bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Implementing Updated Recommendations on Hepatitis C Virus Screening: Translating Federal Guidance Into State Practice
Authors: Martin Erika G. , Norcott Amanda M. , Khalid Hina , O'Connell Daniel A. 
Published: April 2015

Context:
Chronic viral hepatitis is a leading infectious cause of death. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released updated recommendations for hepatitis C virus testing, including recommending that all individuals born between 1945 and 1965 be tested once. States' consistency with these national testing guidelines is unknown.

Objective:
To evaluate the extent to which state health departments have current hepatitis C virus testing recommendations listed on their Web sites, consistent with national guidelines.

Design:
The CDC guidelines were reviewed to identify the risk groups recommended for or against testing. State health department Web sites (50 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) were then systematically reviewed to classify whether, for each risk group, testing is recommended, not recommended, or with unclear recommendations.

Main Outcome Measure:
States' consistency with national recommendations for each risk group mentioned by the CDC.

Results:
Among the risk groups that the CDC currently recommends for testing, 50% of states updated their Web sites to include individuals born between 1945 and 1965. All states recommend testing current or former injection drug users, but only 58% recommended testing HIV-positive individuals. Among the risk groups for which the CDC has issued uncertain recommendations, states most frequently recommended testing individuals with tattoos or body piercing done with unsterile materials (46%) or with a history of multiple sex partners (31%).

Conclusions:
There is substantial variation in state Web sites' consistency with the CDC guidelines. The public health importance of risk factors is not associated with their inclusion in Web content. Improving the uptake of these recommendations and the manner in which they are conveyed to the public are critical to implementing the national viral hepatitis action plan, thereby increasing diagnoses and averting new infections.
A high-throughput RNA-seq approach to profile transcriptional responses
Authors: Moyerbrailean G.A. , Davis G.O. , Harvey C. , Watza D. , Wen X. , Pique-Regi R. , Luca F. 
Published: April 2015

ABSTRACTIn recent years, different technologies have been used to measure genome-wide gene expression levels across many types of tissues and in response toin vitrotreatments. However, a full understanding of gene regulation in any given cellular and environmental context combination is still missing. This is partly because analyzing tissue/environment-specific gene expression generally implies screening a large number of cellular conditions and samples, without prior knowledge of which conditions are most informative (e.g. some cell types may not respond to certain treatments). To circumvent these challenges, we have established a new two-step high-throughput and cost-effective RNA-seq approach: the first step consists of gene expression screening of a large number of conditions, while the second step focuses on deep sequencing of the most relevant conditions (e.g. largest number of differentially expressed genes). This study design allows for a fast and economical screen in step one, with a more profitable allocation of resources for the deep sequencing of re-pooled libraries in step two. We have applied this approach to study the response to 26 treatments in three lymphoblastoid cell lines and we show that it is applicable for other high-throughput transcriptome profiling requiring iterative refinement or screening.
XBRL adoption and cost of debt
Authors: Lai Syou-Ching , Lin Yuh-Shin , Lin Yi-Hung , Huang Hua-Wei 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to examine the relation between the cost of debt and the adoption of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL).

Design/methodology/approach
– The financial data are obtained from the Compustat database. Regression analysis is used to examine the research hypotheses.

Findings
– The authors find that both voluntary and mandatory adoption of XBRL lead to a lower cost of debt for firms, with weak evidence that this reduction is greater for the former than the latter.

Research limitations/implications
– The findings support the policy of the USA Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and thus this paper recommends that adoption of XBRL should be mandatory for all public firms.

Practical implications
– The findings encourage top managers to develop their firms’ XBRL systems.

Originality/value
– The results support the SEC’s policy of mandatory XBRL adoption, as it can lead to greater financial reporting transparency and mitigate information asymmetry between management and bondholders.
The impact of corporate governance and ownership structure reforms on earnings quality in China
Authors: Ji Xu_Dong , Ahmed Kamran , Lu Wei 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of corporate governance and ownership structures on earnings quality in China both prior and subsequent to two important corporate reforms: the code of corporate governance (CCG) in 2002 and the split share structure reform (SSR) in 2005.

Design/methodology/approach
– This study utilises informativeness of earnings (earnings response coefficient), conditional accounting conservatism and managerial discretionary accruals to assess earnings quality using 12,267 firm-year observations over 11 years from 2000 to 2010. Further, two dummy variables for measuring the changes of CCG and SSR are employed to estimate the effects of CCG and SSR reforms on earnings quality via OLS regression.

Findings
– This study finds that the promulgation of the CCG in 2002 has had a positive impact, but the SSR reform in 2005 has had little effect on listed firms’ earnings quality in China. These results hold good after controlling for a number of ownership, governance and other variables and estimating models with multiple measures of earnings’ quality.

Research limitations/implications
– Future research could focus on how western style corporate governance mechanisms have been constrained by the old management systems and governmental dominated ownership structures in Chinese listed firms. The conclusion is that simply coping Western corporate governance model is not suitable for every country.

Practical implications
– The results will assist Chinese regulators in improving reporting quality, ownership structure and governance mechanisms in China. The results will help international investors better understand quality of financial information in China.

Originality/value
– This is the first to our knowledge that addresses the effects of major governance and ownership reforms together on accounting earnings quality and, thus, makes a significant contribution on understanding the effect of regulatory reforms on improving earnings quality. In doing so, it also indirectly assesses the effectiveness of western-style corporate governance mechanisms introduced in China.
Information systems maturity, knowledge sharing, and firm performance
Authors: Rao Yanchao , Guo Ken H , Chen Ye 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why information systems (IS) enhance firm performance (FP) from a knowledge management perspective. Drawing upon the knowledge-view of the firm and organizational learning theories, we develop and empirically test a theoretical model where knowledge sharing (KS) plays a mediating role between IS maturity (ISM) and FP.Design/methodology/approach– Data were collected through a survey of business managers in China. The model was tested by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling approach.Findings– The results provide support for the propose research model and confirm that ISM is positively associated with FP, and KS partially mediates the effects of ISM.Originality/value– This study contributes to the IS literature by reconceptualizing the ISM construct and testing the mediating effect of KS and, thus, offers some answers to the “how-and-why” question about the value of IS.
Continuous improvement in Vietnam: unique approaches for a unique culture
Authors: Nguyen Phuong Anh , Robinson Alan G. 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to enhance the understanding of continuous improvement (CI) practices in Vietnamese organizations.Design/methodology/approach– The study reported here is based on field research using in-depth case studies to investigate the factors underpinning CI effectiveness in Vietnam. Data were collected from direct observations, internal company documents and interviews in six leading Vietnamese companies, as well as interviews with 50 business leaders, managers, practitioners and academics in Vietnam.Findings– This paper identifies the cultural conditions that have most shaped, and continue to shape, the management of CI in Vietnam, and suggests ways that practitioners can design effective CI practices in that country. For example, a very strong top-down management approach seems to be necessary to jump-start CI in Vietnamese organizations. Vietnamese organizations can succeed with CI, but they require substantial investment in human capital to give managers and employees at all levels up-to-date CI education and training. Furthermore, contrary to best-practice thinking in many developed countries, Vietnamese organizations may well be unable to motivate employees to participate in CI initiatives without a seemingly heavy-handed system of substantial rewards.Research limitations/implications– Future research in this area should study a broader selection of case companies across a wider selection of sectors, including more in service, and in other industries and in other regions of Vietnam. It should also aim to capture and analyze other factors that determine CI effectiveness.Practical implications– To lead organizational change, leaders must first be able and willing to adjust their leadership styles to match the demands of their changing business environments.Originality/value– While Vietnam is attracting intense interest from the international business community, little research has been done on CI practices there, in part because Vietnamese companies have developed a strong culture of secrecy, and are very wary of granting research access to outsiders. This study offers one of the first “inside views” of Vietnamese management with reliable data focusing particularly on CI.
Linkage between frontline employee service competence scale and customer perceptions of service quality
Authors: Wu Yu-Chi , Tsai Chin-Shih , Hsiung Hsiao-Wen , Chen Kuan-Ying 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop an instrument to measure service competencies and explore the relationship between service competencies and service quality.

Design/methodology/approach
– Data were gathered from 207 frontline employees (FLEs). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the goodness-of-fit of the FLE service competence scale. Further, the partial least squares technique was used to analyze the data gathered from 252 customers to clarify the relationship between service competencies and perceived service quality.

Findings
– The results indicate that the instrument demonstrated high reliability, stable dimensionality and predictable relationships with service quality within the nomological network of service competencies. Moreover, the results provide evidence for the position that FLE interpersonal competencies are positively associated with the service quality dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, and that FLE professional competencies are positively associated with reliability and assurance of service quality.

Research limitations/implications
– The study has limited generalizability given the convenience sample and the wide variety of service industries. Implications regarding which specific FLE service competencies FLEs should focus on to enhance specific customer perceptions of service quality are also discussed.

Originality/value
– The present paper contributes specifically to understanding how service competencies of FLEs can influence consumers’ perceived service quality, and developing an instrument to measure service competencies.
Identifying Islamic alternatives to short selling in Iranian stock market and prioritizing them using TOPSIS
Authors: Ahmadvand Maysam , Khajezadeh Dezfuli Hadi , Sadehvand Mohamad Javad 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– This paper aims to first explain short selling and its benefits and damages; then, using experts’ opinions and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method as well as based on the legal, financial and jurisprudential criteria adopted, evaluate and prioritize Islamic alternatives to short selling; and finally, introduce the most proper approach for implementing it in Iran’s stock market.

Design/methodology/approach
– The methods applied in the paper are as follows: Library method to collect the required data for developing the theoretical and jurisprudential foundations of the study, identifying the appropriate criteria for prioritizing; the alternative methods for short selling in the Islamic markets; and the field method to determine the level of significance of the ranking criteria and prioritize the alternative methods for short selling in the Islamic markets on the basis of such criteria. The alternative methods for short selling in Iranian stock market were identified and analyzed jurisprudentially and legally. Afterwards, these strategies were prioritized based on the (legislative, financial and jurisprudential) criteria which were adopted in the form of Delphi from the related literature, research and expert opinions by means of TOPSIS approach. The method with the highest ranking will be introduced as the alternative method for short selling.

Findings
– The paper suggests that among all Islamic alternatives to short selling, based on experts’ opinions and legal considerations, method of combining Murabaha and Wa’ad is the most proper strategy in Iranian stock market.

Research limitations/implications
– An important limitation we faced in this study was limited familiarity of Iran, capital market participants with Islamic finance concepts including Islamic alternatives to short selling. Therefore, designed questionnaire was sent only to participants who had experience in the field of Islamic finance that they were not more than 31 people. Of course, in this study, large sample size was not necessary because the questionnaire was completed by experts, and therefore, results were scientific and reliable.

Originality/value
– One of the transaction strategies which significantly contributes to the enhancement of market liquidity is short selling. However, this strategy is not applicable to the Islamic stock markets because of its contradictions with a number of Islamic laws. Therefore, Islamic financial researchers have attempted to design relevant legal mechanisms drawing on the Islamic contracts to make use of the merits of this transaction strategy. In addition to introducing short selling and its demerits for the stock market, the paper explored the alternative methods and proposed the most proper one for implementing in Iranian stock market.
An e-Delphi experiment of quality of equity predictions in online groups
Authors: Endress Tobias 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– This paper aims to present the results of experiments with groups making online group stock price predictions and include the research process and a summary of the preliminary results. The overall objectives of the study are to assess the effect of individual and remote group decision-making approaches to stock price predictions, to assess whether a learning effect exists through the feedback loop of an e-Delphi process and to identify the underlying key mechanisms of the individual and of the group that influence the decision-making process.Design/methodology/approach– The experiments consist of a pilot and a main run. The main run was performed with three lay groups (totaling 49 participants) and two expert groups (totaling ten financial analysts and other stock market professionals). The groups were benchmarked with actual market prices as well as with each other, over ten e-Delphi cycles (ten weeks). Each participant in the experiment was asked to provide an estimation of the movement (up or down) for one-week, one-month and three-month future periods for each share, as well as to enter a stock price prediction for a three-month period.Findings– Although the pilot run has provided some indications that in certain situations and with careful group design, stock price predictions can be superior to the predictions of experts, the main experiment indicated a more differentiated picture and provided some information about the underlying decision-making process.Originality/value– The paper presents influence factors and measures the impact of the group decision-making process of Internet communities focusing on stock trading, based on predicting share prices.
Facing up to fund managers
Authors: Coleman Les 
Published: April 2015

Purpose– The paper aims to describe the behind-the-scenes strategy and processes that fund managers use to make investment decisions.Design/methodology/approach– The research involved semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 34 fund managers in Istanbul, London, Melbourne and New York during 2012. Results describe their approach, and tie it back to theoretical explanations.Findings– Large investors make limited use of neoclassical finance theory. They believe that securities markets trend over the short term, mean revert over the long term, and have upward sloping demand curves. They rely on qualitative techniques, think of security prices rather than returns, acknowledge constraints by their employer and clients, are heavily socialised and see no limitation from using similar approaches to competitors.Originality/value– This is the first interview-based evaluation of global manager techniques since the market crash after 2008, and provides an innovative depiction of actual processes followed by institutional investors.
Influences on the gender wage gap of Trinidad and Tobago
Authors: Mahabir Reshma , Ramrattan Dindial 
Published: April 2015

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to examine the presence of a gender wage gap in Trinidad and Tobago and its possible influences.

Design/methodology/approach
– Investigation of the issue utilised data from the 2008/2009 Household Budget Survey. A combination of linear regression and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis permits segregation of wage differences into explained and unexplained.

Findings
– At the aggregate level, there is a significant difference between male and female wages. Investigation showed that the demographics with the highest levels of discrimination were in the age groups 35-44, income levels $3,000-$5,999 and private sector employment vs public sector.

Originality/value
– The results of this research can serve as a useful tool for more gender-sensitive employment policies in Trinidad and Tobago, and possibly the wider Caribbean region.
3D seismic survey for geothermal exploration in crystalline rocks in Saxony, Germany
Authors: Lüschen Ewald , Görne Sascha , von Hartmann Hartwig , Thomas Rüdiger , Schulz Rüdiger 
Published: April 2015

ABSTRACTA 3D seismic survey was recorded in 2012 to explore a petrothermal reservoir in a late‐Variscan granitic pluton within the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in Saxony, Germany. The main objective was to test this area in the context of the Enhanced Geothermal System concept and to test the 3D seismic technique as an exploration tool. The intention and challenge are to image and characterize potentially permeable fracture zones at target depths of 5–6 km, with temperatures above 150 °C. Unconventional methods were applied for field acquisition and data processing. The vibroseis technique was used in the core experiment, accompanied by a special explosive seismic experiment. Field acquisition was characterized by severe noise conditions and a highly irregular layout. These conditions required extensive preprocessing and data conditioning. The imaging started with conventional Common Midpoint processing for quality control and for a first reference. Better images were obtained by Common Reflection Surface processing with subsequent post‐stack time migration. Prestack time migration was also used for comparison. Outstanding results were obtained by the ‘operator‐oriented’ version of the Common Reflection Surface technique. A rich repertoire of structures within the granite pluton was imaged, including steeply dipping fault zones and conjugate faults. Images and indications of fracture and crack porosity of a prominent fault zone provide the background to define an optimum drill path. This is considered as the next stage for a possible geothermal plant, if a decision is taken to drill a research well in the future. The 3D seismic reflection technique was shown to be an indispensable tool for geothermal exploration, even in crystalline basement rocks.
Historical data to plan the recovery of the European eel
Authors: Clavero Miguel , Hermoso Virgilio 
Published: April 2015

Summary

Long‐term perspectives are critical to understand contemporary ecological systems. However, historical data on the distribution of biodiversity have only rarely been used in applied environmental sciences.

Here, we use historical sources to reconstruct the historical range of the European eel, a critically endangered species. We then use this baseline range to set range targets for the recovery of the European eel, as opposed to the abundance‐based targets established by the European Union, which are constrained by the poor information on pre‐collapse stocks.

We collected over 10 000 historical freshwater fish records from Spain in the 19th and 16th centuries, as well as over 25 000 records from the global biodiversity information facility (GBIF) to characterize historical and current European eel distribution in the Iberian Peninsula. We converted fish records into an eel presence–absence data set using subcatchment as spatial unit of analysis and modelled eel distribution in the different historical periods.

The eel was historically widespread throughout the Iberian Peninsula, but it has lost over 80% of its original range, mainly due to river fragmentation by dams. Distribution models applied to 16th‐ and 19th‐century data showed a high agreement, supporting the use of the 19th‐century estimated distribution as a baseline range. We identified the number and identity of dams that should be made passable for accomplishing specific range recovery targets, for example showing that acting upon 20 dams would make available 60% of the baseline eel range.

Synthesis and applications. This work exemplifies how insights gained from historical ecology can support and guide present‐day management of migratory fishes. Similar approaches could be developed throughout Europe to plan the recovery of the eel, since there are large amounts of historical eel records. Historical baseline ranges for the eel range should be incorporated into the European Union legal mandates aimed at the recovery of the species.