bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
RPI’s James Fund: ETFs, decision making, & manager transitions
Authors: Shohfi Thomas 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The James Fund at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management is a small, recently established, course-driven student-managed investment fund (SMIF). The purpose of this paper is to provide insight to new and existing funds in improving individual fund operation and structure.

Design/methodology/approach
The James Fund seeks to outperform an 80/20 equity/fixed income benchmark by investing exclusively in exchange traded funds and to move primary emphasis away from idiosyncratic risk and individual equity valuation back toward asset allocation, the most significant driver of portfolio performance. Buy and sell decisions must receive a three-fifths majority in voting among students and adhere with the investment policy statement.

Findings
Groupthink, a common problem in student-managed funds, is observed in trade proposal and manager voting patterns.

Originality/value
Groupthink is partially addressed through the use of instructor feedback on individual student trade diaries. Student managers transition each semester; therefore, the portfolio must meet dormant period criteria limited to a specific list of broadly diversified ETFs, mitigating potential problems from knowledge transfer between management teams that are largely unexamined in the context of SMIFs.
Education for employability: the ePortfolio from school principals’ perspective
Authors: Ciesielkiewicz Monika 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of whether the school principals would use an educational ePortfolio for recruiting purposes.

Design/methodology/approach
To examine whether the school principals are willing to use the educational ePortfolio for recruiting purposes, a survey was carried out among 35 school principals. The final version of the survey was audited by a panel of four experts on education and instructional technology, and a board member of the Spanish Association of Human Resources Directors (AEDRH) to ensure the clarity, relevance and validity of the items in the survey.

Findings
The information collected from this study provides a better understanding of the perception and approval rating of ePortfolios as a job search tool in the education sector. The research findings reveal that an educational ePortfolio can count with a significant approval among school principals in the Spanish context. The insight gained from this study might encourage leaders of educational institutions to adapt ePortfolios and foster their implementation into curriculum as a part of the higher education system.

Originality/value
This study is relevant and contributes to advancing knowledge in the field as it is the only research on this topic, up to now, conducted in the context of Spanish-speaking countries.
Impact of customer-oriented strategy on financial performance with mediating role of HRM and innovation capability
Authors: Chaudhry Naveed Iqbal , Aftab Iqra , Arif Zainab , Tariq Usman , Roomi Muhammad Azam 
Published: March 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain the relationship between customer-oriented strategy (COS) and financial performance (FP) of firm, to examine the role of supportive human resource management (HRM) in COS implementation and contribution toward FP of firm. It also examines the mediating role of innovation capability (IC) between COS and FP of firm.Design/methodology/approachThe approach used for this study is quantitative. Data required for testing of hypothesis were gathered from the managers of manufacturing firms of Gujranwala, Pakistan. To conduct the data analysis, structural equation modeling was used.FindingsFindings of this study showed that there is significantly positive relation between COS and FP with the significant positive mediating effects of supportive HRM and IC.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has been conducted in manufacturing sector only. So, it is suggested to future researchers to carry out this research in other sectors. Second, this research focused only on IC but there are many other organizational capabilities (OC) that can be used.Practical implicationsThis research would be helpful for all firms adopting COS to understand that how to mobilize their HR to accomplish the purpose of strategy. It will enable manufacturing firms to understand and work on IC.Originality/valueThis study is anticipated to add value to the existing literature of strategy process and OC. This study is one of the first to examine IC as mediator between COS and organizational FP so it opens new areas for research.
Enhancement of fracture toughness under mixed mode loading of ABS specimens produced by 3D printing
Authors: Lanzillotti Pietro , Gardan Julien , Makke Ali , Recho Naman 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is the application and the improvement of a previous method based on an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene thread deposition in fused deposition modeling. To gain up to 20 per cent of mechanical strength in comparison with a classical deposition, this method suggests a smart threads deposition in the principal stresses direction.

Design/methodology/approach
In this work, the authors use single edge notched bend specimens with mixed mode I+II loading cases to study the influence of the thread deposition on the fracture toughness of the specimens. For this purpose, finite elements simulations have been used to evaluate the fracture toughness of the specimens through the calculation of the J integral. The study presents a method to compare the optimized and classical specimens and also to gather data and suggest a numerical model for this optimized deposition. For this reason, tensile tests are carried out to characterize the mechanical behavior of the printed samples with respect to the raster angle. Extra attention has been paid to 45 per cent samples behavior that shows a pronounced plasticity before the fracture. This interprets partially the improvement in the fracture behavior of the single edge notched bend samples.

Findings
The results show an enhancement through this optimization which leads to an increase of the maximal force in fracture up to 20 per cent and the fracture toughness of the specimens with stress intensity factors KI and KII increases about 30 per cent.

Originality/value
Additive manufacturing is increasingly gaining importance not only in prototyping but also in industrial production. For this reason, the characterization and the optimization of these technologies and their materials are fundamental. An adaptive deposition through a smart material based on specific mechanical behaviors would be an advance.
What every employer needs to know about I-9 audits
Authors: Basso Robert 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
This paper aims to put I-9 audit and its compliance into perspective for employers. The paper explains what an I-9 audit is, what it means for employers, who is responsible for maintaining its forms, types of businesses most targeted for I-9 audits, what happens when notified that one is being audited, what type and how much penalties does a business incur if it fails to comply, the difference between technical and substantive violations, factors that Immigration and Customs Enforcement considers for determining penalty amounts against employers, what businesses should do if targeted with I-9 audit, business owners’ I-9 audit rights and how to proactively avoid being targeted by an I-9 audit.

Design/methodology/approach
The content of this paper was generated through practical experience, interaction with corporate entities and HR staff members, as well as industry knowledge and observations.

Findings
Every audit is different. It should be expected that all details be examined closely. In the recent case of a business subjected to an I-9 audit, auditors closely examined details of sections 1 and 2 of the I-9 forms for all new hires but did not examine section 3 for re-hires. This reinforces the importance of employers keeping careful track of records for all new hires. All employee I-9 forms should be filed together in a binder or file folder separately from employees’ HR file. While re-hires were not examined, this is no excuse for not properly re-verifying and tracking this information.

Originality/value
This paper was developed because of the interactions with companies that are facing the issue of I-9 audits. The author developed his responses to help HR leaders and managers better understand and address the challenges as well as the process associated with I-9 audits.
Sustainability and switching of biologics for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis at Fukuoka University Psoriasis Registry
Authors: Bayaraa Bolortuya , Imafuku Shinichi 
Published: March 2019

AbstractBiologics are efficacious for treating psoriasis vulgaris (PsV) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but sometimes must be terminated or changed for various reasons including ineffectiveness or adverse events. To find the optimal choice of biologics for treating psoriasis, we analyzed the real‐world data on drug survival and the reason for terminating or switching biologics. Medical records from patients with PsV or PsA, who visited the Department of Dermatology, Fukuoka University Hospital from 2010 to 2017, were analyzed. Two hundred and eleven patients received biologics, and 147 patients (69.7%) were treated with only one biologic, while 64 patients (30.3%) were switched to different products. Frequently used biologics in PsV were ustekinumab (UST), infliximab and adalimumab when calculated by patient‐year. Tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) use decreased while UST and interleukin (IL)‐17 inhibitors increased in newly introduced patients. UST showed the highest survival rate as a first‐line drug, but the advantage was lost in the second reagent's group. The major reasons for terminating/switching biologics were as follows: primary ineffectiveness (26.4%), secondary loss of efficacy (36.5%), patient's preference, including referral to nearby hospital, or stopped visiting (22.6%), side‐effects (7.7%), comorbidities (3.4%) and economic burden (2.4%). In PsA patients, TNFi are more frequently employed than in PsV patients, although switching to UST or IL‐17 inhibitors showed an increasing trend. Biologic reagents were changed mostly because of primary or secondary loss of efficacy, which affected drug survival. Further research is needed to find the optimal choice of biologics with larger samples at multiple facilities.
More than iso/anisohydry: Hydroscapes integrate plant water use and drought tolerance traits in 10 eucalypt species from contrasting climates
Authors: Li Ximeng , Blackman Chris J. , Peters Jennifer M. R. , Choat Brendan , Rymer Paul D. , Medlyn Belinda E. , Tissue David T. 
Published: March 2019

Abstract

The iso/anisohydric continuum describes how plants regulate leaf water potential and is commonly used to classify species drought response strategies. However, drought response strategies comprise more than just this continuum, incorporating a suite of stomatal and hydraulic traits.

Using a common garden experiment, we compared and contrasted four metrics commonly used to describe water use strategy during drought in 10 eucalyptus species comprising four major ecosystems in eastern Australia. We examined the degree to which these metrics were aligned with key stomatal and hydraulic traits related to plant water use and drought tolerance.

Species rankings of water use strategy were inconsistent across four metrics. A newer metric (Hydroscape) was strongly linked to various plant traits, including the leaf turgor loss (TLP), water potential at stomatal closure (Pgs90), leaf and stem hydraulic vulnerability to embolism (PL50 and Px50), safety margin of hydraulic segmentation (HSMHS), maximum stomatal conductance (gsmax) and Huber value (HV). In addition, Hydroscape was correlated with climatic variables representing the water availability at the seed source site.

Along the continuum of water regulation strategy, species with narrow Hydroscapes tended to occupy mesic regions and exhibit high TLP, PL50 and Px50 values and narrow HSMHS. High gsmax recorded in species with broad hydroscapes was also associated with high HV.

Despite a fourfold difference in Hydroscape area, all species closed their stomata prior to the onset of hydraulic dysfunction, suggesting a common stomatal response across species that minimizes embolism risk during drought. Hydroscape area is useful in bridging stomatal regulation, hydraulic architecture and species drought tolerance, thus providing insight into species water use strategies.

A plain language summary is available for this article.
Genetic diversity in frogs linked to past and future climate changes on the roof of the world
Authors: Hu Junhua , Huang Yan , Jiang Jianping , Guisan Antoine 
Published: March 2019

Abstract

Mountains, representing storehouses of biodiversity, endemism and threatened species, are biodiversity hotspots of great conservation importance. However, increasing evidence indicates that mountain species throughout the world are responding to climate change, past or contemporary, by shifting their geographic distributions and patterns of genetic diversity, potentially affecting their adaptive capacity and increasing risk of extinction.

Using the iconic high‐elevation frog Nanorana parkeri as indicator, we showed how spatial analyses of climatic stability combined with genetic data allow unravelling amphibian responses to past and future climate changes on ‘the roof of the world’—the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau.

We found that areas along the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley were climatically more stable relative to other regions, apparently serving as a large climatic refugium during Quaternary glaciations, but that these areas will likely be affected by future climate change. As populations closer to Quaternary refugia usually had higher genetic diversity, current genetic diversity can be explained in the largest part by distance to historically stable areas, outweighing other historical and contemporary factors. Along with the dynamics of suitable range, a fluctuating habitat fragmentation supported the pattern of historical changes in genetic diversity (Ne) over time.

Our results emphasize strong relationships between amphibian genetic diversity, past range dynamics and where to preserve suitable habitats in the face of future climate changes. More generally, our findings highlighted a central role of refugia during Quaternary climatic fluctuations, and how isolation from refugia may have modulated amphibian genetic diversity across the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau.
Projects of devotion: energy exploration and moral ambition in the cosmoeconomy of oil and gas in the Western United States
Authors: High Mette M. 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThis essay considers how people working in the oil and gas industry in Colorado perceive their involvement in energy exploration in relation to broader practices of devotion, compassion, and outreach. I argue that although their energy projects may appear to merely echo companies’ formal promotional pitches, the oilfield and corporate actors’ own moral ambitions reveal more‐than‐human cosmoeconomic visions of oil's potentiality. This essay thus demonstrates how multiple and diverging ethical registers intersect and inform the valuation of oil.
The Interplay Between Subjective Response to Alcohol, Craving, and Alcohol Self‐Administration in the Human Laboratory
Authors: Green ReJoyce , Grodin Erica , Lim Aaron C. , Venegas Alexandra , Bujarski Spencer , Krull Jennifer , Ray Lara A. 
Published: March 2019

BackgroundDespite a rich literature on human laboratory paradigms of subjective response (SR) to alcohol, craving for alcohol, and alcohol self‐administration, few studies have examined the interplay across these 3 constructs. The present study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the interplay between SR, craving, and self‐administration in the human laboratory.MethodsData were culled from a medication study (NCT02026011) in which heavy drinking participants of East Asian ancestry completed 2 double‐blinded and counterbalanced experimental sessions. In each experimental session, participants received a priming dose of intravenous (IV) alcohol to a target breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) of 0.06 g/dl and measures of SR (stimulation and sedation) and alcohol craving were collected across rising BrACs. The IV alcohol challenge was immediately followed by a 1‐hour alcohol self‐administration period.ResultsMixed model analyses found a positive and significant relationship between the slope of stimulation and the slope of craving during the alcohol challenge. The relationship between sedation and craving, however, was not significant. The slope of craving during the alcohol challenge significantly predicted a higher number of mini‐drinks consumed and lower latency to first drink. Further, mediation analyses found that craving was a significant mediator of the relationship between stimulation and total number of mini‐drinks consumed, but the same pattern was not found for sedation.ConclusionsInsofar as alcohol self‐administration represents the end point of interest for a host of experimental and clinical research questions, the present study suggests that alcohol craving represents a more proximal predictor of self‐administration than measures of alcohol‐induced stimulation. It is recommended that human laboratory models interpret measures of SR and craving in light of their relative predictive utility for drinking outcomes.
Chronic Ethanol Exposure and Withdrawal Impair Synaptic GABAA Receptor‐Mediated Neurotransmission in Deep‐Layer Prefrontal Cortex
Authors: Hughes Benjamin A. , Bohnsack John Peyton , O'Buckley Todd K. , Herman Melissa A. , Morrow A. Leslie 
Published: March 2019

BackgroundThe prefrontal cortex (PFC) acts as an integrative hub for the processing of cortical and subcortical input into meaningful efferent signaling, permitting complex associative behaviors. PFC dysfunction is consistently observed with ethanol (EtOH) dependence and is a core component of the pathology of alcohol use disorders in current models of addiction. While intracortical gamma‐aminobutryric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission is understood to be essential for maintaining coordinated network activity within the cortex, relatively little is known regarding functional GABAergic adaptations in PFC during EtOH dependence.MethodsIn the present study, male and female (> postnatal day 60) Sprague‐Dawley rats were administered EtOH (5.0 g/kg; intragastric gavage) for 14 to 15 consecutive days. Twenty‐four hours after the final administration, animals were sacrificed and brains extracted for electrophysiological recordings of isolated GABAA receptor‐mediated currents or analysis of GABAA receptor subunit protein expression in deep‐layer PFC neurons.ResultsChronic EtOH exposure significantly attenuated activity‐dependent spontaneous GABAA receptor‐mediated inhibitory postsynaptic current (IPSC) frequency with no effect on amplitude. Furthermore, analysis of IPSC decay kinetics revealed a significant enhancement of IPSC decay time that was associated with decrements in expression of the α1 GABAA receptor subunit, indicative of further impaired phasic inhibition. These phenomena occurred irrespective of neuron projection destination and sex. Based on previous observations by our laboratory of an epigenetic mechanism for EtOH‐induced changes in cortical GABAA receptor subunit expression, the histone deacetylase inhibitor Trichostatin A was administered to water‐ and EtOH‐exposed animals, and prevented EtOH‐induced changes in spontaneous IPSC frequency, IPSC decay kinetics, and GABAA receptor subunit expression.ConclusionsTaken together, these results demonstrate that chronic EtOH exposure impairs synaptic inhibitory neurotransmission in deep‐layer pyramidal neurons of the medial PFC in both male and female rats. These maladaptations occur in neurons projecting to numerous regions implicated in the sequelae of EtOH dependence, offering a mechanistic link between the manifestation of PFC dysfunction and negative affective states observed with extended consumption.
Hidden in plain sight: phylogeography of an overlooked parasitoid species Trioxys sunnysidensis Fulbright & Pike (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Aphidiinae)
Authors: Čkrkić Jelisaveta , Petrović Andjeljko , Kocić Korana , Ye Zhengpei , Vollhardt Ines M.G. , Hebert Paul D.N. , Traugott Michael , Tomanović Željko 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe bird cherry‐oat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi is a major cereal pest with an almost cosmopolitan distribution. As one of the main groups of biocontrol agents for aphids, numerous Aphidiinae are associated with R. padi, including the genera Binodoxys and Trioxys.
As a recently described species parasitizing R. padi, Trioxys sunnysidensis is recorded from Europe for the first time based on morphological and molecular data. Specimens from North America, Europe and New Zealand were used in the analysis of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I to explore genetic variation among populations. The analysis revealed one of the highest haplotype diversities in Aphidiinae so far, with 25 haplotypes detected. The two most common haplotypes are shared across groups of populations, whereas all of the others are found either in North America or Europe.
Because the genetic structure of populations is an important factor to consider when choosing a biocontrol agent, the results obtained in the present study may be helpful in guiding potential biocontrol attempts.
Does population pressure induce farm intensification? Empirical evidence from Tigrai Region, Ethiopia
Authors: Hadush Muuz , Holden Stein T. , Tilahun Mesfin 
Published: March 2019

AbstractThe scarcity of land for crop and livestock production is critical in countries with growing populations. The idea that increasing population density leads to natural resource depletion and economic failure, as predicted by Malthus, or rather to farm intensification, as hypothesized by Boserup, motivates this research. This article examines how high population pressure in northern Ethiopia influences smallholders’ farm intensification by applying recursive estimation with a control function approach using data from 518 randomly selected farmers. Although our empirical results are more in favor of the Boserupian hypothesis, the findings also reveal that both Malthusian and Boserupian forces coexist. Consistent with Malthus theory, high population pressure is found to be associated with small farm size and herd size. Population pressure affected both technology use (breed cow, stall feeding, and modern cattle feed) and output supply (milk yield, milk income, and straw output). As predicted by Boserup's theory, the use of modern input and output supply initially increases with increasing population pressure but declines again when population densities pass a critical threshold (800 persons/km2), supporting Malthus’ hypothesis. The estimation results also revealed that both milk and straw supply responded positively to prices. Free grazing and stall feeding are found to be complementary activities. Likewise, crop farm income and off‐farm job have a nonlinear relation with population pressure, implying that both initially increase and then decrease with rising population pressure.