bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Molecular cloning and recombinant protein expression of 9-Lipoxygenase gene from Solanum tuberosum in Pichia pastoris yeast cells
Authors: Olengo Alex , Nanteza Ann , Perino Elvio Henrique Benatto , Garbe Leif-Alexander , Marillonnet Sylvestre , Grützner Ramona , Saimo-Kahwa Margaret , Schultz Fabien , Koch Matthias 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACTSynthetic fungicides have effectively controlled plant pathogenic fungi but their continued use has been detrimental to natural biological systems, and sometimes resulted into development of fungal resistance. They also have undesirable effects on non-target organisms and foster environmental and human health concerns thus new biodegradable alternatives have to be investigated. Lipoxygenases (LOX) are ubiquitous non-heme Iron containing dioxygenases that catalyze the addition of molecular oxygen to Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) such as Linoleic acid to form Oxylipins that possess anti-microbial activity.The aim of this study was to generate a recombinant 9-Lipoxygenase protein for chemo enzymatic synthesis of Oxylipin based biodegradable fungicides. Golden gate assembly, a molecular cloning method that allows assembly of many DNA fragments into a complete piece using Type II s restriction enzymes and T4 DNA ligase was used to clone the complete 9-LOX gene into the expression plasmid vector pPICZαB. Protein expression in Pichia pastoris yeast cells was induced by addition of absolute methanol every after 24h for up to four days. Analysis of protein expression from cell lysates was achieved by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting probed with anti-histidine antibody which showed putative protein bands of 97kDa representing recombinant 9-LOX protein. It is recommended that optimization studies on the yeast kex2 convertase and the α- secretion factor can be done to enable secretion of recombinant Solanum tuberosum 9-LOX protein since the protein in this study was recovered from cell lysates.
The COMIX polarimeter: a compact device for XUV polarization analysis
Authors: Pancaldi Matteo , Strüber Christian , Friedrich Bertram , Pedersoli Emanuele , De Angelis Dario , Nikolov Ivaylo P. , Manfredda Michele , Foglia Laura , Yulin Sergiy , Spezzani Carlo , Sacchi Maurizio , Eisebitt Stefan , von Korff Schmising Clemens , Capotondi Flavio 
Published: May 2022

We report on the characterization of a novel extreme-ultraviolet polarimeter based on conical mirrors to simultaneously detect all the components of the electric field vector for extreme-ultraviolet radiation in the 45–90 eV energy range. The device has been characterized using a variable polarization source at the Elettra synchrotron, showing good performance in the ability to determine the radiation polarization. Furthermore, as a possible application of the device, Faraday spectroscopy and time-resolved experiments have been performed at the Fe M
2,3-edge on an FeGd ferrimagnetic thin film using the FERMI free-electron laser source. The instrument is shown to be able to detect the small angular variation induced by an optical external stimulus on the polarization state of the light after interaction with magnetic thin film, making the device an appealing tool for magnetization dynamics research.
Stock market reactions to COVID-19 shocks: do financial market interventions walk the talk?
Authors: Marobhe Mutaju Isaack , Kansheba Jonathan Mukiza Peter 
Published: May 2022

PurposeFollowing the COVID-19 outbreak, various economies imposed different financial interventions as part of initiatives to cushion their stock markets from deteriorating performance. Our article examines the effectiveness of these interventions in protecting stock markets during the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ Panel Vector Autoregression to model the magnitude and timing of shocks from COVID-19 to stock markets. The fixed effects regression is then utilized to assess the role of financial interventions in protecting stock markets during COVID-19. The study uses daily stock index returns as well COVID-19 containment measures stringency index data from 39 countries ranging from 2nd January 2020 to 30th September 2021.FindingsOur findings firstly reveal a significant positive stock market reaction to country-level containment measures stringency but only during the first wave of COVID-19. We secondly show that stock market functioning interventions that include short selling bans and circuit breakers amplify the positive effects of COVID-19 containment measures stringency on stock market performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors stress the need for policymakers and regulators to timely intervene in protecting economies and stock markets during crises such as COVID-19 in order to reduce panic among investors. Moreover, investors should adjust their portfolios by investing in stocks from countries that have proper financial market interventions in place.Originality/valueDespite growing body of literature on COVID-19 and stock market performance, there is limited evidence on the role of financial sector interventions to cushion stock markets during tumultuous conditions caused by the pandemic.
Entrepreneurial orientation, sustainability practices and performance of small and medium enterprises: evidence from an emerging economy
Authors: Akomea Samuel Yaw , Agyapong Ahmed , Ampah Godwin , Osei Hannah Vivian 
Published: May 2022

PurposeDespite the growing scholarly interest in examining entrepreneurial orientation (EO)-performance link, the results have been inconsistent. However, studies have not explored firm-level and external factors that may serve as mechanisms or boundary conditions to explain this relationship. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine how and when EO influences performance by incorporating sustainability practices as a mechanism and competitive intensity as an important contingent factor.Design/methodology/approachUsing primary data obtained from 323 chief executive officers/entrepreneurs, the authors analyzed the data using structural equation modeling in LISREL and Hayes PROCESS in SPSS.FindingsThe authors found that sustainability practices serve as a mechanism through which EO influences small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) performance. The study further revealed that the relationship between EO and sustainability practices is weakened at high levels of competitive intensity. Still, the relationship between EO and performance through sustainability practices remains strengthened when competitive intensity is present at high levels.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by examining how SMEs who are less endowed with resources can engage in sustainability practices that can match large firms with stronger EO to achieve increased performance. Additionally, the study contributes to the literature by examining the mediating effect of sustainability practices in the EO-performance relationship. Finally, the study contributes to the body of literature by testing how competitive intensity presents as a boundary condition to leverage the relationship between EO and performance.
Drum-Buffer-Rope in an engineering-to-order productive system: a case study in a Brazilian aerospace company
Authors: Telles Eduardo Santos , Lacerda Daniel Pacheco , Morandi Maria Isabel Wolf , Ellwanger Rodrigo , de Souza Fernando Bernardi , Piran Fabio Sartori 
Published: May 2022

PurposeDrum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) is a method to adjust production flows, synchronize the release of materials and enable a process of focused improvement in production systems. Literature on DBR applications in engineer-to-order (ETO) production systems, where customers participate in product design decisions and, consequently, in the way production is planned and executed, is rare. However, the interest in improving production management in ETO systems has received attention from the scientific and business communities. The goal of this research was to evaluate the implementation of DBR in an ETO productive system, critically analyzing the necessary adaptations for its use.Design/methodology/approachThis research was conducted through a case study in a company that manufactures electronic equipment, known as avionics, in the aerospace sector.FindingsIn this context, the contribution of this study consists of evaluation of the implementation of DBR in an ETO productive system, describing the implementation and the necessary adaptations of the DBR to the ETO productive system explored, comparing it with the DBR theoretical proposals and Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope (S-DBR) methods.Originality/valueThe study contributes to knowledge by expanding the field of the DBR application to make it more precise, and by applying the theory of constraints, in a general manner, to this type of productive environment.
Fostering resilience through the culture of excellence (CoE) practices: explorative insights from a talent management SME
Authors: Joseph Nidheesh , Totawar Abhishek K. , Sam Oliver 
Published: May 2022

Purpose
Organisational researchers have always highlighted the role of leadership during crisis. However, anecdotal evidence shows that leadership often fails when the culture does not back them during a crisis. Hence, actively initiating and developing a culture of excellence (CoE) become all the more relevant during a crisis. This paper aims to understand the role of CoE in building a resilient organisation. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to the understanding of building CoE practices in small businesses.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews relevant literature and gathers evidence from VDart Inc, a digital talent management and services firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. A case study design based on retrospective and real-time data collection is performed to investigate CoE practices before and during the Covid-19 crisis.

Findings
The findings argue that, most often, the culture and not just the leadership determines the fate of an organisation undergoing crisis. From the case evidence, the authors identify reinforce the culture, invest in cultural custodians, seek order, keep them close and industry thought-leadership (“RISK-It”) CoE practices for fostering resilience in small- and medium-sized enterprises/businesses (SMEs) for managing crises.

Originality/value
The authors contribute to knowledge in fostering proactive resilience in small businesses, showing how SMEs should invest in building a CoE when their organisations are stable instead of searching for strong leaders and unique strategies during a crisis. Later, during the crisis, just by reinforcing their CoE using RISK-It CoE practices, leaders and managers would be able to leverage any turbulence to the advantage of their organisations.
The mediating role of organizational silence in the relationship between organizational justice and organizational creativity
Authors: Ölçer Ferit , Coşkun Ömer Faruk 
Published: May 2022

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships between organizational justice, organizational silence and organizational creativity and to examine the mediating role of organizational silence in the effect of organizational justice on organizational creativity.

Design/methodology/approach
Research data were collected using a face-to-face survey method applied to employees in the automotive industry in Turkey. The research model and hypotheses were tested by structural equation modeling.

Findings
Research results indicate that organizational justice positively affects organizational silence, organizational creativity is positively affected by organizational justice and organizational silence positively affects organizational creativity. Besides, according to the results, organizational silence has a partial mediating role in the effect of organizational justice on organizational creativity.

Originality/value
Although the relationships between organizational justice, organizational silence and organizational creativity were examined in previous studies in the literature, the role of organizational silence in the relationship between organizational justice and organizational creativity was not investigated. Besides, although previous studies examined the mediating role of variables that are thought to have a positive effect on the organization between organizational justice and organizational creativity, they did not study the role of a variable of organizational silence, which is considered negative. For these reasons, this study is predicted to differentiate the perspective in the literature and fills a gap in the literature.
Turning crises into opportunities in the service sector: how to build antifragility in small and medium service enterprises
Authors: Corvello Vincenzo , Verteramo Saverino , Giglio Carlo 
Published: May 2022

PurposeThis work aims at investigating the variables that foster antifragility in the context of small and medium-sized service companies (service SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThis work adopts an exploratory approach in order to deepen five examples of service SMEs that were able to change their own business models and to reinforce their strategic position while facing the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsThe ingredients of antifragility ability include: entrepreneurial orientation, context insightfulness and operational dexterity. This article singles out the resources and capacities backing the blossoming of antifragility abilities in service SMEs. Slack financial resources, many and diverse research-and-innovation partners, operational dexterity, fastness and creativity are included among such resources and capabilities.Practical implicationsCrises may occur frequently in many ways; thus, this work provides some guidance geared to services SMEs in order to increase their level of preparedness for future crises and to nurture their ability to transform them into opportunities.Originality/valueDespite many concepts associated with antifragility have been dealt with in literature such as resilience or agility, antifragility is hitherto underexplored. This article is among the first ones to explore factors fostering antifragility in service SMEs.
Scanner model classification with characteristic brightness variations
Authors: Lee Joong , Kim Hongseok , Kang Tae‐Yi , Yook Simyub 
Published: May 2022

AbstractAnalog documents and scanned digitized files are now considered equivalent in legal contexts, and the widespread supply of multi‐functional printers has led to a surge in the use of scanned documents. With image editing tools, there has been more cases of forgery involving scanned files. This has highlighted the importance of integrity and authenticity verification of scanned documents submitted as court evidence. Extensive studies have been conducted on source scanner identification and detection of alteration in scanned documents. Past research usually relied on machine learning with Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and was focused more on images rather than text documents. Brightness variations are produced depending on the repetitive arrangement and relative intensity of light sources, and such patterns can be clearly observed in scanned images by the Charged Coupled Device (CCD) type flatbed scanner. The separate image module of the Contact Image Sensor (CIS) also leads to characteristic brightness variations. To extract and enhance these brightness variations, image processing techniques such as separating color channel and adjusting gradation and contrast are applied. The proposed method was tested on five scanner models, and the results confirmed that each scanner had unique brightness variations. This study is the first to extract brightness variations as a unique characteristic of each scanner model and recognize the potential of brightness variations in source identification and manipulation detection. A major advantage is that brightness variations are physical, robust, and visible. The research will be expanded with multicolor documents, counterfeit documents, and text‐independent detection.
Disposition disparities in an urban tertiary emergency department
Authors: Ho Jess , Burbridge Hayley , Raumati Inia , Khalil Rana , Hill Dane , Jones Peter 
Published: May 2022

AbstractObjectiveTo explore disparities between Māori and non‐Māori patients with respect to triage acuity and disposition based on presenting complaint.MethodsThis was a retrospective review of 5788 (n = 594 Māori, n = 5194 non‐Māori) ED visits in February 2021, extracted from the hospital data warehouse.ResultsMāori were triaged similarly to non‐Māori but were less likely to be admitted compared to non‐Māori: relative risk 0.87 (0.78, 0.97), P = 0.008.ConclusionMāori were less likely to be admitted for similar presenting complaints, despite similar triage acuity. Further research is required to determine the reasons for this apparent inequity.
ddPCR surpasses classical qPCR technology in quantitating bacteria and fungi in the environment
Authors: Wang Danrui , Wang Shang , Du Xiongfeng , He Qing , Liu Yue , Wang Zhujun , Feng Kai , Li Yan , Deng Ye 
Published: May 2022

AbstractQuantitative real‐time PCR (qPCR) has been widely used in quantifying bacterial and fungal populations in various ecosystems, as well as the fungi to bacteria ratio (F:B ratio). Recently, researchers have begun to apply droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to this area; however, no study has systematically compared qPCR and ddPCR for quantitating both bacteria and fungi in environmental samples at the same time. Here, we designed probe‐primer pair combinations targeting the 16S rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) for the detection of bacteria and fungi, respectively, and tested both SYBR Green and TaqMan approaches in qPCR and ddPCR methods for mock communities and in real environmental samples. In mock communities, the quantification results of ddPCR were significantly closer to expected values (p < .05), and had smaller coefficients of variations (p < .05) than qPCR, suggesting ddPCR was more accurate and repeatable. In environmental samples, ddPCR consistently quantified ITS and 16S rRNA gene concentrations in all four habitats without abnormal overestimation or underestimation, and the F:B ratio obtained by ddPCR was consistent with phospholipid fatty acid analysis. Our results indicated that ddPCR had better precision, repeatability, sensitivity, and stability in bacterial and fungal quantitation than qPCR. Although ddPCR has high cost, complicated processes and restricted detection range, it shows insensitivity to PCR inhibitors and the potential of quantifying long target fragments. We expect that ddPCR, which is complementary to qPCR, will contribute to microbial quantification in environmental monitoring and evaluation.
MHCtools – an R package for MHC high‐throughput sequencing data: Genotyping, haplotype and supertype inference, and downstream genetic analyses in non‐model organisms
Authors: Roved Jacob , Hansson Bengt , Stervander Martin , Hasselquist Dennis , Westerdahl Helena 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe major histocompatibility complex (MHC) plays a central role in the vertebrate adaptive immune system and has been of long‐term interest in evolutionary biology. While several protocols have been developed for MHC genotyping, there is a lack of transparent and standardized tools for downstream analysis of MHC data. Here, we present the r package mhctools and demonstrate the use of its functions to (i) assist accurate MHC genotyping from high‐throughput amplicon‐sequencing data, (ii) infer functional MHC supertypes using bootstrapped clustering analysis, (iii) identify segregating MHC haplotypes from family data, and (iv) analyse functional and genetic distances between MHC sequences. We employed mhctools to analyse MHC class I (MHC‐I) amplicon data of 559 great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). We identified 390 MHC‐I alleles which clustered into 14 functional supertypes. A phylogenetic analysis and analyses of positive selection suggested that the MHC‐I alleles belong to several distinct functional groups. We furthermore identified 107 segregating haplotypes among 116 families, and found substantial variation in diversity with 4–21 MHC‐I alleles and 3–13 MHC‐I supertypes per haplotype. Finally, we show that the great reed warbler haplotypes harboured combinations of MHC‐I supertypes with greater functional divergence than observed in simulated populations of possible haplotypes, a result that is in accordance with the divergent allele advantage hypothesis. Our study demonstrates the power of mhctools to support genotyping and analysis of MHC in non‐model species, which we hope will encourage broad implementation among researchers in MHC genetics and evolution.
Poor compliance documenting informed consent in trauma patients with distal radius fractures compared to elective total knee arthroplasty
Authors: Bolam Scott M. , Munro Leigh , Wright Mark 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundThe purpose of this study was (1) to evaluate the adequacy of informed consent documentation in the trauma setting for distal radius fracture surgery compared with the elective setting for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) at a large public hospital and (2) to explore the relevant guidelines in New Zealand relating to consent documentation.MethodsConsecutive adult patients (≥16 years) undergoing operations for distal radius fractures and elective TKA over a 12‐month period in a single‐centre were retrospectively identified. All medical records were reviewed for the risks and complications recorded. The consent form was analysed using the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG) index readability scores.ResultsA total of 133 patients undergoing 134 operations for 135 distal radius fractures and 239 patients undergoing 247 TKA were included. Specific risks of surgery were recorded significantly less frequently for distal radius fractures than TKA (43.3% versus 78.5%, P < 0.001). Significantly fewer risks were recorded in the trauma setting compared to the elective (2.35 ± 2.98 versus 4.95 ± 3.33, P < 0.001). The readability of the consent form was 40.5 using the FRES and 10.9 using the SMOG index, indicating a university undergraduate level of reading.ConclusionsThis study has shown poor compliance in documenting risks of surgery during the informed consent process in an acute trauma setting compared to elective arthroplasty. Institutions must prioritize improving documentation of informed consent for orthopaedic trauma patients to ensure a patient‐centred approach to healthcare.