bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Voluntary disclosures and market response to earnings announcements
Authors: Fernando Guy Dinesh , Giboney Justin , Schneible Richard A. 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of voluntary disclosure on information asymmetry between investors and the average information content of subsequent the earnings announcement.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors use empirical methodology relying on multiple regression analyses. The authors estimate models of trading volume and stock returns around the earnings’ release date as a function of voluntary disclosures, measured using information in the 8-K statements.

Findings
Voluntary disclosures prior to the earnings release date increase trading volume related to stock returns. In addition, voluntary disclosures also reduce stock price movement around that date.

Research limitations/implications
The results indicate that voluntary disclosures increase trading volume related to stock returns around the earnings release date. Such increases indicate increased differential precision among investors, demonstrating that voluntary disclosures increase differences in opinion among investors. The reduced stock price movement around the earnings release date also show that voluntary disclosures reduce the information content of earnings. One limitation is that the measure of voluntary disclosures does not consider the variation in the information content of individual disclosures.

Practical implications
Firms who make voluntary disclosures will need to carefully consider how to structure such releases to minimize asymmetry between investors. Investors should pay greater attention to finding out, and interpreting, voluntary disclosures by firms.

Social implications
Regulators have previously expressed concern about leveling the playing field between more and less informed investors. The results showing increased differences in information as a result of voluntary disclosures provide valuable insights as regulators debate the balance of mandated and voluntary disclosure.

Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate the effect of voluntary disclosures on information asymmetry among investors using trading volume and, consequently, the first to find increased differences among investors that result from those voluntary disclosures. The paper is also the first to use a direct measure of voluntary disclosure developed by Cooper et al. to demonstrate the negative relation between voluntary disclosure and the average informativeness of earnings announcements.
R&D investment decisions of IPO firms and long-term future performance
Authors: Fedyk Tatiana , Khimich Natalya 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to link valuation of different accounting items to research and development (R&D) investment decisions and investigate how suboptimal R&D choices during initial public offering (IPO) are linked to future operating and market underperformance.

Design/methodology/approach
For firms with substantial growth opportunities, accounting net income is a poor measure of the firm’s performance (Smith and Watts, 1992). Therefore, other metrics such as R&D intensity are used by investors to evaluate firms’ performance. This leads to a coexistence of two strategies: if earnings are the main value driver, firms tend to underinvest in R&D; and if R&D expenditures are the main value driver, firms tend to overinvest in R&D.

Findings
The authors show that the R&D investment decision varies systematically with cross-sectional characteristics: firms that are at the growth stage, unprofitable or belong to science-driven industries are more likely to overinvest, while firms that are able to avoid losses by decreasing R&D expenditure are more likely to underinvest. Finally, they find that R&D overinvestment leads to future underperformance as evidenced by poor operating return on assets, lower product market share, higher frequency of delisting due to poor performance and negative abnormal stock returns.

Originality/value
While prior literature concentrates on R&D underinvestment as a tool of reporting higher net income, the authors demonstrate the existence of an alternative strategy used by many IPO firms – R&D overinvestment.
Modeling and analysis of the disturbance about an active vibration isolation system
Authors: Qian Junbing , Bao Liping , Ji Chuankun 
Published: December 2017

Purpose
Precision active vibration isolation system (AVIS) is crucial for the mechanical processing equipment in the field of precision manufacturing. Working reliability and efficiency of the system directly influence operating condition of the equipment and the quality of work pieces.

Design/methodology/approach
A complete structure of the AVIS includes two parts: the excitation part and the passive vibration isolation system (PVIS). The excitation part consists of voice coil motors (VCMs). In this paper, the working process of AVIS is studied particularly via linear simplification on the decoupling model and the mechanical dynamic equations to solve the vibration problem, and they are validated by the experiments.

Findings
According to dynamic analysis and experiment on an AVIS on different reference points, the VCMs are used as actuators in the AVIS to excite the PVIS, and the performance characteristics of the whole AVIS is well reflected by the amplitude–frequency curves, the bode diagrams and the power spectral density curves.

Originality/value
This study has provided a way for obtaining the inner structure and working condition of the AVIS, which are essential to better control of the AVIS and to further study it in precision manufacturing application.
GPPractices as a One‐Stop Shop: How Do Patients Perceive the Quality of Care? A Cross‐Sectional Study in Thirty‐Four Countries
Authors: Schäfer Willemijn L. A. , Boerma Wienke G. W. , Schellevis François G. , Groenewegen Peter P. 
Published: December 2017

ObjectiveTo contribute to the current knowledge on how a broad range of services offered by general practitioners (GPs) may contribute to the patient perceived quality and, hence, the potential benefits of primary care.Study SettingBetween 2011 and 2013, primary care data were collected amongGPs and their patients in 31 European countries, plus Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In these countries,GPs are the main providers of primary care, mostly specialized in family medicine and working in the ambulatory setting.Study DesignIn this cross‐sectional study, questionnaires were completed by 7,183GPs and 61,931 visiting patients. Moreover, 7,270 patients answered questions about what they find important (their values). In the analyses of patient experiences, we adjusted for patients’ values in each country to measure patient perceived quality. Perceived quality was measured regarding five areas: accessibility and continuity of care, doctor–patient communication, patient involvement in decision making, and comprehensiveness of care. The range ofGPservices was measured in relation to four areas: (1) to what extent they are the first contact to the health care system for patients in need of care, (2) their involvement in treatment and follow‐up of acute and chronic conditions, in other words treatment of diseases, (3) their involvement in minor technical procedures, and (4) their involvement in preventive treatments.Extraction MethodsData of the patients were linked to the data of theGPs. Multilevel modeling was used to construct scale scores for the experiences of patients in the five areas of quality and the range of services ofGPs. In these four‐level models, items were nested within patients, nested inGPpractices, nested in countries. The relationship between the range of services and the experiences of patients was analyzed in three‐level multilevel models, also taking into account the values of patients.Principal FindingsIn countries whereGPs offer a broader range of services patients perceive better accessibility, continuity, and comprehensiveness of care, and more involvement in decision making. No associations were found between the range of services and the patient perceived communication with theirGP. The range ofGPservices mostly explained the variation between countries in the areas of patient perceived accessibility and continuity of care.ConclusionsThis study showed that in countries whereGPpractices serve as a “one‐stop shop,” patients perceive better quality of care, especially in the areas of accessibility and continuity of care. Therefore, primary care in a country is expected to benefit from investments in a broader range of services ofGPs or other primary care physicians.
Using Geographically Weighted Choice Models to Account for the Spatial Heterogeneity of Preferences
Authors: Budziński Wiktor , Campbell Danny , Czajkowski Mikołaj , Demšar Urška , Hanley Nick 
Published: December 2017

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the use of geographically weighted choice models for modelling spatially clustered preferences. We argue that this is a useful way of generating highly‐detailed spatial maps of willingness to pay for environmental conservation, given the costs of collecting data. The data used in this study come from a discrete choice experiment survey of public preferences for the implementation of a new national forest management and protection programme in Poland. We combine these with high‐resolution spatial data related to local forest characteristics. Using locally estimated discrete choice models we obtain location‐specific estimates of willingness to pay (WTP). Variation in these estimates is explained by characteristics of the forests close to where respondents live. These results are compared with those obtained from a more typical, two stage procedure which uses Bayesian posterior means of the mixed logit model random parameters to calculate location‐specific estimates of WTP. We find that there are indeed strong spatial patterns to the benefits of changes to the management to national forests. People living in areas with more species‐rich forests and those living nearer bigger areas of mixed forests have significantly different WTP values than those living in other locations. This kind of information potentially enables a better distributional analysis of the gains and losses from changes to natural resource management, and better targeting of investments in forest quality.
Evaluation of an Extraction Method for the Detection of GI and GII Noroviruses in Fruit and Vegetable Salads
Authors: Cheng Dongqing , Zou Songyan , Liao Ningbo , Shi Xiaofeng , Chen Jiang , Zhang Yanjun , Sun Liang , Zhang Ronghua 
Published: December 2017

AbstractHuman norovirus (HuNoV) is a major foodborne virus causing gastroenteritis outbreaks in humans. Salad products can be vectors of transmission for foodborne viruses such as HuNoV when these products are contaminated naturally or through unsanitary food handling. Therefore, development of simple, reliable and sensitive techniques for the detection of HuNoV in salad products is needed to ensure food safety. The purpose of our study was to optimize a method for the detection of HuNoV in artificially contaminated salad products. To this end, 2 different kinds of salads (fruit salads and vegetable salads) were experimentally inoculated with HuNoV GI, HuNoV GII, and MS2 suspensions. The selected method was based on treatment with pectinase followed by Trizol‐chloroform purification, and the recovery efficiencies were 6.07% to 26.52% for HuNoV GI and 5.54% to 37.36% for HuNoV GII. MS2 was used as the process control, and the recovery efficiencies for fruit salad and vegetable salad samples were 38.57% and 41.13%, respectively. The optimized method could be applied in diagnostic laboratories to identify NoV contamination in composite foods, such as salad products, should an event of foodborne outbreak occur.
Localized cyclical variations in immunoproteins in the female genital tract and the implications on the design and assessment of mucosal infection and therapies
Authors: Makinde Julia , Jones Clifford , Bartolf Angela , Sibeko Sengeziwe , Baden Susan , Cosgrove Catherine , Shattock Robin J. 
Published: December 2017

ProblemFluctuating hormones regulate reproductive processes in the female genital tract. Consequent changes in the local immunological environment are likely to affect cellular interaction with infectious agents and the assessment of therapies that target mucosal infections.Method of studyWe compared Softcup and Weck‐Cel sampling protocols and assessed the changes in the concentrations of 39 soluble proteins with menstrual cycle progression in the mucosal and peripheral compartments.ResultsWe demonstrate that the mucosal immunological profile is distinct from serum with inflammatory and migratory signatures that are localized throughout the cycle. The analytes highlighted in the mucosal compartment were generally highest at the follicular phase with a tendency to fall as the cycle progressed through ovulation to the luteal phase.ConclusionOur results underscore the need to consider these localized cyclical differences in studies aimed at assessing the outcome of disease and the efficacy of mucosal vaccines and other therapies.
Toll‐like receptor variants and cervical Atopobium vaginae infection in women with pelvic inflammatory disease
Authors: Taylor Brandie D. , Totten Patricia A. , Astete Sabina G. , Ferris Michael J. , Martin David H. , Ness Roberta B. , Haggerty Catherine L. 
Published: December 2017

ProblemToll‐like (TLR) receptor genetic variants have been implicated in bacterial vaginosis (BV). We determined whether TLR variants are associated with fastidious BV‐associated microbes that are linked with infertility following pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).Method of studySneathia spp., Atopobium vaginae, BVAB1, and Ureaplasma urealyticum were measured in 250 women from the PID Evaluation and Clinical Health (PEACH) study. Relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated adjusting for chlamydia and gonorrhea. Principal component analysis was used to adjust for population stratification. A false discovery rate q‐value of 0.05 was significant.ResultsTLR2‐1733C>A (P = .003) and TLR2‐616A>G (P = .004) were associated with cervical A. vaginae. TLR2‐1733C>A and TLR6‐438C>T were associated with A. vaginae detection in the endometrium, but this was not significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons (FDR q‐value = 0.06).ConclusionHost gene variants in TLR2 signaling pathways were modestly associated with cervical A. vaginae in women with clinical PID.
Feeling out a link between feeling and infant sociomoral evaluation
Authors: Steckler Conor M. , Liberman Zoe , Van de Vondervoort Julia W. , Slevinsky Janine , Le Doan T. , Hamlin J. Kiley 
Published: December 2017

Recent research has shown that infants selectively approach prosocial versus antisocial characters, suggesting that foundations of sociomoral development may be present early in life. Despite this, to date, the mental processes involved in infants’ prosocial preferences are poorly understood. To explore a possible role of emotions in early social evaluations, the current studies examined whether four samples of infants and toddlers express different emotional reactions after observing prosocial (giving) versus antisocial (taking) events. Experimentally blind coders rated infants’ and toddlers’ emotional reactions to prosocial and antisocial interactions from video using a 1‐ to 7‐point Likert scale of negative to positive emotion; reactions were rated as more positive after viewing prosocial compared to antisocial interactions in three of four samples. While the observed effects were small, a single‐paper meta‐analysis suggests that the findings are robust and stable across age. These results support the possibility that emotional reactions play some role in infants’ sociomoral evaluations.
Statement of contribution

What is already known

Infants prefer prosocial to antisocial individuals from the first year of life.

Emotion plays some role in the sociomoral judgments of children and adults.

What this study adds

Infants and toddlers express more positive reactions after observing prosocial giving versus antisocial taking acts, though observed effect sizes are small.

Naïve coders can predict at a better than chance rate what type of act an infant or toddler just viewed based on their facial expressions.

Provides the first evidence that emotion plays some to‐be‐specified role in infants’ and toddlers’ sociomoral evaluations.
The Growing Heterogeneity in the Farm Sector and Its Implications*
Authors: Weersink Alfons 
Published: December 2017

AbstractThe farm sector has moved from one that was very homogeneous to one with significant differences in size and/or orientation. The decline in the number of “average‐sized” farm and the growth in the number of large farms are due primarily to technological innovations that push operations producing commodities to grow as a means of capturing economies of size. The increase in the relative number of small farms is also due partially to technical advances that allow for the production of food goods with the desired quality attributes to be delivered to the appropriate market. This market is continually being differentiated due to demographic and income shifts. The growing heterogeneity in farm structure complicates the assessment and design of farm policy. The social policy objective of improving the livelihood of farmers and their families could be achieved through farm support and extension programs when the sector was homogeneous. The policy objective has shifted toward improving the competitiveness of the sector, but for which of its components? The trend toward greater heterogeneity is likely to continue and thus so will the internal and external support for any policies targeted toward the farm sector.
Proximodistal exploration in motor learning as an emergent property of optimization
Authors: Stulp Freek , Oudeyer Pierre‐Yves 
Published: December 2017

AbstractTo harness the complexity of their high‐dimensional bodies during sensorimotor development, infants are guided by patterns of freezing and freeing of degrees of freedom. For instance, when learning to reach, infants free the degrees of freedom in their arm proximodistally, that is, from joints that are closer to the body to those that are more distant. Here, we formulate and study computationally the hypothesis that such patterns can emerge spontaneously as the result of a family of stochastic optimization processes, without an innate encoding of a maturational schedule. In particular, we present simulated experiments with an arm where a computational learner progressively acquires reaching skills through adaptive exploration, and we show that a proximodistal organization appears spontaneously, which we denote PDFF (Proximo Distal Freezing and Freeing of degrees of freedom). We also compare this emergent organization between different arm morphologies—from human‐like to quite unnatural ones—to study the effect of different kinematic structures on the emergence of PDFF.
Cerebrovascular hemodynamics in fetuses with congenital heart disease
Authors: Man Tingting , He Yihua , Zhao Ying , Sun Lin , Liu Xiaowei , Ge Shuping 
Published: December 2017

Background and ObjectiveIt is hypothesized that diminished cerebral vascular resistance or the “brain sparing effect” is associated with fetuses with complex congenital heart defects (CHD) and may affect their neurodevelopmental outcome. An alternative explanation is that it is related to the location, cardiac output, pressure, and resistance in left heart obstructive CHDs. We sought to determine the effects of various left and right heart obstructive defects on the cerebral and placental hemodynamics and to evaluate the utility of these variables for the assessment and prognosis of CHDs.MethodsA total of 290 fetal echocardiograms were reviewed, including 91 fetuses with CHD and 199 normal ones. The CHD fetuses were divided into four groups, that is, left‐sided obstructive lesions (LSOL), hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), right‐sided obstructive lesions (RSOL), and hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS). The pulsatility index of middle cerebral artery (MCA‐PI) and umbilical artery (UA‐PI) were measured by pulse‐wave Doppler, and their Z scores were also derived. Cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) was calculated as: CPR=MCA‐PI/UA‐PI.ResultsThere was no significant difference in MCA‐PI between the 4 CHD and normal control groups (P>.05). However, MCA‐PI and Z score decreased in aortic stenosis but not in interrupted aortic arch or coarctation subgroups, whereas they increased in pulmonary atresia but not pulmonary stenosis or tetralogy of Fallot subgroups compared with normal group (P<.05). There was no significant difference in CPR between any study group or subgroup and normal control group.ConclusionsOur study suggests MCA‐PI is lower in aortic stenosis and high in pulmonary atresia but not significantly different in other LSOL, HLHS, RSOL, and HRHS. MCA‐PI regulation in CHD is probably more associated with left and right outflow obstruction, location of the obstruction, and hemodynamics rather than “brain sparing effect” or preferential shunting of blood to the fetal brain, heart, and adrenals in the stressed fetus (eg, IUGR). CPR may not be a sensitive measure for the effect of CHDs and their severity on cerebral and placental circulation.
Re‐enchantment of School Bureaucracy: The Historical Relationship Between Rationality and Romanticism
Authors: Diehl David 
Published: December 2017

Abstract“Disenchantment” has been a popular trope in the social sciences since Max Weber's appropriation of the term nearly a century ago. In recent years, however, scholars have come to argue that, in contrast to the standard modernization story of unabated rationalization, organizations have long been subject to countervailing forces. In this essay, David Diehl uses modern reinterpretations of the “disenchantment” thesis to suggest that the structure of contemporary schooling is the product of ongoing cultural efforts to re‐enchant public life by infusing rational bureaucracy with Romantic impulses in order to combat alienation and social fragmentation. Moreover, Diehl argues that the changing relationship between rationality and Romanticism has taken a unique form in the contemporary period and that recognizing this helps us to better understand the paradoxical modern push for schools to achieve seemingly incompatible goals such as diversity and standardization, community and accountability, and creativity and efficiency.
Optimal Remediation Scheme for a Wastewater Recharge Site: Contaminants Fate and Transport Model
Authors: Rona Michael , Lev Ovadia , Gvirtzman Haim 
Published: December 2017

AbstractA 3‐dimensional hydrologic groundwater flow and contaminant transport model was developed to address the feasibility and relevant time‐scales for remediation of a large soil aquifer treatment (SAT) site for domestic wastewater. The model accounted for a range of organic pollutant retardation factors and biodegradation kinetics. In order to detect the effect of the most retained and the most refracted/recalcitrant pollutants, it was crucial to model fractions of different properties rather than with average set properties.Four aquifer remediation scenarios, including two active washing procedures and two involving natural attenuation, were evaluated. The remediation efficiencies, in terms of residual plume size and mass of pollutant washout, were compared to each other and to the current operation scheme. According to the results, remediation mainly via natural attenuation rather than some form of intense pump and treat technology, is feasible, unlike the situation with hazardous waste sites. Enforced washout becomes less efficient with time due to increasing retardation of the residual pollutants. Therefore, pollution containment with natural biodegradation, which removed 95% of the emerging contaminants within 30 to 40 years was found to be the most valuable remediation scheme.