bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A causal role for right frontopolar cortex in directed, but not random, exploration
Authors: Zajkowski Wojciech , Kossut Malgorzata , Wilson Robert C. 
Published: April 2017

AbstractThe explore-exploit dilemma occurs anytime we must choose between exploring unknown options for information and exploiting known resources for reward. Previous work suggests that people use two different strategies to solve the explore-exploit dilemma: directed exploration, driven by information seeking, and random exploration, driven by decision noise. Here, we show that these two strategies rely on different neural systems. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation to inhibit the right frontopolar cortex, we were able to selectively inhibit directed exploration while leaving random exploration intact. This suggests a causal role for right frontopolar cortex in directed, but not random, exploration and that directed and random exploration rely on (at least partially) dissociable neural systems.
The G-box transcriptional regulatory code inArabidopsis
Authors: Ezer Daphne , Shepherd Samuel JK , Brestovitsky Anna , Dickinson Patrick , Cortijo Sandra , Charoensawan Varodom , Box Mathew S. , Biswas Surojit , Wigge Philip 
Published: April 2017

ABSTRACTPlants have significantly more transcription factor (TF) families than animals and fungi, and plant TF families tend to contain more genes—these expansions are linked to adaptation to environmental stressors (1, 2). Many TF family members bind to similar or identical sequence motifs, such as G-boxes (CACGTG), so it is difficult to predict regulatory relationships. We determine that the flanking sequences near G-boxes help determinein vitrospecificity, but that this is insufficient to predict the transcription pattern of genes near G-boxes. Therefore, we construct a gene regulatory network that identifies the set of bZIPs and bHLHs that are most predictive of the gene expression of genes downstream of perfect G-boxes. This network accurately predicts transcriptional patterns and reconstructs known regulatory subnetworks. Finally, we present Ara-BOX-cis (araboxcis.org), a website that provides interactive visualisations of the G-box regulatory network, a useful resource for generating predictions for gene regulatory relations.
Disclosure of public-private partnership (PPP) voluntary information
Authors: Musawa Mubarak Shehu , Ismail Suhaiza , Ahmad Hawa 
Published: April 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, it seeks the perception of public-private partnership (PPP) experts on the importance of desirable PPP information that can be voluntarily reported by the private sector; and second, it determines the extent and quality of voluntary disclosure of PPP information by private entities.

Design/methodology/approach
In achieving the first objective, the study uses a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was distributed to PPP experts and 25 usable responses were received. In addressing the second objective, a content analysis procedure was utilized to analyse the 2015 annual reports of 11 construction companies. Descriptive statistics including the mean score, frequency and percentage were employed to analyse the responses of the questionnaire instrument and the annual reports disclosure.

Findings
The results of the questionnaire survey reveal that the majority of the items were rated as very important to be disclosed by the private sector in Malaysia. However, from the content analysis, it was also revealed that the extent and quality of voluntary information disclosed by the private construction companies were low.

Originality/value
This study is important as it contributes to the scant literature on PPP disclosure in Malaysia. The study is unique as it not only investigated the extent and quality of voluntary disclosure by private entities, but also solicited the perception of PPP experts on what voluntary items should be disclosed.
Do hurricanes matter?
Authors: Saginor Jesse , Ge Yue 
Published: April 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this research is to analyze a county’s housing market over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, multiple hurricanes have had on the residential real estate market.

Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a hedonic price model to determine the impacts that multiple hurricanes had on housing values.

Findings
There was a significant and negative countywide impact on housing sales values in the 1996, which can directly be attributed to three hurricanes impacting Brunswick County. Economic factors, rather than hurricanes and related storms, are more likely to impact sales values in all other years.

Research limitations/implications
This research is limited only to single-family home sales in Brunswick County, North Carolina, from 1984 to 2007. The model does not include multi-family residential uses.

Practical implications
Unlike many other areas that have been studied regarding natural disasters, Brunswick County has been hit multiple times by hurricanes and related storms, providing some insight into the long-term implications of the impact of storms on housing values over an extended period of time. The practical implication is that despite the likelihood of hurricanes and proximity to the ocean, people are willing to pay to live in coastal areas, even an area with a history of repeated direct and indirect strikes by hurricanes.

Originality/value
Unlike much of the peer-reviewed research that looks at a single occurrence of a natural disaster, this research looks at the impacts of multiple hurricanes on a single county over 23 years to determine what impact, if any, these storms have on the overall housing market.
To claim or to retire
Authors: Fawaz Yarine 
Published: April 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the Health and Retirement Study to examine the social security (SS) claiming decision of older Americans, with a focus on the behavior of the unemployed.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a duration model first, and a bivariate probit framework then, the author investigates whether older unemployed individuals lacking liquidity use SS benefits as a safety net in order to finance consumption during an unemployment episode, even if they do not retire at the same time. In this way, SS might be thought as a form of unemployment insurance (UI) which would allow them to maintain their standard of living during their job search.

Findings
The author finds evidence of a claiming pattern specific to the unemployed: they claim sooner than full-time workers, even when they do not retire at the same time. They also seem to discontinue this behavior when their access to UI is extended, which gives support to the author’s hypothesis that the unemployed workers, who lack liquidity, claim their SS benefits even if they do not wish to retire, as a source of alternative unemployment benefits.

Originality/value
By focusing on the SS claiming behavior of the unemployed rather than on their retirement patterns, this paper sheds light on the social insurance role of SS retirement benefits for unemployed workers who are not willing to retire, but need a new source of income while they continue looking for a job.
Net trade credit: what are the determinants?
Authors: Afrifa Godfred Adjapong , Gyapong Ernest 
Published: April 2017

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on trade receivables and trade payables by examining the determinants of net trade credit.Design/methodology/approachTo do that, a sample of 67,047 firms in the UK with 443,190 firm year observations is used.FindingsThe results are robust to unobserved heterogeneity and industry effects. The evidence suggests that firms with more inventories, market share and are financially distressed invest less in trade credit. Moreover, higher operating cash flow, annual sales growth, export propensity, access to bank credit and larger firms lead to higher investment in trade credit.Originality/valueAdditionally, the paper broadens the scope of the literature by analysing the determinants of net trade credit around the financial crisis and industry competitiveness.
Changing control and accounting in an African gold mine
Authors: Tsamenyi Mathew , Hopper Trevor , Uddin Shahzad 
Published: April 2017

Purpose
The paper aims to examine accounting changes in the Ashanti Gold Corporation (AGC) in Ghana over 120 years from pre-colonialism to recent times and whether the framework of management accounting transformations in Hopper et al. (2009) is applicable.

Design/methodology/approach
Mixed data sources are used, namely, interviews, some observations of practices, historical documentation, company reports and research papers and theses. The results are categorised according to the periods and contextual factors in the Hopper et al. framework to test whether it matches the data collected.

Findings
Despotic controls with minimal management accounting but stewardship accounting to the head office in London prevailed under colonialism. Upon independence state, capitalist policies descended into politicised state capitalism. Under nationalisation, the performance of mines deteriorated, and accounting became decoupled from operations. In the early 1980s, fiscal crises forced Ghana’s government to turn to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for loans. This period marked a gradual transformation of AGC into a foreign multinational, organised along divisional lines and currently exercises despotic control through supply chain management that renders labour precarious and is neglectful of corporate social accounting issues.

Research limitations/implications
The work challenges neo-classical economic prescriptions and analyses of accounting in developed countries by indicating its neglect of the interests of other stakeholders, especially labour and civil society. Accounting is important for development but the article infers other forms may better serve the public interest.

Originality/value
The paper tests the Hopper et al. framework with respect to a large private multinational in the commodity sector over an extended period, which differs from the case studies drawn on originally.
Community transcriptomics, genomics and the problem of species co‐occurrence
Authors: Swenson Nathan G. , Jones F. Andrew 
Published: April 2017

Summary

Genomic and transcriptomic information has been largely leveraged in ecological investigations of primarily model species and their relatives. The amount of infrastructure and financing necessary for such investigations has meant that analyses of assemblages full of non‐model species were impossible. These barriers have rapidly eroded over the past few years to the point where community ecology will soon see a large influx of genomic and transcriptomic investigations. The hope is that such studies will greatly refine or even transform our inferences regarding the distribution and co‐occurrence of plant species.

This special feature presents five studies that use cutting‐edge ‘omic concepts and approaches in assemblages of non‐model species. All studies focus on the drivers of species co‐occurrence. The work blends functional phylogenomic, differential gene expression and metagenomic approaches in observational and experimental frameworks.

Two studies demonstrate of functional phylogenomic approaches that can be used in conjunction with neighbourhood demographic models to understand the role of neighbouring heterospecific species on focal tree demography. Two additional papers demonstrate how genes are differentially expressed in different competitive contexts and how this is related to species coexistence. The final study uses a metabarcoding approach to document whether the incredible levels of soil fungal and tree biodiversity in the tropics are linked.

Synthesis. The articles presented in this special feature clearly demonstrate that ‘omic toolkits can now be readily integrated into community ecology. While there are still many obstacles facing this integration, it seems clear that the amounts and types of data provided by such approaches will lead to a rapid transformation in how we study plant communities.
Genome and epigenome of a novel marine Thaumarchaeota strain suggest viral infection, phosphorothioation DNA modification and multiple restriction systems
Authors: Ahlgren Nathan A. , Chen Yangyang , Needham David M. , Parada Alma E. , Sachdeva Rohan , Trinh Vickie , Chen Ting , Fuhrman Jed A. 
Published: April 2017

SummaryMarine Thaumarchaeota are abundant ammonia‐oxidizers but have few representative laboratory‐cultured strains. We report the cultivation of Candidatus Nitrosomarinus catalina SPOT01, a novel strain that is less warm‐temperature tolerant than other cultivated Thaumarchaeota. Using metagenomic recruitment, strain SPOT01 comprises a major portion of Thaumarchaeota (4–54%) in temperate Pacific waters. Its complete 1.36 Mbp genome possesses several distinguishing features: putative phosphorothioation (PT) DNA modification genes; a region containing probable viral genes; and putative urea utilization genes. The PT modification genes and an adjacent putative restriction enzyme (RE) operon likely form a restriction modification (RM) system for defence from foreign DNA. PacBio sequencing showed >98% methylation at two motifs, and inferred PT guanine modification of 19% of possible TGCA sites. Metagenomic recruitment also reveals the putative virus region and PT modification and RE genes are present in 18–26%, 9–14% and <1.5% of natural populations at 150 m with ≥85% identity to strain SPOT01. The presence of multiple probable RM systems in a highly streamlined genome suggests a surprising importance for defence from foreign DNA for dilute populations that infrequently encounter viruses or other cells. This new strain provides new insights into the ecology, including viral interactions, of this important group of marine microbes.
Leisure riding horses: research topics versus the needs of stakeholders
Authors: Janczarek Iwona , Wilk Izabela 
Published: April 2017

AbstractHorses intended for leisure riding do not undergo any selection and most often retired sports horses or defective horses are chosen, as a low selling price determines their purchase by a leisure riding center. Unfortunately, horses bought at low prices usually have low utility value, are difficult to handle, require a special or individual approach and do not provide satisfaction in riding. However, neither modern horse breeding nor scientific research address the need to breed horses for leisure activities. There is no clear definition of a model leisure horse and criteria or information for its selection are not readily available in scientific publications. A wide spectrum of research methods may be used to evaluate various performance traits in horses intended for leisure activities. The fact that the population of recreational horses and their riders outnumber sporting horses should attract the special attention of scientific research. Their utility traits need to be determined with modern technology and methods in the same way they are for sporting horses. Such a system of evaluation would be very helpful for riders.
Combined effects of livestock grazing and abiotic environment on vegetation and soils of grasslands across Tibet
Authors: Wang Yun , Heberling Gwendolyn , Görzen Eugen , Miehe Georg , Seeber Elke , Wesche Karsten 
Published: April 2017

AbstractQuestionsLivestock grazing and abiotic environmental factors both shape grassland systems; however, the relative importance of their impacts on plant species composition and soil fertility has rarely been investigated. Focusing on Tibetan grasslands, which are of global ecological importance and exhibit broad climatic and elevational gradients, we asked whether grazing effects are pronounced in humid regions, while climate controls are overriding grazing effects in semi‐arid regions.LocationTwenty‐eight sites across Tibetan pastures, China; 2820–5150 m a.s.l.MethodsWe used multivariate analyses and generalized linear mixed models to examine the effects of livestock activity (hotspots with excessive trampling and nutrient input, heavy, moderate and light grazing), habitat (meadow, steppe, steppe‐meadow) and their interactions. We focused on plant species composition, richness and concentrations of soil organic carbon (SOC), total N and other plant‐available nutrients in soils. Major environmental factors were precipitation, temperature and elevation. Plant indicator species sensitive to trampling and/or grazing were identified.ResultsLivestock grazing changed plant species composition and overall soil fertility across habitats. However, effects were only pronounced in hotspots directly adjacent to herder camps, while differences between grazing intensity levels were weak. Heavy grazing favoured annual species, reduced concentrations of SOC and total N in meadows. The environmental factors that control plant communities and soil condition varied among habitats. Plants and soils were more tightly linked in steppes and steppe‐meadows than in meadows.ConclusionsSeveral plant species were identified as frequently and reliably present in hotspots of livestock activity, thus are indicative of intensive trampling and excess plant available nutrient inputs. Overall, plant species composition and soil condition across Tibetan pastures were weakly affected by intensified grazing alone compared to that shaped by environmental factors. This clearly refutes the broadly held perception that increased grazing intensity leads to grassland degradation. Such differing and strong abiotic impacts should be considered in future grassland management and conservation.
UK NEQAS survey of allergen component testing across the United Kingdom and other European countries
Authors: Saleem R , Keymer C , Patel D , Egner W , Rowbottom A W 
Published: April 2017

Summary
The clinical utility of molecular diagnostic approaches in allergy investigation is being recognized increasingly to play a significant role in the management of allergic patients. Determining the sensitization pattern, which is best achieved through the use of component resolved diagnostics (CRD), allows effective risk stratification, appropriate treatment and patient selection for immunotherapy. In order to assess the diagnostic service provisions for in-vitro allergy testing across Europe, a survey was carried out via the total immunoglobulin (Ig)E and specific IgE external quality assurance schemes run by UK National External Quality Assessment Service (NEQAS) Immunology, Immunochemistry and Allergy. This survey assessed allergy testing, and in particular allergen components offered by the laboratories, and found a wide variability in service provision, particularly between the United Kingdom and other European Union (EU) countries. Furthermore, there was lack of standardization for acquisition of clinical information to aid allergen (and component) selection, gating strategy, testing algorithms and clinical interpretation. Interestingly, a significant proportion of laboratories (the majority from EU) stated that they ‘used’ the results for peanut components for risk stratification. However, the vast majority of participants were unaware of guidelines relating to the use of allergen component testing, and agreed that further education would assist in reaching a common platform. Hence, this survey has highlighted that although CRD has been adopted into routine diagnostics across Europe, it is potentially compromised by lack of standardized protocols and guidance sources. Consequently, there is a need for local or national standards and education through External Quality Assurance services on the performance and application of CRD into allergy investigation.
Modified loop myopexy technique for severe high myopic strabismus fixus
Authors: Zou Leilei , Liu Shuai , Liu Rui , Yao Jing , Liu Yan , Lin Jing , Liu Hong 
Published: April 2017

AbstractImportanceThis study introduces a modified loop myopexy technique for severe high myopic strabismus fixus.BackgroundThis study aims to evaluate the surgical results of loop myopexy with or without medial rectus recession for the treatment of patients with myopic strabismus fixus.DesignThis is a retrospective study in a Chinese teaching hospital.ParticipantsData was collected from 25 myopic strabismus fixus patients (33 eyes) with restriction in both abduction and sursumduction.MethodsFirst, the loop myopexy technique was performed. Following the loop myopexy technique, a medial rectus recession was performed if esotropia remained. If esotropia and/or hypotropia still persisted, second‐stage surgery of the contralateral eye was performed.Main Outcome MeasuresThe main outcome measures were ocular deviations, eye movements and the angles of dislocation of the globe.ResultsAt the last follow‐up, mean deviation of esotropia was significantly improved (10 vs. 92 PD; p = 0.000), while mean deviation of hypotropia was improved (6 vs. 32 PD; p = 0.008). Mean abduction limitation was improved (−2.7 vs. −5.0; p = 0.000); mean elevation limitation improved (−3.2 vs. −5.0; p = 0.000). The angle of dislocation of the globe was significantly decreased (103.0 vs. 235.3 D; p = 0.002).Conclusions and RelevanceModified Yokoyama's surgery effectively corrected the restrictive esotropia and hypotropia, restored the dislocated globe back into the muscle cone and improved the eye movement in severe myopic strabismus fixus.
Enhancement of the Mie scattering effect using floatstone‐like TiO2 spherical micropigment
Authors: Shirosaki Tomohiro , Tsuda Erika , Horikawa Maki , Nagaoka Shoji , Ihara Hirotaka 
Published: April 2017

Floatstone‐like TiO2 microparticles with an efficiently enhanced Mie scattering effect were developed by thermofusing of rutile‐type TiO2 submicron particles on the template core of poly(acrylate) microspheres. The light reflectance of the floatstone‐like TiO2 microparticles was approximately 10% higher than that of the usual rutile‐type TiO2 submicron particles in a wavelength range from 400 to 850 nm. The diffuse reflectance of the microparticles is enhanced by the formation of a floatstone‐like structure, whereas there is no difference in the specular reflectance of the particles. As an application of the floatstone‐like TiO2 microparticles, the contribution of the particles to the light‐trapping effect of a solar cell was examined. The power conversion efficiency of the solar cell was enhanced by 22% with the introduction of a light‐scattering layer composed of the floatstone‐like TiO2 microparticles.
Differential expression of four vision‐related genes in the bird cherry‐oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi
Authors: Peng Xiong , Qiao Xianfeng , Song Chunman , Chen Maohua 
Published: April 2017

AbstractAphids use their visual systems to detect information about the external environment, and visual genes are likely to have a role in host plant searching and environmental adaptation. Yet, there is little understanding of the presence and expression of visual opsin genes in aphids. In this study, we cloned and identified four vision‐related genes (LW‐OPN, UV‐OPN1, UV‐OPN2, and rhodopsin) from a cosmopolitan serious cereal pest, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), and evaluated their expression patterns. Transcription of the four genes was detected at all developmental stages. The inducing conditions (short photoperiod and low temperature) significantly affected the expression of the UV‐OPN1 and rhodopsin genes. The highest levels of transcription of all genes were observed in males, and the lowest in oviparae. The expression levels in wingless virginoparae were markedly lower than those in gynoparae and winged virginoparae. The starvation treatments resulted in a decline in the survivorship of adults. The mortality rates increased with increasing duration of starvation. The four genes tended to be upregulated following starvation for 24 h, and their expression levels were considerably decreased after subsequent feeding. These results are of importance for further understanding the evolution and function of visual opsins in aphids.