bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transcriptomic response to host and non-host plants during oviposition in two closely related moth species
Authors: Orsucci M. , Audiot P. , Nidelet S. , Dorkeld F. , Pommier A. , Vabre M. , Severac D. , Rohmer M. , Gschloessl B. , Streiff R 
Published: January 2018

ABSTRACTWe present here a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptomic response to plant environments in ovipositing females of two sibling species of phytophagous moths affiliated to different host ranges: the European corn borer (ECB) and the adzuki bean borer (ABB). We first assembled and annotated a de novo reference transcriptome based on a high throughput RNA sequencing of females placed in different plant environments, then we measured differences in gene expression between ECB and ABB, and also within each moth species between environments. We further related the differentially expressed (DE) genes to the host preference in ECB and ABB and highlighted the functional categories involved. More specifically, we conducted an analysis on chemosensory genes previously characterized in ECB, ABB and other related Ostrinia species, as these genes are considered as good candidates for the host recognition before oviposition.Overall, we recorded more DE genes in ECB than in ABB samples, what could highlight the higher strength of the host specialization in ECB compared to ABB as observed at the behavioral level. We also noticed that the genes involved in the preference for their respective host were different between ECB and ABB. At the functional level, the response to plant environment in ECB and ABB during oviposition involved many processes, including the chemosensory repertoire as expected, but also metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and amino acids, detoxification mechanisms and immunity.All together, our results allowed identifying genes and functions candidates for specialization and also for the species divergence between ECB and ABB. By ad-hoc categorization, we discriminated some genes responding to the environment with similar or divergent pattern in ECB and ABB. Among them, we highlighted new lines of research like carbohydrates metabolism or virus and retrovirus dynamics.
Varicella-zoster virus CNS vasculitis and RNA polymerase III gene mutation in identical twins
Authors: Carter-Timofte Madalina E , Hansen Anders F , Mardahl Maibritt , Fribourg Sébastien , Rapaport Franck , Zhang Shen-Ying , Casanova Jean-Laurent , Paludan Søren R , Christiansen Mette , Larsen Carsten S , Mogensen Trine H 
Published: January 2018

AbstractDeficiency in the cytosolic DNA sensor RNA Polymerase III was recently described in children with severe varicella zoster infection in the CNS or lungs. Here we describe a pair of monozygotic female twins, who both experienced severe recurrent CNS vasculitis caused by VZV reactivation. The clinical presentation and findings included recurrent episodes of headache, dizziness, and neurological deficits, cerebrospinal fluid with pleocytosis and intrathecal VZV antibody production, and magnetic resonance scan of the brain showing ischaemic lesions. We performed whole exome sequencing and identified a rare mutation in the Pol III subunit POLR3F. The identified R50W POLR3F mutation is predicted to be damaging by bioinformatics and when tested in functional assays, patient PBMCs exhibited impaired antiviral and inflammatory responses to the PoL III agonist Poly(dA:dT) as well as increased viral replication in patient cells compared to controls. Altogether, these cases add genetic and immunological evidence to the novel association between defects in sensing of AT-rich DNA present in the VZV genome and increased susceptibility to severe manifestations of VZV infection in the CNS in humans.AbbreviationsCADDcombined annotation dependent depletionCSFcerebrospinal fluidDOCKdedicator of cytokinesisIFNGRinterferon gamma receptorMSCmutation significance cut-offNKnatural killerPOLIIIRNA polymerase IIISCIDsevere combined immunodeficiencyTYKtyrosine kinaseVZVvaricella zoster virusWESwhole exome sequencing
mTOR complex 1 pathway activation in severe keratoconus; the functional implications of GWAS identified loci
Authors: Wisse Robert PL , Kuiper Jonas JW , de Veij Mestdagh Gijsbert M , Wichers Catharina GK , Hiddingh Sanne , Vazirpanah Nadia , Imhof Saskia M , Radstake Timothy RD , Broen Jasper CA 
Published: January 2018

AbstractPurposeKeratoconus (KC) is an eye condition that can lead to a severe vision loss and may warrant a corneal grafting procedure. Meta-analyses of genome wide association studies have identified several genes that confer risks for differences in corneal curvature, corneal thickness, and developing keratoconus. Currently, there is limited evidence of a functional role for the identified loci in the affected corneal tissues.MethodsWe investigated the gene expression profiles of 4 GWAS confirmed risk loci and several related pathways that function in cellular ageing and cell cycle control in corneal tissue of a discovery and replication cohort comprising in total 27 keratoconus patients, 16 healthy controls, and 21 diseased controls (failed corneal grafts).ResultsWe confirmed the MTOR gene locus as differentially expressed in KC corneas in a discovery cohort Next, we replicated these results in a second cohort and found evidence of increased expression of various mTORC1 pathway signature genes, namely MTOR itself (P=0.040), AKT1 (P=0.028), IGF1R (P=0.022) and RAPTOR (P=0.007).ConclusionsGene expression profiling in cornea tissues revealed robust up-regulation of the mTORC1 pathway in KC and substantiates a potential role for this pathway in its pathogenesis. Functional implications should be further studied since biomarkers for disease activity are needed and selective targeting of the mTOR pathway is a promising treatment concept.
Root meristem growth factor 1 controls root meristem size through reactive oxygen species signaling
Authors: Yamada Masashi , Han Xinwei , Benfey Philip. N. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractStem cell niche and root meristem size are maintained by intercellular interactions and signaling networks of a plant peptide hormone, Root Meristem Growth Factor 1 (RGF1). How RGF1 regulates root meristem development is an essential question to understand stem cell function. Although five receptors of RGF1 have recently been identified, the downstream signaling mechanism remains unknown. Here, we report a series of signaling events following RGF1 action. The RGF1-receptor pathway controls distribution of reactive oxygen species (ROS) along the developmental zones of the Arabidopsis root. We identify a novel transcription factor, RGF1 INDUCIBLE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR 1 (RITF1), which plays a central role in mediating RGF1 signaling. Manipulating RITF1 expression leads to redistribution of ROS along the root developmental zones. Changes in ROS distribution, in turn, enhance the stability of the PLETHORA2 (PLT2) protein, a master regulator of root stem cells. Taken together, our study clearly depicts a signaling cascade initiated by RGF1 and links the RGF1 peptide to ROS regulatory mechanisms.
A Portable Structural Analysis Library for Reaction Networks
Authors: Bedaso Yosef , Bergmann Frank T. , Choi Kiri , Sauro Herbert M. 
Published: January 2018

AbstractThe topology of a reaction network can have a significant influence on the network’s dynamical properties. Such influences can include constraints on network flows and concentration changes or more insidiously result in the emergence of feedback loops. These effects are due entirely to mass constraints imposed by the network configuration and are important considerations before any dynamical analysis is made. Most established simulation software tools usually carry out some kind of structural analysis of a network before any attempt is made at dynamic simulation. In this paper we describe a portable software library,libStructural, that can carry out a variety of popular structural analyses that includes conservation analysis, flux dependency analysis and enumerating elementary modes. The library employs robust algorithms that allow it to be used on large networks with more than a two thousand nodes. The library accepts either a raw or fully labeled stoichiometry matrix or models written in SBML format. The software is written in standard C/C++ and comes with documentation and a test suite. The software is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and can be compiled easily on any Linux operating system. A language binding for Python is also available through the pip package manager making it trivial to install on any standard Python distribution. As a second example, we also create a newlibStructuralplugin for PathwayDesigner that allows solutions to be viewed graphically. The source code is licensed under the open source BSD license and is available on GitHub (https://github.com/sys-bio/Libstructural)
First spikes in visual cortex enable perceptual discrimination
Authors: Resulaj Arbora , Ruediger Sarah , Olsen Shawn R. , Scanziani Massimo 
Published: January 2018

AbstractVisually guided perceptual decisions involve the sequential activation of a hierarchy of cortical areas. It has been hypothesized that a brief time window of activity in each area is sufficient to enable the decision but direct measurements of this time window are lacking. To address this question, we develop a visual discrimination task in mice that depends on visual cortex and in which we precisely control the time window of visual cortical activity as the animal performs the task at different levels of difficulty. We show that threshold duration of activity in visual cortex enabling perceptual discrimination is between 40 and 80 milliseconds. During this time window the vast majority of neurons discriminating the stimulus fire one or no spikes and less than 16% fire more than two. This result establishes that the firing of the first visually evoked spikes in visual cortex is sufficient to enable a perceptual decision.
Impact of business model change on organizational success
Authors: Appelbaum Steven H. , Profka Edmiela , Depta Aleksandra Monika , Petrynski Bartosz 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational change, more specifically business model change, on corporate employees’ motivation and, consequently, performance.

Design/methodology/approach
The main approaches and managerial frameworks on organization change implementation, as well as the assessment methods on whether the company is ready to implement the change, were identified by reviewing the current literature on the subject between 1940 and 2016.

Findings
Reviewed individual behavioral reactions and provided steps to encourage favorable individual employee perceptions.

Research limitations/implications
Existing gaps in supporting empirical data on the subject and a limited number of direct case studies and real-life scenarios. The research was primarily focused on employee motivation during the initial planning phase of organizational change, with lesser focus on motivation throughout and especially after the change process.

Practical implications
To benefit from the change, organizations must avoid improvising and should follow specific and formal change management procedures which take employee motivation and individual response towards change under consideration.

Social implications
By providing real-life illustrations of successful business model change implementations, current and future companies facing this type of change in the future can learn from these specific scenarios.

Originality/value
The distinction of business model change as a sub-type of organizational change and the study of employee motivation under a business model change specifically is the novel contribution of the paper.
House prices and neighbourhood amenities: beyond the norm?
Authors: McCord Michael James , Davis Peadar Thomas , Bidanset Paul , McCluskey William , McCord John , Haran Martin , MacIntyre Sean 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
Understanding the key locational and neighbourhood determinants and their accessibility is a topic of great interest to policymakers, planners and property valuers. In Northern Ireland, the high level of market segregation means that it is problematic to understand the nature of the relationship between house prices and the accessibility to services and prominent neighbourhood landmarks and amenities. Therefore, this paper aims to quantify and measure the (dis)amenity effects on house pricing levels within particular geographic housing sub-markets.

Design/methodology/approach
Most hedonic models are estimated using regression techniques which produce one coefficient for the entirety of the pricing distribution, culminating in a single marginal implicit price. This paper uses a quantile regression (QR) approach that provides a “more complete” depiction of the marginal impacts for different quantiles of the price distribution using sales data obtained from 3,780 house sales transactions within the Belfast Housing market over 2014.

Findings
The findings emerging from this research demonstrate that housing and market characteristics are valued differently across the quantile values and that conditional quantiles are asymmetrical. Pertinently, the findings demonstrate that ordinary least squares (OLS) coefficient estimates have a tendency to over or under specify the marginal mean conditional pricing effects because of their inability to adequately capture and comprehend the complex spatial relationships which exist across the pricing distribution.

Originality value
Numerous studies have used OLS regression to measure the impact of key housing market externalities on house prices, providing a single estimate. This paper uses a QR approach to examine the impact of local amenities on house prices across the house price distribution.
Closing the strategy execution gap in the public sector
Authors: Olivier Anton Jacobus , Schwella Erwin 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
In response to the significant gap between strategy planning and execution, a conceptual model was developed in an attempt to close this gap, particularly in the public sector. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a literature review and participatory action research, stretching over ten case studies and eight years.

Findings
The MERIL-DE model integrates the identified “nine vital stratex components” of leadership, strategic planning, project management, alignment, MERIL (Measure, Evaluate, Report, Improve and Learn), drive, engagement, risk, and stakeholder management. The car analogy demonstrates this integration in a practical way.

Research limitations/implications
The conceptual model should be used as guide in the tailoring of a unique MERIL-DE model or Stratex Car for each public sector organization (PSO), according to its unique context.

Practical implications
In designing a tailored “Stratex Car” based on the MERIL-DE model, it is believed to close this gap significantly. The strategy execution framework is presented as a tool to assess the total strategy execution capacity (TSEC) of PSOs.

Originality/value
This is a new conceptual model for the unique public sector context, focusing on successful strategy execution in the public sector.
Assessing sustainability reports of US universities
Authors: Sassen Remmer , Azizi Leyla 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assess sustainability reports of US universities to provide findings on the relative importance of disclosure topics.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted content analysis by using a specific university-oriented catalogue of indicators to cover the specific sustainability-related aspects of this sector.

Findings
Sustainability reporting by universities is still in its early stages. The findings show a clear focus on the environmental dimension, whereas the university and the economic dimensions see lower levels of reporting. The social dimension is rarely addressed.

Research limitations/implications
Future research could use the results of this study as a basis for investigating stakeholder expectations towards universities’ sustainability reporting and developing university-specific sustainability reporting standards.

Practical implications
The results could be used to improve universities’ sustainability reporting, as “good” practices are now readily available.

Social implications
The level of reporting on the social dimension is very low. Therefore, developing political incentives to improve universities’ social performance might be of interest.

Originality/value
The investigated setting is unique and contributes several findings in a less-researched area along with several practical, social and research implications.
A business intelligence framework for sustainability information management in higher education
Authors: Scholtz Brenda , Calitz Andre , Haupt Ross 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) face a number of challenges in effectively managing and reporting on sustainability information, such as siloes of data and a limited distribution of information. Business intelligence (BI) can assist in addressing the challenges faced by organisations. The purpose of this study was to propose a BI framework for strategic sustainability information management (the Sustainable BI Framework) that can be used in HEIs.

Design/methodology/approach
The research applied the design science research methodology whilst using a South African HEI as a case study. The problems with sustainability information management were identified, and a theoretical framework was proposed. In addition, a practical BI software tool was developed as proof of concept to address these problems and to assist with the management of strategic sustainability information in an HEI.

Findings
The proposed sustainability BI tool was evaluated through heuristic and usability evaluations with senior management. The results indicated that the usability of the BI tool was positively rated and that the framework can assist in overcoming the constraints that HEIs face in effectively managing sustainability information.

Research limitations/implications
The research was limited to a single case. However, the theoretical framework was derived from and expanded on existing stakeholder theory, sustainability reporting theory and literature on BI dashboard development. The framework was implemented successfully in the Sustainable BI Tool prototype at the case study, and the results reveal in-depth information regarding information management for sustainability reporting in higher education.

Practical implications
The Sustainable BI Tool is a solution that integrates data from multiple areas of sustainability and provides a single integrated view of the information to stakeholders. The information is provided through performance dashboards, which provide predictive capabilities to enable management to report on sustainability and determine if the institution is meeting its strategic goals. The lessons learnt can also assist other HEIs considering implementing BI for sustainability reporting.

Social implications
Improved sustainability reporting for HEIs provided by the BI framework can improve the environmental and social impact of the educational community.

Originality/value
This study provides the most comprehensive framework for guiding the design of a BI tool to assist in effectively managing sustainability information in HEIs.
Roadmapping towards sustainability proficiency in engineering education
Authors: Rodriguez-Andara Alejandro , Río-Belver Rosa María , Rodríguez-Salvador Marisela , Lezama-Nicolás René 
Published: January 2018

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to deliver a roadmap that displays pathways to develop sustainability skills in the engineering curricula.Design/methodology/approachThe selected approach to enrich engineering students with sustainability skills was active learning methodologies. First, a survey was carried out on a sample of 189 students to test the current sustainability literacy and determine the roadmap starting point. Next, a scientometric study regarding active learning methodologies was executed. A total of 2,885 articles and conference proceedings from the period 2013-2016 were retrieved from the Web of Science database. The records were then imported into text mining software to undergo a term clumping process. Annual knowledge clusters based on key terms were outputted. Finally, a roadmap was created by experts based on the annual knowledge clusters.FindingsFour annual pathways were created along the roadmap to develop sustainability skills during the four-year college course in engineering. The first consisted on promoting a recycling campaign through a circular economy. The second aimed at creating educational videos regarding sustainability. The third reinforced reasoning and argumentative skills by preparing a debate on environmental issues. The last path assumed that the student is working in internship programs and prepared him/her to apply environmental management models to solve sustainability issues within the company.Research limitations/implicationsRoadmaps should be updated approximately every two years to reflect novelty. The proposed methodology shows an easy way to create them.Practical implicationsResults from this paper, as well as the proposed methodology, can be applied to any organization forming individuals: from primary school education to employee training programs in organizations.Social implicationsThe development of sustainability skills has a direct, positive impact on professional decision-making and, ultimately, on the environment.Originality/valueThis paper presents a roadmapping process to develop sustainability competences throughout engineering college education.
Honour based abuse: the response by professionals to vulnerable adult investigations
Authors: Aplin Rachael L. 
Published: January 2018

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine responses by police and Adult Social Care to honour based abuse (HBA) victims who have a diagnosed or perceived vulnerability, such as a physical disability or mental health issue. The aim is to improve professional practice in ensuring vulnerable victims are safeguarded.

Design/methodology/approach
Findings are drawn from 100 HBA investigations (2012-2014) derived from classified police electronic records and interviews with 15, predominantly specialist, public protection police officers in one UK force.

Findings
HBA against vulnerable adults is an obscure crime area. In cases of diagnosed vulnerability (3 per cent), police officers wrongly attributed “freewill” and choice to vulnerable adults who legally lacked the capacity to consent to marriage. Conversely, in 9 per cent of cases where victims were depressed and/or self-harming, perpetrators exaggerated the poor mental health of victims in order to discredit them to law enforcement. Professionals illogically latched onto perpetrator explanations and in turn undermined and problematised the victims.

Research limitations/implications
There is limited access to data on vulnerable adult abuse, making this an under researched area of crime.

Practical implications
Failing to undertake risk assessments, or record whether the victim is legally vulnerable should lead to a review of police practice. An evaluation of joint working arrangements is necessary concerning which agency (police or Adult Social Care) should take primacy.

Social implications
Vulnerable adult victims were retained in risk predicaments alongside perpetrating family members.

Originality/value
Police officers suggesting vulnerable adults can “consent” to marriage is a new concept, along with issues of goal displacement which illustrates avoidance behaviours by professionals and under protection by the state.