bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The mitochondrial matrix protein cyclophilin D contributes to deficits in parvalbumin interneurons in schizophrenia
Authors: O’Brien John T. , Jalilvand Sophia P. , Suji Neha A. , Phensy Aarron , Jupelly Rohan K. , Mwirigi Juliet M. , Elahi Hajira , Price Theodore J. , Kroener Sven 
Published: May 2023

AbstractBACKGROUNDCognitive deficits in schizophrenia are linked to dysfunctions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), including alterations in parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons (PVIs). Redox dysregulation and oxidative stress may represent convergence points in the pathology of schizophrenia, causing dysfunction of GABAergic interneurons and loss of PV. Here, we show that the mitochondrial matrix protein cyclophilin-D (CypD), a critical initiator of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) and modulator of the intracellular redox state, is altered in PVIs in schizophrenia.METHODSWestern blotting was used to measure CypD protein levels in postmortem DLPFC specimens of schizophrenic (n=27) and matched comparison subjects with no known history of psychiatric or neurological disorders (n=26). In a subset of this cohort, multilabel immunofluorescent confocal microscopy with unbiased stereological sampling methods were used to quantify 1) numbers of PVI across the cortical mantle (20 control, 15 schizophrenia) and 2) PV and CypD protein levels from PVIs in the cortical layers 2-4 (23 control, 19 schizophrenia).RESULTSIn schizophrenic subjects, the overall number of PVIs in the DLPFC was not significantly altered, but in individual PVIs of layers 2-4 PV protein levels decreased along a superficial-to-deep gradient when compared to unaffected comparison subjects. These laminar-specific PVI alterations were reciprocally linked to significant CypD elevations both in PVIs and within total DLPFC gray matter.CONCLUSIONSOur findings support previously reported PVI anomalies in schizophrenia and suggest that CypD-mediated mPTP formation could be a potential contributor to PVI dysfunction in schizophrenia.
German farmers' perceived usefulness of satellite-based index insurance: insights from a transtheoretical model
Authors: Nordmeyer Eike Florenz , Musshoff Oliver 
Published: May 2023

PurposeIndex insurance is promising to mitigate drought-related income losses in agriculture. To reduce the basis risk of index insurance, the integration of satellite data is of growing interest in research. The objective of this study is to obtain preliminary evidence regarding farmers' perceived usefulness (PU) of satellite-based index insurance.Design/methodology/approachBy modifying the transtheoretical model of change to a transtheoretical model of PU, German farmers' gradual PU of satellite-based index insurance was investigated.FindingsThe results show that the average farmer perceives satellite-based index insurance as useful. It can be particularly seen that a higher level of education in an agricultural context as well as higher trust in index insurance products increases farmers' gradual PU. Moreover, higher relative weather-related income losses increase farmers' gradual PU.Research limitations/implicationsIt is recommended to apply latent variables when conducting future investigations regarding farmers' PU.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to explore farmers' PU of upcoming satellite-based index insurance by modifying and applying the transtheoretical model in a new way.
The investment behavior of politically connected firms in Indonesia
Authors: Joni Joni , Natalia Maria , Leliana Leliana 
Published: May 2023

PurposeThe authors examine the effect of the politically connected supervisory board (PV_SVP) on corporate investment behavior in Indonesia in the period of 2015–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use Indonesian listing companies as our sample. Ordinary Least Squares regression is applied to investigate this association. Also, the authors address the endogeneity problem by using the generalized method of moments.FindingsThe authors find that firms with political connections through Supervisory Boards (SBs) are negatively significantly associated with corporate investment. Our results are robust to alternative measures and to test for endogeneity.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors contribute to prior research by showing empirical findings on the investment behavior of politically connected firms using an emerging economy context, Indonesia, which has a unique political landscape. The authors offer practical implications for practitioners and policymakers, such as improving the corporate governance system and promoting better investment opportunities by establishing a transparent and competitive environment.Originality/valueOur study differs from other studies due to different corporate governance and political connection settings. While most prior studies examine the investment behavior of politically connected firms using the Chinese context, the authors use Indonesia which has different political and governance landscapes. Indonesia applies a two-tier board system that promotes the strategic role of the political supervisory board.
Does leadership and management support facilitate green knowledge acquisition and green innovation: a moderated mediation approach
Authors: Idrees Hisham , Xu Jin , Andrianarivo Andriandafiarisoa Ralison Ny Avotra , Kadyrova Maysa 
Published: May 2023

PurposeGiven the critical role of green innovation (GI) in the manufacturing sector, this study builds a moderated mediation model to evaluate the influence of leadership and management support on GI, the mediating function of green knowledge acquisition, and the moderating role of green absorptive ability.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative research approach with hierarchical regression analysis to assess the proposed relationships among the constructs on a sample of 371 executives from 117 large-sized manufacturing firms in Pakistan.FindingsThe research findings demonstrate that leadership and management support significantly affects both radical and incremental GI, with incremental green innovation being more positively affected than radical green innovation. Green knowledge acquisition partially mediates between leadership and management support, radical and incremental green innovation. Green knowledge acquisition moderates the association between leadership and management support and green knowledge acquisition and the link between leadership and management support and incremental GI. The findings also demonstrate that green knowledge acquisition's mediating effect on leadership and management support, and GI is more pronounced when green absorptive capacity is high.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is based on cross-sectional data gathered from manufacturing companies. Future studies should consider this differentiation between the enterprises since there are various sectors within the general manufacturing sector whose environmental effect is more or less polluting. This research focused exclusively on two aspects of GI (radical and incremental GI). It is feasible that additional GI constituents (i.e., product, process, and management GI) can significantly boost businesses' competitive advantage. This study recommends additional study into the potential moderating impacts of technological and market turbulence to better understand the relationship between these concepts since it is evident that internal and external factors influence GI.Practical implicationsThe study provides useful insights and an innovative way for manufacturing firms and authorities to prevent environmental deterioration and achieve sustainable green innovation through leadership and management support and green intangible resources.Originality/valueThis research concentrating on green environmental concerns and using RBV theory attempts to fill research gaps and sheds light on how leadership and management support promote both radical and incremental green innovation via the mediating and moderating roles of green knowledge acquisition and green absorptive capacity.
Preparing for a future crisis: using DEA-based performance analysis to assess initial pandemic responses in the Taiwanese hotel industry
Authors: Huang Yu-Hsiang (John) , Meyer Bradley , Connolly Daniel , Strader Troy 
Published: May 2023

PurposeTaiwan’s hotel industry was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the effect of strategic choices by Taiwanese international tourist hotels before and during the pandemic environments.Design/methodology/approachA data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based Malmquist methodology is used in this study to provide a mechanism to assess Taiwanese hotel strategy performance. Changes in the productivity and performance of Taiwanese international tourist hotels were analyzed in the periods before and during the pandemic to uncover insights useful should a similar crisis occur in the future. Panel data were obtained from the annual report of international tourist hotels published by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau from 2017–2020. Two groups of hotels were analyzed in this study: city hotels and scenic hotels.FindingsThe findings of this study reveal that chain hotels tended to perform better than independent hotels in both city and scenic areas during the global pandemic. Specifically, the crisis caused a substantial decline in productivity and profitability for international tourist hotels in Taipei City during the COVID-19 period. Compared to city hotels, findings also indicate that most international tourist hotels in scenic areas were able to maintain better productivity, including larger-sized scenic hotels.Originality/valueThe DEA-based analysis provides unique and valuable insights for hotel firm leaders on how to better identify and make strategic choices when responding to future crises.
Preservice teachers' perceptions of a practice-focused lesson study
Authors: Shelton Ryann N. , Rogers Rachelle Meyer , Wilkerson Trena L. 
Published: May 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore middle and secondary mathematics preservice teachers' (PST) perceptions of the benefits, challenges and impacts of implementing lesson study.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a single case study in the university context. Embedded units of analysis included a group of middle and a group of secondary mathematics PSTs, who were in the internship year of a teacher preparation program.FindingsThis paper presents several perceived benefits, challenges and impacts according to PSTs. PSTs indicated benefits included their focused student observations and their collaboration in lesson design. Perceived challenges included observing as a nonparticipant observer and aspects of planning. The different impacts occurred in three phases: planning, observing during teaching and reflection.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the study participants included a small group of middle and secondary mathematics PSTs from one university in central Texas. Second, the PSTs in this study were not able to reteach the lesson, which may have influenced their perceptions.Practical implicationsMathematics teacher educators could use insights from this study as they implement lesson study or other field experiences to support PSTs in their growth as mathematics teachers.Originality/valueThis paper examines PSTs' perceptions, which could benefit mathematics teacher educators as they consider how to introduce or implement lesson study with PSTs.
Deriving efficiency from the major customer network: the role of network connectedness and centeredness
Authors: Kao Ta-Wei (Daniel) , Su Hung-Chung , Chen Yi-Su 
Published: May 2023

PurposePrior studies on major customer relationships (i.e. embedded ties) focus mostly on the ties between a focal firm and its immediate customers, hindering the understanding of the influence of indirect ties (both upstream and downstream) on a focal firm's operational performance. In this study, the authors analyze how a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness and network location affect its productive efficiency.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing Compustat segment files, the authors constructed large-scale major customer networks covering the period 2007–2013. The authors applied a fixed-effect panel stochastic frontier model to conduct estimation. Moreover, the authors applied an endogenous panel stochastic frontier model to ensure the robustness of the main analysis.FindingsThe authors found that a focal firm's upstream and downstream connectedness both have a positive influence on a firm's productive efficiency, whereas a focal firm's centeredness in the major customer network has a negative influence on productive efficiency. Moreover, it was found that centeredness lessens the positive influences of upstream and downstream connectedness on productive efficiency. The post hoc analysis further confirmed that a focal firm's indirect ties, both upstream and downstream, positively influence a focal firm's productive efficiency.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by evaluating the relative effectiveness of a focal firm's direct and indirect major customer ties, both upstream and downstream. More importantly, this study suggests potential exploitation–exploration trade-offs (i.e. productive efficiency vs. innovation) triggered by a firm's network location.
A comparative study for adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method of automobile components
Authors: Yang Shiyuan , Meng Debiao , Wang Hongtao , Chen Zhipeng , Xu Bing 
Published: May 2023

PurposeThis study conducts a comparative study on the performance of reliability assessment methods based on adaptive surrogate models to accurately assess the reliability of automobile components, which is critical to the safe operation of vehicles.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, different adaptive learning strategies and surrogate models are combined to study their performance in reliability assessment of automobile components.FindingsBy comparing the reliability evaluation problems of four automobile components, the Kriging model and Polynomial Chaos-Kriging (PCK) have better robustness. Considering the trade-off between accuracy and efficiency, PCK is optimal. The Constrained Min-Max (CMM) learning function only depends on sample information, so it is suitable for most surrogate models. In the four calculation examples, the performance of the combination of CMM and PCK is relatively good. Thus, it is recommended for reliability evaluation problems of automobile components.Originality/valueAlthough a lot of research has been conducted on adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method, there are still relatively few studies on the comprehensive application of this method to the reliability evaluation of automobile component. In this study, different adaptive learning strategies and surrogate models are combined to study their performance in reliability assessment of automobile components. Specially, a superior surrogate-model-based reliability evaluation method combination is illustrated in this study, which is instructive for adaptive surrogate-model-based reliability analysis in the reliability evaluation problem of automobile components.
The new future and the employment imperative: effectively aligning student interest, industry needs and university programmes
Authors: Singh Abhilasha , Blessinger Patrick 
Published: May 2023

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences between labour market requirements in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the 21st century and university graduates’ level of knowledge, skills and aspects of competence (KSAs) qualification benchmark.Design/methodology/approach The study used a discourse analysis methodology, which is a qualitative and interpretive method of analysing texts. The content for the analysis was extracted from Scopus, Ebscohost, Proquest, Google Scholar, Web of Science, news, publications, thesis papers, dissertations and other research papers. A narrative approach for analysing the content was adopted.FindingsThe findings reveal that new graduates often encounter difficulties in searching for jobs due to a lack of awareness of how to conduct an employment search that best aligns their KSA with the requirements and needs of the labour market. The study concludes that to increase the employability of graduates, higher education institutions should reduce the KSAs gap by collaborating with the private sector and providing students with relevant, industry-based job experience before graduation.Originality/value This study investigates the gap between graduate KSAs and labour market requirements in the 21st-century UAE. The findings of the study encapsulate the weaknesses and shortcomings of the current educational systems amid the reform agenda in the UAE. It also deliberates upon the state-of-the-art recommendations regarding making the country a knowledge-based economy and society.
US Army Aviation air movement operations assignment, utilization and routing
Authors: Nelson Russell , King Russell , McConnell Brandon M. , Thoney-Barletta Kristin 
Published: May 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to create an air movement operations planning model to rapidly generate air mission request (AMR) assignment and routing courses of action (COA) in order to minimize unsupported AMRs, aircraft utilization and routing cost.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the US Army Aviation air movement operations planning problem is modeled as a mixed integer linear program (MILP) as an extension of the dial-a-ride problem (DARP). The paper also introduces a heuristic as an extension of a single-vehicle DARP demand insertion algorithm to generate feasible solutions in a tactically useful time period.FindingsThe MILP model generates optimal solutions for small problems (low numbers of AMRs and small helicopter fleets). The heuristic generates near-optimal feasible solutions for problems of various sizes (up to 100 AMRs and 10 helicopter team fleet size) in near real time.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the inability of the MILP to produce optimal solutions for mid- and large-sized problems, this research is limited in commenting on the heuristic solution quality beyond the numerical experimentation. Additionally, the authors make several simplifying assumptions to generalize the average performance and capabilities of aircraft throughout a flight.Originality/valueThis research is the first to solve the US Army Aviation air movement operations planning problem via a single formulation that incorporates multiple refuel nodes, minimization of unsupported demand by priority level, demand time windows, aircraft team utilization penalties, aircraft team time windows and maximum duration and passenger ride time limits.
Does nanotechnology contribute to energy poverty reduction?
Authors: Masron Tajul Ariffin , Subramaniam Yogeeswari , Loganathan Nanthakumar 
Published: May 2023

PurposeNanotechnology's rapid development worldwide is a significant measure for countries to strengthen the building of energy security. Thus, to empirically investigate the underlying effect of nanotechnology on energy poverty alleviation, the authors of this study assess the impact of nanotechnology on alleviating energy poverty in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used panel data for 56 developing countries over the period 2012–2019, by employing dynamic generalised method of moments (GMM) analysis.FindingsThe findings showed that the emergence of nanotechnology has a significant trend in increasing energy poverty in developing countries. This suggests that whilst nanotechnology may be a promising solution for addressing energy poverty in certain contexts, nanotechnology may not be the most viable option for reducing poverty in developing countries. The findings have added credence as the findings are robust to the inclusion of alternative energy poverty measures and additional controlled variables.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this study results show unpromising outcomes in addressing energy poverty in developing countries, the authors believe that this may be a short-term phenomenon. In the long run, policies and programs must be put in place to support the development and deployment of nanotechnology to reduce energy poverty.Originality/valueThe authors believe this is the first attempt to examine the dynamic influence of nanotechnology development on energy poverty in developing countries. From the standpoint of nanotechnology development, this can help policymakers develop rules and regulations to tackle energy poverty.
Clinical evaluation of needle‐free electronic pneumatic hyaluronic acid injection treatment for facial atrophic acne scars: A prospective, randomized comparative trial
Authors: Kaminaka Chikako , Sakata Mariko , Nishiguchi Mana , Kunimoto Kayo , Mikita Naoya , Jinnin Masatoshi , Uede Koji , Tanioka Kensuke , Yamamoto Yuki 
Published: May 2023

AbstractAcne scars are common but difficult to treat, and an effective new treatment strategy is desired. This prospective, split‐face randomized controlled trial was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of needle‐free electronic pneumatic hyaluronic acid injection (EPI‐HA) treatment for acne scars. Thirty Japanese subjects with moderate to severe facial atrophic acne scars underwent EPI‐HA treatment on a randomized side of their face. Three treatment sessions were carried out at 1‐month intervals, and the subjects were followed‐up for 3 months after the final treatment. Three months after the final treatment, 48.3% of treated sides met the criteria for success, compared with 0% for the control sides (P < 0.0001). Rolling type scars were much improved compared with boxcar types and icepick types. Satisfaction (or better) was reported by 55.2% of subjects at the 3‐month follow‐up after the final treatment, which was similar to the physicians' assessment. Three‐dimensional in vivo imaging analysis detected significant difference in scar reductions between the treated and control sides in the mean scar area, scar depth, and maximum depth of the biggest scar at 1 and 3 months after the final treatment (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, EPI‐HA treatment significantly improved rolling facial atrophic acne scars in our Japanese subjects, with minimal side effects.
No acetogen is equal: Strongly different H2 thresholds reflect diverse bioenergetics in acetogenic bacteria
Authors: Laura Munoz , Jo Philips 
Published: May 2023

AbstractAcetogens share the capacity to convert H2 and CO2 into acetate for energy conservation (ATP synthesis). This reaction is attractive for applications, such as gas fermentation and microbial electrosynthesis. Different H2 partial pressures prevail in these distinctive applications (low concentrations during microbial electrosynthesis [<40 Pa] vs. high concentrations with gas fermentation [>9%]). Strain selection thus requires understanding of how different acetogens perform under different H2 partial pressures. Here, we determined the H2 threshold (H2 partial pressure at which acetogenesis halts) for eight different acetogenic strains under comparable conditions. We found a three orders of magnitude difference between the lowest and highest H2 threshold (6 ± 2 Pa for Sporomusa ovata vs. 1990 ± 67 Pa for Clostridium autoethanogenum), while Acetobacterium strains had intermediate H2 thresholds. We used these H2 thresholds to estimate ATP gains, which ranged from 0.16 to 1.01 mol ATP per mol acetate (S. ovata vs. C. autoethanogenum). The experimental H2 thresholds thus suggest strong differences in the bioenergetics of acetogenic strains and possibly also in their growth yields and kinetics. We conclude that no acetogen is equal and that a good understanding of their differences is essential to select the most optimal strain for different biotechnological applications.