bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Spatial Configuration of Transposable ElementAcTermini Affects Their Ability to Induce Chromosomal Breakage in Maize
Authors: Yu Chuanhe , Zhang Jianbo , Pulletikurti Vinay , Weber David F. , Peterson Thomas 
Published: March 2010

AbstractComposite or closely linked maize (Zea mays) Ac/Ds transposable elements can induce chromosome breakage, but the precise configurations of Ac/Ds elements that can lead to chromosome breakage are not completely defined. Here, we determined the structures and chromosome breakage properties of 15 maize p1 alleles: each allele contains a fixed fractured Ac (fAc) element and a closely linked full-length Ac at various flanking sites. Our results show that pairs of Ac/fAc elements in which the termini of different elements are in direct or reverse orientation can induce chromosome breakage. By contrast, no chromosome breakage is observed with alleles containing pairs of Ac/fAc elements in which the external termini of the paired elements can function as a macrotransposon. Among the structures that can lead to chromosome breaks, breakage frequency is inversely correlated with the distance between the interacting Ac/Ds termini. These results provide new insight into the mechanism of transposition-induced chromosome breakage, which is one outcome of the chromosome-restructuring ability of alternative transposition events.
Enabling informed and responsible purchasing: helping customers to understand implications and impacts
Authors: Coulson‐Thomas Colin 
Published: March 2010

PurposeMany concerned people are unaware of the full impacts of their buying decisions on the environment. This paper aims to show how people can be helped to behave more responsibly when they buy.Design/methodology/approachSales and purchasing support tools can show buyers the implications of different courses of action, and enable them to select the least harmful option. The paper shows how an approach used to improve salesforce effectiveness can be employed in the purchasing arena. Key lessons from early adopters are summarised, and questions posed for training and development professionals.FindingsThe tools examined increase the performance of key workgroups such as front line sales, account management and support staff, and make it easier for people to take difficult buying decisions. The paper gives a weed control example, and mentions applications that have yielded a first‐year return on investment of over 20, 30 and 70 times.Practical implicationsSupport tool users experience a range of benefits from extra business and quicker responses to closer relationships with more satisfied customers. Pioneering companies are also reducing cost, risk and stress; and improving quality and compliance.Originality/valueMany people and boards would like to address challenges such as climate change, but they lack a practical and cost‐effective way of doing so. The approach outlined represents a cost‐effective way of demonstrating corporate social responsibility. In doing what they feel is the right thing people can benefit themselves, their supplier and the planet.
How to 10×your influence: use four or more sources to exponentially increase your influence
Authors: Grenny Joseph , Pound Richard 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe researchers at VitalSmarts have combined more than thirty years of their original research with the best social science research from the past five decades to develop a model for creating sustainable behavior change in individuals, teams, organizations, and nations. This article presents their findings which show that people who engage in a multi‐faceted change management strategy are up to ten times more successful at solving persistent and profound problems by creating rapid and sustainable behavior change.Design/methodology/approachThe research presented in this article is composed of three studies. In the first study, VitalSmarts researchers interviewed 25 C‐level leaders regarding their most persistent challenges including bureaucratic infighting, silo thinking, and lack of accountability. The second study focused on the most common problems that occurred during 100 mission‐critical initiatives ‐ efforts such as internal restructurings, quality and productivity improvement initiatives, and new product launches. In the third study, researchers surveyed more than 1,000 individuals about personal habits they struggled to change ‐ habits such as unhealthy eating, insufficient exercise, smoking, and drinking.FindingsResearchers found that influencers succeed where others fail because they know persistent problems and people's resistance to change are rarely fed by a single cause; rather, they are fed by a conspiracy of causes. Instead of looking for the minimum it will take to accomplish change, influencers combine a critical mass of different kinds of influence strategies ‐ as a result they are ten times more successful at securing sustainable behavior change.Originality/valueThose who use four or more sources of influence in combination are ten times more likely to succeed in creating change than those who rely on a single source of influence.
Comparative evaluation of critical factors in delivering service quality of banks
Authors: Kumar Mukesh , Tat Kee Fong , Charles Vincent 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThis study aims to find the differences in the service quality (if any) between two types of banks, namely conventional and Islamic, in terms of common critical factors after re‐examining the SERVQUAL model, originally pioneered by Parasuraman. Further, the technique of dominance analysis is used to examine the relative importance of the critical factors in closing up the overall service quality gap in these two types of banks.Design/methodology/approachThe sample is made up of 308 bank customers, consisting of the customers from both Islamic and conventional banks from different parts of Malaysia. The data have been collected by using the structured questionnaire, which consists of three parts. Part 1 deals with consumers' usage of banking channels and their banking behaviour. Part 2 contains 26 statements related to service quality dimensions based on past literature. Finally, Part 3 contains the questions related to the socio‐demographic profiles of respondents.FindingsThe modified SERVQUAL model consists of four critical factors (dimensions) as detected by factor analysis: tangibility, reliability, competence, and convenience. The results reveal that the expectations on competence and convenience are significantly different between conventional banks and Islamic banks, whereas the perceptions on tangibility and convenience are found to be significantly different between these two types of banks. The application of dominance analysis in the SERVQUAL model indicates that the difference between the two types of banks is in terms of degree and not pattern. Competence and convenience are found to be the relatively more dominating factors in both the types of banks. These two dimensions together can help to reduce the overall service quality gap to an extent of 72 per cent in the case of conventional banks and 85 per cent in the case of Islamic banks.Originality/valueThe application of dominance analysis in the SERVQUAL model could be more meaningful in determining the relative importance of the factors when dimensions are interdependent. It permits direct comparison of measures and allows one to predict the level of influence of one factor in comparison with other factors. The study could be quite useful from the policy perspective in providing the guidelines to develop proper strategies and acknowledge the changes in customers' banking behaviour more quickly.
Total factor productivity change of Greek cooperative banks
Authors: Pasiouras Fotios , Sifodaskalakis Emmanouil 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the total factor productivity (TFP) change in the Greek cooperative banking industry over the period 2000‐2005.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs the Malmquist index and estimate two models, one based on the intermediation approach, and one based on the production approach. TFP change is disaggregated into technical efficiency change and technological change, whereas technical efficiency change is decomposed further into pure technical efficiency change and scale efficiency change.FindingsThe results are mixed. The first model indicates a small decrease (3 per cent) in TFP whereas the second model indicates an increase by 6.6 per cent. Comparing the results on the basis of banks' size finds that TFP growth is higher for smaller banks on average over the entire period of our analysis. However, this relationship between size and productivity is not robust across the years. Furthermore, the differences between the groups are not statistically significant.Practical implicationsThe results can be of special interest to several stakeholders such as customers‐members, bank managers, local community, and of course bank regulators.Originality/valueThis paper is believed to be the first that examines the productivity growth of Greek cooperative banks.
The impact of time on perceptions of educational value
Authors: Ledden Lesley , Kalafatis Stavros P. 
Published: March 2010

PurposeDespite current advances in the domain, little is known about the dynamic nature of the value construct, specifically the manner in which value perceptions change over time during the higher education consumption experience. This paper aims to examine the impact that emotions (affective states) and knowledge (cognitive influences) have on changes to the give and get dimensions of value, the respective impact of these on satisfaction, and the latter's influence on intention to recommend.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in the UK education domain. Data were collected through a matched sample of 66 students at two points in time (at the start of the course and half way through) during a one‐year postgraduate course. The PLS approach to structural equation modelling was employed to examine the relationships between the focal constructs.FindingsThe results indicate differential impact of knowledge and emotions on the value dimensions at the two time points. Emotions are more dominant at time 1, while at time 2 the impact of emotions and knowledge on the value dimensions is comparable. There is significant increase from time 1 to 2 in six of the examined relationships while the reverse is found for only one relationship. The influence of satisfaction on intention to recommend increases significantly from time 1 to 2.Originality/valueTo the knowledge of the authors, this research represents the first examination of value's temporal nature, in which the results provide empirical support for value as a dynamic phenomenon that is differentially influenced by cognitive and affective variables.
Personal values in relation to graduate career choices
Authors: Da Silva Añaña Edar , Meucci Nique Walter 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the personal values predominating in different academic areas to identify relations that may be of interest to university managers. Exploratory in nature, it seeks to understand how human values can be used to enhance the academic courses according to the profile of each group.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consisted of 1,609 students attending a large Brazilian university, whose values are measured using the Rokeach values survey. The data are firstly submitted to exploratory factor analysis to identify a set of factors later used to construct perceptual maps. Finally, the careers are grouped and typified according to the predominant values in each one.FindingsResults suggest that students of some careers are more prone to be classified through their values than others, but in general terms each professional group shows some particularity. Most careers can be typified by the values students consider more important for them or by the values they depreciate, or by both. In some cases the combination of high evaluation in some dimensions with poor evaluation in others offered greater insight.Research limitations/implicationsThe necessity to find a common structure of values applicable to a wide set of careers determined the exclusion of some values from the original scale that, while important for some professions, did not fit others. The lack of uniformity across careers determined the low variance explained by the common structure.Originality/valueThe paper offers interesting insights for university managers, especially those involved in the conception, positioning or repositioning of academic courses.
Can ethics be learned?
Authors: Langlois Lyse , Lapointe Claire 
Published: March 2010

PurposeIn response to the growing need for educational leaders who possess ethical, critical and reflective qualities, a training program was developed based on ethics as a reflective critical capacity and on Starratt's three‐dimensional model. This paper aims to describe the impact of the program on ethical decision making and on educational leaders’ ethical competencies.Design/methodology/approachA three‐year action‐research study was conducted with three groups of educational administrators, totalling 30 participants. Mixed methods were used for data collection: a pre‐ and post‐training questionnaire, individual semi‐structured interviews and group interviews. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS software and interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis.FindingsResults from the pre‐test indicate that, prior to the training program, participants rarely possessed all three ethical dimensions. Post‐test results show how participants experience a significant readjustment process characterized by three different stages which have been called the transformative cycle. Qualitative results show the impact of the training program on improved ethical awareness, judgement structuring, a sense of responsibility, and overall professional conduct. No significant difference is observed between male and female participants but statistically significant differences are found according to number of years of experience and to work situation.Practical implicationsDeveloping sound ethical expertise appears to be promising in training future educational administrators and in improving their leadership skills.Originality/valueThis study is original in many aspects. Theoretically, it is based on a self‐regulated rather than hetero‐regulated approach to ethics and calls for descriptive rather then normative foundations to ethical leadership. With regard to its methodology, it used mixed methods adapted to action research as well as original data collection instruments.
School ethical climate and teachers' voluntary absence
Authors: Shapira‐Lishchinsky Orly , Rosenblatt Zehava 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThis paper aims to offer a theoretical framework for linking school ethical climate with teachers' voluntary absence. The paper attempts to explain this relationship using the concept of affective organizational commitment.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 1,016 school teachers from 35 high schools in Israel. Data were collected by self‐report questionnaires and tested against archival data. The GENMOD procedure of SAS was applied. This procedure enables regression models for variables which are not necessarily normally distributed – such as absence – to be fit and also to account for the intraclass‐correlations within schools. Absence was measured by frequency of absence events, and ethical climate was measured by two dimensions: caring and formal.FindingsResults show that caring and formal ethical climates are both related to teacher absence. Affective commitment was found to mediate the relationship between formal ethical climate and absence frequency. This is not true for the ethical climate of caring.Practical implicationsSchool principals may reduce voluntary absence by creating an ethical climate focused on caring and clear and just rules and procedures.Originality/valueWhereas past research on work absence focused primarily on personal antecedents, the present study addresses factors embedded in school ethics. The results contribute to knowledge of the influence of organizational context on absence behavior.
Politics and school education in Australia: a case of shifting purposes
Authors: Cranston Neil , Kimber Megan , Mulford Bill , Reid Alan , Keating Jack 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe paper aims to argue that there has been a privileging of the private (social mobility) and economic (social efficiency) purposes of schooling at the expense of the public (democratic equality) purposes of schooling.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a literature review, policy and document analysis.FindingsSince the late 1980s, the schooling agenda in Australia has been narrowed to one that gives primacy to purposes of schooling that highlight economic orientations (social efficiency) and private purposes (social mobility).Practical implicationsThe findings have wider relevance beyond Australia, as similar policy agendas are evident in many other countries raising the question as to how the shift in purposes of education in those countries might mirror those in Australia.Originality/valueWhile earlier writers have examined schooling policies in Australia and noted the implications of managerialism in relation to these policies, no study has analysed these policies from the perspective of the purposes of schooling. Conceptualising schooling, and its purposes in particular, in this way refocuses attention on how societies use their educational systems to promote (or otherwise) the public good.
Brilliant mistake! Essays on incidents of management mistakes and mea culpa
Authors: Palmer Mark , Simmons Geoff , de Kervenoael Ronan 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine students' perceptions of managerial mistakes and why (and why not) managers admit mistakes.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides a reflective account of how students' perceive management mistakes and deal with admitting “mea culpa” – “I am to blame”.FindingsThe findings show a range of attitudes: they highlight the intermingling pressures associated with the cultural environment and mistakes; they identify media characteristics and its influences on mistakes and mea culpa; they highlight ceremonial processes and tasks that shape and influence the declaration of mea culpa; and they identify how the psychology and sociology of mistakes confronts and affects students. Taken together, the study highlights the varying degrees of wariness that is carried forward by the students from vicariously learning about management mistakes.Originality/valueThis paper links up with recent discussions on retail failure and retail pedagogy. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more academics to address, and engage with, management mistakes creatively in their teaching.
Impact of initial‐trust‐image on shopper trust and patronage intentions
Authors: Kaul Subhashini , Sahay Arvind , Koshy Abraham 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of “initial” store image in a new store. Existing research affords limited explanation of how shopper trust in store is formed prior to store visits and regarding the impact of “initial” store image on shopper trust and patronage intentions.Design/methodology/approachSpecifically, this paper operationalizes “trust‐image” of a new store as an antecedent to shopper trust; uses a multidimensional conceptualization for “trust‐image” which is similar to the existing tripartite view of “trustworthiness”; and examines the effect of store visit on perceived salience of trust‐image. The laboratory experiment has four scenarios that manipulate store image as positive/negative, and store visit by a “close friend” who is the source of trust‐image as none/one.FindingsThis is possibly the first empirical evidence supporting the significance of trust‐image in influencing shopper trust and patronage intentions of a new store. Contrary to existing theory, store “dependability” is not really significant for Indian apparel retail consumers at initial stages of store visits.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed to examine which image dimensions contribute to formation of trust‐image across different products, age groups, and gender.Practical implicationsRetailers planning a foray into India need to understand that store “trust‐image” needs significant attention for a new store and also that Indian shoppers evaluate stores differently.Originality/valueWhile the association between store image and patronage is well known, there is limited knowledge of trust‐image formation in a new store. This paper explodes the existing belief that store dependability is the first stage evaluation by shoppers bringing to light that Indian shoppers are unique in their experience of trust.
Green, lean, and global supply chains
Authors: Mollenkopf Diane , Stolze Hannah , Tate Wendy L. , Ueltschy Monique 
Published: March 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among green, lean, and global supply chain strategies as found in the literature, with emphasis on the concurrent implementation of these three strategic initiatives, in order to develop a research agenda to guide theoretically based future research that informs managerial decision making.Design/methodology/approachAn extensive literature review is conducted to examine research and practice with respect to the concurrent implementation of green, lean, and global supply chain strategies.FindingsAn in‐depth examination of the literature revealed drivers, barriers, converging, and contradictory points across the three supply chain strategies. Future research opportunities fall into four major themes: the need for theoretically grounded research, the need for a multi‐functional approach, the need for a systems approach that adds strategic insight, and the need for integrated measurement application. Managerial aspects are highlighted in the discussion of the metrics across the three strategic interfaces and integrated life cycle management is suggested as a framework for measurement application across the three supply chain strategies.Originality/valueSeparate literature streams have arisen to address issues in green, lean, and global supply chain management, but research has largely neglected the intersection of these three strategies practiced by multinational organizations. The current research synthesizes the literature addressing the intersections of green, lean, and global supply chain management, and suggests a research agenda to redress gaps in the literature.