bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Anomalies and Unusual Patterns in Reported Earnings: Japanese Managers Round Earnings
Authors: Skousen Christopher J. , Guan Liming , Wetzel T. Sterling 
Published: September 2004

AbstractUsing Benford's law, this study documents pervasive evidence that managers of Japanese firms tend to engage in earnings manipulative activities of rounding earnings numbers to achieve key reference points. Similar toCarslaw (1988)andThomas (1989), we find that the first digit of earnings numbers is often emphasized by the management. We also find that key reference points are not limited to the first digit. The second, third, or even fourth digits are sometimes used as the reference points of the rounding earnings behavior. Finally, our results show that the incentives of rounding earnings numbers are negatively associated with the distance of pre‐rounded earnings to the next reference point.
Director Ownership and Voluntary Segment Disclosure: Hong Kong Evidence
Authors: Leung Sidney , Horwitz Bertrand 
Published: September 2004

AbstractWeakness of corporate governance and lack of transparency are often considered causes of or contributors to the Asian Financial Crisis. Publicly listed companies in Hong Kong, like other Asian firms, have concentrated director ownership. The study uses voluntary segment disclosure above the benchmark minimum as a proxy for transparency and examines its relationship to the ownership structure and composition of corporate boards in Hong Kong. We find that: (1) high (concentrated) board ownership explains the extent of low voluntary segment disclosure and this negative relationship is stronger when firm performance is very poor; (2) the contribution of non‐executive directors to enhance voluntary segment disclosure is effective for firms with low director ownership but not for concentrated‐ownership firms. These results have implications for policy makers and regulators in the Asia‐Pacific region striving to improve governance and transparency.
Bayesian Updating of Atmospheric Dispersion After a Nuclear Accident
Authors: Politis Konstadinos , Robertson Lennart 
Published: September 2004

Summary
We consider a Bayesian forecasting system to predict the dispersal of contamination on a large scale grid in the event of an accidental release of radioactivity. The statistical model is built on a physical model for atmospheric dispersion and transport called MATCH. Our spatiotemporal model is a dynamic linear model where the state parameters are the (essentially, deterministic) predictions of MATCH; the distributions of these are updated sequentially in the light of monitoring data. One of the distinguishing features of the model is that the number of these parameters is very large (typically several hundreds of thousands) and we discuss practical issues arising in its implementation as a realtime model. Our procedures have been checked against a variational approach which is used widely in the atmospheric sciences. The results of the model are applied to test data from a tracer experiment.
Simple Component Analysis
Authors: Rousson Valentin , Gasser Theo 
Published: September 2004

SummaryWith a large number of variables measuring different aspects of a same theme, we would like to summarize the information in a limited number of components, i.e. linear combinations of the original variables. Among linear dimension reduction techniques, principal component analysis is optimal in at least two ways: principal components extract the maximum of the variability of the original variables, and they are uncorrelated. Unfortunately, they are often difficult to interpret. Moreover, in most applications, only the first principal component is a ‘block component’, the remaining components being ‘difference components’ which are also more difficult to interpret. The goal of simple component analysis is to replace (or to supplement) principal components with suboptimal but better interpretable ‘simple components’. We propose a fast algorithm which seeks the optimal system of components under constraints of simplicity. Thus, in contrast with other techniques like ‘varimax’, this approach always provides a simple solution. The optimal simple system is suboptimal compared with principal components: less variability is extracted and components are correlated. However, if the loss of extracted variability is small, and correlations between components are low, it might be advantageous for practical use. Moreover, our concept of simplicity allows the system to have more than one block component, which also facilitates interpretation. Simplicity is not a guarantee for interpretability. With the help of our algorithm, the user can partly modify an optimal simple system of components to enhance interpretability. In this respect, the ultimate goal of simple component analysis is not to propose a method that leads automatically to a unique solution, but rather to develop tools for assisting the user in his or her choice of an interpretable solution. Finally, we argue that simple components may also make the task of choosing the dimension easier. The methodology is illustrated with a test battery to study the development of neuromotor functions in children and adolescents.
Automated generation of new knowledge to support managerial decision‐making: case study in forecasting a stock market
Authors: Chun Se‐Hak , Kim Steven H. 
Published: September 2004

Abstract: The deluge of data available to managers underscores the need to develop intelligent systems to generate new knowledge. Such tools are available in the form of learning systems from artificial intelligence. This paper explores how the novel tools can support decision‐making in the ubiquitous managerial task of forecasting.For concreteness, the methodology is examined in the context of predicting a financial index whose chaotic properties render the time series difficult to predict. The study investigates the circumstances under which enough new knowledge is extracted from temporal data to overturn the efficient markets hypothesis.The efficient markets hypothesis precludes the possibility of anticipating in financial markets. More precisely, the markets are deemed to be so efficient that the best forecast of a price level for the subsequent period is precisely the current price. Certain anomalies to the efficient market premise have been observed, such as calendar effects. Even so, forecasting techniques have been largely unable to outperform the random walk model which corresponds to the behavior of prices under the efficient markets hypothesis.This paper tests the validity of the efficient markets hypothesis by developing knowledge‐based tools to forecast a market index. The predictions are examined across several horizons: single‐period forecasts as well as multiple periods. For multiperiod forecasts, the predictive methodology takes two forms: a single jump from the current period to the end of the forecast horizon, and a multistage web of forecasts which progresses systematically from one period to the next.These models are first evaluated using neural networks and case‐based reasoning, and are then compared against a random walk model. The computational models are examined in the context of forecasting a composite for the Korean stock market.
Testing the Efficacy of a Creative‐Arts Intervention With Family Caregivers of Patients With Cancer
Authors: Walsh Sandra M. , Martin Susan Culpepper , Schmidt Lee A. 
Published: September 2004

Purpose

: To test the efficacy of a creative arts intervention (CAI) with family caregivers of patients with cancer.
Design

: A pre‐posttest quasi‐experimental design, with participation in the CAI as the independent variable and stress, anxiety, and emotions as the dependent variables.
Method

: The 6‐month study was implemented at a regional cancer treatment center with family caregivers. The CAI consisted of several creative arts activities designed for delivery at the bedside.
Findings

: Forty family caregivers reported significantly reduced stress, lowered anxiety, and increased positive emotions following CAI participation.
Conclusions

: The CAI promoted short‐term well being in this family caregiver sample. Caregivers also increased positive communication with cancer patients and health care providers while expressing delight over their handmade pieces of art.
Becoming a Mother Versus Maternal Role Attainment
Authors: Mercer Ramona T. 
Published: September 2004

Purpose

: To present evidence for replacing the term maternal role attainment (MRA), with becoming a mother (BAM).
Methods

: A review of the evolution of MRA and a synthesis of research emanating from the theory was done, followed by synthesis of current research on the transition to motherhood.
Findings

: A woman establishes maternal identity as she becomes a mother through her commitment to and involvement in defining her new self. Maternal identity continues to evolve as the mother acquires new skills to regain her confidence in self as new challenges arise.
Conclusions

: BAM more accurately encompasses the dynamic transformation and evolution of a woman's persona than does MRA, and the term MRA should be discontinued.
Working With Human Research Protections
Authors: Arford Patricia H. 
Published: September 2004

Purpose

: To provide a primer for novice nurse scientists about the increasingly regulated human research environment.
Organizing Constructs

: Federal regulations and international guidelines about protection of human research participants are discussed, with particular attention to institutional review boards for human research.
Conclusion

: Understanding the processes used by institutional review boards to foster ethical human research promotes collaborative interactions and supports compliant research work.
A Dimensional Analysis of Role Enactment of Acute Care Nurses
Authors: Squires Allison 
Published: September 2004

Purpose

: To identify dimensions of the role enactment process of acute care nurses.
Design

: Dimensional analysis, rooted in grounded theory methodology, was used to analyze the role enactment process.
Methods

: Twenty‐eight articles related to acute care staff nurse roles were selected for analysis. Articles were from eight countries and were published between 1995 and 2002. Significant phrases or themes from each document were categorized to identify themes.
Findings

: Initial analysis of the articles indicated 37 separate dimensions in the role enactment process of acute care nurses. The final, integrative analysis reduced the initial 37 to 7 core dimensions: care delivery, autonomy, culture management, information management, leadership, psychologic management, and relationship management. The analysis showed a role that is rooted in management processes.
Conclusions

: The multidimensional nature of the role of acute care nurses was indicated in the dimensional analysis. The findings have implications for the administration and education of nurses, as well as for human resource development of nurses in many parts of the world.
Influence of Complex Nutrient Source on Growth of and Curvacin A Production by Sausage Isolate
Lactobacillus curvatus
LTH 1174
Authors: Verluyten Jurgen , Leroy Frédéric , de Vuyst Luc 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

Lactobacillus curvatus
LTH 1174, a fermented sausage isolate, produces the antilisterial bacteriocin curvacin A. Its biokinetics of cell growth and bacteriocin production as a function of various concentrations of a complex nutrient source were investigated in vitro during laboratory fermentations with modified MRS medium. A modification of the nutrient depletion model (Leroy and De Vuyst, Appl. Environ, Microbiol.
67:
4470-4473, 2001) was used to fit the data describing growth and bacteriocin production. Both cell growth and bacteriocin activity were influenced by changes in the complex nutrient source concentration. Standard MRS medium clearly limited the growth of
L. curvatus
LTH 1174. Higher nutrient concentrations, up to a certain degree, led to improved growth, a higher attainable biomass concentration, and a higher bacteriocin activity in the supernatant. A lower concentration of complex nutrient source caused severe growth inhibition, leading to a lower biomass concentration but a much higher specific bacteriocin production. When examining the separate components of the complex nutrient source, a stimulating effect of bacteriological peptone on growth was found without an adverse effect on bacteriocin production, resulting in increased curvacin A activity. Furthermore, specific depletion of the amino acids tyrosine, serine, and asparagine/aspartic acid was observed for this strain.
Surveillance of Bulk Raw and Commercially Pasteurized Cows' Milk from Approved Irish Liquid-Milk Pasteurization Plants To Determine the Incidence of
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis
Authors: O'Reilly Ciara E. , O'Connor Lisa , Anderson Wayne , Harvey Peter , Grant Irene R. , Donaghy John , Rowe Michael , O'Mahony Pat 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

Over the 13-month period from October 2000 to November 2001 (inclusive), the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) carried out surveillance of Irish bulk raw (
n
= 389) and commercially pasteurized (
n
= 357) liquid-milk supplies to determine the incidence of
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis
. The pasteurization time-temperature conditions were recorded for all pasteurized samples. Overall, 56% of whole-milk pasteurized samples had been heat treated at or above a time-temperature combination of 75°C for 25 s. All analyses were undertaken at the Department of Food Science (Food Microbiology) laboratory at Queen's University Belfast. Each milk sample was subjected to two tests for
M. paratuberculosis
: immunomagnetic separation-PCR (IMS-PCR; to detect the presence of
M. paratuberculosis
cells, live or dead) and chemical decontamination and culture (to confirm the presence of viable
M. paratuberculosis
). Overall,
M. paratuberculosis
DNA was detected by IMS-PCR in 50 (12.9%; 95% confidence interval, 9.9 to 16.5%) raw-milk samples and 35 (9.8%; 95% confidence interval, 7.1 to 13.3%) pasteurized-milk samples. Confirmed
M. paratuberculosis
was cultured from one raw-milk sample and no pasteurized-milk samples. It is concluded that
M. paratuberculosis
DNA is occasionally present at low levels in both raw and commercially pasteurized cows' milk. However, since no viable
M. paratuberculosis
was isolated from commercially pasteurized cows' milk on retail sale in the Republic of Ireland, current pasteurization procedures are considered to be effective.
Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis Analysis of
Vibrio vulnificus
Strains Isolated from Taiwan and the United States
Authors: Wong Hin-chung , Chen Shau-Yan , Chen Meng-Yi , Oliver James D. , Hor Lien-I , Tsai Wen-Cherng 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

Vibrio vulnificus
is a marine bacterium that causes human wound infections and septicemia with a high mortality rate.
V. vulnificus
strains from different clinical and environmental sources or geographic regions have been successfully characterized by ribotyping and several other methods. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) is a highly discriminative method, but previous studies suggested that it was not suitable for examining the correlation of
V. vulnificus
strains from different origins. We employed PFGE to determine its efficacy for characterizing
V. vulnificus
strains from different geographic regions, characterizing a total of 153 strains from clinical and environmental origins from the United States and Taiwan after SfiI or NotI digestion.
V. vulnificus
strains showed a high intraspecific diversity by PFGE after SfiI or NotI digestion, and about 12% of the strains could not be typed by the use of either of these enzymes. For PFGE with SfiI digestion, most of the clinical and environmental strains from the United States were grouped into cluster A, while the strains from Taiwan were grouped into other clusters. Clinical strains from the United States showed a higher level of genetic homogeneity than clinical strains from Taiwan, and environmental strains from both regions showed a similarly high level of heterogeneity. PFGE with NotI digestion was useful for studying the correlation of clinical strains from the United States and Taiwan, but it was not suitable for analyzing environmental strains. The results showed that PFGE with SfiI digestion may be used to characterize
V. vulnificus
strains from distant geographic regions, with NotI being a recommended alternative enzyme.
Substrate-Induced Production and Secretion of Cellulases by
Clostridium acetobutylicum
Authors: López-Contreras Ana M. , Gabor Krisztina , Martens Aernout A. , Renckens Bernadet A. M. , Claassen Pieternel A. M. , van der Oost John , de Vos Willem M. 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

Clostridium acetobutylicum
ATCC 824 is a solventogenic bacterium that grows heterotrophically on a variety of carbohydrates, including glucose, cellobiose, xylose, and lichenan, a linear polymer of β-1,3- and β-1,4-linked β-
d
-glucose units.
C. acetobutylicum
does not degrade cellulose, although its genome sequence contains several cellulase-encoding genes and a complete cellulosome cluster of cellulosome genes. In the present study, we demonstrate that a low but significant level of induction of cellulase activity occurs during growth on xylose or lichenan. The
celF
gene, located in the cellulosome-like gene cluster and coding for a unique cellulase that belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 48, was cloned in
Escherichia coli
, and antibodies were raised against the overproduced CelF protein. A Western blot analysis suggested a possible catabolite repression by glucose or cellobiose and an up-regulation by lichenan or xylose of the extracellular production of CelF by
C. acetobutylicum
. Possible reasons for the apparent inability of
C. acetobutylicum
to degrade cellulose are discussed.
Contribution of Fungi and Bacteria to Leaf Litter Decomposition in a Polluted River
Authors: Pascoal Cláudia , Cássio Fernanda 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

The contribution of fungi and bacteria to the decomposition of alder leaves was examined at two reference and two polluted sites in the Ave River (northwestern Portugal). Leaf mass loss, microbial production from incorporation rates of radiolabeled compounds into biomolecules, fungal biomass from ergosterol concentration, sporulation rates, and diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes associated with decomposing leaves were determined. The concentrations of organic nutrients and of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus in the stream water was elevated and increased at downstream sites. Leaf decomposition rates were high (0.013 day
−1
<
k
< 0.042 day
−1
), and the highest value was estimated at the most downstream polluted site, where maximum values of microbial production and fungal biomass and sporulation were found. The slowest decomposition occurred at the other polluted site, where, along with the nutrient enrichment, the lowest current velocity and dissolved-oxygen concentration in water were observed. At this site, fungal production, biomass, and sporulation were depressed, suggesting that stimulation of fungal activity by increased nutrient concentrations might be offset by other factors. Although bacterial production was higher at polluted sites, fungi accounted for more than 94% of the total microbial net production. Fungal yield coefficients varied from 10.2 to 13.6%, while those of bacteria were less than 1%. The contribution of fungi to overall leaf carbon loss (29.0 to 38.8%) greatly exceeded that of bacteria (4.2 to 13.9%).
Phenotypic and Molecular Typing of
Salmonella
Strains Reveals Different Contamination Sources in Two Commercial Pig Slaughterhouses
Authors: Botteldoorn Nadine , Herman Lieve , Rijpens Nancy , Heyndrickx Marc 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to define the origin of
Salmonella
contamination on swine carcasses and the distribution of
Salmonella
serotypes in two commercial slaughterhouses during normal activity. Salmonellae were isolated from carcasses, from colons and mesenteric lymph nodes of individual pigs, and from the slaughterhouse environment. All strains were serotyped;
Salmonella enterica
serotype Typhimurium and
Salmonella enterica
serotype Derby isolates were additionally typed beyond the serotype level by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and antibiotic resistance profiling (ARP); and a subset of 31 serotype Typhimurium strains were additionally phage typed. PFGE and ARP had the same discriminative possibility. Phage typing in combination with PFGE could give extra information for some strains. In one slaughterhouse, 21% of the carcasses were contaminated, reflecting a correlation with the delivery of infected pigs. Carcass contamination did not result only from infection of the corresponding pig; only 25% of the positive carcasses were contaminated with the same serotype or genotype found in the corresponding feces or mesenteric lymph nodes. In the other slaughterhouse, 70% of the carcasses were contaminated, and only in 4% was the same genotype or serotype detected as in the feces of the corresponding pigs. The other positive carcasses in both slaughterhouses were contaminated by genotypes present in the feces or lymph nodes of pigs slaughtered earlier that day or from dispersed sources in the environment. In slaughterhouses, complex contamination cycles may be present, resulting in the isolation of many different genotypes circulating in the environment due to the supply of positive animals and in the contamination of carcasses, probably through aerosols.
Identification and Inactivation of Genetic Loci Involved withLactobacillus acidophilusAcid Tolerance
Authors: Azcarate-Peril M. Andrea , Altermann Eric , Hoover-Fitzula Rebecca L. , Cano Raul J. , Klaenhammer Todd R. 
Published: September 2004

ABSTRACTAmino acid decarboxylation-antiporter reactions are one of the most important systems for maintaining intracellular pH between physiological limits under acid stress. We analyzed theLactobacillus acidophilusNCFM complete genome sequence and selected four open reading frames with similarities to genes involved with decarboxylation reactions involved in acid tolerance in several microorganisms. Putative genes encoding an ornithine decarboxylase, an amino acid permease, a glutamate γ-aminobutyrate antiporter, and a transcriptional regulator were disrupted by insertional inactivation. The ability ofL. acidophilusto survive low-pH conditions, such as those encountered in the stomach or fermented dairy foods, was investigated and compared to the abilities of early- and late-stationary-phase cells of the mutants by challenging them with a variety of acidic conditions. All of the integrants were more sensitive to low pH than the parental strain. Interestingly, each integrant also exhibited an adaptive acid response during logarithmic growth, indicating that multiple mechanisms are present and orchestrated inL. acidophilusin response to acid challenge.