scholarly journals Wolbachia-Mediated Antiviral Protection in Drosophila Larvae and Adults following Oral Infection

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (23) ◽  
pp. 8215-8223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksej L. Stevanovic ◽  
Pieter A. Arnold ◽  
Karyn N. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Virus Infection ◽  
Oral Delivery ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Oral Exposure ◽  
Viral Dynamics ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Infected Insect ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTUnderstanding viral dynamics in arthropods is of great importance when designing models to describe how viral spread can influence arthropod populations. The endosymbiotic bacteriumWolbachiaspp., which is present in up to 40% of all insect species, has the ability to alter viral dynamics in bothDrosophilaspp. and mosquitoes, a feature that in mosquitoes may be utilized to limit spread of important arboviruses. To understand the potential effect ofWolbachiaon viral dynamics in nature, it is important to consider the impact of natural routes of virus infection onWolbachiaantiviral effects. Using adultDrosophilastrains, we show here thatDrosophila-Wolbachiaassociations that have previously been shown to confer antiviral protection following systemic viral infection also confer protection against virus-induced mortality following oral exposure to Drosophila C virus in adults. Interestingly, a different pattern was observed when the same fly lines were challenged with the virus when still larvae. Analysis of the fourDrosophila-Wolbachiaassociations that were protective in adults indicated that only the w1118-wMelPop association conferred protection in larvae following oral delivery of the virus. Analysis ofWolbachiadensity using quantitative PCR (qPCR) showed that a highWolbachiadensity was congruent with antiviral protection in both adults and larvae. This study indicates thatWolbachia-mediated protection may vary between larval and adult stages of a givenWolbachia-host combination and that the variations in susceptibility by life stage correspond withWolbachiadensity. The differences in the outcome of virus infection are likely to influence viral dynamics inWolbachia-infected insect populations in nature and could also have important implications for the transmission of arboviruses in mosquito populations.

scholarly journals Post-COVID-19 crisis travel behaviour: towards mitigating the effects of perceived risk

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Matiza
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Potential Influence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Tourism ◽  
Tourist Behaviour ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and its potential influence on tourist behaviour in the short- to medium-term. While the influence of the pandemic on tourist’s perceived risk and its impact on their future travel behaviour is understandably yet to be established, the present paper discusses the potential nexus. Additionally, this paper provides tourism practitioners with some recommendations for mitigating the effect of potential heightened perceived risk on travel and tourism decision-making post the COVID-19 crisis. Design/methodology/approach The present paper synthesises contemporary academic literature on perceived risk and post-crisis tourism with emerging information associated with the unfolding COVID-19 crisis. Findings This paper draws empirical evidence from studies related to previous health crises and their impact on tourism, as well as tourist behaviour. By discussing previous studies within the context of the on-going COVID-19, it is possible to anticipate the influence that perceived risk associated with the pandemic may have on the post-crisis behaviour of tourists. Also, short-term measures to mitigate the effects of risk on tourism are posited to guide practitioners in the future recovery of the sector. Research limitations/implications The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and on-going crisis for the global tourism industry. Hence, the present paper serves as a primer to a broader discussion within the tourism discourse and provides theoretical direction for future tourism research. Practical implications Key to the recovery of the global tourism industry will be encouraging both domestic and international tourism activity. However, while the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on tourist behaviour is yet to be substantiated, previous research predicts a situation of heightened perceived risk and the potential cognitive dissonance that may negatively influence tourist decision-making. To mitigate this potential effect, governance, augmented immigration policy, destination media profiling, recovery marketing and domestic tourism will be critical interventions. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to discuss the potential influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the post-crisis decision-making process of tourists and their conative behaviour. As a primer to further empirical research, this paper sets a pertinent research agenda for academic inquiry within an evolving and increasingly uncertain global tourism market.

Namib Mills Group: managing talent in a Namibian food production business

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Christina Swart-Opperman ◽  
Claire Barnardo ◽  
Sarah Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Talent Management ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Career Stage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Generational Diversity ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Impact

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand why talent management is a vital component of a company’s broader strategy for long-term operational excellence; to understand the impact of generation, life stage and career stage on an employee’s professional needs, goals and expectations of their firm; to understand how organisational culture contributes, in this case, to ineffective people management practices; and to develop a talent management strategy: new policies, processes or practices that will address the identified issues and create a sustainable pipeline of talent. Case overview/synopsis This case finds the successful agro-processing firm Namib Mills in a state of internal tension in April 2019. As Namibia’s premier supplier of staple food products, Namib Mills is performing well in a struggling economy. Then yet, CEO Ian Collard is concerned that his senior management team is not exhibiting the kind of leadership and strategic management needed to take the company into the future. As Ian examines the issue further – with the aid of a report from an external consultant – he begins to see that the weaknesses of his senior managers, who are prone to micromanaging and poor communication, are part of a bigger issue of talent management in the firm. The junior employees, who are energetic and ready to innovate, are growing restless as they wait for career growth and promotion opportunities. The rising leaders in middle management are also struggling to break through. Ian must confront how organisational culture and generational diversity within this family-owned business have created talent management barriers and develop a strategy for sustainably developing employees into the leaders of the future. Complexity academic level This case is designed for a master’s level management program and is well-suited for courses that deal with organisational behaviour, people management or human resources management. Specifically, the case is aimed at students interested in talent management, generational diversity and organisational culture. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

How well does the law protect women at home?

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheluchi Onyemelukwe
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Domestic Violence Legislation ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria may be described as epidemic. To address this scourge, several pieces of legislation have been enacted in the past decade at state and federal levels in Nigeria. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the emerging legislation on domestic violence. This paper thus examines the contents of these laws in a bid to determine the potential of these laws to prevent domestic violence, deter perpetrators from further incidents, punish perpetrators, compensate survivors and provide them with the necessary interventions for their rehabilitation. Design/methodology/approach The approach adopted is a content analysis of the provisions of the legislation, using salient parameters that have been drawn from documented best practices, specifically the key components for framing of domestic violence legislation around the world. Findings The author finds that while there is significant attempt in extant legislation to ensure that women are protected within domestic relationships, there are still gaps. Further, the protections are uneven across the states. In addition, there are systemic and contextual challenges that hamper the effectiveness of existing legislation in Nigeria in providing the necessary protections to women. Originality/value This study analyses the provisions of some of the legislation currently in place to protect persons from domestic violence. The impact, potential effect and overall utility of these pieces of legislation continue to require examination.

Privacy as a secondary goal problem: an experiment examining control

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hughes-Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on results of an investigation into the impact of adding privacy salient information (defined through the theory of planned behaviour) into the user interface (UI) of a faux social network. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were asked to create their profiles on a new social network specifically for Nottingham Trent University students by answering a series of questions that vary in the sensitivity of personal information requested. A treatment is designed that allows participants to review their answers and make amendments based on suggestions from the treatment. A dynamic privacy score that improves as amendments are made is designed to encourage privacy-oriented behaviour. Results from the treatment group are compared to a control group. Findings – Participants within the treatment group disclosed less than those in the control with statistical significance. The more sensitive questions in particular were answered less when compared to the control, suggesting that participants were making more privacy-conscious decisions. Practical implications – Work within this paper suggests that simple UI changes can promote more privacy-conscious behaviour. These simple changes could provide a low-cost method to ensuring the Internet safety of a wide range of users. Originality/value – This study provides a clear definition of privacy salient UI mechanisms based on a well-established theory of behaviour and examines their potential effect on end-users through a novel experiment. Results and methods from this work can enable researchers to better understand privacy behaviour.

Building a culture of co-creation at Mahindra

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat Ramaswamy ◽  
Naveen Chopra
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Transformational Change ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Viral Spread ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Initial Program ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This case shows how a set of six steps that captured the essence of implementing co-creation thinking to promote transformational change were applied in a complex corporate manufacturing operation in India. Design/methodology/approach – This case describes how the co-creation paradigm of value creation was applied step by step in the quality function across the five operating sites of Mahindra's Automotive Division, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Mahindra Group. The case also looks at the results as the initial experiment expanded. Findings – By enlisting employees and a range of other stakeholders the firm was able to greatly improve product quality. The success of the initial program caused executives in other units of the firm to become co-creation of value process champions. Practical implications – The six-step process is: 1. Identify key stakeholders and increase their willingness to engage. 2. Set up platforms purposefully designed to engage individuals more co-creatively, with environments of interactions configured around people's “lived” experiences. 3. Identify and support new co-creation champions. 4. Expand the circle of stakeholders and joint value creation opportunities. 5. Deepen the impact and enable the viral spread of “win more-win more” value creation in the enterprise ecosystem. 6. Engage stakeholders across private, public, and social sectors to expand wealth, welfare and well-being for the benefit of all. Originality/value – Co-authored by a leading authority on the theory of co-creation of value and a senior executive at a large corporation, this case will be useful to practicing managers in all industries.

scholarly journals Partitiviruses Infecting Drosophila melanogaster and Aedes aegypti Exhibit Efficient Biparental Vertical Transmission

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (20) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun T. Cross ◽  
Bernadette L. Maertens ◽  
Tillie J. Dunham ◽  
Case P. Rodgers ◽  
Ali L. Brehm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Virus Infection ◽  
Aedes Aegypti ◽  
Vertical Transmission ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT Partitiviruses are segmented, multipartite double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses that until recently were only known to infect fungi, plants, and protozoans. Metagenomic surveys have revealed that partitivirus-like sequences are also commonly associated with arthropods. One arthropod-associated partitivirus, galbut virus, is common in wild populations of Drosophila melanogaster. To begin to understand the processes that underlie this virus’s high global prevalence, we established colonies of wild-caught infected flies. Infection remained at stably high levels over 3 years, with between 63 and 100% of individual flies infected. Galbut virus infects fly cells and replicates in tissues throughout infected adults, including reproductive tissues and the gut epithelium. We detected no evidence of horizontal transmission via ingestion, but vertical transmission from either infected females or infected males was ∼100% efficient. Vertical transmission of a related partitivirus, verdadero virus, that we discovered in a laboratory colony of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes was similarly efficient. This suggests that efficient biparental vertical transmission may be a feature of at least a subset of insect-infecting partitiviruses. To study the impact of galbut virus infection free from the confounding effect of other viruses, we generated an inbred line of flies with galbut virus as the only detectable virus infection. We were able to transmit infection experimentally via microinjection of homogenate from these galbut-only flies. This sets the stage for experiments to understand the biological impact and possible utility of partitiviruses infecting model organisms and disease vectors. IMPORTANCE Galbut virus is a recently discovered partitivirus that is extraordinarily common in wild populations of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster. Like for most viruses discovered through metagenomics, most of the basic biological questions about this virus remain unanswered. We found that galbut virus, along with a closely related partitivirus found in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, is transmitted from infected females or males to offspring with ∼100% efficiency and can be maintained in laboratory colonies over years. This efficient transmission mechanism likely underlies the successful spread of these viruses through insect populations. We created Drosophila lines that contained galbut virus as the only virus infection and showed that these flies can be used as a source for experimental infections. This provides insight into how arthropod-infecting partitiviruses may be maintained in nature and sets the stage for exploration of their biology and potential utility.

scholarly journals The effects of business ethics and corporate social responsibility on intellectual capital voluntary disclosure

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Matteo Rossi ◽  
Giuseppe Festa ◽  
Salim Chouaibi ◽  
Monica Fait ◽  
Armando Papa
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Intellectual Capital ◽  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Responsible Behaviors

PurposeThis study aims to examine the potential effect that business ethics (BE) in general and corporate social responsibility (CSR) more specifically can exert on the voluntary disclosure (VD) of intellectual capital (IC) for the ethically most engaged firms in the world.Design/methodology/approachThe research design is based on an inductive approach. As part of the global quantitative investigation, the authors have analyzed the impact of BE and CSR on the transparent communication of the IC. The data under analysis have been investigated using multiple linear regression.FindingsBased on a sample of 83 enterprises emerging as the most ethical companies in the world, the results have revealed that the adoption of ethical and socially responsible approach is positively associated with the extent of VD about IC. This finding may help attenuating the asymmetry of information and the conflict of interest potentially arising with corporate partners. Hence, IC-VD may stand as an evidence of ethical and socially responsible behaviors.Practical implicationsGlobal and national regulators and policymakers can be involved by these results when setting social reporting standards because they suggest that institutional and/or cultural factors affect top management's social reporting behavior in the publication of the IC information.Social implicationsDirect and indirect stakeholders, if supported by ethical and socially responsible behaviors of the company, could assess more in detail the quality of the disclosed information concerning the IC.Originality/valueMost of the studies that have been conducted in this field have examined the effect of BE and CSR on the firm's overall transparency, neglecting their potential effect on IC disclosure. This study is designed to fill in this gap through testing the impact of ethical and socially responsible approaches specifically on IC-VD.

scholarly journals Corporate anti-corruption disclosure

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1746-1770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Blanc ◽  
Muhammad Azizul Islam ◽  
Dennis M. Patten ◽  
Manuel Castelo Branco
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Media Exposure ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Press Freedom ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
International Firms ◽  
Country Level ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether differences in media exposure regarding corporate corruption appear to influence companies’ anti-corruption disclosures. The authors also examine whether the level of press freedom in firms’ home countries affects disclosure and the impact of media exposure in different ways. Design/methodology/approach The authors use Transparency International’s 2012 ratings of anti-corruption disclosure by the 105 largest multinational firms in the world, press freedom assessments from the non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders, and media exposure measures based on a search using the Dow Jones Factiva database. The authors assess relations using regression analysis controlling for other firm-specific factors potentially impacting disclosure choices. Finally, the authors consider the potential effect of other country-level factors. Findings The results indicate that media exposure, using either an existence or an extensiveness measure, is positively related to differences in sample companies’ anti-corruption disclosures. The authors also find that disclosure is more (less) extensive where home country press freedom is less (more) restricted and that reduced press freedom appears to reduce the impact of media exposure on the disclosure. The authors further document that press freedom levels explain more difference in anti-corruption disclosures than other country-level factors potentially influencing the practice. Research limitations/implications Because the investigation is limited to very large international firms for a single year, the degree to which the findings apply to other companies and time periods cannot be assessed. Further, the authors cannot determine how the findings would hold using an alternative disclosure rating scheme. Finally, the authors do not assess whether differences in the source of media exposure impact the findings. Social implications The findings suggest that, to the extent that improved anti-corruption disclosure reflects greater corporate attention to corruption issues, the media may be a powerful player in addressing this social ill. Unfortunately, the results also indicate that media efforts may not be sufficient to bring about change in locations where the freedom of the press is limited. Further, the results suggest that disclosure appears to be a function of exposure to social and political exposures, and the authors therefore question whether it will actually lead to improved corruption performance. Originality/value The study is the first to consider the impacts of media exposure and press freedom on corporate social disclosures.

The More Control, the Better?

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Design ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Story Structure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High User ◽  
User Control ◽  
Rigorous Research ◽  
Control Versus ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Impact

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.

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