bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Organizational efficacy, job satisfaction and well-being
Authors: Capone Vincenza , Petrillo Giovanna 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure, reliability, construct validity, and group invariance of the Italian version of the Bohn Organizational Efficacy Scale (OES), a self-report questionnaire for organizational efficacy assessment in the business context.Design/methodology/approach– The first study included Italian employees of a pasta factory (n=120) to test divergent, convergent, and discriminant validity of the OES with existing instruments. The second study combined three hospital (n=180 Italian health workers) to confirm the structure of the scale.Findings– Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the three-factor solution (collaboration, sense of mission and future, and sense of resilience), and that the structure of the scale was the same across employees of hospital and pasta factory. Results revealed a high internal reliability. The OES correlated positively with corresponding aspects of organizational functioning, well-being, and job satisfaction. The scale did not correlate with measures of general self-efficacy and personal empowerment. Levels of job satisfaction and well-being resulted higher among people with moderate/high organizational efficacy than among adults with low organizational efficacy.Research limitations/implications– Because of the chosen research approach could lead to common method variance issues: it will be important to determine the associations of OES with non-self-report assessments of the same construct.Practical implications– The OES can be applied optimally in the empirical study of factors influencing organizational setting and used in training aiming at strengthening employees’ collective skills.Originality/value– The OES is a valid instrument to measure organizational efficacy. Findings highlighted a strong relationship between collective efficacy, job satisfaction and well-being.
Older workers: some critical societal and organizational challenges
Authors: Vasconcelos Anselmo Ferreira 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine some societal contemporary challenges that encompass both older workers and organizations likewise. Rather, it focusses especially on those ones related to ageist mindset, myths and misinformation about that cohort of workers.Design/methodology/approach– It draws on a literature review by first approaching the problem of ageism, given that it is a social phenomenon that, to a large extent, impairs mature workers by putting them aside, as well as disdains the value of their experience and knowledge. Second, it offers some counterarguments against such mindset by discussing positive aspects related to older workers in order to clarify the widespread myths and misinformation about them. Third, it depicts a conceptual framework composed of some challenging issues toward improving the workplaces for older workers.Findings– It reassures that the broader challenges of dignifying older workers may be better addressed through initiatives such as acknowledgment and sensitivity; diversity; learning and development; legislation; wise leadership and HR policies; change; motivation; accommodation of different generations; and ethical and moral principles.Practical implications– The majority of organizations have nowadays to handle with an aging workforce and, at the same time, keep their competitiveness. This scenario requires pertinent interventions and approaches in order to meet mature workers’ needs.Social implications– It argues that age discrimination can be regarded as a bizarre human creation that requires the involvement of all sectors of society so as to get rid of it. As a result, the first decades of twenty-first century likely will place the additional challenge (perhaps it may be regarded as an opportunity) for building more humanized and spiritual workplaces. Further, it is very clear that an ageist behavior does not fit in such a view.Originality/value– This paper examined some of the greatest problems related to aging workforce worldwide. In this sense, by reviewing the pertinent literature was possible to identify some challenges, integrate them into a conceptual frame and address their implications for organizations.
Positive social identity expectations as a moderator of interpersonal justice perceptions
Authors: Conner Deondra 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine positive social identity expectations as a potential moderator of interpersonal justice perceptions with work-related stress, leader evaluation, and worker satisfaction as outcomes of interest.Design/methodology/approach– A set of propositions and several diagrams are proposed and discussed relative to the interaction of social identity expectations and interpersonal justice perceptions.Findings– It is argued that individuals with higher levels of positive social identity expectations will respond more strongly to perceived interpersonal justice, resulting in lower perceived stress, more positive leader evaluation, and higher worker satisfaction.Originality/value– Examining the interaction of positive social identity expectations and interpersonal justice is of value to both academicians and practitioners for future study and for creating a work community that allows for better management of workers.
Learner-instructor similarity: a social attribution approach to learning
Authors: Varela Otmar E , Cater III John J , Michel Norbert 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to test a model in which instructor’s attributes (i.e. personality, age) are specified as social stimuli. Drawing on a constructivist view of learning (Palincsar, 1998) and similarity-attraction paradigm (Byrne, 1971), the authors hypothesize that instructor’s attributes influence learners’ reactions and dictate key attributions for learning: instructor’s competence and goodwill. The authors place these attributions as antecedents of learning results.Design/methodology/approach– In a quasi-experimental design, undergraduate business students (n=133) participated in a training program of managerial skills over a three-week period. Regression and path analyses were utilized in testing the hypothesized model.Findings– Results provide partial support to the hypothesized model and suggest that learning is a social event wherein learners’ attributions play a key role. Results also indicate that learner-instructor similarity in personality is an important antecedent of learners’ social reactions. The authors discuss how instructor’s attributes become social stimuli.Practical implications– The authors address why the instructor’s personality might be more consequential for learning than his/her demographic attributes. Also, the authors discuss why the manipulation of learners’ attributions might be considered an appropriate pedagogical strategy.Originality/value– Scholars primarily considered learners’ traits (e.g. IQ) and educational practices (e.g. teaching style) in explaining learning results. This emphasis has neglected analysis of the social role of instructors. This study contributes by examining how instructors induce social reactions on learners with significant repercussions for learning.
Coaching relationship in executive coaching: a Malaysian study
Authors: Gan Geok Chew , Chong Chin Wei 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– In order to bridge the gap and provide organizations with practical assistance in dealing with the effectiveness of executive coaching. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between coaching relationship which constitutes of rapport, trust, commitment and match with coaching effectiveness in Malaysia using a quantitative research method.Design/methodology/approach– Based on the extensive review of the current literature, rapport, trust, commitment and coach-coachee match with coaching effectiveness are investigated through questionnaire. Objective-driven model which focuses on the extent to which coaching objectives have been met, is used to measure the effectiveness of executive coaching.Findings– The main results of the multiple regressions demonstrate that both rapport and commitment significantly influence coaching effectiveness. These findings provide a basis for developing a quality relationship to advance the executive coaching and HRM research literature.Practical implications– The practical implication of this study could be useful for HCM managers, who want to enhance leadership capabilities through executive coaching engagement that support their organizations performance.Originality/value– This Malaysian study will build upon the existing knowledge by investigating the factors contributing to quality coaching relationship from the coachee’s viewpoint.
Influences on assertiveness: gender, national culture, and ethnicity
Authors: Parham James B. , Lewis Carmen C. , Fretwell Cherie E. , Irwin John G. , Schrimsher Martie R. 
Published: March 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to contribute to assertiveness research and assess the differences in assertiveness as it relates to gender, national culture, and ethnicity.Design/methodology/approach– The data for the study are from 231 undergraduate students majoring in business at one of four academic institutions: three in the USA and one in the Republic of Vietnam. Students completed the 30-item Rathus Assertiveness Schedule.Findings– This research suggests that individuals who are alike in level of education and status demonstrate similar levels of assertiveness, regardless of gender, national culture, or ethnicity. However, differences were seen as the data show white American males to be the most assertive, with African American females next. White females ranked third, followed by Vietnamese females, concluding with Vietnamese males.Research limitations/implications– Although the sample size is small, the intent of this research was never to have the subjects represent the general population in terms of the variables used. Instead, the authors attempted to control for gender, culture, and ethnicity variables by using a sample of college students who were similar in relation to education and social status. Future research could more fully research the findings from this study which suggest that African American women are more assertive than all other groups with the exception of white males.Originality/value– This study also gives credence to the suggestion that the global manager, in order to become more effective, needs to fully understand employee differences as represented by gender, national culture, and ethnicity.
Eliminating 3D pre‐stack migration artefacts by 6D filtering
Authors: Masjukov Andrey , Shlyonkin Vladimir 
Published: March 2015

ABSTRACTState‐of‐the‐art 3D seismic acquisition geometries have poor sampling along at least one dimension. This results in coherent migration noise that always contaminates pre‐stack migrated data, including high‐fold surveys, if prior‐to‐migration interpolation was not applied. We present a method for effective noise suppression in migrated gathers, competing with data interpolation before pre‐stack migration. The proposed technique is based on a dip decomposition of common‐offset volumes and a semblance‐type measure computation via offset for all constant‐dip gathers. Thus the processing engages six dimensions: offset, inline, crossline, depth, inline dip, and crossline dip. To reduce computational costs, we apply a two‐pass (4D in each pass) noise suppression: inline processing and then crossline processing (or vice versa). Synthetic and real‐data examples verify that the technique preserves signal amplitudes, including amplitude‐versus‐offset dependence, and that faults are not smeared.
Therapeutic potential of umbilical cord blood cells for type 1 diabetes mellitus
Authors: He Binbin , Li Xia , Yu Haibo , Zhou Zhiguang 
Published: March 2015

AbstractType 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic disorder that results from autoimmune‐mediated destruction of pancreatic islet β‐cells. However, to date, no conventional intervention has successfully treated the disease. The optimal therapeutic method for T1DM should effectively control the autoimmunity, restore immune homeostasis, preserve residual β‐cells, reverse β‐cell destruction, and protect the regenerated insulin‐producing cells against re‐attack. Umbilical cord blood is rich in regulatory T (Treg) cells and multiple types of stem cells that exhibit immunomodulating potential and hold promise in their ability to restore peripheral tolerance towards pancreatic islet β‐cells through remodeling of immune responses and suppression of autoreactive T cells. Recently, reinfusion of autologous umbilical cord blood or immune cells from cord blood has been proposed as a novel therapy for T1DM, with the advantages of no risk to the donors, minimal ethical concerns, a low incidence of graft‐versus‐host disease and easy accessibility. In this review, we revisit the role of autologous umbilical cord blood or immune cells from cord blood‐based applications for the treatment of T1DM.
Differential promoter activity by nucleotide substitution at a type 2 diabetes genome‐wide association study signal upstream of the wolframin gene
Authors: Ryu Jihye , Lee Chaeyoung 
Published: March 2015

AbstractBackgroundFunctional knowledge of most genetic variants identified from genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) for type 2 diabetes (T2D) is limited. A recent T2D GWAS revealed an association signal (rs4689388) upstream of the gene encoding Wolfram syndrome 1 (WFS1) whose intrinsic nucleotide variants had been previously associated with T2D in several candidate gene analyses. The aim of the present study was to identify functional variants of the GWAS signal.MethodsPromoter activity of luciferase reporter constructs was compared with haplotypes including variants composing a linkage disequilibrium block in the vicinity of rs4689388 in HEK293 and HepG2 cells.ResultsPromoter activity was highest with the most frequent haplotype (H1; ATCGT) and lowest with second most frequent haplotype (H2; GATCG), whose nucleotide alleles were all complementary to those of H1. Further analysis with artificial haplotypes revealed differential transcriptional activity by nucleotide substitution of rs4320200, rs13107806, or rs13127445 (P < 0.05). This concurred with changes in predicted transcription factor binding site by their allele substitutions.ConclusionsThe previously reported GWAS signal for T2D may be identified by the differential promoter activity of rs4320200, rs13107806, and rs13127445 in the promoter of WFS1 by nucleotide substitution.
Role of acetylcholinesterase in lung cancer
Authors: Xi Hui‐Jun , Wu Ren‐Pei , Liu Jing‐Jing , Zhang Ling‐Juan , Li Zhao‐Shen 
Published: March 2015

AbstractAcetylcholinesterase (AChE) plays a key role in catalytic hydrolysis of cholinergic neurotransmitters. Intensive research has proven the involvement of this protein in novel functions, such as cell adhesion, differentiation, and proliferation. In addition, several recent studies have indicated that acetylcholinesterase is potentially a marker and regulator of apoptosis. Importantly,AChEis also a promising tumor suppressor. In this review, we briefly summarize the involvement ofAChEin apoptosis and cancer, focusing on the role ofAChEin lung cancer, as well as the therapeutic consideration ofAChEfor cancer therapy.
Metabolic syndrome and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus in white males
Authors: Thrift A. P. , Hilal J. , El‐Serag H. B. 
Published: March 2015

SummaryBackgroundFew studies have examined the association between metabolic syndrome and Barrett's oesophagus (BO). Whether metabolic syndrome confers a risk greater than the sum of its components is unknown.AimTo investigate associations between metabolic syndrome, its components and BO in white males.MethodsWe conducted a case–control study among eligible symptomatic patients scheduled for elective oesophagogastroduodenoscopy and a sample of patients eligible for screening colonoscopy recruited at primary care clinics. Metabolic syndrome was defined as the presence of at least three of: high waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), hypertriglyceridaemia, low high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, hypertension or diabetes. We used multivariate logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).ResultsThere were 244 BO cases, 209 colonoscopy and 615 endoscopy controls. Comparing BO cases with all controls, metabolic syndrome was significantly associated with BO (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.05–2.40) and there was a dose effect with increasing number of metabolic syndrome components (Ptrend <0.001); when all five components were present, the OR was 2.61 (95% CI 1.14–5.99). We found that among the components, high WHR, hypertension and hypertriglyceridaemia were associated with increased risk of BO. When we compared cases with the control groups separately, metabolic syndrome was associated with BO for comparisons with endoscopy controls (OR = 1.67, 95% CI 1.10–2.55) but not colonoscopy controls (OR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.49–1.54). Associations with individual components also depended on the comparison group.ConclusionsMetabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of Barrett's oesophagus in men undergoing endoscopy. Metabolic syndrome may confer additional risk of Barrett's oesophagus separate from obesity.
The role of technology‐based scaffolding in problem‐based online asynchronous discussion
Authors: Ak Şerife 
Published: March 2015

AbstractThis study examined the effects of technology‐based scaffolds that were composed through the use of the seven‐stage, problem‐based learning strategy on knowledge construction in a problem‐based online asynchronous discussion. In a quasi‐experimental setting, 60 students in an undergraduate Instructional Technology and Material Design course were assigned to one of three groups. In one group, students posted messages using a prescribed set of message categories. Using the same message categories, another group completed their messages using suggested sentence openers. A control group received none of the above mentioned scaffolds. Using a multi‐method approach (content analysis, measurement of learning performance), the research results showed that technology‐based scaffolding in a problem‐based online asynchronous discussion improves students' task orientation and leads to more task‐related learning activity. Furthermore, using both message labels and sentence openers, which were composed through the use of the seven‐stage problem‐based learning process theoretical framework, offers an effective strategy for encouraging more elaboration and higher cognitive discourse.
Effective suppression of pro‐inflammatory molecules by DHCA via IKK‐NF‐κB pathway, in vitro and in vivo
Authors: Lee Junghun , Choi Jinyong , Kim Sunyoung 
Published: March 2015

Background and PurposeDehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DHCA), a lignan compound isolated from Cucurbita moschata, has previously been shown to contain anti‐adipogenic and antilipogenic effects on 3T3‐L1 cells and mouse embryonic fibroblasts. As some of phytochemicals derived from natural plants show anti‐inflammatory or antioxidative activities, we determined whether DHCA affects the production of pro‐inflammatory mediators and also investigated its underlying mechanisms.Experimental ApproachRaw264.7, a murine macrophage cell line, and primary murine macrophages derived from bone marrow cells were treated with LPS in the presence of DHCA. Furthermore, cells were treated with LPS and palmitate in the presence of DHCA to examine its effect on inflammasomes. The production of various pro‐inflammatory mediators was examined and the underlying mechanisms investigated using a variety of molecular biological techniques. To test whether DHCA exhibits anti‐inflammatory effects in vivo, mouse dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)‐induced colitis model was used.Key ResultsDHCA reduced the production of pro‐inflammatory cytokines (TNF‐α, IL‐6, IL‐1β and CCL2) and mediators (iNOS, COX‐2 and ROS) by down‐regulating the activity of I‐κB kinase and, subsequently, the DNA binding activity of NF‐κB. Moreover, DHCA effectively suppressed the palmitate‐mediated activation of inflammasomes, which resulted in decreased production of IL‐1β. DHCA also showed therapeutic effects in the mouse DSS‐induced colitis model by suppressing the production of TNF‐α and IL‐1β and thus preventing weight loss and colon shrinkage.Conclusions and ImplicationsOur data suggest that DHCA is a novel phytochemical that by regulating key molecules involved in inflammation and oxidative stress might exert a broad range of anti‐inflammatory activities.
Activation of NALP1 inflammasomes in rats with adjuvant arthritis; a novel therapeutic target of carboxyamidotriazole in a model of rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Zhu Lei , Li Juan , Guo Lei , Yu Xiaoli , Wu Danwei , Luo Lifeng , Zhu Lingzhi , Chen Wei , Chen Chen , Ye Caiying , Zhang Dechang 
Published: March 2015

Background and PurposePro‐inflammatory cytokines are important in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their production is mainly regulated by NF‐κB and inflammasomes. Carboxyamidotriazole (CAI) exhibits potent anti‐inflammatory activities by decreasing cytokines. Here, we have investigated NACHT, LRR and PYD domains‐containing protein (NALP) inflammasomes in a rat model of RA and explored the therapeutic effects of CAI in this model and the involvement of NF‐κB and inflammasomes in the actions of CAI.Experimental ApproachThe anti‐arthritic effects of CAI were assessed in the adjuvant arthritis (AA) model in rats, using radiological and histological techniques. NALP1 and NALP3 inflammasomes, NF‐κB pathway and pro‐inflammatory cytokines levels were measured with Western blots, immunohistochemistry and ELISA.Key ResultsCAI decreased the arthritis index, improved radiological and histological changes, and reduced synovial IL‐1β, IL‐6, IL‐18 and TNF‐α levels in rats with AA. Compared with normal rats, the 70 kDa NALP1 isoform was up‐regulated, NALP3 was down‐regulated, and levels of the 165 kDa NALP1 isoform and the adaptor protein ASC were unchanged in synovial tissue from AA rats. CAI reduced the 70 kDa NALP1 isoform and restored NALP3 levels in AA rats; CAI inhibited caspase‐1 activation in AA synovial tissue, but not its enzymic activity in vitro. In addition, CAI reduced expression of p65 NF‐κB subunit and IκBα phosphorylation and degradation in AA rats.Conclusion and ImplicationsNALP1 inflammasomes were activated in synovial tissues from AA rats and appeared to be a novel therapeutic target for RA. CAI could have therapeutic value in RA by inhibiting activation of NF‐κB and NALP1 inflammasomes and by decreasing pro‐inflammatory cytokines.