bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Anisotropic Intervalley Plasmon Excitations in Graphene*
Authors: Chen Jian , Xu Huai-Zhe 
Published: April 2015

Abstract
We investigate theoretically the intervalley plasmon excitations (IPEs) in graphene monolayer within the random-phase approximation. We derive an analytical expression of the real part of the dielectric function. We find a low-energy plasmon mode with a linear anisotropic dispersion which depends on the Fermi energy and the dielectric constant of substrate. The IPEs show strongly anisotropic behavior, which becomes significant around the zigzag crystallographic direction. More interestingly, the group velocity of IPE varies from negative to positive, and vanishes at special energy.
Is infant exposure to antiretroviral drugs during breastfeeding quantitatively important? A systematic review and meta-analysis of pharmacokinetic studies
Authors: Waitt Catriona John , Garner Paul , Bonnett Laura Jayne , Khoo Saye Hock , Else Laura Jayne 
Published: April 2015

Abstract

Objectives
The objectives of this study were to summarize antiretroviral drug concentrations in breast milk (BM) and exposure of breast-fed infants.

Methods
This was a systematic review of pharmacokinetic studies of HIV-positive women taking antiretrovirals that measured drugs in BM. The quality of pharmacokinetic and laboratory methods was assessed using pre-defined criteria. Pooled ratios and 95% CIs were calculated using the generalized inverse variance method and heterogeneity was estimated by the I2 statistic. PubMed Central, SCOPUS and LactMed databases were searched. No date or language restrictions were applied. Searches were conducted up to 10 November 2014. Clinical relevance was estimated by comparing ingested dose with the recommended therapeutic dose for each drug.

Results
Twenty-four studies were included. There was substantial variability in the clinical and laboratory methods used and in reported results. Relative to maternal plasma (MP), NRTIs accumulate in BM, with BM : MP ratios (95% CI estimates) from 0.89 to 1.21 (14 studies, 1159 paired BM and MP samples). NNRTI estimates were from 0.71 to 0.94 (17 studies, 965 paired samples) and PI estimates were from 0.17 to 0.21 (8 studies, 477 paired samples). Relative to the recommended paediatric doses, a breast-fed infant may ingest 8.4% (95% CI 1.9–15.0), 12.5% (95% CI 2.6–22.3) and 1.1% (95% CI 0–3.6) of lamivudine, nevirapine and efavirenz, respectively, via BM.

Conclusions
Transfer to untreated infants appears quantitatively important for some NRTIs and NNRTIs. The pharmacokinetic methods varied widely and we propose standards for the design, analysis and reporting of future pharmacokinetic studies of drug transfer during breastfeeding.
Emergency Department Visits Related to Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Pant Chaitanya , Deshpande Abhishek , Fraga‐Lovejoy Camilla , O’Connor Judith , Gilroy Richard , Olyaee Mojtaba 
Published: April 2015

ABSTRACTWe analyzed a national US database to study the presentation of children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to the emergency department (ED). Our results indicate that from 2006 to 2010, there was a significant increase in the number of ED visits related to children with IBD accompanied by a contemporaneous decline in the rate of hospitalization that followed these ED visits. Earlier published results have highlighted an increased overall rate of hospitalizations in the United States related to children with IBD. In this context, our results support the evidence for an increased prevalence of pediatric IBD in the United States in recent years.
Prototyping 1,4-butanediol (BDO) biosynthesis pathway in a cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) system
Authors: Wu Yong Y. , Culler Stephanie , Khandurina Julia , Van Dien Stephen , Murray Richard M. 
Published: April 2015

AbstractCurrent methods for assembling metabolic pathways require a process of repeated trial and error and have a long design-build-test cycle. Further, it remains a challenge to precisely tune enzyme expression levels for maximizing target metabolite production. Recently it was shown that a cell-free transcriptional-translation system (TX-TL) can be used to rapidly prototype novel complex biocircuits as well as metabolic pathways. TX-TL systems allow protein expression from multiple DNA pieces, opening up the possibility of modulating concentrations of DNA encoding individual pathway enzymes and testing the related effect on metabolite production. In this work, we demonstrate TX-TL as a platform for exploring the design space of metabolic pathways using a 1,4-BDO biosynthesis pathway as an example. Using TX-TL, we verified enzyme expression and enzyme activity and identified the conversion of 4-hydroxybutyrate to downstream metabolites as a limiting step of the 1,4-BDO pathway. We further tested combinations of various enzyme expression levels and found increasing downstream enzyme expression levels improved 1,4-BDO production.
The trust-commitment challenge in service quality-loyalty relationships
Authors: Moreira Antonio Carrizo , Silva Pedro Miguel 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a model to examine service quality, satisfaction, trust and commitment as loyalty antecedents in a private healthcare service.Design/methodology/approach– The approach was tested using structural equation modelling, involving 175 patients from a private Portuguese healthcare unit, using a revised Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS) scale for service quality evaluation.Findings– The scale used to evaluate service quality is valid and meaningful. Service quality proved to be a multidimensional construct and relevant to build satisfaction. The path satisfaction→trust→loyalty was validated, whereas the path satisfaction→commitment→loyalty was not statistically supported.Research limitations/implications– The revised SQAS scale showed good internal consistency in healthcare context. Further trust-commitment antecedents must be examined in a private healthcare landscape to generalise the findings.Practical implications– Healthcare quality managers must explore the service quality dimensions to generate satisfaction among their patients. Developing trust generates positive patient attitudes and loyalty.Originality/value– This study explores using the SQAS scale in a private healthcare context. The authors provide further evidence that service quality is an antecedent and different from satisfaction. All the measures used proved to be valid and reliable. Trust and commitment play different roles in their relationship with loyalty.
Political connections: a threat to auditor independence?
Authors: Abdul Wahab Effiezal Aswadi , Mat Zain Mazlina , Abdul Rahman Rashidah 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether political connections further impair auditor independence by investigating the relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees and as to whether political connections moderate such relationship.Design/methodology/approach– This study employs panel regression analysis. The panel data set consists of 379 firm-year observations for three years from year 2001 to 2003.Findings– Based on 379 firm-year observations for the period of 2001-2003, grounded on two proxies of political connections namely politically connected firms and the proportion of Bumiputras directors, the authors find a positive and significant relationship between non-audit fees and audit fees, and the relationship becomes weaker, only for Bumiputra-dominated firms connected firms.Originality/value– This study contributes to the extant literature by examining the role of political connections in the context of auditor independence. In addition, this study is conducted in Malaysia, which provides a unique institutional environment with the existence of political connections that is built on ethnic grounds.
Attitude, learning environment and current knowledge enhancement of accounting students in Malaysia
Authors: Foong Soon-Yau , Khoo Choo-Hong 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of accounting students’ attitude on their current knowledge enhancement intention and the moderating role of the learning environment on the attitude-intention relationship. The relationship between current knowledge enhancement intention and level of current knowledge acquired is also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach
– Copies of a structured questionnaire were randomly distributed to 400 final-year accounting students from three major public universities and 243 completed questionnaires were analyzed.

Findings
– Attitude is a significant predictor of students’ current knowledge enhancement intention, which, in turn, positively impacts their level of current knowledge. The learning environment significantly moderates the attitude-intention relationship. An inhibiting learning environment tends to accentuate the differences in current knowledge enhancement intention between students with good attitude and those with poor attitude toward current knowledge enhancement.

Research limitations/implications
– The study has the limitations often associated with self-administered questionnaire research. The findings also may not be generalizable to other student and current knowledge settings.

Practical implications
– There is a need to re-orientate the accounting curriculum design and the accounting academics’ attitude from one that is overly technical focussed to one that emphasizes on other competencies necessary for sustained professional success. Educators and teaching pedagogy that promotes a culture of lifelong learning and current knowledge enhancement among students should be encouraged.

Originality/value
– This study fills the gap in the literature by examining the role of the learning environment not as a direct determinant of students’ attitude and their intention, but rather as a moderator of the attitude-intention relationship. The implication is that modifying the learning environment could facilitate or promote development of the desired attitude and hence, intention. The findings of this study support the moderating role of the learning environment in the relationship between current knowledge enhancement attitude and intention of accounting students in Malaysia.
Separation of cash flow rights and control rights and debt among Malaysian family firms
Authors: Abdullah Norhidayah , Pok Wee Ching 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of separation of cash flow rights (CFR) and control rights (CR) and debt policy of Malaysian listed family firms.Design/methodology/approach– The sample of this study consists of 256 observations from companies listed in the Main Board of Bursa Malaysia for the period between year 2005 and 2009. The multivariate ordinary least square regressions have been conducted in order to examine the relationships between separation of CFR and CR and debt.Findings– The study reveals that the separation of CFR and CR does not lead to the increase of debt policy among Malaysian listed family-owned firms. Thus, the results suggest there is no expropriation of minority interests in Malaysian family-owned firms. The plausible reason is that Malaysia has better investor or shareholder protection laws compared to other emerging markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines.Research limitations/implications– The first limitation is the underestimation of CFR and CR because the affiliated business of unlisted firms and foreign companies are excluded. The second limitation is the presence of 100 percent ownership in firms controlled by family-owned firms or in firms that are controlled by another firms which are under the controlled of family-owned firms, or both, will lead to equal proportion of CFR and CR. Thus, the degree of separation of CFR and CR of such firms are indeterminable.Originality/value– This paper investigates the expropriation of minority interests by Malaysian family-owned firms on which has not been explored.
Earnings management and evolution of the banking regulation
Authors: Elleuch Sarra Hamza , Taktak Nelia Boulila 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the earnings management practices of Tunisian banks after the publication of the first International Monetary Fund (IMF) report (2002) over the period 1998-2007.

Design/methodology/approach
– The study relies on a mixed model that combines both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. First of all, we use the quantitative method to measure the discretionary loan loss provisions based on the model of Cornett et al. (2009), and then we validate the quantitative findings by using the interview approach.

Findings
– Since 2005, Tunisian banks have resorted less and less to accounting earnings management through the loan loss provisions, but conversely, real earnings management has been revealed instead by the sale of investment securities and the use of debt collection agencies. Despite the IMF recommendations, Tunisian banks continue to manage their earnings by changing only their strategies.

Practical implications
– The findings of this study show that the regulation cannot avoid earnings management. Even if the regulation limits the discretion of the manager, the latter finds new alternatives to manipulate the earnings.

Originality/value
– This is the first study that analyses the impact of the IMF recommendations on earnings management in an emerging economy.
International business and the Balti of meaning: food for thought
Authors: Lowe Sid , Kainzbauer Astrid , Magala Slawomir Jan , Daskalaki Maria 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interactive processes linking lived embodied experiences, language and cognition (body-talk-mind) and their implications for organizational change.Design/methodology/approach– The authors use an “embodied realism” approach to examine how people feel/perceive/act (embodied experiences), how they make sense of their experiences (cognition) and how they use language and communication to “talk sense” into their social reality. To exemplify the framework, the authors use a cooking metaphor. In this metaphor, language is the “sauce”, the catalyst, which blends raw, embodied, “lived” experience with consequent rationalizations (“cooking up”) of experience. To demonstrate the approach, the authors employ the study of a Chinese multinational subsidiary in Bangkok, Thailand, where participants were encouraged to build embodied models and tell their stories through them.Findings– The authors found that participants used embodied metaphors in a number of ways (positive and negative connotations) in different contexts (single or multicultural groups) for different purposes. Participants could be said to be “cooking up” realities according to the situated context. The methodology stimulated an uncovering of ineffable, tacit or sensitive issues that were problematic or potentially problematic within the organization.Originality/value– The authors bring back the importance of lived embodied experiences, language and cognition into IB research. The authors suggest that embodied metaphors capture descriptions of reality that stimulate reflexivity, uncover suppressed organizational problems and promote the contestation of received wisdoms when organizational change is pressing and urgent. The authors see the approach as offering the potential to give voice to embodied cultures throughout the world and thereby make IB research more practically relevant.
Selling a house and the decision to use a real estate broker in Norway
Authors: Stamsø Mary Ann 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the widespread of property sellers choosing to sell by themselves or through an estate agent, what characterises them and the reason for their choice. In addition the paper contains comparisons of the gap between sales price and asking price between the sales methods and satisfaction with the sales process. This study is the first study of these phenomena carried out in Norway.Design/methodology/approach– The data used for this study was obtained from a national survey including 1,649 house sellers. A logistic regression analysis is used to analyse the impact of household’s characteristics on the sales method.Findings– The main findings of this study are that 83 per cent of the house sellers used an estate agent through the whole sales process and differences in the choices are related to urbanisation, age and education. The most important reason for preferring a real estate broker is that doing the sale on your own is considered too much work. Conversely, the most important reason for doing the sale on your own is that estate agents are too expensive. Those selling without an estate agent were more satisfied and the gap between sales price and asking price was smaller than for those selling through a real estate broker.Originality/value– Issues concerning competition within the market for estate agents should be central topics for property management. Property sellers selling their property by themselves are an important contribution to increase the competition in the market for estate agents. This issue has not been on the agenda in Norway, or in Europe, in the same way as in the USA. This is probably due to the complexity in the legislation and strict laws within property sales in Central and Southern Europe. However, in Norway, UK and in the Nordic countries, the legal system is not complicated. It is rather the lockout of private individuals from the housing web sites and the fact that the property sellers are not familiar with this kind of transaction that has prevented property sellers to sell their house by themselves. Today Norway is one of few countries with a booming housing market, which also has increased the commission for estate agents. From 2010 private individuals got access to advertise their house on the housing web sites in Norway. These have influenced the focus on alternative sales methods.
An evaluation model of the financial feasibility of social housing in urban redevelopment
Authors: Tajani Francesco , Morano Pierluigi 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to develop an evaluation model to support the decisions made by Public Administrations that influence urban regeneration and social housing to be implemented with the involvement of private investors.Design/methodology/approach– Carried out with reference to an Italian regional territory, the model, subject to the constraint of financial feasibility for the private investor and the conditions of the local real estate market, allows to define: the maximum amount of social housing, as a percentage of the housing planned, to be sustained by the private investors; the administered price of sale and/or lease of the social housing; the exchange-factor of the area to be redeveloped.Findings– The outcome of the research highlights the utility of the model as a tool to support the decisions made by Public Administrations in relation to urban planning.Practical implications– The model, in addition to being simple to use, is extremely flexible and can be applied without any major changes in the structure and the type of information required in different spatial contexts.Social implications– The work intends to contribute to the achievement of the European objectives of Horizon 2020 that, with the initiative named “Smart Cities and Communities”, deals with urban themes and social issues, ensuring a strong economic impact of funded activities.Originality/value– The proposed methodology allows to monitor the land use transformations and, since it is also applicable to historical and architectural buildings, it is an innovative system for the sustainable protection and promotion of cultural heritage as a driver of social cohesion as well as the creation of jobs.
Real estate student satisfaction in Australia: what matters most?
Authors: Poon Joanna , Brownlow Michael 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify the relative importance of the factors that influence the overall satisfaction of real estate students and also examine the extent to which demographic backgrounds affect this. Furthermore, this paper benchmarks the satisfaction of real estate students against that of built environment students.

Design/methodology/approach
– The data used in this paper have been collected from the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) within the Australian Graduate Survey (AGS). Dimensionality reduction was used to prepare the data about the courses identified in the AGS for analysis. This was done in order to simplify classification of real estate and built environment courses examined in this paper. Descriptive and statistical analysis methods were used to analyse student satisfaction variables and identify the extent to which demographic factors influenced overall student satisfaction.

Findings
– Real estate students in Australia have a relatively higher level of student satisfaction compared to built environment students overall, but built environment students have a higher level of satisfaction with regard to compulsory variables such as “Good Teaching Scale” and “Generic Skills Scale”. However, real estate students show a higher level of agreement in the Likert scale regarding the optional variables “Appropriate Assessment” and “Learning Community”, respectively. The most important factor for overall student satisfaction was the question: “the staff made it clear right from the start what they expected from the students”. The answers to this question had a Pearson correlation value of 1.000 for both real estate and built environment students. Age and mode of study also have some impact on the overall satisfaction level of both sets of students, while gender, degree class and the year the university were established are additional factors affecting the overall satisfaction of built environment students.

Practical implications
– This research identifies the factors that affect the satisfaction of property course students in ascending order of importance. Course directors of real estate courses can use the findings of this research to make recommendations on the redesign and redevelopment of their courses in order to make them more attractive and appealing to students to enhance student recruitment and retention.

Originality/value
– This is pioneering research that provides a comprehensive overview of the factors affecting student satisfaction with regard to real estate and built environment students in Australia.
Continuity planning: the importance of including digital property
Authors: Joshi Komal 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– To address the importance of including corporate digital assets in the continuity planning process and the need to adequately protect the company’s digital property.

Design/methodology/approach
– This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings
– The emergence of digital has given businesses the ability to generate enormous amounts of data, enabling them to effectively communicate with existing customers and stakeholders, attract new customers and remain competitive. Failure to protect the company’s digital property not only can result in a sudden loss of access to vital information but also can create a tangible financial loss and an intangible loss of goodwill.

Practical implications
– By comprehending what digital assets are and their importance to the business, executives – particularly those in startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises – will understand the need to adequately protect these valuable assets.

Originality/value
– The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.