bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
How does an imaginary persona's attractiveness affect designers' perceptions and IT solutions? An experimental study on users' remote working needs
Authors: Salminen Joni , Santos João M. , Jung Soon-gyo , Jansen Bernard J. 
Published: July 2023

PurposeThe “what is beautiful is good” (WIBIG) effect implies that observers tend to perceive physically attractive people in a positive light. The authors investigate how the WIBIG effect applies to user personas, measuring designers' perceptions and task performance when employing user personas for the design of information technology (IT) solutions.Design/methodology/approachIn a user experiment, the authors tested six different personas with 235 participants that were asked to develop remote work solutions based on their interaction with a fictitious user persona.FindingsThe findings showed that a user persona's perceived attractiveness was positively correlated with other perceptions of the persona. The personas' completeness, credibility, empathy, likability and usefulness increased with attractiveness. More attractive personas were also perceived as more agreeable, emotionally stable, extraverted and open, and the participants spent more time engaging with personas they perceived attractive. A linguistic analysis indicated that the IT solutions created for more attractive user personas demonstrated a higher degree of affect, but for the most part, task outputs did not vary by the personas' perceived attractiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe WIBIG effect applies when designing IT solutions with user personas, but its effect on task outputs appears limited. The perceived attractiveness of a user persona can impact how designers interact with and engage with the persona, which can influence the quality or the type of the IT solutions created based on the persona. Also, the findings point to the need to incorporate hedonic qualities into the persona creation process. For example, there may be contexts where it is helpful that the personas be attractive; there may be contexts where the attractiveness of the personas is unimportant or even a distraction.Practical implicationsThe findings point to the need to incorporate hedonic qualities into the persona creation process. For example, there may be contexts where it is helpful that the personas be attractive; there may be contexts where the attractiveness of the personas is unimportant or even a distraction.Originality/valueBecause personas are created to closely resemble real people, the authors might expect the WIBIG effect to apply. The WIBIG effect might lead decision makers to favor more attractive personas when designing IT solutions. However, despite its potential relevance for decision making with personas, as far as the authors know, no prior study has investigated whether the WIBIG effect extends to the context of personas. Overall, it is important to understand how human factors apply to IT system design with personas, so that the personas can be created to minimize potentially detrimental effects as much as possible.
Discriminating factors in financial risk tolerance: investors' economic perspective
Authors: Chhatoi Biswajit Prasad , Mohanty Munmun 
Published: July 2023

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the variables responsible for classifying the investors into risk takers (RT) and risk avoiders (RA) across their economic perspectives.Design/methodology/approachThe research offers a novel and unobtrusive measure of classifying investors into RT and RA based on a set of financial risk tolerance (FRT) questions. The authors have investigated the causes of discrimination across economic perspectives over a sample of 552 investors exposed to market risk.FindingsThe authors identify that out of the total of 11 risk assessment variables, only three are responsible for classifying investors into RA and RT. The variables are risk return trade-off, comfort level dealing with risk, and understanding short-term volatility. Financial literacy is considered as an emerging cause of discrimination. Further, the authors highlight the most striking finding to be the discriminating factors across wealth and source of income of the investors.Originality/valueExisting research on FRT can be loosely segregated into three groups: the relationship between an individual's financial and non-FRT, estimation of FRT score (FRTS), and perceived self-assessed FRTS. The current research roughly falls into the third category of study where the authors have not only studied the self-assessed risk tolerance but also evaluated the predictors. Most of the studies have focussed on estimating self-assessed FRT with the help of one direct question to the respondent. However, the uniqueness of this study is that the researchers have used an instrument comprising a series of direct and indirect questions that can easily estimate the self-assessed risk perception and also discriminate the role of the economic factors that have any impact on self-assessed FRTS.
Entrepreneurial retirement and family business: a perspective article
Authors: Stephens Simon 
Published: July 2023

PurposeThis paper highlights the need for studies that explore the experiences of entrepreneurs based in a family business setting who are considering retirement.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a concise review of the literature.FindingsRetirement planning and subsequent succession management is a significant event in a family business and is an issue that requires research that captures and interprets the perspectives of the different stakeholders.Originality/valueThis paper synthesizes existing research on retirement in an entrepreneurial context, with an emphasis on family business and proposes three key areas of research.
How overqualified teams motivate members to explore the external environment – the mediating role of change self-efficacy
Authors: Yang Ye , Yuan Ling , Zhuo Fanchao , Liu Ziyi 
Published: July 2023

PurposeMuch of the research on overqualification has focused on the negative effects at the individual level. However, in the face of the increasing tendency to recruit overqualified employees, managing the perception of team overqualification can be effective in motivating team members in the current complex and changing business environment.Design/methodology/approachBased on the person–environment fit theory, this study examines how team overqualification affects employees' change self-efficacy and how it further motivates employees to engage in strategic scanning behavior toward proactive external information gathering and analysis. The data collection for this study was divided into two stages, spaced three months apart. The analysis of questionnaire data from 290 employees and 72 supervisors confirmed the theoretical hypothesis of this study.FindingsWhen employees perceive a higher level of team overqualification, they will generate more strategic scanning behavior. And the change self-efficacy plays a mediating role between team overqualification and strategic scanning behavior and thus team members actively seek information from the external environment to develop future plans and work strategies. Meanwhile, transformational leadership positively moderates this process.Originality/valueFirstly, this study extends the positive manifestations of overqualification at the team level. Secondly, this study verifies that change self-efficacy mediates the relationship between team overqualification and strategic scanning, enriching the research on the antecedent and outcome variables of change self-efficacy. Finally, this study verified that the interaction effect of transformational leadership and team overqualification had an impact on employee strategic scanning behavior through change self-efficacy.
The influence of internal audit departments on external municipal audit reports
Authors: Lopes Catarina , Almeida Bruno , Leite Joana , Morais Maria 
Published: July 2023

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine whether the voluntary implementation of an internal audit department (IAD) by municipalities has any influence on external auditors' opinions.Design/methodology/approachThis study population comprises the 308 Portuguese municipalities, from which the authors extracted a sample of 179. Financial and audit reports were collected from the period under analysis (2014–2017). The sample was then divided into two groups: municipalities that had voluntarily implemented an IAD and those that had not. Internal audit departments were characterized according to their robustness – whether they were more or less robust. First, a descriptive statistical analysis of the dataset was performed to analyze the representativeness of the sample and to extract insights. To address the research questions, ordinal random effect regression models were considered.FindingsContrary to the authors' expectations, the voluntary implementation of an IAD had no influence on the audit report type. However, when the authors refined the approach to include the robustness of the IAD, it became clear that this variable does influence the report issued by the external auditor.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the current literature by determining the effects of the robustness of IADs on municipality audit reports. As far as the authors know, this paper is novel. Since auditing plays an important role in the transparency of public financial statements and in promoting equity, this study shows that a robust IAD is an advantage in the pursuit of these goals.
The role of cuteness on consumer attachment to artificial intelligence agents
Authors: Yim Alexis , Cui Annie Peng , Walsh Michael 
Published: July 2023

PurposeThis paper identifies the effects of different dimensions of the cuteness (i.e. baby schema cuteness and whimsical cuteness) of artificial intelligence (AI) agents on attachment to them. In addition, the current paper examines the consequences of the attachment to AI agents.Design/methodology/approachA pretest to validate the measurement scale for the attachment to AI agents and a survey study were conducted with AI agent users. The authors used structural equation modeling to analyze the data for hypothesis testing.FindingsThe baby schema and whimsical cuteness of AI agents drive consumers to develop stronger attachments to their AI agents. This is because consumers perceive cute AI agents as being more trustworthy. As a result, consumers who feel attached to their AI agents are more inclined to report higher satisfaction and commitment levels. They are also more likely to purchase products or services recommended by their AI agents and use them more frequently.Originality/valueDespite the growing popularity of AI agents, there is a lack of understanding regarding which characteristics of AI agents affect consumer behavior. Therefore, this research examines how the attribute of cuteness influences consumers' attachment to AI agents and subsequently affects their satisfaction and purchase intention toward products recommended by AI agents. Our study demonstrates that the element of cuteness in AI agents plays a crucial role in shaping perceptions of benevolence trustworthiness, as well as fostering users' attachment to AI agents. Furthermore, we observe positive consumer behaviors as a result of their attachment to AI agents. The findings from this study provide valuable insights for practitioners on how to effectively utilize cuteness in AI agents.
A longitudinal study of seaport selection: the perspective of container shipping companies
Authors: Sim Min-Seop , Kim Sung-Ho , Kim Yul-Seong , Seo Young-Joon 
Published: July 2023

PurposeCompetition among seaports is rapidly increasing due to various factors such as the global recession, resurgence of COVID-19, tight environmental regulations of IMO, sharp rise in ocean freight charges, increasing global uncertainties and growth in ship sizes. It is essential to have precise knowledge of shipping companies' port selection factors to secure the competitive advantage of seaports. This study aims to empirically analyze recent changes in the importance of port selection factors.Design/methodology/approachBy employing a longitudinal study, this study conducted the t-test analysis. The first survey was conducted from January 2005 to April 2005. Then, the second survey was conducted in May 2021.FindingsFirst, the importance of port facilities (berth length and the number of berths, shed and terminal areas, possession of adequate equipment and maximum berth size) increased significantly. Second, while ship and cargo safety were the critical port service factors in previous studies, speed, flexibility and reliability for handling cargo and berthing schedule were found to be crucial in this study. Third, the importance of ship arrival/departure frequency, route diversity and ship arrival/departure information systems increased when shipping companies selected the port.Originality/valueThis study has academic significance in that it reveals the changing importance of port selection factors in the 2020s and has taken the form of a longitudinal study on the importance of port selection factors from 2005 to 2021, moving beyond the cross-sectional approach. This study can provide valuable insights into and implications for port policymakers and managers when developing and formulating port policies and strategies.
Elevational variations in stem hydraulic efficiency and safety of Abies fabri
Authors: Tang Zishu , Zhai Biying , Wang Genxu , Gessler Arthur , Sun Shouqin , Hu Zhaoyong 
Published: July 2023

Abstract

The structural and functional traits of coniferous trees can reflect their growth states and adaptive strategies to a harsh environment. However, it is still unclear if and how hydraulic traits of subalpine conifers change with altitude.

Therefore, the changes in stem hydraulic characteristics of Abies fabri along an elevational gradient (2700–3700 m a.s.l.) were identified in a subalpine ecosystem in southwest China and linked to anatomical properties.

Xylem hydraulic efficiency decreased with increasing elevation. Surprisingly, higher hydraulic dysfunction and vulnerability to embolism occurred at higher altitudes. The trade‐off between hydraulic efficiency and safety was weak in A. fabri at higher elevations. Low temperature and superfluous precipitation may be the main constraints for hydraulic function and mechanical strength ((t/b)2)) in plants at high elevations (p < 0.05). The strongly limited hydraulic transport system reflected the severe growth constraint of A. fabri at high elevations. Although series of anatomical traits varied with elevation (e.g. smaller mean diameter of tracheid, mean hydraulic conduit diameter and mean pit aperture diameter at higher altitude) and revealed the adaptive strategies to enhance embolism resistance, thickness‐to‐span ratio ((t/b)2) played a dominant role in the trade‐off between hydraulic efficiency and safety. Thickness‐to‐span ratio was positively correlated with stem hydraulic conductivity but negatively correlated with percent loss of conductivity and water potential at 50% loss of conductivity, (t/b)2 and specific leaf area. Therefore, plants with better hydraulic and growth states at low elevations could allocate more resources to building up solid mechanical supporting systems to cope with high wind load, while those at high elevations with impaired growth states and limited hydraulic functions had to invest more resources in leaves under the harsh environment. The weak trade‐off between hydraulic efficiency and safety (lower hydraulic efficiency and high risk of embolism) could limit the growth and distribution of A. fabri at timberlines; however, global warming trends may facilitate hydraulic transport and benefit plants' growth in the future.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Enrichment of native plastic‐associated biofilm communities to enhance polyester degrading activity
Authors: Howard Sophie A. , Carr Clodagh M. , Sbahtu Habteab Isaack , Onwukwe Uchechukwu , López Maria J. , Dobson Alan D. W. , McCarthy Ronan R. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractPlastic pollution is an increasing worldwide problem urgently requiring a solution. While recycling rates are increasing globally, only 9% of all plastic waste has been recycled, and with the cost and limited downstream uses of recycled plastic, an alternative is needed. Here, we found that expanded polystyrene (EPS) promoted high levels of bacterial biofilm formation and sought out environmental EPS waste to characterize these native communities. We demonstrated that the EPS attached communities had limited plastic degrading activity. We then performed a long‐term enrichment experiment where we placed a robust selection pressure on these communities by limiting carbon availability such that the waste plastic was the only carbon source. Seven of the resulting enriched bacterial communities had increased plastic degrading activity compared to the starting bacterial communities. Pseudomonas stutzeri was predominantly identified in six of the seven enriched communities as the strongest polyester degrader. Sequencing of one isolate of P. stutzeri revealed two putative polyesterases and one putative MHETase. This indicates that waste plastic‐associated biofilms are a source for bacteria that have plastic‐degrading potential, and that this potential can be unlocked through selective pressure and further in vitro enrichment experiments, resulting in biodegradative communities that are better than nature.
Detection of fentanyl, synthetic opioids, and ketamine in hair specimens from purposive samples of American and Italian populations
Authors: Salomone Alberto , Galletto Martina , Massano Marta , Di Corcia Daniele , Palamar Joseph J. , Vincenti Marco 
Published: July 2023

AbstractWith the current crisis related to the diffusion of fentanyl and other novel opioids in several countries and populations, new and effective approaches are needed to better elucidate the phenomenon. In this context, hair testing offers a unique perspective in the investigation of drug consumption, producing useful information in terms of exposure to psychoactive substances. In this research, we applied targeted ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) analytical methods to detect novel synthetic and prescription opioids and other common controlled psychoactive drugs in the keratin matrix. A total of 120 hair samples were analyzed from the United States (US) and Italy, segmented when longer than 6 cm, and then analyzed. In the 60 samples (83 segments in total) analyzed from a purposive sample of data collected in the US, fentanyl was detected in 14 cases (16.9%), with no detection of nitazens or brorphine. We also detected fentanyl metabolites, despropionyl‐p‐fluorofentanyl, and prescription opioids. In the 60 samples collected in Italy (91 segments in total), ketamine was the most prevalent compound detected (in 41 cases; 45.1%), with ketamine demonstrating a strong correlation with detection of amphetamines and MDMA, likely due to co‐use of these substances in recreational contexts. Several common drugs were also detected but no exposure to fentanyl or its analogs were detected. Results of this retrospective exploration of drug use add to increasing evidence that hair testing can serve as a useful adjunct to epidemiology studies that seek to determine biologically confirmed use and exposure in high‐risk populations.
Impact of tourism on the vigilance behavior of the Cyprus rock agama (Laudakia cypriaca)
Authors: GOLAWSKI Artur , CHARALAMBIDOU Iris , GOLAWSKA Sylwia 
Published: July 2023

AbstractEscape behavior is a common antipredator strategy among wild animals. Here, we investigated the effect of four factors on the vigilance behavior of the endemic Cyprus rock agama (Laudakia cypriaca). Flight initiation distance (FID, the minimum distance to which an observer can approach a lizard before it flees) was measured in relation to the type of location (tourist vs. nontourist area), the observer's starting distance, air temperature, and substrate temperature. We collected data for 39 agamas in tourist areas and 34 of these lizards in nontourist areas. As a whole, the mean starting distance was 10.5 m and the FID was 3.6 m. The average substrate temperature was 34.0°C and the average air temperature 29.6°C. Only the type of area affected the agamas’ escape decisions with FID being 1.8 m shorter in tourist areas than in nontourist areas (2.7 m vs. 4.5 m). This is probably due to the habituation of lizards to the presence of humans in the former areas. This study shows that tourism strongly affects the behavior of lizards, which may have consequences for the functioning of the population. Tourists can increase the safety of lizards by creating a human shield to deter predators. Once the tourist season is over, lizards may become more vulnerable to predators.
A comprehensive framework for detecting copy number variants from single nucleotide polymorphism data: ‘rCNV’, a versatile r package for paralogue and CNV detection
Authors: Karunarathne Piyal , Zhou Qiujie , Schliep Klaus , Milesi Pascal 
Published: July 2023

AbstractRecent studies have highlighted the significant role of copy number variants (CNVs) in phenotypic diversity, environmental adaptation and species divergence across eukaryotes. The presence of CNVs also has the potential to introduce genotyping biases, which can pose challenges to accurate population and quantitative genetic analyses. However, detecting CNVs in genomes, particularly in non‐model organisms, presents a formidable challenge. To address this issue, we have developed a statistical framework and an accompanying r software package that leverage allelic‐read depth from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for accurate CNV detection. Our framework capitalises on two key principles. First, it exploits the distribution of allelic‐read depth ratios in heterozygotes for individual SNPs by comparing it against an expected distribution based on binomial sampling. Second, it identifies SNPs exhibiting an apparent excess of heterozygotes under Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. By employing multiple statistical tests, our method not only enhances sensitivity to sampling effects but also effectively addresses reference biases, resulting in optimised SNP classification. Our framework is compatible with various NGS technologies (e.g. RADseq, Exome‐capture). This versatility enables CNV calling from genomes of diverse complexities. To streamline the analysis process, we have implemented our framework in the user‐friendly r package ‘rCNV’, which automates the entire workflow seamlessly. We trained our models using simulated data and validated their performance on four datasets derived from different sequencing technologies, including RADseq (Chinook salmon—Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Rapture (American lobster—Homarus americanus), Exome‐capture (Norway spruce—Picea abies) and WGS (Malaria mosquito—Anopheles gambiae).