bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Human capital, social capital and organizational performance
Authors: Augusto Felício J. , Couto Eduardo , Caiado Jorge 
Published: March 2014

Purpose– The aim of this paper is to evaluate the human capital and social capital of managers and the influence of these attributes on the performance of small and medium-sized Portuguese companies.Design/methodology/approach– The structural modeling approach was applied to a sample of 199 small and medium-sized companies aged between 3 and 15 years, from five different sectors of activity.Findings– It was found that human capital affects social capital, and that experience and cognitive ability influence personal relations and complicity. Organizational performance is strongly influenced by human capital through the cognitive ability of the manager.Practical implications– Based on these findings managers can gain a better knowledge about how to improve the performance of their firms, for example through adjustments in communication methods or strategic decision capacities.Originality/value– This work is innovative in the sense that it confirms the influence of human capital on social capital, and shows that it is cognitive ability that affects organizational performance.
The uneasy transition from supply chains to ecosystems
Authors: Ben Letaifa Soumaya 
Published: March 2014

Purpose– This paper uses the multidimensional definition of value – ecosystemic value – and employs lifecycle theory to identify the different stages of evolution of value-creation and -capture processes in an ecosystem. Specifically, the aim of this paper is to show the uneasy transition from supply chains to ecosystems.Design/methodology/approach– Based on a field study of a Canadian ICT ecosystem, this paper adopts a multilevel perspective on value-creation and value-capture processes and illustrates how these processes need to move from a dyadic economic focus to a network socioeconomic one.Findings– The findings pinpoint the uneasy transition from supply-chains management to ecosystems management and provide a framework for understanding how value creation and value capture should be coupled throughout the ecosystem lifecycle. Finally, five theoretical and managerial propositions are suggested to better leverage ecosystemic capabilities and better manage value creation and value capture in ecosystems.Practical implications– Five theoretical and managerial propositions are suggested to better leverage ecosystemic capabilities and better manage value creation and value capture in ecosystems.Originality/value– Many marketing and management scholars discuss the limitations of unbalanced perspectives (customer- or seller-centric) in building a comprehensive view of how value is created and captured. This multi-actors case study highlights how ecosystemic value creation may be obstructed by a firm's focus on value capture.
The condition of smallness: how what it means to be small deters firms from getting bigger
Authors: R. Anderson Alistair , Ullah Farid 
Published: March 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine and explain why most small firms remain small. A new conceptual framework – the condition of smallness – is proposed.Design/methodology/approach– A critical examination of the literature about the nature of being a small firm is first conducted. Employing an inductive analysis of responses from a survey of 2,521 small business owners about employment regulation, the nature and effects of smallness is examined.Findings– It was found that owners' choice making combines with perceptions about their resources to produce a condition of smallness. The condition of smallness is conceptualised as the circularity perceptions, attitudes and consequent practices that reflect lack of knowledge, time and capability. It is argued that this condition of smallness inhibits growth to create a wicked problem that explains why most small firms don't grow.Research limitations/implications– This work is largely conceptual, albeit the argument is grounded in, and illustrated by, empirical data. The findings may not be generalisable beyond this paper's data sets, but may be generalisable conceptually.Originality/value– The focus of much scholarly work has been on growth firms. Yet the typical small firm is excluded so that the issues of smallness are often overlooked. This paper, therefore contributes to understanding why small firms don't grow.
Reasons for choosing mechanisms to protect knowledge and innovations
Authors: Olander Heidi , Vanhala Mika , Hurmelinna-Laukkanen Pia 
Published: March 2014

Purpose– Prior research has confirmed the usefulness of both formal and informal protection mechanisms for governing knowledge flows. However, there is lack of research on the motivation and needs driving firms in their choice of mechanisms for each situation. The aim of this paper is to examine the reasons for choosing formal or informal mechanisms.Design/methodology/approach– The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 209 companies engaged in R&D. A Partial Least Squares was used for the analyses.Findings– This study identifies statistically significant relationships between the protection need and the firm's strategy. The results indicate that there is variance in the use of mechanisms when there is a specific motivation for seeking protection, and when the firm faces difficulties related to protection issues.Research limitations/implications– The data were gathered in a single country. The results may be different if practices in a culture based more on informal relations, with less efficient patent system, were investigated.Practical implications– The study provides managers with useful information on the informal protection of knowledge and innovations when resources are limited. In particular, it helps them to identify situations in which informal mechanisms are potentially more useful.Originality/value– This study adds to the literature by studying quantitatively the relationship between the recognised need for protection and the choice of formal and/or informal protection as a strategy. It combines both formal and informal mechanisms. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the few studies examining HRM-related protection mechanisms.
An overview of environmental policies of local government organizations in the Republic of Serbia
Authors: Beke-Trivunac Jozefina , Jovanovic Larisa , Radosavljevic Života , Radosavljevic Milan 
Published: March 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to identify the structure of local government environmental expenditures by purpose, term and economic type, as well as the sources of their financing.

Design/methodology/approach
– Research and data analysis were carried out on the basis of relevant sources of data gathered from the publicly available decisions on annual statements of accounts for 2011, published on local governments’ internet pages.

Findings
– The main domains of expenditures are pollution abatement, waste and wastewater management and protection of biodiversity. The most of expenditure relates to operating expenses, while only a few percent relates to long-term investments. The most of environmental protection expenditures are financed from the local government organization's (LGO) general budget.

Practical implications
– In the field of environmental protection, the most significant direct responsibility lies with local governments. On the other hand, information on the structure of environmental protection income and expenditures at the local government level is very limited and highly defragmented. The study may represent a starting point for further research in this field.

Originality/value
– The methodology and the results reported in this research could be used for exploring environmental policy of LGOs in other European countries.
Urban vulnerability assessment in South Asia: challenges and lessons learnt
Authors: Matiur Rahman Md. 
Published: March 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a solid understanding, policy and action recommendations to motivate and capacitate more cities to start such urban vulnerability processes and to guide them in their first steps in a direction which will more easily allow the direct use of vulnerability assessments for subsequent adaptation and resilience planning.

Design/methodology/approach
– The methodology adopted for this assessment builds on several years of ICLEI's international experience in climate change adaptation work. It specifically draws on the urban vulnerability component of the ICLEI ACCCRN process, a toolkit developed with support from Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network program, by ICLEI South Asia in partnership with ICLEI Oceania. A participatory approach that includes all key stakeholders and builds on past or ongoing relevant work in the city, as well as draws on existing data sources were adopted in view of the limited timeframe of this study (five months). A stakeholder consultation methodology referred to as Shared Learning Dialogues (SLDs) was adopted to engage not only various departments within the city government but also other local stakeholders. SLDs facilitate multi dimensional information sharing with everyone contributing information and experiences, and everyone learning from the exchanges as well.

Findings
– The critical impacts have been identified through a series of participatory learning processes which were corroborated with existing secondary data and baseline studies, where available. During SLD process, a timeline exercise was carried out and the consequences of those climatic hazards were also chalked out. Subsequently, these identified impacts were justified broadly with the available data and studies. These are saline water intrusion, loss of assets and infrastructure, health impacts – increased morbidity, water supply contaminated, sanitation and drainage systems disrupted, heightened threat situation (fear of embankment breach), in-migration, increasing siltation in the canals, river bank encroachment, livelihood change, biodiversity loss.

Practical implications
– The resilience interventions identified by the stakeholders can be assessed for potential linkages with existing or planned schemes, followed by supporting sectoral and pre-feasibility studies, resulting finally in the identification of financing options. These actions can be focussed on the vulnerable areas within the cities, especially hotspots, and social groups identified and their adaptive capacities were assessed.

Originality/value
– The resilience interventions identified by the stakeholders provides a focussed starting point for further discussion in terms of refinement of these actions as well their prioritization according to resilience and feasibility (economic, social, environmental) criteria.
The Nature of Cities: The Scope and Limits of Urban Theory
Authors: Scott Allen J. , Storper Michael 
Published: March 2014

AbstractThere has been a growing debate in recent decades about the range and substance of urban theory. The debate has been marked by many different claims about the nature of cities, including declarations that the urban is an incoherent concept, that urban society is nothing less than modern society as a whole, that the urban scale can no longer be separated from the global scale, and that urban theory hitherto has been deeply vitiated by its almost exclusive concentration on the cities of the global North. This article offers some points of clarification of claims like these. All cities can be understood in terms of a theoretical framework that combines two main processes, namely, the dynamics of agglomeration/polarization, and the unfolding of an associated nexus of locations, land uses and human interactions. This same framework can be used to identify many different varieties of cities, and to distinguish intrinsically urban phenomena from the rest of social reality. The discussion thus identifies the common dimensions of all cities without, on the one hand, exaggerating the scope of urban theory, or on the other hand, asserting that every individual city is an irreducible special case.
Accounting Variables, Deception, and a Bag of Words: Assessing the Tools of Fraud Detection
Authors: Purda Lynnette , Skillicorn David 
Published: March 2014

AbstractWe develop a data‐generated tool for distinguishing between fraudulent and truthful reports based on the language used in the management discussion and analysis section of annual and interim reports. Using this method, we are able to assign a probability of truth to each report which is then shown to be an effective indicator of fraud. Our work goes beyond the development of a tool alone, however, by conducting an extensive comparison of our probability‐of‐truth measure with eight alternative detection tools representing both quantitative and language‐based approaches. Comparisons are made across a variety of samples and show that our language‐based approach can be effective in both cross‐sectional and time‐series settings. It is useful both in distinguishing between fraudulent and truthful firms and in identifying fraudulent reports from a series of reports issued by a single firm. This second setting is one in which accounting‐based detection tools have frequently struggled. We establish that, not only is our probability‐of‐truth measure significantly associated with fraud, so too is the change in this measure from a firm's previous reports. Prior reports may serve an important benchmarking role in using language‐based tools to identify fraud.
The Impact of Payment Source and Hospital Type on Rising Cesarean Section Rates in Brazil, 1998 to 2008
Authors: Hopkins Kristine , de Lima Amaral Ernesto Friedrich , Mourão Aline Nogueira Menezes 
Published: March 2014

AbstractBackgroundHigh cesarean section rates in Brazilian public hospitals and higher rates in private hospitals are well established. Less is known about the relationship between payment source and cesarean section rates within public and private hospitals.MethodsWe analyzed the 1998, 2003, and 2008 rounds of a nationally representative household survey (PNAD), which includes type of delivery, where it took place, and who paid for it. We construct cesarean section rates for various categories, and perform logistic regression to determine the relative importance of independent variables on cesarean section rates for all births and first births only.ResultsBrazilian cesarean section rates were 42 percent in 1998 and 53 percent in 2008. Women who delivered publicly funded births in either public or private hospitals had lower cesarean section rates than those who delivered privately financed deliveries in public or private hospitals. Multivariate models suggest that older age, higher education, and living outside the Northeast region all positively affect the odds of delivering by cesarean section; effects are attenuated by the payment source–hospital type variable for all women and even more so among first births.ConclusionsCesarean section rates have risen substantially in Brazil. It is important to distinguish payment source for the delivery to have a better understanding of those rates.
Impact of the International Continence Society (ICS) report on the standardisation of terminology in nocturia on the quality of reports on nocturia and nocturnal polyuria: a systematic review
Authors: Hofmeester Ilse , Kollen Boudewijn J. , Steffens Martijn G. , Bosch J.L.H.Ruud , Drake Marcus J. , Weiss Jeffrey P. , Blanker Marco H. 
Published: March 2014

ObjectiveTo systematically review and evaluate the impact of the International Continence Society (ICS)‐2002 report on standardisation of terminology in nocturia, on publications reporting on nocturia and nocturnal polyuria (NP). In 2002, the ICS defined NP as a Nocturnal Polyuria Index (nocturnal urine volume/total 24‐h urine volume) of >0.2–0.33, depending on age.Materials and MethodsIn April 2013 the PubMed and Embase databases were searched for studies (in English, German, French or Dutch) based on original data and adult participants, investigating the relationship between nocturia and NP. A methodological quality assessment was performed, including scores on external validity, internal validity and informativeness. Quality scores of items were compared between studies published before and after the ICS‐2002 report.ResultsThe search yielded 78 publications based on 66 studies. Quality scores of studies were generally high for internal validity (median 5, interquartile range [IQR] 4–6) but low for external validity. After publication of the ICS‐2002 report, external validity showed a significant change from 1 (IQR 1–2) to 2 (IQR 1–2.5; P = 0.019). Nocturia remained undefined in 12 studies. In all, 19 different definitions were used for NP, most often being the ICS (or similar) definition: this covered 52% (n = 11) of studies before and 66% (n = 27) after the ICS‐2002 report. Clear definitions of both nocturia and NP were identified in 67% and 76% before, and in 88% and 88% of the studies after the ICS‐2002 report, respectively.ConclusionThe ICS‐2002 report on standardisation of terminology in nocturia appears to have had a beneficial impact on reporting definitions of nocturia and NP, enabling better interpretation of results and comparisons between research projects. Because the external validity of most of the 66 studies is considered a problem, the results of these studies may not be validly extrapolated to other populations. The ICS definition of NP is used most often. However, its discriminative value seems limited due to the estimated difference of 0.6 nocturnal voids between individuals with and without NP. Refinement of current definitions based on robust research is required. Based on pathophysiological reasoning, we argue that it may be more appropriate to define NP based on nocturnal urine production or nocturnal voided volumes, rather than on a diurnal urine production pattern.
Factors influencing disease progression of prostate cancer under active surveillance: a McGill University Health Center cohort
Authors: Barayan Ghassan A. , Brimo Fadi , Bégin Louis R. , Hanley James A. , Liu Zhihui , Kassouf Wassim , Aprikian Armen G. , Tanguay Simon 
Published: March 2014

ObjectiveTo evaluate the clinical and pathological factors influencing the risk of disease progression in a cohort of patients with low–intermediate risk prostate cancer under active surveillance (AS).Patients and MethodsWe studied 300 patients diagnosed between 1992 and 2012 with prostate adenocarcinoma with favourable parameters or who refused treatment and were managed with AS. Of those, 155 patients with at least one repeat biopsy and no progression criteria at the time of the diagnosis were included for statistical analyses. Patients were followed every 3–6 months for prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) measurement and physical examination. Patients were offered repeat prostatic biopsy every year. Disease progression was defined as the presence of one or more of the following criteria: ≥3 positive cores, >50% of cancer in at least one core, and a predominant Gleason pattern of 4.ResultsFor the 155 patients, the mean (sd) age at diagnosis was 67 (7) years; the median (interquartile range) follow‐up was 5.4 (3.6–9.5) years. Of these, 67, 25, six, and two patients had two, three, four, and five repeat biopsies, respectively. At baseline, 11 (7%) patients had a Gleason score of 3+4, while the remaining 144 (93%) patients had a Gleason score of ≤6. In all, 50 (32.3%) patients had disease progression on repeat biopsies, with a median progression‐free survival time of 7 years. The rate of disease progression decreased after the second repeat biopsy. The 5‐year overall survival rate was 100%. Having a PSA density (PSAD) of >0.15 ng/mL/mL, >1 positive core, and Gleason score >6 at the time of the diagnosis was associated with a significantly higher rate of disease progression on univariate analysis (P < 0.05), while a maximum percentage of cancer in any core of >10% showed a trend toward significance for a higher progression rate (P = 0.054). On multivariate analysis, only the presence of a PSAD of >0.15 ng/mL/mL remained significant for a higher progression rate (P < 0.05). Of the 155 patients, five (3.2%) subsequently received radiotherapy, 13 (8.4%) received hormonal therapy, and 13 (8.4%) underwent radical prostatectomy.ConclusionAS is a suitable management option for patients with clinically low‐risk prostate cancer. A PSAD of >0.15 ng/mL/mL is an important predictor for disease progression.
Testosterone therapy and cancer risk
Authors: Eisenberg Michael L. , Li Shufeng , Betts Paul , Herder Danielle , Lamb Dolores J. , Lipshultz Larry I. 
Published: March 2014

ObjectiveTo determine if testosterone therapy (TT) status modifies a man's risk of cancer.Patients and MethodsThe Urology clinic hormone database was queried for all men with a serum testosterone level and charts examined to determine TT status. Patient records were linked to the Texas Cancer Registry to determine the incidence of cancer. Men accrued time at risk from the date of initiating TT or the first office visit for men not on TT. Standardised incidence rates and time to event analysis were performed.ResultsIn all, 247 men were on TT and 211 did not use testosterone. In all, 47 men developed cancer, 27 (12.8%) were not on TT and 20 (8.1%) on TT. There was no significant difference in the risk of cancer incidence based on TT (hazard ratio [HR] 1.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57–1.9; P = 1.8). There was no difference in prostate cancer risk based on TT status (HR 1.2, 95% CI 0.54–2.50).ConclusionThere was no change in cancer risk overall, or prostate cancer risk specifically, for men aged >40 years using long‐term TT.