bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The impact of managerial political connections and quality on government subsidies
Authors: Wu Jianfeng , Liu Cheng Menita
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to adopt a contingency perspective and examine the impact of managerial political connections on access to a specific external resource – government subsidies – in China.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposes that managerial political connections help firms gain access to government subsidies; in addition, firms must signal their managerial quality through managerial reputation and/or past firm performance to address government officials' concerns with job safety and future career development. These cues, in turn, ensure and increase confidence on government officials' resource allocation decisions in favor of the firm. The authors test the contingency hypothesis by using archival data collected from 212 Chinese firms that went public between 2002 and 2004.

Findings

This study finds that managerial political connections play a significant positive impact on obtaining government subsidies only when managerial reputation is high, and/or when firm past performance is superior vis‐à‐vis others.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, it enlarges the research scope of political connections by examining their impact on government subsidies instead of financial performance. Second, and more importantly, it posits that the role of political connections is contingent on other moderating factors such as managerial reputation and past firm performance.
Generation Y and sparkling wines: a cross‐cultural perspective
Authors: Charters Steve , Velikova Natalia , Ritchie Caroline , Fountain Joanna , Thach Liz , Dodd Tim H. , Fish Nicola , Herbst Frikkie , Terblanche Nic
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the engagement of Generation Y consumers with champagne and sparkling wine across five Anglophone countries.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach was adopted using focus groups with young consumers, including images and wine tasting as projective stimuli.

Findings

There were significant trans‐cultural similarities between consumption behaviour (sparkling wine is a women's drink, and a separate category from still wine, and that they will “grow into” drinking it) but also noticeable differences (responses to images and colours varied substantially, as did attitudes to price and the particular status of champagne).

Research limitations/implications

Research into the behaviour of Generation Y as a cohort needs to take account of cultural as much as generational context. However, as a qualitative study the findings need further quantitative validation.

Practical implications

Marketers cannot view Generation Y as a single group; even within countries marketing strategies may need to be refined depending on where a product is being sold.

Originality/value

No trans‐cultural study on Generation Y has been carried out to date, nor has their engagement with sparkling wine been specifically explored.
The financial performance of Saudi Arabian IPOs
Authors: Alanazi Ahmed S. , Liu Benjamin , Forster John
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The main objective of this paper is to measure Saudi Arabian initial public offerings' (IPOs) financial performance before and after going public on the Saudi Stock Exchange Market. The paper also aims to explore factors associated with the financial performance variation between pre‐ and post‐IPO.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 16 Saudi IPOs is investigated. A matched pairs methodology is mainly used combined with regression analysis.

Findings

Saudi IPOs exhibit a significant decline in the post‐IPO performance compared to the pre‐IPO level as measured by the return on assets and return on sales. It was also found that the performance deterioration is associated with the IPO event.

Originality/value

The paper is the first assessment of IPOs clustering occurred in Saudi Arabia.
Promoting sustainable festival events tourism: a case study of Lamu Kenya
Authors: Okech Roselyne N.
Published: June 2011

Purpose

Tourism has been a key force in promoting festival growth and expansion. Towns, villages and cities are increasingly keen to share their culture, environment and spending opportunities with visitors by the promotion of festivals. One such festival is held annually in Lamu Old Town, a world heritage site in Kenya. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the importance of hosting sustainable events in Kenya.

Design/methodology/approach

The subject scope is on maintaining sustainable events within local communities with an aim of improving the local economy.

Findings

Results suggest that although festivals may have the potential to provide opportunities for sustainable local economic development, such opportunities frequently remain unexploited. For these reasons, festivals' engagement with tourism forces in Lamu need to be carefully managed, both in the interests of sustaining festivals and of promoting sustainable approaches to tourism development.

Practical implications

In addition to their cultural and social values, cultural festivals have emerged as an instrument for tourism development, tourism seasonality expansion, city image improvement and boosting regional economies. Therefore, the implications will be to invest in festivals development and community engagement and present the tourist with authentic experiences.

Originality/value

This article is valuable to policy makers as not enough research has been done on the importance of this festival and the need to provide a significant role to the local people in Lamu in communicating their identity, history and cultural practices.
Roundtable discussion: applying sustainability legislation to events
Authors: Paterson Melanie , Ward Sharon
Published: June 2011

Purpose

Environmental policies and sustainability‐focussed legislation has far‐reaching impacts across a range of aspects. This article attempts to provide a concise overview of four sustainability‐related imperatives, to understand how they apply to event management in practice and the challenges and opportunities these initiatives present within an event industry context.

Design/methodology/approach

Event management professionals were asked to discuss four current sustainability agendas by examining how they could apply legislation applicable to water, waste, energy and big society to their planning and delivery of a client's event.

Findings

An evident lack of knowledge on sustainability legislation was unearthed along with a resistance to learn about a new and seemingly vast subject matter. Core to successfully applying the legislation to their events were relationships with the client, venue and supplier. These were seen as both an opportunity and a hindrance.

Practical implications

The discussion identified practical methods for engaging and educating industry professionals in a way which enables and empowers them rather than overwhelming. It also pointed to changes required of businesses to provide the tools and resource the managers need.

Originality/value

This is a valuable tool for event managers starting out on their sustainability journey.
High‐tech ventures' innovation and influences of institutional voids
Authors: Liu Yipeng
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how institutional voids influence high‐tech ventures' innovation, and what strategies high‐tech entrepreneurs deploy to cope with the institutional environments they encounter.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative research approach was taken. In‐depth interviews were conducted with nine high‐tech entrepreneurs. In addition, governmental officials, overseas associations, and professional investors were interviewed for more/further observations.

Findings

Institutional voids may negatively influence high‐tech ventures' innovation. They might be moderated by guanxi and government active involvement. On the contrary, institutional voids can offer high‐tech entrepreneurs the opportunity to create innovative business models. The co‐evolution of institutional developments and high‐tech ventures illustrates the particular characteristics of Chinese entrepreneurial environment.

Research limitations/implications

Qualitative study cannot simply be generalized, albeit this explorative study provides illustrative insights. Quantitative research (e.g. surveys), which is applied to test the propositions, calls for further scholarly inquiry.

Practical implications

Overseas entrepreneurs are presented with the opportunities to pursue an entrepreneurial career. SMEs from developed economies may join the movement with technology entrepreneurs to enter the Chinese market and co‐shape the market development.

Originality/value

Institutional voids were conceptualized from a multi‐dimensional perspective, namely national, regional, and individual. By providing qualitative evidence, different mechanisms to fill the institutional voids are explored.
Perceived value of entrepreneurship
Authors: Wu Lingfei , Li Jun
Published: June 2011

Purpose

This paper seeks to address the question of “why some people choose to be an entrepreneur?” It offers a novel perspective in the strand of cognitive models to examine the formation of entrepreneurial intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this research came from a questionnaire survey of university students in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Hubei provinces. The conceptual model is tested using the method of structural equation modelling on a sample of 415 university students.

Findings

The research confirms that perceived benefits of entrepreneurship have positive and statistically significant effects on perceived value of entrepreneurship and that perceived sacrifices of entrepreneurship in terms of non‐economic sacrifices have negative and statistically significant effects on perceived value of entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a new construct of perceived value of entrepreneurship to explain the formation of entrepreneurial intention. Building on the concept of value perception from the marketing literature, it conceptualized the perceived value of entrepreneurship in benefit‐sacrifice components and empirically tested the argument that entrepreneurship‐related career decision making is a cognitive process in which entrepreneurial intention results from a cognitive trade‐off between perceived benefits and perceived sacrifices.
Particle swarm optimization for finding RNA secondary structures
Authors: Geis Michael , Middendorf Martin
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a new particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm called HelixPSO for finding ribonucleic acid (RNA) secondary structures that have a low energy and are similar to the native structure.

Design/methodology/approach

Two variants of HelixPSO are described and compared to the recent algorithms Rna‐Predict, SARNA‐Predict, SetPSO and RNAfold. Furthermore, a parallel version of the HelixPSO is proposed.

Findings

For a set of standard RNA test sequences it is shown experimentally that HelixPSO obtains a better average sensitivity than SARNA‐Predict and SetPSO and is as good as RNA‐Predict and RNAfold. When best values for different measures (e.g. number of correctly predicted base pairs, false positives and sensitivity) over several runs are compared, HelixPSO performs better than RNAfold, similar to RNA‐Predict, and is outperformed by SARNA‐Predict. It is shown that HelixPSO complements RNA‐Predict and SARNA‐Predict well since the algorithms show often very different behavior on the same sequence. For the parallel version of HelixPSO it is shown that good speedup values can be obtained for small to medium size PC clusters.

Originality/value

The new PSO algorithm HelixPSO for finding RNA secondary structures uses different algorithmic ideas than the other existing PSO algorithm SetPSO. HelixPSO uses thermodynamic information as well as the centroid as a reference structure and is based on a multiple swarm approach.
Colony of cooperating agents based independent job scheduling in a computation grid
Authors: Helmy Tarek , Rasheed Zeehasham
Published: June 2011

Purpose

Grid computing is gaining more significance in the high‐performance computing world. This concept leads to the discovery of solutions for complicated problems regarding the diversity of available resources among different jobs in the grid. However, the major problem is the optimal job scheduling for heterogeneous resources, in which each job needs to be allocated to a proper grid's node with the appropriate resources. An important challenge is to solve optimally the scheduling problem, because the capability and availability of resources vary dynamically and the complexity of scheduling increases with the size of the grid. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework which combines the fuzzy C‐mean (FCM) clustering with an ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm to improve the scheduling decision when the grid is heterogeneous.

Design/methodology/approach

In the proposed model, the FCM algorithm classifies the jobs into appropriate classes, and the ACO algorithm maps the jobs to the appropriate resources. The ACO is characterized by ant‐like mobile agents that cooperate and stochastically explore a network, iteratively building solutions based on their own memory and on the traces (pheromone levels) left by other agents.

Findings

The simulation is done by using historical information on jobs in a grid. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can allocate jobs more efficiently and more effectively than the traditional algorithms for scheduling policies.

Originality/value

The paper provides a scheduling model based on FCM clustering and ACO algorithm for grid scheduling. The authors compared the performance of the proposed algorithm with the performance of various job‐scheduling algorithms in the grid computing environment. The comparison results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other algorithms and gives optimal results.
Movement consensus of delayed multi‐agent systems with directed weighted networks
Authors: Yang Hong‐yong , Zong Guang‐deng , Zhang Si‐ying
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the moving consensus of multi‐agent dynamical systems with time delays and directed weighted networks.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach used in the study, the topologies of multi‐agent dynamical systems with directed weighted networks is graph theories. The frequency domain is applied to research the movement characteristics of multi‐agent systems with time delays. The generalized Nyquist criterion and curvature theorem are utilized to analyze the consensus algorithm with heterogeneous input delays and heterogeneous communication delays.

Findings

It was discovered that the consensus for the delayed multi‐agent systems with asymmetric coupling weights can be achieved with the hypothesis of directed weighted network composed of n agents with a globally reachable node. The convergence condition is a decentralized consensus condition which uses only local information of each agent.

Originality/value

The novelty associated with this work is to present a new approach to study the consensus of delayed multi‐agent dynamical systems with directed weighted networks. The consensus condition obtained in the paper is less conservative than the consensus condition given in references.
Trait‐based conformity in reporting of selling, general and administrative expenses
Authors: Aerts Walter , Van Caneghem Tom
Published: June 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to study conformity tendencies in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses reporting of US firms through an institutional lens.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper examines intra‐industry conformity in SG&A reporting over a ten‐year period among a sample of US firms. It measures conformity by comparing a firm's SG&A profile (reported SG&A relative to sales) against a reference group of industry model firms.

Findings

Results suggest that a firm's conformity to large and successful firms' SG&A profiles is determined by the tendency of other industry members to imitate those reference models. Large audit firms (i.e. the BigN) are shown to provide an effective diffusion channel of shared industry‐based reporting templates. Different modes of trait imitation in SG&A reporting seem to coexist as long as the industry model firms are defined in terms of size and/or profitability.

Research limitations/implications

The paper's results may be of interest to capital market standard‐setters and regulators by showing how regulative ambiguity created by the lack of guidance, feeds social processes that tend to fill the guidance gap.

Practical implications

The paper's results show that intra‐industry benchmarking of SG&A reporting plays a significant role in the USA and that international auditor networks are important in establishing and promoting industry‐based reporting formats.

Originality/value

The paper shows that the behavior of firms at the industry level can be significant predictors of financial reporting practices at firm level and illustrate specific, socially based mechanisms through which the institutional environment affects financial reporting decisions.
The effects of perceived business uncertainty, external consultants and risk management on organisational outcomes
Authors: Subramaniam Nava , Collier Paul , Phang Michelle , Burke Gary
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between perceived business uncertainty (PBU), use of external risk management (RM) consultants, formalisation of RM, magnitude of RM methods and perceived organisational outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a questionnaire survey of members of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants in the UK. Using AMOS 17.0, the paper tests the strength of the direct and indirect effects among the variables and explores the fit of the overall path model.

Findings

The results indicate significant and positive associations exist between the extent of PBU and the level of RM formalisation, as well as between the level of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted. The use of external RM consultants is also found to have a significant and positive impact on the magnitude of RM methods adopted. Finally, both the extent of RM formalisation and the magnitude of RM methods adopted are seen to be significantly associated with overall improvement in organisational outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The study uses perceptual measures of the level of business uncertainty, usage of RM and organisational outcomes. Further, the respondents are members of a management accounting professional body and the views of other managers, such as risk managers, who are also important to the governance process are not incorporated.

Originality/value

This study provides empirical evidence on the impact of RM design and usage on improvements in organisational outcomes. It contributes to the RM literature where empirical research is needed in order to be comparable with the traditional management control system literature.
The impact of attitude variables on the credit debt behavior
Authors: Wang Lili , Lv Wei , Jiang Lin
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The present research attempts to address what kinds of attitude variables influence individuals' debt behavior. Although credit card debt has been extensively documented recently, the main focus is on the pure amount of debt. Little research is concerned with the source of credit card debt. This research tries to investigate how different attitude variables affect revolving credit card use and petty installment use which are two main sources of credit card debt. It is generally accepted that attitude variables are one of the causes of credit card misuse. But there is no research to compare the differential effect of each factor in one model. The present research tries to use statistical method to find out the distinctive effect of each attitude factor.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted by using mail‐in questionnaires, which were sent to credit card holders who were using or had used either revolving credit or petty installment plans. After reliability and validity tests, stepwise regression model has been used to test the differential effect of each attitude variable.

Findings

According to regression functions, it was found that attitude variables had a wonderful explanatory power in accounting for revolving credit use and petty installment use. Specifically, it was found that revolving credit use and petty installment use were closely related to attitudes about credit card, money, and debt. Risk attitude efficiently predicted petty installment use; however, it did not correlate with revolving credit use. Meanwhile, it was found that all of the attitude factors account for 82.1 percent of variance for revolving credit use. In contrast, they account for 41.6 percent of variance for petty installment use. The findings shed light on the role of attitude variables in debt behavior. Moreover, the paper identifies the specific role of different attitude variables, which has great implications for practice.

Originality/value

Existing research has significantly clarified credit card debt issues, but there are still some gaps to fill in. For one, although the previous literature tests both separate effects and joint effects, it ignores some important variables, such as attitude variables. Meanwhile, previous research focuses on single variables most of the time, such as credit card attitude and debt attitude, and little research has simultaneously considered a bunch of attitude factors simultaneously. In summary, further exploration of the attitude factors is necessary. Additionally, previous researchers have focused only on the final consequences of credit usage – the outstanding balance or credit card debt rather than the behavior which triggers credit card debt. The present research aims to address these two questions.
Female participation in TMT and firm performance: evidence from Chinese private enterprises
Authors: Ren Ting , Wang Zheng
Published: June 2011

Purpose

This paper proposes an examination of the relationship between female participation in top management teams and firm performance in the emerging Chinese private economy. It aims to examine the direct link between female participation in top management teams and firm performance. This is examined in the context of human capital and social capital associated with female top executives to investigate the origins and the contingencies of the linkage.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on resource dependence theory, the study develops and tests a set of hypotheses regarding the key relationships, using the data of listed private‐owned companies in China's security exchanges in 2008, with critical information on financial performance, corporate governance structure and the top management team composition of the companies. Regression analyses are conducted to test the direct relationship and the moderating effects.

Findings

The empirical analysis supports a positive relationship between the degree of female participation and firm performance in Chinese privately owned companies. The positive relationship is further strengthened by female top executives' human capital and social capital, consistent with the hypotheses.

Research limitations/implications

The present study gains consistent results with research conducted in the Western context, suggesting that the top management behavior of Chinese private enterprises is similar to that of their Western counterparts, possibly due to the fact that they are less influenced by direct governmental control and are more profit‐driven than state‐owned companies.

Practical implications

The results of the study suggest that Chinese private companies can gain competitive advantages through identifying, attracting, and developing female managerial talents. And the female executives in the new era should be ones with systematic education and strong social connections. Both factors facilitate female executives to contribute better to their companies' performance.

Originality/value

The contribution of the present study is twofold. First, drawing on extant literature in the Western business context, the present study is the first to examine how female participation in top management influences firm performance in the context of the Chinese private sector, which contributes to the understanding of and offers insights to Chinese managerial practices. Second, the study enriches the extant literature by examining the moderating effects of female executives' human and social capitals.
Political resources, business model and headquarters location of private enterprises
Authors: Ye Guangyu , Wan Qingliang , Chen Jingling
Published: June 2011

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on how political resources and their correlation with business models affected the headquarters location decision making of successful private enterprises established in small cities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper constructed a research model which included political resources and a business model as contributing factors; selected eight companies as the research object; and used cross‐case study method to explore the function of political resources and a business model to the headquarters location decision of private enterprises.

Findings

The special political environment during China's economic transformation created substantially different political resources between different regions and governments at different levels, which forced private enterprises to relocate their headquarters in order to chase political resources conveniently. The relevance of a business model and political resources determined the significantly different ways that private enterprises obtained political resources: enterprises which were highly dependent on local political resources found it difficult to make a decision regarding corporate headquarters relocation; those enterprises with a high political resources optimization capability would be driven by the pursuit of political resources to make their headquarters relocation decision; those enterprises with an inconspicuous connection between political resources and a business model would rather be “hermits” in a metropolis and relocate their headquarters.

Practical implications

This paper's research results would be conducive to further study of private enterprises' headquarters location decision making during China's economic transformation.

Originality/value

The paper indicates the importance of political resources and the relevance of corporate business models to the headquarters location decision of private enterprises; the paper further makes clear the status of political resources as an important factor in location theory.
Agricultural credit market participation in Finoteselam town, Ethiopia
Authors: Shete Maru , Garcia Roberto J.
Published: June 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the proportion of farmers with constrained and unconstrained participation in the agricultural credit market and estimate the parameters that determine agricultural credit market participation in Finoteselam town, Ethiopia.

Design/methodology/approach

The study followed cross‐sectional study design where primary data were collected from 210 households through a questionnaire survey in Finoteselam town, north western Ethiopia. A combination of purposive and random sampling techniques was employed. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the proportion of farmers with different levels of participation in the agricultural credit market. The bivariate probit model was estimated to identify the parameters that determine smallholder credit market participation.

Findings

The study revealed that 48 percent of smallholder farmers are constrained non‐participating (i.e. rationed out) from the agricultural credit market due to lack of access to the service, 44.8 percent of them are constrained participating, 2.4 percent unconstrained participating and 4.8 percent of them are unconstrained non‐participating. Estimation results of the bivariate probit model indicated that variables such as high dependency burden, large landholding size, household's labor endowment, participation in off‐farm employment activities and incurring unforeseen expenses increased the probability of households to participate in agricultural credit markets. On the other hand, village dummy variable, old age of household head and borrowing from other sources decreased the probability of households participating in the agricultural credit market.

Practical implications

The findings raise policy concerns to devise a mechanism for creating a functioning rural insurance market, improve the labor market for encouraging off‐farm employment activities, devise wealth‐creating schemes and address the credit need of those smallholder farmers who are still rationed out from the agricultural credit market.

Originality/value

Little has been done on the subject of agricultural credit market participation in Ethiopia. Hence, this research will add to the thin literature on the subject.
Application of seismic and sequence stratigraphic concepts to a lava‐fed delta system in the Faroe‐Shetland Basin, UK and Faroes
Authors: Wright K. A. , Davies R. J. , Jerram D. A. , Morris J. , Fletcher R.
Published: June 2011

Detailed seismic stratigraphic analysis of 2D seismic data over the Faroe‐Shetland Escarpment has identified 13 seismic reflection units that record lava‐fed delta deposition during discrete periods of volcanism. Deposition was dominated by progradation, during which the time shoreline migrated a maximum distance of ∼44 km in an ESE direction. Localised collapse of the delta front followed the end of progradation, as a decrease in volcanic activity left the delta unstable. Comparison with modern lava‐fed delta systems on Hawaii suggests that syn‐volcanic subsidence is a potential mechanism for apparent relative sea level rise and creation of new accommodation space during lava‐fed delta deposition. After the main phase of progradation, retrogradation of the delta occurred during a basinwide syn‐volcanic relative sea level rise where the shoreline migrated a maximum distance of ∼75 km in a NNW direction. This rise in relative sea level was of the order of 175–200 m, and was followed by the progradation of smaller, perched lava‐fed deltas into the newly created accommodation space. Active delta deposition and the emplacement of lava flows feeding the delta front lasted ∼2600 years, although the total duration of the lava‐fed delta system, including pauses between eruptions, may have been much longer.
Effects on metabolic variables after 12‐month treatment with a new once‐a‐week sustained‐release recombinant growth hormone (GH: LB03002) in patients with GH deficiency
Authors: Roemmler J. , Gockel A. , Otto B. , Bidlingmaier M. , Schopohl J.
Published: June 2011

Introduction  GH substitution in GH deficiency (GHD) must be subcutaneously administered daily. A new sustained‐release formulation of GH (LB03002) has been developed, which has to be injected once a week. As a substudy to the phase III study, we performed this prospective study to evaluate the influence of LB03002 on metabolic variables and hormones.

Methods  Eleven patients with GHD [four women/seven men, 58 years (29–69 years)] without GH therapy were included in the study. Eight patients were treated with LB03002 for 12 months and three patients received placebo for 6 months followed by LB03002 for 6 months. A 3‐h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed at study entry and at study end. Additionally, IGF‐I, cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, leptin, ghrelin, HbA1c and C‐peptide were measured. Body composition was evaluated by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), and waist/hip ratio (WHR) and waist/height (WHtR) ratio were measured by tape and scale.

Results  Multiple of upper limit of normal (xULN) of IGF‐I (0·23 (0·09–0·4) vs 0·71 (0·4–1·04), P < 0·01), WHR (0·98 (0·86–1·04) vs 1·01 (0·86–1·05), P < 0·05) and ghrelin levels [119·8 ng/l (67·7–266·6) vs 137 ng/l (67–289·5), P < 0·05] were significantly higher, whereas fat mass (FM) [34·7% (20·4–49·2) vs 32·4% (16·7–48·5), P < 0·05] and leptin [11·2 μg/l (3·3–55·7) vs 7·05 μg/l (2·4–54·3), P < 0·05] were significantly lower at study end. Glucose, insulin, HOMA‐IR, ISI, HOMA‐β, C‐peptide and HbA1c during OGTT were not significantly different before and after GH substitution, neither were BMI, WHtR, bone mineral density and lipid variables.

Conclusion  Substitution with LB03002 showed statistically significant reduction in FM, which reduces leptin levels and increases ghrelin levels but does not seem to influence glucose and lipid metabolism.
Association between 25‐OH vitamin D and insulin is independent of lipoatrophy in HIV
Authors: Hammond E. , McKinnon E. , Glendenning P. , Williams R. , Mallal S. , Phillips E.
Published: June 2011

Objective  Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is prevalent in HIV, and following antiretroviral therapy (ART), increased rates of lipoatrophy and metabolic abnormalities are described. We investigated the relationships between 25‐hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and other metabolic parameters in a group of HIV patients with and without lipoatrophy to examine whether lipoatrophy could explain the high prevalence of VDD and metabolic abnormalities.

Background  Vitamin D receptors are expressed in adipose tissue implicating vitamin D, through paracrine/autocrine mechanism, in exerting effects on fat metabolism. HIV patients frequently suffer from VDD, and those treated with thymidine analogues frequently suffer from lipoatrophy so we investigated whether lipoatrophy could explain these associations.

Design and Patients  Cross‐sectional study of HIV‐infected male patients (n = 107; 39 with lipoatrophy) from the West Australian cohort with measurements of 25(OH)D, adiponectin, insulin, lipids and leg fat as a percentage of mass.

Results  Reduced 25(OH)D levels were common and significantly associated with higher serum insulin in the entire cohort (P = 0·006), but there was no difference in 25(OH)D between untreated and antiretroviral‐treated patients with or without lipoatrophy. Treated patients with lipoatrophy were more likely to take thymidine analogue therapy, were older and on therapy longer than treated patients without lipoatrophy. Adiponectin levels did not correlate with 25(OH)D, but lipoatrophic‐treated patients had lower levels of adiponectin compared with nonlipoatrophic‐treated patients.

Conclusions  Lower 25(OH)D is associated with higher serum insulin but not lipoatrophy or hypoadiponectinemia in HIV‐infected patients. The association between VDD and insulin resistance is likely to be mediated by independent mechanisms.
Changes of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity in cocoa beans processing
Authors: Mazor Jolić Slavica , Radojčić Redovniković Ivana , Marković Ksenija , Ivanec Šipušić Đurđica , Delonga Karmela
Published: June 2011

A number of studies have shown that the consumption of cocoa and chocolate products has positive health effects on humans. The object of this research was to monitor changes of total and individual phenolics and antioxidant capacity during the cocoa bean manufacturing. The loss of cocoa phenolics and their antioxidant activity vary with the degree of technological process. The process of roasting and cocoa nib alkalisation had the major influence on phenolic compounds as well as on antioxidant capacity. The roasting treatment resulted in 14% loss of the total phenolics content, while alkalisation resulted in 64% loss of total phenolics content. Procyanidins B1 and B2 as well as (−)‐epigallocatechin were the unstable components, while caffeic acid derivate showed the greatest stability in all technological process. Furthermore, PCA showed that phenolic contents, antioxidant capacity and non‐fat cocoa solids parts of the samples were classified in groups according technological conditions.
Shallow groundwater nitrogen and denitrification in a newly afforested, subirrigated riparian buffer
Authors: Gumiero Bruna , Boz Bruno , Cornelio Paolo , Casella Sergio
Published: June 2011

1.The EU ‘Nitrates Directive’ (Directive 91/676/EEC) and the WFD (Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EEC) introduced a series of measures designed to reduce and prevent water pollution caused or induced by nitrates from agricultural sources. Therefore, there is an urgent requirement to control the nitrate concentration in freshwater. The objective of this paper was to verify the potential capacity of a specifically designed afforested riparian zone in removing the excess of nitrogen from river water.

2.A buffer zone was set with irrigation ditches, to produce a subsurface water flow carrying water from the study river through the buffer strip to drainage ditches. This experimental system enables the co‐occurrence of two main processes: vegetation/microbial nitrogen uptake and denitrification. Bothin situdenitrification and denitrification potential were measured at different soil depths, and nitrogen removal of water passing through the buffer system was measured.

3.After the first year, high removal rates (63–64%) of total nitrogen in water were recorded. The lowest rate of denitrification took place in the upper soil layer, while maximum denitrification occurred in the medium layer (40–55 cm). Denitrification occurred mainly in the first few metres of the irrigation ditches leading away from the river. The denitrification rates clearly increased from the second to the third year, with highest rates in summer and autumn. Denitrification potential indicated that carbon availability was the most limiting factor.

4.Synthesis and applications.This study has demonstrated that nitrogen levels can be reduced in rivers by forcing water to circulate through afforested buffers. Nitrogen was removed both by plants and by microbial denitrification. Such activity can be supported by promoting anoxic conditions through appropriate water flow management. This could be achieved by creating semi‐natural floodplains where water flows can be efficiently managed as in a drained wetland.
Review: A systematic review of quality of life measures for people with intellectual disabilities and challenging behaviours
Authors: Townsend‐White C. , Pham A. N. T. , Vassos M. V.
Published: June 2011

Background The quality of life (QOL) construct is proposed as a method to assess service outcomes for people utilising disability services. With this in mind, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of available QOL measures for people with intellectual disability (ID) to pinpoint psychometrically sound measures that can be routinely used for service evaluation.

Method A systematic search of the disability literature published between 1980 and 2008 was conducted in order to identify appropriate QOL tools for use within an Australian context. Twenty‐four QOL instruments were identified and each instrument was then evaluated against a set of psychometric and measurement criteria.

Results Six of the instruments examined were deemed to be psychometrically sound on the available information. No instruments were found that specifically assess QOL for people with ID who exhibit challenging behaviour. Most of the instruments assess QOL from a subjective perspective, use a questionnaire format and measure only some (not all) of the eight theoretically accepted domains of QOL.

Conclusions More instruments that measure QOL need to be developed and rigorously validated. This is especially the case for high‐needs disability populations like those individuals that exhibit challenging behaviour or have severe to profound ID, as it is questionable whether existing measures can be used with these populations.
MTR4, a putative RNA helicase and exosome co‐factor, is required for proper rRNA biogenesis and development in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Lange Heike , Sement François M. , Gagliardi Dominique
Published: June 2011

The exosome is a conserved protein complex that is responsible for essential 3′→5′ RNA degradation in both the nucleus and the cytosol. It is composed of a nine‐subunit core complex to which co‐factors confer both RNA substrate recognition and ribonucleolytic activities. Very few exosome co‐factors have been identified in plants. Here, we have characterized a putative RNA helicase, AtMTR4, that is involved in the degradation of several nucleolar exosome substrates in Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that AtMTR4, rather than its closely related protein HEN2, is required for proper rRNA biogenesis in Arabidopsis. AtMTR4 is mostly localized in the nucleolus, a subcellular compartmentalization that is shared with another exosome co‐factor, RRP6L2. AtMTR4 and RRP6L2 cooperate in several steps of rRNA maturation and surveillance, such as processing the 5.8S rRNA and removal of rRNA maturation by‐products. Interestingly, degradation of the Arabidopsis 5′ external transcribed spacer (5′ ETS) requires cooperation of both the 5′→3′ and 3′→5′ exoribonucleolytic pathways. Accumulating AtMTR4 targets give rise to illegitimate small RNAs; however, these do not affect rRNA metabolism or contribute to the phenotype of mtr4 mutants. Plants lacking AtMTR4 are viable but show several developmental defects, including aberrant vein patterning and pointed first leaves. The mtr4 phenotype resembles that of several ribosomal protein and nucleolin mutants, and may be explained by delayed ribosome biogenesis, as we observed a reduced rate of rRNA accumulation in mtr4 mutants. Taken together, these data link AtMTR4 with rRNA biogenesis and development in Arabidopsis.
Modelling the incidence ofHeterobasidion annosumbutt rots and related economic losses in alpine mixed naturally regenerated forests of northern Italy
Authors: Gonthier P. , Brun F. , Lione G. , Nicolotti G.
Published: June 2011

A total of 2257 recently felled stumps were sampled from 22 mixed naturally regenerated forest stands in the Aosta Valley, western Italian Alps, and examined forHeterobasidion annosumbutt rots. Disease incidence ranged from 6% to 71% depending on sites, andH. annosumaccounted for 92% of the total number of diseased stumps.H. annosumincidence was significantly higher (Chi‐squared multiple comparison tests, p < 0.05) on Norway spruce (44%) than on the other tree species (silver fir = 18%, larch = 12% and Scots pine = 6%). Based on the information on the airborne inoculum composition of the fungus, all the three European species ofH. annosumwere present, with a variable frequency, depending on site. A partial least squares regression analysis showed that the relative abundance of Norway spruce and four variables describing the size of trees were the best predictors for the incidence ofH. annosumbutt rots. A model having these variables as predictors was developed (r2 = 0.75; p < 0.001) and successfully validated on five additional forest stands. An estimate of the losses in yield and value of timber associated with the disease, i.e. direct losses, was also carried out in the forests included in the survey. The percentage of direct financial losses was either comparable or lower than the average level of disease incidence.
Emotional and behavioural adjustment of children born very preterm at early school age
Authors: Bora Samudragupta , Pritchard Verena E , Moor Stephanie , Austin Nicola C , Woodward Lianne J
Published: June 2011

Aims:  This paper describes the emotional and behavioural adjustment of children born very preterm (VPT) at early school age. Of particular interest was the degree of agreement between parents and teachers, and the extent of situational (parent or teacher) and pervasive (parent and teacher reported) adjustment problems.

Methods:  A regionally representative cohort of 104 VPT (≤33 weeks gestation) and 108 full‐term (FT) children born during 1998–2000 was studied prospectively to age six. At corrected age six, child emotional and behavioural adjustment was assessed using the parent and teacher rated strengths and difficulties questionnaires.

Results:  According to parents, 6‐year‐old VPT children had odds of emotional, inattention/hyperactivity and peer problems that were 2.7 to 3.8 times higher than their FT peers. Similar difficulties were identified by teachers, but odds were much lower and nonsignificant (1.1–1.8). Agreement between parents and teachers was lower in the VPT than the FT group (mean alternative chance‐correlated coefficient , AC1= 0.63 vs. 0.80). Examination of the extent of pervasively identified adjustment problems showed that VPT children had higher rates of emotional (6% vs. 1%) and inattention/hyperactivity problems (12% vs. 6%) than FT children.

Conclusions:  Early school age, VPT children are at increased risk of pervasive emotional problems and inattention/hyperactivity, although these risks are relatively modest. The use of multiple informants to assess VPT children's well‐being is important to minimise the effects of report source bias and the over‐identification of adjustment problems in children born VPT.
Acute vitamin A toxicity: A report of three paediatric cases
Authors: Hayman Rebecca M , Dalziel Stuart R
Published: June 2011

The following report describes three paediatric cases of vitamin A toxicity secondary to carnivorous fish liver ingestion. Further discussion of vitamin A toxicity and management of toxicity is included.
The Penumbra of Weimar Political Culture: Pacifism, Feminism, and Social Democracy
Authors: Rose Shelley E.
Published: June 2011

This article offers a new reading of Germany’s complex political culture, exploring the contributions of pacifists, international feminists, and Social Democrats as proactive, yet marginalized, participants in Weimar‐era politics. Through a series of historical events including the No‐More‐War protests, international education courses, pacifist reading sessions, and a transnational peace exhibit, the author demonstrates dynamic exchanges between party and informal politics on the political Left. This interaction, as well as expanding transnational networks and awareness, opened new political spaces for peace activism in the Weimar Republic, the effects of which still endure today.
Prospect Theory and the Failure to Sell the Oslo Accords
Authors: Hancock Landon E. , Weiss Joshua N.
Published: June 2011

We examine how supporters and opponents of the 1993 Oslo Accords attempted to persuade their constituents to either support or oppose the agreement. It is our argument that a “sales” message that is based on tenets of prospect theory—framing the preferred choice as less risky than the alternative—will garner more initial support for an agreement and, more importantly, will insulate a peace process to some extent from failures in implementation. For this paper, we ask a series of three questions designed to determine how leaders from both sides frame the peace agreement reached, how they describe the implementation of that agreement and its costs and benefits. Our analysis used 170 documents detailing statements by political party leaders and spokespeople, finding that supporters attempted to frame the agreement largely in aspirational terms toward a better future but failed to frame the agreement as a better alternative to continued or renewed conflict.