bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The health and safety of young people at work: a Canadian perspective
Authors: McCloskey E. 
Published: April 2008

PurposeTo review recent research on work injuries among young workers, to examine efforts of Canadian authorities to reduce injury rates among this group, and to identify indicators of success. The information is useful in the design of public health programs or within organizations employing young workers, and identifies future research needs.Design/methodology/approachA range of recently published (1998‐2007) systematic and narrative reviews, research papers, government documents and websites, primarily from Canadian sources, was reviewed. Documents were critically reviewed to identify factors associated with increased risk of injury, and to examine the use of social marketing approaches in the prevention of injury.FindingsRecent research tends to confirm that the types of jobs that young workers do, and the fact that they often have only short‐term experience in the job, are major factors contributing to the increased risk that young workers experience. Social marketing is being widely used in Canada as a prevention approach, but research on its effectiveness is in its infancy.Originality/valueThe paper summarises recent research on young worker safety, highlighting findings that are of value for program design and future research needs.
The psychosocial environment: towards an agenda for research
Authors: Kevin Kelloway E. , Teed Michael , Kelley Elizabeth 
Published: April 2008

PurposeTo review current knowledge regarding the workplace psychosocial environment including the nature and outcomes of organizational stressors and the effectiveness of workplace stress interventions.Design/methodology/approachProvides a narrative review of the extant literature and extrapolate findings from the emergent literature on positive psychology.FindingsA great deal is known about the environmental characteristics that cause or contribute to workplace stress. The literature on interventions is more sparse.Research limitations/implicationsResearch on the psychosocial environment must move beyond a reliance on cross‐sectional, self‐report data, focus on demonstrating the effectiveness and utility of organizational interventions and expand the domain of psychosocial research to include a more positive focus.Originality/valueProvides three central propositions for advancing research on the psychosocial environment in organizations.
Should business invest in the health of its workers?
Authors: Cooper John 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis article aims to describe the implementation of a health and wellbeing programme at Unilever in the United Kingdom.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken in the article is a descriptive analysis of the setting up and ongoing progress of the programme.FindingsFinds that a large majority of participants had higher energy levels since joining the programme, probably because they were more physically active, and were better able to cope with the pressures and stressors of being senior executives in a large organization.Originality/valueThe article illustrates how the programme has proved to be of benefit not only to employees but also to the business itself: a true win/win situation.
The risk of failure of controls and levers of change: an examination of two Italian public sectors
Authors: Minelli Eliana , Rebora Gianfranco , Turri Matteo 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe aims of the paper are to: present a theoretical framework for analysing the functioning and consequences of control systems; understand and compare the structure and impact of control systems on two Italian public administrations also in relation to possible situations of crisis and failure; and examine the possible link between the organisational impact of control systems (and their failure if this is the case) and the characteristics of the sectors involved.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed theoretical framework (analysis of the concept, methods, bodies, uses, coherence and impact of control) is applied through a parallel examination of two cases: control systems in Italian universities and ministries over the past 15 years. The objective is to understand why similar rules concerning control systems bring about different consequences and results.FindingsAnalysis over a 15 years period shows the effects of two very different strategic approaches and organisational choices in the face of very similar rules. Acceptance or otherwise of control, professional ability and competence, coherence between methods and the object of control and transparency all appear as discriminating factors in the failure or success of control systems. In universities, taking advantage of existing knowledge and professional skills, combining new internationally recognised assessment techniques with academic tradition and culture, focusing methods on specific activities such as teaching and research and arousing attention through transparency of evaluation outputs are the main factors which keep the risk of failure at bay. Evaluation has to cope with the allocation of resource and power issues, but is beginning to take on importance in change management. On the other hand, the case of the ministries shows how the new public management‐type of control exist in a closed cultural context where methods and instruments are taken up without adapting to core processes and where there is secrecy regarding control outputs.Research limitations/implicationsThis is an exploratory study that will have to be confirmed by further verification in the future that could include new cases to make the analysis even more exhaustive. The subject of the paper does not lend itself to quantitative studies.Practical implicationsNot to concentrate only on the methodological aspects of control activities, but also focus on all those features of control systems that permit the actual use of output and bring about concrete results in public administrations.Originality/valueIn the past few years, control systems have very often been introduced into the public sector without paying enough attention to how they really work and their true outcome. This paper faces the problem by putting forward a theoretical framework and empirical evidence that may be used by the academic world and public administration.
The need for transparency in financial reporting
Authors: Lander Gerald H. , Auger Kathleen A. 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe paper's aim is to research and discuss the issue of the lack of transparency in financial reporting and how companies take advantage of accounting rules in ways that inhibit transparency.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was carried out to see what had been written and discussed. Various legal cases were studied as well as Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) studies of the impact of off‐balance‐sheet arrangements allowed by the FASB and SEC.FindingsThere are many ways that companies accomplish off‐balance‐sheet financing by taking advantage of rules‐based accounting. If there is not a rule to prevent an entity from handling a particular transaction a certain way, then it is difficult for the auditor to stop it from happening.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is of descriptive nature. There are many policy implications from the results of the paper for all regulatory agencies. The economic substance of transactions needs to be communicated.Practical implicationsFinancial managers and financial consultants need to refocus the structuring of financial transactions so that they comply with generally accepted accounting principles and that the economic substance of financial transactions is communicated. More accountability and ethical awareness needs to be instilled in the individuals who deceitfully structure financial transactions. Regulatory bodies need to ensure more transparency by closing loopholes and better enforcement of accounting standards. Boards of directors, especially the audit committees, need to be sure that a company is communicating the true economic reality of the financial transactions and financial position of the business entity. Off‐balance‐sheet financing is one of the most significant ways, among others, that the user of financial statements can be misled. It is time for regulatory bodies to eliminate overly rules‐based standards, clearly state the economic objective of each standard, and require firms to disclose the economic motivations for the accounting practices they adopt.Originality/valueThe value of the paper is that it studies the problems of the lack of transparency in financial reporting. It then suggests that if what is currently being done, (i.e. rules‐based accounting), is not working, then a new approach, principles‐based accounting needs to be implemented by the regulatory agencies. This paper provides an overview of the lack of financial statement transparency.
Constitutive practice and institutional change: ethics and behavior
Authors: Beaubien Louis 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThis paper aims to discuss the concepts contained in communities of practice theory (COPT) and how they might contribute to greater understanding of organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws upon COPT as a means to broaden the perspective of institutional theory.FindingsThe findings provide insight into the processes surrounding organizational change. The notion of change as both intentional actions and unintended consequences is explored through a review of the case of Arthur Andersen and Company.Research limitations/implicationsThe study presents a historically informed case study that presents a novel theoretical approach for examinations of behavior, practices and ethics in organizations. Future work based on broader empirical examinations would enrich the findings presented in this study.Practical implicationsThe study provides a means to examine organizations in practice and expands awareness of how behaviors in organizations evolve and might be shaped and encouraged over time.Originality/valueThe study introduces a novel theoretical vocabulary to the accounting academy COPT that has the potential to expand our understanding of organizations through examinations of practice.
Intellectual capital disclosure by traditional US companies: a longitudinal assessment
Authors: Sonnier Blaise M. , Carson Kerry D. , Phillips Carson Paula 
Published: April 2008

PurposeThe paper aims to evaluate 141 publicly traded US firms in the traditional sectors of the economy to assess intellectual capital disclosure levels.Design/methodology/approachContent analysis was conducted using 10‐K annual reports.FindingsIt was found that traditional sector companies had a mean disclosure of intellectual capital of 24.227 in fiscal year 2000 and 27.709 in fiscal year 2004 (t=3.68, df = 140, p=0.01). This supported the authors hypothesis that traditional sector companies would show an increase in the level of intellectual capital disclosure in 2004 as compared to 2000. Within the total sample, 78 companies increased their intellectual capital disclosure in fiscal year 2004 as compared to fiscal year 2000 (z=−3.4756, p=0.01).Research limitations/implicationsWhile the authors generated 121 phrases to tap the intellectual capital construct, there may be other word combinations given the differences in vocabulary between academia and the corporate world.Practical implicationsThese findings are particularly noteworthy because traditional sector companies are capital intensive and are reliant upon fixed assets which are reported on the balance sheet. This study suggests that even managers in the traditional sectors of the US economy are coming to recognize the growing importance of intellectual capital.Originality/valueThis is the only longitudinal study to focus on intellectual capital disclosure of traditional firms in the USA, and this research was conducted over the time that the Financial Accounting Standards Board called for increased disclosure of intangible assets.
INVESTMENT IN HOSPITAL CARE TECHNOLOGY UNDER DIFFERENT PURCHASING RULES: A REAL OPTION APPROACH
Authors: Levaggi Rosella , Michele Moretto 
Published: April 2008

ABSTRACTQuality of health care is the product of several factors as the literature has long recognized. In this paper we focus on the relationship between quality and investment in health technology by analysing the optimal investment decision in a new health care technology of a representative hospital that maximizes its surplus in an uncertain environment. The new technology allows the hospital to increase the quality level of the care provided, but the investment is irreversible. The paper uses the framework of the real option literature to show how the purchaser might influence the quality level by setting a quality‐contingent long‐term contract with the hospital.The investment in new technology is in fact best incentivated within a long‐term contract where the number of treatments reimbursed depends on the level of investment made when the technology is new. In this way, asymmetry of information does not affect the outcome of the contract. In our model in fact the purchaser can verify the level of the investment only at the end of each period but the purchasing rule has an anticipating effect on the decision to invest.
Medicinal plants used in the treatment of fungal and bacterial infections in and around Queen Elizabeth Biosphere Reserve, western Uganda
Authors: Kamatenesi‐Mugisha Maud , Oryem‐Origa Hannington , Odyek Olwa , Makawiti Dominic W. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractIn Uganda, bacterial and fungal infections are prevalent especially, the sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS. Because of low socio‐economic empowerment, traditional beliefs and cultural barriers, the suffering people resort to use of herbal remedies in search of cure especially for rural women who rarely discuss/disclose diseases affecting secretive body parts. The study documented 67 medicinal plants distributed among 27 families and 51 genera used to treat fungal and bacterial infections in and around Queen Elizabeth Biosphere Reserve in western Uganda. The highest numbers of species were from Families Lamiaceae (13) and Asteraceae (11). The most commonly harvested plant parts were leaves (88.1%) and roots (23.9%). The most common growth form harvested were herbs (47.8%) and most of the medicinal plants used were wild species (67.2%). The main methods of herbal drug preparation were by squeezing, boiling and pounding and were mainly orally administered. However, most of the steamed plant species were inserted in the birth canal besides oral administration. Some plants such as Allium sativum, Aloe vera and Ocimum gratissimum are topically applied on the affected body parts. This vital indigenous knowledge about healing secretive and discrete diseases among the marginalized population requires urgent ethnobotanical studies to sustain livelihoods.
TN : TP ratio and planktivorous fish do not affect nutrient‐chlorophyll relationships in shallow lakes
Authors: WANG HAI‐JUN , LIANG XIAO‐MIN , JIANG PING‐HONG , WANG JIAN , WU SHI‐KAI , WANG HONG‐ZHU 
Published: April 2008

Summary1. In previous work, phytoplankton regulation in freshwater lakes has been associated with many factors. Among these, the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus (TN : TP) has been widely proposed as an index to identify whether phytoplankton are N‐ or P‐limited. From another point of view, it has been suggested that planktivorous fish can be used to control phytoplankton.2. Large‐scale investigations of phytoplankton biomass [measured as chlorophyll a, (chl‐a)] were carried out in 45 mid‐lower Yangtze shallow lakes to test hypotheses concerning nutrient limitation (assessed with TN : TP ratios) and phytoplankton control by planktivorous fish.3. Regression analyses indicated that TP was the primary regulating factor and TN the second regulating factor for both annual and summer phytoplankton chl‐a. In separate nutrient–chl‐a regression analyses for lakes of different TN : TP ratios, TP was also superior to TN in predicting chl‐a at all particular TN : TP ranges and over the entire TN : TP spectrum. Further analyses found that chl‐a : TP was not influenced by TN : TP, while chl‐a : TN was positively and highly correlated to TP : TN.4. Based on these results, and others in the literature, we argue that the TN : TP ratio is inappropriate as an index to identify limiting nutrients. It is almost impossible to specify a ‘cut‐off’ TN : TP ratio to identify a limiting nutrient for a multi‐species community because optimal N : P ratios vary greatly among phytoplankton species.5. Lakes with yields of planktivorous fish (silver and bighead carp, the species native to China) >100 kg ha−1 had significantly higher chl‐a and lower Secchi depth than those with yields <100 kg ha−1. TP–chl‐a and TP–Secchi depth relationships are not significantly different between lakes with yields >100 kg ha−1 or <100 kg ha−1. These results indicate that the fish failed to decrease chl‐a yield or enhance ZSD. Therefore, silver carp and bighead carp are not recommended as a biotic agent for phytoplankton control in lake management if the goal is to control the entire phytoplankton and to enhance water quality.
Changes of meat quality characteristics and intramuscular connective tissue of beef semitendinosus muscle during postmortem aging for Chinese Yellow bulls
Authors: Li Chunbao , Zhou Guanghong , Xu Xinglian 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThis study was designed to explore the changes of meat quality characteristics and intramuscular connective tissue of beef semitendinosus muscle during postmortem aging for Chinese Yellow bulls. Semitendinosus muscles were obtained at day 4 postmortem and then further aged for different periods. Chemical determinations, histological and mechanical measurements were performed for the raw and cooked steaks on days 4, 11, 14, 21, and 28 postmortem, respectively. The results showed that postmortem aging resulted in an increase in moisture content and collagen solubility, a decrease in filtering residues, primary perimysial thickness, fibre diameter, Warner‐Bratzler shear force, and transition temperature of the endomysium. The synergic effects of the myofibril and the intramuscular connective tissue determined the tenderness of aged beef.
Seasonal changes in the proximate chemical compositions and fatty acids of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) and horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) from the north eastern Mediterranean Sea
Authors: Celik Mehmet 
Published: April 2008

SummaryThe effects of seasonal variations on the proximate chemical compositions and fatty acid profiles of chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) and horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) captured in the north‐eastern Mediterranean Sea were investigated. Protein fluctuations were observed in two species for all seasons. The lipid content of both species was lower in winter than in autumn and spring. In all seasons, the major fatty acids in both species were observed to be palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), oleic acid (18:1 ω9), eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5 ω3) and docosahexaenoic acid (20:6 ω3). Chub mackerel and horse mackerel exhibited seasonal fluctuations in their fatty acid contents. The fatty acid profile of the two species had a higher degree of unsaturation during winter. The levels of EPA in chub mackerel in winter, spring and autumn were 5.96%, 4.86% and 4.33%, respectively, while those of DHA were 24.94%, 18.75% and 17.12%, respectively. The levels of EPA in horse mackerel in winter, spring and autumn were 5.42%, 5.03% and 4.86%, respectively, while those of DHA were 14.96%, 13.31% and 11.10%, respectively. The PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) values and ω3/ω6 ratios in the two species were highest in winter. The results indicate that chub mackerel and horse mackerel captured in the north‐eastern Mediterranean Sea, which are among the most important fish in Turkey and of international commercial value, are a good source of nutrition for human consumption in terms of their proximate chemical composition and fatty acids.
Systematic deletion of Salmonella small RNA genes identifies CyaR, a conserved CRP‐dependent riboregulator of OmpX synthesis
Authors: Papenfort Kai , Pfeiffer Verena , Lucchini Sacha , Sonawane Avinash , Hinton Jay C. D. , Vogel Jörg 
Published: April 2008

SummaryPost‐transcriptional repression of porin synthesis has emerged as a major function of Hfq‐dependent, small non‐coding RNAs (sRNAs). Many enterobacteria express OmpX‐like porins, a family of outer membrane proteins whose physiological roles and structural properties have been studied intensively. While regulatory sRNAs have been identified for most major and many minor porins of Salmonella and Escherichia coli, a post‐transcriptional regulator of OmpX levels has never been found. Here, we have taken a ‘reverse target search’ approach by systematic inactivation of Salmonella sRNA genes, and screening 35 sRNA deletion strains for effects on OmpX synthesis. We have identified the Hfq‐dependent CyaR (formerly RyeE) sRNA as an ompX repressor. Global transcriptomic profiling following induction of CyaR expression suggests that ompX mRNA is the primary target of this sRNA under standard growth conditions. The results of phylogenetic and mutational analyses suggest that a conserved RNA hairpin of CyaR, featuring a C‐rich apical loop, acts to sequester the Shine–Dalgarno sequence of ompX mRNA and to inhibit translational initiation. We have also discovered that cyaR expression is tightly controlled by the cyclic AMP receptor protein, CRP. This represents a new link between porin repression and nutrient availability that is likely to be widely conserved among enterobacteria.
Polarized growth in fungi – interplay between the cytoskeleton, positional markers and membrane domains
Authors: Fischer Reinhard , Zekert Nadine , Takeshita Norio 
Published: April 2008

SummaryOne kind of the most extremely polarized cells in nature are the indefinitely growing hyphae of filamentous fungi. A continuous flow of secretion vesicles from the hyphal cell body to the growing hyphal tip is essential for cell wall and membrane extension. Because microtubules (MT) and actin, together with their corresponding motor proteins, are involved in the process, the arrangement of the cytoskeleton is a crucial step to establish and maintain polarity. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe, actin‐mediated vesicle transportation is sufficient for polar cell extension, but in S. pombe, MTs are in addition required for the establishment of polarity. The MT cytoskeleton delivers the so‐called cell‐end marker proteins to the cell pole, which in turn polarize the actin cytoskeleton. Latest results suggest that this scenario may principally be conserved from S. pombe to filamentous fungi. In addition, in filamentous fungi, MTs could provide the tracks for long‐distance vesicle movement. In this review, we will compare the interaction of the MT and the actin cytoskeleton and their relation to the cortex between yeasts and filamentous fungi. In addition, we will discuss the role of sterol‐rich membrane domains in combination with cell‐end marker proteins for polarity establishment.