bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Serum or target deprivation‐induced neuronal death causes oxidative neuronal accumulation of Zn2+ and loss of NAD+
Authors: Sheline Christian T. , Cai Ai‐Li , Zhu Julia , Shi Chunxiao
Published: August 2010

Trophic deprivation‐mediated neuronal death is important during development, after acute brain or nerve trauma, and in neurodegeneration. Serum deprivation (SD) approximates trophic deprivation in vitro, and an in vivo model is provided by neuronal death in the mouse dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNd) after ablation of the visual cortex (VCA). Oxidant‐induced intracellular Zn2+ release ([Zn2+]i) from metallothionein‐3 (MT‐III), mitochondria or ‘protein Zn2+’, was implicated in trophic deprivation neurotoxicity. We have previously shown that neurotoxicity of extracellular Zn2+ required entry, increased [Zn2+]i, and reduction of NAD+ and ATP levels causing inhibition of glycolysis and cellular metabolism. Exogenous NAD+ and sirtuin inhibition attenuated Zn2+ neurotoxicity. Here we show that: (1) Zn2+ is released intracellularly after oxidant and SD injuries, and that sensitivity to these injuries is proportional to neuronal Zn2+ content; (2) NAD+ loss is involved – restoration of NAD+ using exogenous NAD+, pyruvate or nicotinamide attenuated these injuries, and potentiation of NAD+ loss potentiated injury; (3) neurons from genetically modified mouse strains which reduce intracellular Zn2+ content (MT‐III knockout), reduce NAD+ catabolism (PARP‐1 knockout) or increase expression of an NAD+ synthetic enzyme (Wlds) each had attenuated SD and oxidant neurotoxicities; (4) sirtuin inhibitors attenuated and sirtuin activators potentiated these neurotoxicities; (5) visual cortex ablation (VCA) induces Zn2+ staining and death only in ipsilateral LGNd neurons, and a 1 mg/kg Zn2+ diet attenuated injury; and finally (6) NAD+ synthesis and levels are involved given that LGNd neuronal death after VCA was dramatically reduced in Wlds animals, and by intraperitoneal pyruvate or nicotinamide. Zn2+ toxicity is involved in serum and trophic deprivation‐induced neuronal death.
Post dural puncture headache in a pediatric patient with idiopathic intracranial hypertension
Authors: NAFIU OLUBUKOLA O. , MONTEROSSO DOMINIC , WALTON SARAH R. , BRADIN STUART
Published: August 2010

We describe the occurrence of postdural puncture headache (PPDH) in an adolescent with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and its successful management with an epidural blood patch. PPDH is a very rare occurrence in patients with intracranial hypertension and is described as a paradoxical situation in the literature. There are only two previous case reports (in adults) of the possible association. A 15‐year‐old obese patient with a diagnosis of IIH had an uneventful diagnostic spinal tap using a 22G Quincke needle in the pediatric emergency department but returned 24 h later with PPDH. After a failed trial of conservative management, she had an uneventful but curative epidural blood patch with 15 ml of autologous venous blood and was able to return to school the day after the blood patch. Follow‐up review by her neuro‐ophthalmologist shows resolution of her headaches, considerable improvement in her visual field defect and resolution of papilledema. This is the first report of PPDH and its successful management with an epidural blood patch in a pediatric patient with IIH.
Creation of a head and face protection device for children undergoing procedures in prone position
Authors: WENK MANUEL , PÖPPING DANIEL , HENNING MARTIN , WENK MELANIE , LILJENQVIST ULF , MÖLLMANN MICHAEL
Published: August 2010

Background:  Positioning the head of patients undergoing procedures in lateral or prone position remains a difficult task for the anesthesiologists. Associated risks have attracted increasing attention because they range from minor facial soft tissue injuries to catastrophic complications such as stroke or postoperative blindness. Earlier, we reported on the use of a boxing sports helmet for simple and easy positioning of the head. However, as available helmets are limited in sizes and materials, that system is not easily transferable to children. Therefore, we sought to create a face and head protection device for children undergoing procedures in prone position.

Methods/Materials:  We re‐engineered a standard boxing sports helmet making it suitable as an on‐head support cushion. By using WHO standard growth charts, various sizes were calculated and prototypes of different foam materials produced. Facial surface pressures were measured in 15 volunteers.

Results:  A lightweight foam‐based face mask was created. Minimum necessary foam thickness was 2.5 cm. Different materials were tested and pressure in different facial zones never exceeded 30 mmHg.

Conclusion:  Bringing a face protection device onto the patient’s face instead of placing the face into support cushions is an elegant way of keeping control over airway devices and providing support for facial structures in various positions simultaneously. Skin surface pressure on facial structures remained low due to the specific mask design and choice of foam materials, which could lead to decreased incidences of undesired sequelae of prone position such as skin damage or even more devastating complications.
Pediatric airway management: comparing the Berci–Kaplan Video Laryngoscope with direct laryngoscopy
Authors: MACNAIR DAVID , BARACLOUGH DAN , WILSON GRAHAM , BLOCH MARK , ENGELHARDT THOMAS
Published: August 2010

Objectives:  To assess the utility of the Berci–Kaplan Video Laryngoscope (VL) in pediatric anesthesia.

Background:  The VL is designed to improve visualization of the glottis during tracheal intubation of normal and difficult airways in adults. This study was designed to assess the visual quality and the ease of tracheal intubation in children using the VL when compared with direct laryngoscopy (DL).

Methods:  Sixty children, aged 2–16 years requiring tracheal intubation, were enrolled in this prospective, randomized clinical trial. Following induction of anesthesia and muscle paralysis, the first laryngoscopy method, using either a DL or the VL, was performed by one anesthetist, and the laryngoscopic view was graded according to the Cormack–Lehane scale. Laryngoscopy and grading of the view in the second method were then performed by a second anesthetist. Tracheal intubation was completed following the second laryngoscopy, and time to intubation was recorded.

Results:  The average age and weight were 8.9 ± 3.6 years and 34.9 ± 16.0 kg respectively. Videolaryngoscopy improved 8/11 grade 2 views to grade 1 (P = 0.02), and one grade 3 to a grade 2. Three grade 2 views remained unchanged from DL to VL. 4/30 VL intubations required two attempts, and 1/30 failed after two attempts, but was easily intubated with DL. Median time (range) was 16.0 s (14.0–20.0 s) and 22.5 s (17.8–35.0 s) for DL and VL respectively (P < 0.001).

Conclusion:  Videolaryngoscopy provides better views than DL at the expense of time to intubate. Although the time taken to intubate is increased with the VL, it is clinically acceptable.
Review article: Perioperative care of patients with epidermolysis bullosa: proceedings of the 5th international symposium on epidermolysis bullosa, Santiago Chile, December 4–6, 2008
Authors: GOLDSCHNEIDER KENNETH , LUCKY ANNE W. , MELLERIO JEMIMA E. , PALISSON FRANCIS , Del CARMEN VIÑUELA MIRANDA MARIA , AZIZKHAN RICHARD G.
Published: August 2010

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) has become recognized as a multisystem disorder that poses a number of pre‐, intra‐, and postoperative challenges. While anesthesiologists have long appreciated the potential difficult intubation in patients with EB, other systems can be affected by this disorder. Hematologic, cardiac, skeletal, gastrointestinal, nutritional, and metabolic deficiencies are foci of preoperative medical care, in addition to the airway concerns. Therefore, multidisciplinary planning for operative care is imperative. A multinational, interdisciplinary panel of experts assembled in Santiagio, Chile to review the best practices for perioperative care of patients with EB. This paper presents guidelines that represent a synthesis of evidence‐based approaches and the expert consensus of this panel and are intended to aid physicians new to caring for patients with EB when operative management is indicated. With proper medical optimization and attention to detail in the operating room, patients with EB can have an uneventful perioperative course.
Testing the Janzen‐Connell mechanism: pathogens cause overcompensating density dependence in a tropical tree
Authors: Bagchi Robert , Swinfield Tom , Gallery Rachel E. , Lewis Owen T. , Gripenberg Sofia , Narayan Lakshmi , Freckleton Robert P.
Published: August 2010

Ecology Letters (2010)

The Janzen‐Connell hypothesis is a leading explanation for plant‐species diversity in tropical forests. It suggests that specialized natural enemies decrease offspring survival at high densities beneath parents, giving locally rarer species an advantage. This mechanism, in its original form, assumes that density dependence is overcompensating: mortality must be disproportionately high at the highest densities, with few offspring recruiting below their parents. We tested this assumption using parallel shadehouse and field density‐series experiments on seedlings of a tropical tree, Pleradenophora longicuspis. We found strong, overcompensating mortality driven by fungal pathogens, causing 90% (shadehouse) or 100% (field) mortality within 4 weeks of germination, and generating a negative relationship between initial and final seedling densities. Fungicide treatment led to much lower, density‐independent, mortality. Overcompensating mortality was extremely rapid, and could be missed without detailed monitoring. Such dynamics may prevent dead trees from being replaced by conspecifics, promoting coexistence as envisioned by the Janzen‐Connell hypothesis.
Do sexual pheromone traps provide biased information of the local gene pool in the pine processionary moth?
Authors: Salvato P. , Simonato M. , Zane L. , Patarnello T. , Masutti L. , Battisti A.
Published: August 2010

Abstract  1 Sexual pheromone traps are commonly used to monitor populations of the pine processionary moth, Thaumetopoea pityocampa, assuming that trapped males are representative of the breeding population.

2 For seven Italian populations, mitochondrial haplotypes (COI and COII) of adult males caught in traps were compared with those of larvae obtained from egg batches laid in the same year, to test whether the males trapped were representative of the local populations.

3 The distribution of haplotype frequencies revealed substantial homogeneity between adult males and larvae samples from the same population, except for Aosta Ruines Verrès, a population recently expanding in the south‐western Alps. In this case, the results suggested that trapped males were recruited over a wider area than local moths because haplotype diversity was higher than that of larvae.

4 A further analysis of this population using nuclear markers (AFLP) confirmed that adults, collected in pheromone traps, were genetically different from the larvae emerging in the same stand.

5 In conclusion, the assumption that trapped males are representative of breeding populations was confirmed for core populations, but has not been verified for the recently established population of Aosta Ruines Verrès. This should encourage discussion with respect to the reliability of pheromone traps in monitoring programmes of the pest, especially at the range's edge.
Soil type and microtopography influencing feeding above and below ground by the pine weevil Hylobius abietis
Authors: Nordlander Göran , Bylund Helena , Björklund Niklas
Published: August 2010

Abstract  1 The influence of soil type and microtopography on above and below ground feeding by adult pine weevils Hylobius abietis (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) was evaluated in a field experiment with enclosed weevil populations of known size.

2 Four soil treatments, each with a food source at the centre, were presented within each enclosure: (i) a flat surface with fine‐grained, cultivated humus; (ii) a flat surface with sand; (iii) a conical mound of sand; and (iv) a conical pit in sand. The food source consisted of a stem section of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris L. extending both above and below ground.

3 The majority of feeding on the half buried stem sections occurred below ground; only 2.7% of the total bark area consumed was situated above ground. The variation over time in bark area consumed was not significantly associated with any of the tested weather factors.

4 The amount of feeding was 10‐fold higher on food sources placed in fine‐grained humus than those in areas of flat sand.

5 Less pine bark was consumed on mounds of sand than flat sand surfaces, and there was more feeding in sandy pits than on flat sand. These effects on feeding are explained by the observation that the weevils had difficulties climbing the sandy slopes (27° gradient).

6 We conclude that pine weevil damage to conifer seedlings can be considerably reduced by planting on mounds of pure mineral soil and that planting deeply in the soil increases the risk of damage.
Occurrence of Ips typographus (Col., Scolytidae) along an urbanization gradient in Brussels, Belgium
Authors: Piel Frédéric , Gilbert Marius , Franklin Anne , Grégoire Jean‐Claude
Published: August 2010

Abstract  1 The distribution and dynamics of insect populations in cities is poorly understood. One approach to address this question is to explore the permeability of the urban habitat to species from surrounding rural areas, which can serve as reservoirs in source‐sink dynamics.

2 Here, we present data on the distribution of the forest insect pest of spruce, Ips typographus (Coleoptera, Scolytidae), along two axes entering the city of Brussels (Belgium) from the south‐east and to the town centre.

3 The insect was caught everywhere along these transects, even in heavily urbanized surroundings, and sometimes in relatively high numbers. The catches were highest near the middle of the transects and lower at both ends of them.

4 This pattern was associated, on the one hand, with an urbanization gradient with the numbers of flying individuals increasing with the distance from the city centre and, on the other hand, with lower catches at the periphery of the city where a high proportion of broadleaved trees may have disrupted the response to aggregation pheromones.

5 In addition to the probable rural origin of the beetles, high catches at the Port of Brussels indicated that some of the insects might be of foreign origin and enter the city with imported timber, highlighting a pathway for unintentional introductions of organisms, including potentially invasive species.
Factors influencing adult female oviposition in the citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella
Authors: Vercher R. , Farias A. , Marzal C. , Soto A. , Tena A. , Garcia‐Marí F.
Published: August 2010

1 The citrus leafminer (CLM) Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) is a serious pest in most citrus‐growing regions of the world. The influence of leaf length, citrus species or variety, leaf colour tone and temperature on CLM oviposition was studied from field observations and laboratory experiments. The spatial distribution of eggs on leaves was also examined. Field data were obtained from 1100 samples collected in eastern Spain for 7 years.

2 Significant differences in oviposition rate were found among citrus species in ‘no choice’ laboratory experiments. This tendency was not apparent in the field due to the confounding effect of such factors as the intensity of new flushes and adult CLM abundance. Leaf colour tone and air temperature in the range studied (18–27°C) had no effect on CLM egg‐laying.

3 The distribution of eggs among leaves was random for population densities lower than four eggs per leaf, but became strongly aggregated above this, when not all eggs could survive and complete development.

4 The CLM developmental stage found on leaves depended on the leaf length, and most of the egg‐laying occurred only on leaves that were 10–25 mm long. These leaves had the highest CLM stages in the field and thus give the best estimate of CLM oviposition.
Prognostic significance of high‐grade dysplasia in colorectal adenomas
Authors: Toll A. D. , Fabius D. , Hyslop T. , Pequignot E. , DiMarino A. J. , Infantolino A. , Palazzo J. P.
Published: August 2010

Aim  Colonoscopy to detect and remove polyps has contributed to a reduction in colorectal carcinoma. Three‐year follow up is recommended for patients considered to be at high risk (at least three adenomas, adenoma ≥ 1 cm, villous or high‐grade features). Our study focused on patients diagnosed with high‐grade dysplasia with regard to initial management and follow up.

Method  A search of patients who had had endoscopic removal of a high‐grade adenoma was carried out. Patients with the following were excluded: follow up of < 1 year, polyposis syndromes, prior colon cancer and a diagnosis of adenocarcinoma within 6 months following initial diagnosis.

Results  Eighty‐three patients treated between 1999 and 2007 for high‐grade dysplasia (HGD) in a colorectal adenoma were identified. Over a median follow‐up period of 4 years, 53 (64%) developed further adenomatous polyps. Among these, 7% had an adenoma with HGD or an adenocarcinoma. In all these patients, the initial high‐grade adenoma was > 1 cm in diameter. Initial follow‐up colonoscopy was performed on average 7 months following the initial diagnosis. Ten per cent of patients underwent prophylactic segmental resection, and 6% received argon laser therapy.

Conclusion  The study demonstrates that patients who have a colorectal adenoma > 1 cm with HGD may be at high risk of developing further adenomas with HGD or carcinoma. Close follow up is warranted.
Human behaviour: the key source of uncertainty in fisheries management
Authors: Fulton Elizabeth A , Smith Anthony D M , Smith David C , van Putten Ingrid E
Published: August 2010

There is broad consensus that the main problem facing fisheries globally is too many boats chasing too few fish. Unfortunately it is also possible to argue that there are too many proposed solutions and not enough practical answers to improving fisheries management. There is a deepening divide between those who propose alternative regulatory controls on fishers, including establishing large areas permanently closed to fishing, and those who argue for better alignment of incentives combined with broad participation of resource users in fishery management decisions (in simple terms, between top down and bottom up systems of governance). However despite the choice of policy instruments used, a consistent outcome is that resource users behave in a manner that is often unintended by the designers of the management system. Hence whilst uncertainty is broadly recognized as a pervasive feature of fisheries management, to date most of the attention has focussed on only part of that uncertainty – scientific uncertainty about the status of exploited resources. The effect of uncertainty generated on the human side of fisheries science and management has received much less attention. However, the uncertainty generated by unexpected resource user behaviour is critical as it has unplanned consequences and leads to unintended management outcomes. Using empirical evidence of unexpected resource user behaviour and reviewing current responses to unexpected management outcomes, we identify different approaches that both improve prediction of human behaviour in fisheries systems and identify management measures that are more robust to these sources of uncertainty. However, unless the micro scale drivers of human behaviour that contribute to macro scale implementation uncertainty are communicated effectively to managers and considered more regularly and in greater depth, unanticipated responses to management actions will continue to undermine management systems and threaten the sustainability of fisheries.
MONETARY ITEMS AND THE GEARING ADJUSTMENT: WHERE ARE WE?
Authors: Gates Richard C. , Standish Peter E. M.
Published: August 2010

As part of its attempt to make an operational Current Cost Accounting standard, the Australian Accounting Research Foundation has issued two exposure drafts dealing with the treatment of monetary items. This article evaluates these drafts with special reference being made to overseas developments. Crucial conceptual and operational flaws are found to be inherent in the Foundation's recommendations.
THE NATURE AND MEASUREMENT OF COST SAVINGS IN CURRENT VALUE ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS*
Authors: Henderson Scott , Peirson Graham
Published: August 2010

The paper considers the nature and measurement of cost savings in current value (cost) accounting systems. In general, current cost accounting proposals have interpreted cost savings in an unnecessarily restrictive way. For example, current cost accounting does not allow for the possibility that a company which borrows at a fixed rate of interest may derive significant cost savings if interest rates increase during the term of the loan. The measurement of cost savings on debt is considered in this paper. In addition, it draws attention to the concentration of current cost accounting proposals on cost savings at the expense of the analogous losses which may arise in relation to revenue.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SIZE OF COMPANY BUDGETS FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Authors: Burrows G. H.
Published: August 2010

This article focusses on the question of ‘discretion’ as it relates to the level of R & D budgets in individual companies. On the basis of a literature review, factors said to influence the level of R & D spending were identified. These factors then formed the basis for an empirical study, undertaken in 1977, into the factors influencing the level of R & D budgets in a sample of sixteen Australian companies which had, in the Australian context, large R&D involvements. It was found that a considerable number of factors, of varying degrees of importance, influenced budget levels. The conclusion drawn from this information is that the interaction between these factors is likely to give rise to very little effective discretion — the status quo may be the most important (but hidden) influence.
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
Authors: Nurnberg Hugo
Published: August 2010

The conceptualization of assets and liabilities is fundamental to an understanding of financial accounting. It is often maintained that assets and liabilities represent economic resources and economic obligations, respectively, but that not all economic resources are assets and not all economic obligations are liabilities — a somewhat confusing state of affairs. This paper presents a schema for distinguishing assets from economic resources and liabilities from economic obligations based on the authoritative literature in the United States, Australia, Canada and Great Britain. The schema should be useful for clarifying certain financial accounting controversies concerning income taxes, leases, pension benefit payments and executory contracts.
REGULATING THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS?*
Authors: Williams David J.
Published: August 2010

The paper investigates the reasons for regulating the accounting, management and performance of charitable organisations. It is argued that there exists a priori reasons to expect the public would demand regulation of this industry. This is primarily so that the transaction costs of bilateral bargaining between the public and charities are minimized, and to improve the security of possible donors against the proclivity of some agents to make false and misleading statements. However, existing regulations may be counterproductive by giving the public the impression that regulation achieves these aims when in fact it has not. Other possible inconsistencies in the way regulations have been applied are identified.
DIVIDEND POLICY AND TARGET PAYOUT RATIOS
Authors: Partington Graham H.
Published: August 2010

This paper is concerned with a study of the dividend policies of large Australian companies. A majority of the firms studied used an explicit target payout ratio, reflecting an objective of distributing a more or less fixed proportion of profits in the long run. However, a significant minority (41%) reported that they made no explicit use of payout targets. Some firms had changed their targets materially over the period 1965–1980, and there was weak evidence that these firms tended to have lower targets than firms which left their targets relatively unchanged. There was no evidence of an industry effect upon the use, or magnitude, of payout targets.
Multifactor Asset Pricing Models
Authors: Sinclair N.A.
Published: August 2010

Since the early 1960s, the mean‐variance Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) has been a dominant paradigm in modern finance. Recently, the accumulation of anomalous evidence, and a realisation that empirical tests of the model are tautologically related to the efficiency of the market index, have pushed that paradigm to a point of crisis. This paper reviews alternative asset pricing models which coexisted with the CAPM and may provide plausible substitutes. The major distinguishing feature of these models is that they predict multiple risk factors and, with the exception of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), are extensions of the CAPM.
Field Dependence Cognitive Style as a Moderating Factor in Subjects' Perceptions of Auditor Independence
Authors: Gul Ferdinand A.
Published: August 2010

This paper reports the findings of a laboratory experiment designed to assess the moderating role of field dependence cognitive style in the effects of management consultancy services and qualified audit reports on subjects' perceptions of auditor independence. Using an ANOVA repeated‐measures experimental design, 22 accountants were administered a questionnaire which contained four scenarios, each representing one of four possible combinations of levels of the two exogenous variables. To measure levels of confidence in the auditors' independence in each of the scenarios, subjects were requested to respond to a seven‐point scale. In addition, subjects were classified as field dependent or field independent on the basis of the Group Embedded Figures Test. Results showed that field dependence cognitive style interacted to moderate the effects of management consultancy services and qualified audit reports on subjects' perceptions of auditor independence. The findings suggest that cognitive style is an important moderating variable that affects subjects' perceptions of auditor independence.
MEAN GINI CAPITAL ASSET PRICING MODEL: SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
Authors: Okunev John
Published: August 2010

The capital asset pricing model of Sharpe (1964) and Lintner (1965) provides a valid approach to portfolio selection if either the distribution of asset returns is jointly normal or the investor's preference function is quadratic. Various authors have questioned the validity of these assumptions, and Roll (1977) raises the question whether the traditional CAPM can be tested. An alternative Capital Asset Pricing Model has been proposed by Shalit and Yitzhaki (1984). In this model the extended mean Gini coefficient is used to measure risk. As little research has been conducted on this model, this paper estimates systematic risk as derived from the extended mean Gini model for a sample of Australian companies and compares the empirical security market line with the predicted extended mean Gini security market line.
PARTIAL TAKEOVERS AS PUT OPTIONS
Authors: Hathaway Neville
Published: August 2010

For stocks of a listed company subject to a takeover offer, a premium must be paid by the bidder to induce acceptance of the offer. For partial takeovers, this premium can be modelled as a put option. While the takeover is current, temporary support for the stock may materialize, possibly resulting in increased prices. The price of options or warrants over the target stock can be used as a means of estimating the ex‐takeover stock price, the takeover premium and any extra support that temporarily may be in the observed market price. This leads to an evaluation of the probable success of the takeover.
Termination fees in a ‘bright line’ jurisdiction
Authors: Chapple Larelle , Christensen Blake , Clarkson Peter M.
Published: August 2010

We seek to statistically inform the debate regarding the Australian Takeovers Panel's ‘bright line’ policy towards break fees. Based on 313 takeovers from 2002 to 2006, 85 involving break fees, we find post‐bid competition to be unrelated to break fee usage and inversely related to bid success. We also find that break fee usage has a detrimental effect on shareholder wealth as measured by both the final bid premium and abnormal returns. Therefore, although break fees appear to be neither anticompetitive nor coercive within the Australian context, they do appear to have had a deleterious effect on shareholder wealth.
The Utility of Social Obligations in the UK Energy Industry*
Authors: Sharratt Diane , Brigham Bitten H. , Brigham Martin
Published: August 2010

abstract The imposition of social obligations on the UK energy supply industry provides an important opportunity to examine how social responsibilities are construed by companies and how these constructions relate to perceptions of the role of regulation, specifically the scope for compromise and influence with the regulator. Our data suggest four templates for understanding this relationship: embracing social obligations, business as usual, management deliberation, and conflicts with commerce. First, embracing social obligations is based on competitive advantage and struggles for market leadership, and highlights informal mechanisms in attempts to influence the regulatory agenda. Second, business as usual reflects pre‐existing standard operating procedures and a generalized approach to serving the broad consumer base in line with regulation as formal policing procedures. Third, management deliberation is a way of either reflecting upon or stalling progress on social issues, and suggests compromise and passivity in regulatory relations. Fourth, conflicts with commerce focuses on the inherent difficulties of reconciling social obligations with economic regulation and a profit orientation, so that meeting minimum standards or the risk of regulatory censure may be sensible strategies. Together these templates emphasize the subjective and multiple nature of social responsibility and of regulatory relationships, and demonstrate struggles for the strategic and operational meaning over the nature of public interest and competitive advantage.
Negotiating Statehood in a Hybrid Political Order: The Case of Somaliland
Authors: Renders Marleen , Terlinden Ulf
Published: August 2010

This article investigates the negotiation of statehood in Somaliland, a non‐recognized de facto state which emerged from Somalia's conflict and state collapse. The negotiation process centres on the continuing transformation of a hybrid political order, involving ‘formal’ as well as ‘informal’ spheres, both in existing institutions (as ‘rules of the game’) and in the bodies or agents enforcing these rules. The negotiation processes considered take place at the national and local level respectively, as well as between the two. These negotiations are heterogeneous, non‐linear and ongoing. The article demonstrates how the polity's tolerance for heterogeneous negotiations and different forms of statehood allowed local political actors to establish peace in their own local settings first. Although it did not produce uniform statehood, it provided the basis for communities to explore the scope for common statehood. On the national level, hybrid elements initially allowed for a healthy adaptation of statehood to local needs, and for legitimate, productive instruments of negotiation. This responsiveness was not maintained, and current hybrid elements threaten to undermine the polity's stability.
Federal Restructuring in Ethiopia: Renegotiating Identity and Borders along the Oromo–Somali Ethnic Frontiers
Authors: Kefale Asnake
Published: August 2010

When the Ethiopian state was reorganized as an ethnic federation in the 1990s, both ethnicity and governance experienced the impact of the change. Most importantly, ethnicity became the key instrument regarding entitlement, representation and state organization. For the larger ethnic groups, fitting into the new ethno‐federal structure has been relatively straightforward. In contrast, ethnic federalism has necessitated a renegotiation of identity and of statehood among several smaller communities that straddle larger ethnic groups. It has also led to the reconfiguration of centre–periphery relations. This contribution discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre–periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno‐linguistic affinities.
Regional Trade Arrangements in Africa: Past Performance and the Way Forward
Authors: Yang Yongzheng , Gupta Sanjeev
Published: August 2010

Abstract: Regional trade arrangements (RTAs) in Africa have been ineffective in promoting trade and foreign direct investment. Relatively high external trade barriers and low resource complementarity between member countries limit both intra‐ and extraregional trade. Small market size, poor transport facilities and high trading costs make it difficult for African countries to reap the potential benefits of RTAs. To increase regional trade and investment, African countries need to undertake more broad‐based liberalization and streamline existing RTAs, supported by improvements in infrastructure and trade facilitation. Early action to strengthen the domestic revenue base would help address concerns over revenue losses from trade liberalization.
SITE, SEEING AND SALVATION IN FOURTEENTH‐CENTURY AVIGNON
Authors: WILLIAMSON BETH
Published: August 2010

This article explores anew the well‐known frescoes by Simone Martini above the entrance to the Cathedral of Notre‐Dame‐des‐Doms in Avignon. A new reading is facilitated in three ways: by considering the full range of possible iconographic and stylistic sources for these frescoes; by considering the content of the lost side‐wall frescoes as well as the surviving frescoes; and by calling into question the methodologies and assumptions about influence and sources that have normally been brought to bear on the paintings. The whole ensemble is seen as a monument specific both to its time and its place, in which the patron, the Roman cardinal Jacopo Stefaneschi, expresses his hopes for salvation using the metaphors of vision and sight.
THE SERIAL SPACES OF ANA MENDIETA
Authors: BEST SUSAN
Published: August 2010

The work of the Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta has often been criticized for embracing the traditional alignment of woman and nature, an alignment which is generally perceived as reliant upon essentialist ideas about female identity. Recent commentators have defended Mendieta's work against the charge of essentialism by interpreting her work through the lens of Judith Butler's idea of gender as performance. Mendieta's work, it is argued, destabilizes identity by emphasizing the repeated performances of this alignment. In other words, the emphasis falls on the ‘deed’ rather than the ‘doer’, to use Butler's terms. While the capacity of Mendieta's work to sustain these different readings points to its richness, essentialism still remains a scare term, despite feminist literature from the 1980s and 1990s. This article considers Mendieta's Silueta series in the light of this reconsideration of essentialism.
EMPATHETIC VISION: LOOKING AT AND WITH A PERFORMATIVE BYZANTINE MINIATURE
Authors: NELSON ROBERT S.
Published: August 2010

A Byzantine Gospel Lectionary in Florence contains a detailed description of the liturgical rites on 1 September. The manuscript's illustration for that day is interpreted art historically and then read against that liturgy so as to distinguish the heuristic processes of the discipline from the empathetic vision of the person for whom the manuscript was made and used: the Patriarch of Constantinople. The display that art history assumes and creates is contrasted with a performative spectacle of the Middle Ages.
A FACELESS SOCIETY? PORTRAITURE AND THE POLITICS OF DISPLAY IN EIGHTEENTH‐CENTURY ROME
Authors: ELIASSON SABRINA NORLANDER
Published: August 2010

In eighteenth‐century Europe portraiture held an important function within the art collections of the elite. The genre had an aesthetic purpose but also a strong social one. Portrait displays were frequent within domestic spaces that held a particular dignity but also offered public accessibility. Portraiture constituted in this sense the elite families a social guarantee and manifested the continuity of their social achievements. However, this general overview may be questioned if we move beyond the all‐too‐often cited examples of the monarchies of Britain and France. Instead, this article examines the social use of portraiture in eighteenth century Rome with particular reference to the structures of social manifestations of certain papal families.
Instructional design of a distance education cultural awareness course to enhance currency and authenticity
Authors: O'Rourke Susan L. , Martin Marie
Published: August 2010

This paper describes the development of a virtual learning environment using a blend of collaborative technologies and human resources to provide US preservice teachers with an authentic experience of another culture. A core design component is the use of ‘embedded instructors’ who are natives of and living in the target country (N. Ireland) while delivering the course in the USA. The wider issue of the potential depersonalisation of online learning is also addressed, and effective strategies for promoting the human dimension and sustaining learner engagement are described. In the context of globalisation, as well as of the constantly increasing provision of online courses, the course model could be of interest to both the academic and the corporate world.
The Promise of Governance Theory: beyond codes and best practices1
Authors: Carver John
Published: August 2010

Corporate governance exists for one reason and one reason alone: to ensure that shareholders’ values, as informed by knowledgeable agency, are transformed into company performance. To the extent a board fails in this, no matter how many other useful things it accomplishes, it has failed. To the extent it succeeds in this, no matter that it accomplishes nothing else, it has succeeded. The worldwide surge of corporate governance codes, while acting to protect investors, does little to enhance the integrity and effectiveness of the governance process itself. Significant improvement in boards’ ability to fulfil their roles as shareholders’ agents requires going beyond the codes and today's best practices to develop conceptually coherent governance theory.
The Change in Corporate Transparency of Korean Firms After the Asian Financial Crisis: an analysis using analysts' forecast data
Authors: Chang Jinho , Cho Young Jun , Shin Hyun‐Han
Published: August 2010

Using analysts' forecast error and forecast dispersion of firms covered by the I/B/E/S database, this study examines the change in information asymmetry of Korean firms around the financial crisis of 1997. Results show that the information asymmetry of Korean firms is lower after the financial crisis than before, implying that corporate transparency did, in effect, improve with the change in business environment. In addition, this study finds that chaebol firms have higher information asymmetry than non‐chaebol firm, and also that the corporate transparency improvement of chaebol firms is not higher than that of non‐chaebol firms in the post‐crisis period despite the reforms particularly targeted to chaebol firms after the financial crisis.
Governance Structures of Initial Public Offerings in Australia
Authors: Shekhar Chander , Stapledon Geof
Published: August 2010

We study the relationship between venture capital financing, CEO ownership, compensation structure, and board structures for a group of Australian IPO firms. Results suggest that board structures are influenced by the industry the firm is in, and presence of venture capitalists results in a larger board with a higher number of outside directors. CEOs in non VC‐backed firms own a significantly higher fraction of firm shares, and CEO ownership is negatively related to both board size and outside blockholders. VC‐backed firms are significantly more likely to disclose information about CEO compensation packages, but the relationship between actual board size and structure and disclosure is insignificant. Finally, we also find that venture capital backing significantly decreases the time to change‐in‐status for firms, whereby firms cease to exist as independent entities.
Firm Complexity and Board of Director Composition
Authors: Markarian Garen , Parbonetti Antonio
Published: August 2010

This paper examines the relationship between firm complexity and board of director composition. Utilising the board typology ofBaysinger and Zardkoohi (1986), we classify board members either as insiders, business experts, support specialists, or community influentials, and examine board composition in relation to firm internal and external complexity. Internal complexity refers to the sophistication of internal work processes (proxied by firm R&D expenditures, and the amount of invested capital), while external complexity relates to the external competitive structure (proxied by the number of business and geographic segments, and industrial leadership). Utilising a random sample of 150 firms drawn from six industries over the 2003–2005 time period, and after classifying 4,408 directors to one of our board categories, multivariate results confirm conjectures that complexity is related to the specific capabilities that each board member brings to the firm. We find that externally complex firms substitute community influentials for insiders. Additionally, internally complex firms have lower levels of community influentials, which are substituted by insiders and support specialists. This study adds to a small but growing literature that examines the economic determinants of board structure (Booneet al., 2007;Coleset al., 2005;Gillanet al., 2003;Lincket al., 2005), by providing a unique lens in examining board characteristics that goes beyond the traditional insider/independent classification.
The Effect of Organisational Form on Investment Products: an empirical analysis of the UK unit trust industry
Authors: Shinozawa Yoshikatsu
Published: August 2010

The mutual versus plc debate has now branched out to include discussion of the potential benefits to consumers from alternative organisational forms. This paper investigates whether performance, risk and fee levels differ across mutual and plc ownership groups in the UK unit trust industry. To this end, this paper uses monthly time‐series data for UK unit trusts industry for the years 2000 to 2005 and compares recorded performance from a consumer perspective by organisational form. The paper finds some difference between the two organisational groups with respect to the annual management fee charged and risk‐exposures, which seem to affect returns of their unit trusts. Consistent with recent studies, such results suggest that diversity of organisational form fosters product variations across UK investment products.
Is There a Relationship between Firm Performance, Corporate Governance, and a Firm's Decision to Form a Technology Committee?
Authors: Premuroso Ronald F. , Bhattacharya Somnath
Published: August 2010

Some S&P 500 firms have recently formed technology committees at the board‐level. This study investigates the corporate governance and firm financial performance implications of the voluntary formation of technology committees by members of the S&P 500. Using financial performance and structure‐related variables, the results of the study suggest that firms’ corporate governance ratings are significantly and positively related to their decisions to voluntarily form technology committees. Specifically, firm performance ratios such as return on assets, return on equity, and net profit margin appear to be associated with firms’ decisions to form board‐level technology committees. These findings have post Sarbanes‐Oxley corporate governance and performance implications and should be relevant for stakeholders such as the SEC, various stock exchanges, and the firms themselves.
The Association Between Web‐Based Corporate Performance Disclosure and Financial Analyst Behaviour Under Different Governance Regimes
Authors: Aerts Walter , Cormier Denis , Magnan Michel
Published: August 2010

In this study, we assert and test that the determination of corporate performance communication and financial analysts’ earnings forecasting work are closely intertwined processes. The resulting endogeneity in capital markets’ information dissemination and use is strongly influenced by a country's governance regime. Results from simultaneous equation regressions show significant interrelationships between financial analysts’ activities and corporate disclosure transparency for North American firms. Moreover, analyst following underlies corporate disclosure, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the dispersion of analysts’ earnings forecasts. In contrast, capital markets’ information dynamics for continental European firms are much weaker.
A Family Member or Professional Management? The Choice of a CEO and Its Impact on Performance
Authors: Lin Shu‐hui , Hu Shing‐yang
Published: August 2010

In this study, we explore what kinds of family firms are more likely to have a family CEO or professional CEO, and investigate the performance of CEOs from different backgrounds. The results show that firms with low requirements in managerial skills and a high potential for expropriation are more likely to choose a CEO from the controlling family (nepotism). Our investigation, furthermore, shows that when a firm requires high managerial skills, using a professional CEO can help firm performance, especially if the family has low cash‐flow rights and weak control. When there is large opportunity for expropriation in a family firm, the firm's performance will be better if the CEO is a family member and the family has highly persuasive cash‐flow rights.
Community‐Based Innovation Contests: Where Competition Meets Cooperation
Authors: Bullinger Angelika C. , Neyer Anne‐Katrin , Rass Matthias , Moeslein Kathrin M.
Published: August 2010

While the principle of competition has long been found to be conducive to innovation, community‐based innovation contests additionally offer the possibilities of interaction and cooperation among participants. This duality makes innovation contests an interesting field for both academia and practice. However, a surge in practical implementations stands in contrast to a still restricted body of academic knowledge in the field. To close this gap, drawing on a boundary spanning perspective, we examine if and how cooperation in the competitive setting of innovation contests leads to innovativeness. Cooperative orientation of contest participants is explored within a community‐based innovation contest run in 2009 at one of the largest universities in Germany. We analyse a complete set of data collected during the contest, data from a follow‐up survey among individual participants (n = 943), as well as video and audio footage from four focus groups. Findings suggest that a very high as well as a very low degree of cooperative orientation result in a high degree of innovativeness, while a medium degree of cooperative orientation results in a low degree of innovativeness. Additionally, this research extends the concept ofboundary spanningby identifying two subtypes:proactiveandreactive boundary spanning.