bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Work engagement as a key driver of quality of care: a study with midwives
Authors: Freeney Yseult , Fellenz Martin R. 
Published: June 2013

PurposeAgainst a backdrop of increased work intensification within maternity hospitals, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role of work engagement in the quality of care delivered to patients and in general health of the midwives delivering care, as reported by midwives and nurses.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative questionnaires consisting of standardised measures were distributed to midwives in two large maternity hospitals. These questionnaires assessed levels of work engagement, supervisor and colleague support, general health and quality of care.FindingsStructural equation modelling analysis revealed a best‐fit model that demonstrated work engagement to be a significant partial mediator between organisational and supervisor support and quality of care, and as a significant predictor of self‐reported general health. Together, supervisor support, social support and organisational resources, mediated by work engagement, explained 38 per cent of the variance in quality of care at the unit level and 23 per cent of variance in general health among midwives (χ2(67)=113; p<0.01, CFI=0.961, RMSEA=0.06).Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited in that it uses self‐report measures of quality of care and lacks objective indicators of patient outcomes. The cross‐sectional design also does not allow for causal inferences to be drawn from the data.Practical implicationsThis study provides evidence for the links between individual levels of work engagement and both health and self‐reports of unit level quality of care. The results support the importance of health services organisations and managers deploying organisational resources to foster employee work engagement. The results also highlight the significant role of the immediate nurse manager and suggest training and development for such roles is a valuable investment.Originality/valueThese results are the first to link work engagement and performance in health care contexts and point to the value of work engagement for both unit performance and for individual employee well‐being in health organisations.
High performance HRM: NHS employee perspectives
Authors: Hyde Paula , Sparrow Paul , Boaden Ruth , Harris Claire 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine National Health Service (NHS) employee perspectives of how high performance human resource (HR) practices contribute to their performance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on an extensive qualitative study of the NHS. A novel two‐part method was used; the first part used focus group data from managers to identify high‐performance HR practices specific to the NHS. Employees then conducted a card‐sort exercise where they were asked how or whether the practices related to each other and how each practice affected their work.FindingsIn total, 11 high performance HR practices relevant to the NHS were identified. Also identified were four reactions to a range of HR practices, which the authors developed into a typology according to anticipated beneficiaries (personal gain, organisation gain, both gain and no‐one gains). Employees were able to form their own patterns (mental models) of performance contribution for a range of HR practices (60 interviewees produced 91 groupings). These groupings indicated three bundles particular to the NHS (professional development, employee contribution and NHS deal).Practical implicationsThese mental models indicate employee perceptions about how health services are organised and delivered in the NHS and illustrate the extant mental models of health care workers. As health services are rearranged and financial pressures begin to bite, these mental models will affect employee reactions to changes both positively and negatively.Originality/valueThe novel method allows for identification of mental models that explain how NHS workers understand service delivery. It also delineates the complex and varied relationships between HR practices and individual performance.
The system integration of anti‐money laundering data reporting and customer relationship management in commercial banks
Authors: Tang Jun , Ai Lishan 
Published: June 2013

PurposeThis paper proposes to use system integration between customer relationship management (CRM) and anti‐money laundering (AML) suspicious data reporting in commercial banks to increase the initiative of suspicious transaction identification, reduce the false reporting rates, and improve the intelligence quality.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces the structure of CRM in commercial banks, discusses deficiencies of the current AML data reporting system, and designs the layering of CRM and AML transaction identification module.FindingsThis paper finds that the functions of customer behavior analysis and customer background investigation of CRM system can be redesigned and used for increasing the quality of AML suspicious transaction reporting in commercial banks.Originality/valueThis paper creatively proposes that system integration of CRM and AML suspicious transaction reporting can make a contribution to reducing the AML cost for commercial banks.
Corporate motive and fit in cause related marketing
Authors: Moosmayer Dirk C. , Fuljahn Alexandre 
Published: June 2013

PurposeCause related marketing (CrM) has gained popularity in Europe within the past decade. Therefore, the authors aim to investigate corporate motive and the fit of a company brand with the CrM cause as determinants of CrM campaign success.Design/methodology/approachConjoint analysis is applied to campaign evaluations from 278 students in Germany. Campaigns attached to laptop purchases supporting an African hospital with either medical (low fit) or IT (high fit) infrastructure and were based on altruistic, neutral, or profit‐oriented company motives.FindingsThe authors find that altruistic motives increase consumer evaluations. In contrast to their hypothesis, campaigns are evaluated more positively, when product cause fit is low.Research limitations/implicationsBased on their findings, the authors suggest exploring the fit of CrM campaigns in more detail: future research might explicitly consider the congruence of a CrM donation with a company's product, with the brand's claim and philosophy, and with the supported NPO.Practical implicationsCompanies should think twice before using CrM as means of profit maximization. When selecting an adequate cause, attention should be paid to the company brand and to a product's potential impact on society. Moreover, the donation type (money versus product) should be chosen in a way to clearly support the cause and to avoid potential allegation of aiming at an increased distribution of own products.Originality/valueThe authors apply conjoint analysis to corporate motive and cause‐brand fit; this integrated consumer evaluation appears more realistic than most existing studies. Based on their results, the authors develop diverse perspectives on fit in CrM. These may be applied in future research.
An investigation ofK‐means clustering to high and multi‐dimensional biological data
Authors: Baridam Barileé B. , Montaz Ali M. 
Published: June 2013

PurposeTheK‐means clustering algorithm has been intensely researched owing to its simplicity of implementation and usefulness in the clustering task. However, there have also been criticisms on its performance, in particular, for demanding the value ofKbefore the actual clustering task. It is evident from previous researches that providing the number of clusters a priori does not in any way assist in the production of good quality clusters. The authors' investigations in this paper also confirm this finding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate further, the usefulness of theK‐means clustering in the clustering of high and multi‐dimensional data by applying it to biological sequence data.Design/methodology/approachThe authors suggest a scheme which maps the high dimensional data into low dimensions, then show that theK‐means algorithm with pre‐processor produces good quality, compact and well‐separated clusters of the biological data mapped in low dimensions. For the purpose of clustering, a character‐to‐numeric conversion was conducted to transform the nucleic/amino acids symbols to numeric values.FindingsA preprocessing technique has been suggested.Originality/valueConceptually this is a new paper with new results.
The use of marketing concepts in library services: a literature review
Authors: Garoufallou Emmanouel , Siatri Rania , Zafeiriou Georgia , Balampanidou Ekaterini 
Published: June 2013

PurposeMarketing supports the reaching of organizational goals by focusing on the identification and satisfaction of customer needs, thus it can also contribute considerably in achieving the objectives of non‐profit organizations such as libraries. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the literature on the incorporation of marketing notions and the implementation of marketing techniques in library management. It reviews definitions, present different opposing views, marketing issues, social media and Web 2.0 and opinions on the adoption of marketing in a non‐profit organization environment, and examines different successful examples of marketing implementation, concentrating on the gains resulting from such a move.Design/methodology/approachA thorough literature search on various databases and on various aspects of this topic was reviewed. The literature review is organised on emerging themes directly drawn from the literature, thematically and chronologically within each section. It aims to identify the changing perspectives, the current challenges, and the benefits offered by examining information science specialists' views. The main marketing concepts are identified throughout a strategic planning approach, which has been recommended as the most successful by the majority of researchers.FindingsThis paper examines and clarifies the existing misunderstandings and difficulties in library and information services marketing, and stresses the importance of its adoption in this contemporary competitive environment. It examines library marketing in six sections: misconceptions regarding library marketing, main challenges and reasons as to why the adoption of marketing concepts is an integral part of the strategic planning, reports on the international library organizations, provides a description of the implementation of strategic marketing and planning processes, presents some library marketing approaches and examines the contemporary technological opportunities for library marketing in the digital era, such as the use of Web 2.0 tools.Originality/valueThe paper broadens the library marketing literature by gathering researchers' scientific views and advice and identifies the main implementation concerns derived from the earlier and more recent relevant literature. Moreover, for the first time, IT records issues concerning library marketing, social media and Web 2.0.
Species longevity in North American fossil mammals
Authors: PROTHERO Donald R. 
Published: June 2013

AbstractSpecies longevity in the fossil record is related to many paleoecological variables and is important to macroevolutionary studies, yet there are very few reliable data on average species durations in Cenozoic fossil mammals. Many of the online databases (such as the Paleobiology Database) use only genera of North American Cenozoic mammals and there are severe problems because key groups (e.g. camels, oreodonts, pronghorns and proboscideans) have no reliable updated taxonomy, with many invalid genera and species and/or many undescribed genera and species. Most of the published datasets yield species duration estimates of approximately 2.3–4.3 Myr for larger mammals, with small mammals tending to have shorter species durations. My own compilation of all the valid species durations in families with updated taxonomy (39 families, containing 431 genera and 998 species, averaging 2.3 species per genus) yields a mean duration of 3.21 Myr for larger mammals. This breaks down to 4.10–4.39 Myr for artiodactyls, 3.14–3.31 Myr for perissodactyls and 2.63–2.95 Myr for carnivorous mammals (carnivorans plus creodonts). These averages are based on a much larger, more robust dataset than most previous estimates, so they should be more reliable for any studies that need species longevity to be accurately estimated.
Application of an ex vivo cellular model of circadian variation for bipolar disorder research: a proof of concept study
Authors: Bamne Mikhil N , Ponder Christine A , Wood Joel A , Mansour Hader , Frank Ellen , Kupfer David J , Young Michael W , Nimgaonkar Vishwajit L 
Published: June 2013

ObjectivesDisruption of circadian function has been observed in several human disorders, including bipolar disorder (BD). Research into these disorders can be facilitated by human cellular models that evaluate external factors (zeitgebers) that impact circadian pacemaker activity. Incorporating a firefly luciferase reporter system into human fibroblasts provides a facile, bioluminescent readout that estimates circadian phase, while leaving the cells intact. We evaluated whether this system can be adapted to clinical BD research and whether it can incorporate zeitgeber challenge paradigms.MethodsFibroblasts from patients with bipolar I disorder (BD‐I) (n = 13) and controls (n = 12) were infected ex vivo with a lentiviral reporter incorporating the promoter sequences for Bmal1, a circadian gene to drive expression of the firefly luciferase gene. Following synchronization, the bioluminescence was used to estimate period length. Phase response curves (PRCs) were also generated following forskolin challenge and the phase response patterns were characterized.ResultsPeriod length and PRCs could be estimated reliably from the constructs. There were no significant case‐control differences in period length, with a nonsignificant trend for differences in PRCs following the phase‐setting experiments.ConclusionsAn ex vivo cellular fibroblast‐based model can be used to investigate circadian function in BD‐I. It can be generated from specific individuals and this could usefully complement ongoing circadian clinical research.
Climate warming and the agonistic behaviour of invasive crayfishes in Europe
Authors: Gherardi Francesca , Coignet Aurore , Souty‐Grosset Catherine , Spigoli Daniele , Aquiloni Laura 
Published: June 2013

Summary

Climate warming often leads to shifts in the strength and sign of agonistic interactions among species, which in turn may change their distribution ranges. Notwithstanding the ubiquity of this phenomenon, there is scant literature about how interspecific agonistic behaviour changes with altered thermal regime, especially for invasive species such as three widespread North American crayfishes in Europe (Orconectes limosus, Procambarus clarkii and Pacifastacus leniusculus).

We conducted a laboratory study to analyse some descriptors of agonistic behaviour in fighting dyads of similarly sized males of the three species' combinations, both at 20 °C (the current maximum water temperature in the study area, central France) and 27 °C (the maximum expected in the next 80 years under the more pessimistic IPCC greenhouse gas emission scenario).

The results showed significantly different responses to warming by the three crayfishes. At 27 °C, O. limosus spent more time motionless and P. leniusculus was more often the subordinate, independent of the opponent. On the contrary, the agonistic strategy of P. clarkii did not change with temperature: when engaged in fighting, this species outcompeted both O. limosus and P. leniusculus.

Caution should be taken when extrapolating laboratory studies to the field, but these results, combined with outputs of previous modelling exercises, suggest that European catchments will become dominated by P. clarkii with climate warming. Ultimately, this might lead to impoverished biodiversity, simplified food webs and altered ecosystem services.
Democracy, Elections and Government Budget Deficits
Authors: Haan Jakob de 
Published: June 2013

Abstract
I review research on the relationship between democracy and government indebtedness. I first discuss whether the extent to which politicians use fiscal policy for reelection purposes is conditioned by a country’s experience with democracy. Political budget cycles are not confined to young democracies, but evidence suggests that in younger democracies such cycles are more likely and also stronger than in more mature democracies. Next, I discuss whether the use of fiscal policy by the incumbent increases his/her chances for reelection. Research discussed suggests that political parties in government benefit to some extent if fiscal policy turns expansionary before elections occur.
Three More Jigs in the Puzzle: The Unity of Analogy, Beatitude and Virtue in Thomas' Summa Theologiae
Authors: Overmyer Sheryl 
Published: June 2013

AbstractScholarship abounds on the notion of analogy in Thomas Aquinas' writing. Scholarship also abounds on Thomas' treatment of beatitude and virtue. Yet seldom does scholarship treat the fundamental unity Thomas intended among analogy, beatitude and virtue in the Summa Theologiae. This article traces the connections between these terms to re‐endow terms like ‘beatitude’ and ‘virtue’ with a theological meaning that may surprise, and it shows how Thomas assumes that what we say of God is of first importance.
Hospitality and tone: holding patterns for strangeness in rural Mongolia
Authors: HUMPHREY CAROLINE 
Published: June 2013

In rural Mongolia, hospitality without expectation of a return is a prime ethical and practical virtue, but it is always performed rather than merely spontaneous. Oral maxims of hospitality designate the acts to be performed, lending them a crafted, aesthetic quality and forming a holding pattern that mediates the mutual vulnerability of the host and guest. It is argued that this situation can be analysed through the concept of ‘tone’, a cultural artefact's organizing affect. The production of affective reassurance – the ideal of hospitality – is, however, often shot through with disturbing emotions and negative forms of distancing.RésuméDans la Mongolie rurale, pratiquer l'hospitalité sans rien attendre en retour est une vertu éthique et pratique majeure, mais elle est toujours une performance plutôt qu'une attitude spontanée. Les maximes orales de l'hospitalité définissent les actes à accomplir, conférant à ceux‐ci un caractère travaillé et esthétique et constituant un schéma directeur qui médie la vulnérabilité réciproque de l'hôte et de l'invité. L'auteure avance que cette situation peut être analysée par le concept de « ton », un affect qui organise un artefact culturel. La production d'une assurance affective, idéal de l'hospitalité, est cependant souvent parcourue d'émotions perturbatrices et de formes négatives de distanciation.
Indigenous attire, exoticization, and social change: dressing and undressing among the Emberá of Panama
Authors: THEODOSSOPOULOS DIMITRIOS 
Published: June 2013

In the final quarter of the twentieth century, the Emberá in Panama abandoned their traditional attire in favour of Western clothes. Recently, however, the introduction of indigenous tourism in the country has encouraged a positive re‐evaluation of Emberá traditional attire and enhanced its visibility nationally and internationally. Such transformations in Emberá dress – both the disregard for and re‐evaluation of it – can shed some light on the fluid, non‐unidirectional nature of social change in indigenous society. I argue that Western exoticization – inherent in the expectation of the authentic and/or the suspicion that particular traditions are ‘invented’– misrepresents the complexity and dynamic nature of Emberá clothing practices. Contemporary Emberá choices about how to dress in different contexts should instead be understood as responses to two forms of exoticization: the stereotyping of indigenous practices, but also their idealization. In this rendering, the reintroduction of the old Emberá ways of dressing, when this occurs, should be read not as a static imitation of the past, but instead as a reflexive adjustment to new opportunities for cultural representation in the present.RésuméDans le dernier quart du XXème siècle, les Emberá du Panama ont renoncéà leur tenue traditionnelle et adopté les vêtements occidentaux. L'apparition du tourisme indigène dans le pays a pourtant suscité un récent retour en grâce de la tenue traditionnelle et favorisé sa visibilité dans le pays et à l'étranger. Ces transformations du vêtement des Emberá, abandonné puis redécouvert, peuvent jeter un éclairage sur le caractère fluide et multidirectionnel du changement social dans les sociétés autochtones. L'auteur affirme que la tendance occidentale à l'exotisation, inhérente aux attentes d'authenticité et/ou au soupçon que certaines traditions sont « inventées », ne rend pas correctement compte de la complexité et de la nature dynamique des pratiques vestimentaires chez les Emberá. Il vaudrait mieux envisager les choix actuels de ceux‐ci sur la manière de s'habiller dans tel ou tel contexte comme des réponses à deux formes d'exotisme: les stéréotypes et/ou l'idéalisation des pratiques indigènes. De ce point de vue, la réintroduction des anciennes manières de se vêtir, lorsqu'elle a lieu, ne doit pas être perçue comme une imitation statique du passé mais comme une adaptation réfléchie à de nouvelles possibilités de représentation culturelle dans le présent.
Assessing Rating Agencies' Ability to Predict Bank Bankruptcy – The Lace Financial Case
Authors: SANTONI ALESSANDRO , ARBIA BARBARA 
Published: June 2013

AbstractThis paper responds to renewed interest in the following controversial question: do rating agencies have the ability to predict the risk of bank bankruptcy in a timely manner, and are they able to communicate it on time to the banking system? We tried to provide an answer to this question by checking when US banks that failed in 2009 were downgraded to Non‐Investment Grade (E). The database for this analysis consists of 116 US banks failing in 2009. The rating agency considered is Lace Financial Corporation. The study analyses the time series of ratings for the sample banks from the fourth quarter of 2005 to the date of bankruptcy and shows that over 72 per cent of the US banks that failed in 2009 had been downgraded to E in the fourth quarter prior to failure and 94 per cent had been rated E six months prior to bankruptcy. Empirical evidence from the Lace case does support the view that the Credit Rating Agency provides timely information to market participants.