bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessing the application of Kaizen principles in Indian small-scale industry
Authors: Arya Amit Kumar , Choudhary Suraj 
Published: October 2015

Purpose
– This study aims to represent Kaizen implementation in a machine vice manufacturing company. Kaizen has shown tremendous impacts on the production techniques and lead times. A large number of small-scale industries have shown their existence in India. It has been difficult for small industries to survive due to tough competition among them. All are facing problems like low production and poor-quality products.

Design/methodology/approach
– The methodology applied to implement Kaizen in Indian small-scale industry. Fishbone diagrams have been used to represent cause and effects. The result has been shown as savings in terms of money and time.

Findings
– Inventory access time is reduced up to 87 per cent and total distance travelled and total time taken by product is reduced up to 43.75 and 46.08 per cent, respectively. A habit to maintain a clean workplace has been developed in workers.

Research limitations/implications
– ISO could be integrated with Kaizen for more improvements.

Practical implications
– The paper should assist those practitioners and consultants who have the desire to understand a better way of Kaizen implementation in small-scale industries of India.

Originality/value
– This paper yields lots of values for practitioners to understand the need, impacts and significance of Kaizen implementation in small-scale industries of India. Also, it bridges the gap between theory and practice of Kaizen implementation in real working conditions in Indian industries.
Lean initiative practice for supplier developments in Philippines
Authors: Kim Song-Kyoo 
Published: October 2015

Purpose– The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how Toyota deploys Lean Manufacturing and Toyota Production System (TPS) for their automotive parts’ suppliers in Philippines based on the case study and the literature review.Design/methodology/approach– The methods to better understand how Toyota donates Lean Manufacturing to develop their suppliers include to review the general Lean thinking process and tools and study in depth the selected Lean manufacturing tools that are directly related with Toyota supplier development and to show the actual implementations base in the case of the supplier of Toyota in Philippines.Findings– The result of the case study shows how Toyota donates their Lean manufacturing (TPS) methods to the suppliers. There are several procedures and various tools for the Lean process. But one procedure within the process and only some of the Lean tools are suitable for supplier development. The case shows that all improvements (Kaizen) during the Lean implementation should be directly intertwined onsite (Genba) and just a small amount of the Lean tools is needed in real-world situations. In other words, the consultation of the Lean implementation might not require the full package of the Lean implementations. More importantly, the consultations of the Lean implementation without deeply understanding the onsite are useless.Research limitations/implications– The project for the Lean deployment for supplier implementation is targeted to understand the full procedure from the start to the end, but the case in this paper is only covering the setup phase. As the suppliers of Toyota, there are additional parts to be implemented (i.e. shipping management), but it is not covered in this paper.Originality/value– There are some researches about Lean implementation framework, and only few cases deal with the actual Lean implementations. But the case about the Lean implementation of supplier development initiation which aligned with the Toyota Company is unique.
Sustainable property development by Malaysian property companies
Authors: Razali Muhammad Najib , Mohd Adnan Yasmin 
Published: October 2015

Purpose– The concept of sustainability has become increasingly essential to property development, especially in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of sustainability practices among listed property companies in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach– Using content analysis, company websites and annual reports, the level of sustainable practices among property companies in Malaysia will be examined and assessed. The paper will also rigorously assess the sustainability strategies employed by using an attributes scorecard, which takes into account several attributes concerning sustainability issues.Findings– The findings have showed sustainable property development concept among listed property companies can be categorised as low level, although this is increasing.Originality/value– Given the increasing significance of sustainability issues – especially in property development – this paper provides a more informed investment decision strategies regarding the implementation of the sustainability concept in property portfolio; a consideration that has increasingly come into focus amongst international property actors.
Identification of two essential aspartates for polymerase activity in parainfluenza virus L protein by a minireplicon system expressing secretory luciferase
Authors: Matsumoto Yusuke , Ohta Keisuke , Yumine Natsuko , Goto Hideo , Nishio Machiko 
Published: October 2015

ABSTRACTGene expression of nonsegmented negative‐strand RNA viruses (nsNSVs) such as parainfluenza viruses requires the RNA synthesis activity of their polymerase L protein; however, the detailed mechanism of this process is poorly understood. In this study, a parainfluenza minireplicon assay expressing secretory Gaussia luciferase (Gluc) was established to analyze large protein (L) activity. Measurement of Gluc expression in the culture medium of cells transfected with the minigenome and viral polymerase components enabled quick and concise calculation of L activity. By comparing the amino acid sequences in conserved region III (CRIII), a putative polymerase‐active domain of the L protein, two strictly conserved aspartates were identified in all families of nsNSV. A series of L mutants from human parainfluenza virus type 2 and parainfluenza virus type 5 showed that these aspartates are necessary for reporter gene expression. It was also confirmed that these aspartates are important for the production of viral mRNA and antigenome cRNA, but not for a polymerase‐complex formation. These findings suggest that these two aspartates are key players in the nucleotidyl transfer reaction using two metal ions.
An insect ecosystem engineer alleviates drought stress in plants without increasing plant susceptibility to an above‐ground herbivore
Authors: Johnson Scott N. , Lopaticki Goran , Barnett Kirk , Facey Sarah L. , Powell Jeff R. , Hartley Susan E. 
Published: October 2015

Summary

Climate change models predict more extreme rainfall patterns, ranging from droughts to deluges, which will inevitably affect primary productivity in many terrestrial ecosystems. Insects within the ecosystem, living above‐ and below‐ground, may modify plant responses to water stress. For example, some functional groups improve soil conditions via resource provision, potentially alleviating water stress. Enhanced resource provision may, however, render plants more susceptible to herbivores and negate beneficial effects.

Using a model system, we tested how plants (Brassica oleracea) responded to drought, ambient and increased precipitation scenarios when interacting with both a soil conditioning ecosystem engineer (dung beetles; Bubas bison) and an above‐ground herbivore, the major crop pest diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella).

Dung beetles enhanced soil water retention by 10% and promoted growth in plants subjected to drought by 280%, relieving the impacts of water stress on plants. Under drought conditions, plants grown with dung beetles had c. 30% more leaves and were over twice as tall as those without dung beetles. Dung beetles produced a 2·7‐fold increase in nitrogen content and more than a threefold increase in carbon content of the shoots, though shoot concentrations of nitrogen and carbon were unchanged. Carbon concentrations in roots, however, were increased by dung beetles under both ambient and increased precipitation regimes.

Increased precipitation reduced root and shoot nitrogen concentrations by 16% and 30%, relative to plants under ambient regimes, respectively, most likely due to dilution effects of increased plant growth under increased precipitation. Soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations were largely unaffected.

While dung beetles enhanced plant growth and nitrogen content in plants experiencing drought, the anticipated increase in plant suitability to herbivores did not arise, possibly because shoot nitrogen concentrations and C:N ratio were unaffected.

To our knowledge, this is the first report of an insect ecosystem engineer alleviating the effects of predicted drought events on plants via physical manipulation of the soil matrix. Moreover, their effects did not change plant suitability to an above‐ground herbivore, pointing to potential beneficial role for insect ecosystem engineers in climate change adaptation and crop protection.
Effects of temperature and resource variation on insect population dynamics: the bordered plant bug as a case study
Authors: Johnson Christopher A. , Coutinho Renato M. , Berlin Erin , Dolphin Kimberly E. , Heyer Johanna , Kim Britney , Leung Alice , Sabellon Jamie Lou , Amarasekare Priyanga 
Published: October 2015

Summary

In species with complex life cycles, population dynamics result from a combination of intrinsic cycles arising from delays in the operation of negative density‐dependent processes (e.g. intraspecific competition) and extrinsic fluctuations arising from seasonal variation in the abiotic environment. Abiotic variation can affect species directly through their life‐history traits and indirectly by modulating the species’ interactions with resources or natural enemies.

We investigate how the interplay between density‐dependent dynamics and abiotic variability affects population dynamics of the bordered plant bug (Largus californicus), a Hemipteran herbivore inhabiting the California coastal sage scrub community. Field data show a striking pattern in abundance: adults are extremely abundant or nearly absent during certain periods of the year, leading us to predict that seasonal forcing plays a role in driving observed dynamics.

We develop a stage‐structured population model with variable developmental delays, in which fecundity is affected by both intraspecific competition and temporal variation in resource availability and all life‐history traits (reproduction, development, mortality) are temperature‐dependent. We parameterize the model with experimental data on temperature responses of life‐history and competitive traits and validate the model with independent field census data.

We find that intraspecific competition is strongest at temperatures optimal for reproduction, which theory predicts leads to more complex population dynamics. Our model predicts that while temperature or resource variability interacts with development‐induced delays in self‐limitation to generate population fluctuations, it is the interplay between all three factors that drive the observed dynamics. Considering how multiple abiotic factors interact with density‐dependent processes is important both for understanding how species persist in variable environments and predicting species’ responses to perturbations in their typical environment.
Additive genetic variance and effects of inbreeding, sex and age on heterophil to lymphocyte ratio in song sparrows
Authors: Losdat Sylvain , Arcese Peter , Sampson Laura , Villar Nacho , Reid Jane M. 
Published: October 2015

SummaryPhysiological traits can influence individual fitness and evolutionary changes in stress‐related physiological traits have been hypothesized to mediate the evolution of life‐history traits and trade‐offs. The hypothesis that such physiological variation could drive ongoing life‐history evolution requires non‐zero additive genetic variance in individual stress‐related physiological traits. However, the magnitude of genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variation in stress‐related physiological traits has not been estimated in fully developed vertebrates under natural environmental conditions.We used 490 observations of heterophil to lymphocyte (H : L) ratio, one stress‐related physiological trait, collected from 350 fully developed song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) across nine different sampling periods to estimate direct and interacting effects of individual and parental coefficients of inbreeding (f), sampling period, age and sex, and to estimate additive genetic variance and heritability.Across all nine sampling periods combined, H : L ratio increased with individualf. However, there was a significant individualfby period interaction whereby H : L ratio increased with individualfin two of the nine sampling periods, hence indicating inbreeding depression. H : L ratio was higher (suggesting an increase in baseline stress level) in older individuals, did not differ between males and females and did not vary with parentalf.A quantitative genetic ‘animal model’ estimated low additive genetic variance in individual H : L ratio. The estimated heritability wash2 = 0·04 and did not differ significantly from zero.Overall, these results imply that the magnitude of inbreeding depression, as measured through H : L ratio, varies with environmental conditions. In contrast, the low estimated heritability implies relatively low potential for H : L ratio to show an evolutionary response to selection, or hence to mediate the evolution of life‐history trade‐offs.
Transient dynamics reveal the importance of early life survival to the response of a tropical tree to harvest
Authors: Gaoue Orou G. 
Published: October 2015

Summary

Exploitation of non‐timber forest products can contribute to the alleviation of poverty. However, overexploitation can also lead to species decline. Studies on the sustainability of harvest often use stationary population growth rates to assess harvesting effects. For such frequently harvested systems, transient analysis can provide new insights into the response of populations to harvest.

To test the prediction that the effect of harvest differs between transient and asymptotic phases, I used four years of demographic data to compare the impact of harvesting bark and foliage on the short‐ and long‐term dynamics of African dry zone Mahogany Khaya senegalensis in West Africa.

The effect of harvest was stronger in the short term than in the long term, particularly in the moist region. Patterns of transient elasticities also differed from the elasticities of long‐term growth rates to perturbation of vital rates. Survival at early life stages was more important for short‐term dynamics than for long‐term population dynamics.

Synthesis and applications. This study illustrates that using the asymptotic growth rates to assess the impact of harvest may underestimate the short‐term effects of harvest. Short‐term management plans based on the elasticity analysis of long‐term growth rates will be suboptimal given the relative importance of the survival of non‐reproductive stages for population dynamics in the near term. Managers should use results from elasticity analysis of both long‐term and short‐term population dynamics to develop more realistic management plans.
Quantifying how short‐term environmental variation leads to long‐term demographic responses to climate change
Authors: Shriver Robert K. 
Published: October 2015

Summary

Climate change is expected to alter not only year‐to‐year variation in climate but also aspects of within‐year variation, such as the length of the intervals between rainfall events and the duration of heat waves. Yet we still have a poor understanding of how intra‐annual climate variability and individual weather events alter key vital rates (e.g. individual growth, reproduction and survival) that in part determine population dynamics.

Traditionally, ecologists have accounted for this variability across long time periods by attempting to correlate annual vital rates with measures of within‐year variability (e.g. the coefficient of variation) to match the scale at which demographic data are collected. An alternative to this aggregate approach is to use within‐season yet still relatively infrequent censuses in a probabilistic framework to determine the most likely way that vital rates respond to shorter‐term variation in the environment, and how these short‐term changes cumulatively lead to the observed yearly vital rates.

Here, I present an approach for inferring daily responses of vital rates to short‐term weather variability, and apply it to understand how five species of summer annual plants in the Chihuahuan Desert will respond to climate change.

Vital rate models reveal that species differ in their responses to above‐ and below‐average conditions, but generally fall into two life histories: (i) species that have fast growth on favourable days, but also experience higher mortality on less favourable days, and (ii) species that have slower growth in the same conditions but lower mortality. Results show that the expected rainfall changes in the Chihuahuan Desert (more late, cool season rainfall and less frequent, more intense rainfall events) could reduce growth and increase mortality of all summer annual plants.

Synthesis. My study shows that vital rates can change in response to short‐term variability even when the total amount of rainfall and average temperature, common covariates in demographic models, remain constant. Accounting for changes in short‐term environmental variation in climate change predictions will likely be important in systems with considerable environmental variation between censuses. The approach I present here can be widely applied to understand how short‐term variability and individual weather events will alter organism responses to climate change.
Coparents and parenting programmes: do both parents need to attend?
Authors: Huntington Corinne , Vetere Arlene 
Published: October 2015

Numerous parents participate in parenting programmes to promote child development, but few programmes consider relationships within family systems. While both parents’ attendance can improve outcomes, both are rarely able to attend, with mothers typically being the participant. The study aims to understand whether changes to parenting practices can occur from one parent's attendance and, if so, what factors promote the non‐attending parent's modified parenting practices. A mixed‐method evaluation was conducted: semi‐structured interviews, surveys and focus groups. In this study, both parents attributed changes to their parenting practices to programme participation. This was facilitated by mothers giving programme information to fathers and positive coparent relationships. Ideally, both parents would attend every session; however, it is posited that this may not always be necessary for promoting positive parenting. Implications to support families are discussed.Practitioner points

Fathers can be included in parenting interventions through mothers, if the coparents’ relationship is positive.
If practitioners conducted relationship assessments with coparents, necessary delivery modifications could be made to facilitate both parents’ participation.
Alternatively, parenting practitioners could provide couples’ counselling to coparents, either before or during the delivery of parenting interventions.
Comparison between Folin‐Ciocalteu and Prussian Blue Assays to Estimate The Total Phenolic Content of Juices and Teas Using 96‐Well Microplates
Authors: Margraf Tiago , Karnopp Ariadne Roberto , Rosso Neiva Deliberali , Granato Daniel 
Published: October 2015

AbstractFolin‐Ciocalteu colorimetric assay (FC) is the most widely used assay to estimate the total phenolic content in foods, beverages, herbs and other plant extracts, but many chemical compounds may act as interfering agents, producing inaccurate estimations of the real concentration of phenolic compounds in the matrix. Based on this limitation, the objective of this study was to compare, quantitatively, the Folin‐Ciocalteu and Prussian Blue (PB) assays in estimating the total phenolic content in purple grape juices (n = 20; Vitis labrusca L.) and teas (n = 25) from different botanical origins using 96‐well microplates. PB assay presented a low limit of detection (PB = 0.27 mg/L; FC = 0.25 mg/L) and quantification (PB = 0.92 mg/L; FC = 0.82 mg/L), showing its suitability in screening the total phenolic content in grape juices and teas. FC and PB assays presented a high association (P < 0.0001) for teas (r = 0.887) and grape juices (r = 0.923). The advantages of PB over FC assay are its simplicity, low time consumption (15 min reaction as compared to 60 min reaction for the FC assay), lower usage of reagents (solutions are prepared in a mM base), and higher selectivity. Additionally, PB assay was proven to be reproducible and repeatable and, therefore, may be used as an alternative to FC assay.
Towards a mechanistic understanding of the synergistic effects of harvesting timber and non‐timber forest products
Authors: Gaoue Orou G. , Ngonghala Calistus N. , Jiang Jiang , Lelu Maud 
Published: October 2015

SummaryClassic theories of resource harvest assume logistic growth and incorporate harvest through an additional loss term. This methodology has been applied successfully in forest products harvesting such as timber logging. However, modelling harvest through a loss term is not appropriate for non‐timber forest products (NTFP) since harvesting in this case does not always require the complete removal of individual plants.Empirical evidence suggest that NTFP harvest affects plant population growth rates. Additionally, timber and NTFP harvest can have synergistic effects on population dynamics. We develop and analyse a simple model that incorporates non‐lethal harvest implicitly through the population growth rate of plants and lethal harvest explicitly through permanent removal of whole plants, with additional synergistic effects on population growth rate. To capture transient dynamics, we model the growth rate of plants explicitly as a dynamic variable affected by harvesting.Transient dynamics results indicate that populations have delayed response to discrete harvesting. We demonstrate exactly how the sustainability of lethal harvest, non‐lethal harvest or both types of harvests depends on the demographic effect of each type of harvest on the population growth rate.Finally, we identify a threshold parameter, such that combined lethal and non‐lethal harvest results in plant population sustainability when1 and extinction when1.