bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Timing and causes of the distribution pattern of Oncomelania hupensis estimated by molecular and geologic data
Authors: Ji Wen-bin , Xu Shu-xin , Bai Jun , Cui Ying-yi , Zhou Xian-min , Zou Jie-xin 
Published: October 2018

Abstract:As the only intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum, Oncomelania hupensis plays an irreplaceable role in the prevalence of schistosomiasis japonica. Several living subspecies of Oncomelania hupensis are found in Asia, especially in China, Japan,the Philippines, and Sulawesi of Indonesia. The existing geographical distribution pattern of O. hupensis has been influenced by geological events. This study used existing mitochondrial gene data for O. hupensis in the GenBank database and the molecular clock method to estimate the divergence time of each subspecies of O. hupensis. For the first time, the timing and causes of the distribution pattern of the different O. hupensis subspecies were studied by combining molecular data with data on geologic events. The results showed that the uplift and isolation of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau caused Oncomelania hupensis robertsoni to differentiate 4.76 Ma(Million anniversary), while Oncomelania hupensis guangxiensis was affected by the third Himalayan orogenic movement, differentiating 1.10 Ma. Oncomelania hupensis nosophora was influenced by the formation of the Yonaguni Strait and diverged 1.43 Ma. Influenced by ice ages and interglacial periods, Oncomelania hupensis tangi and Oncomelania hupensis formosana diverged 0.57 Ma. The link of the ancient Yangtze River promoted the spread of O. hupensis to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the developed water network facilitated gene exchange among Oncomelania hupensis hupensis in the area. Eventually, 0.62 Ma, O. h. hupensis differentiated.Author summaryPhylogenetic analysis of Pomatiopsidae species showed that Oncomelania was isolated from other genera and clustered independently in phylogenetic trees. Further analysis of the species Oncomelania hupensis and its subspecies was performed. The snail species O. hupensis has multiple subspecies that exhibit certain differences. These subspecies are distributed across Asia, from China’s Yunnan Province in the west to Japan in the east and south to the Philippines and Indonesia. In addition, the subspecies are widespread in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, and the distribution ranges of the different subspecies do not overlap. The formation of this distribution pattern of each subspecies of O. hupensis has a profound impact on the prevalence of Schistosoma japonicum. Therefore, the authors analyzed molecular data and geological historical events to investigate the timing and causes of the distribution pattern of each subspecies of O. hupensis.
Massively parallel fitness profiling reveals multiple novel enzymes inPseudomonas putidalysine metabolism
Authors: Thompson Mitchell G. , Blake-Hedges Jacquelyn M. , Cruz-Morales Pablo , Barajas Jesus F. , Curran Samuel C. , Eiben Christopher B. , Harris Nicholas C. , Benites Veronica T. , Gin Jennifer W. , Sharpless William A. , Twigg Frederick F. , Skyrud Will , Krishna Rohith N. , Pereira Jose Henrique , Baidoo Edward E. K. , Petzold Christopher J. , Adams Paul D. , Arkin Adam P. , Deutschbauer Adam M. , Keasling Jay D. 
Published: October 2018

AbstractDespite intensive study for 50 years, the biochemical and genetic links between lysine metabolism and central metabolism inPseudomonas putidaremain unresolved. To establish these biochemical links, we leveraged Random Barcode Transposon Sequencing (RB-TnSeq), a genome-wide assay measuring the fitness of thousands of genes in parallel, to identify multiple novel enzymes in both L- and D-lysine metabolism. We first describe three pathway enzymes that catabolize L-2-aminoadipate (L-2AA) to 2-ketoglutarate (2KG), connecting D-lysine to the TCA cycle. One of these enzymes, PP_5260, contains a DUF1338 domain, a family with no previously described biological function. Our work also identified the recently described CoA independent route of L-lysine degradation that metabolizes to succinate. We expanded on previous findings by demonstrating that glutarate hydroxylase CsiD is promiscuous in its 2-oxoacid selectivity. Proteomics of select pathway enzymes revealed that expression of catabolic genes is highly sensitive to particular pathway metabolites, implying intensive local and global regulation. This work demonstrates the utility of RB-TnSeq for discovering novel metabolic pathways in even well-studied bacteria, as well as a powerful tool for validating previous research.ImportanceP. putidalysine metabolism can produce multiple commodity chemicals, conferring great biotechnological value. Despite much research, connecting lysine catabolism to central metabolism inP. putidaremained undefined. Herein we use Random Barcode Transposon Sequencing to fill in the gaps of lysine metabolism inP. putida. We describe a route of 2-oxoadipate (2OA) catabolism in bacteria, which utilizes DUF1338 containing protein PP_5260. Despite its prevalence in many domains of life, DUF1338 containing proteins had no known biochemical function. We demonstrate PP_5260 is a metalloenzyme which catalyzes an unusual 2OA to D-2HG decarboxylation. Our screen also identified a recently described novel glutarate metabolic pathway. We validate previous results, and expand the understanding of glutarate hydroxylase CsiD by showing can it use either 2OA or 2KG as a cosubstrate. Our work demonstrates biological novelty can be rapidly identified using unbiased experimental genetics, and that RB-TnSeq can be used to rapidly validate previous results.
Control and monitoring assistant for pilot
Authors: Pieniazek Jacek 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Cooperation of a pilot with an automated aircraft control and monitoring systems is a problem which should be solved designing the whole system. The method of design, which creates an assistant of a pilot, is the purpose of this study.

Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of human factors shows demands for working environment. An integration method for various technological systems and algorithms is searched.

Findings
It is possible to make the whole system to become a pilot assistant, which has ability to exchange information with pilot by a dialogue. Structural flexibility is obtained in multi-agent system structure.

Practical implications
Proposed approach is a solution of how to integrate increasing amount of aircraft systems. It is expected that new form of cooperation fits to human features. Proposed methodology solves problem of simultaneous control by two controllers and cooperative making decisions.

Social implications
Dialogue between human and the system proposed in this solution will change perception of machines.

Originality/value
New abilities of machines and proposition of their realisation are presented. Presented solution of simultaneous control and decision-making during aircraft control is a novel approach to human–machine cooperation.
Using ensemble Kalman filter to determine parameters for computational crowd dynamics simulations
Authors: Togashi Fumiya , Misaka Takashi , Löhner Rainald , Obayashi Shigeru 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
It is of paramount importance to ensure safe and fast evacuation routes in cities in case of natural disasters, environmental accidents or acts of terrorism. The same applies to large-scale events such as concerts, sport events and religious pilgrimages as airports and to traffic hubs such as airports and train stations. The prediction of pedestrian is notoriously difficult because it varies depending on circumstances (age group, cultural characteristics, etc.). In this study, the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) data assimilation technique, which uses the updated observation data to improve the accuracy of the simulation, was applied to improve the accuracy of numerical simulations of pedestrian flow.

Design/methodology/approach
The EnKF, one of the data assimilation techniques, was applied to the in-house numerical simulation code for pedestrian flow. Two cases were studied in this study. One was the simplified one-directional experimental pedestrian flow. The other was the real pedestrian flow at the Kaaba in Mecca. First, numerical simulations were conducted using the empirical input parameter sets. Then, using the observation data, the EnKF estimated the appropriate input parameter sets. Finally, the numerical simulations using the estimated parameter sets were conducted.

Findings
The EnKF worked on the numerical simulations of pedestrian flow very effectively. In both cases: simplified experiment and real pedestrian flow, the EnKF estimated the proper input parameter sets which greatly improved the accuracy of the numerical simulation. The authors believe that the technique such as EnKF could also be used effectively in other fields of computational engineering where simulations and data have to be merged.

Practical implications
This technique can be used to improve both design and operational implementations of pedestrian and crowd dynamics predictions. It should be of high interest to command and control centers for large crowd events such as concerts, airports, train stations and pilgrimage centers.

Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, the data assimilation technique has not been applied to a numerical simulation of pedestrian flow, especially to the real pedestrian flow handling millions pedestrian such as the Mataf at the Kaaba. This study validated the capability and the usefulness of the data assimilation technique to numerical simulations for pedestrian flow.
A bibliometric analysis for global research trends on ectomycorrhizae over the past thirty years
Authors: Jiang Xu , Yanbin Liu 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
Based on the significance of ectomycorrhizae (ECM) and increased publication activity on this subject, it was decided to carry out a bibliometric analysis of scientific outputs in this area. The purpose of this study is to reveal the research trends of scientific outputs on ECM for the past 30 years and provide a potential guide for future research.

Design/methodology/approach
A method of bibliometric analysis was performed, based on the online version of the Science Citation Index Expanded, Web of Science, from 1986 to 2017. The authors evaluated the publication types, languages, source countries, journals, the patterns of publication outputs, most-cited articles, most-productive authors, institutional distributions, subject categories, high-frequency keywords and keywords plus and high-frequency terms in the title and abstract of ectomycorrhizal research. Keywords, keywords plus and high-frequency terms in the title and abstract were analyzed via VOSviewer to illustrate the extent of co-occurrence. This study further describes the recent research priority or hotspots and reveals the research trends.

Findings
From 1986 to 2017, the publication output on ECM showed a rising trend; the number of articles has rapidly increased after 2003. Based on co-occurrence analysis for keywords, keywords plus and terms in the title and abstract, “ectomycorrhizal fungi” is the most popular keyword and keywords plus; “concentration” is the most high-frequency terms in the title and abstracts. Plant biology, mycology and ecology are the hotspots in the ectomycorrhizal research. Ectomycorrhizal taxonomy, the molecular mechanisms of ectomycorrhizal symbioses and the common mycorrhizal networks are the future direction.

Originality/value
A bibliometric analysis has been carried out to analyze the trends of ECM research with 30 years. This study provides a potential guide for future research related to ectomycorrhizae.
An adaptive space-time shock capturing method with high order wavelet bases for the system of shallow water equations
Authors: Minbashian Hadi , Adibi Hojatollah , Dehghan Mehdi 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThis paper aims to propose an adaptive method for the numerical solution of the shallow water equations (SWEs). The authors provide an arbitrary high-order method using high-order spline wavelets. Furthermore, they use a non-linear shock capturing (SC) diffusion which removes the necessity of post-processing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a space-time weak formulation of SWEs which exploits continuous Galerkin (cG) in space and discontinuous Galerkin (dG) in time allowing time stepping, also known as cGdG. Such formulations along with SC term have recently been proved to ensure the stability of fully discrete schemes without scarifying the accuracy. However, the resulting scheme is expensive in terms of number of degrees of freedom (DoFs). By using natural adaptivity of wavelet expansions, the authors devise an adaptive algorithm to reduce the number of DoFs.FindingsThe proposed algorithm uses DoFs in a dynamic way to capture the shocks in all time steps while keeping the representation of approximate solution sparse. The performance of the proposed scheme is shown through some numerical examples.Originality/valueAn incorporation of wavelets for adaptivity in space-time weak formulations applied for SWEs is proposed.
Factors affecting the voluntary disclosure: a study by using smart PLS-SEM approach
Authors: Rouf Md. Abdur , Akhtaruddin M. 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to examine the factors affecting the voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of listed companies in Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a sample of 96 listed non-financial companies in Dhaka Stock Exchanges over the period of 2013 to 2016. The study used partial least squares structural equation modeling tool to analyze data which provides evidence of reliability and validity. It also used an unweighted relative disclosure index for measuring voluntary disclosure.

Findings
The empirical results show that corporate governance (board leadership structure and ownership structures) and firms characteristics (total assets and total sales) are significantly positive correlated with the voluntary disclosure.

Originality/value
The finding of the study will be a bench mark or the board for policy makers and implementers in torching the avenues of improvement in raising the level of corporate voluntary disclosure in annual reports of listed companies in Bangladesh.
Employment discrimination laws: a country level analysis of voice and accountability
Authors: Cheng Hong , Flores Gabriela , Singh Satvir , Posthuma Richard 
Published: October 2018

Purpose
This paper aims to examine whether the number of employment discrimination laws in a country influences voice and accountability.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors compared the number of employment discrimination laws in different countries to perceptions of voice and accountability.

Findings
Results indicate that the number of discrimination laws enacted in a country has a positive impact on the voice and accountability perceptions of citizens. Further, this relationship is found to be moderated by two contextual factors: cultural assertiveness and the percentage of females in the population. Specifically, the positive impact of the number of discrimination laws on voice and accountability perceptions was found to be stronger in highly assertive cultures and in countries with a lower percentage of females in the population.

Originality/value
This is the first study to show a relationship between the number of employment discrimination laws in a country and perceptions of voice and accountability.
Cross-classified multilevel determinants of firm’s sales growth in Latin America
Authors: Fávero Luiz Paulo Lopes , Serra Ricardo Goulart , dos Santos Marco Aurélio , Brunaldi Eduardo 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of firm-, industry- and country-level determinants on real annual sales growth in the context of a cross-classified multilevel perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe authors studied 11,381 firms from 17 industries in six Latin American countries based on the data collected up to 2015. Since the data are nested in two levels (level 1: firms; level 2: cross-classification of industries and countries), the authors use a cross-classified multilevel model. The significant variability in all levels of analysis confirms the option for the multilevel model.FindingsDifferences in industries account for the largest proportion of variance (77.2 percent). This finding indicates that industry-level characteristics should be explored in the sales growth literature (it seems to the authors that they were neglected). This finding also calls attention to the roles of policy-makers in facilitating firm growth. The final model indicates that the considered variables explain approximately 55 percent of the differences in real annual sales growth in the same industry and country after having accounted for the impacts of the differences in firms. After accounting for the impacts of the differences in firms’ and countries’ characteristics, 43 percent of the variation in average real annual sales growth is due to differences in industries. The obtained results indicate that while firms from countries with higher GDP growth and more effective corporate boards present higher real annual sales growth, firms that operate in commodity producer industries have worse performance in this indicator. With respect to firm’s characteristics, larger firms (contradicting Gibrat’s law) and exporters grew less. Some results could be explained by the decrease in commodities’ prices and global purchases between 2012 and 2015.Originality/valueThe paper fills some gaps in the firm growth literature by testing Gibrat’s law in non-developed countries (not yet done, to the best of the authors’ knowledge) and exploring variables other than size in the explanation of firm growth (rarely used, to the best of the authors’ knowledge). Moreover, the adopted model correctly estimated the origin of the variability in firm growth in its natural cross-classified distinct levels.
Oil prices, armed conflict and government revenue in Nigeria
Authors: Afangideh Udoma Johnson , Ujunwa Augustine , Ukemenam Angela Ifeanyi 
Published: October 2018

PurposePersistent wave of armed conflicts – militancy and terrorism – and the mono-cultural structure of the Nigerian economy, as well as extensive reliance on revenue from crude oil, highlights how external vulnerabilities, weakening internal structure and insecurity could significantly exacerbate public revenue loss. Understanding the nature, trend and impact of these factors on government revenue is one of the questions that still remain unsolved. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of global oil prices, militancy and terrorism on government revenue in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe study focusses on the state-failure and frustration-aggression hypotheses to explain the nature and trend of armed conflicts in Nigeria. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model is used to examine the effect of global oil prices, militancy and terrorism on government revenue.FindingsThe study reveals that crude oil price, terrorism and militancy have significant negative effect on government revenue in short- and long-run Nigeria. Evidence from the study therefore supports the theory that macroeconomic fluctuation is largely determined by endogenous and exogenous factors in Nigeria.Research limitations/implicationsIn view of this review, future studies should empirically analyse the interactive impact of militancy, terrorism and global oil prices on government expenditure or a combination of government revenue and expenditure.Originality/valueThe study provides evidence on the role of internal and external factors on macroeconomic fluctuation, and recommended appropriate suite of policies that could mitigate external and internal vulnerabilities, especially during upsurge in armed conflicts.
Exchange rate volatility in West African countries: is there a shred of Spillover?
Authors: Emenike Kalu Onwukwe 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate selected West African currencies/US dollar exchange rates for the evidence of volatility spillover. Specifically, the paper examines West African CFA franc, Gambian dalasi and Nigerian naira exchange rates in relation to the USD, for any evidence of shock and volatility spillover.Design/methodology/approachThe author employs multivariate GARCH (1,1)–BEKK model which enables the evaluation of the interaction within the volatility of two or more series because of its capability to detect volatility spillover among time series observations, as well as the persistence of volatility within each series.FindingsThe major findings of this study are as follows: there is evidence of volatility clustering in West African CFA franc, Gambian dalasi and Nigerian naira exchange rates in relation to the USD. There is evidence of bi-directional shock and volatility spillover between the Nigerian naira and West African CFA franc/USD exchange rates, and uni-directional shock spillover from the Gambian dalasi to the West African CFA franc/USD exchange rates. There is, however, no evidence of exchange rate shock and volatility spillover between Nigerian naira and Gambian dalasi.Originality/valueAlthough considerable literature exists on the volatility of exchange rate in West Africa and comparative analysis of exchange rates volatility in few countries of West Africa, there is absence of empirical studies on exchange rate volatility spillover among countries in the region. Since containing exchange rate volatility is one of the major objectives of monetary policy, understanding the nature and direction of exchange rate volatility spillover would propel formulation exchange rate policies that would minimise exchange rate uncertainty and entrench sustainable development. In addition, the nature of exchange rate volatility spillover between West African countries would provide basis for international traders and foreign portfolio investors to develop effective strategies for hedging against exchange rate shocks that are propagated across countries by designing appropriate risk management techniques.
Performance of business group affiliated firms in emerging markets
Authors: Purkayastha Anish 
Published: October 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the existing mechanism through which business group affiliated firms in emerging markets (EMs) continue to generate superior performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors build our argument on the basis of how business group affiliation in EM facilitates internationalization and investment into innovation in affiliated firms compared to un-affiliated firm, resulting in higher firm performance. The authors use advance statistical modeling – causal mediation analysis to separate direct effect and indirect effect of business group affiliation in EM on performance through internationalization and investment into innovation of business group affiliated firms as mediating variables.FindingsBased on 122,479 observations (firm year) from 17,235 Indian business group affiliated and un-affiliated firms, the findings help to identify that internationalization and investment into innovation of business group affiliated firms do have a mediating role in affiliation–performance relationship for EM business groups.Originality/valueThis study unravels the existing causal chain between business group affiliation in EMs and subsequent performance of affiliated firms. The authors complement institutional argument for superior performance of business group affiliation and focus on the performance implication of mediating strategic decisions in affiliated firms.