bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Analysing the Performance of Firms Using a Decomposable Ideal Index Number to Link Profit, Prices and Productivity
Authors: Salerian John 
Published: June 2003

AbstractThis article reviews an index number framework that links changes in aggregate performance measures (such as profit, revenue, cost and total factor productivity) to changes in both the prices and quantities of key outputs and inputs. The framework provides a way of linking the aggregate performance measures to outcomes for individual customer groups, employees and owners of businesses. This information is useful to policy makers in evaluating the outcomes of economic reform, including the distributional consequences. It is also useful to regulators who need to understand and monitor both the consequences of their regulation and the response to their decisions by those being regulated. The article demonstrates that the logarithmic version of Fisher's Ideal index offers a useful way of integrating changes in profit, productivity and prices into a single analysis. The usefulness of the framework is illustrated by applying it to a data set for Australian National.
Protecting Employee Entitlements
Authors: Davis Kevin , Burrows Geoff 
Published: June 2003

AbstractCorporate failure exposes employees to the possible loss of sums due as deferred benefits such as arise from annual leave entitlements. Through such deferred benefits, employees are significant, often involuntary, providers of working capital to their employer. They are not necessarily adequately compensated for the risk involved, nor able to influence corporate governance in the ways available to other creditors. These issues have been largely neglected in the debate to date, and they provide the focus for an evaluation of alternative policies which have been proposed (or implemented) for protecting employee entitlements.
Unemployment Hysteresis in Australian States and Territories: Evidence from Panel Data Unit Root Tests
Authors: Smyth Russell 
Published: June 2003

AbstractThis article tests for hysteresis by applying panel data unit root tests to quarterly unemployment rates for Australian states and territories between 1982:2 and 2002:1. Panel tests proposed by Levin and Lin (1992) using ordinary least squares and O'Connell (1998) using feasible generalised least squares (which assume that under the alternative hypothesis of stationarity, all labour markets revert to the natural rate at the same speed) provide evidence in support of the natural rate hypothesis. However, the panel test proposed by Im, Pesaran and Shin (1997), which does not assume that all cross‐sectional units converge towards the equilibrium value at the same speed under the alternative and is therefore less restrictive than the other two panel tests, finds evidence of hysteresis. Given the advantages of the Im et al. (1997) test over the other two panel tests the results can be interpreted as being consistent with the existence of hysteresis in unemployment
Reflections on Recent Cognitive Behavioural Research with an Emphasis on Research in the United States of America
Authors: Golledge Reginald G. 
Published: June 2003

In this paper, I reflect on some of the more recent trends in cognitive behavioural research that includes work by geographers. In particular, I examine recent work on spatial decision‐making in the context of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Smart Environments, spatial cognition and human wayfinding behaviour, contributions to Geographic Information Science, and embellishing activity approaches that focus on episodic human behaviours. The paper emphasises that much of this research is multidisciplinary and that much of it is published in non‐geography journals. The paper concludes with some thoughts about future research directions, together with comments on how this research may influence the teaching and use of geographic concepts.ACRONYMSATISAdvanced Traveller Information SystemsCPMComputational Process ModelsCRTCathode Ray TubeDLDigital LibraryGISGeographic Information SystemGIScGeographic Information ScienceGPSGlobal Positioning SystemsITSIntelligent Transportation SystemsUCSBUniversity of California Santa BarbaraVEVirtual Environments
Assessment of Relationships Between Precipitation and Satellite Derived Vegetation Condition Within South Australia
Authors: Nightingale Joanne M. , Phinn Stuart R. 
Published: June 2003

The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) has evolved as a primary tool for monitoring continental‐scale vegetation changes and interpreting the impact of short to long‐term climatic events on the biosphere. The objective of this research was to assess the nature of relationships between precipitation and vegetation condition, as measured by the satellite‐derived NDVI within South Australia. The correlation, timing and magnitude of the NDVI response to precipitation were examined for different vegetation formations within the State (forest, scrubland, shrubland, woodland and grassland). Results from this study indicate that there are strong relationships between precipitation and NDVI both spatially and temporally within South Australia. Differences in the timing of the NDVI response to precipitation were evident among the five vegetation formations. The most significant relationship between rainfall and NDVI was within the forest formation. Negative correlations between NDVI and precipitation events indicated that vegetation green‐up is a result of seasonal patterns in precipitation. Spatial patterns in the average NDVI over the study period closely resembled the boundaries of the five classified vegetation formations within South Australia. Spatial variability within the NDVI data set over the study period differed greatly between and within the vegetation formations examined depending on the location within the state.ACRONYMSAVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution RadiometerENVSAEnvironments of South AustraliaEOS Terra‐Earth Observing SystemEVIEnhanced Vegetation IndexMODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro‐radiometerMVC Maximum Value CompositeNDVINormalised Difference Vegetation IndexNIRNear Infra‐RedNOAANational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationSPOT Systeme Pour l’Observation de la Terre
Character‐Principlism and the Particularity Objection
Authors: Blustein Jeffrey 
Published: June 2003

This paper is a response to particularist critics of the normative force of moral principles. The particularist critique, as I understand it, is a rejection not only of principle‐based accounts of moral deliberation and justification, but also of accounts of character in which principles play a central role. I focus on the latter challenge and counter it with a view I call character‐principlism.I begin by discussing in a general way what motivates the particularity objection to principles and then contrast two views – both of which insist on the importance of attentiveness to particularity – about the relative normative status of principles and particular cases. I present some reasons for believing that we need a more normatively robust conception of the role of moral principles than the particularists provide. In the main portion of the paper, I discuss how character‐principlism sees principles functioning in our lives and the lives we lead with others. I contrast this with some other accounts of desirable character that particularists can embrace, and argue that these are seriously flawed because, unlike character‐principlism, they cannot satisfactorily explain how a person could possess the constancy of character that moral integrity requires.
Strengthening Research to Improve the Practice and Management of Long‐Term Care
Authors: FELDMAN PENNY HOLLANDER , KANE ROBERT L. 
Published: June 2003

Chronic disease and disability affect Americans of all ages, and millions rely on long‐term care (LTC) services—in nursing facilities, in congregate residences, or at home—to meet their health and personal assistance needs. People who are 65 years old today have about a 40 percent chance of spending some time in a nursing home before they die (Kemper and Murtaugh 1991; Murtaugh, Kemper, and Spillman 1990). Almost three‐quarters will have had some experience with home care (Stone 2000). The numbers of people, both young and old, in need of long‐term care are growing. Changing demographics, a more engaged public, and growing cost pressures are increasing the demand for empirical evidence of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of alternative LTC approaches and practices.Making the formal LTC system more effective and more efficient requires that research play a more prominent role in informing service delivery. The research agenda should both respond to and push forward the field of practice, and the definitions of appropriate topics should come from both the practitioners and the researchers.
Racial and Ethnic Differences in Public and Private Medical Care Expenditures among Aged Medicare Beneficiaries
Authors: ESCARCE JOSÉ J. , KAPUR KANIKA 
Published: June 2003

The lower access to and use of medical care among black Americans, compared with white Americans, have concerned researchers and policymakers for many years. Similarly, several studies suggest that Hispanic Americans face greater barriers to access and use medical care less often than whites do. These racial and ethnic disparities in care are attracting more attention as policymakers and health care providers struggle both to understand the sources of the disparities and to eliminate them, as exemplified in a recent Institute of Medicine (2002) review of the evidence regarding disparities.Our study, outlined in this article, examined the current differences in medical care expenditures by non‐Hispanic white, non‐Hispanic black, and Hispanic seniors who were Medicare beneficiaries. Racial and ethnic differences in medical care are significant when they occur among seniors because seniors are more apt to have chronic diseases and may be particularly vulnerable to the harm caused by impaired access to care.
Reforming Medicare Payment: Early Effects of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act on Postacute Care
Authors: McCALL NELDA , KORB JODI , PETERSONS ANDREW , MOORE STANLEY 
Published: June 2003

Since its passage in 1965, medicare has provided financial support for much of the acute medical care provided to the nation's aged and disabled. Over the years since the program was enacted, however, the cost of these services has increased dramatically, raising concerns about how to make the system more efficient.At first, payments to providers were based on the actual costs of delivering the care. In the early 1980s, Medicare moved its largest providers, acute care hospitals, to per‐case payments based on the medical diagnoses for which the care was being provided (called DRGs, or diagnosis‐related groups). This change gave hospitals an incentive to keep their treatment costs for each patient as small as possible. Inherent in such a system, however, are incentives to underserve beneficiaries by moving them out of care too quickly.In 1997, the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) further reformed Medicare payments by extending per‐case payment methodologies to all types of postacute care.
Convergence or Divergence? Reforming Primary Care in Norway and Britain
Authors: LIAN OLAUG S. 
Published: June 2003

The health care systems in most industrializedcountries are being challenged. The challenges are similar because they are shaped by global trends such as decreasing economic growth, escalating costs, aging populations, advances in medical knowledge and technology, heightened expectations, and an increasing dependence on medicine to solve human problems. Together, these partly interrelated factors have brought the current demand for care to a point that it exceeds available resources. In response to these challenges, most countries have begun to change the way their health services are funded and organized.These developments have prompted an exploration of the degree of convergence in the health policies in Western welfare states. To what extent are health care systems becoming more alike? Is there a new paradigm by which health systems are being redefined and reformed? Is there a move away from divergence toward convergence? Many scholars answer yes to these questions.
The Value of Secondary School Quality*
Authors: Rosenthal Leslie 
Published: June 2003

AbstractImproving the quality of state‐funded secondary school education has become a major policy aim in the UK. However, without a valuation of the social benefits derived from public provision of educational services, the rational evaluation of policy to this end is difficult. Utilizing the argument that dwellings near better schools command a price premium, this paper presents results from an empirical exercise aimed at providing such a social valuation of increased school quality. Using a large set of data for England, and an instrumental variable approach, results indicate an elasticity of dwelling purchase price with respect to exam performance by schools at around +0.05. One implication is that society would value a general increase of five percentage points in exam performance by about £450 million per annum.
Isolation and Characterization of NaCl-Sensitive Mutants ofCaulobacter crescentus
Authors: Zuleta Luiz Fernando G. , Italiani Valéria C. S. , Marques Marilis V. 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACTAn attempt to characterizeCaulobacter crescentusgenes important for the response to high concentrations of NaCl was initiated by the isolation of mutants defective in survival in the presence of 85 mM NaCl. A transposon Tn5library was screened, and five strains which contained different genes disrupted by the transposon were isolated. Three of the mutants had the Tn5in genes involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis, one had the Tn5in thenhaAgene, which encodes a Na+/H+antiporter, and one had the Tn5in theppiDgene, which encodes a peptidyl-prolylcis-transisomerase. All the mutant strains showed severe growth arrest in the presence of 85 mM NaCl, but only thenhaAmutant showed decreased viability under these conditions. All the mutants except thenhaAmutant showed a slightly reduced viability in the presence of 40 mM KCl, but all the strains showed a more severe reduction in viability in the presence of 150 mM sucrose, suggesting that they are defective in responding to osmotic shock. The promoter regions of each disrupted gene were cloned inlacZreporter vectors, and the pattern of expression in response to NaCl and sucrose was determined; this showed that both agents inducedppiDandnhaAgene expression but did not induce the other genes. Furthermore, theppiDgene was not induced by heat shock, indicating that it does not belong to the σ32regulon, as opposed to what was observed for itsEscherichia colihomolog.
CodY-Regulated Aminotransferases AraT and BcaT Play a Major Role in the Growth of
Lactococcus lactis
in Milk by Regulating the Intracellular Pool of Amino Acids
Authors: Chambellon Emilie , Yvon Mireille 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACT

Aminotransferases, which catalyze the last step of biosynthesis of most amino acids and the first step of their catabolism, may be involved in the growth of
Lactococcus lactis
in milk. Previously, we isolated two aminotransferases from
L. lactis
, AraT and BcaT, which are responsible for the transamination of aromatic amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, and methionine. In this study, we demonstrated that double inactivation of AraT and BcaT strongly reduced the growth of
L. lactis
in milk. Supplementation of milk with amino acids and keto acids that are substrates of both aminotransferases did not improve the growth of the double mutant. On the contrary, supplementation of milk with isoleucine or a dipeptide containing isoleucine almost totally inhibited the growth of the double mutant, while it did not affect or only slightly affected the growth of the wild-type strain. These results suggest that AraT and BcaT play a major role in the growth of
L. lactis
in milk by degrading the intracellular excess isoleucine, which is responsible for the growth inhibition. The growth inhibition by isoleucine is likely to be due to CodY repression of the proteolytic system, which is necessary for maximal growth of
L. lactis
in milk, since the growth of the CodY mutant was not affected by addition of isoleucine to milk. Moreover, we demonstrated that AraT and BcaT are part of the CodY regulon and therefore are regulated by nutritional factors, such as the carbohydrate and nitrogen sources.
Characterization of Hydrocarbon-Degrading Microbial Populations in Contaminated and Pristine Alpine Soils
Authors: Margesin R. , Labbé D. , Schinner F. , Greer C. W. , Whyte L. G. 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACT

Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in cold environments, including Alpine soils, is a result of indigenous cold-adapted microorganisms able to degrade these contaminants. In the present study, the prevalence of seven genotypes involved in the degradation of
n
-alkanes (
Pseudomonas putida
GPo1
alkB
;
Acinetobacter
spp.
alkM
;
Rhodococcus
spp.
alkB1
, and
Rhodococcus
spp.
alkB2
), aromatic hydrocarbons (
P. putida xylE
), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (
P. putida ndoB
and
Mycobacterium
sp. strain PYR-1
nidA
) was determined in 12 oil-contaminated (428 to 30,644 mg of total petroleum hydrocarbons [TPH]/kg of soil) and 8 pristine Alpine soils from Tyrol (Austria) by PCR hybridization analyses of total soil community DNA, using oligonucleotide primers and DNA probes specific for each genotype. The soils investigated were also analyzed for various physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters, and statistical correlations between all parameters were determined. Genotypes containing genes from gram-negative bacteria (
P. putida alkB
,
xylE
, and
ndoB
and
Acinetobacter alkM
) were detected to a significantly higher percentage in the contaminated (50 to 75%) than in the pristine (0 to 12.5%) soils, indicating that these organisms had been enriched in soils following contamination. There was a highly significant positive correlation (
P
< 0.001) between the level of contamination and the number of genotypes containing genes from
P. putida
and
Acinetobacter
sp. but no significant correlation between the TPH content and the number of genotypes containing genes from gram-positive bacteria (
Rhodococcus alkB1
and
alkB2
and
Mycobacterium nidA
). These genotypes were detected at a high frequency in both contaminated (41.7 to 75%) and pristine (37.5 to 50%) soils, indicating that they are already present in substantial numbers before a contamination event. No correlation was found between the prevalence of hydrocarbon-degradative genotypes and biological activities (respiration, fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis, lipase activity) or numbers of culturable hydrocarbon-degrading soil microorganisms; there also was no correlation between the numbers of hydrocarbon degraders and the contamination level. The measured biological activities showed significant positive correlation with each other, with the organic matter content, and partially with the TPH content and a significant negative correlation with the soil dry-mass content (
P
< 0.05 to 0.001).
Genes Involved in the Biosynthesis of Photosynthetic Pigments in the Purple Sulfur Photosynthetic Bacterium
Thiocapsa roseopersicina
Authors: Kovács Ákos T. , Rákhely Gábor , Kovács Kornél L. 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACT

A pigment mutant strain of the purple sulfur photosynthetic bacterium
Thiocapsa roseopersicina
BBS was isolated by plasposon mutagenesis. Nineteen open reading frame, most of which are thought to be genes involved in the biosynthesis of carotenoids, bacteriochlorophyll, and the photosynthetic reaction center, were identified surrounding the plasposon in a 22-kb-long chromosomal locus. The general arrangement of the photosynthetic genes was similar to that in other purple photosynthetic bacteria; however, the locations of a few genes occurring in this region were unusual. Most of the gene products showed the highest similarity to the corresponding proteins in
Rubrivivax gelatinosus
. The plasposon was inserted into the
crtD
gene, likely inactivating
crtC
as well, and the carotenoid composition of the mutant strain corresponded to the aborted spirilloxanthin pathway. Homologous and heterologous complementation experiments indicated a conserved function of CrtC and CrtD in the purple photosynthetic bacteria. The
crtDC
and
crtE
genes were shown to be regulated by oxygen, and a role of CrtJ in aerobic repression was suggested.
Enhanced Mercury Biosorption by Bacterial Cells with Surface-Displayed MerR
Authors: Bae Weon , Wu Cindy H. , Kostal Jan , Mulchandani Ashok , Chen Wilfred 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACT

The metalloregulatory protein MerR, which exhibits high affinity and selectivity toward mercury, was exploited for the construction of microbial biosorbents specific for mercury removal. Whole-cell sorbents were constructed with MerR genetically engineered onto the surface of
Escherichia coli
cells by using an ice nucleation protein anchor. The presence of surface-exposed MerR on the engineered strains enabled sixfold-higher Hg
2+
biosorption than that found in the wild-type JM109 cells. Hg
2+
binding via MerR was very specific, with no observable decline even in the presence of 100-fold excess Cd
2+
and Zn
2+
. The Hg
2+
binding property of the whole-cell sorbents was also insensitive to different ionic strengths, pHs, and the presence of metal chelators. Since metalloregulatory proteins are currently available for a wide variety of toxic heavy metals, our results suggest that microbial biosorbents overexpressing metalloregulatory proteins may be used similarly for the cleanup of other important heavy metals.
Analysis of the Sulfate-Reducing Bacterial and Methanogenic Archaeal Populations in Contrasting Antarctic Sediments
Authors: Purdy K. J. , Nedwell D. B. , Embley T. M. 
Published: June 2003

ABSTRACT

The distribution and activity of communities of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and methanogenic archaea in two contrasting Antarctic sediments were investigated. Methanogenesis dominated in freshwater Lake Heywood, while sulfate reduction dominated in marine Shallow Bay. Slurry experiments indicated that 90% of the methanogenesis in Lake Heywood was acetoclastic. This finding was supported by the limited diversity of clones detected in a Lake Heywood archaeal clone library, in which most clones were closely related to the obligate acetate-utilizing
Methanosaeta concilii
. The Shallow Bay archaeal clone library contained clones related to the C
1
-utilizing
Methanolobus
and
Methanococcoides
and the H
2
-utilizing
Methanogenium
. Oligonucleotide probing of RNA extracted directly from sediment indicated that archaea represented 34% of the total prokaryotic signal in Lake Heywood and that
Methanosaeta
was a major component (13.2%) of this signal. Archaea represented only 0.2% of the total prokaryotic signal in RNA extracted from Shallow Bay sediments. In the Shallow Bay bacterial clone library, 10.3% of the clones were SRB-like, related to
Desulfotalea
/
Desulforhopalus
,
Desulfofaba
,
Desulfosarcina
, and
Desulfobacter
as well as to the sulfur and metal oxidizers comprising the
Desulfuromonas
cluster. Oligonucleotide probes for specific SRB clusters indicated that SRB represented 14.7% of the total prokaryotic signal, with
Desulfotalea
/
Desulforhopalus
being the dominant SRB group (10.7% of the total prokaryotic signal) in the Shallow Bay sediments; these results support previous results obtained for Arctic sediments.
Methanosaeta
and
Desulfotalea
/
Desulforhopalus
appear to be important in Lake Heywood and Shallow Bay, respectively, and may be globally important in permanently low-temperature sediments.