Dominant Player Research Articles

Metabolic framework of spontaneous and synthetic sourdough metacommunities to reveal microbial players responsible for resilience and performance

BackgroundIn nature, microbial communities undergo changes in composition that threaten their resiliency. Here, we interrogated sourdough, a natural cereal-fermenting metacommunity, as a dynamic ecosystem in which players are subjected to continuous environmental and spatiotemporal stimuli.ResultsThe inspection of spontaneous sourdough metagenomes and transcriptomes revealed dominant, subdominant and satellite players that are engaged in different functional pathways. The highest microbial richness was associated with the highest number of gene copies per pathway. Based on meta-omics data collected from 8 spontaneous sourdoughs and their identified microbiota, we de novo reconstructed a synthetic microbial community SDG. We also reconstructed SMC-SD43 from scratch using the microbial composition of its spontaneous sourdough equivalent for comparison. The KEGG number of dominant players in the SDG was not affected by depletion of a single player, whereas the subdominant and satellite species fluctuated, revealing unique contributions. Compared to SMC-SD43, SDG exhibited broader transcriptome redundancy. The invariant volatilome profile of SDG after in situ long-term back slopping revealed its stability. In contrast, SMC-SD43 lost many taxon members. Dominant, subdominant and satellite players together ensured gene and transcript redundancy.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates how, by starting from spontaneous sourdoughs and reconstructing these communities synthetically, it was possible to unravel the metabolic contributions of individual players. For resilience and good performance, the sourdough metacommunity must include dominant, subdominant and satellite players, which together ensure gene and transcript redundancy. Overall, our study changes the paradigm and introduces theoretical foundations for directing food fermentations.EMEdktm6hHpuS2J-XhY8obVideo

False Pretenses in Institutional Asset Management

From an initial position engaging mainly in ex post portfolio performance monitoring, investment consultants have come to occupy the central ex ante roles in conventional arrangements, advising on objectives, strategy, asset management structure, and portfolio management selection in the five-stage process that constitutes the standard model. The author identifies the theoretical, empirical, and regulatory factors that facilitated this fundamental change, which cannot be accommodated in the existing literature. As consultants can no longer be regarded as agents but are, in effect, either quasi-principals or principals, the author examines whether they have the skills necessary to execute these enhanced responsibilities, concluding that they do not. So, clients following consultants’ recommendations may be allocating assets on false pretenses, as one recent empirical study suggested. Demonstrating that investment consultants, not asset managers, have become the dominant players in the investment chain, the author’s analysis produces other uncomfortable conclusions from the conventional perspective: first, that regulators and consultants are in a symbiotic relationship, and second, that asset management is necessarily characterized by asymmetric information but consultants are powerless to address it.

Solving the agency problem via a networked supplier social media platform

AbstractThis paper considers the use of incentives and signals by a dominant player to solve an agency problem across a network using a social media platform. An information sharing model underpinned by reward incentives and information visibility, to drive competitive information sharing across homogenous suppliers, is proposed, and builds on early work in the area. The study was exploratory in nature and involved conducting 57 interviews and 3 workshops over a 4‐month period across a UK insurance supply chain. The data revealed that when appropriate incentives are combined with information visibility, the Principal can effectively align the suppliers interests with their own desire for supply chain wide information sharing. The research contributes to extant literature on agency theory by extending the Principal Agent (PA) issue arising in a dyadic contractual relationship, to solving agency issues across a network.

Financial Inclusion in Jammu & Kashmir: An Assessment of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

There has been an intensive debate about the improvement in accessibility of financial services through PMJDY in India. After almost eight years of its inception, there is still a significant section of population, particularly in rural and unbanked part of the country which is not linked with the formal financial system. This paper attempts to assess the performance of PMJDY scheme, generally in India and particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. The public sector banks are the dominant players in implementing this scheme across the country, but in Jammu & Kashmir, private sector banks are leading from the front. Except the account opening process, other financial facilities being provided under this scheme are still not fully accessible throughout the region. There is a significant number of accounts under this scheme which are dormant and having zero balances. There is need to accelerate the financial literacy programs to financially educate the beneficiaries for better usage of financial services.

Marketing Management in Retail in the Context of the Growing Trend of Electric Vehicles

Retail chains are the dominant player in the distribution chain, which mainly provides consumer goods to final consumers. The distribution of individual retail shops in towns and villages is related to the demography of the selected region and to the degree of urbanisation. Due to the relative saturation of the market with retail chain shops, there is a renewed need for diversification. Given a good demographic structure of the population, it is possible to diversify through new technologies, including electromobility. The aim of the article is to describe the expansion of retail chains in a selected region considering its demographics, while evaluating the potential for installation of charging stations for electric cars as an element enabling to gain and retain customers.

Does marine environmental research meet the challenges of marine pollution induced by the COVID-19 pandemic? Comparison analysis before and during the pandemic based on bibliometrics.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought enormous challenges to the global marine environment. Various responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to increased marine pollution. Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected marine pollution research? This work comprehensively reviewed marine pollution publications in the Web of Science database before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that the COVID-19 outbreak has influenced the marine pollution research by: (i) increasing the number of publications; (ii) reshaping different countries' roles in marine pollution research; (iii) altering the hotspots of marine pollution research. The ranking of countries with high productivity in the marine pollution research field changed, and developed economies are the dominant players both before and after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in this field. Other high-productivity countries, with the exception of China, have higher international cooperation rates in marine pollution research than those before the pandemic. Microplastic pollution has been the biggest challenge of marine pollution and has been aexplored in greater depth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the mining results of marine pollution publications show the mitigation of plastic pollution in the marine environment remains the main content requires future research. Finally, this paper puts forward corresponding suggestions for the reference of researchers and practitioners to improve the global ability to respond to the challenges posed by the pandemic to the marine environment.

Speculation beyond technology: building scenarios through storytelling

‘Modern methods of construction’ is a term largely synonymous with the prefabrication of product components in factories. Emerging technologies, <em>e.g.</em> robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), are redefining the concept of modern methods of construction and destabilising the structure of the sector to meet the conditions of their implementation. Robotics and machine-based automation, for example, are expected to transform construction manufacturing techniques in rapid and significant ways, but the extent of change and the associated impacts on organisations, supply chains and business models that constitute the sector remains unknown. Existing foresight is dominated by trajectorial perspectives that overemphasise technological predictions and underemphasise the contextual stories of implementation most helpful in understanding technology adoption. An alternative approach presented here focuses on storytelling, the design of the scenarios and the visual images used to help convey these scenarios. These allow practitioners to explore how robotics and machine-based automation may play out in different characterisations of the industry. The research involved the analysis of an existing dataset to create four scenarios, before adapting and extending these scenarios through participatory workshops and interviews. Project participants were comprised of seven small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing and architectural fabrication, one tier 1 contractor, and two acclaimed industry experts from an industry advisory board and education centre. <em><strong>Practice relevance</strong></em> Robotics and machine-based automation are expected to transform the construction sector in rapid and significant ways, but the extent of change and associated impacts on organisations, supply chains and business models remains unknown. An alternative approach to foresight is presented that uses scenario creation to understand the implications of robotics and automation. The implications of robotics and automation are explored at the project, firm and industry levels. This will assist decision-makers to responsibly turn technological promise into substantive change. Four future scenarios of a construction industry where manufacturing robotics are business as usual are described. As an often-overlooked stakeholder, SMEs were at the centre of the scenario development process. Each scenario has a dominant player at the centre: tier 1 contractors, SME cooperatives, software vendors and original equipment manufacturers, and government. These scenarios illustrate the potential implications and non-technological innovations to resolve them (<em>e.g.</em> business model modification, development opportunities and contractual relationships), co-constructed with construction professionals.

Hints of natural supersymmetry in flavor anomalies?

The recent results from the Fermilab muon $g\ensuremath{-}2$ experiment, as well as the persisting hints of lepton flavor universality violation in $B$-meson decays, present a very strong case for flavor-nonuniversal new physics beyond the Standard Model. We assert that a minimal $R$-parity violating supersymmetric scenario with relatively light third-generation sfermions (dubbed as ``RPV3'') provides a natural, well-motivated framework for the simultaneous explanation of all flavor anomalies, while being consistent with a multitude of low-energy flavor constraints, as well as with limits from high-energy collider searches. We further propose complementary tests and distinct signatures of this scenario in the high-${p}_{T}$ searches at current and future colliders. Specifically, we find that an sbottom in the mass range of 2--12 TeV accounts for ${R}_{{D}^{(*)}}$ and ${R}_{{K}^{(*)}}$ flavor anomalies and it only plays a minor role in the $(g\ensuremath{-}2{)}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$ anomaly, whereas a sneutrino with mass between 0.7--1 TeV is the dominant player for $(g\ensuremath{-}2{)}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}$. In this context, we propose specific collider signatures of sbottom via its decays to $\overline{t}(t){\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, and of sneutrino pairs with their decays leading to a highly distinctive and spectacular four-muon final state, which can be used to completely probe the RPV3 parameter space of interest.

Temporal-spatial dynamic characteristics of vehicle emissions on intercity roads in Guangdong Province based on vehicle identity detection data

Estimating intercity vehicle emissions precisely would benefit collaborative control in multiple cities. Considering the variability of emissions caused by vehicles, roads, and traffic, the 24-hour change characteristics of air pollutants (CO, HC, NOX, PM2.5) on the intercity road network of Guangdong Province by vehicle categories and road links were revealed based on vehicle identity detection data in real-life traffic for each hour in July 2018. The results showed that the spatial diversity of emissions caused by the unbalanced economy was obvious. The vehicle emissions in the Pearl River Delta region (PRD) with a higher economic level were approximately 1–2 times those in the non-Pearl River Delta region (non-PRD). Provincial roads with high loads became potential sources of high emissions. Therefore, emission control policies must emphasize the PRD and key roads by travel guidance to achieve greater reduction. Gasoline passenger cars with a large proportion of traffic dominated morning and evening peaks in the 24-hour period and were the dominant contributors to CO and HC emissions, contributing more than 50% in the daytime (7:00–23:00) and higher than 26% at night (0:00–6:00). Diesel trucks made up 10% of traffic, but were the dominant player at night, contributed 50%–90% to NOX and PM2.5 emissions, with a marked 24-hour change rule of more than 80% at night (23:00–5:00) and less than 60% during daytime. Therefore, targeted control measures by time-section should be set up on collaborative control. These findings provide time-varying decision support for variable vehicle emission control on a large scale.

Government Participation in Supply Chain Low-Carbon Technology R&amp;D and Green Marketing Strategy Optimization

This paper uses the differential game approach to construct a model of cooperative emission reduction involving the government, manufacturing firms, and retail firms under different power structures. It is found that the dominant player receives more subsidies; the development of a mechanism for horizontal technology R&amp;D among enterprises can reduce the financial pressure on the government to implement compensation strategies and improve the effectiveness and performance of supply chain emission reduction; and the government can develop differentiated subsidy schemes to achieve Pareto optimality in the supply chain and environmental performance based on different game strategies and revenue-sharing agreements by enterprises.

The Geopolitical Risk and Strategic Uncertainty of Green Growth after the Ukraine Invasion: How the Circular Economy Can Decrease the Market Power of and Resource Dependency on Critical Minerals

Following the invasion of Ukraine, there is a call to replace Russian gas and oil with green electric energy. A prime sector subject to electrification is the transportation sector. Consequently, access to the critical minerals for electrification has become an important strategic issue in the electric vehicle industry. Our analysis indicates that the markets for scarce and critical minerals, like cobalt, graphite, lithium, and rare earth elements, are in a highly concentrated number of countries. China, a strategic partner of Russia, has a dominant power position in both graphite and rare earth elements and is a dominant player in the processing of copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements. Furthermore, at least 70% of cobalt, graphite, and rare earth element resources are in corrupt or very corrupt states. Transportation sector electrification might therefore increase Europe’s and the USA’s resource dependency on totalitarian, corrupt, and unstable countries. The surging resource dependency on China, Russia’s most important strategic partner, intensifies the geopolitical risk to the green transition. We suggest strategies like vertical control of supply chains, specific technology and infrastructure investments, innovation of other green energy sources, and exploration of critical minerals in other countries. Substitution and closed-loop technology also reduce resource dependency and geopolitical risk. However, closed-loop recycling cannot compensate for the short-run growth in the electric vehicle markets. Thus, the circular economy will reduce but not eliminate geopolitical risk. Countries, supply chains, and companies should examine the geopolitical risk and strategic uncertainty associated with different green energy sources and technology.

Long‐term care in India: Capacity, need and future

AbstractThe family is the dominant player in India’s current long‐term care (LTC) system. Yet informal family‐based arrangements will be insufficient to accommodate India’s growing need for LTC due to increasing longevity and geographic mobility, the prevalence of chronic disease and disability among the elderly, and the decline of extended family living arrangements. Addressing the growing need for LTC will require a robust expansion of the current LTC system, especially its non‐familial components. This overhaul will require investments in infrastructure, human resources and legal and regulatory environments. The objectives of this study are to i) provide a descriptive summary and analysis of the LTC system in India, with attention to cross‐state heterogeneity and to the financial, social and cultural factors that impede the operation of India’s LTC system; ii) estimate and assess the current and future need for LTC and its critical financial and human inputs; and iii) critically analyse and discuss the institutions and policies, technologies and behaviours needed to bring capacity comfortably into conformance with the need for LTC.

Electromyographical Analysis of Table Tennis Forehand Stroke Using Different Ball Material

Research purpose. This study aimed to determine the EMG analysis of forehand topspin using different ball materials. &#x0D; Materials and methods. For the purposes of this study, seven male university-level table tennis players who were right-hand dominant players (age 21.1 ± 2.4 years, height 162.6 ± 6.8 cm, mass 61.8 ± 3.2 kg) with at least 6 years of playing experience were selected. The selected participants were physically active and had no physical injuries. The study was approved by the research committee. Pectoralis Major (PM), Deltoid Anterior (DA), Latissimus Dorsi (LD), Biceps Brachii (BB), Extensor Carpi Radialis (ECR), Flexor Carpi Radialis (FCR) muscles were selected for the electromyographical study. One of the EMG signals variable Root Mean Square was measured in all muscles, through which the maximum muscle involvement was evaluated. For each assessed muscle and both ball materials, the mean value of Root Mean Square EMG signals was computed. For descriptive statistics, minimum, maximum, mean, and standard deviation were used, and a t-test was used as a statistical technique. &#x0D; Results. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results of the study showed no significant difference in EMG variable Root Mean Square between celluloid and poly plastic ball material on selected muscles. &#x0D; Conclusions. We conclude that the biceps brachii and extensor carpi radialis are important muscles for the forehand topspin because they are responsible for flexion of the arm and work strongly in the action of gripping in the performance of quick forehand spin strokes.

Handloom and Powerloom Industries in Odisha: A Historical Analysis

Abstract The handloom industry in India is an ancient cottage industry with a decentralized setup that provides jobs to about 35 million people. Handloom established its reputation in the global market long before the industrial revolution. Today, India’s handloom and spinning wheel produces the largest variation of designs. It continued to flourish despite the oppression of the British Government. In India the powerloom sector is the dominant player in the weaving process. It contributes more than 60 percent of the total textile production. The powerloom units are meeting the textile products required for the domestic market as well as for the export of the same. Against this backdrop this article dwells upon the history of the handloom and powerloom industry in India in general, and Odisha in particular. This article is based on only secondary data.

Privatisation of Power Generation in Malaysia: Impact on the Entry of Malays into Power Business

This paper reviews Malaysia’s experience in privatisation in power generation from the first half of the 1990s and the role it played in promoting Malay entry into business. In the pre-1949 period, privately-owned independent power producers and distributors (IPPs and Ds) were the dominant players. The government-owned integrated power utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), became a monopoly only since 1976. TNB’s finances were strained during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) period, but contracts were honoured despite strong calls for renegotiation of power purchase agreements (PPA). With the open tender era from 2012, the PPA terms have become very competitive. However, as TNB can continue to bid, this has not made for a level playing field. With competition and fall in interest rate, there has been a significant decline in internal rate of returns (IRRs). Guaranteed off-take enabled some concessionaires to still earn a good equity IRR through aggressive gearing. Development of a more active and liquid bond market has played a key role in privatisation.

Generalized Additive Model Reveals Nonlinear Trade-Offs/Synergies between Relationships of Ecosystem Services for Mountainous Areas of Southwest China

Ecosystem services (ESs) are an essential link between ecosystems and human well-being, and trade-offs/synergies happen in ESs at different temporal and spatial scales. It is crucial to explore patterns of trade-offs/synergies among ESs, and their nonlinear relationships with changes in ESs. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate five ESs in 2000 and 2018: namely, water yield, food production, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and habitat quality in mountainous regions of Southwest China. The mean values of the five ESs increased by 365.8 m3/ha, 13.92 t/hm2, 497.09 TgC/yr2, 138.48 t/km2, and 0.002, respectively. Using spatial statistics and analysis, an ES trade-off synergy model (ESTD) was constructed for the five ESs change values. Overall, soil conservation has a trade-off with all five ESs, except habitat quality; this trade-off is increasing slightly. Water yield is in synergy with all ESs except soil conservation, with decreasing synergy; habitat quality is in synergy with all ESs except food production, with increasing synergy. Finally, the nonlinear relationship between the value of the change in the ES and ESTD was analyzed using a generalized additive model. Changes in water yield showed the greatest impact on ESTD except for food production, wherein changes in all three ESs had minimal impacts on ESTD. Food production dominates its trade-offs/synergies relationship with soil conservation; carbon sequestration is the dominant player in its trade-offs/synergies relationship with soil conservation. Habitat quality has a secondary position of influence, except in the trade-offs/synergies involving food production. By exploring the drivers of trade-offs/synergies among ESs, this study can provide guidance for the effective implementation of policies related to ecological protection and restoration.

The U.S. Bioeconomy: Charting a Course for a Resilient and Competitive Future

The U.S. Bioeconomy: Charting a Course for a Resilient and Competitive Future

A multi-level perspective on financial technology transitions

This paper addresses the question of how financial technology transitions unfold. Innovations in financial business models driven by technology do not only involve changes in financial services delivering, but also changes in market, regulation, industrial networks, dominant players, and culture. The work adopts a multi-level perspective on financial technology transitions. Based on a literature review, the socio-technical landscape, regime, and niche levels are elaborated. The paper contributes with a new framework on financial technology transitions that may be used as an analytical tool to elaborate on future transformations in the sector and to customize for national-level studies.

The Possibility of Identifying Alpha-Companies by Statistical Methods on the Example of the ExpressLogistics Market In Russia

The article attempts to evaluate the use of the conventional statistical apparatus to identify alpha companies in the Russian express logistics market. According to the theory of economic dominance, Alpha-companies occupy dominant positions in industry markets due to access to the cheapest resources and institutional advantages that allow them to build barriers to other players. Identification of such companies has traditionally been carried out by an expert method, including based on insider information, not available to external market players. The author describes the traditional tools used to identify the dominant market players [concentration indices (CR), Lind (L) and Herfindahl-Hirschman (HHI)], made calculations based on official statistics, data from open ratings and other available benchmarks for the express delivery industry in Russia, as well as a comparison with the results of determining alpha companies by an expert method. The author formulated hypotheses to explain the reasons for situations when companies with dominant capabilities are not interested in realizing their potential in a small market. Additionally, the author used some assumptions about the role of institutions regulating the market in case of sharp changes in market conditions.

Fiscal decentralization, government innovation preference, and haze pollution.

Local governments are the dominant players in haze pollution control; furthermore, financial power reconstruction affects the effectiveness of haze control. Government innovation preference achieves win-win results for environmental protection and economic development by increasing innovation support. Therefore, a moderating variable for government innovation preference was added to the fiscal decentralization effect on haze pollution, and their interactive effect on haze pollution was studied. This study was conducted in 30 provincial regions. Thus, the severity of regional haze pollution differs because of temporal heterogeneity and asynchronous development. Furthermore, we analyzed the impact on haze pollution from the perspectives of the temporal and spatial differences in different regions of China. The results indicate that (1) fiscal decentralization increases haze pollution, while government innovation preferences control it. (2) In a local evaluation model with a diversified background, fiscal decentralization restrains haze pollution, and pollution source complexity reduces government innovation preference's control pollution function. The interaction term revealed that government innovation preferences had a significant moderating effect. (3) Fiscal decentralization and government innovation preferences control the heterogeneity of haze pollution in different regions.