obtained from the offense.