bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Corporate environmental responsibility’s influence on risk-taking in Chinese A-share listed companies
Authors: Qiu Yixin , Tang Ying , Ren Xiaohang , Moro Andrea , Taghizadeh-Hesary Farhad 
Published: September 2024

Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between corporate environmental responsibility (CER) and risk-taking in Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2020. It seeks to understand the influence of CER on risk-taking behavior and explore potential moderating factors.

Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach is used, using data from Chinese A-share listed companies over the specified period. Regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between CER and risk-taking, while considering moderating variables such as performance aspiration, environmental enrichment and contextual factors.

Findings
The findings indicate that CER positively influences corporate risk-taking, with significant impacts on information asymmetry and corporate reputation. Moreover, positive performance aspiration strengthens the effect of CER on risk-taking, while negative performance aspiration and environmental enrichment weaken this effect. Cross-sectional analysis shows that the positive association between CER and risk-taking is more prominent for firms located in areas with strict environmental regulation, for nonstate-owned firms, and for firms with higher levels of internal control.

Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature by providing insights into the dynamics between CER and risk-taking in the Chinese market context. It expands existing knowledge by considering the influence of performance aspiration on this relationship, offering practical implications for firms seeking to enhance corporate performance through strategic management of environmental responsibilities.
Circular economy design strategies in mass timber construction: a systematic literature review
Authors: Abad Fatemeh , Rameezdeen Raufdeen , Chileshe Nicholas 
Published: September 2024

PurposeThis study evaluates the implementation of circular economy (CE) design strategies in mass timber construction to identify knowledge gaps and define crucial future research areas for promoting CE design adoption in this field.Design/methodology/approachA two-stage systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to, first, identify CE design strategies applicable to the construction industry and then investigate the current state of CE design research in mass timber construction. Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched for relevant literature. In total, 52 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2016 and 2023 were shortlisted. Descriptive and thematic analyses were then employed to analyse and synthesise the relevant literature.FindingsSeven CE design strategies were identified in the first stage of the SLR. The second stage of the SLR revealed limited research on CE design strategies in mass timber construction. Several research problems were identified, including a lack of suitable connectors for the deconstruction phase, durability concerns, insufficient knowledge of CE design methods, lack of knowledge and education about mass timber construction, missing actors within the value chain, higher cost, an underdeveloped market and inadequate regulatory requirements. These findings highlighted the future research directions to foster CE design adoption in mass timber construction.Originality/valueThe study systematically identifies existing knowledge on the application of CE design strategies in mass timber construction. Moreover, it presents a conceptual framework that links current research problems to future research directions across technical, social, economic and regulatory categories, thereby advancing CE practice in mass timber construction.
Communicating a comeback: a startup founder’s response to anonymous employee feedback
Authors: Miller Laura Nicole 
Published: September 2024

Research methodology
This case study is based on primary data collected through interviews with the company’s founder and CEO. It also includes secondary data collected through the Glassdoor job search and career community site. The names of the company and the employees have been disguised. However, the figures included accurately represent the primary data and the quotes are directly from the company representative.

Case overview/synopsis
When it was founded in 2009, employees were excited about the prospect of working at Wombat alongside its founder and CEO Dan Wallace. They had looked forward to making a difference in the lives of college students with the company’s higher ed-focused digital communication platform. But by 2022, Wallace could not ignore the significant change in these employees’ attitudes. Anonymous feedback pointed to employees’ commitment to Wombat having wavered, and employees’ reception of post-COVID organizational changes had become concerningly critical. Though he knew enough to be concerned, Wallace felt unsure of how to move forward based on the anonymous feedback alone. He was left wondering: how should Wombat communicate with employees to boost their attitudes and strengthen their commitment while making the hard decisions that best serve the company?

Complexity academic level
This case study is appropriate for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in organizational communication courses. It can constitute the employee communication module in a class that surveys strategic managerial communication, or it could be used as one of many examples in a course specifically focused on the internal communication component of the discipline. Students will need an understanding of communication theory, specifically interpretive organizational communication theory, to grasp the complexities of the case. While the focus company is in the educational technology industry, the themes presented are faced by companies of all sizes in all sectors.
Smart city construction impact on destination competitiveness: a time-varying difference-in-differences analysis of Chinese prefectural-level cities
Authors: Zhang Jiekuan 
Published: September 2024

Purpose
This paper aims to analyze how smart city construction affects destination competitiveness and elucidates the potential mechanisms of digital economy. Also, the regional heterogeneity of smart city construction’s influence on destination competitiveness is discussed.

Design/methodology/approach
Given the quasi-natural experiment characteristics of China's smart city construction pilot, this study applies a time-varying difference-in-differences approach using a panel dataset of 272 Chinese prefectural-level cities to examine the causal effects of smart city construction on destination competitiveness.

Findings
Results indicate substantial enhancement of urban destination competitiveness from smart city construction, with this effect escalating annually. Digital infrastructure and digital finance serve as influence mechanisms. The positive impacts of smart city construction on urban tourism competitiveness do not differ by geographic location, rather there are significant differences between cities of different administrative levels. The impact of smart city construction on destination competitiveness is more significant in low administrative level cities. The improvement of economic development level and innovation ability helps to exert the positive impact of smart cities on tourism competitiveness.

Originality/value
This study constructs a new panel data set for smart city construction and destination competitiveness based on multi-source data and posits a theoretical linkage among smart city construction, digital economy and destination competitiveness. This paper provides invaluable insights on how to boost destination competitiveness by creating smart cities and leveraging the digital economy. Tourism sectors should proactively engage in smart city construction and foster the digital transformation of tourism.
Host community structure can shape pathogen outbreak dynamics through a phylogenetic dilution effect
Authors: Toorians Marjolein E. M. , Smallegange Isabel M. , Davies T. Jonathan 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Biodiversity loss and anthropogenic modifications to species communities are impacting the frequency and magnitude of disease emergence events. These changes may be related through mechanisms in which biodiversity either increases (amplifies) or decreases (dilutes) disease prevalence. Biodiversity effects can be direct, when contacts among competent hosts are replaced by contacts with sink hosts, or indirect through the regulation of host abundances.
Here, we introduce a multihost compartmental disease model, weighting host competences by their evolutionary relatedness. Our model simulates host communities with substitutive and additive assembly patterns and frequency‐ and density‐dependent pathogen transmission modes, from which we estimate the community disease outbreak potential .
Simulations show how differences in phylogenetic structure can switch host communities from diluting to amplifying a disease, even when species richness is unchanged. We additionally show that phylogenetic dilution can occur simultaneously with (classic) amplification through species richness.
We illustrate our model using empirical data describing the relationship between phylogenetic distances separating hosts and their likelihood of disease sharing. Our study demonstrates how host evolutionary histories can drive disease dynamics through a phylogenetic dilution effect.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Taylor's law on abundance unravels the role of traits and environmental conditions on population dynamics
Authors: Arim Matías , Illarze Mariana 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

The variance–mean scaling in population abundance or Taylor's power law (TPL) has been reported hundreds of times and is related to ecological processes such as competition, dispersal or territoriality. In this sense, the TPL was extensively validated to resume population variability and to show the action of ecological mechanisms.

Baumgartner and Peláez (2024) combine databases of fish dynamics along the United States, species traits, species phylogeny and climatic conditions, estimating the TPL for 180 species along 972 populations.

The observed scaling suggests that the variability of the population decreases with abundance. Notably, 68% of the variation in the variance–mean scaling was explained by species traits and environmental conditions. Specifically, the life history of the species, associated with its body size, was the main explanation for the TPL, also reporting that the variability of the population increased faster with mean abundance in the headwaters than in other river sections. Equally important, the diversity of the community in which the species were inserted did not affect the scaling.

These results provide overwhelming evidence on the nature of TPL on large geographic scales and how they are affected by species biology and environmental conditions. A contribution that should motivate further empirical and theoretical analysis of the TPL and its determinants.
Interacting effects of sand, slugs and jute drive community composition in direct‐seeded urban wildflower meadows
Authors: Horsfall Katherine , Livesley Stephen J. , Delpratt John , Hirst Megan J. , Williams Nicholas S. G. 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Wildflower meadows support biodiversity in urban environments, whilst providing low‐maintenance, amenity landscapes. By moving from international plant palettes to those that include species from threatened plant communities in meadows, we can reintroduce native species to urban landscapes and help achieve conservation objectives. Adapting horticultural techniques from Europe, we determined if such approaches could support the germination and establishment of grasses and wildflowers from critically endangered plant communities in Melbourne, Australia.

Working in an urban park, we sowed seed of 27 species on soil capped with two depths of sand (10 and 80 mm) and site soil without sand to determine the impact of sand on weed emergence, slug grazing and growth of sown species. We quantified weed biomass and the time spent weeding unsown species from the emerging meadow. We also tested if covering the sites with a jute mesh enhanced sown species establishment.

Twelve months after sowing, the percentage cover of sown species did not differ significantly among treatments. However, the cover of forb species was greater on plots without jute, whereas the cover of grasses was greater on plots with jute. Forb density and species richness were highest on 80 mm sand treatments without jute and lowest on 80 mm sand with jute. We attribute this to greater competition from grasses and higher slug abundance in the presence of jute, leading to the loss of forb species that are more palatable to slugs. Greater sand depths significantly reduced the time to weed and the biomass of weed species removed from the emerging meadow.

Synthesis and applications. Using low‐nutrient substrates to cap and bury the weed seed bank, irrigation and direct seeding, we demonstrate it is possible to return plants from threatened grassy ecosystems to urban sites, creating a dense and species‐rich native understorey within 1 year whilst reducing labour requirements during meadow establishment.
Anger expressions of social media users following different crisis response strategies towards health emergency
Authors: Zhong Zhijin , Luo Zhiyi , Chen Yiling , Li Lifang 
Published: September 2024

AbstractAlthough studies have argued the relationship of anger expressions with the satisfaction of crisis response strategies in traditional studies, fewer studies had integrated large‐scale user‐generated social media data to characterize public's dynamic anger expressions in multiple crisis stages following different response strategies. Drawing on the Situational Crisis Communication Theory and text mining techniques, this study analyzed the anger expressions in Weibo posts using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC, 2015), and the statistical comparison results suggested that the number of anger words after the involved company conducted deny strategy was significantly larger than the number of anger words when diminish and rebuild strategies were applied. Furthermore, using Biterm Topic Model, we observed dynamic changes of anger‐related posts' themes following different crisis response strategies. Our research serves as an impetus for authorities to systematically examine the manifestations of anger exhibited by individual users on social media platforms, thereby enabling an assessment of public sentiments pertaining to diverse strategies. This also empowers practitioners to enhance the precision and efficacy of crisis phase‐specific responses within the domain of crisis communication.
Next‐generation AMA1‐based plasmids for enhanced heterologous expression in filamentous fungi
Authors: Roux Indra , Woodcraft Clara , Sbaraini Nicolau , Pepper Amy , Wong Emily , Bracegirdle Joe , Chooi Yit‐Heng 
Published: September 2024

AbstractEpisomal AMA1‐based plasmids are increasingly used for expressing biosynthetic pathways and CRISPR/Cas systems in filamentous fungi cell factories due to their high transformation efficiency and multicopy nature. However, the gene expression from AMA1 plasmids has been observed to be highly heterogeneous in growing mycelia. To overcome this limitation, here we developed next‐generation AMA1‐based plasmids that ensure homogeneous and strong expression. We achieved this by evaluating various degradation tags fused to the auxotrophic marker gene on the AMA1 plasmid, which introduces a more stringent selection pressure throughout multicellular fungal growth. With these improved plasmids, we observed in Aspergillus nidulans a 5‐fold increase in the expression of a fluorescent reporter, a doubling in the efficiency of a CRISPRa system for genome mining, and a up to a 10‐fold increase in the production of heterologous natural product metabolites. This strategy has the potential to be applied to diverse filamentous fungi.
Herding in equity crowdfunding
Authors: Åstebro Thomas , Fernández Manuel , Lovo Stefano , Vulkan Nir 
Published: September 2024

AbstractWe build a model of equity crowdfunding that incorporates the two major funding models: all‐or‐nothing (AoN) and keep‐it‐all (KIA). Both informed and uninformed investors arrive sequentially and rationally choose whether and how much to invest. The KIA solution turns out to be a reduced version of AoN without signalling. We test predictions using data from a leading European equity crowdfunding platform and find support. Results are consistent with rational information aggregation. However, negative information cascades may still appear. The AoN crowdfunding mechanism might therefore fail to finance a nonnegligible percentage of positive NPV projects.
The effects of humic substances application on the phytohormone profile in Lactuca sativa L.
Authors: Atero‐Calvo Santiago , Magro Francesco , Masetti Giacomo , Navarro‐León Eloy , Albacete Alfonso , Ruiz Juan Manuel 
Published: September 2024

AbstractHumic substances (HS) are commonly employed as plant biostimulants to enhance crop yields. However, the HS mechanisms of action, as well as the differences between radicular and foliar modes of application, remain unclear. Here, we explored the changes in phytohormonal balance as possible mechanism of HS to enhance lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) growth, and the difference between both modes of application. For this purpose, BLACKJAK®, a HS‐based product was applied as radicular (R) and foliar (F) at the concentrations (mL/L): 0.20 (R1), 0.40 (R2), 0.60 (R3), 0.80 (R4), 5.00 (F1), 7.50 (F2), 10.00 (F3), and 12.50 (F4). The experiment was performed in pots filled with vermiculite:perlite (3:1) and HS were applied three times with a periodicity of 10 days. Shoot and root growth parameters were measured. In addition, the phythormones indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA), gibberellins (GAs), trans‐zeatine (tZ), isopentenyl adenine (iP), 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylic acid (ACC), abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA), and salicylic acid (SA), were analysed by U‐HPLC‐MS. BLACKJAK® application resulted in higher shoot growth at doses R1, R2, R3, F2, and F3, whereas root biomass was increased at R2, R3, F2, F3, and F4, showing radicular better plant growth than foliar applications. Furthermore, HS changed phytohormonal balance in shoots and roots. However, it was with radicular applications, especially at R2, where phytohormonal profile was best associated with plant growth due to the increases observed in IAA, GAs, JA, SA, tZ, and decreased ABA. However, further research is needed to clarify the involvement of hormones in the growth‐promoting action of HS.
Perilous state of critically endangered Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) across the Sudano‐Sahel
Authors: Shams A. , Farhadinia M. S. , O'Riain M. J. , Gaylard A. , Smit M. , Fraticelli C. , Koutou M. , Clement K. B. , Durant S. M. , Melzheimer J. , Naude V. N. 
Published: September 2024

AbstractNorthwest African cheetah populations have declined precipitously, with expert opinion estimating that <420 individuals persist across parts of Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger and Mali. However, no reliable density estimates exist in the remaining subspecies strongholds throughout the Sudano‐Sahel Zone, including the W‐Arly‐Pendjari Complex and Greater Zakouma Ecosystem within the Bahr/Salamat landscape. Camera trap surveys were combined with spatially explicit capture–recapture methodologies in both regions to estimate the cheetah density and detectable demographic composition of these populations. Following 15 429 camera trap nights, we detected nine individuals during the dry season and four individuals during the wet season in Pendjari (2021), nine individuals (dry season; 2023) in Zakouma and none in Siniaka Minia. Cheetah densities were thus estimated at 0.17–0.24 and 0.37 cheetah per 100 km2 in Pendjari and Zakouma, respectively. While marginally higher than predicted, such low‐density estimates are concerning in the last remaining habitats harbouring this critically endangered subspecies. Considering the substantial contraction of regional cheetah distribution, we estimate an overall population size of 68 ± 29 individuals across the studied areas. These novel estimates are among the lowest formally determined densities throughout cheetah range in Africa, where a high frequency of people and livestock detected on camera traps highlight the ongoing risks to large carnivores in these protected areas. Subsequent management recommendations include implementation of the established regional conservation strategies that encompass the distributional range of these cheetah, continuous monitoring of populations, genetic analyses to inform management, curbing illegal trade and increasing international awareness around the plight of the subspecies.
The development of ambivalent sexism: Proposals for an expanded model
Authors: Leaper Campbell 
Published: September 2024

AbstractThe United Nations' Goals for Sustainable Development highlight gender inequality as a pervasive problem around the world. Developmental psychologists can help us understand the development and consequences of sexism in people's lives. I highlight ambivalent sexism theory as a promising framework for this work; and I offer recommendations for expanding the theory. Ambivalent sexism theory distinguishes between hostile sexism and benevolent sexism as complementary processes perpetuating and maintaining men's dominance and heteronormativity in society. I summarize how these two forms of sexism emerge during childhood and adolescence; and I review the negative manifestations of hostile and benevolent sexism during adolescence and adulthood. Next, I chart several directions for expanding the ambivalent sexism model. These include addressing sexism directed towards gender‐nonconforming, sexual‐minoritized, and gender‐minoritized youth (in addition to sexism towards girls and women); taking into account the gender and sexual identities of both perpetrators and targets of sexism; considering a broader array of hostile and benevolent sexist practices than captured in existing measures; taking into account cultural variations and intersectionality in how ambivalent sexism is enacted; conducting more research on ambivalent sexism in childhood and adolescence and designing effective programs to reduce and to prevent ambivalent sexism beginning in childhood.
Factors impeding organ recovery despite a deep haematological response in patients with systemic AL amyloidosis
Authors: Staron Andrew , Mendelson Lisa M. , Joshi Tracy , Burke Natasha , Sanchorawala Vaishali 
Published: September 2024

SummaryPatients with AL amyloidosis can have persistent organ dysfunction despite achieving a haematological complete response (hemCR). We aimed to identify factors for organ non‐response among 143 patients who achieved hemCR for ≥6 months. Kidney, heart and liver non‐response were observed in 40/117 (34%), 19/68 (28%) and 3/17 (18%) patients respectively. Predisposing factors varied by organ system. Kidney non‐responders had more advanced organ dysfunction at diagnosis, whereas heart non‐responders had disproportionately more lambda‐typic amyloidogenic light chains. Most patients without an apparent reason for organ non‐response had detectable residual clonal disease. The interplay of factors impeding organ recovery in AL amyloidosis is complex.