bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME1/MEDIATOR25 Regulates Lateral Root Formation via Auxin Signaling in Arabidopsis
Authors: Raya-González Javier , Ortiz-Castro Randy , Ruíz-Herrera León Francisco , Kazan Kemal , López-Bucio José 
Published: May 2014

AbstractRoot system architecture is a major determinant of water and nutrient acquisition as well as stress tolerance in plants. The Mediator complex is a conserved multiprotein complex that acts as a universal adaptor between transcription factors and the RNA polymerase II. In this article, we characterize possible roles of the MEDIATOR8 (MED8) and MED25 subunits of the plant Mediator complex in the regulation of root system architecture in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We found that loss-of-function mutations in PHYTOCHROME AND FLOWERING TIME1 (PFT1)/MED25 increase primary and lateral root growth as well as lateral and adventitious root formation. In contrast, PFT1/MED25 overexpression reduces these responses, suggesting that PFT1/MED25 is an important element of meristematic cell proliferation and cell size control in both lateral and primary roots. PFT1/MED25 negatively regulates auxin transport and response gene expression in most parts of the plant, as evidenced by increased and decreased expression of the auxin-related reporters PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1)::PIN1::GFP (for green fluorescent protein), DR5:GFP, DR5:uidA, and BA3:uidA in pft1-2 mutants and in 35S:PFT1 seedlings, respectively. No alterations in endogenous auxin levels could be found in pft1-2 mutants or in 35S:PFT1-overexpressing seedlings. However, detailed analyses of DR5:GFP and DR5:uidA activity in wild-type, pft1-2, and 35S:PFT1 seedlings in response to indole-3-acetic acid, naphthaleneacetic acid, and the polar auxin transport inhibitor 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid indicated that PFT1/MED25 principally regulates auxin transport and response. These results provide compelling evidence for a new role for PFT1/MED25 as an important transcriptional regulator of root system architecture through auxin-related mechanisms in Arabidopsis.
Integrating Web 2.0 into an academic library in Tanzania
Authors: Tandi Lwoga Edda 
Published: May 2014

Purpose
– This paper aims to demonstrate work undertaken by Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) Library in an effort to integrate Web 2.0 technologies in its functions to enhance the quality of its services in Tanzania.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study conducted an exploratory questionnaire survey to assess user requirements among undergraduate medical students at MUHAS, developed Library 2.0 services, conducted training and created awareness.

Findings
– The paper shows that Web 2.0 technologies can be implemented effectively according to university goals, user's needs, deployment of user friendly tools, and capacity building among librarians and users. Students positively supported the adoption of Library 2.0 services at MUHAS. Library 2.0 services improved the quality of MUHAS library services, despite various challenges related to infrastructure, awareness, literacy, inadequate staff, security and ownership of Web 2.0 services.

Research limitations/implications
– The study findings may not be widely replicated because this article is based on a case study of the integration of Web 2.0 technologies into the library functions of MUHAS. This study did not examine the use of Library 2.0 applications among library users (such as faculty and students) which could illuminate further the case study.

Practical implications
– Most academic libraries in Africa have not yet adopted Web 2.0 technologies to improve their services. The user preferences, technology adoption, and challenges faced from the present study can help other libraries to plan and integrate their Library 2.0 technologies in their services.

Originality/value
– MUHAS Library offers a practical example of how Web 2.0 services can be adopted to enhance the quality of academic library services in an African context. This paper is of significance to academic libraries that are still considering their options with regard to the application of Web 2.0 technologies.
Adoption of Web 2.0 in academic libraries of top African universities
Authors: H. Wordofa Kebede 
Published: May 2014

Purpose– This study aims to explore the extent of Web 2.0 adoption by libraries of top universities in Africa. It focuses on identifying the extent of utilization, types of Web 2.0 technologies adopted and how these technologies are used.Design/methodology/approach– The content analysis method was used. Data was collected by analyzing library websites of 82 top universities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, a combination of literature review and document analysis was applied.Findings– About half of the libraries in the study adopted one or more Web 2.0 applications. Social networks were the most widely adopted while social bookmarking and tagging were the least used applications. Web 2.0 utilization in African academic libraries was still in early stages.Research limitations/implications– This study is mainly based on analysis of library websites. Web 2.0 platforms that were password protected and accessible through intranet were not studied. Therefore, studies that are based on feedback of librarians and patrons are warranted to further investigate Web 2.0 utilization in African libraries.Practical implications– Web 2.0 plays a key role in facilitating information sharing, collaboration, and communication between librarians and patrons, and among librarians. It is essential for African libraries to integrate these technologies into library services to enhance the quality of services.Originality/value– This is likely the first study about Web 2.0 applications in African academic libraries. It is a useful source for implementing web-based technologies in libraries.
Global real estate mutual funds: regional exposure and forecasting skill
Authors: Rodríguez Javier , Romero Herminio 
Published: May 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk-adjusted performance of US-based global real estate mutual funds (GREMFs) with emphasis on their ability to manage their domestic and foreign portfolios exposures.Design/methodology/approach– The paper applies common econometric measures of portfolio performance and implements a non-traditional methodology called attribution returns to measure forecasting ability. In this setting the paper compares the actual monthly fund return to what would have been earned by the set of indices that best reflects the fund's investment strategy during the previous month. Performance and forecasting ability is examined during two different time periods: 2001-2005 and 2006-2010.Findings– It is found that global real estate fund managers outperform the market and show good forecasting ability during the 2001-2005 time period. Good forecasting ability translates to positive risk-adjusted performance, as attribution returns are positively correlated withα.Originality/value– Despite the significant growth in the number of US-based GREMFs and the ample coverage these funds receive in the popular press, few studies are solely devoted to the examination of these funds. In this study the paper empirically examines the ability of fund managers to successfully forecast country/regional political and economic conditions as well as fluctuations in currency exchanges rates brought about by the changes they made to their portfolios’ domestic and foreign exposures.
Land value determination in an emerging market: empirical evidence from China
Authors: X.H. Bao Helen , L. Glascock John , Z. Zhou Sherry , Feng Lei 
Published: May 2014

Purpose
– In this research, the purpose of this paper is to assess the relative pricing behavior for land in Beijing, China. The paper sees this as important for three core reasons. First, China has a strong growth economy but is still in many ways an undeveloped country and thus the paper do not have significant data about asset pricing behavior there. Second, China has not traditionally had a market-based land and property transfer system – thus, it is interesting to assess how prices are determined relative to typical market expectations. Third, the authors have extensive evidence on pricing behavior in the USA and Europe but little such evidence on China – are the same variables important in land pricing in China and are there other unique local variables.

Design/methodology/approach
– This paper analyzes prices of non-industrial and industrial land separately using a comprehensive data set and a semi-parametric framework. The data and flexible model specification allow the hedonic price coefficients to be estimated more accurately.

Findings
– The key results are that pricing behavior in general follows the traditional expected variables as determined by size, planning use, location and other neighborhood characteristics. However, the authors also find that land prices are associated with buyer characteristics; for example, foreign investors pay less than local investors.

Originality/value
– The study fills the gap in the literature in two ways. First, this paper analyzes prices of non-industrial and industrial land separately using a comprehensive data set and a semi-parametric framework. The data and flexible model specification allow the hedonic price coefficients to be estimated more accurately. Second, and more importantly, the authors find evidences that land prices in China are determined by both market force and “Chinese characteristics.” The land market, although established only recently, is at work. In line with the literature, determinants such as size and planning uses are found to be important in determining land prices.
The role of psychic distance in international trade: a longitudinal analysis
Authors: Håkanson Lars 
Published: May 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance to international trade of impediments related to, first, geographic distance, such as freight and other costs related to the movement of physical goods, and second, “psychic distance”, such as the costs and difficulties of transferring and interpreting the information necessary to effect international transactions.Design/methodology/approach– The paper highlights that psychic distance perceptions between countries are not symmetric and that both exporters’ and importers’ perceptions are important. The empirical analysis covers international trade in three categories of goods among 25 major trading nations for the period 1962-2008, employing structural equation modeling, incorporating the mutual interdependence of the distance measures.Findings– Exporters’ perceptions are more important for trade in differentiated products than for standardized goods, which conversely are more strongly influenced by those of importers. Over time, the impact of both types of psychic distance has declined due to the dramatic improvements in communication and information technologies of recent decades. International markets have thereby become increasingly transparent, facilitating the matching of geographically proximate buyers and sellers in order to minimize transportation costs. These changes fundamentally affect the competitive landscape both for firms that seek to market their goods and services internationally and for domestic firms that face new and more intense competition from foreign rivals.Originality/value– The paper employs simultaneously a statistical methodology novel to the field and – for the first time in the literature – asymmetric measures of psychic distances as perceived by importers and exporters, respectively. Applying the methodology to different categories of goods demonstrates long-term trends in the differential impact of geographic and psychic distances.
Resource scavenging
Authors: Jane Hewerdine Lisa , Rumyantseva Maria , Welch Catherine 
Published: May 2014

Purpose
– There has been growing interest in studying the internationalisation of small and medium-sized high-technology firms. This literature tends to equate “internationalisation” with the “internationalisation of sales”. Yet sales are not the only international activity of high-tech firms. High-tech firms need resources and not just markets. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to an understanding of this resource dimension of the international behaviour of high-tech firms.

Design/methodology/approach
– The empirical basis for the study lies in a multiple case study of six high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The authors selected two firms from each of three high-tech industries: biotechnology (specifically drug development), renewable energy and ICT. The key decision makers in each firms were then interviewed in depth.

Findings
– The authors show that for the case firms in the study, internationalisation can take the form of searching, prospecting or “scavenging” for resources. “Resource-seeking” behaviour occurs because the SMEs do not own, control or have access to sufficient resources to bring their technology to market on their own. The pattern of internationalisation that results from resource scavenging is different to that of traditional “market-seeking” internationalisation.

Originality/value
– This paper provides evidence of how the resource-acquisition behaviour of high-tech SMEs can be an important element of their internationalisation. Yet existing literature has focused almost exclusively on the market-seeking internationalisation of these firms.
Catastrophe risks, cat bonds and innovation resistance
Authors: Nguyen Tristan , Lindenmeier Joerg 
Published: May 2014

Purpose
– It is essential for the welfare and growth of a society that it is able to share risk efficiently in the economy. However, extreme events have increased enormously during the last decades, so that catastrophe risks seem to become uninsurable in a free-market economy. With insurance-linked securities (ILS) or catastrophe bonds (cat bonds), the limits of insurability can be ex-tended by using the resources of capital markets worldwide. Interestingly, to date the issuers of cat bonds must guarantee excessively high returns in order to attract investors from the financial markets. Therefore, the authors aim to discuss in this paper the hypothesis that at least parts of these excessively high returns can be explained by an individual innovation resistance to cat bonds.

Design/methodology/approach
– In the first step, the authors examine the criteria for insurability of catastrophe risks and explore the potential reasons for lack of insurance, specifically for extreme events such as catastrophic environmental risks. The authors especially focus on the criteria which are considered to be problematic for the insurance of catastrophic events. In the next step, the authors discuss the new financial products “ILS” or “cat bonds” and analyze to what extent ILS represent an innovative opportunity to increase the insurability of catastrophe risks. Starting from the model of the consumer resistance by RAM, the authors consider different factors that can prevent the acceptance of ILS by private investors.

Findings
– The authors found out that catastrophe risks do not really fulfil important actuarial criteria in order to be insurable. Thus, insurance exists only if risk can be transferred, not only to reinsurance companies but also to capital markets (through securitization or catastrophe options). In line with Ram's seminal model of consumer resistance, the authors assume that product-related, diffusion mechanism-related and psychographic factors influence individuals' resistance to cat bonds. In particular, the authors expect that perceptions of immorality influence private investors' decision-making. Within this context, Robin and Reidenbach's “Multi-dimensional ethics”-scale represents a possibility to assess perceptions of immorality.

Originality/value
– In this paper, the authors provide a new approach to explain the excess spreads on cat bonds versus comparable corporate bonds. These abnormal high turns from cat bonds have been subject of intensive research in the last decade. To date, the insurance literature has identified “novelty premium”, “market size” and “cliff risk” as the reasons for the excess spreads. The authors assume that at least parts of these excessively high returns can be explained by an individual innovation resistance against ILS. In the authors' opinion, persuasive communication can be used to alleviate individual resistance towards ILS. The paper provides implications for management and suggestions for further research.
Financial risk perceptions: a consciousness perspective
Authors: A. Olsen Robert 
Published: May 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implications of human consciousness relative to financial risk perceptions.Design/methodology/approach– After conceptually identifying that risk perceptions qualify as a Qualia, survey data are gathered from investment experts to clarify the implications.Findings– Financial risk perceptions are Qualia and as such should have a strong affective influence on risk perceptions. This suggests that aggregate market measures of financial risk may be difficult to obtain and utilize.Research limitations/implications– Sample size could be larger and more complete implications need to be investigated. Sample unlikely to exhibit significant bias.Practical implications– Going to be difficult to devise aggregate measures of financial risk across market participants.Social implications– Risk is going to be heavily affective in orientation and interpersonal Trust is a financial risk attribute.Originality/value– Is quite original as the author has never seen another paper look to the implications of consciousness for financial risk perceptions or even Trust. Breaks new ground!
Economic performance, export, systemic barriers and equity investments in innovative companies
Authors: Prorokowski Lukasz 
Published: May 2014

Purpose– This paper attempts to provide insights into the functioning of innovative companies in times of the global financial crisis. In doing so, the following study investigates whether innovations protected companies from the adverse effects of the global recession. On this occasion, the paper analyzes the economic performance of innovative industries in Poland, highlighting institutional and systemic barriers that curb their development. The main purpose of this paper is to clarify whether targeting innovative companies for equity investments proved beneficial during the global financial crisis.Design/methodology/approach– This paper employs the mean return per unit of risk (MRPUR) analysis in order to investigate international portfolio diversification opportunities delivered by targeting innovative companies for equity investments in times of the global financial crisis. The paper also uses interviews and questionnaires to broaden the knowledge about issues related to the functioning of innovative companies. This is motivated by the fact that the research remains under-researched by the reviewed studies.Findings– The paper links innovations in business strategy and production to the ability of companies to resist the global financial crisis. This paper argues that innovative approach to business strategies proved far more profitable for companies than relying on novelties in production. Furthermore, the paper provides strong evidence that innovative companies could contribute to mitigation of the global economic downturn by stimulating the sustainable economic growth in Poland. As far as the main purpose of this paper is concerned, the current study delivers useful and informative insights into the international portfolio diversification processes that assume targeting innovative investees.Practical implications– This paper delivers practical implications for innovative companies, market regulators, policymakers and international investors.Originality/value– The current paper addresses the absence of the academic literature devoted to the analysis of financial performance of the Polish investee companies representing innovative industries. In doing so, this paper advises on changes in regulations that would facilitate further development of innovative companies. Moreover, the paper paints the picture of the investment environment prevailing in the Central European emerging stock market of Poland. Hereto, delivering general insights into the functioning and regulatory framework of the Polish stock market proves useful in assessing the economic and financial development of Poland.
Great strategists say “no”
Authors: De Flander Jeroen 
Published: May 2014

Purpose
– Discusses the importance of saying “no”.

Design/methodology/approach
– Outlines the author's view, informed by Michael Porter, that any great strategy begins with a clear list of things that one won't do.

Findings
– Opines that a “list of noes” is integral to a successful strategy, in reducing a customers choices in order to avoid decision paralysis.

Originality/value
– Utilizes the example of Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper's jame experiment, which found that the fewer choices a customer is presented with, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Model‐based attenuation for scattered dispersive waves
Authors: Strobbia Claudio , Zarkhidze Alexander , May Roger , Ibrahim Fatma 
Published: May 2014

ABSTRACTCoherent noise in land seismic data primarily consists in source‐generated surface‐wave modes. The component that is traditionally considered most relevant is the so‐called ground roll, consisting in surface‐wave modes propagating directly from sources to receivers.In many geological situations, near‑surface heterogeneities and discontinuities, as well as topography irregularities, diffract the surface waves and generate secondary events, which can heavily contaminate records.The diffracted and converted surface waves are often called scattered noise and can be a severe problem particularly in areas with shallow or outcropping hard lithological formations. Conventional noise attenuation techniques are not effective with scattering: they can usually address the tails but not the apices of the scattered events. Large source and receiver arrays can attenuate scattering but only in exchange for a compromise to signal fidelity and resolution.We present a model‑based technique for the scattering attenuation, based on the estimation of surface‐wave properties and on the prediction of surface waves with a complex path involving diffractions.The properties are estimated first, to produce surface‑consistent volumes of the propagation properties. Then, for all gathers to filter, we integrate the contributions of all possible diffractors, building a scattering model. The estimated scattered wavefield is then subtracted from the data. The method can work in different domains and copes with aliased surface waves. The benefits of the method are demonstrated with synthetic and real data.
Alleviating poverty or reinforcing inequality? Interpreting micro‐finance in practice, with illustrations from rural China
Authors: Hsu Becky Yang 
Published: May 2014

AbstractAcademic and political discussions about micro‐finance have been found lacking in predictive power, because they are based on orthodox economic theory, which does not properly comprehend the social components of credit. I take a better approach, utilizing credit theory – specifically, Ingham's explication of how the nature of money as credit leads to social inequality. I also expound the perspective that morality is not separate from considerations borrowers make in micro‐finance programmes on the micro level. I draw upon illustrations from my fieldwork in rural China, where a group‐lending micro‐finance programme was administered as part of a larger government‐initiated effort across the country.