bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Systematic review of integrated models of health care delivered at the primary–secondary interface: how effective is it and what determines effectiveness?
Authors: Mitchell Geoffrey K. , Burridge Letitia , Zhang Jianzhen , Donald Maria , Scott Ian A. , Dart Jared , Jackson Claire L.
Published: September 2015

Integrated multidisciplinary care is difficult to achieve between specialist clinical services and primary care practitioners, but should improve outcomes for patients with chronic and/or complex chronic physical diseases. This systematic review identifies outcomes of different models that integrate specialist and primary care practitioners, and characteristics of models that delivered favourable clinical outcomes. For quality appraisal, the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used. Data are presented as a narrative synthesis due to marked heterogeneity in study outcomes. Ten studies were included. Publication bias cannot be ruled out. Despite few improvements in clinical outcomes, significant improvements were reported in process outcomes regarding disease control and service delivery. No study reported negative effects compared with usual care. Economic outcomes showed modest increases in costs of integrated primary–secondary care. Six elements were identified that were common to these models of integrated primary–secondary care: (1) interdisciplinary teamwork; (2) communication/information exchange; (3) shared care guidelines or pathways; (4) training and education; (5) access and acceptability for patients; and (6) a viable funding model. Compared with usual care, integrated primary–secondary care can improve elements of disease control and service delivery at a modestly increased cost, although the impact on clinical outcomes is limited. Future trials of integrated care should incorporate design elements likely to maximise effectiveness.
The community network: an Aboriginal community football club bringing people together. Who or what is making the assists to score social goals?
Authors: Parnell Daniel , Hylton Kevin
Published: September 2015

Providing pragmatic interventions (through sport) to tackle social issues in hard-to-reach communities, including those in Aboriginal and black minority ethnic (BME) communities, this study highlights how a community football club was able to deliver positive outcomes for racism, discrimination and health. The article compares findings geographically originating from Australia with those in the UK. The program highlighted herein does not have the so-called ‘power’ and backing of a brand (of a professional football club) to rely on, and the appealing factor is football alone; football in its purest sense: the activity. We call upon those strategically placed in funding and commissioning roles to draw on the evidence base to support non-professional football (and sport and recreation) clubs to deliver on the health agenda. Adding further conclusions that this mechanism and context of delivery can support positive social and health changes, but requires further examination.
Community-based lifestyle modification workforce: an underutilised asset for cardiovascular disease prevention
Authors: Volker Nerida , Williams Lauren T. , Davey Rachel C. , Cochrane Thomas
Published: September 2015

This paper reports on a qualitative study exploring the capacity of the community sector to support a whole-of-system response to cardiovascular disease prevention in primary health care. As a component of the Model for Prevention (MoFoP) study, community-based lifestyle modification providers were recruited in the Australian Capital Territory to participate in focus group discussions; 34 providers participated across six focus groups: 20 Allied Health Professionals (four groups) and 14 Lifestyle Modification Program providers (two groups). Thematic analysis of focus group transcripts was undertaken using a mixed deductive and inductive approach. Participant responses highlight several barriers to their greater contribution to cardiovascular disease prevention. These included that prevention activities are not valued, limited sector linkages, inadequate funding models and the difficulty of behaviour change. Findings suggest that improvements in the value proposition of prevention for all stakeholders would be supported by improved funding mechanisms and increased opportunities to build relationships across health and community sectors.
Building the evidence for integrated care for type 2 diabetes: a pilot study
Authors: Browne Jessica L. , Speight Jane , Martin Carina , Gilfillan Christopher
Published: September 2015

Integrated care models have the potential to reduce fragmentation in the health system and improve outcomes for people with type 2 diabetes. A pilot evaluation of an integrated care model for people with type 2 diabetes in Melbourne, Australia, is reported on. Two studies were conducted: (1) a 6-month pilot randomised controlled trial (n=56) evaluating the impact of the integrated care model relative to hospital outpatient clinics; and (2) a cross-sectional study (n=92) of patients attending the two services. The primary outcome was diabetes-specific distress; secondary outcomes were perceived quality of diabetes care, diabetes-specific self-efficacy and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). There was no effect of service setting on diabetes-specific distress. Participants from the integrated care setting perceived the quality of diabetes care to be higher than did participants from the hospital clinics. Significant HbA1c improvements were observed over time, but with no effect of service setting. The model holds promise for people with type 2 diabetes who need more specialist/multidisciplinary care than can be provided in primary care. Patients’ evaluations of the quality of diabetes care received at the integrated care service are very positive, which is likely to be one of the key strengths of the integrated model.
Review of the cultural safety of a national Indigenous point-of-care testing program for diabetes management
Authors: Shephard Mark , O'Brien Christopher , Burgoyne Anthony , Croft Jody , Garlett Trevor , Barancek Kristina , Halls Heather , McAteer Bridgit , Motta Lara , Shephard Anne
Published: September 2015

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have approximately three-fold higher rates of diabetes than non-Indigenous Australians. Point-of-care testing, where pathology tests are conducted close to the patient, with results available during the patient consultation, can potentially deliver several benefits for both the Indigenous client and the health professional team involved in their care. Currently, point-of-care testing for diabetes management is being conducted in over 180 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Services as part of a national program called Quality Assurance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Medical Services (QAAMS). The cultural safety of the Program was reviewed by sourcing the views of the QAAMS Indigenous Leaders Team in a focus group setting and by surveying the point-of-care testing operators enrolled in QAAMS, via an electronic questionnaire. The current study confirms that QAAMS remains a culturally safe program that fills a permanent and positive niche within the Indigenous health sector. The study demonstrates that QAAMS provides a convenient and accessible ‘one-stop’ pathology service for Indigenous clients with diabetes and empowers Aboriginal Health Workers to have a direct role in the care of their diabetes clients.
Retrieval-induced forgetting is associated with increased positivity when imagining the future
Authors: Giebl Saskia , Storm Benjamin C. , Buchli Dorothy R. , Bjork Elizabeth Ligon , Bjork Robert A.
Published: September 2015

People often think of themselves and their experiences in a more positive light than is objectively justified. Inhibitory control processes may promote this positivity bias by modulating the accessibility of negative thoughts and episodes from the past, which then limits their influence in the construction of imagined future events. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the correlation between retrieval-induced forgetting and the extent to which individuals imagine positive and negative episodic future events. First, we measured performance on a task requiring participants to imagine personal episodic events (either positive or negative), and then we correlated that measure with retrieval-induced forgetting. As predicted, individuals who exhibited higher levels of retrieval-induced forgetting imagined fewer negative episodic future events than did individuals who exhibited lower levels of retrieval-induced forgetting. This finding provides new insight into the possible role of retrieval-induced forgetting in autobiographical memory.
An extremal problem for characteristic functions
Authors: Chalendar Isabelle , Garcia Stephan , Ross William , Timotin Dan
Published: September 2015

Suppose

E
E

is a subset of the unit circle

T

\mathbb {T}

and

H
∞

⊂

L
∞

H^\infty \subset L^\infty

is the Hardy subalgebra. We examine the problem of finding the distance from the characteristic function of

E
E

to

z
n

H
∞

z^nH^\infty

. This admits an alternate description as a dual extremal problem. Precise solutions are given in several important cases. The techniques used involve the theory of Toeplitz and Hankel operators as well as the construction of certain conformal mappings.
Lower bounds on the arithmetic self-intersection number of the relative dualizing sheaf on arithmetic surfaces
Authors: Kühn Ulf , Müller J.
Published: September 2015

We give an explicitly computable lower bound for the arithmetic self-intersection number

ω
¯

2

\overline {\omega }^2

of the dualizing sheaf on a large class of arithmetic surfaces. If some technical conditions are satisfied, then this lower bound is positive. In particular, these technical conditions are always satisfied for minimal arithmetic surfaces with simple multiplicities and at least one reducible fiber, but we also use our techniques to obtain lower bounds for some arithmetic surfaces with non-reduced fibers.
On the regularity of CR mappings between CR manifolds of hypersurface type
Authors: Berhanu S. , Xiao Ming
Published: September 2015

We prove smooth and analytic versions of the classical Schwarz reflection principle for transversal CR mappings between two Levi-nondegenerate CR manifolds of hypersurface type.
Extension and Matching Grants for Improved Management: An Evaluation of the Uruguayan Livestock Program
Authors: Mullally Conner , Maffioli Alessandro
Published: September 2015

Offering matching grants along with extension services is a common tool of agricultural development policy and has the potential to address some of the shortcomings of purely private or public extension. Yet the evidence for the effectiveness of programs that combine extension with matching grants is quite thin. We add to this evidence by evaluating the Uruguayan Livestock Program (ULP), a program that promoted the adoption of intensive management practices by small and medium‐sized cattle producers by offering extension from private providers combined with matching grants for investments. Using inverse probability weighting as applied to an eight‐year panel data set of cattle producers, we find that the ULP had large impacts on net sales and production of calves, but that program impacts on production and sales translated into modest net economic impacts overall. We examine the mechanisms that may have driven ULP impacts, and conclude that program impacts were likely caused by improved management practices rather than by loosening liquidity constraints on producers.
Addition of Histology to the Paris Classification of Pediatric Crohn Disease Alters Classification of Disease Location
Authors: Fernandes Melissa A. , Verstraete Sofia G. , Garnett Elizabeth A. , Heyman Melvin B.
Published: September 2015

Objectives:

The aim of the study was to investigate the value of microscopic findings in the classification of pediatric Crohn disease (CD) by determining whether classification of disease changes significantly with inclusion of histologic findings.

Methods:

Sixty patients were randomly selected from a cohort of patients studied at the Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital. Two physicians independently reviewed the electronic health records of the included patients to determine the Paris classification for each patient by adhering to present guidelines and then by including microscopic findings.

Results:

Macroscopic and combined disease location classifications were discordant in 34 (56.6%), with no statistically significant differences between groups. Interobserver agreement was higher in the combined classification (κ = 0.73, 95% confidence interval 0.65–0.82) as opposed to when classification was limited to macroscopic findings (κ = 0.53, 95% confidence interval 0.40–0.58). When evaluating the proximal upper gastrointestinal tract (Paris L4a), the interobserver agreement was better in macroscopic compared with the combined classification.

Conclusions:

Disease extent classifications differed significantly when comparing isolated macroscopic findings (Paris classification) with the combined scheme that included microscopy. Further studies are needed to determine which scheme provides more accurate representation of disease extent.
Alpha‐Tocopherol Concentration in Colostrum and Serum of Women With Premature Labor
Authors: Medeiros Jeane Franco Pires , da Silva Ribeiro Rodrigues Karla Danielly , Lima Mayara Santa Rosa , da Silva Anna Larissa Cortês , de Queiroz Jaluza Luana Carvalho , Dimenstein Roberto
Published: September 2015

Objective:

The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the levels of alpha‐tocopherol in colostrum milk and serum of mothers with premature birth, classified as severe prematurity and moderate prematurity.

Methods:

Cross‐sectional study with 65 women, 18 births classified as severe prematurity (<32 weeks of gestation) and 47 as moderate prematurity (≥32 weeks of gestation). The study only included mothers without any conditions associated with pregnancy and who had a single conception without any malformation. Samples of serum and colostrum were collected during fasting in the immediate postpartum, and alpha‐tocopherol was analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography. To determine the biochemical nutritional status of vitamin E, a serum cutoff (11.6 μmol/L) was adopted. The Studentttest for independent variables compared the average concentrations of alpha‐tocopherol in serum and colostrum among prematurity groups. Differences were considered significant whenP < 0.05.

Results:

The alpha‐tocopherol concentrations in colostrum were similar in both groups, being 34.5 ± 20.2 μmol/L for women with severe prematurity and 35.1 ± 16.3 μmol/L for moderate prematurity. For the serum of puerperal women with severe prematurity, alpha‐tocopherol concentration was, however, lower than in women with moderate prematurity, 22.2 ± 4.4 μmol/L versus 27.1 ± 8.6 μmol/L (P < 0.05). The serum levels of alpha‐tocopherol indicated nutritional risk at 5.6% (n = 1) of women with severe prematurity and 4.3% (n = 2) for those with moderate prematurity.

Conclusions:

Severe prematurity affected the levels of alpha‐tocopherol in maternal serum; however, the level of prematurity did not change the concentration of vitamin E in colostrum.
Pathophysiological analysis of five severe cases with rotavirus infection
Authors: Gotoh Kensei , Nishimura Naoko , Kawabe Shinji , Mori Yuji , Naruse Norihiko , Kawamura Yoshiki , Yoshikawa Tetsushi , Wakuda Mitsutaka , Taniguchi Koki , Ozaki Takao
Published: September 2015

Introduction:

Rotavirus infection is usually localized to the intestine. Severe cases with extraintestinal symptoms are rare, and its pathogenesis remains unclear.

Case presentation:

We report severe rotavirus infections in five previously healthy, unvaccinated children that occurred in the 2011 season in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. All cases had short histories of recurrent diarrhoea and vomiting that preceded extraintestinal symptoms. Two cases with prolonged seizures and unconsciousness were diagnosed with encephalitis/encephalopathy; one case died and the other survived with severe neurological sequelae in spite of intensive treatment including anticytokine therapy. Another two cases had rapidly worsening cardiopulmonary dysfunction and seizures, and they died a few hours after admission despite cardiopulmonary support. The last case was transferred to hospital in cardiopulmonary arrest and resuscitation was unsuccessful. All cases had positive stool samples for rotavirus RNA, and the rotavirus antigen was also detected in the serum of four cases, but not in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Serum IL-6 and IL-10 levels were significantly higher in the severe cases than in children with rotavirus gastroenteritis without extraintestinal symptoms, and serum IL-10 levels were significantly higher than CSF levels in the severe cases.

Conclusion:

Cytokines appear to mediate the pathogenesis of severe rotavirus infection with extraintestinal involvement. In conclusion, these cases highlight the need for a routine rotavirus immunization programme.
An imported case of melioidosis presenting as pyelonephritis/urosepsis
Authors: Monecke Stefan , Friedrichs Anette , Pöhlmann Christoph , Hochauf Kristina , Gunzer Florian , Wiesner Diana , Sickert Wolfgang , Steinmetz Ivo , Scholz Holger , Ehricht Ralf , Schmoock Gernot , Jacobs Enno
Published: September 2015

Introduction:

Melioidosis, a potentially life-threatening disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is common in Northern Australia and south-east Asia, but it is rarely encountered in the western world. However, due to increased travel, imported cases have been observed among tourists to endemic areas. The clinical manifestations are highly variable.

Case presentation:

We report a case of melioidosis presenting as pyelonephritis/urosepsis in a previously healthy German tourist who had travelled to several endemic regions.

Conclusion:

The described case highlights the fact that the diagnosis of melioidosis may be surprising to a routine diagnostic laboratory. An accidental and unwitting exposure of laboratory staff may occur before a definite identification is achieved. Good communication between the clinician and laboratory staff is crucial, especially with respect to travel histories.
A prospective study of seven patients with chronic mastoiditis
Authors: Mousa Haider Abdul-Lateef
Published: September 2015

Introduction:

Chronic mastoiditis is generally a result of chronic suppurative otitis media; it is rarely a result of failure of treatment of acute mastoiditis.

Case presentation:

Seven patients with chronic mastoiditis were investigated. Four patients had bilateral mastoiditis. The duration of illness ranged from 1 to 45 years. A comparison between operative and external auditory canal cultures was performed. The operative specimens were obtained directly from the infected mastoids. The external ear and mastoid specimens were inoculated and cultivated immediately by bedside. All cases showed positive bacterial cultures. The growth was monomicrobial in two cases and polymicrobial in five cases. Seventeen isolates were recovered (11 aerobes and six anaerobes). Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most predominant isolate (23.5 %) and was recovered from four patients (57 %). This high prevalence may be related to misuse of ear drops that transmit this organism from skin flora towards the mastoid. The anaerobes were isolated from four patients. This may indicate a significant role of anaerobic bacteria in producing chronic mastoiditis that would not respond to usual treatment measures.

Conclusion:

Cultures from external ear canal discharge might be used as a source for isolation of bacteria causing chronic mastoiditis and chronic otitis media provided that the specimen was collected and cultivated properly. They revealed sensitivity (88 %), specificity (100 %), positive predictive value (100 %) and negative predictive value (66 %). In anaerobic cultures, the sensitivity was 66.7 %. No previous studies were found with regard to evaluation of the reliability of external ear culture for isolation of the causative agents of chronic mastoiditis or chronic otitis media.
A statistical approach reveals designs for the most robust stochastic gene oscillators
Authors: Woods Mae , Leon Miriam , Perez-Carrasco Ruben , Barnes Chris P.
Published: September 2015

The engineering of transcriptional networks presents many challenges due to the inherent uncertainty in the system structure, changing cellular context and stochasticity in the governing dynamics. One approach to address these problems is to design and build systems that can function across a range of conditions; that is they are robust to uncertainty in their constituent components. Here we examine the parametric robustness landscape of transcriptional oscillators, which underlie many important processes such as circadian rhythms and the cell cycle, plus also serve as a model for the engineering of complex and emergent phenomena. The central questions that we address are: Can we build genetic oscillators that are more robust than those already constructed? Can we make genetic oscillators arbitrarily robust? These questions are technically challenging due to the large model and parameter spaces that must be efficiently explored. Here we use a measure of robustness that coincides with the Bayesian model evidence combined with an efficient Monte Carlo method to traverse model space and concentrate on regions of high robustness, which enables the accurate evaluation of the relative robustness of gene network models governed by stochastic dynamics. We report the most robust two and three gene oscillator systems, plus examine how the number of interactions, the presence of auto-regulation, and degradation of mRNA and protein affects the frequency, amplitude and robustness of transcriptional oscillators. We also find that there is a limit to parametric robustness, beyond which there is nothing to be gained by adding additional feedback. Importantly, we provide predictions on new oscillator systems that can be constructed to verify the theory and advance design and modelling approaches to systems and synthetic biology.
Protein homeostasis imposes a barrier on functional integration of horizontally transferred genes in bacteria
Authors: Bershtein Shimon , Serohijos Adrian W.R. , Bhattacharyya Sanchari , Manhart Michael , Choi Jeong-Mo , Mu Wanmeng , Zhou Jingwen , Shakhnovich Eugene I.
Published: September 2015

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays a central role in bacterial evolution, yet the molecular and cellular constraints on functional integration of the foreign genes are poorly understood. Here we performed inter-species replacement of the chromosomalfolAgene, encoding an essential metabolic enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), with orthologs from 35 other mesophilic bacteria. The orthologous inter-species replacements caused a marked drop (in the range 10-90%) in bacterial growth rate despite the fact that most orthologous DHFRs are as stable asE.coliDHFR at 37° C and are more catalytically active thanE. coliDHFR. Although phylogenetic distance betweenE. coliand orthologous DHFRs as well as their individual molecular properties correlate poorly with growth rates, theproductof the intracellular DHFR abundance and catalytic activity (kcat/KM), correlates strongly with growth rates, indicating that the drop in DHFR abundance constitutes the major fitness barrier to HGT. Serial propagation of the orthologous strains for ∼600 generations dramatically improved growth rates by largely alleviating the fitness barriers. Whole genome sequencing and global proteome quantification revealed that the evolved strains with the largest fitness improvements have accumulated mutations that inactivated the ATP-dependent Lon protease, causing an increase in the intracellular DHFR abundance. In one case DHFR abundance increased further due to mutations accumulated infolApromoter, but only after theloninactivating mutations were fixed in the population. Thus, by apparently distinguishing between self and non-self proteins, protein homeostasis imposes an immediate and global barrier to the functional integration of foreign genes by decreasing the intracellular abundance of their products. Once this barrier is alleviated, more fine-tuned evolution occurs to adjust the function/expression of the transferred proteins to the constraints imposed by the intracellular environment of the host organism.
Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists
Authors: Schlesinger Walesska , Cervera Amparo , Pérez-Cabañero Carmen
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine quality of service experience as reported by tourists in seven northern and southern Mediterranean cities.

Design/methodology/approach

– A self-report study was used to gather data from 1,362 tourists. Once validity of Otto and Ritchie’s (1996) scale had been confirmed, ANOVA and the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test were used to analyse the data.

Findings

– Tourists in all destinations highlighted the importance of the dimension peace of mind. Significant differences between tourists in the northern Mediterranean and those in the southern Mediterranean were observed in two quality of service experience dimensions: hedonics and involvement.

Research limitations/implications

– Although the sample was large, this study’s scope was limited to seven Mediterranean tourist cities. Further research is therefore required to generalize findings to other Mediterranean tourist destinations.

Practical implications

– Knowledge about quality of service experience dimensions may help tourism managers innovate and improve services. Tourists perceive northern Mediterranean destinations differently from destinations in the southern Mediterranean. Tourists report high tourist involvement in northern destinations, whereas in the south, tourists emphasize destinations’ hedonic features. These implications are also valuable for European policymakers.

Originality/value

– The study compared quality of service experience in northern and southern Mediterranean tourist destinations. To do so, it analysed a sample of 1,362 tourists from seven Mediterranean cities. This research is the first to analyse quality of service experience in the Mediterranean.
Investigation of the expected loss of sharia credit instruments in global Islamic banks
Authors: Shahari Farihana , Zakaria Roza  Hazli , Rahman Md. Saifur
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the expected outcomes, both of positive and negative returns occurred by shariá credit instruments in global Islamic banks. The annual panel data from 2005 to 2012 is collected from 40 Islamic banks from 12 countries and value at risk (VaR) technique is employed in the investigation process. The findings of this study indicate several outcomes: first, majority of Islamic banks use debt-based financing (DBF) and avoid asset-based financing (ABF) due to the lack of secured rate of fixed returns and collateral. Second, the ABF financing shows the positive returns. Third, interestingly, DBF financing faces higher credit risk compared to ABF even DBF secures its financing through tight policy implementation. Finally, this paper comes up with policy recommendations for the further reduction of credit risks and improvement of bankers’ confidence level in implementing the ABF financing policy.

Design/methodology/approach

– VaR on panel data.

Findings

– Shariá credit instruments play an important role.

Research limitations/implications

– Data findings.

Originality/value

– Fully original.
Unusual patterns in reported segment earnings of US firms
Authors: Garza-Gomez Xavier , Dong Xiaobo , Yang Ziyun
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to extend prior findings on firms’ rounding up net income numbers to meet cognitive reference points and to examine whether segment-level earnings exhibit similar unusual patterns.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study is an archival research based on a sample of US public firms that report segment data between 1998 and 2011. The authors use Benford’s law to establish benchmarks for expected frequency of each number on the second digit of segment earnings and test whether the actual distributions deviate from expectations.

Findings

– The authors find more zeros and fewer nines than expected by chance in the second-from-the-left most digit for segment earnings numbers of US public firms, suggesting that segments round up earnings to meet cognitive reference points. The results complement the existing studies by showing that the rounding up of earnings not only exists at the firm level but also at the segment level, probably because subdivision managers have motivation to exceed certain reference points when reporting earnings.

Research limitations/implications

– As the authors cannot observe the contracts received by divisional managers, the authors rely on measures related to operating diversity to capture internal agency costs.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest internal and external auditors should pay close attention to segments that are suspected of earnings management, i.e. segments that report zeros on the second digit of revenues or earnings. Increased auditor attention is especially necessary for profitable segments operating in highly diversified multi-segment firms.

Originality/value

– The authors find that unusual patterns in segment reporting are more prominent in firms that operate in multiple and dissimilar segments, suggesting that higher internal agency conflict might lead to the rounding up of earnings.
Effect of audit quality and accounting and finance backgrounds of audit committee members on firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing
Authors: Bepari Md Khokan , Mollik Abu Taher
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of audit quality on firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure. Differences in the compliance among the clients of Big-4 auditors and between the clients of Big-4 and non-Big-4 auditors are examined. This study also examines the effect of audit committee (AC) members’ accounting and finance backgrounds on firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure.

Design/methodology/approach

– Different univariate tests, multivariate regressions and fixed effect panel regressions have been used to examine the hypotheses. The sample includes 911 firm-year observations for the period of 2006-2009.

Findings

– A statistically significant difference in compliance levels has been found between the clients of Big-4 and non-Big-4 auditors. The compliance levels of the clients of Big-4 auditors have also been found to be significantly different. The findings also suggest that AC members’ accounting and finance backgrounds are positively associated with firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing and disclosure.

Research limitations/implications

– The single country context and the single standard context limit the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

– The findings of this study have important implications for researches in accounting, finance and corporate governance that usually consider Big-4 auditors vs non-Big-4 auditors as a proxy for audit quality. The results also reinforce the importance of developing institutional mechanisms such as high-quality auditing or corporate governance (AC members’ expertise) to encourage firms’ compliance with IFRS.

Originality/value

– Firms’ compliance with IFRS for goodwill impairment testing is not essentially the same for the clients of all Big-4 auditors in Australia, suggesting that the quality of services provided by Big-4 auditors significantly differ from one another in enforcing their clients to compliance with IFRS. The lax enforcement on the part of auditors and the regulatory inaction in this regard may point to teething difficulties and systematic deficiencies in the move towards the impairment regime and fair value accounting. The findings also bear an important message for the move towards the harmonization of accounting practices.
Toward a universal, meta-theoretical framework for music information classification and retrieval
Authors: Weissenberger Lynnsey
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for representing music for information retrieval that emphasizes socio-cultural aspects of music.

Design/methodology/approach

– Philosophical and theoretical concepts related to the nature of music, aboutness, musical works are explored as they inform how music is represented. Multidisciplinary perspectives on music information representation, classification, and retrieval provide insight into how information science can better accommodate music information within its disciplinary boundaries.

Findings

– A new term, music information object (MIO), is presented and defined. Downie’s (2003) theoretical statements are reconceptualized into a theory of representational incompleteness and three meta-classes for music information object representation.

Practical implications

– This new framework incorporates more dimensions of music representation than existing frameworks allow and can facilitate comparisons between classifications of MIO representations by music practitioners, scholars, and system developers.

Originality/value

– The meta-classes form a much-needed theoretical framework for classifying and defining MIOs from any musical tradition for retrieval. This fills a gap in music information retrieval research, which lacks a theoretical framework that can accommodate musics from all traditions without attempting to organize them according to a western-centered understanding.
Everyday life classification practices and technologies
Authors: McTavish Jill
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– Through the application of domain-analytic principles, the purpose of this paper is to explore how participants’ understandings of healthy eating are related to their grouping and classification of foods.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 30 food-interested people were asked to (1) sort a series of 56 statements about food, health, and eating on a scale from “most disagree” to “most agree”; (2)complete an open card sort of 50 foods; and (3) classify these 50 foods on a scale from “most unhealthy” to “most healthy”. Exercises (1) and (3) involved Q-methodology, which groups people who share similar understandings of a phenomenon.

Findings

– Participants’ understandings of healthy eating – revealed by the first Q-methodology exercise – were related to shared food priorities, values, and beliefs; these understandings were indirectly connected with food identities, which was not expected. This suggests that lay domain knowledge is difficult to capture and must involve other methodologies than those currently employed in domain-analytic research.

Research limitations/implications

– Although a small sample of food-interested people were recruited, the purpose of this study was not to make generalized claims about perspectives on healthy eating, but to explore how domain knowledge is related to everyday organizational processes.

Originality/value

– To “classify” in Library and Information Science (LIS) usually involves an engagement with formally established classification systems. In this paper the author suggests an alternative path for LIS scholars: the investigation of everyday life classification practices. Such an approach has value beyond the idiosyncratic, as the author discusses how these practices can inform LIS researchers’ strategies for augmenting the messages provided by static classification technologies.
Is money laundering an ethical issue?
Authors: Dion Michel
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to describe philosophical positions about money laundering activities, depending on the way one looks at ethics and law.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper analyzes four philosophical positions about money laundering activities, given that one accepts/refuses to make connections between ethics and law. It explores the pitfalls of each philosophical position.

Findings

– The sceptical way (ethical relativism) asserts that there cannot be any intrinsic notion of good/evil. The legally focused way (legal positivism) presupposes that ethics is irrelevant, when lawmakers are doing their job. The distorting way (legal moralism) takes for granted that lawmakers are deciding what is moral/immoral. The ethically focused way (normative ethics) means that ethics say something different than law. Each of the four philosophical positions about money laundering has its own pitfalls.

Practical implications

– The four philosophical positions could influence the way ethical concerns are institutionalized in the organizational setting. Managers could better distinguish ethical discourse and legal/judicial realm. Ethical training sessions could be used to make organizational members circumscribing their moral duties, as to the detection/prevention of money laundering activities. Qualitative surveys could help to better understand if such philosophical positions are relevant for decision-making processes and philosophical questioning about ethical issues.

Originality/value

– The paper addresses the issue of money laundering, from both a legal and moral perspectives. It is at the edge of ethics and philosophy of law.
Money laundering using investment companies
Authors: Naheem Mohammed Ahmad
Published: September 2015

Purpose

– This paper aims to start with the assumption that money laundering through the use of investments will continue to occur and will become increasingly more complex to try and avoid detection. The paper aims to explore some of the theoretical factors that would need to be considered in any risk based framework and also to consider how an empirical model can try and prioritise the information and intelligence gathered through existing beneficial ownership and customer due diligence (CDD) systems.

Design/methodology/approach

– This paper uses an empirical example of money laundering with investments and highlights the red flag indicators that led to its eventual discovery. The theoretical framework considers the difficulties of information overload and suggests that any empirical model of risk-based assessment would need to be able to discern between the various types of risk information gathered. The paper has developed one empirical model that could be used.

Findings

– The paper suggests a model that breaks down beneficial ownership and CDD information into three areas: beneficial ownership for all major players, transparency of transactions and accountability of companies involved.

Practical implications

– The paper has implications for the banking, regulatory and law enforcement sectors working in Anti-Money Laundering (AML).

Originality/value

– The paper analyses a particular type of money laundering activity which it terms “investment laundering” using an empirical case study. It then develops a new theoretical and empirical risk assessment model to illustrate how risk-based approaches need to be able to discern between the different types of information gathered and the application to overall risk.
Revisiting Buruli ulcer
Authors: Yotsu Rie R. , Murase Chiaki , Sugawara Mariko , Suzuki Koichi , Nakanaga Kazue , Ishii Norihisa , Asiedu Kingsley
Published: September 2015

Buruli ulcer (BU), or Mycobacterium ulcerans infection, is a new emerging infectious disease which has been reported in over 33 countries worldwide. It has been noted not only in tropical areas, such as West Africa where it is most endemic, but also in moderate non‐tropical climate areas, including Australia and Japan. Clinical presentation starts with a papule, nodule, plaque or edematous form which eventually leads to extensive skin ulceration. It can affect all age groups, but especially children aged between 5 and 15 years in West Africa. Multiple‐antibiotic treatment has proven effective, and with surgical intervention at times of severity, it is curable. However, if diagnosis and treatment is delayed, those affected may be left with life‐long disabilities. The disease is not yet fully understood, including its route of transmission and pathogenesis. However, due to recent research, several important features of the disease are now being elucidated. Notably, there may be undiagnosed cases in other parts of the world where BU has not yet been reported. Japan exemplifies the finding that awareness among dermatologists plays a key role in BU case detection. So, what about in other countries where a case of BU has never been diagnosed and there is no awareness of the disease among the population or, more importantly, among health professionals? This article will revisit BU, reviewing clinical features as well as the most recent epidemiological and scientific findings of the disease, to raise awareness of BU among dermatologists worldwide.
Agricultural development and the conservation of avian biodiversity on the Eurasian steppes: a comparison of land‐sparing and land‐sharing approaches
Authors: Kamp Johannes , Urazaliev Ruslan , Balmford Andrew , Donald Paul F. , Green Rhys E. , Lamb Anthony J. , Phalan Ben
Published: September 2015

The break‐up of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the abandonment of >40 million ha of cropland, a collapse in livestock numbers and the recovery of depleted biodiversity on the steppe grasslands of Kazakhstan and southern Russia. More recently, large‐scale reclamation of abandoned cropland and intensification of agriculture are observed, highlighting a need for strategies to reconcile agricultural development and biodiversity.

We related bird densities along a land‐use gradient to yield estimates from arable and livestock systems in central Kazakhstan to decide whether a land‐sparing, a land‐sharing or an intermediate strategy would result in the largest benefits for biodiversity.

For ‘loser species’ (whose population size is reduced by farming), land sparing was predicted to support higher total populations of more species than was land sharing, at all production targets. ‘Winners’ (species benefitting from agriculture) profited from land sharing when judged from food energy or protein. Intermediate yields were best for very few species. Heavily grazed steppe grassland was important for several globally threatened and biome‐restricted species.

Government statistics suggested that over 50% of abandoned cropland has been reclaimed since 2000 and crop yields have increased. In the same period, there was significant progress towards the designation of new protected areas, but the total area in Kazakhstan still falls short of the Convention on Biological Diversity's 17% target.

Policy implications. Further increases in agricultural production are likely to reduce populations of most birds, especially if they are achieved by conversion of abandoned cropland, or grassland. Our results suggest that production increases would do least harm if they resulted from increasing the output of existing cropland, using approaches such as snow accumulation, no‐till and more efficient grain harvesting and storage, rather than from further reclamation of abandoned land that is now reverting back to steppe. Production increases should be offset by improved conservation planning through the designation of protected areas on land potentially suitable for cropland expansion.
Dispersal versus environmental filtering in a dynamic system: drivers of vegetation patterns and diversity along stream riparian gradients
Authors: Fraaije Rob G. A. , ter Braak Cajo J. F. , Verduyn Betty , Verhoeven Jos T. A. , Soons Merel B.
Published: September 2015

Both environmental filtering and dispersal filtering are known to influence plant species distribution patterns and biodiversity. Particularly in dynamic habitats, however, it remains unclear whether environmental filtering (stimulated by stressful conditions) or dispersal filtering (during recolonization events) dominates in community assembly, or how they interact. Such a fundamental understanding of community assembly is critical to the design of biodiversity conservation and restoration strategies.

Stream riparian zones are species‐rich dynamic habitats. They are characterized by steep hydrological gradients likely to promote environmental filtering, and by spatiotemporal variation in the arrival of propagules likely to promote dispersal filtering. We quantified the contributions of both filters by monitoring natural seed arrival (dispersal filter) and experimentally assessing germination, seedling survival and growth of 17 riparian plant species (environmental filter) along riparian gradients of three lowland streams that were excavated to bare substrate for restoration. Subsequently, we related spatial patterns in each process to species distribution and diversity patterns after 1 and 2 years of succession.

Patterns in initial seed arrival were very clearly reflected in species distribution patterns in the developing vegetation and were more significant than environmental filtering. However, environmental filtering intensified towards the wet end of the riparian gradient, particularly through effects of flooding on survival and growth, which strongly affected community diversity and generated a gradient in the vegetation. Strikingly, patterns in seed arrival foreshadowed the gradient that developed in the vegetation; seeds of species with adult optima at wetter conditions dominated seed arrival at low elevations along the riparian gradient, while seeds of species with drier optima arrived higher up. Despite previous assertions suggesting a dominance of environmental filtering, our results demonstrate that non‐random dispersal may be an important driver of early successional riparian vegetation zonation and biodiversity patterns as well.

Synthesis. Our results demonstrate (and quantify) the strong roles of both environmental and dispersal filtering in determining plant community assemblies in early successional dynamic habitats. Furthermore, we demonstrate that dispersal filtering can already initiate vegetation gradients, a mechanism that may have been overlooked along many environmental gradients where interspecific interactions are (temporarily) reduced.
The Politics of Jurisdiction
Authors: Kaushal Asha
Published: September 2015

Jurisdiction is a central concept in the framing of the legal world but it has received short shrift in mainstream legal theory. This article examines the prevailing conceptual forms of jurisdiction in order to retrieve space for the political. The study of jurisdiction is also the study of the political community that it invokes and authorises. The first part of the article examines the three forms that jurisdiction takes in contemporary scholarship (territory, community, governance) to show that each form overlooks some implication of the political community that is tethered to jurisdiction. The second part of the article flips the inquiry to demonstrate the oversight of jurisdiction in theories of sovereign exception. The emergent understanding of jurisdiction as political provides an anchor for the study of jurisdiction going forward and highlights the potential role for jurisdictional arrangements in contemporary public law and constitutional law settings.