bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Investigation and analysis of research data services in university libraries
Authors: Si Li , Xing Wenming , Zhuang Xiaozhe , Hua Xiaoqin , Zhou Limei 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to find the current situation of research data services by academic libraries and summarize some strategies for university libraries to reference. Recent years have seen an increasing number of university libraries extended their traditional roles and provided research data services.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper selected 87 libraries of the top 100 universities listed in the World’s Best Universities released by the USA News in October 2012 as samples and conducted a Web site investigation to check if there were any research data services provided. In addition, it made an interview with the Wuhan University Library’s Research Data Service Workgroup to understand the procedure, difficulties and experiences of their research data service. Based on the survey and interview, it analyzed the current status and difficulties of research data services in university libraries and proposed some strategies for others to reference.

Findings
– Of the 87 university libraries investigated, 50 libraries have offered research data services. Most of the services can be divided into six aspects: research data introduction, data management guideline, data curation and storage service, data management training, data management reference and resource recommendation. Among these services, research data introduction is the most frequently provided (47.13 per cent), followed by data curation and storage services (43.68 per cent), data management guideline (42.53 per cent), data management reference (41.38 per cent), resource recommendation (41.38 per cent) and data management training (24.14 per cent). The difficulties met by research data service of Chinese academic libraries are also concluded.

Originality/value
– Through Web site investigation and interview with the Wuhan University Library’s Research Data Service, this paper presented an overall picture of research data services in university libraries and identified the difficulties and experiences of research data services of the Wuhan University Library. Based on some successful examples, it put forward some strategies for university libraries to reference. This study is very useful for academic libraries to promote their research data services.
Mining library and university data to understand library use patterns
Authors: Renaud John , Britton Scott , Wang Dingding , Ogihara Mitsunori 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– Library data are often hard to analyze because these data come from unconnected sources, and the data sets can be very large. Furthermore, the desire to protect user privacy has prevented the retention of data that could be used to correlate library data to non-library data. The research team used data mining to determine library use patterns and to determine whether library use correlated to students’ grade point average.

Design/methodology/approach
– A research team collected and analyzed data from the libraries, registrar and human resources. All data sets were uploaded into a single, secure data warehouse, allowing them to be analyzed and correlated.

Findings
– The analysis revealed patterns of library use by academic department, patterns of book use over 20 years and correlations between library use and grade point average.

Research limitations/implications
– Analysis of more narrowly defined user populations and collections will help develop targeted outreach efforts and manage the print collections. The data used are from one university; therefore, similar research is needed at other institutions to determine whether these findings are generalizable.

Practical implications
– The unexpected use of the central library by those affiliated with law resulted in cross-education of law and central library staff. Management of the print collections and user outreach efforts will reflect more nuanced selection of subject areas and departments.

Originality/value
– A model is suggested for campus partnerships that enables data mining of sensitive library and campus information.
ICT skills acquisition and competencies of librarians
Authors: Ayoku Ojedokun A , Okafor Victoria Nwamaka 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is an audit of information technology (IT) skills set of librarians in some Nigerian university libraries with the aim of examining their relevance and adequacy to the digital environment. Nigerian universities as knowledge creators and their libraries as gatekeepers of knowledge are rapidly witnessing the introduction of various IT. One of the challenges facing IT/digital library projects in Nigeria has been the readiness of the university libraries in terms of knowledge and skills to implement the digital and electronic library services.Design/methodology/approach– This paper used the survey approach. The sampling technique for the selection of the universities was stratified and for the librarians (respondents), census. The sampling frame was the approved list of universities released by the National Universities Commission as of the time of this study. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.Findings– The findings of this paper revealed that many of the respondents do have knowledge and skills of email use and word processing tasks but lack knowledge of search engines and directories other than Google and Yahoo, respectively. Many of them do not know how to evaluate and catalogue e-resources; have no knowledge of subject gateways, specialised databases and some open-access library databases; have no knowledge of database management; are not skilled in Web design; and are equally not familiar with Web design applications.Originality/value– The study recommends management support for IT skills training and/or continuous professional development to improve the librarians. Librarians are also challenged and encouraged to explore the range of training resources available over the Internet for self-development.
Perceived justice as predictors of a successful pay equity plan: a Canadian case study
Authors: Cloutier Julie , Lamarche Benoit 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– This study aims to identify the predictors of successful implementations of pay equity plans. Drawing on the perspective of organizational justice, this study highlights the factors that lead to the establishment of perceived fair pay for female-dominated jobs.Design/methodology/approach– Qualitative data were collected from 107 respondents in a Canadian company that implemented a pay equity plan as required by the Quebec Pay Equity Act.Findings– Justice perceptions of employees are based on: uniformity of implementation, bias suppression with respect to the right to fair pay, reliability of information on job content, relevance of job evaluation criteria, qualifications and impartiality of the pay equity committee members and the quality of employees’ representation and process transparency.Research limitations/implications– This study was conducted at a single workplace and among relatively highly educated respondents. Replicating the study may allow to verify the transferability of the results by considering workers’ demographic characteristics and organizational culture.Practical implications– The study highlights the cornerstones that may guide the development of an assessment tool of the effectiveness of pay equity processes. These results will additionally help employers to circumvent difficulties which may otherwise thwart the implementation of pay equity plans.Originality/value– This study highlights how employees construct their perceptions of justice in a specific context. It sheds light on the salient features of the pay equity implementation, the sources of information involved and the justice rules used. This study also highlights the specific forms of the justice rules in this context.
A relationship marketing perspective to trade fairs: insights from participants
Authors: Sarmento Maria , Farhangmehr Minoo , Simões Cláudia 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual foundation for understanding business-to-business (B2B) interactions at trade fairs.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reports a qualitative study that was undertaken to gain in-depth insights into the relevance of the trade fair context for business relationships. Key informants were trade fair organizers, trade fair exhibitors, trade fair visitors and experts in the field.

Findings
– Based on a qualitative approach, we propose a conceptual model that allows understanding the importance of relational interactions at B2B trade fairs. The model shows that interactions and networking served through information exchange, and social interaction among participants at B2B trade fairs are vital for relationship building and development. The model also highlights the fact that trade fairs are relevant to develop a relationship marketing strategy that involves interactions and networking with a multitude of players that goes beyond the interactions between exhibitors and visitors. The model also depicts the importance of trade fairs for product innovation and for generating innovative solutions to problems. Overall, findings suggest that a customized approach will become dominant in trade fairs.

Originality/value
– This paper’s contribution is twofold: first, to the relationship marketing literature for developing an understanding of the influence of a specific context in promoting particular interaction dynamics capable of affecting relationship development; second, to the literature on trade fairs by focusing on such context from a relationship marketing perspective.
The effects of the salesperson’s characteristics on buyer-seller relationships
Authors: Choi Yonghoon , Huang Ying , Sternquist Brenda 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to examine the influence of the salesperson’s characteristics (organizational commitment [OC] and disposition to innovate) on buyer’s behaviors in buyer – supplier relationships. A model is proposed depicting the effects of the salesperson’s OC and disposition to innovate on buyer’s long-term orientation and opportunism through partner-specific value to the buyer.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected from 155 sales professionals of Japanese manufacturers. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.Findings– As predicted, the salesperson’s OC and disposition to innovate enhance buyer’s long-term orientation through providing partner-specific value to the buyer, and in turn, buyer’s long-term orientation mitigates opportunism.Practical implications– The salesperson plays an important role for developing and maintaining Buyer-seller relationships. Based on authors’ results, firms should promote salespeople’s OC because a highly committed salesperson is likely to be more innovative when managing the relationship with the buyer and, in turn, increase the relationship-specific value to the buyer.Originality/value– This study makes two contributions to Buyer-seller relationship literature. First, previous studies on the salesperson focus on the social aspects in the relationship. This study, however, examines the salesperson characteristics in the exchange, and the results reveal the importance of including the salesperson characteristics in studying Buyer-seller relationships. Second, this study proposes the salesperson’s partner-specific value as a key boundary-spanning aspect mediating the salesperson characteristics and buyer’s behaviors in Buyer-seller relationships. The results confirm the argument, thus providing impetus for further studying different types and dimensions of transaction-specific assets in Buyer-seller relationships.
Synergistic effect of technology and customer relationship orientations: consequences for market performance
Authors: Salojärvi Hanna , Ritala Paavo , Sainio Liisa-Maija , Saarenketo Sami 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– This study aims to examine the effect of firm-specific customer relationship orientation, technology orientation and the marketing–R & D cooperation on market performance. Although the importance of customer focus in R & D has been widely recognized in the literature, less attention has been paid to customer relationship orientation and the simultaneous effect of the three constructs on market performance.Design/methodology/approach– The hypotheses are tested on a multi-industry survey study of 209 R & D-intensive firms in Finland using hierarchical regression analyses, including both direct and interactional effects.Findings– The findings show that customer relationship orientation has a direct positive effect on market performance and that technology orientation also has a positive, yet non-significant effect. In addition, the effect of both of these strategic orientations is accentuated when collaboration between marketing and R & D departments is high, providing evidence on the significant moderating effects of these types of processes.Research limitations/implications– The implications of the research can be interpreted as being generalizable at least to some extent due to the multi-industry nature of the sample. However, the research is bound to a certain type of firm (R & D-intensive) and to a certain national context (Finland), which poses limitations to the study.Practical implications– The results suggest specific benefits for integrating specialist, complementary knowledge into a firm in terms of R & D and marketing knowledge. Practicing managers across departments should thus consider not only focusing on their specialist areas in markets (e.g. customers or technology) but also utilizing complementary insights within the firm to reap benefits in their fields.Originality/value– The study focuses on the less-researched concept of customer relationship orientation in parallel with the more established technology orientation. It also provides novel evidence on how the effectiveness of these orientations benefits from firm-internal knowledge transfer between the marketing and R & D departments.
The impact of salesperson customer orientation on sales performance via mediating mechanism
Authors: Singh Rakesh , Venugopal Pingali 
Published: May 2015

Purpose– This study aims to address the need to study salesperson’s customer orientation and its effectiveness to explain the efficacy of predispositions and skills at individual level. This study is set in the Indian context and, therefore, offers a detailed insight from an Indian sales force perspective. Also, this study introduces self-leadership into sales literature.Design/methodology/approach– A model was tested using survey data collected from salespeople within a print media company located in India. A structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses.Findings– The results suggest an interesting interplay between salesperson’s customer orientation and his/her sales performance. The relationship between customer orientation is fully mediated by salesperson’s emotion regulation ability and his/her salesmanship skills. Results support the role of natural rewards strategies as driver of individual level customer orientation which will be of great interest in future research in this area.Research limitations/implications– The research suggests that a salesperson’s customer orientation relates positively with sales performance through two process variables – emotion regulation and salesmanship skills. Within an Indian sales force, individual salesperson’s customer orientation is significantly influenced by his/her natural rewards strategies which have important implication for sales force recruitment. Moreover, sales training and other interventions targeted toward building salesmanship skills and emotion regulation abilities may actually enhance effectiveness of customer-oriented sales force. Theoretical and managerial applications are also discussed.Originality/value– This study extends the literature through its examination of an Indian sales force, the incorporation of self-leadership construct (natural rewards strategies) and its argument for an alternative approach toward salesperson’s customer orientation effectiveness.
Comply or defy? An empirical investigation of change requests in buyer-supplier relationships
Authors: Crosno Jody L. , Dahlstrom Robert , Manolis Chris 
Published: May 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to examine change requests in buyer-supplier relationships. Change requests arise when a channel partner wants an addition or alteration to the agreed-upon deliverable. Although these requests are intended to enhance consumer satisfaction and supply chain performance, they complicate development and production processes and may delay time to market. Responses to change requests may embody compliance or malice, yet research to date has not examined these requests in interfirm relationships. To this end, the authors examine supplier reactions (compliance and opportunism) to change requests made by the buying firm.

Design/methodology/approach
– Survey data gathered from 118 third-party developers (i.e. suppliers) reporting on their relationship with the software buyer provide an initial test for the authors’ proposed model.

Findings
– The results of a path analysis indicate that change requests are related positively to supplier compliance with those requests and supplier opportunism. Outcome-based control decreases supplier compliance when there are extensive change requests. Behavioral control, in contrast, increases supplier compliance particularly when the buyer provides support for the requested changes.

Research limitations/implications
– Future research should examine relational governance and ex ante control mechanisms as alternatives to outcome-based and behavioral control.

Practical implications
– The authors’ results suggest that buyers requesting extensive changes should use behavioral control mechanisms and provide support to the supplier implementing the changes.

Originality/value
– The authors provide a preliminary examination of suppliers’ reactions to change requests made by buying firms. The authors argue that these requests may limit the autonomy of the supplying firms, creating reactance effects. The authors investigate outcome-based control, behavioral control and buyer support as factors that influence supplier reactions to change requests.
Efficacy of perioperative dexmedetomidine in postoperative neurocognitive function: a meta‐analysis
Authors: Man Yuanyuan , Guo Zhenggang , Cao Jiangbei , Mi Weidong 
Published: May 2015

SummaryNeuroprotective effects of dexmedetomidine are reported in preclinical and clinical studies but evidence regarding the postoperative neurocognitive function is not as clear. This study performed a meta‐analysis on outcomes of studies which examined neurocognitive performance by using valid assessment tools before and after perioperative dexmedetomidine treatment. Literature was searched in several electronic databases and studies were selected by following précised inclusion criteria. Meta‐analyses of mean differences in percent changes from baseline in neurocognitive assessment scores were carried out and subgroup analyses were performed. Eighteen studies were included. Initial dose of dexmedetomidine (mean ± SD) was 1.28 ± 0.97 μg/kg and maintenance dose was 0.41 ± 0.11 μg/kg per hour. In healthy volunteers, there was no significant difference in the neurocognitive performance between dexmedetomidine and controls/comparators (mean difference (95% confidence interval (CI)): −12.72 (−50.25, 24.80) %; P = 0.51). Perioperative dexmedetomidine treatment was associated with significantly better neurocognitive performance in comparison with saline (mean difference (95% CI): 9.10 (3.03, 15.16) %; P = 0.003) as well as with comparator anaesthetics (mean difference: 5.50 (0.15, 10.86) %; P = 0.04) treated patients. In the submeta‐analyses of studies which utilized neurocognitive assessment tools other than Mini‐Mental State Examination (mean difference: 6.66 (–3.42, 16.74); P = 0.20) or studies with patients under 60 years of age (mean difference: 7.48 (−3.00, 17.96); P = 0.16), the differences were not significant between dexmedetomidine‐ and saline‐/comparator‐treated patients. Perioperative dexmedetomidine treatment is associated with significantly better neurocognitive function postoperatively in comparison with both saline controls and comparator anaesthetics (predominantly midazolam).
Identification and analysis of the bacterial endosymbiont specialized for production of the chemotherapeutic natural product ET‐743
Authors: Schofield Michael M. , Jain Sunit , Porat Daphne , Dick Gregory J. , Sherman David H. 
Published: May 2015

SummaryEcteinascidin 743 (ET‐743, Yondelis) is a clinically approved chemotherapeutic natural product isolated from the Caribbean mangrove tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata. Researchers have long suspected that a microorganism may be the true producer of the anticancer drug, but its genome has remained elusive due to our inability to culture the bacterium in the laboratory using standard techniques. Here, we sequenced and assembled the complete genome of the ET‐743 producer, Candidatus Endoecteinascidia frumentensis, directly from metagenomic DNA isolated from the tunicate. Analysis of the ∼631 kb microbial genome revealed strong evidence of an endosymbiotic lifestyle and extreme genome reduction. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the producer of the anti‐cancer drug is taxonomically distinct from other sequenced microorganisms and could represent a new family of Gammaproteobacteria. The complete genome has also greatly expanded our understanding of ET‐743 production and revealed new biosynthetic genes dispersed across more than 173 kb of the small genome. The gene cluster's architecture and its preservation demonstrate that the drug is likely essential to the interactions of the microorganism with its mangrove tunicate host. Taken together, these studies elucidate the lifestyle of a unique, and pharmaceutically important microorganism and highlight the wide diversity of bacteria capable of making potent natural products.
Characteristics of hand involvement in a comparative study of two earlyRAcohorts from theUKandChina
Authors: Su Bowen , Ma Qing , Edwards Christopher J. , Williams Mark , Adams Jo 
Published: May 2015

AbstractAimTo compare the characteristics of early hand involvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using two matched populations, from theUKandChina.MethodsA cohort comparison study was conducted. SixtyChinese patients recruited fromShanghai,China were matched on gender and age with 60 patients from a prospective earlyRAcohort from theUK(SARAHtrial). The procedures of data collection inChina followed the standard operating procedures employed in theSARAHtrial. Outcome measures includingMichiganHandOutcomesQuestionnaire (MHQ), medication history and physical assessments were used to assess functional ability and hand impairment.ResultsUKpatients reported significantly more hand pain (P = 0.015), less satisfaction with dominant hand performance (P = 0.040), more swollen and tender joints (P = 0.016 andP = 0.001) and greater dexterity of both dominant and non‐dominant hands (P < 0.001 andP < 0.001), whileChinese patients had higher disease activity indicated by erythrocyte sedimentation rate andC‐reactive protein, more rheumatoid factor, less satisfaction in both dominant and non‐dominant hand appearances (P < 0.001 andP < 0.001, respectively) and greater dominant hand deformity (P = 0.003). No statistically significant differences were seen in range of movement and overall hand function as reported by theMHQ.ConclusionThe severity ofRAis not milder inChina than inthe UKand the characteristics of hand involvement tend to be different. Clinicians should consider country‐specific differences in managing pain and delivering treatment. It would be helpful for a future study to investigate theRAimpact characteristics on a wider range of patients both from withinChina and from other populations.