bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Spatially periodic calcium profiles around single channels
Authors: Mironov S. L. 
Published: September 2016

AbstractThe concept of calcium nanodomains established around the sites of calcium entry into the cell is fundamental for mechanistic consideration of key physiological responses. It stems from linear models of calcium diffusion from single channel into the cytoplasm, but is only valid for calcium increases smaller than the concentration of calcium-binding species. Recent experiments indicate much higher calcium levels in the vicinity of channel exit that should cause buffer saturation. I here derive explicit solutions of respective non-linear reaction-diffusion problem and found dichotomous solution - for small fluxes the steady state calcium profiles have quasi-exponential form, whereas in the case of buffer saturation calcium distributions show spatial periodicity. These non-trivial and novel spatial calcium profiles are supported by Monte-Carlo simulations. Imaging of 1D- and radial distributions around singleα-synuclein channels measured in cell-free conditions supports the theory. I suggest that periodic patterns may arise under different physiological conditions and play specific role in cell physiology.
The relative efficiency of South African municipalities in providing public health care
Authors: Mbonigaba Josue , Oumar Saidou Baba 
Published: September 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess whether the relative efficiency of South African municipalities in primary health care and hospital care is different and whether South African municipalities can learn from each other to improve on their efficiency.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs efficiency scores, estimated with data envelopment analysis using data from the District Health Barometer of the Health Systems Trust to rank South African municipalities across primary health care and hospital health care.FindingsThe finding is that the ranking of municipalities is not the same across both types of health care when efficiency scores and efficiency score growth are contemplated. These results imply that municipalities in South Africa are generally inefficient, but with the possibility of learning from each other’s practice in order to increase their technical efficiency.Practical implicationsThe health system authority should monitor service-specific best practices among municipalities so that they can use them as practice guidelines for other municipalities.Originality/valuePrevious studies in South Africa have not dis-aggregated efficiency analysis across municipalities which are health system components of the broader national health system.
Sources of retirement income among formal sector workers in Ghana
Authors: Quartey Peter , Kunawotor Mark Edem , Danquah Michael 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative sources of retirement income apart from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) pension benefits and the significance of these retirement income sources in the consumption decisions of pensioners in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach
Using household survey data on SSNIT pensioners in Accra, Ghana, this study employ the Garrett and Kendall coefficient of concordance (W-test) to robustly identify the sources of retirement income and determine the significance of these income sources in financing consumption expenditure during retirement.

Findings
The findings show that apart from SSNIT pension benefits, other sources of retirement income including rental income, income from post-retirement jobs and remittances from family and friends are significant sources of income for pensioners in Ghana. Personnel savings and investment was the least important source of retirement income.

Research limitations/implications
Further research will be needed to validate these results, particularly using household survey data that covers the entire country.

Originality/value
The study contributes to the scanty literature on retirement income by robustly identifying the alternative sources of retirement income and their importance or significance to pensioners in Ghana.
Re-examining the relationship between perceived workgroup norms, self-regulatory efficacy and deviant workplace behaviour
Authors: Kura Kabiru Maitama 
Published: September 2016

PurposeDrawing on social learning and self-efficacy theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine links among perceived workgroup norms, self-regulatory efficacy, and deviant workplace behaviours.Design/methodology/approachFaculty members from universities located in the northwest geopolitical zone of Nigeria participated. Partial least squares path modelling tested moderation of self-regulatory efficacy on the relationship between perceived workgroup norms and deviant workplace behaviours.FindingsFindings suggest a positive relationship between perceived descriptive norms and deviant workplace behaviours. A hypothesised effect of perceived injunctive norms on deviant workplace behaviours was not supported. Results also suggest interaction terms representing perceived descriptive norms and self-regulatory efficacy are significant. Similar results regarding moderation of self-regulatory efficacy on the relationship between perceived injunctive norms and deviant workplace behaviours were found. Findings support the view that self-regulatory efficacy overrides predispositions individuals hold to engage in deviant workplace behaviours.Research limitations/implicationsA cross-sectional design did not allow causal inferences, and self-report data associate with common method variance and social-desirability bias.Practical implicationsIndividual factors should be considered during selection in Nigerian universities. Moderation of self-regulatory efficacy suggests self-regulation minimises individual engagement in deviant acts. Thus, human resources managers in Nigerian universities should consider self-regulatory efficacy as a selection criterion when hiring academicians. This can be achieved by conducting personality inventory tests to screen those whose values are incompatible.Originality/valueAlthough extant research on organisational socialisation demonstrates mix findings regarding the link between perceived workgroup norms and deviant work behaviours, this study tests whether self-regulatory efficacy addresses these inconsistencies.
Benchmarking of purchasing practices using Kraljic approach
Authors: Gangurde Sanjaykumar R. , Chavan Amol A. 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reduce impact on profit and supply risk, for strategic part by defining appropriate purchasing strategies using Kraljic portfolio model (KPM) approach.

Design/methodology/approach
A five-step approach of KPM is used to identify strategic parts. The attributes affecting impact on profit and supply risk are then identified. A structured questionnaire is prepared for each attribute. Likert scale having weights from 1 to 5 is used to select method of measurement for each response. The overall score of attributes for dimensions “supply risk” and “impact on profit” interpret the position of the part, i.e., “strategic part,” “leverage part,” “bottleneck part” or “non-critical part” in the Kraljic matrix. The part having highest impact on profit and supply risk is to be considered as strategic part for defining the purchasing strategies.

Findings
This paper outlines a practical solution to the problem of designing/defining purchasing strategies for development of supplier. Impact on profit is reduced by cost reduction and quality improvement whereas supply risk reduced by improving delivery time and suppliers profile.

Research limitations/implications
The proposed methodology is applied to a boiler industry to identify the strategic parts and focus on strategic suppliers, which are fewer in number but having larger impact on profit and supply risk. The “Body” part of ball valve assembly of the boiler is considered for the study. However, it can be extended for selecting and evaluating of suppliers strategy for other parts of the boiler. Not only boiler industry sector but also other companies also benefit from the results of this study by implementing the purchasing strategies as formulated in the KPM.

Originality/value
The Kraljic matrix has been largely used in many different industries like automobile, manufacturing, construction, oil and gas, etc., as an efficient tool for developing differentiated purchasing strategies. However, its application on parts procured by boiler industry is unknown, as well as the lack of systematical approach on criteria prioritization which is one of the key issues of the methodology. This work explores the output usefulness and its applicability on ball valve assembly projects.
The drivers of supply management capability
Authors: Lintukangas Katrina , Hallikas Jukka , Koivisto-Pitkänen Minna , Kähkönen Anni-Kaisa 
Published: September 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to unite the fragmented discussion concerning organizational-level capability in terms of purchasing and supply chain management. The capability drivers are identified from the literature and then validated by purchasing professionals. The impacts of the identified capability drivers on supply management capability are empirically examined. To increase a firm’s supply management capability, it is essential to connect purchasing and supply chain management to the firm’s strategy, as well as to establish robust policies and procedures for the activities of supply function, and to promote supplier orientation and the value of supplier networks to the business.Design/methodology/approachData and methodological triangulation are utilized in the form of focus group sessions and a large scale survey. A regression analysis of the data from 165 Finnish firms is performed to examine the influence of the drivers.FindingsThe drivers of supply management capability proposed in this study and ranked by the focus group were the strategic status of procurement, supplier orientation, and the formalization of organizational responsibilities and roles in the purchasing function. An examination of these components and their relation to capability by means of a regression analysis showed that they have positive effects and high explanatory power on supply management capability.Originality/valueThe paper summarizes capability studies in the field of purchasing and supply chain management from the last two decades and also fulfils the need for empirical studies concerning the concept of supply management capability. Moreover, it contributes to the theory development by confirming that supply management capability really is a strategic asset of a firm.
Benchmarking holiday experience: the case of senior tourists
Authors: Johann Maria , Padma Panchapakesan 
Published: September 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine and benchmark the senior tourists’ preferences by considering the importance attached by them and their perception with respect to internal tourism attributes (i.e. package tour characteristics) and external tourism attributes (i.e. destination features).Design/methodology/approachThe present study makes use of importance-performance analysis and employs paired samplet-test for this purpose.FindingsThe senior tourists evaluated the package tour attributes to be more important and better than destination characteristics. They also perceived that the service providers have to pay immediate attention to improve the quality of restaurants and meals and hotels.Research limitations/implicationsData are collected only from inbound senior tourists in Poland. In future, research may be conducted with a more representative sample.Practical implicationsThe senior tourists want to explore the local cuisine and then have food choices from their culture as well. “Tour escort” is one of the most essential characteristic of a package tour and it could serve as a factor of differentiation. Hence, the tourist service providers have to pay attention to these factors.Originality/valueThe paper takes into account the internal tour attributes and destination attributes to evaluate senior tourists’ holiday experience.
Introduction to soft-set theoretic solution of project selection problem
Authors: Bakshi Tuli , Sinharay Arindam , Sarkar Bijan , Sanyal Subir Kumar 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a model of decision-making problem in multi-criteria optimization domain for project selection. The model is built by combining the soft set theory and analytic hierarchical model under fuzziness. Soft set model gives us the opportunity to use parameterization properties. Here, the authors have proved that multiple alternatives can be reduced to make the selection process computationally efficient. Here, the authors illustrate the hybrid method by means of an application of the new mathematical model of soft set theory.

Design/methodology/approach
This paper is designed to excel a decision support system with multiple criteria analysis tool, analytic hierarchy process combined with soft set theory under fuzziness.

Findings
In this paper, the authors have taken four projects P1, P2, P3 and P4. As per chosen parameters of softest theory the result of the illustrative example reveals that P2 is the best project. The ranking the authors get is in the order of P2, P3, P4 and P1. The algorithm leads the authors to maximize the proper choice in the environment of imprecise information. The main advantage of this method compare to others is that this hybrid method is very simple in terms of calculation and the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is low.

Originality/value
This proposed decision support strategy for an intended project manager helped to take decision in the perspective environment.
Website benchmarking: an abridged WAM study
Authors: Cassidy Leonie Jane , Hamilton John 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
Website benchmarking theory and the website analysis method (WAM) are benchmark tested across non-commercial tropical tourism websites. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach
The abridged WAM benchmarks 280 tropical tourism websites from four continental areas (Africa, Asia, Oceania, and The Americas) and presence or absence of website components objectively rank-scores. Across locations significant website benchmark score differences are determined. In all, 20 of these websites are ranked by an eight expert focus group. These experts also seek-out the existence of allocated common website components.

Findings
The abridged WAM approach is suitable for benchmarking tropical tourism websites. Website benchmarking scores at-level are determined. At the website, domain, and function levels significant continental area differences exist. Experts cross-check the study. They find it easier to rank websites with fewer components, and show split decisions when determining the existence of common website components.

Research limitations/implications
This study’s abridged version of WAM uses publicly viewable components to show significant differences across website scores, and identifies some missing components for possible future inclusion on the website, and it also supports the WAM benchmarking theory approach.

Practical implications
Website managers/owners can apply WAM (or an abridged WAM) to benchmark their websites. WAM is theoretically supported and it systematically allows comparison against the universal set of components and/or against competitor websites. A full or abridged WAM approach to website benchmarking is preferable to subjective or survey-based approaches.

Originality/value
This study successfully applies the Cassidy and Hamilton (2016) theory and approach to practical website benchmarking.
Supply chain strategy and the role of suppliers: evidence from the Indian sub-continent
Authors: Jajja Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq , Kannan Vijay R. , Brah Shaukat Ali , Hassan Syed Zahoor 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
Supply chain strategy is widely recognized as being a crucial component of a broader corporate strategy. However, the relationships between a firm’s strategic supply chain focus, the tactical orientation of its suppliers, and the firm’s performance, are less well understood. Much of what is known is also based on developed country contexts. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine relationships between a buying firm’s supply chain strategy and operational dimensions of its suppliers in a developing country context.

Design/methodology/approach
A structural equation model is developed and tested using empirical data drawn from 296 organizations in India and Pakistan.

Findings
The results demonstrate a positive relationship between a firm’s strategic supply chain focus (lean and responsiveness) and key supplier practices (quality, cost effectiveness, delivery, and flexibility), which in turn have a positive impact on firm performance (operational, quality and market, and financial).

Practical implications
The study paper offers supply chain managers in developing markets with insights that can shape effective supplier selection and management and lead to positive performance outcomes.

Originality/value
The results provide insights into supply chain strategy, and empirically validate the importance of the alignment between strategy and the ability of suppliers to execute in a corresponding manner. It also offers evidence of the impact of the buyer-supplier interface in a developing market context.
Input/output weight restrictions, CSOI constraint and efficiency improvement
Authors: Singh Sanjeet , Majumdar Surya 
Published: September 2016

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop data envelopment analysis (DEA) models and algorithms for efficiency improvement when the inputs and output weights are restricted and there is fixed availability of inputs in the system.

Design/methodology/approach
Limitation on availability of inputs is represented in the form of constant sum of inputs (CSOI) constraint. The amount of excess input of an inefficient decision-making unit (DMU) is redistributed among other DMUs in such a way so that there is no reduction in their efficiency. DEA models have been developed to design the optimum strategy to reallocate the excess input.

Findings
The authors have developed the method for reallocating the excess input among DMUs while under CSOI constraint and parameter weight restrictions. It has been shown that in this work to improve the efficiency of an inefficient DMU one needs the cooperation of selected few DMUs. The working of the models and results have been shown through a case study on carbon dioxide emissions of 32 countries.

Research limitations/implications
The limitation of the study is that only one DMU can expect to benefit from the application of these methods at any given time.

Practical implications
Results of the paper are useful in situations when decision maker is exploring the possibility of transferring the excess resources from underperforming DMUs to the other DMUs to improve the performance.

Originality/value
This strategy of reallocation of excess input will be very useful in situations when decision maker is exploring the possibility of transferring the excess resources from underperforming DMUs to the other DMUs to improve the performance. Unlike the existing works on efficiency improvement under CSOI, this work seeks to address the issue of efficiency improvement when the input/output parameter weights are also restricted.
Measuring the performance efficiency of Turkish electrical machinery manufacturing SMEs with frontier method
Authors: Bulak Muhammet Enis , Turkyilmaz Ali , Satir Metin , Shoaib Muhammad , Shahbaz Muhammad 
Published: September 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to concentrate on measuring and evaluating the performance efficiency of electrical machinery manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey. The industry-based efficiency evaluation provides management with information including the relatively best practice firms in the observation sets and locates the relatively inefficient firms by comparing with the frontiers.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, an evaluation model, based on previous literature and recent industry SWOT analysis, is proposed to carry out efficiency analysis for electrical machinery manufacturing SMEs and output-oriented CCR data envelopment analysis methodology is used to find out frontier SMEs. The proposed efficiency measurement model is used for 93 SMEs from electrical machinery manufacturing sector.FindingsRely on the model results, efficiency score of the firms are compared and enhancements required for becoming an efficient unit are denoted. This study is based on previous research model that was carried out for ten different industries. The results indicated that 39 out of 93 companies efficiently performed in general perspective. The analysis also resulted that firms have significant resource excesses and shortages on outputs.Originality/valueThe distinguished way of this study is to evaluate Turkish electrical machinery manufacturing companies’ resources relying on performance efficiency model that compromises of strategic competitive priorities and also the model provides enhancement opportunities to SMEs for being more competitive in the sector. The characteristics features of the firms are offered with respect to demographic, financial and quality perspectives.
Revisiting native speaking teachers of English in Hong Kong
Authors: Bryant Darren A. 
Published: September 2016

Purpose– In 1997, Joseph Boyle critiqued the Hong Kong Government’s policy of recruiting native-speaking teachers (NSTs) of English into secondary schools. Boyle examined NSTs from a post-colonial and socio-linguistic stance. He concluded that the scheme was “largely ineffective” and that efforts to expand the scheme would likely fail due to the government’s implicit lack of trust in the capacities of non-native-speaking teachers’ (NNSTs) of English. However, almost two decades later the scheme has expanded across the primary and secondary sectors. The purpose of this paper is to explore how changing educational contexts and reform efforts have influenced conceptions of NSTs as articulated in Hong Kong policy.Design/methodology/approach– The research is approached retrospectively through an interpretivist paradigm, analysing policy documents, implementation materials, evaluation reports, and interview transcripts. Over 41 scheme stakeholders participated in the interviews, inclusive of policy makers, government officials, academics, teacher educators, principals and teachers, who were active over different phases of the scheme.Findings– The intended role and perceived competencies of the NSTs have been impacted by imported education reforms leading to new rationales for maintaining and expanding NST deployment. These shifts, however, lead to new tensions among idealised images of NSTs, their capacities, and the aims of policy makers and scheme implementers.Originality/value– The value of this paper lies in its reconsideration of the role of NSTs in light of educational reform efforts influenced by global change. This perspective varies from conventional critiques that focus on NSTs’ and NNSTs’ differing capacities as English language teachers by considering the impact of historic developments on later policies, and the tendency of policy makers to legitimise reform by importing international innovations. Second, it demonstrates how idealised images of NSTs simultaneously justify policies and pose challenges to effective implementation.