bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sustainability and Rewriting the Book on Valuation: An Interview with Tim Koller
Authors: Bailey Jonathan , Koller Tim 
Published: July 2017

In this interview that took place at the inaugural symposium of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) in December 2016, McKinsey's Tim Koller, the co‐author of what many finance practitioners take to be “the book” on the subject of valuation, discusses how accepted principles of valuation apply to corporate investments in sustainability. One clear message of Koller's book is that creating shareholder value is not the same as maximizing short‐term profit, and that inability to distinguish between them is a prescription for failure. This message is particularly important for companies attempting to assess the value of their sustainability initiatives and programs, since such programs can involve significant ongoing investments of capital that tend to reduce near‐term earnings.Koller's main message for corporate managements in these pages is that sustainability initiatives should be evaluated as strategic investments that, when viewed over sufficiently long periods of time, have positive expected net present values. Such values can be created by increases in corporate profits from cutting waste or finding new climate‐friendly sources of revenue—or by reductions in corporate business or regulatory risks that lead investors to assign higher P/E multiples to the firm's current earnings and cash flow. But whether the increases in value are expected to come from more profit or less risk, corporate managements are urged to help investors understand the expected payoffs from such investment by providing more and better information about the environmental and social risks facing their companies, their plans to deal with such risks, and the expected effects of both their risks and plans to manage them on their long‐run profitability and value. To the extent they succeed in this, Koller argues, managements will find their companies attracting more sophisticated and longer‐term “value” investors—investors whose presence and influence should increase management's confidence in and ability to carry out its long‐run business plan, and the sustainability initiatives that are a critical part of it.
Far Beyond the Quarterly Call: CECP's First CEO‐Investor Forum
Authors: Youmans Tim , Tomlinson Brian 
Published: July 2017

The authors begin by describing how the existing structure of corporateshareholder communications encourages short‐term planning and performance evaluation horizons. Then, after summarizing the substantial evidence that corporate management, boards, and investors are concerned about the failure of current corporate‐shareholder communications to reflect longer‐run corporate investment and its expected payoffs, the article holds up the long‐run plans presented by the CEOs of five large public U.S. companies (and the CFO of IBM) at the first ever CECP CEOInvestor Forum as providing a promising model for the future. Such presentations are also evaluated against a set of criteria the authors propose for assessing the effectiveness of those presentations—criteria that were developed through extensive investor and CEO feedback.The article concludes by discussing the three main programs that make up CECP's Strategic Investor Initiative to further the development of such longterm plans. One program is focused on identifying different kinds of investors, with the aim of helping management attract longer‐term shareholders. A second program is designed to improve the ways companies communicate with their non‐investor stakeholder groups, with particular emphasis on The Statement of Material Audiences and its role in identifying the critical stakeholders and their contributions to the long‐run success of the company. Third and last is the development of a common language and tool‐kit for longterm plans, with the aim of bringing about the broad adoption of longterm plans as a mainstream element in corporate‐shareholder communications.
Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: Why a Widely Used Sustainability Metric Fails and How to Improve It
Authors: Bartley Jon , Chen Al , Harvey Stephen , Showalter Scott , Zuckerman Gilroy , Stewart Levi 
Published: July 2017

Most of the world's major corporations now publicly report their sustainability performance for a number of key parameters, such as water use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and waste generated. The metrics most often used to track progress are “total inventory” (for example, the total liters of water used, or the total tons of GHGs emitted) and average intensity (total liters of water used per ton of product or per $1 million revenue). Because average intensity is normalized for the company's level of business activity, it is commonly presented and viewed as a measure of the company's actual year‐to‐year efficiency. But average intensity is often not a reliable measure of a company's true performance in sustainability.An improvement in efficiency requires a company to consume fewer resources or generate less waste in delivering a specified unit measure of goods or services. This article demonstrates that, although efficiency directly contributes to average intensity, the measure is influenced by a number of confounding factors that make the change in average intensity a potentially misleading indicator of improvements in efficiency. The authors present a more reliable measure of changes in efficiency—one that is likely to benefit corporate managements as well as users of sustainability data—that makes use of flexible budgeting techniques. Examples are provided that illustrate Bacardi Limited's application of the sustainability efficiency metric for external sustainability reporting.
Quick to the draw: How suspect race and socioeconomic status influences shooting decisions
Authors: Moore‐Berg Samantha , Karpinski Andrew , Plant E. Ashby 
Published: July 2017

AbstractWe examined the role of both suspect race and socioeconomic status (SES) on shooting decisions during a first‐person shooter task. Two studies revealed that both suspect race and SES influenced shooting decisions. Non‐Black participants shot armed high‐SES Black suspects faster than armed high‐SES White suspects and responded “don't shoot” faster for unarmed high‐SES White suspects than unarmed high‐SES Black suspects. No race differences appeared in the low‐SES conditions—responses resembled high‐SES Black suspect. Signal detection, misses, and false alarm analyses revealed participants erred toward not shooting high‐SES White suspects. The current studies draw attention to considering both race and SES during shooting decisions.
Sexualized images in professional contexts: Effects on anticipated experiences and perceived climate for women and men
Authors: Biernat Monica , Hawley Patricia H. 
Published: July 2017

AbstractAcademic conferences are important settings for socialization, scholarly engagement, and networking. Two studies explore the effects of ambient cues in such settings on women's and men's climate perceptions. Participants (undergraduates in Study 1, graduate students in Study 2) viewed a flyer advertising a professional mixer that included an eroticized image or a control image. Women and men expected a sexualized atmosphere, and women in particular anticipated lower feelings of competence and greater discomfort and objectification at the event advertised with the erotic image. The negative effect of erotic flyer exposure on competence was mediated by discomfort (Study 1) and objectification (Study 2), particularly in women. Results are interpreted in light of pipeline leakage and women's success in the Academy.
Influence of the left atrial contact areas on fixed low‐voltage zones during atrial fibrillation and sinus rhythm in persistent atrial fibrillation
Authors: Nakahara Shiro , Hori Yuichi , Nishiyama Naoki , Okumura Yasuo , Fukuda Reiko , Kobayashi Sayuki , Komatsu Takaaki , Sakai Yoshihiko , Taguchi Isao 
Published: July 2017

AbstractBackgroundAtrial low‐voltage zones (LVZ) are suggested as important factors for maintaining persistent atrial fibrillation (PsAF). The relationship between LVZs and left atrial (LA) contact areas (CoAs) is still unclear.ObjectiveTo assess whether CoA regions were involved in atrial substrate properties maintaining PsAF.MethodsA total of 50 patients with PsAF (36 long‐lasting) were analyzed. Three representative CoA detection areas (ascending aorta‐anterior‐LA, descending aorta‐left pulmonary vein antrum, and vertebrae‐posterior‐LA) were registered on the mapping geometry. Electrograms during AF and sinus rhythm (SR) were acquired, and the fractionated electrograms (CFE; < 80milliseconds) and voltages were analyzed regarding the CoAs.ResultsAfter SR conversion, 76% (38/50) had a significant LVZ (>5% of the total LA surface area). Patients with long‐lasting PsAF versus PsAF had larger CoA areas (7.7 ± 3.0 vs. 4.5 ± 2.5cm2, P < 0.05) and overlapped‐LVZs (8.2 [3.2–11.0] vs. 2.1 [0.7–3.7] cm2, P = 0.0126) between the SR‐LVZs (<0.5 mV) and AF‐LVZs (<0.2 mV). Overlapped‐LVZs were frequently observed in CoA regions (anterior 76.4%; LIPV antrum 78.8%, and vertebrae 39.2%), and those LVZs had smaller unipolar voltages than those distant from the CoA regions (0.64 ± 0.16 vs. 2.5 ± 1.5 mV, P < 0.0001). SR‐LVZ targeted ablation, including of CoA regions, rendered AF termination (n = 8, 21%), and 88% of the sites were not located immediately above, but adjacent to, the overlapped‐LVZs. Significant AF slowing (6.0 ± 0.6 to 5.6 ± 0.6 Hz; P < 0.05) accompanied by unintentional CFE elimination (9.8–1.8 cm2; P < .0001) was achieved in patients without termination.ConclusionOur data suggested that external structures in contact with the LA are involved in the creation of localized diseased myocardium necessary for PsAF maintenance.
Development and Dissemination of the El Centro Health Disparities Measures Library
Authors: Mitrani Victoria Behar , O'Day Joanne E. , Norris Timothy B. , Adebayo Oluwamuyiwa Winifred 
Published: July 2017

AbstractPurposeThis report describes the development and dissemination of a library of English measures, with Spanish translations, on constructs relevant to social determinants of health and behavioral health outcomes. The El Centro Measures Library is a product of the Center of Excellence for Health Disparities Research: El Centro, a program funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The library is aimed at enhancing capacity for minority health and health disparities research, particularly for Hispanics living in the United States and abroad.DesignThe open‐access library of measures (available through www.miami.edu/sonhs/measureslibrary) contains brief descriptions of each measure, scoring information (where available), links to related peer‐reviewed articles, and measure items in both languages. Links to measure websites where commercially available measures can be purchased are included, as is contact information for measures that require author permission. Links to several other measures libraries are hosted on the library website. Other researchers may contribute to the library.MethodsEl Centro investigators began the library by electing to use a common set of measures across studies to assess demographic information, culture‐related variables, proximal outcomes of interest, and major outcomes. The collection was expanded to include other health disparity research studies. In 2012, a formal process was developed to organize, expand, and centralize the library in preparation for a gradual process of dissemination to the national and international community of researchers.FindingsThe library currently contains 61 measures encompassing 12 categories of constructs. Thus far, the library has been accessed 8,883 times (unique page views as generated by Google Analytics), and responses from constituencies of users and measure authors have been favorable.Clinical RelevanceWith the paucity of availability and accessibility of translated measures, behavioral nursing research focused on reducing health disparities can benefit from repositories of research instruments such as the El Centro Measures Library.
Early Language Learning: The Impact of Teaching and Teacher Factors
Authors: Graham Suzanne , Courtney Louise , Marinis Theodoros , Tonkyn Alan 
Published: July 2017

AbstractThis study examined the progress in lexical and grammatical knowledge among 252 learners of French in England across the last two years of primary education and into the first year of secondary school in relation to teaching and teacher factors. It compared linguistic outcomes from two different approaches, one which emphasized oracy and the other which combined literacy with attention to oracy development. We also explored the relationship between linguistic outcomes and other teaching/teacher factors: teaching time, teacher level of French proficiency, and teacher level of training in language instruction. Learners completed a sentence repetition task and a photo description task, making small but statistically significant progress in both grammatical and lexical knowledge between test points. While teaching approach had little impact on such progress, other teaching and teacher factors did, particularly the French proficiency level of the primary school teacher and the amount of teaching time devoted to French.Open PracticesThis article has been awarded an Open Materials badge. All materials are publicly accessible in the IRIS digital repository at http://www.iris-database.org. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.
Age Effects in First Language Attrition: Speech Perception by Korean‐English Bilinguals
Authors: Ahn Sunyoung , Chang Charles B. , DeKeyser Robert , Lee‐Ellis Sunyoung 
Published: July 2017

AbstractThis study investigated how bilinguals’ perception of their first language (L1) differs according to age of reduced contact with L1 after immersion in a second language (L2). Twenty‐one L1 Korean‐L2 English bilinguals in the United States, ranging in age of reduced contact from 3 to 15 years, and 17 control participants in Korea were tested perceptually on three L1 contrasts differing in similarity to L2 contrasts. Compared to control participants, bilinguals were less accurate on L1‐specific contrasts, and their accuracy was significantly correlated with age of reduced contact, an effect most pronounced for the contrast most dissimilar to L2. These findings suggest that the earlier bilinguals are extensively exposed to L2, the less likely they are to perceive L1 sounds accurately. However, this relationship is modulated by crosslinguistic similarity, and a turning point in L2 acquisition and L1 attrition of phonology appears to occur at around age 12.Open PracticesThis article has been awarded Open Materials and Open Data badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/B2478 and at https://osf.io/G4C7Z. Learn more about the Open Practices badges from the Center for Open Science: https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki.
Multiple Visits and Data Quality in Household Surveys
Authors: Schündeln Matthias 
Published: July 2017

AbstractIn order to increase data quality some household surveys visit the respondent households several times to estimate one measure of consumption. For example, in Ghanaian Living Standards Measurement surveys, households are visited up to 10 times over a period of 1 month. I find strong evidence for conditioning effects as a result of this approach: In the Ghanaian data the estimated level of consumption is a function of the number of prior visits, with consumption being highest in the earlier survey visits. Telescoping (perceiving events as being more recent than they are) or seasonality (first‐of‐the‐month effects) cannot explain the observed pattern. To study whether earlier or later survey visits are of higher quality, I employ a strategy based on Benford's law. Results suggest that the consumption data from earlier survey visits are of higher quality than data from later visits. The findings have implications for the value of additional visits in household surveys, and also shed light on possible measurement problems in high‐frequency panels. They add to a recent literature on measurement errors in consumption surveys (Beegle et al., , Gibson et al., ), and complement findings by Zwane et al. () regarding the effect of surveys on subsequent behaviour.
Genetic variation and associations involving Fusarium head blight and deoxynivalenol accumulation in cultivated oat (Avena sativa L.)
Authors: Bjørnstad Åsmund , He Xinyao , Tekle Selamawit , Klos Kathy , Huang Yung‐Fen , Tinker Nicholas A. , Dong Yanhong , Skinnes Helge 
Published: July 2017

AbstractResistance in oats (Avena sativa L.) to Fusarium graminearum was phenotyped in 424 spring oat lines from North America and Scandinavia and genotyped with 2974 SNP markers. Fusarium head blight (FHB), deoxynivalenol (DON) content, days to flowering (DTF) and days to yellow maturity (DTM) were scored in field trials in 2011–12. Trials with phenotypic ranges from 1 to 30 ppm, and sufficient accuracy were obtained by an augmented design and spawn inoculation. Discriminant analysis–PCA identified the different gene pools, with overlaps corresponding to known pedigrees and germplasm exchanges. Structure was negligible and GWAS (genomewide association study) was done using mixed linear models in TASSEL or partial least‐squares regression (PLSR). PLSR allows simultaneous analyses of several phenotypes (environments and/or traits) and is a promising tool for GWAS in plants and should be tested in species with sequenced genomes. FHB was associated with phenology QTLs, due to very susceptible early lines from the Midwest. Lines with consistently low DON (and early heading) were identified. Six QTLs for DON were not associated with earliness, including three QTLs reported previously.
Dynamics of amino acid redistribution in the carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) after digestion of 13C/15N‐labelled prey
Authors: Kruse J. , Gao P. , Eibelmeier M. , Alfarraj S. , Rennenberg H. 
Published: July 2017

Abstract

Amino acids represent an important component in the diet of the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), and supply plants with much needed nitrogen resources upon capture of insect prey. Little is known about the significance of prey‐derived carbon backbones of amino acids for the success of Dionaea's carnivorous life‐style.

The present study aimed at characterizing the metabolic fate of 15N and 13C in amino acids acquired from double‐labeled insect powder. We tracked changes in plant amino acid pools and their δ13C‐ and δ15N‐signatures over a period of five weeks after feeding, as affected by contrasting feeding intensity and tissue type (i.e., fed and non‐fed traps and attached petioles of Dionaea).

Isotope signatures (i.e., δ13C and δ15N) of plant amino acid pools were strongly correlated, explaining 60% of observed variation. Residual variation was related to contrasting effects of tissue type, feeding intensity and elapsed time since feeding. Synthesis of nitrogen‐rich transport compounds (i.e., amides) during peak time of prey digestion increased 15N‐ relative to 13C‐ abundances in amino acid pools. After completion of prey digestion, 13C in amino acid pools was progressively exchanged for newly fixed 12C. The latter process was most evident for non‐fed traps and attached petioles of plants that had received ample insect powder.

We argue that prey‐derived amino acids contribute to respiratory energy gain and loss of 13CO2 during conversion into transport compounds (i.e., 2 days after feeding), and that amino‐nitrogen helps boost photosynthetic carbon gain later on (i.e., 5 weeks after feeding).
Analysis of Spatial Data with a Nested Correlation Structure
Authors: Adegboye Oyelola A. , Leung Denis H. Y. , Wang You-Gan 
Published: July 2017

SummarySpatial statistical analyses are often used to study the link between environmental factors and the incidence of diseases. In modelling spatial data, the existence of spatial correlation between observations must be considered. However, in many situations, the exact form of the spatial correlation is unknown. This paper studies environmental factors that might influence the incidence of malaria in Afghanistan. We assume that spatial correlation may be induced by multiple latent sources. Our method is based on a generalized estimating equation of the marginal mean of disease incidence, as a function of the geographical factors and the spatial correlation. Instead of using one set of generalized estimating equations, we embed a series of generalized estimating equations, each reflecting a particular source of spatial correlation, into a larger system of estimating equations. To estimate the spatial correlation parameters, we set up a supplementary set of estimating equations based on the correlation structures that are induced from the various sources. Simultaneous estimation of the mean and correlation parameters is performed by alternating between the two systems of equations.
Mass Killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013: Social Contagion or Random Clusters?
Authors: Lankford Adam , Tomek Sara 
Published: July 2017

In line with previous research on suicide and social contagion, there has been widespread speculation that mass killings—which often involve suicidal offenders—are socially contagious for up to 14 days. This study tested these claims by making comparisons (i) between observed chronological clusters of mass killings in the United States from 2006 to 2013 and clusters in 500 simulations containing 116,000 randomly generated dates, and then (ii) between observed mass killings receiving varying levels of public attention. No evidence of short‐term contagion was found, although longer term copycat effects may exist. Further scholarly and policy implications are discussed.
Performance of clinical prediction rules for diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis in a high‐incidence setting
Authors: Solari Lely , Soto Alonso , Van der Stuyft Patrick 
Published: July 2017

AbstractObjectivesDiagnosis of pleural tuberculosis (PT) is still a challenge, particularly in resource‐constrained settings. Alternative diagnostic tools are needed. We aimed at evaluating the utility of Clinical Prediction Rules (CPRs) for diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis in Peru.MethodsWe identified CPRs for diagnosis of PT through a structured literature search. CPRs using high‐complexity tests, as defined by the FDA, were excluded. We applied the identified CPRs to patients with pleural exudates attending two third‐level hospitals in Lima, Peru, a setting with high incidence of tuberculosis. Besides pleural fluid analysis, patients underwent closed pleural biopsy for reaching a final diagnosis through combining microbiological and histopathological criteria. We evaluated the performance of the CPRs against this composite reference standard using classic indicators of diagnostic test validity.ResultsWe found 15 eligible CPRs, of which 12 could be validated. Most included ADA, age, lymphocyte proportion and protein in pleural fluid as predictive findings. A total of 259 patients were included for their validation, of which 176 (67%) had PT and 50 (19%) malignant pleural effusion. The overall accuracy of the CPRs varied from 41% to 86%. Two had a positive likelihood ratio (LR) above 10, but none a negative LR below 0.1. ADA alone at a cut‐off of ≥40 IU attained 87% diagnostic accuracy and had a positive LR of 6.6 and a negative LR of 0.2.ConclusionMany CPRs for PT are available. In addition to ADA alone, none of them contributes significantly to diagnosis of PT.