Major Streams Research Articles

Lignin Isolation from Black Liquor for Wastewater Quality Improvement and Bio-material Recovery

Spent pulping chemicals along with liberated lignin called black liquor are a major liquid waste stream from wood digestion process. For wastewater quality improvement, lignin residue could be isolated via various techniques. According to difference in chemical pulping process (kraft and soda), variations of organic and inorganic substance were suspended in waste stream. This research aims to investigate the effects of the cooking chemical on organic waste (lignin) in black liquor. Organic waste in black liquor was isolated as soda lignin (SL) from soda black liquor (SBL) and kraft lignin (KL) from kraft black liquor (KBL) by acidic precipitation. In addition, lignin model compound (LMC) was used to establish base case measurement. The elemental analysis revealed the similarity of C, H, and O content of samples in range of 32-33%, 3-4%, and 35-38%, respectively. FTIR results showed that structures of lignin, functional group and guaiacyl to syringyl ratio were vary depended on type of chemical pulping with β-O-4 as the primary composition of the samples. Moreover, Py-GC/MS technique was applied for analyzing the degradation products in order to corroborate the result with the structure and thermal behavior analysis. The TGA results showed high stability of lignin up to around 400°C. Main degraded compounds of all samples were phenol, vanillin, catechol, and guaiacol. This finding suggested that not only lignin which caused high BOD and COD could potentially be isolated for value added product but also the discharge quality could be improved. In addition, different chemical processes effect residual lignin in black liquor and underscore the importance of lignin in black liquor as a potential material for renewable energy and chemical production.

From Average Customer to Individual Traveler: A Field Experiment in Airline Ancillary Pricing

Ancillaries in the travel industry are now a major stream for revenue and profitability. Ancillaries are optional products or services whose sales depend on an individual's personal preference and their trip context. Conventional pricing strategies for ancillaries based on poorly optimized or static business rules do not respond to changing market conditions or trip context. We present a dynamic pricing model developed in conjunction with Deepair solutions, an AI technology provider for travel suppliers. Our models provide dynamic, customer-interaction-specific pricing recommendations, to increase revenue. The unique nature of personalized pricing provides the opportunity to search over the market space to find the optimal price-point for each customer, without violating customer privacy. We present an A/B testing deployment framework on an airline's website. Embedded in it are three models for dynamic pricing of ancillaries, with increasing levels of sophistication: (1) a two-stage forecasting and pricing model using a logistic mapping function; (2) a two-stage model with a deep neural network for forecasting, followed by pricing using discrete exhaustive search; (3) a single-stage end-to-end deep neural network that recommends the optimal price. In an outer loop, we introduce an online adaptive model-selection framework that adaptively routes customer requests to the above models. This is modeled as multi-armed bandit problem, which we solve using Thompson sampling. We evaluate the performance of these models based on offfine and online evaluations, and their real-world business impact. Offline experiments show that deep learning algorithms outperform traditional machine learning techniques for this problem. In online testing, our AI-driven pricing outperforms human rule-based approaches, improving conversion by 17% and revenue per offer by 25%. Additionally, our adaptive model-selection approach outperforms a uniformly random selection policy by improving the expected revenue per offer by 43% and conversion score by 58% in a simulation environment.

The Impact of an Identity Based Destination Image on Destination Loyalty: with Special Reference to Sri Lanka as a Tourist Destination

Destination loyalty and destination image are the two major components used in measuring brand performance in the Consumer Based Brand Equity model (CBBE). Measuring brand performance is one of the major streams in branding literature. This study conceptualized destination brand image as a stakeholder co-created value, which is a new conceptualization in branding literature. Thus, brand community associations were added to represent the stakeholder perspective, which includes functional associations, symbolic associations, and experiential associations, all of which ultimately constitute the dimensions of an identity based destination image. A new scale for identity based destination image was developed by conducting an exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis with promax rotation. This method used 211 responses and measured the impact of identity based destination image on destination loyalty using another 260 responses. The theoretical contribution of this study is the development of a new scale to measure identity based destination image with the addition of brand community associations. Also, brand community associations have been verified as an important and integral dimension of identity based destination image. Thus, identity based destination image can be used as a strong predictor of destination performance. Therefore, destination marketers of Sri Lanka can focus on a combination of functional, symbolic, experiential, and brand community associations when coming up with promotional campaigns to promote Sri Lanka as an attractive tourist destination.

New Century – ‘New Essays’?

This article constitutes an attempt at organising the non-conservative tendencies in Polish essays published in the 21st century, which apply to themes, the lowering of the tone, and forms of writing. One major stream is travel writing, which focuses not on the Mediterranean legacy, but on the ‘second world’: long-disadvantaged provincial areas. Many essayists abandon the traditional topic of books and works of art, and turn to ‘reading’ the animal world, the plant world, and the world of ordinary objects. The essay has also become a tool for introducing polarisation between that which is mainstream and that which is marginal and concerns minorities. The fact of choosing a non-traditional topic often entails a non-canonical cognitive attitude, which translates into experiments within the area of the form of expression. The author of this article argues that all those innovations can be accommodated by the flexible convention of the essay as a genre which, in principle, is supposed to constitute an artistic cognitive experiment.

Oiling the Wheels of Multi-Party Politics in Africa: How Power Alternation Affects Party Financing in Ghana

Supplementing literature study with in-depth unstructured interviews from the two dominant political parties in Ghana on how they mobilize funds, the key argument of this article is that the loss of a presidential election in Ghana is a reduction in a party’s major income streams. Unlike other studies that look at incumbency advantage in party funding from the angle of governments’ policies that weaken the opposition parties, this article analyses incumbency from their sources of funds. It fulfils two major objectives of identifying the sources of funds of political parties and establishing the link between these sources and incumbency.

Clinical Features, Outcomes, and Risk Factors of Bloodstream Infections due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia in a Tertiary-Care Hospital of China: A Retrospective Analysis

Background. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteremia (SMB) is the most perilous situation as compared to other types of S. maltophilia infection. The present study aimed to investigate the clinical features, distribution, drug resistance, and predictors of survival of SMB in a tertiary-care hospital of China. Methods. SMB that occurred in a tertiary-care hospital in Beijing, China, within 9 years (2010–2018) was investigated in a retrospective study. Demographics, incidence, commodities, drug resistance, mortality, as well as antibiotics administration were summarized according to the electronic medical records. The risk factors for survival were analyzed by Chi-square test, Kaplan–Meier curve and Cox regression. Results. A total of 76 episodes of SMB were analyzed. The overall incidence of SMB fluctuated from 3.4 to 15.4 episodes per 1000 admissions over 9 years. Malignancy was the most common comorbidity. High in vitro sensitivity was observed to minocycline (96.1%), levofloxacin (81.6%), and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (89.5%). Central venous catheter (CVC) (p = 0.004), mechanical ventilation (MV) (p = 0.006), hemodialysis (p = 0.024), and septic shock (p = 0.016) were significantly different between survival and death group. The 30-day mortality was 34.2% within 30 days after confirmation of blood culture. Factors such as hemodialysis (OR 0.287, 95% CI: 0.084–0.977, p = 0.046), T-tube (OR 0.160, 95% CI: 0.029–0.881, p = 0.035), and septic shock (OR 0.234, 95% CI: 0.076–0.719, p = 0.011) were associated with survival. Conclusions. S. maltophilia is the major nosocomial blood stream infectious pathogenic bacteria. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and minocycline are optimal antibiotics for the treatment of SMB. T-tube, hemodialysis, and septic shock were the risk factors associated with survival of SMB patients.

Knowledge management in entrepreneurial universities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and critique the knowledge management (KM) literature within Entrepreneurial universities, providing an overview of the state of research and outlining a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach In a systematic literature review, 1106 articles indexed at Scopus were initially submitted to a bibliometric analysis. Finally, 150 papers published in a variety of academic journals specializing in the field of Entrepreneurship, KM and Higher Education were analyzed through a content and a bibliometric analysis to minimize mistakes in interpreting findings of collected studies. Findings KM within entrepreneurial university is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that literature on KM models and tools in the entrepreneurial university is fragmented and dominated by unrelated research. Content analysis shows heterogeneous literature, but four major research streams emerge: knowledge transfer in university–industry collaboration; knowledge creation in entrepreneurship education; KM processes for university spin-offs; entrepreneurial university to support knowledge-based regional development. The results show a failure to address the implications of findings for policy makers, which risks making KM in entrepreneurial universities research irrelevant. Research limitations/implications Although different structured literature reviews (SLRs) exist separately in the field of KM and entrepreneurial universities, to the authors’ best knowledge, no studies exist in the intersection between the two fields. Originality/value The paper presents the first attempt to provide a comprehensive SLR of the articles dealing with models and processes of KM in the entrepreneurial university. Despite the increasing literature, this research area is still fragmented and undertheorized, thus requiring more systematic and holistic studies, considering both the economic and the social aspects of KM within universities. The paper’s findings can offer insights into future research avenues.

Gap Acceptance for Yangon Urban and Suburban Intersections

Gap acceptance plays an important role in intersection design and signal warrant. This study investigates gap acceptance of drivers in Yangon, Myanmar. Three T-intersections were selected for study sites; two intersections in the urban area and the other one in Yangon suburb. As Yangon drivers drove on the right-hand side, the key movements that defined the intersection capacity would include left-turn from the major stream (LT-major), right-turn from the minor stream (RT-minor), and left-turn from the minor stream (LT-minor). Raff’s method was applied to determine the gap acceptance for these three conflicting movements. The result showed that the gap acceptance for LT-minor was the longest ranging between 7 to 15 seconds. The shortest gap acceptance belonged to the RT-minor for 4 to 8 seconds. The gap acceptance at urban sites was also shorter than that of suburban in all three movements. The drivers tended to decrease their gap acceptance when the traffic volume increased. However, the relationship between the gap acceptance and traffic flow was not significant.

Newcomer retention – an investigation on Indian IT industry

PurposeUnderstanding attrition in this VUCA world has become imperative for organizations to ensure they are able to sustain themselves. While focus on understanding attrition is important, it is equally important to retain acquired talent, at the same time add value to the human side of business. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors which play crucial role in retention of newly hired employees working in Indian IT industry. The study has considered factors, namely, supervisor support behavior, feedback-seeking behavior (FSB), affective commitment (AC) and empirically verified their impact on new recruit’s intention to quit (IQ).Design/methodology/approachThe survey was conducted among 524 newly hired employees working in 58 different companies listed in National Association of Software Services Companies member directory in Indian IT industry. All the scales used in the study are reliable and validated. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to test the validation of scales. The data were analyzed to test the proposed structural model using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe present study has successfully blended and verified the effect of supportive behavior of supervisor and new recruit’s FSB on the AC and IQ of newly hired employees. The study highlighted that supportive supervisors can encourage the newly hired employees to seeking feedback and enhance their commitment toward the organization. Further, this reduces the turnover intention of employees.Research limitations/implicationsThe theoretical contribution of the study is in successful amalgamation of two major streams of studies on new recruits by assessing the effect of supervisors’ supportive behaviors and new recruits’ proactive FSB on their IQ. The study has also looked at the newly hired employees’ behavioral reactions during uncertain entry period and throughout the adjustment process. The limitations of the study are in the focus on one industry and cross-sectional data. In the future researchers can explore the relationships in a longitudinal study. Also, other variables like perceived organizational support and job satisfaction can be considered.Practical implicationsThe present study demonstrates that supportive supervisors can motivate newly hired employees to seek feedback, and help them to “fit in” the organization. This study verifies that supervisors are considered as an important source of information for new recruits and the new recruits’ FSB positively influences their commitment toward the organization. Based on these results it is imperative for managers to be approachable and available to offer feedback to the new recruits in their initial days to ensure their adjustment, commitment and retention in the organization. This adds to sustaining the business and social well-being of the employees.Originality/valueThe present study offers a critical insight about the retention of newly hired employees in the organization. In the quickly changing VUCA world, these newly hired employees can be an asset for companies to build competitive advantage. However, to construct a strong future team for the organization, it is imperative that companies focus on augmentation of commitment among newly hired employees to further retain them. The present study proposes the path of empowerment among the new recruits to make them committed to the organization and to make sure that they stay with the organization in long run.

Assessment of landuse change impact on runoff and sediment yield of Patiala-Ki-Rao watershed in Shivalik foot-hills of northwest India.

Landuse change significantly alters the hydrologic characteristics of the land surface within a watershed. In the present study, the impact of landuse change (2006-2016) on runoff and sediment yield has been assessed in Patiala-Ki-Rao watershed (5140 ha) located in Shivalik foot-hills, using remote sensing, geographical information system (GIS), and Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) watershed model. The watershed has seven major landuse classes, namely agriculture, built-up, fallow land, forest, grass land, streams, and water bodies. The landuse change analysis indicated that the area under all the landuses decreased except built-up that increased by 372.27 ha (112.04%). Forest is the most affected landuse among all watershed landuses that shrinked by 194.90 ha followed by agriculture (64.57 ha), grass land (50.81 ha), streams (30.42 ha), fallow land (21.86 ha), and water bodies (9.72 ha). Runoff and sediment yield for the landuse of the years 2006 and 2016 were simulated by the WEPP model using two climate scenarios (2006 and 2016). The simulated runoff, sediment yield, and sediment delivery ratio increased by 18.62%, 48.04%, and 32.23% under Climate-2006 and 26.78%, 30.23%, and 16.09% under Climate-2016 due to change in landuse during a period of 10 years. This clearly indicates that landuse change in 10 years has greatly influenced the hydrology of the watershed and requires urgent land allocation policy in place for sustainable development in the area.

Research streams on digital transformation from a holistic business perspective: a systematic literature review and citation network analysis

Digital transformation (DT) has become a buzzword, triggering different disciplines in research and influencing practice, which leads to independent research streams. Scholars investigate the antecedents, contingencies, and consequences of these disruptive technologies by examining the use of single technologies or of digitization, in general. Approaches are often very specialized and restricted to their domains. Thus, the immense breadth of technologies and their possible applications conditions a fragmentation of research, impeding a holistic view. With this systematic literature review, we aim to fill this gap in providing an overview of the different disciplines of DT research from a holistic business perspective. We identified the major research streams and clustered them with co-citation network analysis in nine main areas. Our research shows the main fields of interest in digital transformation research, overlaps of the research areas and fields that are still underrepresented. Within the business research areas, we identified three dominant areas in literature: finance, marketing, and innovation management. However, research streams also arise in terms of single branches like manufacturing or tourism. This study highlights these diverse research streams with the aim of deepening the understanding of digital transformation in research. Yet, research on DT still lacks in the areas of accounting, human resource management, and sustainability. The findings were distilled into a framework of the nine main areas for assisting the implications on potential research gaps on DT from a business perspective.

Searching for Lunar Horizon Glow With the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter

AbstractWe present the results of a 2‐year‐long systematic campaign to monitor the lunar dust exosphere for enhancements in dust concentration at altitudes <20 km both during and outside of major meteor stream periods. We utilize the radiometric capabilities of the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter Laser Ranging telescope onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to search for forward‐scattered sunlight from exospheric dust grains, called lunar horizon glow (LHG). Specifically, we test the hypothesis that major meteor streams can produce LHG similar to what was measured in Apollo 15 coronal photography. Assuming a one‐dimensional exponential vertical dust profile and a dust grain radius r∼0.1μm, we derive an upper limit of ∼10−11 g/cm2 on the overlying column dust mass density near the terminator during stream periods, a limit roughly 10 times lower than inferred from Apollo 15. Recent studies at altitudes ∼1–20 km outside of major meteor streams and at higher altitudes during streams placed limits on the density of similarly sized grains ∼100–1,000 times lower than Apollo 15. Our results show that Apollo 15‐like LHG, if real, is also a rare occurrence at altitudes <20 km during major meteor stream periods. This study is the first to quantitatively constrain the role of meteor streams in producing Apollo 15‐like LHG at altitudes <20 km and small forward‐scattering angles and further narrows the properties of any similar high‐altitude LHG and the conditions under which it can occur.

A missense mutation in SNRPE linked to non-syndromal microcephaly interferes with U snRNP assembly and pre-mRNA splicing

Malfunction of pre-mRNA processing factors are linked to several human diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration. Here we report the identification of a de novo heterozygous missense mutation in the SNRPE gene (c.65T>C (p.Phe22Ser)) in a patient with non-syndromal primary (congenital) microcephaly and intellectual disability. SNRPE encodes SmE, a basal component of pre-mRNA processing U snRNPs. We show that the microcephaly-linked SmE variant is unable to interact with the SMN complex and as a consequence fails to assemble into U snRNPs. This results in widespread mRNA splicing alterations in fibroblast cells derived from this patient. Similar alterations were observed in HEK293 cells upon SmE depletion that could be rescued by the expression of wild type but not mutant SmE. Importantly, the depletion of SmE in zebrafish causes aberrant mRNA splicing alterations and reduced brain size, reminiscent of the patient microcephaly phenotype. We identify the EMX2 mRNA, which encodes a protein required for proper brain development, as a major mis-spliced down stream target. Together, our study links defects in the SNRPE gene to microcephaly and suggests that alterations of cellular splicing of specific mRNAs such as EMX2 results in the neurological phenotype of the disease.

Implementation of Circular Economy Principles in Industrial Solid Waste Management: Case Studies from a Developing Economy (Nigeria)

The existing solid waste management principles are increasingly being replaced with discussions on circular economy (CE) principles in contemporary deliberations on solid waste handling. This shift is supported by the global adoption of the concept of sustainable development. The CE offers better prospects to solid waste management and has been implemented successfully in its full theory, practice, and policies in some developed locations of the world. The socio-economic disadvantages, insufficient expert knowledge and a lack of information have hindered its appropriateness and implementation in low and middle-income countries. Hence, the current research study examines the challenges and opportunities of implementing the circularity principle at the industrial sector level of a typical developing economy—Nigeria. Four different industries were selected for this case study—telecommunications, water packaging, pulp and paper and the food industry. These industries represent the major waste streams in an urban solid waste mix (waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), plastic, paper and organic). This study discovered several barriers and existing pre-conditions in place that could either foster or militate against the smooth and successful application of a CE model as a simple modification of the generic model. This study also discussed future directions on the implementation of the model.

Geographic distance and goodwill impairment

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the impact of asymmetric information, estimated as the geographic distance between the acquiring firm and the target firm, on goodwill impairment following a merger or acquisition.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses regression analysis to investigate the research questions of this study.FindingsThis study finds that geographic distance is positively related to the magnitude of current and cumulative goodwill impairment. The results of this study still hold even after robustness checks for other factors that affect mergers and acquisitions and sources of asymmetric information.Originality/valueThis study extends and links two distinct research streams: asymmetric information related to geographic distance studies in finance and goodwill literature in accounting. Specifically, this study extends literature on the impact of geographic distance on various firm characteristics and contributes to research regarding the determinants of goodwill impairment, a major research stream in goodwill accounting (Li and Sloan, 2016). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that performs a direct empirical test on the relation between geographic distance (between the acquiring firm and the target firm) and goodwill impairment.

Influence of Selected Vehicle Maneuvers on Reduction of the Urban Roads Capacity

Capacity assessment of urban roads according to Slovak standard does not sufficiently take into account the influence of vehicle maneuvers on road section performance between the two intersections. This research analyzed turning relations on selected urban road intersections and the influence of right turn and left turn on major stream speed changes. For the purpose of determining the influence of the right turn on decrease in capacity, measurements were carried out at 7 uncontrolled intersections with curve radius ranging from 6 to 30m. To determine the influence of the left turn on the capacity of urban road a critical gap was evaluated, using the Raff’s, method, based on the analysis of accepted and rejected gaps in the major traffic stream, which was one of the main inputs for simulations. The findings were used to determine the influence of selected maneuvers on the road capacity, which led to a proposal for reduction coefficients based on computational analysis performed using simulations in PTV VISSIM.

Restaurant food waste and the determinants of its effective management in Bulgaria: An exploratory case study of restaurants in Plovdiv

Restaurant food waste represents a significant societal challenge in transitional economies where frequency of dining out is rising. The problem of restaurant food waste in this context is however under-researched which hampers understanding of its causes and effects. This paper contributes to knowledge with a case study of food waste management in restaurants of Plovdiv in Bulgaria, a transitional economy in South-Eastern Europe. Through the lens of qualitative research, it establishes the causes of restaurant food waste and explores managerial approaches to mitigation. The study highlights the crucial role of targeted governmental support in more effective management of restaurant food waste. The government should train restaurateurs on how to quantify and characterise major food waste streams. It should further provide reliable services of municipal waste collection to facilitate on-site food separation and recycling. Lastly, public awareness campaigns should be developed to better engage customers in restaurant food waste minimisation.

Exploring corporate governance research in accounting journals through latent semantic and topic analyses

SummaryThe literature on corporate governance (CG) has been expanding at an unprecedented rate since major corporate scandals surfaced, such as Enron, WorldCom, and HealthSouth. Corresponding with accounting's important role in CG, accounting scholars increasingly have investigated CG in recent years, so the body of literature is growing. Although previous attempts have been made to summarize extant literature on CG via reviews, none of these attempts has utilized recent developments in text analyses and natural language processing. This study uses latent semantic and topic analyses to address this research gap by analysing abstracts from 1,399 articles in all accounting journals that the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has rated A and A*. The ABDC journal list is widely recognized as a journal‐quality indicator across many universities worldwide. The analyses revealed 10 distinct research topics on CG in the ABDC's top accounting journals. The results presented include the five most representative articles for each topic, as distinguished by topic scores. This study carries important practice and policy implications, as it reveals major research streams and exhibits how researchers respond to various CG problems.

Financial applications of semidefinite programming: a review and call for interdisciplinary research

AbstractOptimisation problems in finance commonly have non‐linear constraints for which previous solutions have required unrealistic assumptions. However, many of these can be efficiently solved as semidefinite programming (SDP) problems, which have less restrictive assumptions. Through review of the literature that uses SDP in finance, two major research streams are identified: portfolio optimisation and option pricing. Nevertheless, many finance researchers are unaware of SDP. One possible reason is that this research is often published in non‐finance journals. This paper aims to better integrate the SDP research to promote wider use of current findings and further interdisciplinary research, particularly in environmental finance.

Holocene environmental changes in Dicksonfjorden, west Spitsbergen, Svalbard

Multi-proxy analyses of two sediment cores from Dicksonfjorden were performed to reconstruct Holocene environmental conditions in this northern branch of Isfjorden, the largest fjord system in Svalbard. Factors affecting the depositional processes include shifts in sources of sediments, ice rafting and regional glacio-isostatic rebound. Sediments were derived from Palaeozoic siliciclastics and carbonates occurring at the fjord head and sides, respectively. Their relative contributions were controlled by falling relative sea level and the resulting progradation of the major stream and delta systems closer to the core sites. Deposition of clasts from sea-ice rafting persisted throughout most of the Holocene. Following a period of low, but continuous, clast fluxes (ca. 11 000–7000 calibrated years before the present), ice rafting was most intensive between ca. 7000 and 3000 calibrated years before the present. It can be related to extensive seasonal sea-ice formation caused by regional cooling. The prograding deltas also provided coarse sediments. Reduced ice rafting from ca. 3000 calibrated years before the present suggests enhanced formation of shorefast and/or permanent sea ice, suppressing sea-ice rafting in the fjord, in response to the cool climate and reduced heat flux from Atlantic Water. Episodic inflow of Atlantic Water and low turbidity of surface water can, however, account for a larger amount of marine organic matter produced in the outer fjord. The sedimentary record in Dicksonfjorden, where tidewater glaciers are absent, reflects similar climate and oceanographic variations as reconstructed in fjords on western Spitsbergen that are influenced by tidewater glaciers.