bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Total quality management practices in aquaculture companies: a case from Ghana
Authors: Owusu Kwateng Kwame , Darko Justice Eric 
Published: June 2017

Purpose
Studies on managers’ awareness level of total quality management (TQM) in the aquaculture industry in Ghana are scarce, if existing at all. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the awareness level of managers in Ghana’s aquaculture industry about TQM practices and how it is applied in their operations.

Design/methodology/approach
In this study, simple random sampling technique was used to select 52 respondents from aquaculture companies in Ghana. The respondents were managers and supervisors who have better understanding of organizational operations and quality management issues. Managers and supervisors considered for the study include quality managers, operational/production managers, supervisors, and also top managers.

Findings
The findings from the study depict that respondents’ awareness level about TQM practices and concepts in the aquaculture industry are acceptable and they agree to the fact that TQM is a way of guaranteeing high-quality products and services. The institutions’ main areas of concentration are management leadership, continuous process management, and improvement. Again, the companies’ culture depicts more of a control measure than a prophylactic treatment.

Practical implications
The outcome of this paper will help in comprehending the TQM awareness in the aquaculture industry in Ghana. It will also highlight major areas that managers and supervisors in the industry need education on, in other to enhance their quality skills.

Originality/value
This research is among the first ever known attempts to assess the awareness of TQM concepts and practices in the aquaculture industry in Ghana. It will help improve the quality practices in the industry.
Contradictions in TQM implementation
Authors: Banuro Francis Yaw , Ntiri-Ampomah Alexander , Banuro Joseph Kwaku 
Published: June 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to confirm the existence of contradictions in total quality management (TQM) implementation among some Ghanaian companies and to provide a framework for balancing these contradictions.

Design/methodology/approach
Closed-ended questionnaires were used as a survey instrument. A sample of 80 managers from 40 Ghanaian multinational companies implementing TQM responded to the questionnaires.

Findings
The results showed that the implementation of TQM comes with inherent contradictions, which may hinder the success of TQM if not checked. Three pairs of contradictions were established in this study, namely “Standardization vs Innovation,” “Manipulation vs Empowerment,” and “Collectivism vs Individualism.” A framework was proposed to balance these contradictions in order to ensure TQM success.

Research limitations/implications
The study used all the 40 ISO certified firms in Ghana, but this number is quite small relative to ISO certified firms worldwide. Further, the study was done in Ghana and, for these reasons, generalization to the rest of the world is limited.

Practical implications
The proposed framework when applied by managers to balance the contradictions will achieve success in TQM implementation.

Originality/value
Previous studies have talked about the existence of the contradictions. This paper proposes a framework to balance the existing contradictions. This framework is new and has never been proposed in the literature to minimize the adverse effects of these contradictions on a firm’s profit generation.
Transition boundaries for protistan species turnover in hypersaline waters of different biogeographic regions
Authors: Filker Sabine , Forster Dominik , Weinisch Lea , Mora‐Ruiz Merit , González Bernardo , Farías María Eugenia , Rosselló‐Móra Ramon , Stoeck Thorsten 
Published: June 2017

SummaryThe identification of environmental barriers which govern species distribution is a fundamental concern in ecology. Even though salt was previously identified as a major transition boundary for micro‐ and macroorganisms alike, the salinities causing species turnover in protistan communities are unknown. We investigated 4.5 million high‐quality protistan metabarcodes (V4 region of the SSU rDNA) obtained from 24 shallow salt ponds (salinities 4%–44%) from South America and Europe. Statistical analyses of protistan community profiles identified four salinity classes, which strongly selected for different protistan communities: 4–9%, 14–24%, 27–36% and 38–44%. The proportion of organisms unknown to science is highest in the 14–24% salinity class, showing that environments within this salinity range are an unappreciated reservoir of as yet undiscovered organisms. Distinct higher‐rank taxon groups dominated in the four salinity classes in terms of diversity. As increasing salinities require different cellular responses to cope with salt, our results suggest that different evolutionary lineages of protists have evolved distinct haloadaptation strategies. Salinity appears to be a stronger selection factor for the structuring of protistan communities than geography. Yet, we find a higher degree of endemism in shallow salt ponds compared with less isolated ecosystems such as the open ocean. Thus, rules for biogeographic structuring of protistan communities are not universal, but depend on the ecosystem under consideration.
When Do Multinational Companies Consider Corporate Social Responsibility? A Multi‐country Study in Sub‐Saharan Africa
Authors: Görg Holger , Hanley Aoife , Hoffmann Stefan , Seric Adnan 
Published: June 2017

AbstractWhile African countries are becoming more and more relevant as host countries for suppliers of multinational companies little is known about corporate social responsibility (CSR) in this region. To fill this gap, the present article explores CSR considerations of foreign affiliates of multinational companies when choosing local African suppliers. The article suggests a model of three types of determinants, namely firm characteristics, exports, and intra‐trade. Analyses of a large‐scale and quite unique firm level data for more than 2,000 foreign owned firms in 19 sub‐Saharan African countries demonstrate that firms importing intermediates from their parent company abroad are more likely to implement CSR. Similarly, CSR plays a larger role for affiliates that export to developed countries. Different determinants affect environmental and social CSR activities.
The Effects of Interfirm Ties on Illegal Corporate Behavior
Authors: Collins Jamie D. , Reutzel Christopher R. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractAlthough numerous benefits are associated with interfirm ties, these external relationships can also have negative consequences. Theoretically based in the relational component of social capital, we identify one potentially serious consequence of interfirm ties, propensity of firms engaging in illegal behavior. Results of our study of S&P 500 firms suggest that companies benefit from a lower likelihood of illegal behavior when they have numerous weak ties to other firms. Conversely, when they become overly embedded in a network of strong ties, they are more likely to engage in illegal behavior. We also found evidence that reciprocity and status similarity influence firms’ propensity to engage in illegal behavior.
Does a more extensive mucosal excision prevent haemorrhoidal recurrence after stapled haemorrhoidopexy? Long‐term outcome of a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Altomare D. F. , Pecorella G. , Tegon G. , Aquilino F. , Pennisi D. , De Fazio M. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractAimThe study aimed in a multicentric randomized controlled trial to define the role of a more extensive mucosal resection on recurrence of mucosal prolapse in patients with Stage III haemorrhoids undergoing stapled haemorrhoidopexy.MethodIn all, 135 patients were randomized to treatment with a PPH‐01/03 (Ethicon EndoSurgery) or an EEA (Covidien) stapler. They were reviewed after a minimum follow‐up of 4 years to determine the rate of recurrent mucosal prolapse and general condition (wellness evaluation score). Postoperative bowel dysfunction was assessed using the Rome III criteria.ResultsEighty‐seven (65%) of the 135 patients (48 in the EEA stapler group and 37 in the PPH group) were available for long‐term follow‐up. The two groups were comparable for age, gender and duration of follow‐up (mean 49.3 ± 5.4 months and 49.0 ± 5.3 months respectively). In the EEA group, 11 (23%) patients had some degree of recurrent prolapse compared with 12 (32%) in the PPH group (P = 0.409). Persistence of anal bleeding was significantly higher in the PPH group (P = 0.04) while the postoperative Haemorrhoid Symptom Score was significantly better in the EEA group (1.73 ± 1.65 vs 3.17 ± 1.94, P < 0.001). The wellness evaluation score was significantly better in the EEA group (1.2 ± 1.27 vs 0.6 ± 1.0, P = 0.028). Furthermore, 7 (15%) of the patients in the EEA group complained of some evacuation disturbance compared with 13 (36%) in the PPH group (P = 0.021).ConclusionThe study failed to demonstrate any significant difference in the long‐term recurrence rate of Stage III haemorrhoids using EEA or PPH. Nevertheless, use of the larger volume EEA provides better symptom resolution compared with PPH.
Naïve and Robust: Class‐Conditional Independence in Human Classification Learning
Authors: Jarecki Jana B. , Meder Björn , Nelson Jonathan D. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractHumans excel in categorization. Yet from a computational standpoint, learning a novel probabilistic classification task involves severe computational challenges. The present paper investigates one way to address these challenges: assuming class‐conditional independence of features. This feature independence assumption simplifies the inference problem, allows for informed inferences about novel feature combinations, and performs robustly across different statistical environments. We designed a new Bayesian classification learning model (the dependence‐independence structure and category learning model, DISC‐LM) that incorporates varying degrees of prior belief in class‐conditional independence, learns whether or not independence holds, and adapts its behavior accordingly. Theoretical results from two simulation studies demonstrate that classification behavior can appear to start simple, yet adapt effectively to unexpected task structures. Two experiments—designed using optimal experimental design principles—were conducted with human learners. Classification decisions of the majority of participants were best accounted for by a version of the model with very high initial prior belief in class‐conditional independence, before adapting to the true environmental structure. Class‐conditional independence may be a strong and useful default assumption in category learning tasks.
An Actor's Knowledge and Intent Are More Important in Evaluating Moral Transgressions Than Conventional Transgressions
Authors: Giffin Carly , Lombrozo Tania 
Published: June 2017

AbstractAn actor's mental states—whether she acted knowingly and with bad intentions—typically play an important role in evaluating the extent to which an action is wrong and in determining appropriate levels of punishment. In four experiments, we find that this role for knowledge and intent is significantly weaker when evaluating transgressions of conventional rules as opposed to moral rules. We also find that this attenuated role for knowledge and intent is partly due to the fact that conventional rules are judged to be more arbitrary than moral rules; whereas moral transgressions are associated with actions that are intrinsically wrong (e.g., hitting another person), conventional transgressions are associated with actions that are only contingently wrong (e.g., wearing pajamas to school, which is only wrong if it violates a dress code that could have been otherwise). Finally, we find that it is the perpetrator's belief about the arbitrary or non‐arbitrary basis of the rule—not the reality—that drives this differential effect of knowledge and intent across types of transgressions.
Native Seed Supply and the Restoration Species Pool
Authors: Ladouceur Emma , Jiménez‐Alfaro Borja , Marin Maria , De Vitis Marcello , Abbandonato Holly , Iannetta Pietro P.M. , Bonomi Costantino , Pritchard Hugh W. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractGlobally, annual expenditure on ecological restoration of degraded areas for habitat improvement and biodiversity conservation is approximately $18bn. Seed farming of native plant species is crucial to meet restoration goals, but may be stymied by the disconnection of academic research in seed science and the lack of effective policies that regulate native seed production/supply. To illustrate this problem, we identified 1,122 plant species important for European grasslands of conservation concern and found that only 32% have both fundamental seed germination data available and can be purchased as seed. The “restoration species pool,”or set of species available in practice, acts as a significant biodiversity selection filter for species use in restoration projects. For improvement, we propose: (1) substantial expansion of research and development on native seed quality, viability, and production; (2) open‐source knowledge transfer between sectors; and (3) creation of supportive policy intended to stimulate demand for biodiverse seed.
Comparison of cardiac output estimates by bioreactance and inert gas rebreathing methods during cardiopulmonary exercise testing
Authors: Okwose Nduka C. , Chowdhury Shakir , Houghton David , Trenell Michael I. , Eggett Christopher , Bates Matthew , MacGowan Guy A. , Jakovljevic Djordje G. 
Published: June 2017

SummaryPurposeThis study assessed the agreement between cardiac output estimated by inert gas rebreathing and bioreactance methods at rest and during exercise.MethodsHaemodynamic measurements were assessed in 20 healthy individuals (11 females, nine males; aged 32 ± 10 years) using inert gas rebreathing and bioreactance methods. Gas exchange and haemodynamic data were measured simultaneously under rest and different stages (i.e. 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 W) of progressive graded cardiopulmonary exercise stress testing using a bicycle ergometer.ResultsAt rest, bioreactance produced significantly higher cardiac output values than inert gas rebreathing (7·8 ± 1·4 versus 6·5 ± 1·7 l min−1, P = 0·01). At low‐to‐moderate exercise intensities (i.e. 30–90 W), bioreactance produced significantly higher cardiac outputs compared with rebreathing method (P<0·05). At workloads of 120 W and above, there was no significant difference in cardiac outputs between the two methods (P = 0·10). There was a strong relationship between the two methods (r = 0·82, P = 0·01). Bland–Altman analysis including rest and exercise data showed that inert gas rebreathing reported 1·95 l min−1 lower cardiac output than bioreactance, with lower and upper limits of agreement of −3·1–7·07 l min−1. Analysis of peak exercise data showed a mean difference of 0·4 l min−1 (lower and upper limits of agreement of −4·9–5·7 l min−1) between both devices.ConclusionBioreactance and inert gas rebreathing methods show acceptable levels of agreement for estimating cardiac output at higher levels of metabolic demand. However, they cannot be used interchangeably due to strong disparity in results at rest and low‐to‐moderate exercise intensity.
Calculation algorithms alter the breath‐by‐breath gas exchange values when abrupt changes in ventilation occur
Authors: Cettolo Valentina , Francescato Maria Pia 
Published: June 2017

SummaryThe automatic metabolic units calculate breath‐by‐breath gas exchange from the expiratory data only, applying an algorithm (‘expiration‐only’ algorithm) that neglects the changes in the lung gas stores. These last are theoretically taken into account by a recently proposed algorithm, based on an alternative view of the respiratory cycle (‘alternative respiratory cycle’ algorithm). The performance of the two algorithms was investigated where changes in the lung gas stores were induced by abrupt increases in ventilation above the physiological demand. Oxygen, carbon dioxide fractions and ventilatory flow were recorded at the mouth in 15 healthy subjects during quiet breathing and during 20‐s hyperventilation manoeuvres performed at 5‐min intervals in resting conditions. Oxygen uptakes and carbon dioxide exhalations were calculated throughout the acquisition periods by the two algorithms. Average ventilation amounted to 6·1 ± 1·4 l min−1 during quiet breathing and increased to 41·8 ± 27·2 l min−1 during the manoeuvres (P<0·01). During quiet breathing, the two algorithms provided overlapping gas exchange data and noise. Conversely, during hyperventilation, the ‘alternative respiratory cycle’ algorithm provided significantly lower gas exchange data as compared to the values yielded by the ‘expiration‐only’ algorithm. For the first breath of hyperventilation, the average values provided by the two algorithms amounted to 0·37 ± 0·34 l min−1 versus 0·96 ± 0·73 l min−1 for O2 uptake and 0·45 ± 0·36 l min−1 versus 0·80 ± 0·58 l min−1 for exhaled CO2 (P<0·001 for both). When abrupt increases in ventilation occurred, such as those arising from a deep breath, the ‘alternative respiratory cycle’ algorithm was able to halve the artefactual gas exchange values as compared to the ‘expiration‐only’ approach.
On Editing Luther's Writings on Scripture
Authors: Cameron Euan K. 
Published: June 2017

AbstractMuch of Martin Luther's prodigious output consisted of exposition and editing Scripture. While a series in English cannot do justice to his greatest achievement, his Bible in German, much can be learned from his prefaces and commentaries, which are selected in volume 6 of The Annotated Luther. Luther's attitude to interpreting Scripture evolved in a constant dialogue with his theology of justification. While he held to the absolute authority of Scripture, his approach was pre‐critical but not uncritical. His exposition constantly balanced the consolation of grace and warnings against complacent trusting in our own works. His relentless emphasis on seeing Christ everywhere in the Bible, praised in past generations, poses problems today insofar as it determined his stance against Judaism.
Luther: A Mystic
Authors: Leppin Volker 
Published: June 2017

AbstractUnderstanding Martin Luther means looking at a medieval monk heavily influenced by his confessor, John of Staupitz. Staupitz inspired Luther and his friends to read the sermons of the late medieval mystic John Tauler. Here Luther found a theology of grace, the idea that faith is the only remaining point to a grace‐full God. Tauler's most obvious influence, his understanding of penance, shaped the first and second of Luther's Ninety‐five Theses. Another influence, that of passion mysticism, Luther explored and developed in his early tracts. Over the years, while Luther would stress the importance of Scripture over mystical experience, this was more a slight but meaningful transformation rather than a complete break with mysticism.
Luther and the Eucharistic Controversy
Authors: Burnett Amy Nelson 
Published: June 2017

AbstractLuther wrote That These Words of Christ … Still Stand Firm to teach people what they should believe about the Lord's Supper and to refute the arguments of his opponents. Luther saw the devil as responsible for the rejection of Christ's substantial presence in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The disagreement concerning the eucharist rested on the opposing exegesis of key Scripture texts and had implications for Christology and the understanding of the relationship between theology, science, and human reason. Luther believed that his opponents taught a heretical position that endangered people's souls, and so their ideas could not be tolerated.
Challenges and Gifts of Teaching Luther in a Lutheran College1
Authors: Jodock Darrell 
Published: June 2017

AbstractThis article examines what can be learned from teaching Luther to American college students. It reviews several ways in which college students benefit from studying Luther. The article suggests that identifying the “operating principles” in Luther's thought can help students more carefully discern the contemporary significance of his thought. After discussing some challenges encountered when teaching Luther to college students, the article ends with reflections on the theological significance of the college context. While Luther's discovery of a gracious God remains central, the college setting promotes a retrieval of several broader themes in Luther's thinking that have often been neglected by Lutherans: ongoing creation, wisdom, the Bible as “torah,” the suffering of God, and societal reform.
The Weight of the Family: Communicability as Alien Affection in Danish Family Histories and Experiences of Obesity
Authors: Grøn Lone 
Published: June 2017

AbstractCan we think of something like communicability or contagion in relation to diseases and conditions that have hitherto been categorized as noncommunicable? In this article, I take my ethnographic point of departure in the lifelong—and transgenerational—experiences of obesity, weight gain, and weight loss of four Danish families in order to show how kinship, relatedness, and dwellings emerge as simultaneously homey and alien contagious connections, when exploring communicability in the context of what is often referred to as “the obesity epidemic.” Analytically, I am inspired by the German philosopher Bernhard Waldenfels’ (2007, 2011a) phenomenology of the alien, and through an analysis of the tracing of the spread of obesity to kinship ties, Danish hygge and the places and times in which we live, I propose the notion of affection as a phenomenologically grounded theory of social contagion.
A Phenomenological Approach to the Cultivation of Expertise: Emergent Understandings of Autism
Authors: Lawlor Mary C. , Solomon Olga 
Published: June 2017

AbstractIn this article, we draw on narrative phenomenological (Mattingly 2010) and ethnographic projects to investigate how phenomenology may contribute to understanding how practical, experientially gained, expertise is cultivated in extraordinary circumstances. The lived world of autism provides a compelling context for such an exploration. Drawing on ethnographic data, we present arguments related to how a phenomenological approach to understanding autism can be productive by examining the cultivation of expertise and the contagion of knowledge and understanding. Family expertise that is grounded in lived experience often reveals the limitations of both public knowledge and scientific evidence and is generative of a kind of practical knowledge that warrants diffusion. Consideration is given to the specific contributions of a phenomenological approach to understanding autism and learning in collective engagements. Contagion as both a facilitative and positive phenomenon and a potentially stressful or harmful development is discussed.