bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Promoting effects on reproduction increase population vulnerability of Daphnia magna
Authors: Agatz Annika , Hammers-Wirtz Monika , Gabsi Faten , Ratte Hans Toni , Brown Colin D. , Preuss Thomas G. 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
Environmental risk assessment of chemicals is based on single species tests at the individual level with single compounds. However, the protection goal is the sustainability of a population, which faces several natural stressors and mixtures of chemicals in the environment. Therefore, experiments were undertaken to quantify the combined effects of chemicals with different modes of action on Daphnia magna populations. Populations continuously exposed to dispersogen A and at abundance equilibrium were treated with a 2-d pulse of p353-nonylphenol. In previous studies, dispersogen A was shown to act as a natural info-chemical, promoting the reproduction of daphnids (higher offspring quantity) coupled with reduced offspring fitness, whereas nonylphenol in pulsed-exposure caused size-selective mortality. Dispersogen A caused accelerated population growth to maximum abundance, shifted the population structure towards smaller individuals, and increased the population sensitivity to nonylphenol. The authors showed that a positive effect observed at the individual level can be transposed to a negative effect when monitored at the population level. So far, positive effects are not addressed in environmental risk assessment, and even in higher-tier testing, population structure is not quantified. Both factors indicate a potential mismatch between protection aim and risk assessment practice. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012; 31: 1604–1610. © 2012 SETAC
Competition barriers and strategy moderations: Impact on foreign subsidiary performance
Authors: Pehrsson Anders 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe global firm needs to recognize the crucial role of foreign subsidiary strategy in building global competitive advantage and emphasize corporate control of important strategy elements. In particular, there is a need to examine the role of foreign subsidiary strategy in the firm's efforts to break through local barriers to competition that obstructs the search for global competitive advantage. This study seeks answers to two questions. First, how does the business relatedness between a foreign subsidiary and the parent firm moderate the performance impact of local competition barriers? Second, how does the business strategy of a foreign subsidiary moderate the performance impact of local competition barriers? To test contingency hypotheses, the study used data from 191 subsidiaries in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The subsidiaries belong to Swedish manufacturing firms. It was found that greater business relatedness and business scope of the subsidiary weaken the negative impact of competition barriers on subsidiary performance, while product differentiation and customer responsiveness differentiation have no moderating effects. The study contributes to theory on control of foreign subsidiaries by extending the knowledge of strategy drivers of foreign subsidiary performance, and the knowledge facilitates the formulation of effective global strategies. Copyright © 2012 Strategic Management Society.
The global strategy of emerging multinationals from China
Authors: Peng Mike W. 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe global strategy of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from China started to emerge recently. While sizable components of their strategy and behavior are consistent with what we observe of MNEs from other countries, Chinese MNEs are characterized by three relatively unique aspects: (1) the previously underappreciated role played by the home country governments of MNEs as an institutional force, (2) the challenge of going abroad in the absence of significantly superior technological and managerial resources, and (3) the rapid adoption of (often high‐profile) acquisitions as a primary mode of entry. Overall, this article argues that these three relatively unique aspects of emerging multinationals from China will have significant ramifications for future theory building and empirical efforts of the global strategy research community. Copyright © 2012 Strategic Management Society.
Electron ionization mass spectra of organophosphorus compounds, Part II: Mass spectrometric fragmentation of spiro(indene‐2,3′‐pyrazole)phosphonates, spiro(indene‐2,3′‐pyrazole)phosphanylidene, spiro(1,2,4‐diazaphosphole‐3,2′‐indenes), and (1,3‐dioxo‐2H‐isoindolyl)phosphonate derivatives
Authors: Salem Mounir A. I. , Marzouk Magda I. , Ali Tarik E. , Khidre Rizk E. 
Published: May 2012

AbstractFragmentation pathways of nine synthetic organophosphorus compounds, belonging to the following types spiro(indene‐2,3′‐pyrazole)‐ phosphanylidene, spiro(indene‐2,3′‐pyrazole)phos‐ phonates, spiro(1,2,4‐diazaphosphole‐3,2′‐indenes), and (1,3‐dioxo‐1,3‐dihydro‐2H‐isoindol‐2‐yl) phosphonates, were investigated by electron impact mass spectrometry with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of their fragmentation processes. The intensity of recorded molecular ion peaks showed various values depending on the nature of compounds. Characteristic fragment ions were formed by successive loss of simple side functional groups followed by decomposition of indenyl‐1,3‐dione and isoindole‐1,3‐dione moieties connected with terminal groups or heterocycles. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 23:254–264, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/hc.21011
Costing neonatal care alongside the collaborative ecmo trial: How much primary research is required?
Authors: Howard Sarah , Mugford Miranda , Elbourne Diana , Johnson Ann , Enock Katie , Normand Charles , Field David , Grant Adrian 
Published: May 2012

AbstractResearchers working on economic evaluations alongside trials have to balance minimising data collection with maximising the ability to measure differences in costs. Using existing data sources may keep the costs of research down, but these data may not be entirely appropriate to the evaluation question. When evaluating technologies in intensive care it is particularly important to be able to classify patients correctly by their resource requirements especially when those requirements vary considerably from day to day.This paper describes and justifies methods for costing the care provided for babies in (one arm of) an on‐going multi‐ centre trial, the Collaborative ECMO trial.1 This trial is evaluating alternative policies of life support for mature (full term) newborn babies with severe respiratory failure. The most reliable cost information on neonatal intensive care is available from a study, conducted independently from the trial, which has used simple cost apportionment on a large sample of units. By drawing on clinical opinion and carrying out a case note exercise we assessed whether this available information was appropriate to estimate ‘baseline’ costs for the control group during their initial ‘acute’ phase of illness. We concluded that the available cost estimates would need to be weighted to reflect the additional costs of drugs and investigations for this group of babies during the acute phase.Multidisciplinary collaboration on trials can help economists and other researchers to balance the requirement for simple cost measurements with more detailed primary research.
Time preference, duration and health state valuations
Authors: Dolan Paul , Gudex Claire 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThere is increasing interest in health status measurement and the relative weights that people attach to different states of health and illness. One important issue which has been raised is the effect that the time spent in a health state may have on the way that state is perceived. Previous studies have suggested that the worse a state is, the more intolerable it becomes as it lasts longer. However, for most of these studies, it is impossible to determine how much of what was observed is attributable to the time spent in the state and how much is attributable to when it was occurring. This paper reports on a pilot study designed to test the feasibility of using the Time Trade‐Off (TTO) method to isolate the effect of pure time preference from the effect of duration per se. Interviews were conducted with 39 members of the general population who were asked to rate 5 health states for durations of one month, one year and ten years. In aggregate, rates of time preference were very close to zero which suggests that the implicit assumption of the TTO method that there is no discounting may be a valid one. However, that more respondents had negative (rather than positive) rates, casts some doubt on the axioms of discounted utility theory. In addition, implied valuations for states lasting for short periods were often counter‐intuitive which questions the feasibility of using the TTO method to measure preferences for temporary health states.
Are guidelines for peer‐reviewing economic evaluations necessary? A survey of current editorial practice
Authors: Jefferson Tom , Demicheli Vittorio 
Published: May 2012

AbstractWe report the results of a postal survey of 150 editors of medical journals aimed at assessing editorial policy on peer‐review of economic studies. 70 editors (47%) responded to the anonymous questionnaire which contained six questions. 16 (23% or respondents) claimed to have an editorial policy, most claiming acceptance of ‘good evaluations’. Few (36%) had trained economists as referees and none had criteria or guidelines for peer‐reviewing economic studies. This situation helps to explain the variable quality of international economic literature. There is an urgent need to produce internationally accepted sets of guidelines for authors, editors and peer‐reviewers.
Performance of Belgian hospitals: A frontier approach
Authors: Bosmans Nathalie , Fecher Fabienne 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe purpose of the paper is to measure and to compare performance of Belgian hospitals during the year 1991. In order to measure hospitals' efficiency, we estimate a resource function which is defined as the relationship between medical fees incurred in the treatment of a patient and the patient's pathology. From this relation, we construct a best practice reference frontier which defines the minimal hospital medical fees needed to treat the pathology. Efficiency is assessed relative to this resource frontier using a parametric stochastic method proposed by Schmidt and Sickles.9It appears that some specializations (circulatory system) involve more overproduction than others. Among the other results, we note that public hospitals are more efficient than the private ones and that university hospitals tend to use more resources than regular hospitals. The relationships between efficiency and different variables (location, size, costs and management) are finally analysed.
Willingness to pay for antenatal carrier screening for cystic fibrosis
Authors: Donaldson Cam , Shackley Phil , Abdalla Mona , Miedzybrodzka Zosia 
Published: May 2012

AbstractWe report on a study of women's willingness to pay (WTP) for a cystic fibrosis carrier test by one or other method of service delivery (disclosure or non‐disclosure). The results demonstrate that there was no statistically significant difference in WTP for the methods of testing. Those women who received a negative test result were followed up and asked their WTP for such a result. Values obtained at this stage were 16 per cent higher than those obtained pretest result. Use of prompts, rather than simply asking women to state their WTP, had a statistically significant effect on post‐test result values. The opportunity to terminate the pregnancy, if a test proved positive, was important, but was not the only consideration. This demonstrates the importance to women of other benefits of screening.
Investigating hospital efficiency in the new NHS: The role of the translog cost function
Authors: Scott Anthony , Parkin David 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe reforms to the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) of recent years have greatly increased the role of economic incentives in the hospital sector. Hospitals now have to compete for the business of GP and health authority purchasers and are assumed to have an incentive to minimise costs. This makes the analysis of cost functions much more relevant than has previously been the case. The objective of this paper is to assess the potential usefulness of the translog cost function applied in the NHS internal market. Three main issues are identified that limit the role of this type of cost function in the internal market: the adequacy of the econometric model (including data quality); the assumptions underlying the model, and; the interpretation of economies of scale, marginal costs and economies of scope that can be derived from such a cost function. It is concluded that at present the application of translog cost function analysis in the NHS is of limited usefulness, but that it does indicate areas for further methodological research.
The Effect of Mixed American–Chinese Group Composition on Computer‐Mediated Group Decision Making
Authors: Li Hui , Rau Pei‐Luen Patrick , Salvendy Gavriel 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe objective of this study was to investigate the influences of cultural diversity and group composition on computer‐mediated group decision making for mixed American–Chinese groups. Seventy‐five Chinese and fifty Americans participated in a laboratory experiment. Twenty‐five five‐person groups were formed. Each group performed four preference decision‐making tasks with different levels of impact and complexity. Group‐level measurements of group outcomes and individual‐level measurements of group processes were collected. The results indicated that cultural diversity had both positive and negative effects on group decision making. Culturally heterogeneous groups made better decisions than did culturally homogeneous groups, but took longer to make decisions. Moreover, in terms of improvement of the quality of decisions, groups with a balanced representation from each culture outperformed unbalanced groups. Meanwhile, participants in the balanced groups had greater sensitivity to leader emergence and perceived less conflict. The results of this study also revealed the effects of self‐construal and self‐efficacy in communication on group performance. Implications for intercultural management were provided. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A two‐dimensional model of hydraulic performance of stormwater infiltration systems
Authors: Browne D. , Deletic A. , Mudd G. M. , Fletcher T. D. 
Published: May 2012

AbstractStormwater infiltration systems are a popular method for urban stormwater control. They are often designed using an assumption of one‐dimensional saturated outflow, although this is not very accurate for many typical designs where two‐dimensional (2D) flows into unsaturated soils occur. Available 2D variably saturated flow models are not commonly used for design because of their complexity and difficulties with the required boundary conditions. A purpose‐built stormwater infiltration system model was thus developed for the simulation of 2D flow from a porous storage. The model combines a soil moisture–based model for unsaturated soils with a ponded storage model and uses a wetting front‐tracking approach for saturated flows. The model represents the main physical processes while minimizing input data requirements. The model was calibrated and validated using data from laboratory 2D stormwater infiltration trench experiments. Calibrations were undertaken using five different combinations of calibration data to examine calibration data requirements. It was found that storage water levels could be satisfactorily predicted using parameters calibrated with either data from laboratory soils tests or observed water level data, whereas the prediction of soil moistures was improved through the addition of observed soil moisture data to the calibration data set. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Anticipating the effects of groundwater withdrawal on seawater intrusion and soil settlement in urban coastal areas
Authors: Mas‐Pla Josep , Rodríguez‐Florit Agustí , Zamorano Manel , Roqué Carles , Menció Anna , Brusi David 
Published: May 2012

AbstractIntensive pumping in urban coastal areas is a common threat to water resource quality due to seawater intrusion. In those areas where subsurface water resources are not usually used for human consumption or irrigation, intensive pumping is associated with other activities like the lowering of the water table necessary to support underground structures and building foundations. This activity also increases the likelihood of soil settlement that affects building stability and the corrosion of concrete structures due to groundwater salinity. Under these circumstances, the awareness of a certain municipality (Calonge, NE Spain) of the potential effects of groundwater withdrawal upon foundations has led to an integrated approach to anticipate seawater intrusion related to urban development. Geological mapping and correlation of borehole logs, electrical resistivity tomography, and hydrochemical data provide comprehensive knowledge of the geology and hydrogeology of the area and act as screening tools necessary to discern the influence of hydrological processes in coastal areas. Developing Strack's analytical solution, new comprehensive, dimensionless expressions are herein derived to determine the critical pumping rate necessary to prevent seawater intrusion, as well as to reproduce the evolution of the wedge toe and the water table stagnation point under different withdrawal rates. Furthermore, the Dupuit–Forchheimer well discharge formula allows the estimation of the effects of the water table lowering due to such critical pumping in the surrounding building foundations. Field data from the Calonge coastal plain illustrate this approach and provide assessment criteria for future urban development and planning. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Regional impacts of climate change on irrigation water demands
Authors: Rehana S. , Mujumdar P. P. 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThis paper presents an approach to model the expected impacts of climate change on irrigation water demand in a reservoir command area. A statistical downscaling model and an evapotranspiration model are used with a general circulation model (GCM) output to predict the anticipated change in the monthly irrigation water requirement of a crop. Specifically, we quantify the likely changes in irrigation water demands at a location in the command area, as a response to the projected changes in precipitation and evapotranspiration at that location. Statistical downscaling with a canonical correlation analysis is carried out to develop the future scenarios of meteorological variables (rainfall, relative humidity (RH), wind speed (U2), radiation, maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperatures) starting with simulations provided by a GCM for a specified emission scenario. The medium resolution Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate GCM is used with the A1B scenario, to assess the likely changes in irrigation demands for paddy, sugarcane, permanent garden and semidry crops over the command area of Bhadra reservoir, India.Results from the downscaling model suggest that the monthly rainfall is likely to increase in the reservoir command area. RH, Tmax and Tmin are also projected to increase with small changes in U2. Consequently, the reference evapotranspiration, modeled by the Penman–Monteith equation, is predicted to increase. The irrigation requirements are assessed on monthly scale at nine selected locations encompassing the Bhadra reservoir command area. The irrigation requirements are projected to increase, in most cases, suggesting that the effect of projected increase in rainfall on the irrigation demands is offset by the effect due to projected increase/change in other meteorological variables (viz., Tmax and Tmin, solar radiation, RH and U2). The irrigation demand assessment study carried out at a river basin will be useful for future irrigation management systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Monitoring the melt season length of the Barnes Ice Cap over the 1979–2010 period using active and passive microwave remote sensing data
Authors: Dupont Florent , Royer Alain , Langlois Alexandre , Gressent Alicia , Picard Ghislain , Fily Michel , Cliche Patrick , Chum Miroslav 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThe Barnes Ice Cap (BIC) located on Baffin Island (Nunavut, Canada) is one of the most southern ice caps of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Observational data provide evidence of increased melting, thinning and contour recession due to recent climate warming in the Arctic. The duration of the summer melt season for the BIC, over the period 1979–2010, was derived using a threshold algorithm for 19 GHz horizontal polarization brightness temperature data; the passive microwave satellite measurements included data from the quasi‐daily Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager. Our results show the melt season lengthened by 33% from 65.6 ± 6 days at the beginning of the period (1979–1987) to 87.1 ± 7.8 days towards the end (2002–2010). The interannual variations of the number of melt days were in agreement with those derived from active microwave backscatter data from the QuikSCAT scatterometer for the overlapping 2000–2009 period. In addition, elevation change data from the ICESat altimeter confirmed the thinning of the BIC at a mean rate of −0.75 m/year for the 2003–2009 period. For the 32‐year period that we analysed, correlations with summer and annual air temperature and annual sum of positive days were examined for both the North American Regional Reanalysis and the Clyde River Automatic Weather Station data. Correlations with land surface temperature data from MODIS were also examined over the last decade. The results of these investigations showed that these climate indicators did not adequately explain the observed melt variations for the BIC. Ground‐based snow and ice measurements collected near the BIC summit during a 10‐day field campaign in March 2011 provided insights onto the surface properties and confirm the relevance of the remote sensing invariant threshold algorithm used for melt detection. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.