bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An empirical investigation into the influence of human resource management practices on work engagement: the case of customer-contact employees in Malaysia
Authors: Ling Suan Choo , Mohd Nasurdin Aizzat 
Published: August 2014

Purpose
– This study aims to examine the impact of specific human resource management practices on employees’ work engagement.

Design/methodology/approach
– Data were gathered using surveys from a sample of 438 customer-contact employees attached to 34 upscale hotels throughout Malaysia and analyzed using partial least squares technique.

Findings
– The findings showed that service training and performance appraisal have a positive and significant influence on work engagement. The proposed model was able to explain 16.2 per cent of the variance in work engagement.

Research limitations/implications
– The findings indicate that hotel authorities can enhance work engagement of their customer-contact employees by improving service training and refining performance appraisal practices.

Originality/value
– This study is one of the few studies that focus on the specific effect of individual human resource management practices on work engagement, especially within the context of a developing country (i.e. Malaysia) using structural equation modelling.
Complaint behavior intentions and expectation of service recovery in individualistic and collectivistic cultures
Authors: Gi Park Seul , Kim Kyungmi , O’Neill Martin 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this study is to investigate whether complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory are different among customers from collectivistic versus individualistic cultures. A secondary purpose is to find which service recovery strategies are appropriate for different culture-based complaint behavior intentions.Design/methodology/approach– A survey was conducted at universities, and the survey population consisted of college students, who are known to be frequent users of fast-food restaurants. A total of 304 usable questionnaires were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the validity of the items, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were used to examine the internal consistency of the factors, and an independent samplet-test was used to analyze differences in complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery efforts in terms of cultural difference.Findings– The results of this study indicated that South Koreans revealed more voice complaint behavior intentions than Americans did. However, there were no significant differences in expectations of service recovery efforts between them. Second, American customers who indicated voice and private complaint behavior intentions expected distributive, procedural and interpersonal justice in complaint-handling procedures. South Korean customers who indicated voice complaint behavior intentions expected distributive and procedural justice, and South Korean customers who indicated private complaint behavior intentions anticipated interactional justice in complaint-handling procedures.Research limitations/implications– Understanding customers’ complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory and cultural differences will suggest practical implications to hospitality industry managers for effective service quality management.Originality/value– Understanding customers’ complaint behavior intentions and expectations of service recovery based on the justice theory and cultural differences will suggest practical implications to hospitality industry managers for effective service quality management.
Microfinance intermediation: regulation of financial NGOs in Ghana
Authors: Anku-Tsede Olivia 
Published: August 2014

Purpose– This study aims to seek to fill a gap in regulatory impact assessment in developing countries by presenting an analysis of how formal regulation impact on the efficiency and productivity of financial non-governmental organisations (FNGOs) in Ghana. Much has been written about the formal financial sector, but very little is known about the lower end of microfinance and the impact of formal prudential regulation on FNGOs providing microfinance services. The Bank of Ghana (BOG), nevertheless, in the year 2011, extended formal prudential regulation to FNGOs without any empirical basis. This study uses regulatory theories and empirical evidence to aid in the evaluation of whether formal prudential regulation is appropriate for FNGOs operating within the microfinance sector.Design/methodology/approach– Empirical evidence derived from FNGOs, regulatory agents, consumers and financial lawyers within the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions of Ghana served as the basis of the analysis in this study. Descriptive statistics, frequency counts and percentage scores, were used to analyse the data collected.Findings– The existing structures of FNGOs in Ghana are unsuitable for formal prudential regulation. The BOG does not have adequate staffing and funding to supervise and monitor the microfinance activities of FNGOs. Formal prudential regulation could impede growth and efficient delivery of microfinance services.Research limitations/implications– The BOG is the only regulatory agency responsible for regulating the financial market in Ghana, thus access to officers with knowledge in the regulatory regime was very limited.Practical implications– The study revealed in depth information about FNGOs, microfinance and the impact of formal prudential regulation on FNGOs.Originality/value– The study is the first to use empirical studies and theories of regulation to assess the impact of extending formal prudential regulation to FNGOs in Ghana. Data from the regulator, the regulated and consumers, the key players in any regulatory process, served as the basis of the analysis in the study resulting in the unravelling of in-depth information on the regulation of FNGOs.
What did you do in the Great Paradigm War? Notes from the other side
Authors: Sherry John 
Published: August 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the author’s involvement in the paradigm wars of the 1980s in marketing and consumer research. In this paper, the author describes his role in the ecological succession of the discipline at a critical juncture between the early efforts of the pioneering scholars and the establishment of a mature climax community of consumer culture theorists.

Design/methodology/approach
– The author employs an autobiographical approach.

Findings
– Among the many contributions of a host of talented and insightful fellow travelers, the author’s penchant for ethnographic research and anthropological analysis helped nudge the discipline into interesting new niches.

Originality/value
– This personal reminiscence of the philosophical debates surrounding our interpretive turn may be triangulated with others to construct a synchronic account of a moment in disciplinary evolution.
The evolutionary significance of latent reproductive rate in a long‐lived vertebrate
Authors: Cam Emmanuelle 
Published: August 2014

Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) feeding a chick, 4 July 2014, Brittany, France.imageKittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) feeding a chick, 4 July 2014, Brittany, France.

Chambert, T., Rotella, J.J. & Garrott, R.A. (2014) . Journal of Animal Ecology, 83, 1158–1168.
Chambert, Rotella & Garrott () used long‐term data to assess the evolutionary significance of individual latent reproductive rate in female Weddell seals. Latent reproductive rates capture the differences among individuals in terms of their propensity to breed; they are conceptual and mathematical constructs. Neither recruitment probability nor age of first breeding of daughters was related to the mother's latent reproductive rate, but there was evidence of a weak positive relationship between the latent reproductive rates of mothers and daughters, suggesting some degree of heritability in this trait. Females with a high latent reproductive rate were expected to produce 2·0 times as many recruited females and 2·1 times as many grandchildren as females with a low reproductive rate. There was substantial stochastic variation in the number of offspring and grandchildren produced, but the inter‐individual variability in female latent reproductive rate may have important fitness consequences.
Serum microRNA‐29 levels correlate with disease progression in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection
Authors: Huang Chong , Zheng Jian Ming , Cheng Qi , Yu Kang Kang , Ling Qing Xia , Chen Ming Quan , Li Ning 
Published: August 2014

ObjectiveTo investigate the role of serum microRNA‐29 (miR‐29) as a biomarker for the prediction of disease progression in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.MethodsUsing real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay, serum miR‐29a, miR‐29b and miR‐29c levels were measured in patients with chronic HBV infection, and the correlation between serum miR‐29 levels and the participants' liver biochemistry, fibrotic stage and necroinflammation grade were also evaluated.ResultsAltogether 91 patients with chronic HBV infection were divided by fibrotic stage into S0/1 (no or mild fibrosis), S2/3 (progressive fibrosis) and S4 (cirrhosis) subgroups, and 12 healthy individuals were also included in the study. Serum miR‐29a and miR‐29c in S0–3 were significantly higher than those in S4 patients (P < 0.001); however, the difference between S0/1 and S2/3 patients was not significant. miR‐29b levels were higher in S0/1 patients than in other patient groups, but did not differ between S2/3 and S4 patients. At fibrotic stages of S0/1 and S2/3, patients with no or mild liver inflammation (G0/1) tended to express higher miR‐29 levels than those with advanced inflammation (G2–4) (P > 0.05). miR‐29a–c showed significant correlation with alanine transaminase levels (P < 0.05 for miR‐29a, miR‐29b and miR‐29c) in S0–3 patients. The expression of miR‐29 was highest in immune‐tolerant patients (P < 0.001).ConclusionsSerum miR‐29 levels are negatively correlated with liver fibrotic stages and necroinflammation grades in patients with chronic HBV infection. miR‐29 appears to be a novel biomarkers for predicting disease progression in these patients.
Characterization of the Antarctic sea urchin (Sterechinus neumayeri) transcriptome and mitogenome: a molecular resource for phylogenetics, ecophysiology and global change biology
Authors: Dilly G. F. , Gaitán‐Espitia J. D. , Hofmann G. E. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractThis is the first de novo transcriptome and complete mitochondrial genome of an Antarctic sea urchin species sequenced to date. Sterechinus neumayeri is an Antarctic sea urchin and a model species for ecology, development, physiology and global change biology. To identify transcripts important to ocean acidification (OA) and thermal stress, this transcriptome was created pooling, and 13 larval samples representing developmental stages on day 11 (late gastrula), 19 (early pluteus) and 30 (mid pluteus) maintained at three CO2 levels (421, 652, and 1071 μatm) as well as four additional heat‐shocked samples. The normalized cDNA pool was sequenced using emulsion PCR (pyrosequencing) resulting in 1.34M reads with an average read length of 492 base pairs. 40 994 isotigs were identified, averaging 1188 bp with a median coverage of 11×. Additional primer design and gap sequencing were required to complete the mitochondrial genome. The mitogenome of S. neumayeri is a circular DNA molecule with a length of 15 684 bp that contains all 37 genes normally found in metazoans. We detail the main features of the transcriptome and the mitogenome architecture and investigate the phylogenetic relationships of S. neumayeri within Echinoidea. In addition, we provide comparative analyses of S. neumayeri with its closest relative, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, including a list of potential OA gene targets. The resources described here will support a variety of quantitative (genomic, proteomic, multistress and comparative) studies to interrogate physiological responses to OA and other stressors in this important Antarctic calcifier.
Identification of Belgian mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) by DNA barcoding
Authors: Versteirt V. , Nagy Z. T. , Roelants P. , Denis L. , Breman F. C. , Damiens D. , Dekoninck W. , Backeljau T. , Coosemans M. , Van Bortel W. 
Published: August 2014

AbstractSince its introduction in 2003, DNA barcoding has proven to be a promising method for the identification of many taxa, including mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). Many mosquito species are potential vectors of pathogens, and correct identification in all life stages is essential for effective mosquito monitoring and control. To use DNA barcoding for species identification, a reliable and comprehensive reference database of verified DNA sequences is required. Hence, DNA sequence diversity of mosquitoes in Belgium was assessed using a 658 bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene, and a reference data set was established. Most species appeared as well‐supported clusters. Intraspecific Kimura 2‐parameter (K2P) distances averaged 0.7%, and the maximum observed K2P distance was 6.2% for Aedes koreicus. A small overlap between intra‐ and interspecific K2P distances for congeneric sequences was observed. Overall, the identification success using best match and the best close match criteria were high, that is above 98%. No clear genetic division was found between the closely related species Aedes annulipes and Aedes cantans, which can be confused using morphological identification only. The members of the Anopheles maculipennis complex, that is Anopheles maculipennis s.s. and An. messeae, were weakly supported as monophyletic taxa. This study showed that DNA barcoding offers a reliable framework for mosquito species identification in Belgium except for some closely related species.
Muscle ectopic fat deposition contributes to anabolic resistance in obese sarcopenic old rats through eIF2α activation
Authors: Tardif Nicolas , Salles Jérôme , Guillet Christelle , Tordjman Joan , Reggio Sophie , Landrier Jean‐François , Giraudet Christophe , Patrac Véronique , Bertrand‐Michel Justine , Migne Carole , Collin Marie‐Laure , Chardigny Jean‐Michel , Boirie Yves , Walrand Stéphane 
Published: August 2014

SummaryObesity and aging are characterized by decreased insulin sensitivity (IS) and muscle protein synthesis. Intramuscular ceramide accumulation has been implicated in insulin resistance during obesity. We aimed to measure IS, muscle ceramide level, protein synthesis, and activation of intracellular signaling pathways involved in translation initiation in male Wistar young (YR, 6‐month) and old (OR, 25‐month) rats receiving a low‐ (LFD) or a high‐fat diet (HFD) for 10 weeks. A corresponding cellular approach using C2C12 myotubes treated with palmitate to induce intracellular ceramide deposition was taken. A decreased ability of adipose tissue to store lipids together with a reduced adipocyte diameter and a development of fibrosis were observed in OR after the HFD. Consequently, OR fed the HFD were insulin resistant, showed a strong increase in intramuscular ceramide level and a decrease in muscle protein synthesis associated with increased eIF2α phosphorylation. The accumulation of intramuscular lipids placed a lipid burden on mitochondria and created a disconnect between metabolic and regulating pathways in skeletal muscles of OR. In C2C12 cells, palmitate‐induced ceramide accumulation was associated with a decreased protein synthesis together with upregulated eIF2α phosphorylation. In conclusion, a reduced ability to expand adipose tissues was found in OR, reflecting a lower lipid buffering capacity. Muscle mitochondrial activity was affected in OR conferring a reduced ability to oxidize fatty acids entering the muscle cell. Hence, OR were more prone to ectopic muscle lipid accumulation than YR, leading to decreased muscle protein anabolism. This metabolic change is a potential therapeutic target to counter sarcopenic obesity.
Lack of association between the 389C>T polymorphism (rs769217) in the catalase (CAT) gene and the risk of vitiligo: An update by meta‐analysis
Authors: He Jie , Li Xiaoyan , Li Yunhui , Ren Bocheng , Sun Jian , Zhang Wei , Li Wancheng 
Published: August 2014

AbstractBackground/ObjectivesThe catalase (CAT) T/C at codon 389 in the exon 9 polymorphism has been implicated in susceptibility to vitiligo but a large number of studies have reported inconclusive results. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between the catalase gene polymorphism (389C>T) and the risk of vitiligo.MethodsA meta‐analysis was carried out to analyse the association between 389C>T and vitiligo risk.ResultsEight case‐control studies with 2923 cases and 4237 controls were included in the meta‐analysis. The results indicated that there was no association between this polymorphism and vitiligo (TT + CT versus CC: OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.98–1.20, P = 0.11, T versus C: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.99–1.16, P = 0.092). In a subgroup analysis by ethnicity, no significant association between the CAT gene 389C>T polymorphism and vitiligo susceptibility was found in Caucasians (TT + CT versus CC: OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 0.98–1.35, P = 0.08; T versus C: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.97–1.19, P = 0.173) and Asians (TT + CT versus CC: OR = 1.12, 95% CI =0.93–1.34, P = 0.23; T versus C: OR = 1.07, 95% CI = 0.94–1.21, P = 0.321).ConclusionsOur results suggest that 389C>T may not contribute to vitiligo susceptibility. However, larger primary studies with the consideration of gene–environment and gene–gene interactions are still required to further evaluate the interaction of CAT gene polymorphism with vitiligo susceptibility.
Bibliometric analysis onAustralian rural health publications from 2006 to 2012
Authors: Mendis Kumara , Edwards Tegan , Stevens Wendy , McCrossin Tim 
Published: August 2014

AbstractObjectiveTo reviewAustralian rural health (ARH) publications inPubMed from 2006 to 2012 and addressARHissues raised by the 2013Health andMedicalResearch report.DesignRetrospective observational study.SettingInternet‐based bibliometric analysis usingPubMed.MEDLINE‐indexedARHpublications from 2006 to 2012 were retrieved usingPubMed queries.ARHpublications were defined asAustralian publications that explore issues relevant to the health of the regional, rural or remoteAustralian population. Two authors independently reviewed a random sample of 5% of publications for validity.Main outcome measuresAnalysis determined country of origin (Australia); publications relevant to theNationalHealthPriorityAreas, the 2013NationalRuralHealthAlliance priority areas andRuralClinicalSchools/UniversityDepartments ofRuralHealth; and journal frequencies and publication types.ResultsARH publications increased from 286 in 2006 to 393 in 2012 and made up 1.4% of allAustralianPubMed publications. Combined, the health priority areas were addressed in 52% ofARHpublications.RuralClinicalSchools/UniversityDepartments ofRuralHealth articles made up 7% ofARHpublications. An increase in cohort studies, systematic reviews and reviews indicated improved quality of articles.ARHarticles were most commonly published in theAustralian Journal of Rural Health(15.9%),Rural and Remote Health(13.4%) and theMedical Journal of Australia(6.3%).Striking a balance between broadening the queries (increasing sensitivity) and limiting the false positives by restricting the breadth of the queries (increasing specificity) was the main limitation.ConclusionsThis reproducible analysis, repeated at given timelines, can track the progress ofARHpublications and provide directions regarding future rural health research.
Scaling informal learning at the workplace: A model and four designs from a large‐scale design‐based research effort
Authors: Ley Tobias , Cook John , Dennerlein Sebastian , Kravcik Milos , Kunzmann Christine , Pata Kai , Purma Jukka , Sandars John , Santos Patricia , Schmidt Andreas , Al‐Smadi Mohammad , Trattner Christoph 
Published: August 2014

AbstractWorkplace learning happens in the process and context of work, is multi‐episodic, often informal, problem based and takes place on a just‐in‐time basis. While this is a very effective means of delivery, it also does not scale very well beyond the immediate context. We review three types of technologies that have been suggested to scale learning and three connected theoretical discourses around learning and its support. Based on these three strands and an in‐depth contextual inquiry into two workplace learning domains, health care and building and construction, four design‐based research projects were conducted that have given rise to designs for scaling informal learning with technology. The insights gained from the design and contextual inquiry contributed to a model that provides an integrative view on three informal learning processes at work and how they can be supported with technology: (1) task performance, reflection and sensemaking; (2) help seeking, guidance and support; and (3) emergence and maturing of collective knowledge. The model fosters our understanding of how informal learning can be scaled and how an orchestrated set of technologies can support this process.
Personalized workplace learning: An exploratory study on digital badging within a teacher professional development program
Authors: Gamrat Christopher , Zimmerman Heather Toomey , Dudek Jaclyn , Peck Kyle 
Published: August 2014

AbstractTo provide customized workplace learning opportunities, a digital badge system was designed by a university, governmental agency and national professional association to support teachers' implementation of professional development (PD). Teacher Learning Journeys (TLJ) is an approach that allows for teachers to customize their PD experience to their workplace and make decisions about what PD they need based on their expertise and interests. The digital badging provided and assessed experiences in online PD. Using a theoretical framework that focused on decision making and customization as part of personalization, researchers conducted a theory‐driven thematic analysis on teachers' TLJ artifacts (goal statements, interviews and reflective activity logs). Data came from 36 teachers who completed 154 PD activities over a 3‐month period. A case study was developed from an in‐depth analysis of eight teachers' artifacts and interviews. Using TLJ as a PD tool, teachers made decisions when selecting learning goals they identified as personally relevant. Teachers customized the level of assessment and the specific content depth to personalize the PD training for workplace constraints. This project informs future research aiming to understand how personalized learning activities support teachers and other professional learners in a variety of workplaces.