bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Complete Chloroplast Genome of Castanopsis sclerophylla (Lindl.) Schott: Genome Structures, Comparative and Phylogenetic Analysis
Authors: Ye Xuemin , Hu Dongnan , Guo Yangping , Sun Rongxi 
Published: February 2019

AbstractCastanopsis sclerophylla (Lindl.) Schott is an important species of evergreen broad-leaved forest in subtropical area and has important ecological and economic value. However, there are little studies on its chloroplast genome. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome sequences of C. sclerophylla was reported based on the Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform. The complete chloroplast genome of C. sclerophylla was 160,497bp, including a pair of inverted repeated (IRs) regions (25,675bp) that were separated by a large single copy (LSC) region of 90,255bp, and a small single copy (SSC) region of 18,892bp. The overall GC content of chloroplast genome was 36.82%. A total of 131 genes were found, of these 111 genes were unique and annotated, including 79 protein-coding genes, 27 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and four ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs). Twenty-one genes were found to be duplicated in the IR regions. Comparative analysis indicated that IR contraction might be the reason for the relatively smaller chloroplast genome size of C. sclerophylla compared with other three congeneric species. Sequence analysis detected that the LSC and SSC regions were more divergent than the IR regions within the Castanopsis, furthermore, a higher divergence was found in non-coding regions than in coding regions. The maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis showed that these four species of the genus Castanopsis formed a monophyletic clade and that C. sclerophylla is closely related to Castanopsis hainanensis with strong bootstrap values. These results not only provide basic knowledge about characteristics of C. sclerophylla and also enhance our understanding of Castanopsis species evolution within the Fagaceae family. Meanwhile, these findings will contribute to the exploration, utilization and conservation genetics of C. sclerophylla.
Language skills in an ethnically segmented labour market: Estonia 1989–2012
Authors: Bormann Sven-Kristjan , Ridala Svetlana , Toomet Ott-Siim 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between skills in the Estonian, Russian and English language, and labour market outcomes in Estonia, a linguistically divided country.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use the Estonian Labour Force Surveys 1992–2012. The authors rely on multivariate linear regression models to document the relationship between language skills and labour market outcomes.FindingsEstonian language knowledge (for ethnic Russians) are important determinants of unemployment. Wage, in contrary, is closely related to English skills. Ethnic Russian men do not earn any premium from speaking Estonian, while women, fluent in Estonian earn approximately 10 per cent more. For ethnic Estonians, Russian fluency is associated with a similar income gain.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the observational nature of the data, the effects reported in this study are not causal effects. As a second limitation, the self-reported language skills data may be imprecise and hence the effects the authors report may be too small.Practical implicationsThe results stress the role of workplace segregation, both along gender and ethnic lines, in determining the individual labour market experience.Originality/valueThe authors provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of language skills in a rapidly developing labour market in a linguistically divided economy. The authors analyse several languages with different legal status and document long-term trends in the effects.
Does it pay to study abroad? Evidence from Poland
Authors: Liwiński Jacek 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of international student mobility (ISM) on the first wages of tertiary education graduates in Poland.

Design/methodology/approach
The author uses data from the nationwide tracer survey of Polish graduates (2007 Graduate Tracer Study) and regresses the hourly net wage rate of salaried workers in their first job after graduating from a higher education institution on a rich set of individual characteristics. In order to reduce the bias due to selection to ISM, the author includes a set of variables representing abilities and skills, characteristics of studies, and international experience as control variables. The author addresses the possible selection to employment bias by using the Heckman correction.

Findings
After controlling for observed heterogeneity, the author finds that Polish graduates who studied abroad for at least one month earn on average 22 per cent more in their first job than those who studied in Poland only. However, the author also finds that this wage premium is explained by international economic migration after graduation. Studying abroad brings a wage premium only if it is followed by working abroad. Those who perform their first job in Poland do not obtain any wage premium from ISM.

Originality/value
The main contribution of the paper is that it identifies international economic migration after graduation as another mechanism explaining why those who studied abroad earn more.
Workplace internet leisure and employees’ productivity
Authors: Mohammad Jihad , Quoquab Farzana , Halimah Siti , Thurasamy Ramayah 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThere is an on-going debate about the role of workplace internet leisure (WIL) and whether it is a vice or virtue. Considering this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of WIL on workplace outcome variables such as employee satisfaction (ES) and employee productivity in the Malaysian context.Design/methodology/approachData were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that yielded 282 responses. Partial least square technique using SmartPLS-3 was used to test the study hypotheses.FindingsFindings reveal that workplace WIL, workplace WIL policy and workplace autonomy orientation (WAO) affect employees’ satisfaction. Additionally, the mediating role of ES was found to be significant.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are valuable for both managers and policy makers. These results can benefit the managers of conventional banks in Malaysia to decide how to enhance employees’ satisfaction and productivity by focusing on the key drivers such as WIL, workplace internet leisure policy (WILP) and WAO.Originality/valueThis is a pioneering study which suggests that moderate use of WIL can have a positive and significant effect on workplace outcome variables. Moreover, this study theorised ES as a mediating variable; this helps to explain how organisations can transform workplace resources in term of internet leisure, WILP and WAO into high productivity by elevating employees’ satisfaction.
Do predictors of mental health differ between home and international students studying in the UK?
Authors: Jones Catrin Pedder , Lodder Annemarie , Papadopoulos Chris 
Published: February 2019

Purpose
Previous research has found that international students can experience poor mental health, low levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem and high levels of loneliness when studying in a foreign country. No study has directly compared these between international and home students studying in the UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
A total of 247 students completed an online survey at the University of Bedfordshire.

Findings
The hypothesis that international students experience higher loneliness, lower self-esteem, lower life satisfaction and poorer general mental health than home students was rejected. Home students had significantly lower self-esteem, life satisfaction and general mental health scores. Black ethnicity and home student status significantly predicted general mental health and self-esteem in regression analyses. The predictive utility of home student status was maintained when other variables were controlled for in regression models.

Originality/value
This research suggests that the UK universities should ensure that both home and international students are adequately supported for their mental health.
Lecturers’ views
Authors: Mehar Singh Manjet Kaur 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate and understand academic English language-related challenges in listening and speaking faced by English as a foreign language (EFL) international Master students enrolled in various taught Master programs in a Malaysian university from the viewpoint/lens of 16 lecturers teaching the students.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research relied upon 16 in-depth one-to-one interview sessions with 16 lecturers teaching the taught Master programs at a higher education (HE) institution in Malaysia for data collection. Data collected were coded and categorized according to themes via qualitative analysis software, NVivo.FindingsIt was found that academic English language-related challenges in listening and speaking from the viewpoint of the 16 lecturers are such as lack of discipline content knowledge to communicate, lack of confidence in communicating orally, difficulty in understanding lectures and other oral activities in the classroom, and coping with differences in learning culture.Research limitations/implicationsThis study suggests policies and programs to equip lecturers and university administrators to overcome the challenges faced by the students in their academic English language practices especially in listening and speaking to ensure meaningful academic adaptation in the current context.Originality/valueThe uniqueness of this study is that it is a retrospection of the lecturers teaching EFL and English as a second language (ESL) international Master students in taught Master programs in a Southeast Asian country. The focus of the retrospection is on academic English language-related challenges in listening and speaking faced by EFL international Master students who are currently pursuing their Master education at a HE institution in Malaysia.
Measuring impact of working capital efficiency on financial performance of a firm
Authors: Prasad Punam , Sivasankaran Narayanasamy , Paul Samit , Kannadhasan Manoharan 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to introduce working capital efficiency multiplier (WCEM) as a direct profitability measure of working capital management. The existing accounting measures in the literature establish an indirect approach to study the relationship between working capital efficiency and profitability of the firms.Design/methodology/approachUsing the help of a set of companies from CMIE Prowess database, the study introduces WCEM as a direct profitability measure of working capital efficiency.FindingsIn this study, a new direct measure of working capital efficiency is introduced which is multiplicative in nature. WCEM is a product of three components, namely, WACC, ratio of the sum of trade receivables and inventories to trade payables and ratio of net working capital (NWC) to net sales.Practical implicationsThe importance of direct measure like WCEM could be enormous in performance evaluation of a firm. It can be used as an indicator for choosing a suitable investment opportunity by an investor. This is due to the fact that the firm that is highly efficient in managing working capital is less exposed to liquidity risk. At the same time, the firm is less dependent on external financing. Therefore, such firms eventually create more value for their shareholders. Another indication that WCEM provides is to gauge the bargaining power of the firm and its competitive position in the market. Lower WCEM indicates higher bargaining power of a firm across the value chain, and its superior position relative to its competitors.Originality/valueMost of the studies on WCM are of the empirical type and there is a complete dearth on theoretical framework. Researchers hereafter can consider WCEM as one of the financial performance variables in place of the existing measures such as return on asset (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), return on equity (ROE), gross operating income (GOI) and net operating income (NOI) and thereby can contribute new empirical insights through their research outcomes.
Corporate governance and failure risk: evidence from Estonian SME population
Authors: Süsi Virgo , Lukason Oliver 
Published: February 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to find out how corporate governance is interconnected with failure risk in case of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on Estonian whole population of SMEs, in total 67,058 observations, and data are obtained from Estonian Business Register. Failure risk (FR) is portrayed with a well-known Altman et al. (2017) model, while seven variables reflecting corporate governance (CG) based on previous studies have been selected. As the method, logistic regression (LR) is applied with FR in the binary form as a dependent variable and seven CG variables as independent. The effect of firm size and age is studied with two separate LR models.FindingsThe results indicate that with the growth in manager’s age and the presence of managerial ownership, failure risk reduces. In turn, the presence of larger boards and managers having directorships in other firms leads to higher failure risk. Gender heterogeneity in the board, board tenure length and ownership concentration by means of having a majority owner are not associated with failure risk. The obtained results vary with firm size and age.Originality/valueUnlike this study, research published on this topic earlier has used a much narrower definition of failure, mostly focused on large and listed companies, been sample based and information about corporate governance variables has often been obtained through questionnaires. All these limitations are relaxed in this population level study.
The structural impact of supply chain management teams
Authors: Li Xun , Holsapple Clyde W. , Goldsby Thomas J. 
Published: February 2019

PurposeIn today’s constantly evolving global business environment, multidivisional firms (MDFs) require an organizational structure for supply chain management (SCM) that facilitates the development of supply chain agility. This research aims to investigate what structural elements of an MDF’s SCM team contribute to supply chain agility.Design/methodology/approachA two-sample field study was conducted. Four MDFs with top-performing supply chains (Sample 1) were first studied to identify agility-supporting structural elements. Then, quantitative data from 35 MDFs with contrasting levels of supply chain agility (Sample 2) were collected to test the theoretical propositions advanced from Sample 1 findings.FindingsThe results reveal four structural elements that exert a positive impact on an MDF’s supply chain agility: hierarchical position of the divisional top supply chain executive, scope of divisional supply chain operations, hierarchical position of the top supply chain executive at the headquarters and scope of SCM coordination by the headquarters.Originality/valueFirst, this study provides a comparatively comprehensive understanding of the SCM organization structure in MDFs. Second, this study is one of the first to provide empirically supported theoretical insights about the linkage between an MDF’s organizational structure for SCM and supply chain agility.
Compensating elastic transmission losses for P‐wave attenuation estimation from sonic logs
Authors: Liang Jiabin , Müller Tobias M. , Tang Genyang , Wang Shangxu 
Published: February 2019

ABSTRACTThe decay of seismic amplitude is caused by a variety of physical phenomena that can be divided broadly into elastic transmission losses (including geometrical spreading, interface transmission losses and scattering attenuation) and intrinsic attenuation, where wave energy is converted into heat due to viscous friction. The so‐called statistical averaging method is currently considered as the most advanced sonic wave attenuation estimation method, and there exist various implementations of this method. But the way elastic transmission losses – that mask the true intrinsic attenuation – are compensated for appears to be an issue and in some cases this correction has been overlooked. In this paper, we revisit the statistical averaging method for intrinsic attenuation estimation with particular focus on the role of elastic transmission losses. Through synthetic examples, we demonstrate the importance of compensating for elastic transmission losses even if the variation of velocity and density with depth is not notable. Our implementation of the method uses finite‐difference simulations thereby providing a versatile and accurate way to generate synthetic seismograms. We use a combination of elastic and viscoelastic finite‐difference simulations to demonstrate the significant error without accurate compensation of the elastic transmission losses. We apply our implementation of the method to sonic waveforms acquired in an exploration well from Browse basin, Australia. The resulting intrinsic attenuation estimates are indeed indicative of gas‐saturated zones identified from petrophysical analysis in which viscous friction are thought to be of importance.
Multi‐trace basis‐pursuit seismic inversion for resolution enhancement
Authors: Zhou Dongyong , Yin Xingyao , Zong Zhaoyun 
Published: February 2019

ABSTRACTSeismic inversion is an important tool that transfers interface information of seismic data to formation information, which renders the seismic data easily understood by geologists or petroleum engineers. In this study, a novel multi‐trace basis‐pursuit inversion method based on the Bayesian theory is proposed to enhance the vertical resolution and overcome the lateral instability of inversion results between different traces occasionally seen in the traditional trace‐by‐trace basis‐pursuit inversion method. The Markov process is initially introduced to describe the relationship between adjacent seismic traces and their correlation, which we then close couple in the equation of our new inversion method. A recursive function is further derived to simplify the inversion process by considering the particularity of the coefficient matrix in the multi‐trace inversion equation. A series of numerical‐analysis and field data examples demonstrates that both the traditional and the new methods for P‐wave impedance inversion are helpful in enhancing the resolution of thin beds that are usually difficult to discern from original seismic profiles, thus highlighting the importance of acoustic‐impedance inversion for thin bed interpretation. Furthermore, in addition to yielding thin bed inversion results with enhanced lateral continuity and high vertical resolution, our proposed method is robust to noise and cannot be easily contaminated by it, which we verify using both synthetic and field data.
A Bayesian model for lithology/fluid class prediction using a Markov mesh prior fitted from a training image
Authors: Tjelmeland Håkon , Luo Xin , Fjeldstad Torstein 
Published: February 2019

ABSTRACTWe consider a Bayesian model for inversion of observed amplitude variation with offset data into lithology/fluid classes, and study in particular how the choice of prior distribution for the lithology/fluid classes influences the inversion results. Two distinct prior distributions are considered, a simple manually specified Markov random field prior with a first‐order neighbourhood and a Markov mesh model with a much larger neighbourhood estimated from a training image. They are chosen to model both horizontal connectivity and vertical thickness distribution of the lithology/fluid classes, and are compared on an offshore clastic oil reservoir in the North Sea. We combine both priors with the same linearized Gaussian likelihood function based on a convolved linearized Zoeppritz relation and estimate properties of the resulting two posterior distributions by simulating from these distributions with the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. The influence of the prior on the marginal posterior probabilities for the lithology/fluid classes is clearly observable, but modest. The importance of the prior on the connectivity properties in the posterior realizations, however, is much stronger. The larger neighbourhood of the Markov mesh prior enables it to identify and model connectivity and curvature much better than what can be done by the first‐order neighbourhood Markov random field prior. As a result, we conclude that the posterior realizations based on the Markov mesh prior appear with much higher lateral connectivity, which is geologically plausible.
Intake of Oxidized Proteins and Amino Acids and Causative Oxidative Stress and Disease: Recent Scientific Evidences and Hypotheses
Authors: Estévez Mario , Xiong Youling 
Published: February 2019

AbstractThe exposure to reactive oxygen species (ROS) is an inevitable consequence of living in an aerobic world. The species contribute to the occurrence of oxidative stress in humans in which an uncontrolled production of ROS exceeds the endogenous antioxidant defences leading to the oxidative damage to essential cellular components, such as lipids, proteins, and DNA. The influence of diet on the modulation of the systemic redox status is recognized and, while some dietary components are found to be protective (that is, fruits and vegetables), others are recognized as pro‐oxidants (that is, processed meat and other animal‐source protein foods). Oxidized proteins and amino acids are potential promoters of luminal and postprandial oxidative stress; preliminary studies have actually reported noxious effects of these species in cultured cells and in experimental animals. However, the underlying pathological mechanisms remain poorly understood. The application of advanced methodological approaches based on mass spectrometric technologies and OMICS disciplines has enabled the elucidation of the molecular basis of the pathological effects of dietary oxidized proteins and amino acids. The present review collects the most recent evidences of the health risks of dietary protein oxidation and proposes reasonable hypotheses and future perspectives on the field.
Understanding Corporate Governance Through Learning Models of Managerial Competence
Authors: Hermalin Benjamin E. , Weisbach Michael S. 
Published: February 2019

AbstractShareholders, the board of directors, and potential future employers are continually assessing any CEO's quality. As documented by an extensive literature, such assessment plays a critical role in corporate governance because it generates incentives (good and bad), introduces assorted risks, and affects the various battles that rage among the relevant actors for corporate control. Consequently, assessment (or learning) is a key perspective from which to study, understand, and possibly even regulate corporate governance. Moreover, because learning is a behavior notoriously subject to systematic biases, assessment is a natural avenue through which to introduce behavioral and psychological insights into the study of corporate governance.