bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Systemic capabilities: the source of IT business value
Authors: Cao Guangming , Duan Yanqing , Cadden Trevor , Minocha Sonal 
Published: July 2016

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop, and explicate the significance of the need for a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value.

Design/methodology/approach
– Embracing a systems perspective, this paper examines the interrelationship between IT and other organisational factors at the organisational level and its impact on the business value of IT. As a result, a systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value is developed. An example of enhancing IT business value through developing systemic capabilities is then used to test and demonstrate the value of this framework.

Findings
– The findings suggest that IT business value would be significantly enhanced when systemic capabilities are generated from the synergistic interrelations among IT and other organisational factors at the systems level, while the system’s human agents play a critical role in developing systemic capabilities by purposely configuring and reconfiguring organisational factors.

Practical implications
– The conceptual framework advanced provides the means to recognise the significance of the need for understanding IT business value systemically and dynamically. It encourages an organisation to focus on developing systemic capabilities by ensuring that IT and other organisational factors work together as a synergistic whole, better managing the role its human agents play in shaping the systems interrelations, and developing and redeveloping systemic capabilities by configuring its subsystems purposely with the changing business environment.

Originality/value
– This paper reveals the nature of systemic capabilities underpinned by a systems perspective. The resultant systemic conceptual framework for understanding IT business value can help us move away from pairwise resource complementarity to focusing on the whole system and its interrelations while responding to the changing business environment. It is hoped that the framework can help organisations delineate important IT investment considerations and the priorities that they must adopt to create superior IT business value.
Risk propagation and its impact on performance in food processing supply chain
Authors: Chaudhuri Atanu , Srivastava Samir K. , Srivastava Rajiv K. , Parveen Zeenat 
Published: July 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify various risk drivers which affect a food processing supply chain and to create a map of how those risk drivers propagate risks through the supply chain and impact important performance measures.Design/methodology/approachThis study involves experts from food processing companies to elucidate the contextual relationships among the risk drivers and between risk drivers and performance measures. This is used to quantify the relationships and to determine the indirect and overall relationships applying Fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modeling.FindingsThree categories of risk drivers which Indian food processing companies need to pay maximum attention to minimize risks are identified. These are supplier dependency and contracting, supplier variability, visibility and traceability and manufacturing disruptions. Analysis shows that collaborating with suppliers and logistics service providers, developing mutually beneficial contracts with them while ensuring that adequate technology investments are made can significantly mitigate risks and consequently improve margins and lead to revenue growth.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has been carried out with experts from large food processing companies in India, and hence, the results cannot be generalized across other types of food processing companies.Practical implicationsThe proposed methodology can help understand the interrelationships between supply chain risks and between those risks and performance measures. Thus, it can help a food processing company to create business cases for specific supply chain risk mitigation projects.Originality/valueThis study is one of the earliest to create a comprehensive risk propagation map for food processing companies which helps in quantifying the impact the risk drivers have on each other and on performance measures.
Happiness research for public policy and administration
Authors: Okulicz-Kozaryn Adam 
Published: July 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this viewpoint is to introduce happiness research for public policy and administration scholars and practitioners. It focuses on what can be useful for the discipline, provides relevant examples and presents the most recent findings and directions for future research.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a combination of literature review, argumentation and illustrations.FindingsOver the past few decades, there has been a tremendous growth in happiness research, and over the past few years, this research has started addressing policy issues such as housing, transportation and inequality. Strikingly, public policy and administration discipline has failed to notice these developments. Happiness research has great potential, and it can be used in many theoretical and practical ways to advance the common good.Originality/valueHappiness is extremely important and useful for public policy and administration and yet largely overlooked in the discipline. Existing literature reviews are not written with the discipline in mind, and this viewpoint is aimed at filling this gap.
How perceptions of E-participation levels influence the intention to use E-government websites
Authors: Bataineh Lana , Abu-Shanab Emad 
Published: July 2016

PurposeThis study aims to predict the intention to participate (ITP) in public activities by utilizing five levels of e-participation reported in the literature. The study used the levels of e-informing, e-consulting, e-involving, e-collaborating and e-empowering as predictors of the intention to participate in e-government services.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical test was adopted using a survey to measure the five levels of e-participation and the dependent variable, ITP in e-government initiatives. The survey included items from previous studies translated to Arabic. Subjects responded to a five-point Likert scale to measure their perceptions regarding the sub-dimensions of each e-participation level. Statistical analyses of the collected data were conducted to test the assumed hypotheses. Multiple regression of the five predictor levels was conducted to predict the ITP in e-government services.FindingsAll the estimated means of e-participation levels were moderately perceived. The regression results indicated a significant prediction of three levels: e-informing, e-consulting and e-empowering. The other two levels (e-involving and e-collaborating) failed to predict the ITP. The coefficient of determinationR2resulting from the regression test was significant at the 0.001 level, which explained 61.9 per cent of the variance in the dependent variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe instrument used is a newly developed one in Arabic language, which might have influenced the results. The distinction between e-involving and e-collaborating might not have been recognized by subjects, which might have increased the limitations of the study. The results of this study call for more research to validate the instrument and try to see if new statements of e-consulting and e-involving might be employed. The other side could be to reduce the levels to three levels only or merge the insignificant ones into one (four levels only).Practical implicationsGovernments need to assert the role of citizens in the decision-making process. Such assertion is done through the e-participation process.Social implicationsJordanians perceive the e-informing and e-consulting levels to be a foundation that can be easily attained, but jumping to the e-empowering level means that the society is keen on the partnership with the government.Originality/valueThis study is the first to use the participation levels (five levels) as predictors of the ITP. Most studies have utilized theories such as technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of reseaoned action (TRA) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and other technology adoption theories. Also, this research has established ground for an Arabic survey to measure such levels, regardless of their prediction or description purpose.
The institutional structure of experience production in the Russian tourism industry
Authors: Tambovtsev Vitaly 
Published: July 2016

PurposeThe paper aligns two lines of research that tend to develop separately in tourism studies: new institutional economics (NIE) and theory of experience production. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the institutional restraints on tourism growth in developing and transit countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on a qualitative research methodology. A summary of key literature is presented alongside an in-depth analysis of the possibilities for NIE application in tourism research.FindingsThe notion of institutional structure of experience production is defined as an institutional arrangement supporting or inhibiting experience production. It is proposed as a promising framework for a more intensive NIE methodology application to tourism research. This framework is applied to tourist experience production stages, and some specific institutions accounting for positive experience creation are revealed for key experience production stages.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is limited in that it offers a conceptual analysis, though directions for further empirical research are proposed.Originality/valueThe paper is a first attempt at emphasizing impacts of some specific institutions on positive tourist experience production and it stresses their importance to the international tourism industry as it expands in developing and transit countries.
Plant and insect microbial symbionts alter the outcome of plant–herbivore–parasitoid interactions: implications for invaded, agricultural and natural systems
Authors: Bennett Alison E. , Millar Niall S. , Gedrovics Emils , Karley Alison J. 
Published: July 2016

Summary

Understanding how soil microbial communities influence plant interactions with other organisms, and how this varies with characteristics of the interacting organisms, is important for multiple systems. Solanum spp. are a suitable model for trophic interactions in studies of agricultural and natural systems and can also provide useful corollaries in invaded systems. This study examined the influence of soil mutualist arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on growth of different Solanum types fed on by the potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae, in relation to the presence of the aphid facultative endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa.

Four Solanum types comprising two wild species, S. berthaultii and S. polyadenum, and two accessions of S. tuberosum, were grown with or without AM fungi and infested with one of four clonal lines of a single M. euphorbiae genotype (two with and two without H. defensa). Two experiments were conducted to (i) characterize plant responses to AM fungi and aphids and (ii) assess whether soil AM fungi could influence the success of the parasitoid wasp Aphidius ervi when attacking aphids reared on each Solanum type.

In both experiments, similar patterns of plant biomass were observed in relation to AM fungal and aphid treatments. Solanum biomass depended on plant type and aphid infection with H. defensa. Plants exposed to aphids harbouring H. defensa had smaller root biomass, and therefore total plant biomass, compared to plants infested with H. defensa‐free aphids. M. euphorbiae performance varied with aphid clonal line, Solanum type and the presence of AM fungi.

Parasitoid success, measured as the proportion of aphids from which a wasp emerged, was highest from aphids that had fed on plants colonized by AM fungi, although this result also varied with Solanum type and aphid clonal line.

Synthesis. The presence of soil AM fungi, combined with within‐species plant and insect variation in key traits, can have subtle – but significant – effects on plant fitness and insect success. This study highlights the importance of exploring genotypic variation in plant and pest responses to soil microbiota to identify suitable biocontrol options.
Native soilborne pathogens equalize differences in competitive ability between plants of contrasting nutrient‐acquisition strategies
Authors: Albornoz Felipe E. , Burgess Treena I. , Lambers Hans , Etchells Hannah , Laliberté Etienne 
Published: July 2016

Summary

Soilborne pathogens can contribute to the maintenance of local plant diversity by reducing differences in competitive ability between co‐occurring plant species. It has been hypothesized that efficient phosphorus (P) acquisition by plants in P‐impoverished ecosystems might trade off against resistance to root pathogens. This could help explain high plant diversity in severely nutrient‐impoverished ecosystems. However, empirical evidence of such a trade‐off remains scarce.

In hyperdiverse shrublands in south‐western Australia, non‐mycorrhizal cluster‐rooted Proteaceae are very efficient at acquiring P. However, Proteaceae co‐occur with many other plant species using other P‐acquisition strategies, such as ectomycorrhizal (ECM) associations.

In a glasshouse experiment, we grew Proteaceae and ECM plant species from hyperdiverse shrublands alone and in competition with each other, and in the presence or absence of native soilborne pathogens (Phytophthora spp.). We hypothesized that native Phytophthora species are more detrimental to Proteaceae than co‐occurring ECM plants, due to a trade‐off between highly efficient P‐acquisition and pathogen defence, and that this equalizes differences in competitive ability between these two plant groups.

When seedlings were grown alone, biomass of non‐mycorrhizal plants was reduced in the presence of Phytopthora, while ECM species were unaffected by this pathogen. When non‐mycorrhizal and ECM species were planted together, ECM plants grew better in the presence of Phytophthora than in its absence, because Phytophthora reduced the growth of the non‐mycorrhizal competitors.

Growth of ECM plants was positively correlated with per cent root colonization by ECM fungi, but this was only significant when ECM plants were grown in the presence of Phytophthora.

Synthesis. Our study shows that native soilborne pathogens equalized differences in competitive ability between seedlings of contrasting nutrient‐acquisition strategies, thus supporting the hypothesis proposing a trade‐off between highly efficient P‐acquisition and resistance against root pathogens. We found that non‐mycorrhizal cluster‐rooted species may be the most efficient at acquiring the growth‐limiting resource, but that co‐occurring ECM species are better defended against root pathogens. Our results suggest that native soilborne pathogens and ECM contribute to the maintenance of the plant hyperdiversity in severely P‐impoverished ecosystems.
Eating attitudes and behaviours of students enrolled in undergraduate nutrition and dietetics degrees
Authors: Rocks Tetyana , Pelly Fiona , Slater Gary , Martin Lisa A. 
Published: July 2016

AimThe prevalence of disordered eating has been frequently reported in university students; however, the prevalence amongst Australian undergraduate students studying degrees with a focus on nutrition is uncertain. The aims of this study were to: (i) assess eating attitudes and behaviours of students enrolled in nutrition and dietetics, (ii) compare those to students enrolled in another health degree of occupational therapy (OT) and (iii) explore possible relationships between eating attitudes and behaviours and other characteristics of both cohorts.MethodsThis cross‐sectional observational study investigated self‐reported anthropometric characteristics, eating attitudes and behaviours and self‐esteem using a series of questionnaires.ResultsParticipants included 137 students (119 females, 18 males) with a mean age of 27.1 ± 8.7 years. Fourteen percent of nutrition and dietetics and 11% of OT students had disordered eating attitudes scores that were symptomatic of an eating disorder. Mean eating attitude scores did not differ between the degrees of study. Students in nutrition and dietetics showed significantly higher levels of cognitive restraint and less emotional eating than OT students. Enrolment in the first year of study was the strongest predictor of symptomatic eating attitudes.ConclusionsThese findings support previously expressed concern about presence of disordered eating in nutrition and dietetics undergraduates. Collaboratively developed support mechanisms for preventing and managing disordered relationships with food would be of benefit to students enrolled in nutrition degrees to ensure ongoing professional integrity.
Variables associated with the occurrence ofIpsbeetles, red turpentine beetle and wood borers in live and dead ponderosa pines with post‐fire injury
Authors: Negrón José F. , McMillin Joel , Sieg Carolyn H. , Fowler James F. , Allen Kurt K. , Wadleigh Linda L. , Anhold John A. , Gibson Ken E. 
Published: July 2016

AbstractRecently, wildfires and prescribed burning have become more frequent in conifer forests of western North America.Most studies examining the impacts of insects on trees with post‐fire injury have focused on contributions to tree mortality. Few studies have examined fire‐caused injuries to estimate the probability of attack by insects. Scant data quantifying insect associations with one another, or with live and dead fire‐injured trees, are available.We examined live and dead trees with varying levels of fire injury in wildfires in Colorado, Montana, Arizona and the Black Hills aiming to determine fire injury associated with insect infestation, co‐occurrence between insects and insect association with live and dead fire‐injured trees.Bole scorch height estimated the likelihood of attack byIpsspp. Diameter at breast height, bole scorch height and crown scorch height estimated the likelihood of attack byDendroctonus valensLeConte. Diameter at breast height and bole scorch height estimated the likelihood of attack by wood borers.Ipsspp.,Dendroctonus valensand wood borers were associated with one another.Ipsspp. beetles and wood borers were associated with dead fire‐injured trees, whereasD. valenswas often associated with live fire‐injured trees.Focusing on certain fire‐caused injuries may identify trees targeted byIpsspp. beetles,Dendroctonus valensand wood borers.
Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Ordinal Data Using Full‐Information Adaptive Quadrature
Authors: Bryant Fred B. , Jöreskog Karl G. 
Published: July 2016

SummaryWe conducted confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of responses (N=803) to a self‐reported measure of optimism, using full‐information estimation via adaptive quadrature (AQ), an alternative estimation method for ordinal data. We evaluated AQ results in terms of the number of iterations required to achieve convergence, model fit, parameter estimates, standard errors (SE), and statistical significance, across four link‐functions (logit, probit, log‐log, complimentary log‐log) using 3–10 and 20 quadrature points. We compared AQ results with those obtained using maximum likelihood, robust maximum likelihood, and robust diagonally weighted least‐squares estimation. Compared to the other two link‐functions, logit and probit not only produced fit statistics, parameters estimates, SEs, and levels of significance that varied less across numbers of quadrature points, but also fitted the data better and provided larger completely standardised loadings than did maximum likelihood and diagonally weighted least‐squares. Our findings demonstrate the viability of using full‐information AQ to estimate CFA models with real‐world ordinal data.
Effects of Nano‐hydroxyapatite/Poly(DL‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) Microsphere‐Based Composite Scaffolds on Repair of Bone Defects: Evaluating the Role of Nano‐hydroxyapatite Content
Authors: He Shu , Lin Kai‐Feng , Sun Zhen , Song Yue , Zhao Yi‐Nan , Wang Zheng , Bi Long , Liu Jian 
Published: July 2016

AbstractThe aim of the current study was to prepare microsphere‐based composite scaffolds made of nano‐hydroxyapatite (nHA)/poly (DL‐lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) at different ratios and evaluate the effects of nHA on the characteristics of scaffolds for tissue engineering application. First, microsphere‐based composite scaffolds made of two ratios of nHA/PLGA (nHA/PLGA = 20/80 and nHA/PLGA = 50/50) were prepared. Then, the effects of nHA on the wettability, mechanical strength, and degradation of scaffolds were investigated. Second, the biocompatibility and osteoinductivity were evaluated and compared by co‐culture of scaffolds with bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs). The results showed that the adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs with nHA/PLGA (50/50) were better than those with nHA/PLGA (20/80). Finally, we implanted the scaffolds into femur bone defects in a rabbit model, then the capacity of guiding bone regeneration as well as the in vivo degradation were observed by micro‐CT and histological examinations. After 4 weeks' implantation, there was no significant difference on the repair of bone defects. However, after 8 and 12 weeks' implantation, the nHA/PLGA (20/80) exhibited better bone formation than nHA/PLGA (50/50). These results suggested that a proper concentration of nHA in the nHA/PLGA composite should be taken into account when the composite scaffolds were prepared, which plays an important role in the biocompatibility, degradation rate and osteoconductivity.
The GerdQ questionnaire and high resolution manometry support the hypothesis that proton pump inhibitor‐responsive oesophageal eosinophilia is a GERD‐related phenomenon
Authors: Savarino E. V. , Tolone S. , Bartolo O. , de Cassan C. , Caccaro R. , Galeazzi F. , Nicoletti L. , Salvador R. , Martinato M. , Costantini M. , Savarino V. 
Published: July 2016

SummaryBackgroundLittle is known about the relationship between proton pump inhibitor‐responsive oesophageal eosinophilia (PPI‐REE), eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease (GERD).AimTo compare high resolution manometry features and symptom profiles of patients with EoE, PPI‐REE and GERD.MethodsConsecutive patients diagnosed with EoE or PPI‐REE according to international criteria (presence of at least one typical symptom of oesophageal dysfunction; at least 15 eosinophils per high‐power field at mid/proximal oesophagus, persistence or resolution of eosinophils after an 8‐week PPI trial), and a group of patients with proven GERD and oesophageal eosinophilia, prospectively completed the GerdQ questionnaire and underwent high resolution manometry.ResultsThirty‐five patients with EoE, 17 with PPI‐REE and 27 with GERD were enrolled. When compared to GERD, both EoE and PPI‐REE had higher rates of dysphagia (15% vs. 94% vs. 88%, P < 0.0001), patients with EoE reported heartburn and regurgitation less frequently (26% vs. 85%, and 17% vs. 74%, respectively; P < 0.001 for each and had lower GerdQ score [1 (0–6) vs. 8 (6–12), P < 0.001] than GERD patients. There was no significant difference comparing PPI‐REE and GERD patients. Patients with PPI‐REE had a higher prevalence of erosive oesophagitis than patients with EoE (35% vs. 9%, P = 0.04), which was similar to that of GERD (48%, P = 0.54). Patients with EoE had a lower frequency of high resolution manometry features associated with GERD than patients with PPI‐REE. There was no significant difference between PPI‐REE and GERD patients.ConclusionGERD, as assessed by GerdQ and high resolution manometry is common in patients with PPI‐REE, which may share similar pathogenic mechanisms.