bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A decade of personalized research assistance
Authors: Attebury Ramirose , Sprague Nancy , Young Nancy J.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The University of Idaho Library's Research Assistance Program has offered personalized research consultations to more than 1,150 students over ten years. This article aims to study the usage data compiled over the past decade to determine if the service still meets the needs of users effectively.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten years' worth of quantitative and qualitative data were examined, using Excel to generate comparative figures/tables and to categorize user comments.

Findings

Issues explored include consistencies in usage patterns (e.g. female to male ratio, undergraduate to graduate student ratio, on‐campus to off‐campus users), the average amount of librarian time spent in preparation for and in discussion with the RAP users, the point in the research process that RAP was requested, the types of assignments and sources, and challenges such as “no‐shows” and communication problems. The assessment revealed that students from a wide range of departments and classes continue to benefit from this program, and it is sustainable.

Practical implications

Other libraries can use this study to realistically estimate staff time and effort involved in individual appointments with a librarian in order to decide if they can offer such a service.

Originality/value

No other study of individual research assistance programs in academic libraries has studied ten years' worth of continuous data.
The moral awareness of future accounting and business professionals
Authors: Gammie Elizabeth , Gammie Bob
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moral awareness and ethical virtue of current university students with a view to identifying whether there are any gender differences.

Design/methodology/approach

The study analysed undergraduate responses from final year honours student cohorts, one from a degree in accounting and finance (n=51), the other from a programme in business studies (n=79), to a series of value statements and a number of academic and business‐related scenarios. The study employed a Kantian approach to ethics.

Findings

Accounting students who had been exposed to ethical educational interventions do not display a higher level of moral awareness or ethical intention than their business counterparts. Whilst gender differences were apparent, this was only evident for moral awareness not ethical virtue and only the case for business students, thus suggesting that gender id may have more explanatory power than biological gender.

Research limitations/implications

The sample size was small as the study was restricted to relevant class populations and hence may not be generalisable. In addition, a gap may exist between what students state they would do in a situation and their actual behaviour.

Practical implications

Further work is required which concentrates on gender id rather than biological gender and examines why feminine moral awareness would appear to be higher than the masculine but converges for ethical intention.

Originality/value

The study presents a comparative analysis of two different student cohorts which enables a more detailed investigation of gender differences, initially for moral awareness and then ethical virtue.
Relationship marketing research (1994‐2006)
Authors: Das Kallol
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to review the academic literature on relationship marketing (RM), conduct a content analysis of the same for the purpose of classification and provides a comprehensive bibliography.

Design/methodology/approach

A range of online databases were searched to review the literature on RM. Only, 209 papers had RM as the primary research topic. The full text of each paper was taken as the unit of analysis. The classification of all the units into mutually exclusive categories was done by two independent researchers.

Findings

The content analysis led to classification of literature into five mutually exclusive categories viz. objectives, defining constructs, instruments, industrial applications and issues. The contribution of research papers has been on the rise across the time frame and there has been a sharp rise in RM research publication in the recent years. The study revealed many other useful findings.

Research limitations/implications

The findings can be generalized only to the population of selected online databases for the given time period but not to the larger universe of RM literature. The study identifies various untapped areas for further research in terms of industry, country of study, research methods, type of study, etc.

Practical implications

The paper provides a roster of field projects accompanied by a comprehensive bibliography that will be useful to both academics and practitioners for studying existing research as well as for contemplating future research.

Originality/value

This is the only paper that provides a literature review and bibliography of RM literature for the period 1994‐2006.
Cross‐cultural communication and emotional intelligence
Authors: Lillis Michael P. , Tian Robert G.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in business communications and describes the pivotal role it plays in establishing skills that are vital to a firm's global network of operations.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of undergraduate business students, this paper examines how EI can mitigate the potential negative effects that might arise from diversity within dissimilar groups. As a measure of group diversity, we explore the role of one of the more traditional dimensions of differentiation among heterogeneous groups, gender. Patterns of group performance are observed across different levels of gender diversity and within and between high and low emotionally intelligence groups.

Findings

Findings suggest that EI has a greater impact on the performance level of gender diverse groups than that of their homogeneous counterparts.

Research limitations/implications

As a consequence, of increased globalization, organizational environments are becoming enormously complex and considerably more culturally diverse. In response to this growing trend, a key question for managers is to determine how to improve organizational awareness of the thoughts, feeling and emotions that reside in other diverse cultures. By focusing on how gender diversity can potentially impact group functioning, we hope to draw attention to the need for an increased understanding of the behavioral tendencies and value orientations that exist among dissimilar others and, by inference, dissimilar cultures.

Practical implications

Results are discussed in connection with cross‐cultural competencies and skills that are essential for a multinational enterprise.

Originality/value

This is the first study to suggest a relationship between EI and international business communication effectiveness.
The dynamics and characteristics of buying centre networks
Authors: Järvi Pentti , Munnukka Juha
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study does the structure of buying centre networks dynamically change between buying situations and during the buying processes. Furthermore, the influence of organizational culture on participation, extensivity, lateral involvement, and vertical involvement of buying centre networks is studied.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study with empirical data gathered by semi‐structured interviews with the help of structured questions among Finnish business organizations early in 2007. The empirical data consist of 40 interviews conducted among small and medium sized companies. For the data analyses, the data were separately classified into themes relevant for each of the topics analyzed. The structured questions were used for validating the findings of qualitative analyses.

Findings

The structure of buying centre networks was found to be highly dynamic and change significantly between buying situations and phases of the buying process. Five types of networks were identified: expert, inward‐oriented informal networks; extensive, specialist and inward‐oriented formal networks; extensive, outward and more management‐oriented co‐operative networks; specification‐oriented management and responsibility‐led co‐operative networks; and management‐led specialist‐oriented versatile networks. The results also suggest power distance, risk tolerance, and individualism/collectivism are useful measures for analysing the factors influencing the structure of buying centre networks and explaining differences between buying situations and stages of the buying process.

Originality/value

Change in the surrounding business and technology environment means that buying centre networks are forced to follow suit, in order to maintain competitiveness and the efficiency of their buying operations. While cultural differences are commonly known to influence organizational behaviour, the effects of the organizational culture on buying centre network structures have not sufficiently been studied.
The value of B2B relationships
Authors: Gil‐Saura Irene , Frasquet‐Deltoro Marta , Cervera‐Taulet Amparo
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the knowledge of how relationship value, trust, commitment, satisfaction and loyalty intentions are defined and relate to each other. It explores these relationships in the business‐to‐business (B2B) context by analysing manufacturing companies regarding to their main supplier.

Design/methodology/approach

After the literature review and several in‐depth interviews, a method of empirical analysis consisting of quantitative intervention with an ad hoc survey using a structured questionnaire has been developed. Structural equations modeling is used to contrast the hypotheses on the links between the constructs analysed.

Findings

Confirmatory factor analysis provided satisfactory results. With regard to the direct effects of the relationship value, the three relationships being considered were verified: relationship value has a positive influence on trust, commitment and satisfaction towards the supplier. Also, and as already contrasted in previous studies, trust has a direct, positive effect on commitment. In addition, and regarding to loyalty antecedents, data did not confirm that greater trust would increase loyalty but commitment did, leading to the conclusion that the effect of trust on loyalty is only indirect through the effect it has on commitment. Loyalty was also positively affected by satisfaction with the supplier.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of this paper open lines for future research. First, it considers that future research could include other variables affecting long‐term relationships. Second, longitudinal studies could serve to enrich the results and illustrate the complexity of the direction in the links among the variables and take into account dynamics. Third, a customer's perspective in the perception of value has been adopted in this paper. Finally, relationship value has been operationalised as reflective and a formative approach could be adopted. Implications for managers are in line with the detected importance of satisfaction and commitment as key factors because of their impact on intention to continue and expand business with the supplier. Moreover, manufacturers should recognize the role of assessing and building relationship value with their partners as it has an impact – direct or indirect – on intentions to stay in the relationship.

Originality/value

In comparison, far less research has been done in the area of relationship value. This paper emphasizes the role of perceived relationship value in relationship B2B marketing studies providing a model and contributing to relationship management.
Impact of supply chain linkages on supply chain performance
Authors: Zelbst Pamela J. , Green Kenneth W. , Sower Victor E. , Reyes Pedro
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of supply chain linkages on supply chain performance (SCP). It aims to define and describe linkage constructs for power, benefits, and risk reduction and develop multi‐item scales for their measurement. It also aims to assess the relationships of the linkages with SCP.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 145 manufacturing and services sector managers are surveyed. The measurement scales are assessed for reliability and validity and further assessed within a measurement model context. Study hypotheses are then tested using a multiple regression approach.

Findings

Results for the combined sample indicate that power, benefits, and risk reduction linkages positively and significantly impact SCP. Power is identified as the dominant linkage for manufacturers, and risk reduction as the most important within the services sector.

Practical implications

The key to effective supply chain management is the ability to establish long‐term, strategic relationships with supply chain partners. Practitioners should work to fully develop power, benefits, and risk reduction linkages with partners within their specific supply chains in order to maximize value to the ultimate customers of the supply chain.

Originality/value

Through this study, previously discussed supply chain linkage constructs are specifically defined, scales for measurement of the constructs are developed, and an initial assessment of the relation of the constructs to SCP is provided.
A future for organisational behaviour?
Authors: Hosie Peter J. , Smith Roger C.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to raise and critically analyse controversial issues facing the future directions of the academic discipline organisational behaviour (OB).

Design/methodology/approach

Specifically, the commercial benefits for basic and applied OB research conducted by academics are considered. Arguments are advanced which cast doubt on the discipline's current directions.

Findings

Proponents of traditional research in this field are accused of methodological myopia, inaccessibility, lack of relevance to practitioners and an inability to integrate research with successful practice. Such shortcomings have the potential to render OB theories, research and recommended practices irrelevant in many commercial environments.

Practical implications

Better integration is recommended between popularist management practices and ideas with traditional research techniques to produce more business focussed outcomes. New modes of investigation are proposed which adopt dynamic research methodologies based on “coarse grained theorising” using the “3p” test of performance, productivity and profitability. In this context, coarse grained theorising must be capable of verification in the field with tangible commercial benefits.

Originality/value

Narrowing the theory‐practice gulf requires a more concerted effort to embrace practitioner generated ideas to develop these into theories closely related to organisational concerns rather than purely academic predilections. In this situation, only the most robust of existing theories, with utility for organisations, would survive and continue to be promulgated. A future scenario for OB is envisaged where hybridized theorizing and research are developed and communicated to a wider practitioner audience.
Service experience and service design: concepts and application in tourism SMEs
Authors: Zehrer Anita
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the pertinent issues in the relationship between service experience and service design among small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the tourism industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual paper undertakes a thorough review of the relevant literature before developing propositions regarding service experience and service design for SMEs in the tourism industry.

Findings

Service experience must be appropriately managed by SME operators by collecting and evaluating relevant data on customer experience. Service design must be undertaken in a holistic manner that is embedded in the organisational culture of the service provider using tools such as “blueprinting”. Synergistic cooperation and learning regions among traditionally fragmented tourism providers are essential for achieving long‐term competitiveness.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should undertake empirical studies to validate and/or modify the propositions presented in this conceptual paper.

Originality/value

This is one of the few studies to have addressed the relationship between experience management and service design for SMEs in the highly competitive tourism industry.
The academic voice in English and Czech higher education quality
Authors: Mertova Patricie , Webster Len
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This paper sets out to report on a research project investigating the academic voice in higher education quality in the UK and the Czech Republic. It aims to describe the origins and reasons for introducing quality monitoring and assurance into higher education, showing the differences and impacts on higher education quality in England and the Czech Republic, including the current practices and presenting the concerns and issues voiced by the academics and higher education leaders in both higher education systems.

Design/methodology/approach

The research utilised a critical event narrative inquiry method, which focuses on issues of complexity and human‐centredness in studied phenomena. In this way the method addresses issues that are frequently overlooked by quantitative research methods. It is argued that, by extracting “critical events,” the method is more efficient in dealing with large amounts of data, which often result from the use of qualitative research methods. In the presented research, “critical events” voicing important issues and concerns in higher education quality are extracted from stories of UK and Czech academics and higher education leaders.

Findings

Through extracting “critical events” in the professional practice of academics and higher education leaders, the research uncovered some similar and some culture‐specific issues voiced by Czech and UK academics and higher education leaders. The culture‐specific issues were revealed mainly in the Czech higher education context.

Practical implications

The research uncovered a number of issues and concerns which were overlooked in the current higher education quality practices in both the higher education systems. The paper does not present all the recommendations for educational practice and further research. These may be consulted in Mertova's Quality in Higher Education: Stories of English and Czech Academics and Higher Education Leader.

Originality/value

The research applied a critical event narrative inquiry methodology, which is a novel qualitative research method focusing on extracting “critical events” in the professional practice of individuals, in this case academics and higher education leaders. Even though the methodology was developed by Webster and Mertova, the study has further refined it and applied it in the field of higher education quality.
Protean organizations
Authors: Cabrera Elizabeth F.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to understand women's careers better in order to help organizations make changes to increase female retention. Two specific questions are addressed: Are women adopting a protean career orientation by becoming career self‐agents?; and Are women's career decisions guided by the kaleidoscope values of challenge, balance, and authenticity? Results are used to discuss changes that organizations can make to better attract and retain female talent.

Design/methodology/approach

Open‐ended semi‐structured interviews were conducted by telephone with 25 women graduates of a top ranked international business school located in the USA who had voluntarily left the workforce at some time in their career and had since returned to work.

Findings

Results show that 17 of the women interviewed followed a protean career orientation when they returned to the workforce, finding part‐time or reduced‐hours positions or completely changing careers. Of the women, five returned to work following a traditional career orientation and three chose to return to a job rather than reinitiating their careers. The vast majority of the women who adopted a protean career were driven to do so in order to satisfy their need for balance in their lives. Overall, eight of the women expressed a need for authenticity in their careers and only two mentioned a desire for challenge. Many of them felt they had already satisfied their need for challenge earlier in their career, as the KCM suggests.

Practical implications

As with protean careers, protean organizations adapt to evolving circumstances. Companies that recognize and respond to the need to reshape how work gets done and how careers are built will achieve a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining valuable female talent. Organizations should shift their focus from an emphasis on face time to an emphasis on results, giving employees more control over how, when, and where they work. They also need to move away from the traditional career model that emphasizes full‐time, continuous employment and instead embrace arc‐of‐the‐career flexibility that allows women to adopt a protean orientation, managing their own careers in order to align them with their personal values.

Originality/value

The paper helps to explain the motives behind professional women' career moves and makes suggestions on how organizations can better attract and retain female talent.
Women's contributions to American public relations, 1940‐1970
Authors: Suzanne Horsley J.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This paper seeks to map the employment of female professionals to create a collective biography of women in US public relations from 1940‐1970. It aims to suggest that women were active leaders in many areas of public relations, despite the exclusion of women from most historical accounts.

Design/methodology/approach

The author completed a content analysis of a women's professional directory published in 1970. This directory summarizes women's accomplishments during this critical time period in the development of the public relations profession. The sample of 520 entries was analyzed for demographics and career statistics in relation to social perceptions that prevailed during this timeframe.

Findings

The paper offers empirical insights into the work of female public relations practitioners. It quantifies employment in managerial and technical positions in a variety of industries, charts the trends in employment, and offers support for theoretical explanations for why women were essentially invisible in public relations publications and historical records.

Research limitations/implications

The findings from this research are limited in that they are based on a directory full of self‐reported success stories. Therefore, additional research is needed before these results can be generalized to the population under study.

Originality/value

This paper creates a collective biography of women in public relations that complements the research that has been done on a few individual women. This research contributes to a more robust explanation of the development of US public relations.
Compliance and AML in Belgium: a booming sector with growing pains
Authors: Verhage Antoinette
Published: May 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, the paper will map Belgian compliance officers' practices and challenges, and second, it makes an attempt to assess the effectiveness of their input in the anti‐money laundering (AML) chain in Belgium: what are actual results of the fight against money laundering?

Design/methodology/approach

The research starts from a criminological point of view, studying the preventive AML‐policy by focusing on the compliance function in banks. In order to study this preventive approach more concretely, a survey was sent to Belgian compliance officers, asking about their practices. Second, the available statistics on 13 years of AML in Belgium were studied.

Findings

The function of compliance officer implies a number of challenges or “growing pains”; problematic access to information, lack of feedback from the authorities, limited investigative means. Furthermore, although the investments of private organisations in AML have been substantial, the outcome of the AML chain seems modest.

Research limitations/implications

This paper reflects the first phase of an on‐going research (2006‐2009). The results presented here are therefore preliminary.

Originality/value

Belgium implemented a regulatory framework in 2001, obliging the installment of a compliance function within banks. The value of this research lies in the fact that this booming professional group has never been subject of research before, even though they play a crucial role in AML in particular and crime fighting in general. It is therefore of great importance to study compliance officers' views, practices, and opinions in order to get a grip on this new type of “policing”.
High‐performance workplace practices for Greek companies
Authors: Vlachos Ilias P.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether are there human resources (HR) practices that influence firm performance of companies operating in the Mediterranean region and, specifically, in Greece. Existing literature comes mostly from American studies, leaving a research gap what happens when HR practices are applied by companies in the Mediterranean region.

Design/methodology/approach

The author reviewed the existent literature and examined six HR practices, which were initially proposed by Pfeffer. Using a self‐reported questionnaire, the author surveyed managers in Greece. The author used univariate and hierarchical multiple regression models to analyse the data.

Findings

Analysis of data provides overall support for all HR practices except of job security. Selective hiring and compensation policy were significant predictors for all performance variables.

Research limitations/implications

Results from studies on a specific industry may have limitations to generalising to other sectors of the economy. More research is necessary to examine HR practices not covered by this study.

Practical implications

This study has practical implications particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that proliferate in Mediterranean countries. SMEs often find it difficult to see all the connections between antecedents (such as recruiting, compensating and training personnel) and consequences (such as turnover, financial performance). This study shows that there are high‐performance workplace practices that clearly pay off and thus, it is worthy investing on them.

Originality/value

This research is valuable to Mediterranean companies by highlighting the role of practices such as selective hiring and compensation policy in order to increase the overall firm performance.
Online experience as a lever of customer involvement in NPD
Authors: Lamberti Lucio , Noci Giuliano
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This work aims at exploring the approaches to online experience management aimed at enhancing customer involvement. The literature review and the empirical exercise aim at identifying a research agenda on the topic and at providing preliminary evidences.

Design/methodology/approach

Two in‐depth case studies in companies operating in the toy sector in Italy were conducted.

Findings

The findings suggest that online experience management can be considered by companies an important lever for getting customer involvement in NPD; moreover the evidences show that the experiential stimuli to provide may vary according to the stage of product development and to the characteristics of the target. Also the manufacturer's culture may drive some diversity in the stimuli provided. In detail, the Mediterranean company seem to look at generating group experiences to exploit the creative potential of collectivism more than the Anglo‐Saxon one.

Research limitations/implications

The discussion highlights a series of research propositions for future research aimed at improving the understatement of the problem. As for the limitations, only two cases in a single sector have been analysed, and there is a lack of concrete outcomes about the economic performances of the online experience strategies adopted by the companies, even if some positive correlation between successful online experience management and innovation rate of success seem to emerge.

Practical implications

The findings suggested some managerial implications for managing online customer experience to enhance customer involvement in NPD.

Originality/value

The paper provides empirical evidences in a field extremely debated at a theoretical level over the last few years, but extremely poor in terms of fact‐based research; moreover it suggests areas of investigation for future research.
I'm the new head of HR, now what? The first 90 days
Authors: Ulrich Dave , Smallwood Norm , Younger Jon
Published: May 2009

Purpose

HR leaders face a range of challenges on assuming responsibility for the function in their organizations. This paper aims to argue that if managed well, the actions of HR leaders over the first 90 days offer a significant opportunity to put the fundamentals for success in place; in turn, badly managed transitions can hurt the leader's effectiveness at building key relationships, defining the strategic agenda, assessing needs for improvement and developing the plan for creating value for the business.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on the authors' experience with dozens of new heads of HR. It synthesizes this work to offer a practical framework for action and specific tips on how HR leaders can make the most of the first 90 days.

Findings

It is shown that as a new leader, one has a unique opportunity to shape a new agenda for the HR department.

Originality/value

The paper is written as if the authors are coaching the reader through this transition by asking the right questions that increase the chance of success.
Return/risk profile focused ratios for property investments
Authors: Keeris Willem G. , Langbroek Ruben A.R.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

In order to take properly founded investment decisions, the anticipated value creation of a property investment should be identified by the investor. Because usual methods of analysis for determining the return/risk profile produce an inaccurate and incomplete picture, the purpose of this paper is to propose a number of improvements.

Design/methodology/approach

By examining the framework on which most used statistical risk analyses are based, improvements can be made, based on known, but not commonly used approaches. These improvements give a more satisfying risk analysis result, in which chances are also made visible.

Findings

Main principle of use is the downside risk approach, which only takes into account the negative deviations from self‐determined return criteria. The analysis is then based on four new created ratios, which collectively provide a better and more complete picture of the return/risk profile as a whole.

Practical implications

The ratios address risk from a downside perspective, but they also take into account the chances for investors to meet the return criteria, which provide the upside potential for the investments. Furthermore, the ratios express risk in terms of real volatility of the actual return. And last, they provide improvement of the entire return/risk profile, which therefore highlights the value creation achieved by the management.

Originality/value

By using the proposed ratios, risks and chances associated with property investments can be better quantified, thus producing a return/risk profile that paints a more realistic picture of the degree of value creation for investors.
The performance implications of temporal orientation and information technology in organization‐environment synergy
Authors: Dibrell Clay , Davis Peter S. , Craig Justin B.
Published: May 2009

Purpose

This paper aims to provide new evidence regarding the firm performance implications of using temporal orientation (time pacing) and information technology (IT) to align an organization with its task environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Using questionnaire data provided by top management team members, the results indicate that time‐based strategies (i.e. time pacing) and IT mediate the effects of environmental disruptions on performance. To validate the scales and to test the hypothesized model of relationships, the study employs structural equation modeling through LISREL 8.52, as it is able to examine both the measurement and structural model simultaneously while including individual errors for the respective parameters.

Findings

The results suggest that time pacing should be used in association with IT, as time pacing had a much stronger relationship to environmental disruptions than did IT. This finding supports that a time pacing orientation is effective at helping managers react to disruptions in their task environment. In relation to firm performance, IT was directly linked to firm performance; whereas time pacing was only indirectly associated with firm performance.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that the application of time pacing strategies enables managers to increase firm performance via IT. The results therefore suggest that managers should not assess their use of temporally‐based mechanisms (e.g. time pacing, IT temporality) and IT in isolation, but rather consider them in conjunction. This recommendation is consistent with findings elsewhere that components of strategy may need to be cohesive and integrative and require a supportive firm structure if they are to have their greatest effects on firm performance.

Originality/value

The study extends the research on temporal strategies and IT as mechanisms for offsetting environmental pressures and improving firm performance. It alerts managers to the notion that time pacing will enable them to generate improved firm performance and competitive advantage, through the synchronistic use of IT.
Protective effects of a superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetic compound against paraquat pneumotoxicity in rat lung
Authors: SHOPOVA Veneta L. , DANCHEVA Violeta Y. , SALOVSKY Pencho T. , STOYANOVA Angelina M.
Published: May 2009

Background and objective: EUK‐134 is one of the most promising of the superoxide dismutase (SOD)/catalase mimetic compounds. The antioxidant effects of EUK‐134 were tested in a rat model of paraquat pneumotoxicity.

Methods: Male Wistar rats (n = 72) were divided into three groups: group 1, controls; group 2, paraquat alone; group 3, paraquat + EUK‐134. Paraquat dichloride was administeredper osat a dose of 80 mg/kg. EUK‐134 was injected intraperitoneally at 10 mg/kg 2 h before the paraquat and again 4 h later at 5 mg/kg.

Results: On days 1, 3 and 5 after treatment with paraquat alone the LDH activity increased (P = 0.0001,P = 0.00001 andP = 0.03, respectively), and the total protein content increased (P = 0.00002,P = 0.001 andP = 0.01, respectively). The levels of acid phosphatase (AcP) in BAL fluid increased on days 1 and 3 (P = 0.006 andP = 0.04). In lung homogenates paraquat alone increased SOD activity on day 1 and decreased it on days 3 and 5. Combined treatment with paraquat and EUK‐134 elevated LDH activity on day 3 (significantly less than paraquat alone) and day 5, elevated the total protein content on day 5 only, and did not change AcP activity. The combination of both agents did not alter SOD activity and decreased catalase activity on day 5 significantly less than treatment with paraquat alone (P = 0.05).

Conclusions: EUK‐134, a superoxide dismutase/catalase mimetic compound decreased the pneumotoxic effect of paraquat in rats.
Developing the scope of practice and education for advanced practice nurses in Finland
Authors: Fagerström L.
Published: May 2009

Background:  The reorganization of Finnish healthcare services has required a restructuring of the areas of responsibility between healthcare professionals.

Aim:  To describe the need for Advanced Practice Nurses in Finland and the development process of a Master's programme in Health Promotion, Advanced Clinical Care.

Methods:  The study consisted of a survey of nurse managers (24) and focus group interviews with clinical nurse specialists (46).

Findings:  The expanded role includes advanced clinical skills and responsibility for health prevention and promotion, education, supervision, leadership, research and development.

Conclusions:  The legislation, scope and models have to be supported and further developed to promote the full scope of advanced practice.
The Introduction of Works Councils in German Establishments — Rent Seeking or Rent Protection?
Authors: Jirjahn Uwe
Published: May 2009

Some recent empirical studies seem to suggest that German works councils engage in rent‐seeking activities rather than in the creation of joint establishment surplus. However, those cross‐sectional studies do not address the issue of causation. We address this issue by investigating the factors that influence the employees' decision to introduce a works council in their establishment. Councils are more likely to be adopted in establishments with a very poor sales situation and poor employment growth. They are also more likely to be adopted in establishments where management does not pursue an expansive market strategy. Altogether, our results support the hypothesis that employees introduce works councils to protect the quasi‐rents they have created by their efforts and human capital investments.
The Direction of Union Mergers in the United States: The Rise of Conglomerate Unionism
Authors: Moody Kim
Published: May 2009

Trade union mergers have become common throughout the industrial world. In the United States, since the late 1970s, these have become increasingly multi‐jurisdictional. Beginning in the 1990s, the trend has been dominated by five ‘conglomerate’ unions, who have embraced this as a strategy for growth and increased effectiveness. This article will examine the roots of this ‘conglomerate’ direction and quantitatively assess the claims for greater effectiveness in finances, organizing, and collective bargaining. The tentative conclusion is that while resources and policy matter, the conglomerate merger strategy of these unions has not improved any of these functions either over time or in comparison to other unions that have put less emphasis on multi‐jurisdictional mergers.
Incremental Processing of Coreference and Binding in Japanese
Authors: Aoshima Sachiko , Yoshida Masaya , Phillips Colin
Published: May 2009

Abstract. This article presents two on‐line self‐paced reading studies and three off‐line acceptability judgment studies on the processing of backward anaphoric dependencies in Japanese in which a pronoun precedes potential antecedent noun phrases. The studies investigate the real‐time formation of coreference relations and operator‐variable binding relations to determine whether speakers of head‐final languages are able to construct grammatically accurate syntactic structures before they encounter a verb. The results of the acceptability rating studies confirm previous claims that backwards anaphoric dependencies in Japanese are more acceptable in configurations where a pronoun has been fronted via scrambling from a position where it would be c‐commanded by its antecedent. The results of the on‐line studies demonstrate that these acceptability contrasts have an immediate impact on parsing. Reading‐time results showed immediate sensitivity to the semantic congruency between an NP and a preceding pronoun in noncanonical (“scrambled”) word orders, and no immediate effect of semantic congruency otherwise. This contrast was found both for coreference relations involving the personal pronounskare/kanojo(experiment 1) and for operator‐variable relations involving the demonstrative pronounsoko(experiment 3). These findings go beyond previous evidence for incremental parsing in head‐final languages by showing that Japanese speakers build compositional structures (such as anaphoric relations) in a grammatically constrained fashion in advance of encountering a verb in the input.
Association Models for Clustered Data with Binary and Continuous Responses
Authors: Lin Lanjia , Bandyopadhyay Dipankar , Lipsitz Stuart R. , Sinha Debajyoti
Published: May 2009

Summary We consider analysis of clustered data with mixed bivariate responses, i.e., where each member of the cluster has a binary and a continuous outcome. We propose a new bivariate random effects model that induces associations among the binary outcomes within a cluster, among the continuous outcomes within a cluster, between a binary outcome and a continuous outcome from different subjects within a cluster, as well as the direct association between the binary and continuous outcomes within the same subject. For the ease of interpretations of the regression effects, the marginal model of the binary response probability integrated over the random effects preserves the logistic form and the marginal expectation of the continuous response preserves the linear form. We implement maximum likelihood estimation of our model parameters using standard software such as PROC NLMIXED of SAS. Our simulation study demonstrates the robustness of our method with respect to the misspecification of the regression model as well as the random effects model. We illustrate our methodology by analyzing a developmental toxicity study of ethylene glycol in mice.
Score Test for Conditional Independence Between Longitudinal Outcome and Time to Event Given the Classes in the Joint Latent Class Model
Authors: Jacqmin‐Gadda Hélène , Proust‐Lima Cécile , Taylor Jeremy M.G. , Commenges Daniel
Published: May 2009

Summary Latent class models have been recently developed for the joint analysis of a longitudinal quantitative outcome and a time to event. These models assume that the population is divided in G latent classes characterized by different risk functions for the event, and different profiles of evolution for the markers that are described by a mixed model for each class. However, the key assumption of conditional independence between the marker and the event given the latent classes is difficult to evaluate because the latent classes are not observed. Using a joint model with latent classes and shared random effects, we propose a score test for the null hypothesis of independence between the marker and the outcome given the latent classes versus the alternative hypothesis that the risk of event depends on one or several random effects from the mixed model in addition to the latent classes. A simulation study was performed to compare the behavior of the score test to other previously proposed tests, including situations where the alternative hypothesis or the baseline risk function are misspecified. In all the investigated situations, the score test was the most powerful. The methodology was applied to develop a prognostic model for recurrence of prostate cancer given the evolution of prostate‐specific antigen in a cohort of patients treated by radiation therapy.
A Partially Linear Tree‐based Regression Model for Multivariate Outcomes
Authors: Yu Kai , Wheeler William , Li Qizhai , Bergen Andrew W. , Caporaso Neil , Chatterjee Nilanjan , Chen Jinbo
Published: May 2009

Summary In the genetic study of complex traits, especially behavior related ones, such as smoking and alcoholism, usually several phenotypic measurements are obtained for the description of the complex trait, but no single measurement can quantify fully the complicated characteristics of the symptom because of our lack of understanding of the underlying etiology. If those phenotypes share a common genetic mechanism, rather than studying each individual phenotype separately, it is more advantageous to analyze them jointly as a multivariate trait to enhance the power to identify associated genes. We propose a multilocus association test for the study of multivariate traits. The test is derived from a partially linear tree‐based regression model for multiple outcomes. This novel tree‐based model provides a formal statistical testing framework for the evaluation of the association between a multivariate outcome and a set of candidate predictors, such as markers within a gene or pathway, while accommodating adjustment for other covariates. Through simulation studies we show that the proposed method has an acceptable type I error rate and improved power over the univariate outcome analysis, which studies each component of the complex trait separately with multiple‐comparison adjustment. A candidate gene association study of multiple smoking‐related phenotypes is used to demonstrate the application and advantages of this new method. The proposed method is general enough to be used for the assessment of the joint effect of a set of multiple risk factors on a multivariate outcome in other biomedical research settings.
Evidence for a noradrenergic mechanism causing hypertension and abnormal glucose metabolism in rats with relative deficiency of γ‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormone
Authors: Ni Xi‐Ping , Van Dijk Claudia , Pearce David , Humphreys Michael H.
Published: May 2009

A close association between salt‐sensitive hypertension and insulin resistance has been recognized for more than two decades, although the mechanism(s) underlying this relationship have not been elucidated. Recent data in mice with genetic disruption of the γ‐melanocyte‐stimulating hormone (γ‐MSH) system suggest that this system plays a role in the pathophysiological relationship between hypertension and altered glucose metabolism during ingestion of a high‐sodium diet (8% NaCl, HSD). We tested the hypothesis that these two consequences of interrupted γ‐MSH signalling were the result of sympathetic activation by studying rats treated with the dopaminergic agonist bromocriptine (5 mg kg−1i.p.,daily for 1 week; Bromo) to cause relative γ‐MSH deficiency. Bromo‐treated rats fed the HSD developed hypertension and also exhibited fasting hyperglycaemia (P< 0.005) and hyperinsulinaemia (P< 0.025). Furthermore, Bromo‐treated rats on the HSD had impaired glucose tolerance and blunted insulin‐mediated glucose disposal. Intravenous infusion of γ2‐MSH, or of the α‐adrenergic receptor antagonist phentolamine, to Bromo–HSD rats lowered both mean arterial pressure (MAP) and blood glucose to normal after 15 min (P< 0.001versuscontrol), but had no effect in rats receiving vehicle and fed the HSD; γ2‐MSH infusion also reduced the elevated plasma noradrenaline to control levels in parallel with the reductions in MAP and blood glucose concentration. Infusion of hydralazine to Bromo–HSD rats lowered MAP but had only a trivial effect on blood glucose. We conclude that rats with relative γ‐MSH deficiency develop abnormal glucose metabolism, with features of insulin resistance, in association with hypertension when ingesting the HSD. Elevated plasma noradrenaline concentration in Bromo–HSD rats is normalized by γ2‐MSH infusion, suggesting that an adrenergic mechanism may link the salt‐sensitive hypertension and the impaired glucose metabolism of relative γ‐MSH deficiency.