bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Change, challenge and choice: being a student mentor
Authors: Crawford Karin , Simpson Diane , Mathews Ian
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This collaborative project, undertaken in the context of higher education in England, examined students’ motivations for undertaking a voluntary extra‐curricular mentoring role with young people in public care. It also considered students’ perspectives on what they gained from this experience.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was undertaken using a qualitative case study approach, with a focus on students undertaking mentoring in addition to their studies. The case study was a community project that drew on student volunteers to mentor children and young people who are looked after by the local authority. Methods included semi‐structured interviews, focus groups, development of individual exemplars, and the use of Web2 technologies, specifically a blog site and vodcasts. Data were collected between September 2010 and May 2011.

Findings

Findings reported in this paper demonstrate the reasons students engaged with mentoring looked after children as an extra‐curricular activity and the benefits they gained from this experience. As such, institutions and educators might consider how student engagement in mentoring can be valued and embedded in the wider student experience.

Originality/value

This literature provides evidence of mentoring as an important social and political phenomenon. Whilst much is known about benefits to mentees and, to a lesser degree, for mentors in the mentoring relationship, this research explores the issues in more depth by considering the interface between being a mentor and completing undergraduate or postgraduate level studies. In particular it discusses the potential for mentoring to become embedded within the curriculum to ensure education for sustainable futures.
Exploring mentoring experience through positioning theory lens
Authors: Tan Justina
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore mentoring experience through positioning theory lens. It discusses, specifically, the mentoring experience of beginning teachers and mentors in a school in Singapore.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a case study approach. The data are collected mainly through interviews with beginning teachers and mentors.

Findings

The findings suggest that beginning teachers who had an emotionally assuring mentoring experience had mentors who positioned themselves as emotional providers. Those who had a professionally fulfilling mentoring experience had mentors who positioned themselves beyond the providers of emotional support. Beginning teachers who had a less satisfying experience had mentors who positioned themselves as physically and emotionally unavailable. Mentors who had a professionally frustrating mentoring experience had beginning teachers who challenged their positioning. Those who had a personally enjoyable and professionally satisfying mentoring experience positioned themselves as not averse to learning from beginning teachers.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that schools may want to give more attention to mentor preparation, and it should not be a one‐off exercise. The findings also suggest that it may be a good idea to also consider a pre‐mentoring session for both mentors and beginning teachers before they embark on the mentoring proper.

Originality/value

Although this study is at best a research in progress, it, however, signifies the first step towards initiating a dialogue in this aspect as there are hardly any studies that mentoring particularly in the context of Singapore. For the teaching profession in Singapore, this is especially a significant first step.
Threshold work: sustaining liminality in mentoring international students
Authors: Starr‐Glass David
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This article, which is conceptual and exploratory in nature, aims to examine the use of sustained liminality in the initiation phase of the mentoring relationship. Liminality is the non‐structured transitional phase in transformative cultural and social change: a place betwixt‐and‐between, where previous and future norms are suspended. The article argues that providing an explicit liminal phase in mentoring relationships allows mentor and mentees to consider the nature of the relationship and the eventual process through which its goals might be accomplished.

Design/methodology/approach

The article reflects on experiences gained in using a liminal approach to the mentoring process with distance transnational mentees. It presents the case for the use of what is termed threshold work in addressing the transition from non‐mentored to mentored status. It understands mentoring as a ritual enactment that requires a reassessment of cultural assumptions for participants with differing national identities.

Findings

The article is conceptual in nature and presents only anecdotal outcomes derived from informal discussion with mentees. It argues that, based on these initial experiences, more evidence‐based research might be usefully conducted to examine the effect of a liminal approach on the mentoring process, at both relational and outcomes levels, particularly when mentor and mentee are distanced spatially and by national culture.

Originality/value

This article presents a novel perspective for approaching the initiation phase of the mentoring process. Although used in other contexts, liminality is infrequently employed in mentoring. The utilization of liminality may be particularly valuable in approaching novice mentees who have different national cultural backgrounds and prior educational experiences. As such, the article provides useful insights for practitioners, especially in academic environments.
The public sector and the development of microfinance in Spain
Authors: Estapé‐Dubreuil Glòria , Torreguitart‐Mirada Consol
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The study of the relationships between the public sector and the microfinance sector in Spain; through the analysis of the microcredit programs undertaken by the diverse governmental bodies, as well as their repercussion in the development of the microfinance sector.The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

Details on the public policies analyzed have been mainly extracted from the web sites and annual reports of the agencies. Semi‐structured interviews to members of the boards of most microfinance institutions (MFIs), as well as a database compiled by the authors on the MFIs and their clients had been used. As a theoretical reference, concepts within the institutional theory are applied.

Findings

Financial services provided by governmental bodies to underprivileged are scarce, raising a lot of interest following its introduction, but with decreasing levels of realizations in recent years. Public policies have been found to influence in different ways the development and consolidation of the Spanish microfinance sector, although in general having feeble institutional impact.

Research limitations/implications

The scope of the analysis, limited to only one European country.

Practical implications

Suggested paths for further collaboration between governmental bodies and MFIs and other social organizations related to the sector.

Originality/value

Focus on the public policies related to the microfinance sector in a developed country.
Exploring nonlinear effects of family power on the performance of Italian wine businesses
Authors: Gallucci Carmen , D'Amato Antonio
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This work seeks to investigate the performance of wine businesses operating in the Campania region in the South of Italy and aims to verify the family power effect on company performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted on a sample of 114 firms that operate in the quality wines industry. Using a panel data regression model with time fixed effects, the authors analyzed the firm performance during the interval 2007‐2010 to detect the effect of family power on the firm performance. Family power was measured through the degree of family involvement in ownership and on the board. Performance was measured in terms of revenue and profitability.

Findings

The research highlights a U‐shaped relationship between family power and revenue and an inverted U‐shaped relationship between family power and profitability.

Originality/value

The findings show an empirical framework which could stimulate the academic debate on family effect in order to draw implications for marketing management and policy makers in the wine business and to provide suggestions for further research.
Pipelined data‐flow delegated orchestration for data‐intensive eScience workflows
Authors: Subramanian Sattanathan , Sztromwasser Paweł , Puntervoll Pål , Petersen Kjell
Published: August 2013

Purpose

eScience workflows use orchestration for integrating and coordinating distributed and heterogeneous scientific resources, which are increasingly exposed as web services. The rate of growth of scientific data makes eScience workflows data‐intensive, challenging existing workflow solutions. Efficient methods of handling large data in scientific workflows based on web services are needed. The purpse of this paper is to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

In a previous paper the authors proposed Data‐Flow Delegation (DFD) as a means to optimize orchestrated workflow performance, focusing on SOAP web services. To improve the performance further, they propose pipelined data‐flow delegation (PDFD) for web service‐based eScience workflows in this paper, by leveraging from the domain of parallel programming. Briefly, PDFD allows partitioning of large datasets into independent subsets that can be communicated in a pipelined manner.

Findings

The results show that the PDFD improves the execution time of the workflow considerably and is capable of handling much larger data than the non‐pipelined approach.

Practical implications

Execution of a web service‐based workflow hampered by the size of data can be facilitated or improved by using services supporting Pipelined Data‐Flow Delegation.

Originality/value

Contributions of this work include the proposed concept of combining pipelining and Data‐Flow Delegation, an XML Schema supporting the PDFD communication between services, and the practical evaluation of the PDFD approach.
Various approaches to text representation for named entity disambiguation
Authors: Lašek Ivo , Vojtáš Peter
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the problem of named entity disambiguation. The paper disambiguates named entities on a very detailed level. To each entity is assigned a concrete identifier of a corresponding Wikipedia article describing the entity.

Design/methodology/approach

For such a fine‐grained disambiguation a correct representation of the context is crucial. The authors compare various context representations: bag of words representation, linguistic representation and structured co‐occurrence representation. Models for each representation are described and evaluated. They also investigate the possibilities of multilingual named entity disambiguation.

Findings

Based on this evaluation, the structured co‐occurrence representation provides the best disambiguation results. It showed up that this method could be successfully applied also on other languages, not only on English.

Research limitations/implications

Despite its good results the structured co‐occurrence context representation has several limitations. It trades precision for recall, which might not be desirable in some use cases. Also it is not able to disambiguate two different types of entities, which are mentioned under the same name in the same text. These limitations can be overcome by combination with other described methods.

Practical implications

The authors provide a ready‐made web service, which can be directly plugged in existing applications using a REST interface.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a new approach to named entity disambiguation exploiting various context representation models (bag of words, linguistic and structural representation). The authors constructed a comprehensive dataset based on all English Wikipedia articles for named entity disambiguation. They evaluated and compared the individual context representation models on this dataset. They evaluate the support of multiple languages.
Sharia governance in Islamic banks: effectiveness and supervision model
Authors: Hamza Hichem
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The Sharia governance is topic that has generated much interest in the literature of Islamic banking industry. The Sharia supervision plays an essential role in the governance of Islamic banks. The Sharia Board (SB) which is peculiar to Islamic banks is considered as the principal component of the Sharia governance framework. The purpose of this paper is to examines the link between Sharia compliance, the form of Sharia supervision and the effectiveness of Sharia governance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper compares two model of Sharia governance framework, the first is the decentralized model in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the second is the centralized model in Malaysia.

Findings

The independence of the SB in their mission of supervision and the consistency of Sharia ruling are the principal components of an efficient Sharia governance structure. Centralized Sharia governance system, basically in Malaysia, seems to be beneficial to the industry in term of effectiveness and credibility of the Islamic banks.

Research limitations/implications

The research focuses exclusively on the qualitative analysis about the SB and Sharia governance in Islamic countries.

Practical implications

The model of centralization is able to strengthen the position and the independence of SB and can better examine the subjects of divergences between the whole of the SB in order to promote, in the long term, the consistency of Fatwas and interpretations between banks and regions.

Originality/value

To the best of our knowledge few studies have examined this subject in a comparative discussion between MENA and Southeast Asia region. This paper contributes to the literature on Sharia governance by considering the difference between these two regions in term of supervision model of Sharia rules and principles and its application in Islamic banking.
Towards an e-waste management framework in Kenya
Authors: Anyango Tocho Jecton , Mwololo Waema Timothy
Published: August 2013

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of e-waste management practices in Kenya and selected countries. It develops an ideal regulatory framework for e-waste management in Kenya.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology adopted for this paper includes collecting data using interviews, direct observation and literature review. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used.

Findings

– Waste is an emerging stream of solid waste in Kenya. It has become a major concern due to the high volumes generated, its hazardous fractions and the lack of policies applicable to its disposal. Gaps are identified in the areas of awareness levels, e-waste management technology, financing, collection, disposal, monitoring, and stakeholder collaboration.

Research limitations/implications

– The study area is limited to Nairobi and its environs. With regard to product, the paper focuses on ICT equipment.

Practical implications

– The proposed framework has direct practical policy implications to manufacturers who ought to reduce e-waste from production, consumers who should adopt safe disposal practices, recyclers/informal actors who ought to use environmentally friendly methods and government agencies that enforce e-waste policies.

Social implications

– Adoption of the proposed framework has positive socio-economic impacts on job creation, reduced crime and sound environmental management.

Originality/value

– This paper adds to the body of knowledge on the e-waste problem from the perspective of developed as well as developing countries. It points out best practices for socio-economic development and fronts arguments for sustainable environmental management.
Organizational members’ use of social networking sites and job performance
Authors: Moqbel Murad , Nevo Saggi , Kock Ned
Published: August 2013

Purpose

There is considerable debate among academics and business practitioners on the value of the use of social networking by organizational members. Some, fearing presenteeism (i.e. being at the workplace but working below peak capacity), claim that the use of social networking sites by organizational members is a waste of time, while others believe it leads to improvements in job performance, partly due to employees’ successful efforts to balance work‐life realms. This paper aims to inform this debate by examining the use of social networking sites by organizational members and its effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The exploratory study is based on a survey of 193 employees, focusing on the following constructs: social networking site use intensity, perceived job satisfaction, perceived organizational commitment, and job performance. The authors’ proposed model was evaluated using variance‐based structural equation modeling (SEM), a latent variable‐based multivariate technique enabling concurrent estimation of structural and measurement models under nonparametric assumptions. This study used WarpPLS 2.0 to assess both the measurement and the structural model.

Findings

The results show that social networking site use intensity has a significant positive effect on job performance through the mediation of job satisfaction, and that this mediating effect is itself mediated – in a nested way – via organizational commitment. The findings suggest that social networking site use, rather than causing presenteeism, may be a new way through which employees balance their work‐life realms, in turn benefitting their organizations.Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to analyze, in an integrated way, the relationship between those theoretical constructs.
Don't give up the community: a viewpoint of trust development in online collaboration
Authors: Cheng Xusen , Nolan Terry , Macaulay Linda
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the development of trust during online collaboration. The purpose of the inquiry is to improve the understanding of individual trust development in longitudinal online collaboration teams.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reveals the conclusion of a longitudinal online collaboration case study of two student cohorts over a two‐year period, where each cohort is in their first year, based on a previous trust research model. However, the study is conducted in a new context through the implementation of online collaboration tools. Data is collected using longitudinal surveys and in‐depth interviews.

Findings

The paper demonstrates that trust development in different online collaboration groups does not follow a particular pattern in this case study. This development is characterised by fluctuation and complexity. Trust development does not attain the ideal state discussed in previous research and trust development is different within each team. The paper provides insight into the complexities of trust development in an online collaboration environment and information system understanding.

Research limitations/implications

The paper demonstrates the findings regarding development features are context‐specific and have not been subjected to testing for replication within other settings. The authors intend this for future research.

Practical implications

The observations will help team leaders to understand changes in trust. It will also aid system developers and designers to consider trust development features in future system design for online collaboration environment and tools.

Originality/value

The paper builds upon a previous trust development model but applies it to the context of online collaboration using student groups to analyse the findings over time.
India's rural growth engine: the need to address rural diversity
Authors: Mookerjee Amit
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The article aims to examine the rural‐urban divide used as a premise for idiomatic understanding of Indian rural consumers, and review current practices. This may be self limiting, and may trap marketers in an idiom that is not in touch with current realities in the rapidly evolving rural market. The paper highlights the rapid changes, emerging segments, the factors affecting change, and the need to revisit the rural idiom, with a more nuanced, stratified, granular look at the differences among rural consumer segments.

Design/methodology/approach

It looks at existing literature and recent consumer survey reports, and notes the existing practitioner mindset, and current practices reported in literature industry forums and popular press.

Findings

Recent surveys help posit the rise of the rural middle class, highlighting four sets of factors causing changes in the rural households' consumption patterns. It concludes that the most critical need is to understand values, needs, aspirations, social norms and realities, nature and pace of change to develop effective competitive strategies to address rural consumers, especially its middle class.

Research limitations/implications

It is limited in its opinions due to the dependence on reports of prior surveys and existing literature.

Practical implications

It identifies areas for future research to capture this change, and proposes the variables that must be kept in mind for generating adequate consumer insights. This is proposed through an initial re‐stratification and psychographic mapping of consumers for better rural marketing initiatives.

Social implications

Marketers have embarked on methods twining social uplift through economic empowerment, with programs building on distribution reach and efficiency helping them expand their own business. Better insights into rural diversity should help expand the programs and create more impact.

Originality/value

It has brought together diverse perspectives from practice and literature, and focussed attention on specific drivers of change, and how they will create greater diversity going forward. This will help focus on new segments, and proposes a newer paradigm for researching rural consumers.
Consumer attitude towards brand extension
Authors: Srivastava Kavita , Sharma Narendra K.
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The present study aims to investigate the impact of perceived quality, brand extension incongruity, involvement and perceived risk on consumer attitude towards brand extension across three product types, namely, FMCG, durable goods and service (FDS) sectors. More importantly, the study seeks to explore the importance of involvement profile comprising relevance, pleasure, sign‐value, risk importance and risk probability and perceived risk facets (financial, psychological and performance) in acceptance of brand extension across FDS.

Design/methodology/approach

Three questionnaire‐based surveys were conducted to collect the data for FMCG, durable and service brand extensions. Regression analyses and Chow test were computed to investigate differences in consumer evaluation across FDS.

Findings

Results revealed significant different effects of variables across the three product types. The impact of perceived quality was greater in the case of services than FMCG and durables. On the other hand, perceived risk and involvement had stronger influence on evaluation of durables and service than FMCG brand extensions.

Research limitations/implications

The present study gives a comprehensive view of how consumers evaluate the service and non‐service brand extensions.

Originality/value

The major contributions of this study are: generalization of the findings related to brand extension incongruity in the service area; examination of the multidimensional role of involvement in terms of relevance, pleasure, sign value, risk importance and risk probability in brand extension context across FMCG, durables and service product types; and exploration of the role of risk facets, namely, financial, performance and psychological in determining consumers' attitude towards brand extension.
Founding‐family firms and the creation of value: Swedish evidence
Authors: Hamberg Mattias , Andre Fagerland Egil , Kvamme Nilsen Kristoffer
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which founding‐family firms create value. In particular, the paper investigates how agency costs and monitoring capabilities influence the value creation process.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical analysis relies on unique hand‐collected ownership data that has been collected for all Swedish publicly listed firms in the years 2001 to 2010 (2,128 observations). The research design employs level regression specifications and they are tested using pooled cross‐sectional regressions with controls for year and industry fixed effects.

Findings

The paper confirms previous studies that firms with founding family ownership have a higher value (Tobin's Q) and higher performance (RNOA). In contrast to prior studies, the paper finds that firm value and performance is significantly higher when ownership is concentrated the most. The paper also shows that firm value and performance is significantly lower for long‐term non‐founding‐family ownership.

Originality/value

This is one of the largest single‐country analyses of founding family owner effects on value and performance in publicly listed firms. The paper confirms known associations between ownership and performance in a unique institutional setting. The paper extends previous research findings by identifying differences in value and performance between founding family owners and long‐term non‐founding‐family owners.
Do “complex needs” need “complex needs services”? – part one
Authors: Johnson Robin
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This paper – the first of two – aims to trace the origins of, and suggest the underlying intentions behind, the recent appearance of the new term “complex needs”, amongst commissioners, service providers and some service user groups.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes a narrative approach, describing the early appearance of the term “complex needs” in services for those excluded from and/or stigmatised in mental health services. This is then contextualised with UK Government policy papers.

Findings

Contemporary usage of the term “complex needs” may at times be inconsistent and confusing; but it reflects government concerns that service provision has become too narrow in focus, and less needs‐led. The concept embodies an implicit critique of overly narrow practice, and holds the prospect of more systemic change.

Originality/value

“Complex needs” is relatively new, as a quasi‐technical term; as is any analysis locating its usage in the context of current overly narrow service definitions.
Social inclusion and personality disorder
Authors: Castillo Heather
Published: August 2013

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the process of recovery for people diagnosed with personality disorder. This is related to the application of the new meaning of recovery from mental illness as explored by members of The Haven which, as the service setting for the study, addresses the problems of a client group that suffers significant social exclusion and aims to examine efforts which attempt to reverse this social exclusion.

Design/methodology/approach

A participatory action research approach was chosen for this study and The Haven Research Group, comprised of the author and Haven clients, formulated proposed research questions and conducted focus groups and individual client interviews with 66 participants, over a period of three years. The group has been concerned with the effectiveness of The Haven as a recovery tool from the perspective of service users and carers.

Findings

An examination of emerging themes, and the interplay between themes, gives insight into what participants considered to be the key steps to recovery for someone with a personality disorder diagnosis. From this thematic analysis, a map is proposed of the journey of recovery for people with the diagnosis.

Practical implications

As an alternative to the historically sequential path of rehabilitation and proposed recovery, this study offers a new, socially inclusive way of working with people who have a personality disorder diagnosis where they may choose to retain a haven while continuing to develop and progress on their chosen path in the wider world.

Social implications

The Haven has emerged as a unique model where therapeutic community principles have been combined with a crisis unit which shows that it is possible to work effectively with a relatively large number of people with personality disorder, well in excess of 100 at one time, many of whom had not made progress in other service settings, resulting in significant financial savings to the health, social care and criminal justice system.

Originality/value

This study offers contributions to knowledge in terms of the service design and proposes a new model of recovery in personality disorder. This is defined as a journey of small steps highlighting recovery as a process rather than a goal, leading to the emergence of the new concept of transitional recovery.
A motivational model of blog usage
Authors: Liao Chechen , To Pui‐Lai , Liu Chuang‐Chun
Published: August 2013

Purpose

There has been an explosive growth of blog usage recently. However, little research has explored the forces motivating people to engage in blog activities. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that the driving forces to engage in blog participation not only includes utilitarian motivation (i.e. perceived usefulness) and hedonic motivation (i.e. perceived playfulness) but also habitual behaviour and social identity (blog identification). The quality of the blog is included as an antecedent to perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 225 valid questionnaires were collected from blog users. Structural equation modelling was used to test the research hypothesis.

Findings

The results show that blog users' intentions to participate in blogs are determined by all four key drivers: habit, perceived playfulness, blog identification, and perceived usefulness. Blog quality has an effect on perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness.

Research limitations/implications

Previous studies emphasise the importance of perceived usefulness as the key determinant for user acceptance of technology. However, in the blog context this study finds habit, perceived playfulness, and blog identification have more significant effects on users' intention than perceived usefulness.

Practical implications

Blog hosts should encourage habitual blog usage (habit), pay more attention to the hedonic nature of the blog (perceived playfulness) and establish a stronger sense of blog identification among participants, in order to retain active users.

Originality/value

This study articulates and empirically validates a motivational research model of blog usage, helping researchers to better understand such behaviour.
The social and objective value of information in virtual investment communities
Authors: Shang Rong‐An , Chen Yu‐Chen , Chen Chun‐Ju
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the social value of information in virtual investment communities and compare its effects with objective information value. A model including information quality, social comparison, and herding orientation, and their effects on decision usefulness and member satisfaction, is proposed and tested.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey with a sample of 215 members of investment communities was conducted to test the proposed model.

Findings

The opinion comparison orientation of members and information credibility are positively related to their perceived decision usefulness and satisfaction. Consistency is positively related to decision usefulness, but not to member satisfaction. Members' herding tendency moderates the effect of opinion comparison orientation on decision usefulness and the effect of ability comparison orientation on satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is small and not random. The proportion of students in the sample seems to be higher than it should be among virtual investment community members.

Practical implications

Investors should be careful regarding the social influences of their communities; the effects may not always be good for investment decisions.

Social implications

Virtual communities provide members with social comparison information, which may yield positive effects for members in inspiration, self‐improvement, and self‐enhancement.

Originality/value

The virtual community can be a forum where people gain information regarding others to satisfy their needs for social comparison. Virtual communities provide special social value for their members, even for those who do not interact with others by posting in the communities.
Qualitative diaries: uncovering the complexities of work‐life decision‐making
Authors: Radcliffe Laura S.
Published: August 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of qualitative diary methods in the context of research on the work‐family interface.

Design/methodology/approach

The diary method was used, in conjunction with semi‐structured interviews, to collect data from 24 dual‐earner couples over a one month period.

Findings

The diary method revealed important new insights into how couples managed their work‐family balance on a daily basis by allowing the researcher access to rich episodic data that would not have been available using more traditional approaches. This is particularly important in the area of work and family given its dynamic nature.

Research limitations/implications

The use of this method is time consuming, requires a great deal of dedication from participants and usually results in large quantities of complex data to be analysed. Despite this the suggestion is that this approach is highly valuable in work‐family research in providing a more in‐depth understanding of how these two domains are negotiated.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on effective qualitative research and explores important areas of consideration for those conducting qualitative diary studies. It is intended to be of use to researchers investigating the area of work and family, as well as to those interested in using qualitative diaries in their research.
Price integration in the Australian rock lobster industry: implications for management and climate change adaptation
Authors: Norman‐Lόpez Ana , Pascoe Sean , Thébaud Olivier , van Putten Ingrid , Innes James , Jennings Sarah , Hobday Alistair , Green Bridget , Plaganyi Eva
Published: August 2013

Rock lobster fisheries are Australia's most valuable wild fisheries in terms of both value of production and value of exports. Different states harvest and export different lobster species, with most of the landings being sent to the Hong Kong market. A perception in the Australian lobster industry is that the different species are independent on the export market, such that a change in landings of one species has no impact on the price of the others. This study investigates the market integration of Australian exports to Hong Kong for the four species and different exporting states. Our results indicate all four species and producers/export states are perceived to be substitutes for one another, so that, in the long run, prices paid to operators in the industry will move together. The integrated nature of the Hong Kong export market for Australian lobster suggests that the potential impacts of alternative fisheries management and development strategies at state and species levels cannot be considered in isolation, at least from an economic perspective. In addition, impacts of external shocks affecting production in one state (e.g. climate change) can be expected to affect all Australian lobster fisheries.
Econometrics of the Basu Asymmetric Timeliness Coefficient and Accounting Conservatism
Authors: BALL RAY , KOTHARI S. P. , NIKOLAEV VALERI V.
Published: August 2013

A substantial literature investigates conditional conservatism, defined as asymmetric accounting recognition of economic shocks (“news”), and how it depends on various market, political, and institutional variables. Studies typically assume the Basu [1997] asymmetric timeliness coefficient (the incremental slope on negative returns in a piecewise‐linear regression of accounting income on stock returns) is a valid conditional conservatism measure. We analyze the measure's validity, in the context of a model with accounting income incorporating different types of information with different lags, and with noise. We demonstrate that the asymmetric timeliness coefficient varies with firm characteristics affecting their information environments, such as the length of the firm's operating and investment cycles, and its degree of diversification. We particularly examine one characteristic, the extent to which “unbooked” information (such as revised expectations about rents and growth options) is independent of other information, and discuss the conditions under which a proxy for this characteristic is the market‐to‐book ratio. We also conclude that much criticism of the Basu regression misconstrues researchers’ objectives.
Acute alcohol‐related dysfunction as a predictor of employment status in a longitudinal study of working‐age men in Izhevsk, Russia
Authors: Cook Sarah , DeStavola Bianca L , Saburova Lyudmila , Leon David A
Published: August 2013

Aims

To investigate longitudinally the effect of alcohol consumption and related acute alcohol‐related dysfunction on employment status.

Design, setting and participants

A total of 1143 men aged 25–55 years in regular paid employment and resident in the city of Izhevsk, Russia were interviewed between 2003–06 and then re‐interviewed (2008–09) and their employment status ascertained.

Measurements

Exposures of interest were baseline alcohol intake (yearly total volume of ethanol consumed and non‐beverage alcohols) and alcohol‐related dysfunction, measured by a latent variable defined in terms of frequency of alcohol‐related dysfunctional behaviours and by one or more episodes of zapoi (a period of continuous drunkenness lasting 2 or more days). The outcome of interest was whether or not men were still in regular paid employment at follow‐up. The inter‐relationship between these variables was investigated using structural equation modelling.

Findings

Total volume of ethanol consumed had no substantive effect on future employment status; however, taking into account education and other socio‐demographic factors, there was strong evidence that loss of regular paid employment at follow‐up was influenced by non‐beverage alcohol consumption [odds ratio = 2.30 for non‐beverage drinkers compared with beverage‐only drinkers, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.21, 4.40)], latent acute alcohol‐related dysfunction (odds ratio = 1.50 per standard deviation increase in dysfunction score, 95% CI = 1.20, 1.88) and zapoi (odds ratio = 3.08, 95% CI = 1.71, 5.55). Acute alcohol‐related dysfunction was an important mediator of the relationship between non‐beverage alcohol use and employment status.

Conclusions

Acute alcohol‐related dysfunction is an important factor in determining whether men remain in employment and an important mediator of the effects of alcohol intake.
Towards improving uterine electrical activity modeling and electrohysterography: ultrasonic quantification of uterine movements during labor
Authors: de Lau Hinke , Rabotti Chiara , Haazen Nicole , Oei S. Guid , Mischi Massimo
Published: August 2013

The electrohysterogram is a potential new tool for diagnosing preterm labor. Parameters from the electrohysterogram may be influenced by uterine movement. An observational study was performed quantifying uterine movement during labor as a step towards improving electrohysterogram analysis for predicting preterm labor. The uterine wall was continuously tracked by ultrasound imaging during first stage of labor while an accelerometer recorded external abdominal accelerations in six women. A cyclic cranial–caudal movement of the uterine wall, caused by maternal respiration, was observed. This is reported and quantified for the first time. Average frequency, amplitude, and peak speed were 0.27 ± 0.07 Hz, 0.68 ± 0.84 cm, and 1.04 ± 1.20 cm/s, respectively. The accelerometer signal correlated with uterine movement and therefore can possibly provide a reference for removing movement‐induced artifacts. There is a need to model and measure the effect of uterine movement on the electrohysterogram parameters and make measurements more robust to movement artifacts.
Family history of psychosis moderates early auditory cortical response abnormalities in non‐psychotic bipolar disorder
Authors: Hamm Jordan P , Ethridge Lauren E , Shapiro John R , Pearlson Godfrey D , Tamminga Carol A , Sweeney John A , Keshavan Matcheri S , Thaker Gunvant K , Clementz Brett A
Published: August 2013

Objectives

Bipolar I disorder is a disabling illness affecting 1% of people worldwide. Family and twin studies suggest that psychotic bipolar disorder (BDP) represents a homogeneous subgroup with an etiology distinct from non‐psychotic bipolar disorder (BDNP) and partially shared with schizophrenia. Studies of auditory electrophysiology [e.g., paired‐stimulus and oddball measured with electroencephalography (EEG)] consistently report deviations in psychotic groups (schizophrenia, BDP), yet such studies comparing BDP and BDNP are sparse and, in some cases, conflicting. Auditory EEG responses are significantly reduced in unaffected relatives of psychosis patients, suggesting that they may relate to both psychosis liability and expression.

Methods

While 64‐sensor EEGs were recorded, age‐ and gender‐matched samples of 70 BDP, 35 BDNP {20 with a family history of psychosis [BDNP(+)]}, and 70 psychiatrically healthy subjects were presented with typical auditory paired‐stimuli and auditory oddball paradigms.

Results

Oddball P3b reductions were present and indistinguishable across all patient groups. P2s to paired stimuli were abnormal only in BDP and BDNP(+). Conversely, N1 reductions to stimuli in both paradigms and P3a reductions were present in both BDP and BDNP(−) groups but were absent in BDNP(+).

Conclusions

Although nearly all auditory neural response components studied were abnormal in BDP, BDNP abnormalities at early‐ and mid‐latencies were moderated by family psychosis history. The relationship between psychosis expression, heritable psychosis risk, and neurophysiology within bipolar disorder, therefore, may be complex. Consideration of such clinical disease heterogeneity may be important for future investigations of the pathophysiology of major psychiatric disturbance.
Benzodiazepine‐site pharmacology on GABAA receptors in histaminergic neurons
Authors: May A C , Fleischer W , Kletke O , Haas H L , Sergeeva O A
Published: August 2013

Background and Purpose

The histaminergic tuberomamillary nucleus (TMN) of the posterior hypothalamus controls the cognitive aspects of vigilance which is reduced by common sedatives and anxiolytics. The receptors targeted by these drugs in histaminergic neurons are unknown. TMN neurons express nine different subunits of the GABAA receptor (GABAAR) with three α‐ (α1, α2 and α5) and two γ‐ (γ1, γ 2) subunits, which confer different pharmacologies of the benzodiazepine‐binding site.

Experimental Approach

We investigated the actions of zolpidem, midazolam, diazepam, chlordiazepoxide, flumazenil (Ro15‐1788) and methyl‐6,7‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethyl‐β‐carboline‐3‐carboxylate (DMCM) in TMN neurons using mouse genetics, electrophysiological and molecular biological methods.

Key Results

We find the sensitivity of GABAAR to zolpidem, midazolam and DMCM significantly reduced in TMN neurons from γ2F77I mice, but modulatory activities of diazepam, chlordiazepoxide and flumazenil not affected. Potencies and efficacies of these compounds are in line with the dominance of α2‐ and α1‐subunit containing receptors associated with γ2‐ or γ1‐subunits. Functional expression of the γ1‐subunit is supported by siRNA‐based knock‐down experiments in γ2F77I mice.

Conclusions and Implications

GABAAR of TMN neurons respond to a variety of common sedatives with a high affinity binding site (γ2F77I) involved. The γ1‐subunit likely contributes to the action of common sedatives in TMN neurons. This study is relevant for understanding the role of neuronal histamine and benzodiazepines in disorders of sleep and metabolism.

Linked Articles

This article is part of a themed issue on Histamine Pharmacology Update. To view the other articles in this issue visit http://dx.doi.org/
10.1111/bph.2013.170.issue‐1
Pulmonary arterial hypertension: basis of sex differences in incidence and treatment response
Authors: Mair K M , Johansen A K Z , Wright A F , Wallace E , MacLean M R
Published: August 2013

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complex disease characterized by elevated pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary vascular remodelling and occlusive pulmonary vascular lesions, leading to right heart failure. Evidence from recent epidemiological studies suggests the influence of gender on the development of PAH with an approximate female to male ratio of 4:1, depending on the underlying disease pathology. Overall, the therapeutic strategy for PAH remains suboptimal with poor survival rates observed in both genders. Endogenous sex hormones, in particular 17β oestradiol and its metabolites, have been implicated in the development of the disease; however, the influence of sex hormones on the underlying pathobiology remains controversial. Further understanding of the influence of sex hormones on the normal and diseased pulmonary circulation will be critical to our understanding the pathology of PAH and future therapeutic strategies. In this review, we will discuss the influence of sex hormones on the development of PAH and address recent controversies.

Linked Articles

This article is part of a themed section on Biological Sex and Cardiovascular Pharmacology. To view the other articles in this section visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bph.2014.171.issue‐3