bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The species composition of the human intestinal microbiota differs between particle‐associated and liquid phase communities
Authors: Walker Alan W. , Duncan Sylvia H. , Harmsen Hermie J. M. , Holtrop Grietje , Welling Gjalt W. , Flint Harry J. 
Published: August 2008

SummaryMany of the substrates available as energy sources for microorganisms in the human colon, including dietary plant fibre and secreted mucin, are insoluble. It seems likely that such insoluble substrates support a specialized microbiota, and in order to test this hypothesis, faecal samples from four healthy subjects were fractionated into insoluble (washed particulate) and liquid fractions. Analysis of 1252 PCR‐amplified 16S rRNA sequences revealed a significantly lower percentage of Bacteroidetes (P = 0.021) and a significantly higher percentage of Firmicutes (P = 0.029) among bacterial sequences amplified from particle‐associated (mean 76.8% Firmicutes, 18.5% Bacteroidetes) compared with liquid phase (mean 65.8% Firmicutes, 28.5% Bacteroidetes). Within the Firmicutes, the most significant association with solid particles was found for relatives of Ruminococcus‐related clostridial cluster IV species that include Ruminococcus flavefaciens and R. bromii, which together accounted for 12.2% of particle‐associated, but only 3.3% of liquid phase, sequences. These findings were strongly supported by microscopy, using group‐specific FISH probes able to detect these species. This work suggests that the primary colonizers of insoluble substrates found in the gut are restricted to certain specialized groups of bacteria. The abundance of such primary degraders may often be underestimated because of the difficulty in recovering these bacteria and their nucleic acids from the insoluble substrate.
A multinational, multi‐centre, observational, cross‐sectional survey assessing diabetes secondary care in Central and Eastern Europe (DEPAC Survey)
Authors: Andel M. , Grzeszczak W. , Michalek J. , Medvescek M. , Norkus A. , Rasa I. , Niewada M. , Kamiński B. , Kraml P. , Madacsy L. ,   the DEPAC Group
Published: August 2008

AbstractAims  The objective of this study was to assess diabetes care in outpatient diabetes clinics in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.Methods  Questionnaires for each randomly enrolled patient were completed by an endocrinologist or diabetologist. Data concerning age, sex, diabetes duration, diabetes type, treatment type, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C), triglycerides (TG) and high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), blood pressure (BP) and short‐ and long‐term diabetes complications were recorded. Questionnaires were analysed centrally for each country and stratified for Type 1 diabetes (T1D), Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and other types of diabetes.Results  Data on 10 950 individuals were analysed (mean population age 56.2 years; females 52%; T1D 22.9%; T2D 75.3%; mean time from diagnosis 11 years). Patients with HbA1c within target (< 6.5%): T1D 13.1%, T2D 21.4%; for TC levels (< 4.5 mmol/l): T1D 37%, T2D 20%; for TG levels (< 1.7 mmol/l): T1D 78%, T2D 44%; for HDL‐C (> 1.1 mmol/l): T1D 81%, T2D 60%; for LDL‐C (< 2.5 mmol/l): T1D 36%, T2D 23%; for BP (< 130/80 mm Hg): T1D 42%, T2D 9%. The prevalence of severe hypoglycaemia (within the last 6 months) was 12% in T1D and 2% in T2D. Prevalence of diabetic ketoacidosis was 0.3–6.6%, blindness 0.15–1.3% and diabetic nephropathy 19–42%.Conclusions  The data show the current quality of care and potential areas for improvement. The quality of care is generally comparable with that in Western Europe.
Using chorotypes to deconstruct biogeographical and biodiversity patterns: the case of breeding waterbirds in Europe
Authors: Real Raimundo , Olivero Jesús , Vargas J. Mario 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTAim  To deconstruct the biodiversity pattern of the 152 waterbird species breeding in Europe to better understand its multiple causal processes.Location  Continental Europe, Iceland and the British Isles.Methods  We considered the orders that are typically comprised by swimming, diving or wading birds, which inhabit marshes, fens, peatlands and fresh, brackish or salt waters, including coastal waters. We used the 55 main river basins of Europe as geographical units, and searched for either chorotypes (groups of similar species distributions) or gradual replacement of species throughout the river basins. Chorotypes were recognized by applying a probabilistic classification method to the distributions. Then we used GLM to characterize the extent and the species richness of each chorotype according to energy availability (higher levels of environmental energy favouring the presence of species), climatic stress due to an excess of energy, availability of water, productivity, seasonality and surface area.Results  One hundred and forty species significantly aggregate into nine chorotypes. The other 12 species, most of them marine, are centred on Great Britain, dropping away progressively on coasts further away from there. Differences in either the availability of energy or climatic stress significantly characterized the distribution of seven chorotypes comprising 90.8% of the species.Main conclusions  Chorotypes are meaningful and useful to deconstruct biodiversity patterns. Our results suggest that energy is the main factor related to the biogeographical patterns of breeding waterbirds in Europe, and provide an insight into regional trends of species richness previously analysed with a habitat‐scale perspective.
Composition and structure of Caribbean bat (Chiroptera) assemblages: effects of inter‐island distance, area, elevation and hurricane‐induced disturbance
Authors: Presley Steven J. , Willig Michael R. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTAim  Although bats of the Caribbean have been studied extensively, previous work is largely restricted to zoogeography, phylogeography or the effects of island characteristics on species richness. Variation among islands in species composition that is related to geographical or environmental variation remains poorly understood for much of the Caribbean.Location  Caribbean islands, including the Bahamas, Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles.Methods  Using presence–absence data, we assessed the extent to which island area, maximum island elevation, inter‐island distance and hurricane‐induced disturbance affected patterns of composition and nestedness for bats in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles. Analyses were conducted for all species, as well as for two broadly defined guilds: carnivores and herbivores.Results  For the Bahamas, only inter‐island distance accounted for variation in species composition between islands. For the Greater and Lesser Antilles, differences in island area and inter‐island distance accounted for differences in species composition between islands. Variation in species composition was not related significantly to differences in elevation or hurricane‐related disturbance. In general, results of analyses restricted to a particular broad guild (i.e. carnivores or herbivores) mirrored those for all bats. Bat species composition was nested significantly in each island group. Nestedness was stronger in the Greater Antilles and in the Lesser Antilles than in the Bahamas. Carnivore assemblages were nested significantly in the Greater and in the Lesser Antilles, but not in the Bahamas. In contrast, herbivore assemblages were nested significantly in each island group.Main conclusions  Inter‐island distance had a greater effect on compositional similarity of Caribbean bat assemblages than did island area, elevation or disturbance related to hurricanes. Differential immigration and hierarchical habitat distributions associated with elevational relief are likely to be primary causes for nestedness of Caribbean bat assemblages.
Recognizing the role of perception in action at 6 months
Authors: Luo Yuyan , Johnson Susan C. 
Published: August 2008

Abstract The present research examined whether infants as young as 6 months of age would consider what objects a human agent could perceive when interpreting her actions on the objects. In two experiments, the infants took the agent's actions of repeatedly reaching for and grasping one of two possible objects as suggesting her preference for that object only when the agent could detect both objects, not when the agent's perceptual access to the second object was absent, either because a large screen hid the object from the agent (Experiment 1), or because the agent sat with her back toward the object (Experiment 2). These results suggest that young infants recognize the role of perception in constraining an agent's goal‐actions.
Does input influence uptake? Links between maternal talk, processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish‐learning children
Authors: Hurtado Nereyda , Marchman Virginia A. , Fernald Anne 
Published: August 2008

Abstract It is well established that variation in caregivers’ speech is associated with language outcomes, yet little is known about the learning principles that mediate these effects. This longitudinal study (n = 27) explores whether Spanish‐learning children's early experiences with language predict efficiency in real‐time comprehension and vocabulary learning. Measures of mothers’ speech at 18 months were examined in relation to children's speech processing efficiency and reported vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. Children of mothers who provided more input at 18 months knew more words and were faster in word recognition at 24 months. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the influences of caregiver speech on speed of word recognition and vocabulary were largely overlapping. This study provides the first evidence that input shapes children's lexical processing efficiency and that vocabulary growth and increasing facility in spoken word comprehension work together to support the uptake of the information that rich input affords the young language learner.
Socially Responsible Investment: Explaining its Uneven Development and Human Resource Management Consequences
Authors: Waring Peter , Edwards Tony 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: ConceptualResearch Question/Issue: In this paper we address two research questions. First, to what extent has Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) developed unevenly across countries with different corporate governance systems and how might we explain this? Second, what consequences does its uneven development have for human resource management (HRM)?Research Findings/Insights: We map the nature and extent of SRI equities across five industrialized countries – Germany, Japan, the UK, the US and Australia. We find that differences between the institutional, corporate governance and cultural characteristics of national business systems explain variations in the size and significance of SRI across countries. We also find that SRI has an impact on HRM in institutional contexts such as where its influence is complemented by strong employee voice institutions.Theoretical/Academic Implications: The notion of “institutional complementarities,” within and across spheres of a corporate governance system is a useful theoretical lens for understanding the varied impact of SRI across different corporate governance systems. Further, future studies of HRM will need to consider the heterodox pressures produced by SRI that may influence its conduct.Practitioner/Policy Implications: Implications for SRI fund managers are considered, especially how they might use the notion of institutional complementarities to help in their investment decisions and in the impact they can exert. Specifically SRI funds are likely to be more effective where they can form alliances with other existing bodies or where they spur the development of such bodies. The implications for other actors in HRM and corporate governance are also considered.
Career Concerns of Top Executives, Managerial Ownership and CEO Succession
Authors: Boyer M. Martin , Ortiz‐Molina Hernán 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: We hypothesize that a top manager's stock ownership in the firm signals to the board information about his or her privately known ability to run the company. As a consequence, the outcome of a CEO succession is affected by the managers’ ownership choices, which therefore depend on their career concerns.Research Findings/Results: Our study of CEO turnover events in US firms provides support for our basic hypothesis. Specifically, we find that (1) lower insider ownership makes outside CEO succession more likely; (2) higher ownership by an insider increases his or her chances of promotion; (3) non‐appointed managers with higher ownership are more likely to reduce their ownership stake or to leave the firm following CEO succession; and (4) ownership reduction and departure decisions are more likely following outside CEO appointments.Theoretical Implications: Consistent with signaling theory, our analysis suggests that (1) managerial ownership plays a role in resolving asymmetric information problems between top managers and the board of directors in the context of CEO succession, and (2) managers’ portfolio decisions and their departure decisions are driven in part by their career opportunities in the firm.Practical Implications: By monitoring managerial ownership decisions surrounding CEO turnover, boards of directors can acquire information about the potential candidates’ ability to run the firm and thus better identify the best successor. As managers can more easily signal their information to the board when their ownership choices are observable to the public, security laws that encourage the disclosure of managers’ beneficial ownership stakes may increase the efficiency of boards’ choices and firm value.
Corporate Governance and Firm Value: The Case of Venezuela
Authors: Garay Urbi , González Maximiliano 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: We examine the relationship between corporate governance and firm value, and evaluate the relatively understudied governance practices in Venezuela.Research Findings/Results: We construct a corporate governance index (CGI) for publicly‐listed firms that is free of self‐selection and self‐reported bias and find that its mean value is below the emerging market average in general, and below the Latin American average in particular. This weak investor protection environment makes Venezuela a good setting to study how corporate governance practices affect firm value. We show that an increase of 1 per cent in the CGI results in an average increase of 11.3 per cent in dividend payouts, 9.9 per cent in price‐to‐book, and 2.7 per cent in Tobin's Q. These findings are robust after considering the potential endogeneity of our regression variables.Theoretical Implications: Results contrast to those reported in the US due to the higher interfirm variations in CGI. Our findings are consistent with the theoretical models that relate good corporate governance practices to higher investor confidence, and with the agency model of dividend payout. Furthermore, we conjecture that our results are generalizable mainly to other countries where investor protection is low.Practical Implications: Two direct insights to policy makers and practitioners follow from our analysis: first, managers in weak investor protection environments could differentiate their firms adopting corporate policies to improve their governance structure; and second, our measure of governance practices gives investors a quantitative tool to better assess Venezuelan firms.
The Adoption of Deferred Share Unit Plans for Outside Directors and Shareholder Wealth
Authors: Khalil Samer , Magnan Michel , André Paul 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: EmpiricalResearch Question/Issue: We examine the impact of the adoption of deferred share unit (DSU) plans for directors on a firm's stock market value. We also examine the differential response to plan and firm characteristics.Research Findings/Results: The sample comprises all firms within Canada's top 1,000 that adopted DSU plans between 1997 (first one) and 2005. Results show that adopters exhibit positive abnormal returns at the adoption announcements and that these vary in accordance with DSU attributes: Investors reward firms that adopt stricter standards. Findings also indicate a more positive reaction when firms are widely held, have higher levels of related directors, higher free cash flows, and are not cross‐listed in the US.Theoretical/Implications: The paper adds to the scant literature on directors' compensation by examining a recent development in directors' pay; DSU plans having many distinguishing features that set them apart from stock options. Second, it investigates whether investors' reaction varies with DSU attributes. Third, the specificity of the Canadian settings allows an analysis of the reaction to DSU adoption given different ownership structures and stock market listing.Practial Implications: The positive stock market reaction to DSU adoption provides valid economic underpinnings to the current worldwide trend in director compensation toward the cancellation of stock option plans and their substitution by DSU. However, the adoption of DSU plans for directors does not add much value in settings where there is already good monitoring by a large shareholder, by a broader investor base or by the board.
Survival of the Embedded: Expelling and Embedding Forces on Members of the Corporate Elite
Authors: Ward Andrew J. , Feldman Daniel C. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTManuscript Type: ConceptualResearch Question/Issue: Prior research on corporate elites has focused on how interlocking directorships serve to create inter‐organizational linkages and on what happens when board members lose their seats and those linkages are broken. Rather than focusing on the ties in corporate networks, here we focus on the nodes of these networks, the individual members of boards of directors.Research Findings/Insights: We identify the conditions under which a director will be able to retain his/her board seat even after he or she loses the executive position that provided initial entry onto the board.Theoretical/Academic Implications: The case of outside directors who have lost their executive positions in their home organizations provides an excellent opportunity to examine two competing theoretical perspectives: the inter‐corporate and intra‐class perspectives on corporate elites.Practitioner/Policy Implications: Following the passage of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (2002), directorships are demanding an increasing amount of directors' time and directors without full‐time executive positions elsewhere can actually devote more energy to board activities. An unintended consequence of this legislation is a potential decrease in the number of directors who hold several board seats simultaneously. This may reduce the efficiency of information flow across organizations and slow the diffusion of innovation.
VALUATION OF MULTI‐FUNCTIONAL LAND USE BY COMMERCIAL INVESTORS: A CASE STUDY ON THE AMSTERDAM ZUIDAS MEGA‐PROJECT
Authors: RODENBURG CAROLINE A. , NIJKAMP PETER , DE GROOT HENRI L.F. , VERHOEF ERIK T. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTThe Amsterdam Zuidas area is planned to become a large multi‐functional development area with a mix of offices, dwellings and facilities. As part of a broader empirical investigation, the valuation of multi‐functional land use of this mega‐project by a specific class of stakeholders, namely, commercial investors, is examined in this paper. We are particularly interested in the expected impact of locational characteristics on urban land rent in the area. The study is based on an extensive interview questionnaire, in which future development scenarios and spatial externalities are also investigated. The study reveals that the expectations of investors are driven by a complex set of factors. Particularly important are accessibility and image. The relative importance of multi‐functionality is found to be modest.
SITE AND SITUATION FACTORS IN TRANSSHIPMENT PORTS: THE CASE OF THE CARIBBEAN BASIN
Authors: MCCALLA ROBERT J. 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTContainer shipping throughput at world ports is estimated to be over 380 million TEUs in 2006. Of that, close to 30 per cent is estimated to be transshipped cargo from one ship to another. This paper is about Caribbean transshipment ports and their possibilities for success. It is estimated that about 6 million TEUs were transshipped in the Caribbean Basin in 2004. Six ports – Colon, Kingston, Freeport, Rio Haina/Caucedo, Port of Spain/Point Lisas and Cartagena – are competing for transshipment traffic. Attributes of the ports are placed in a site‐situation framework. Of particular interest is the situation element of proximity to major shipping lanes, or intermediacy, as shown by deviation distance. A weighted deviation distance explains some of the transshipment volumes at the ports, but it is argued that site factors of infrastructure, management and productivity also contribute to transshipment success.
CONFLICTS AND STRUGGLES OVER URBAN WATER CYCLES: THE CASE OF BARCELONA 1880–2004
Authors: MASJUAN EDUARD , MARCH HUG , DOMENE ELENA , SAURÍ DAVID 
Published: August 2008

ABSTRACTHistorical accounts of the development of a modern city have paid a great deal of attention to the evolution of the water supply and the sanitation systems while the recognition of water as an element of social power and political conflict remains less studied. This paper highlights the relationship between the water cycle and its management and social conflicts in the development of the city of Barcelona in the twentieth century. Necessities, perceptions, and visions of water have changed during the last century influenced by economic, political, social and environmental contexts, prompting a new water culture not free of contradictions. The Barcelona case also provides an opportunity to examine the discourses of public managers shifting from the supply‐led strategies towards water‐demand management approaches, the impact of the most polemical decisions related to water policy, and the vision of water as a source of social conflict.
FAITH‐BASED ORGANISATIONS AND URBAN SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE NETHERLANDS
Authors: BEAUMONT JUSTIN , DIAS CANDICE 
Published: August 2008

AbstractWhat is the changing and differentiated role played by faith‐based organisations (FBOs), in fighting social distress and aiming for social justice in cities in the Netherlands? Based on a series of semi‐structured interviews over a period of time and a desk study of FBOs, this paper draws on relations between urban governance and citizenship practices to tease out the implications for FBOs in politics of social justice. We argue that neoliberalisation: (1), opens spaces for the ‘reaching out’ and ‘de‐privatising’ of FBOs into the urban public realm in new and sometimes contrasting ways; and (2), creates incentives for FBOs to professionalise and maximise efficiency, heralding a new entrepreneurial approach in the urban politics of social justice. Referring to the Oudewijken Pastoraat and the House of Hope in Rotterdam, we reveal striking differences in philosophy and methodology of faith responses to social distress. Changing governance of urban neighbourhoods rooted in professionalisation captures part of the explanation. We draw attention to the incremental and contested revalorising of faith actors as the informal, but increasingly professionalising, seat or underside of traditional social democratic welfare provision in the Netherlands. The paper concludes with a reflection on questions for new geographical inquiry on FBOs and cities.