bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ownership structure, board composition and corporate voluntary disclosure
Authors: Huafang Xiao , Jianguo Yuan 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe paper aims to examine the impact of ownership structure and board composition on voluntary disclosures of listed companies in China.Design/methodology/approachUsing an OLS‐regression model to test the relationship among ownership structure, board composition and the level of voluntary disclosure. The sample is based on 559 firm observations in 2002.FindingsHigher blockholder ownership and foreign listing/shares ownership is associated with increased disclosure. However, managerial ownership, state ownership, and legal‐person ownership are not related to disclosure. An increase in independent directors increases corporate disclosure and CEO duality is associated with lower disclosure. The paper also finds that larger firms had greater disclosure, while firms with growth opportunities are reluctant to disclose information voluntarily.Research limitations/implicationsFirstly, the sample is comprised of companies listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2002 and only 45.7 percent of representative firms listed in China. Secondly, the disclosure checklist does not cover all voluntary disclosure in corporations as employed and supported in several prior studies. Thirdly, the award of checklist items may be subjected to errors.Practical implicationsThis paper indicates the relationship among ownership structure, board composition and corporate voluntary disclosure, and provides evidence for Chinese regulators to improve corporate governance and optimize ownership structure.Originality/valueDistinct from prior empirical research based on disclosure behavior in developed‐western markets, this study examines the impact of ownership structure and board composition on voluntary disclosures of listed companies in the Asian setting of China.
The Companies Act 2006 – revolution or evolution?
Authors: Birds John 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe Companies Act became law in November 2006. Government spokesmen have claimed that it will simplify the running of the private companies that constitute the majority of registered companies and that it will enhance shareholder engagement in large quoted companies. Aims to question whether this is really the case.Design/methodology/approachThe article is a critical commentary.FindingsThere are some good things in the Act but it can be argued that these hardly add up to a revolution, and the new Act remains full of regulatory requirements for all companies, something that will be compounded when the mass of necessary secondary legislation is introduced.Originality/valueShows that evolution rather than revolution would seem a more apt description of this legislation.
Maintaining customer relationships in high credence services
Authors: Eisingerich Andreas B. , Bell Simon J. 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThe growing importance of relationship marketing has increased interest in the role of consumer trust and loyalty in establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges. The aim of this study is first, to examine the differential effects of perceived service quality, trust, and loyalty on repurchase intentions, second, to specify loyalty as a key mediating variable in the consumer‐trust repurchase intentions relationship, and finally, to directly confront the thesis that loyalty is a more powerful determinant of long‐term relationships than trust.Design/methodology/approachTo test the proposed model in the context of professional services, the authors use data collected from 1,125 customers of a global financial services firm.FindingsThe results highlight customers' willingness to recommend the firm to relatives or friends to be the key driver of customer commitment to the organization.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this single‐industry approach may establish the internal validity of the proposed model, replication in alternative service settings is needed to increase the generalizability of the findings. Further research is needed to investigate the longitudinal effects of trust and loyalty on repurchase intentions in professional service contexts.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to understanding of the relationships between different elements of service quality, trust, loyalty, and repurchase intentions; provide critical implications for managers of service organizations; and highlight directions for future research.
A qualitative study of Chinese wine consumption and purchasing
Authors: Liu Fang , Murphy Jamie 
Published: June 2007

PurposeThis research aims to examine Chinese consumers’ wine consumption and purchasing behaviour.Design/methodology/approachThe study, conducted during the Chinese New Year in early 2006, used in‐depth interviews with 15 consumers in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.FindingsThe results suggest that Chinese consume Chinese spirits for all occasions, yet consume red wine only for special occasions such as Chinese new year and other holidays. A key point for selling red wine to the Chinese is its positive image; drinking red wine is considered trendy and shows good taste. Another key point is consumer perceptions of red wine as healthier than Chinese spirits because wine contains less alcohol. Two other findings are that most Chinese consumers assume all wine is red wine and have little wine knowledge. Most respondents did not know of white wine or that Australia produces wine. Finally, China's culture of face value, mianzi, plays a key role in purchasing and consuming wine. Chinese tend to purchase inexpensive wine for private consumption and public occasions, yielding more mianzi in front of others. In some important occasions, consumers will purchase a foreign (French) red wine to impress their guests and obtain even more mianzi. In most situations, Chinese purchase and consume wine for perceived health and symbolic – lucky or good face – values.Research limitations/implicationsThe small sample size is a limitation. Another limitation is that all the respondents lived in the urban area of Guangzhou, one of China's most developed cities. The findings do not generalize to China.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that wine is a symbolic product rather than a necessity product in China; therefore, image is an important attribute for selling wine in China. Furthermore, limited wine knowledge tends to make Chinese consumers rely heavily on price for their wine purchasing decisions, as price relates to mainzi. Chinese consumers’ high awareness of France as a wine making country and their deep‐rooted positive beliefs about French wines pose difficulties for marketing other foreign wines, such as Australian wines, in China.Originality/valueThis is perhaps the first academic study in English of Chinese wine consumption and wine purchasing. It offers important insights on the characteristics of wine consumption and purchasing in China.
Generation of a wheat leaf rust, Puccinia triticina, EST database from stage‐specific cDNA libraries
Authors: HU GUANGGAN , LINNING ROB , MCCALLUM BRENT , BANKS TRAVIS , CLOUTIER SYLVIE , BUTTERFIELD YARON , LIU JERRY , KIRKPATRICK ROBERT , STOTT JEFF , YANG GEORGE , SMAILUS DUANE , JONES STEVEN , MARRA MARCO , SCHEIN JACQUELINE , BAKKEREN GUUS 
Published: June 2007

SUMMARYThirteen cDNA libraries constructed from small amounts of leaf rust mRNA using optimized methods served as the source for the generation of 25 558 high‐quality DNA sequence reads. Five life‐cycle stages were sampled: resting urediniospores, urediniospores germinated over water or plant extract, compatible, interactive stages during appressorium or haustorium formation just before sporulation, and an incompatible interaction. mRNA populations were subjected to treatments such as full‐length cDNA production, subtractive and normalizing hybridizations, and size selection methods combined with PCR amplification. Pathogen and host sequences from interactive libraries were differentiated in silico using cereal and fungal sequences, codon usage analyses, and by means of a partial prototype cDNA microarray hybridized with genomic DNAs. This yielded a non‐redundant unigene set of 9760 putative fungal sequences consisting of 6616 singlets and 3144 contigs, representing 4.7 Mbp. At an E‐value 10−5, 3670 unigenes (38%) matched sequences in various databases and collections but only 694 unigenes (7%) were similar to genes with known functions. In total, 296 unigenes were identified as most probably wheat and ten as rRNA sequences. Annotation rates were low for germinated urediniospores (4%) and appressoria (2%). Gene sets obtained from the various life‐cycle stages appear to be remarkably different, suggesting drastic reprogramming of the transcriptome during these major differentiation processes. Redundancy within contigs yielded information about possible expression levels of certain genes among stages. Many sequences were similar to genes from other rusts such as Uromyces and Melampsora species; some of these genes have been implicated in pathogenicity and virulence.
Expression and clinicopathological significance of oestrogen‐responsive ezrin–radixin–moesin‐binding phosphoprotein 50 in breast cancer
Authors: Song J , Bai J , Yang W , Gabrielson E W , Chan D W , Zhang Z 
Published: June 2007

Aims:  Ezrin–radixin–moesin‐binding phosphoprotein 50 (EBP50) is a post synaptic density‐95/Disk‐large/ZO‐1 homologous domain‐containing protein that is involved in the linkage of integral membrane proteins to the cytoskeleton and plays an important role in cell signalling. To gain insights into its biological relevance, this study examined expression of EBP50 in two cohorts of breast carcinoma.Methods and results:  Forty‐nine breast carcinoma tissue specimens were first examined by both immunohistochemistry and RNA in situ hybridization. EBP50 expression was correlated with various clinicopathological variables. The relative abundance of EBP50 mRNA in breast carcinomas and their corresponding normal tissue was compared using reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR). EBP50 immunoreactivity was then further independently validated in 120 breast carcinomas on tissue microarrays. EBP50 immunoreactivity was observed in morphologically normal and cancerous epithelial cells contrasting with the adjacent immunonegative stromal cells. An elevated cytoplasmic accumulation of EBP50 protein was readily detected in 73.5–80% of breast carcinomas. EBP50 immunoreactivity was significantly associated with tumour stage, lymph node and oestrogen receptor status. These immunohistochemical observations were further validated using RNA in situ hybridization and RT‐PCR. EBP50 immunoreactivity was significantly correlated with the mRNA expression level.Conclusion:  Oestrogen‐responsive EBP50 may play an important role in tumour progression and might be a potential marker of invasiveness for breast cancer.
Differential expression of c‐Met, its ligand HGF/SF and HER2/neu in DCIS and adjacent normal breast tissue
Authors: Lindemann K , Resau J , Nährig J , Kort E , Leeser B , Annecke K , Welk A , Schäfer J , Vande Woude G F , Lengyel E , Harbeck N 
Published: June 2007

Aims:  Tyrosine kinase receptors Her2/neu and c‐Met play an important role in breast cancer development and progression. Our aim was to determine the expression of c‐Met, its ligand hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF) and Her2/neu in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) lesions of the breast (n = 39) by two different immunocytochemical techniques, classical immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence, and to correlate their expression levels with histopathological and clinical characteristics.Methods and results:  Both methods revealed similar c‐Met staining patterns in both the in situ component and the adjacent normal tissue (P < 0.001). However, an imbalance in c‐Met expression between tumour and surrounding normal tissue was correlated with high‐grade DCIS (Van Nuys Grade 3). No correlation existed between Her2/neu and c‐Met expression. High HGF/SF immunoreactivity was observed in 43.6% of the cases, yet the adjacent cellular stroma revealed only low levels of HGF/SF. No correlation existed between c‐Met, Her2/neu or HGF/SF expression and clinicopathological factors.Conclusion:  An imbalance in c‐Met expression between tumour and surrounding normal tissue is associated with an aggressive DCIS phenotype. Moreover, c‐Met and HGF/SF may contribute to tumour development by different means than those controlled by Her2/neu.
Predicting internal distance to the stomach for positioning nasogastric and orogastric feeding tubes in children
Authors: Beckstrand Jan , Cirgin Ellett Marsha L. , McDaniel Anna 
Published: June 2007

Abstract Title. Predicting internal distance to the stomach for positioning nasogastric and orogastric feeding tubes in children Aim:  This paper is a report of a study to examine how well direct morphological distances commonly used for nasogastric or orogastric tube insertion and other methods perform as predictors of the internal distance to the targeted position for the tube pores in the stomach.Background:  Previous studies with very small samples have indicated that commonly used distances give malplacements, either above the oesophagogastric junction or below the body of the stomach, perhaps as much as 33% of the time.Methods:  We compared the predicted distances to the endoscopic and manometric distances to the oesophagogastric junction and to the body of the stomach in a prospective study of 494 children, 2 weeks to 19 years (231 months) of age. Data were collected from 1991 to 1998 and in 2005.Results:  The nose–ear–xiphoid distance commonly used in nursing, and other morphological distances, often gave estimates that were either shorter than that to the oesophagogastric junction or longer than that to the distal margin of the body of the stomach. Age‐specific methods for predicting the distance to the body of the stomach based on height gave highly accurate predictions of the internal distances.Conclusion:  Age‐specific methods have the potential to predict accurately the distances to the body of the stomach in 98·8% of children from 0·5 to 100 months of age and in 96·5% of children over 100 months of age. Where age‐specific prediction methods cannot be used, the next best choice is the nose or mouth to ear–mid‐xiphoid–umbilicus span.
Empowerment of nursing students in the United Kingdom and Japan: a cross‐cultural study
Authors: Bradbury‐Jones Caroline , Irvine Fiona , Sambrook Sally 
Published: June 2007

AbstractAim.  This paper is a report of a study to explore the phenomenon of empowerment cross‐culturally by comparing the situations in which nursing students from the United Kingdom and Japan experienced empowerment and disempowerment in clinical practice.Background.  Empowerment has been the focus of many studies, but most focus on the experience of Registered Nurses and few have explored the phenomenon cross‐culturally.Method.  This was a cross‐cultural, comparative study using the critical incident technique. Anonymous written data were collected from nursing students in Japan and United Kingdom between November 2005 and January 2006. Japanese data were translated and back‐translated. Analysis of the transcripts revealed three themes: Learning in Practice, Team Membership, Power.Findings.  Nursing students in these countries are exposed to different educational and clinical environments, but their experiences of empowerment and disempowerment are similar. For both, learning in practice, team membership and power are associated with either empowerment or disempowerment; depending on the context. United Kingdom students are aware of the importance of acting as patient advocates, although they cannot always find the voice to perform this. Japanese students however, appear to be unaware of the concept of advocacy.Conclusion.  Student nurse empowerment may transcend cultural differences, and learning in practice, team membership and power may be important for the empowerment of nursing students globally. Further cross‐cultural exploration is required into the association between advocacy and empowerment.
Geographical distributions in tropical trees: can geographical range predict performance and habitat association in co‐occurring tree species?
Authors: Baltzer Jennifer L. , Davies Stuart J. , Noor Nur Supardi Md. , Kassim Abdul Rahman , LaFrankie James V. 
Published: June 2007

AbstractAim A major floristic and climatic transition from aseasonal to seasonal evergreen tropical forest (the Kangar–Pattani Line; KPL) exists in the Indo‐Sundaic region of Southeast Asia. Mechanisms constraining species distribution here are at present poorly understood, but it is hypothesized that species differ in their tolerances of abiotic factors, in particular water availability. Under this hypothesis, we anticipate differences in performance or habitat preferences, or both, of species differing in distribution with respect to the KPL. The aim of this study is to test whether geographical distributions can be used to explain variation in growth, mortality and habitat preferences in co‐occurring tree species differing in their distribution in relation to the KPL.Location Pasoh Forest Reserve, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia; south of the KPL.Methods All tree species within a 50‐ha forest dynamics plot were classified as widespread or southern based upon their distributions in relation to the KPL and as habitat specialists or generalists based on spatial association with soil‐based habitat categories. Growth and mortality rates, variation in growth and mortality with respect to soil type, and levels of habitat association were quantified for species with different geographical distributions.Results Differences existed in species performance based upon geographical distributions. Specifically, widespread species had lower growth rates than did species restricted to the aseasonal forests. Mortality rates did not differ as a function of geographical distribution. The growth responses of species to soil habitats also diverged, such that differences in performance of widespread species among soil types were more conservative than those of species restricted in their distribution to the aseasonal forests. However, the proportion of species showing positive habitat associations did not differ significantly between widespread and southern species.Main conclusions Distribution‐based differences in species performance and response to soil type support the hypothesis that species tolerant of wider climatic variation perform less well in any given environment due to limitations on plasticity. These performance differences provide quantitative evidence of the role of climatic transitions in determining tree species distributions in relation to the Kangar–Pattani Line in the Indo‐Malay region. Such differences in performance have important implications for our understanding of biodiversity gradients and responses of Indo‐Sundaic forests to climate change.
Comparative disposition of pharmacologic markers for cytochrome P‐450 mediated metabolism, glomerular filtration rate, and extracellular and total body fluid volume of Greyhound and Beagle dogs
Authors: KUKANICH B. , COETZEE J. F. , GEHRING R. , HUBIN M. 
Published: June 2007

The purpose of the study was to compare the disposition of pharmacologic markers for cytochrome P‐450 (CYP) metabolism, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and extracellular (ECFV) and total body fluid volumes (TBFV) of Greyhounds and Beagles. Six healthy Greyhound and six healthy Beagle dogs were studied. Antipyrine, a marker for CYP metabolism and TBFV, and inulin, a marker for the GFR and ECFV, were administered i.v. Samples were collected at predetermined times and plasma was analyzed by validated high‐pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods.There were no differences in the disposition or pharmacokinetic parameters for inulin between the dog breeds. However, the clearance of antipyrine (mean = 8.33 mL/min/kg) in Greyhounds was significantly slower than Beagles (13.42 mL/min/kg,P = 0.004). The volume of distribution of antipyrine was significantly larger in Greyhounds (0.789 L/kg) than in Beagles (0.644 L/kg,P = 0.01). The half‐life of antipyrine was significantly longer in Greyhounds (1.09 h) compared with Beagles (0.55 h,P = 0.002). Thein vitroplasma protein binding of antipyrine was significantly less in Greyhounds (28%) compared with Beagles (40.3%,P = 0.008).Greyhounds exhibited significantly slower CYP metabolism, higher TBFV, and lowerin vitroprotein binding of antipyrine compared with Beagles. No differences in GFR or ECFV were found.
How special are brightest group and cluster galaxies?
Authors: Von Der Linden Anja , Best Philip N. , Kauffmann Guinevere , White Simon D. M. 
Published: June 2007

Abstract
We use the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to construct a sample of 625 brightest group and cluster galaxies (BCGs) together with control samples of non-BCGs matched in stellar mass, redshift and colour. We investigate how the systematic properties of BCGs depend on stellar mass and on their privileged location near the cluster centre. The groups and clusters that we study are drawn from the C4 catalogue of Miller et al. but we have developed improved algorithms for identifying the BCG and for measuring the cluster velocity dispersion. Since the SDSS photometric pipeline tends to underestimate the luminosities of large galaxies in dense environments, we have developed a correction for this effect which can be readily applied to the published catalogue data. We find that BCGs are larger and have higher velocity dispersions than non-BCGs of the same stellar mass, which implies that BCGs contain a larger fraction of dark matter. In contrast to non-BCGs, the dynamical mass-to-light ratio of BCGs does not vary as a function of galaxy luminosity. Hence BCGs lie on a different Fundamental Plane than ordinary elliptical galaxies. BCGs also follow a steeper Faber–Jackson relation than non-BCGs, as suggested by models in which BCGs assemble via dissipationless mergers along preferentially radial orbits. We find tentative evidence that this steepening is stronger in more massive clusters. BCGs have similar mean stellar ages and metallicities to non-BCGs of the same mass, but they have somewhat higher α/Fe ratios, indicating that star formation may have occurred over a shorter time-scale in the BCGs. Finally, we find that BCGs are more likely to host radio-loud active galactic nuclei than other galaxies of the same mass, but are less likely to host an optical active galactic nucleus (AGN). The differences we find are more pronounced for the less massive BCGs, i.e. they are stronger at the galaxy group level.