bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
FAM35A associates with REV7 and modulates DNA damage responses of normal and BRCA1-defective cells
Authors: Tomida Junya , Takata Kei-ichi , Bhetawal Sarita , Person Maria D. , Chao Hsueh-Ping , Tang Dean G. , Wood Richard D. 
Published: March 2018

ABSTRACTIn order to exploit the specific vulnerabilities of tumors, it is urgent to identify the basis of associated defects in genome maintenance. One unsolved problem is the mechanism of inhibition of processing of DNA double-strand break repair by REV7 and its influence on DNA repair pathways. We searched for REV7-associated proteins in human cells and found FAM35A, a protein of previously unknown function. By analyzing the FAM35A sequence we discovered that FAM35A has an unstructured N-terminal region and a C-terminal region harboring three OB-fold domains similar to single-stranded binding protein RPA. Knockdown of FAM35A caused sensitivity to DNA damaging agents, and FAM35A re-localized in damaged cell nuclei. In a BRCA1 mutant cell line, however, depletion of FAM35A increased resistance to camptothecin, suggesting that FAM35A participates in processing of DNA ends to allow more efficient DNA repair. Moreover, we found FAM35A absent in one widely used BRCA1-mutant cancer cell line (HCC1937) with anomalous resistance to PARP inhibitors. A survey of FAM35A alterations in cancer revealed that the gene is altered at the highest frequency in prostate cancers (up to 13%) and significantly less expressed in metastatic cases. The results reveal a new DNA repair factor with promise as a therapeutically relevant cancer marker.
Optical activation of TrkA signaling
Authors: Duan Liting , Hope Jen M. , Guo Shunling , Ong Qunxiang , François Amaury , Kaplan Luke , Scherrer Grégory , Cui Bianxiao 
Published: March 2018

AbstractNerve growth factor/tropomyosin receptor kinase A (NGF/TrkA) signaling plays a key role in neuronal development, function, survival, and growth. The pathway is implicated in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, chronic pain, inflammation, and cancer. NGF binds the extracellular domain of TrkA, leading to the activation of the receptor’s intracellular kinase domain. TrkA signaling is highly dynamic, thus mechanistic studies would benefit from a tool with high spatial and temporal resolution. Here we present the design and evaluation of four strategies for light-inducible activation of TrkA in the absence of NGF. Our strategies involve the light-sensitive proteinArabidopsiscryptochrome 2 (CRY2) and its binding partner CIB1. We demonstrate successful recapitulation of native NGF/TrkA functions by optical induction of plasma membrane recruitment and homo-interaction of the intracellular domain of TrkA. This approach activates PI3K/AKT and Raf/ERK signaling pathways, promotes neurite growth in PC12 cells, and supports the survival of dorsal root ganglion neurons in the absence of NGF. This ability to activate TrkA using light bestows high spatial and temporal resolution for investigating NGF/TrkA signaling.
Will farmland transfer reduce grain acreage? Evidence from Gansu province, China
Authors: Liu Ying , Wang Chenggang , Tang Zeng , Nan Zhibiao 
Published: March 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of farmland renting-in on planted grain acreage.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey data of five counties were analyzed with the two-stage ordinary least squares model.

Findings
Households renting-in land trended to plant more maize, and the more land was rented by a household the more maize was planted, while wheat acreage showed non-response to farmland renting-in.

Practical implications
Overall, the analysis suggests that policy makers should be prepared for different changing trends of grain crop acreage across the nation as farmland transfer continues. Future research should pay attention to the effect of farmland transfer on agricultural productivity and rural household income growth.

Originality/value
As the Chinese Government is promoting larger-scale and more mechanized farms as a way of protecting grain security, it is important to understand whether farmland renting-in will reduce planted grain acreage. This study provides empirical evidence showing the answer to that question may differ across different regions and depend on the particular grain crop in question.
Workplace bullying
Authors: McCormack Darcy , Djurkovic Nikola , Nsubuga-Kyobe Apollo , Casimir Gian 
Published: March 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine if the gender of the perpetrator and the gender of the target have interactive effects on the frequency of downward workplace bullying to which targets are subjected.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional design was used on a sample of 125 schoolteachers in Uganda. Self-report data on downward workplace bullying were obtained using the Negative Acts Questionnaire.FindingsThe perpetrator’s gender and the target’s gender have interactive effects on the level of downward bullying to which targets are subjected. Although targets in within-gender dyads reported higher levels of overall downward workplace bullying than did targets in between-gender dyads, a significant gender-gender interaction was found for personal harassment and work-related harassment but not for intimidation nor organisational harassment.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalisability of the findings is limited due to the sample consisting entirely of schoolteachers in Uganda. Self-report data are a limitation as they are subjective and thus susceptible to various perceptual biases (e.g. social desirability, personality of the respondent). Examining the interactive effects of gender on workplace bullying helps to provide a better understanding of the potential influence of gender in bullying scenarios. The findings from research that considers only the main effects of gender whilst ignoring interactive effects can misinform any theory or policy development.Practical implicationsOrganisations need to resocialise their members so that they learn new attitudes and norms regarding aggressive behaviour in the workplace.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on workplace bullying by examining the interactive effects of gender on the frequency of downward workplace bullying.
Communicating effectively about CSR on Twitter
Authors: Araujo Theo , Kollat Jana 
Published: March 2018

Purpose
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication is becoming increasingly important for brands and companies. Social media such as Twitter may be platforms particularly suited to this topic, given their ability to foster dialogue and content diffusion. The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors driving the effectiveness of CSR communication on Twitter, with a focus on the communication strategies and elements of storytelling.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 281,291 tweets from top global companies in the food sector, automated content analysis (including supervised machine learning) was used to investigate the influence of CSR communication, emotion, and aspirational talk on the likelihood that Twitter users will retweet and like tweets from the companies.

Findings
The findings highlight the importance of aspirational talk and engaging users in CSR messages. Furthermore, the study revealed that the companies and brands on Twitter that tweeted more frequently about CSR were associated with higher overall levels of content diffusion and endorsement.

Originality/value
This study provides important insights into key aspects of communicating about CSR issues on social networking sites such as Twitter and makes several practical recommendations for companies.
Government intervention and firm long-term bank debt: evidence from China
Authors: Liu Fei , Bian Chao , Gan Christopher 
Published: March 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to examine whether government intervention acts as a substitution mechanism for laws and institutions in affecting firms’ long-term debt financing decision and the moderating effect of firm ownership on the relationship between law and finance in Chinese capital market.

Design/methodology/approach
This study uses ordinary least squares with standard errors clustered at the firm level in the regressions. To address the potential endogeneity problem, the authors also use the system generalized method of moments in their estimation.

Findings
The results show that both long-term bank debt and long-term bank debt maturity structure ratios are positively related to government intervention. The results also reveal that with improvement in the legal environment, public non-state-owned firms have more access to long-term bank debt in the regions where the level of government intervention is low.

Research limitations/implications
Government intervention appears to replace laws and institutions in influencing the allocation of financial resources in China.

Originality/value
The finding suggests the necessity of increasing the protection of both creditors and investors, and shows the importance of a free and independent judiciary system in allocating funds to private firms. The results also imply that the non-state-owned Chinese firms also benefit from the improved laws and institutions.
External factors critical to success in the business of estate surveying firms in Lagos State, Nigeria
Authors: Oladokun Timothy Tunde , Ogunbiyi James Olayinka 
Published: March 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to identify external factors that are critical to the success of estate surveying business in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach
Primary data were collected with the aid of questionnaires from estate surveying firms in the study area. Using a sampling interval computed as 1.93-2, 186 firms were selected from the 359 estate surveying firms based in the study area. The sampling interval required that, after the first selection, every subsequent second estate firm in the group (List) was selected for the survey. Data collected were analysed with the aid of criticality assessment index method such as the Relative Criticality Index and Criterion Criticality Score.

Findings
The result showed that it was critical for an estate surveying to interdepend with surrounding businesses and maintain good corporate social responsibility for it to succeed. Also, good social relations of the practitioners with the society was found to be an external factor critical to success. In addition, the study found the need to use the advantage of ICT for real estate marketing as an external technological factor for success. It was also found that the economic situation of the immediate locality of the firm and the economic buoyancy of the nation at large influenced both the planning for and the execution of real estate activities of the firm.

Research limitations/implications
Limiting the findings of the study to external factors alone could subject the findings of the study to bias. Further research targeted at identifying internal factors will provide a balanced view.

Practical implications
The study will serve as useful tools for existing and upcoming real estate practitioners to chart a performance course for their businesses. It will help estate surveyors to understand what to place more emphasis on if they will succeed in business.

Originality/value
The findings from this study will provide the estate surveyors and valuers and the professional body with data on things that are critical to their success in business and enhance the practice of real estate management.
Developing facilities management (FM) competencies for Malaysia
Authors: Kamaruzzaman Syahrul Nizam , Myeda Nik Elyna , Zawawi Emma Marinie Ahmad , Ramli Rozita Mohamed 
Published: March 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significance of facilities management (FM) competency levels from three different stages, namely, strategic, tactical and operational levels, to propose a set of FM competencies for an enhanced FM industry in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach
The overall focus for this paper is to discuss on the area for each level of competencies for asset and facilities management (AFM). This is done through a questionnaire survey focusing on the competency areas posed by FM companies in Malaysia and a comparison review of all FM levels as outlined by the international professional bodies, namely, International Facility Management Association, British Institute of Facilities Management and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. This paper also looks at formulating a holistic framework for an effective AFM for the benefit of FM industry in general and Malaysian FM industry specifically.

Findings
The findings indicate that among the significant factors for the respective strategic, tactical and operational practice of FM are strategic: managing change, benchmarking and strategic facilities planning; tactical: risk management, emergency preparedness, FM technology, service-level agreement and supply management; and operational: space planning and management. This study also proposes a set of holistic FM competency areas which can be implemented by the FM industry in Malaysia.

Originality/value
This research sets a baseline for a set of FM competencies, an area of FM which has not been regulated in the FM practice in Malaysia.
Islamic banking: an exploratory study of public perception in Uganda
Authors: Lujja Sulaiman , Mohammed Mustafa Omar , Hassan Rusni 
Published: March 2018

PurposeIslamic banking (IB) has been globally embraced by over 76 countries, with over $2tn in assets. Despite this remarkable progress, there are countries that are yet to fully embrace IB (Uganda inclusive). All the ongoing initiatives in Uganda (at policy level) to establish IB require supporting study of public awareness and attitudes toward IB. This will stimulate a down-top approach to the feasibility of IB and policymaking, thus providing a fertile ground for wider consideration of the majority stakeholders’ views in formulating standards and policy guidelines regulating IB. This study aims to explore the perception of Ugandans towards IB.

Design/methodology/approachThe study is exploratory in nature and uses a quantitative method. Out of the 400 questionnaires distributed, only 354 were usable for further analysis. SPSS 21 was used to analyze data using descriptive statistics and factor analysis.

FindingsMajor findings indicate that unlike non-Muslims, Muslims are more knowledgeable about the IB culture, although both groups have low awareness about IB terminologies. There were inconsistences in Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes toward IB, for instance; while non-Muslims are motivated by “profitability”, Muslims’ inclination to IB is mainly due to “religious and profitability combined”. Both groups demonstrated some uniformity in their selection criteria of banks such as “third party influence”, although they are inconsistent in other factors.

Originality/valueThe novelty of this study rests in its down-top approach to feasibility of IB by gauging the perception of majority stakeholders before IB is established. The study is conducted in a heterogeneous society unlike many of similar studies that have focused on Muslim majority countries. As most studies (with similar background) are at least 18 years old, this study remains outstanding in gauging the dynamics of stakeholders in Muslim minority countries which have yet established IB.
Bridging and bonding: having a Muslim diversity on corporate boards and firm performance
Authors: Hassan Rohail , Marimuthu Maran 
Published: March 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the demographic diversity at top-level management and its impact on the performance of Malaysian-listed companies. In addition, Muslim diversity on corporate boards is examined.

Design/methodology/approachAlthough many organisations aspire to be socially diverse, diversity’s consequences for organisational performance remain unclear. This study specifies the whole distinct mechanism and measures it independently, bridging as the demographic diversity among the board of directors (BODs) and bonding as the firm’s financial performance. To maintain the homogeneity factor, the empirical analysis has been confined to 12 fully fledged sectors and 529 Malaysian listed firms out of 798 firms selected on the basis of judgmental sampling during the period of 2013. The paper applies the correlation matrix and linear regression model to justify this phenomenon.

FindingsThe empirical findings suggest that gender diversity (Muslim and Non-Muslim women) is positively significant with firm performance with regards to management, shareholders and market perspectives. It means that both Muslim and non-Muslim women are contributing to firm performance. Ethnic diversity (minority) and Muslim diversity (majority) have no impact on firm performance. On the other hand, interaction variables are positively significant with firm performance. It means that majority and minorities are essential for corporate boards to produce a greater performance.

Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could include more variables such as director’s age profile and foreign participation as well as other types of diversities, such as cognitive diversity and corporate diversity. In addition, another possible extension could be the investigation of diversity issues between small scale and large or high and low-profit firms. The findings provide insightful information to firms, as this study suggests that the diverse corporate boards can enhance firm performance.

Originality/valueIn recent years, diversity issues have been examined with regard to firm performance of the listed companies. Whilst extensive literature exists on diversity issues, this issue is still under debate and has had inconsistent results. The paper attempts to fill the gap in the existing literature, discuss the empirically diverse corporate boards with the interaction approach and impact on the firm performance.
Complying with the requirements for issuance of SRI sukuk: the case of Khazanah’s Sukuk Ihsan
Authors: Noordin Nazrul Hazizi , Haron Siti Nurah , Hasan Aznan , Hassan Rusni 
Published: March 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide a critical review on how the Khazanah’s Sukuk Ihsan was structured in compliance with the requirements for issuance of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) sukuk set by the Securities Commission (SC) Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approachTo explain the structures and features of the Sukuk Ihsan, this study extracted important information from the sukuk’s Principle Terms and Conditions and Information Memorandum and presented them in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Next, this study refers to Part D: Requirement for Issuance, Offering or Invitation to Subscribe or Purchase Sustainable and Responsible Investment Sukuk of the SC’s Guidelines on Sukuk (revised edition: 28 August 2014) to assess the compliance of the sukuk in terms of eligibility of SRI sukuk issuer and SRI projects, use of proceeds, reporting and disclosure and independent assessment on SRI programmes. In addition, this study then compares the requirements stated in the SC’s SRI Sukuk Framework with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the USA’s Social Impact Bond (SIB) Act 2014.

FindingsThe present study finds that the definition of eligible SRI sukuk issuer in the Guidelines on Sukuk seems to be more stringent compared to the one provided in the GBP and the US’ SIB Act. Nevertheless, the SRI Sukuk Framework provides a more comprehensive yet precise list of eligible SRI projects, covering both environmental and social aspects, compared to the GBP (which only focuses on broad categories of environmental projects) and also the USA’s SIB Act (explicitly outlines 13 social projects which are aligned with the US Federal Government’s agenda in tackling social illnesses). Indeed, the main difference between the eligible SRI sukuk projects and its conventional counterparts lies in its compliance to Shariah principles. It is also observed that a significant emphasis has been given on SRI legislations in ensuring proper reporting and disclosure provided to the SRI sukuk stakeholders together with critical evaluation on the impacts of SRI programmes provided by an independent assessor.

Practical implicationsThis paper contributes towards enriching the literature on the Islamic capital market, particularly on the integration between sukuk and social impacts investing. This paper was intended to highlight the important requirements in issuing SRI sukuk to various stakeholders of the Islamic capital market.

Originality/valueThe authors hope to shed some lights on the unique features and structural applications of SRI sukuk and its importance in becoming an effective instrument to raise funds for social agenda of a country by providing a real and practical example.
Sharia accounting standard for sukuk (Islamic bond) accounting in Indonesia
Authors: Siswantoro Dodik 
Published: March 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the need of Islamic banks for specific Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 110 for sukuk accounting in Indonesia. In fact, some Islamic banks have already prepared International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and accordingly, a suitable standard is needed for this case.

Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology involved interview with a senior accounting manager of an Islamic bank focusing on relevant topics in sukuk to sharpen the analysis. Equally important, research reviewed and compared financial statements on sukuk accounting among Islamic banks, before and after adoption of sukuk accounting standard.

FindingsIFRS require market valuation based on interest rate. As interest rate is unlawful in Islamic teaching, IFRS may not accordingly be suitable. Therefore, SFAS No. 110 was issued by the Indonesian Institute of Accountants (Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia). Considering the fact that this standard did not explicitly adopt the IFRS paradigm, there have been consequent conflicts in Islamic bank management because of preference of global recognition to IFRS. Adopting IFRS would be more compatible with other countries’ general accounting standards. In addition, significant differences are found in sukuk accounting treatments by Islamic banks before and after the standard adoption.

Research limitations/implicationsThis research only focuses on such question of why specific accounting standard for sukuk accounting is needed by Islamic banks in Indonesia, while only few Indonesian Islamic banks were initially aware of the issue.

Originality/valueThis paper may be the first paper discussing the response to and need for sukuk accounting in Indonesian Islamic banks.