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Selected AbstractsAccounting Policy Disclosures and Analysts' ForecastsCONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003Ole-Kristian Hope Abstract Using an international sample, I investigate whether the extent of firms' disclosure of their accounting policies in the annual report is associated with properties of analysts' earnings forecasts. Controlling for firm- and country-level variables, I find that the level of accounting policy disclosure is significantly negatively related to forecast dispersion and forecast error. In particular, I find that accounting policy disclosures are incrementally useful to analysts over and above all other annual report disclosures. These findings suggest that accounting policy disclosures reduce uncertainty about forecasted earnings. I find univariate but not multivariate support for the hypothesis that accounting policy disclosures are especially helpful to analysts in environments where firms can choose among a larger set of accounting methods. [source] Local- to continental-scale variation in the richness and composition of an aquatic food webGLOBAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Hannah L. Buckley ABSTRACT Aim, We investigated patterns of species richness and composition of the aquatic food web found in the liquid-filled leaves of the North American purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea (Sarraceniaceae), from local to continental scales. Location, We sampled 20 pitcher-plant communities at each of 39 sites spanning the geographic range of S. purpurea, from northern Florida to Newfoundland and westward to eastern British Columbia. Methods, Environmental predictors of variation in species composition and species richness were measured at two different spatial scales: among pitchers within sites and among sites. Hierarchical Bayesian models were used to examine correlates and similarities of species richness and abundance within and among sites. Results, Ninety-two taxa of arthropods, protozoa and bacteria were identified in the 780 pitcher samples. The variation in the species composition of this multi-trophic level community across the broad geographic range of the host plant was lower than the variation among pitchers within host-plant populations. Variation among food webs in richness and composition was related to climate, pore-water chemistry, pitcher-plant morphology and leaf age. Variation in the abundance of the five most common invertebrates was also strongly related to pitcher morphology and site-specific climatic and other environmental variables. Main conclusions, The surprising result that these communities are more variable within their host-plant populations than across North America suggests that the food web in S. purpurea leaves consists of two groups of species: (1) a core group of mostly obligate pitcher-plant residents that have evolved strong requirements for the host plant and that co-occur consistently across North America, and (2) a larger set of relatively uncommon, generalist taxa that co-occur patchily. [source] Brief measure of expressed emotion: internal consistency and stability over timeINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 4 2003Seija Sandberg Consultant, Senior Lecturer Abstract The study examined three methodological aspects of expressed emotion (EE) as assessed in the course of PACE (Psychosocial Assessment of Childhood Experiences) interviews with a parent. In a sample of 87 children, aged 6,13 years, enrolled in a prospective study examining the role of stress on the course of asthma, EE was assessed at three time points, 9 months apart. A high degree of agreement was found among the three concurrent measures of negative and positive EE (kappas from 0.74 to 0.97, and from 0.45 to 0.88, respectively; p , 0.0001 in all instances). The temporal stability of all measures was lower, although statistically significant in all but 2 instances (kappas from 0.19 to 0.59, and from 0.11 to 0.39, respectively). The temporal stability across measures, as well as across interviewers and over time, was broadly similar (kappas from 0.21 to 0.56 for negative EE, and from 0.09 to 0.38 for positive EE, with all but three of the 36 statistically significant). The findings provide support for the underlying assumptions of the PACE-EE and show the utility of measures based on just very brief periods of non-directive interviewing, making them practical in a wide range of studies with EE just one of a larger set of measures. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] The Legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court in a Polarized PolityJOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES, Issue 3 2007James L. Gibson Conventional political science wisdom holds that contemporary American politics is characterized by deep and profound partisan and ideological divisions. Unanswered is the question of whether those divisions have spilled over into threats to the legitimacy of American political institutions, such as the U.S. Supreme Court. Since the Court is often intimately involved in making policy in many issue areas that divide Americans,including the contested 2000 presidential election,it is reasonable to hypothesize that loyalty toward the institution depends on policy and/or ideological agreement and partisanship. Using data stretching from 1987 through 2005, the analysis reveals that Court support among the American people has not declined, nor is it connected to partisan and ideological identifications. Instead, support is embedded within a larger set of relatively stable democratic values. Institutional legitimacy may not be obdurate, but it does not seem to be caught up in the divisiveness that characterizes so much of American politics,at least not at present. [source] There's more to life than money: Exploring the levels/growth paradox in income and health,JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2009Charles Kenny Abstract This paper discusses historical and recent cross-country evidence relating income to measures of health. After a review of the literature on income and the quality of life, the paper looks at long-term historical evidence on the link between income change and health indicators. Using data on life expectancy, infant mortality and income for a small subset of largely wealthy countries over the 1913,1999 period, the paper examines correlations between income and health at period start and end as well as using the growth of the variables. Using a larger set of data over the period 1975,2000, the paper repeats these tests, as well as looking for any evidence of a larger impact of income, when different data are used or the sample is split. Results suggest a strong cross-country link between income and health and considerable evidence of global improvements over time, but a comparatively weak relationship between improvements in income and improvements in health, even over the very long term. The paper discusses a model based on technology and institutions that might account for such results as well as some preliminary evidence in favour of such a model. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] One Approach to Formulating and Evaluating Student Work Groups in Legal Environment of Business CoursesJOURNAL OF LEGAL STUDIES EDUCATION, Issue 1 2007Joan E. Camara The principal focus of this study is an investigation of whether students' grade point average (GPA) is a viable criterion for forming student work groups in the undergraduate Legal Environment of Business course. More specifically, the research focuses on the impact of: (1) GPA-homogeneous (HO) and GPA-heterogeneous (HE) groups upon student satisfaction with group processes and (2) the impact on individual student performance in both group and nongroup assignments. Data obtained from fourteen HE and fourteen HO student groups, in four separate Legal Environment of Business classes consisting of a mix of Management, Marketing, Computer Information Systems, International Business, Financial Services, and Accounting majors, generated a number of significant results. The most surprising observations dealt with the behavior of low achievers whose individual grades showed substantial improvement after working in HO groups. Researchers who are assessing pedagogical methods which serve to engage a student's active learning and motivation should find these results to be of interest. In addition, the beneficial impact on task and relationship behaviors observed in this study should provide solace or a sense of reward to the larger set of academicians, across disciplines, who attempt to impart realistic organizational skills to their classes. [source] A new method to calculate end-member thermodynamic properties of minerals from their constituent polyhedra I: enthalpy, entropy and molar volumeJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2005V. J. VAN HINSBERG Abstract The thermodynamic properties of silicate minerals can be described as a linear combination of the fractional properties of their constituent polyhedra. In contrast, given the thermodynamic properties of these polyhedra, the thermodynamic properties of minerals can be estimated, where only the crystallography of the mineral needs to be known. Such estimates are especially powerful for hypothetical mineral end-members or for minerals where experimental determination of their thermodynamic properties is difficult. In this contribution the fractional enthalpy, entropy and molar volume for 35 polyhedra have been determined using weighted multiple linear regression analysis on a data set of published mineral thermodynamic properties. The large number of polyhedra determined, allows calculation of a much larger variety of phases than was previously possible and the larger set of minerals used provides more confident fractional properties. The OH-bearing minerals have been described by partial and total hydroxide coordinated components, which gives better results than previous models and precludes the need of a S,V term to improve estimates of entropy. However, the fractional thermodynamic properties only give adequate results for silicate minerals and double oxides, and should therefore not be used to estimate the properties of other minerals. The thermodynamic properties of ,new' minerals are calculated from a linear stoichiometric combination of their constituent polyhedra, resulting in estimates generally with associated uncertainty of <5%. The quality of such data appears to be of sufficient accuracy for thermodynamic modelling as shown for meta-bauxites from the Alps and the Aegean, where the effect of Zn on the P,T stability of staurolite can be both qualitatively and quantitatively reproduced. [source] An Analysis of Kin-Provided Child Care in the Context of Intrafamily ExchangesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2000Linking Components of Family Support for Parents Raising Young Children Little is known about why parents choose kin-provided child care and less is known about how kin-provided child care is related to other forms of in-kind support from relatives close-at-hand. Previous models of the choice of kin-provided child care assumed that the presence of other forms of in-kind support from relatives nearby was inconsequential to estimating effects of economic and demographic factors on the decision to use kin-provided child care. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Class of 1972, this study shows that this assumption is incorrect because use of kin-provided child care and intrafamily in-kind resource exchanges are interrelated. When the association between use of kin-provided child care and the presence of other family in-kind exchanges is ignored, the study shows that estimated effects for income, the price of child care, and maternal characteristics are underestimated. The findings provide a better understanding of why parents choose kin-provided child care by confirming that this decision is a part of a larger set of parental decisions about involvement in resource exchanges within extended families. My findings support recent child care bills aiming to increase parental choice of child care provider, broaden the definition of a provider to include non-coresident relatives, and expand price subsidies for kin-provided child care. [source] Stages of the Demographic Transition from a Child's Perspective: Family Size, Cohort Size, and Children's ResourcesPOPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 2 2008David Lam This article provides a new characterization of stages of the demographic transition from the perspective of children competing for resources within families and cohorts. In Stage 1 falling mortality increases the size of both families and birth cohorts. In Stage 2 falling fertility overtakes falling mortality to reduce family size, but population momentum causes continued growth in cohort size. In Stage 3 falling fertility overtakes population momentum to produce declining cohort size. We apply our framework to census microdata for eight countries and to United Nations population projections for a larger set of countries. The results suggest that most countries spend two to three decades in Stage 2, with declining family size offset by increasing cohort size. From the perspective of children aged 9,11, many countries enter Stage 3 between 2000 and 2010. Other countries, especially in Africa, will continue to experience increasing cohort size for several more decades. [source] Testing the boundaries of the choice overload phenomenon: The effect of number of options and time pressure on decision difficulty and satisfactionPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 3 2009Graeme A. Haynes The number of alternatives available to people in many day-to-day decisions has greatly increased in Western societies. The present research sought to build upon recent research suggesting that having large numbers of alternatives can sometimes have negative consequences for individuals. In the present experiment, participants were presented with descriptions of either 3 or 10 prizes and asked to choose one, for which they were to be entered in a drawing. The number of alternatives was manipulated in conjunction with the amount of time people were allotted to make a decision (limited vs. extended decision time). Following their decisions, participants completed measures of decision-related difficulty, task enjoyment, satisfaction, and regret. Participants given a limited amount of time to choose with a larger set of alternatives found their decisions to be more difficult and frustrating than did participants in the other conditions. The larger set of alternatives led to less satisfaction, but not less regret, with people's decisions. Implications for research on the choice overload phenomenon are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Similarity of drug names: Comparison of objective and subjective measuresPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 7-8 2002Bruce L. Lambert Previous research has shown that objective measures of orthographic (i.e., spelling) similarity can predict the probability of drug-name confusion, but it is not clear how these objective measures relate to subjective judgments of similarity. This study examined the association between one objective measure of orthographic similarity, the Dice coefficient on trigrams, and one subjective measure, based on the Proscale multidimensional scaling system. Twenty-seven participants, divided into three groups, performed a similarity grouping task on one of three sets of 70 drug names drawn at random from a larger set of similar and dissimilar name pairs. Subjective groupings were converted to dissimilarity scores with the use of the Proscale multidimensional scaling program. The association between subjective and objective measures was assessed by correlation and regression analyses. Correlations between subjective and objective measures were ,0.70, ,0.48, and ,0.53 for the three groups, respectively (p < .001). Regression models with trigram similarity as the main predictor accounted for between 22 and 48% of the variance in subjective dissimilarity scores. It is concluded that objective measures of orthographic similarity between drug names are valid but incomplete measures of subjective similarity. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] The roots of empathy and aggression in analysisTHE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2005Richard Kradin Abstract:, Empathy and interpretation have complementary roles in analysis. Empathy diminishes psychological arousal, ego-defences, and promotes the therapeutic relationship. Interpretation, when adopted in the service of character analysis and the uncovering of unconscious conflict, represents one element of a larger set of interventions termed analytic aggression, whose primary goal is to promote insight. Psychoanalysis has been increasingly influenced by derivative theories that promote the therapeutic relationship. Clinical observations suggest that the application of analytic aggression has diminished and that many modern treatments may have become overly skewed towards empathic approaches. This paper explores ethical humanism, Jamesian typology, and feminine psychology, as factors that have contributed to the diminished emphasis on analytic aggression in practice. Eastern myth and Buddhist psychology are used to explicate the core features of narcissistic mental structuring and to support the continued importance of analytic aggression in its treatment. Case material is examined to elucidate the benefits and limits of analytic aggression. [source] Redefining the boundaries of the hippocampal CA2 subfield in the mouse using gene expression and 3-dimensional reconstructionTHE JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY, Issue 1 2005Edward S. Lein Abstract The morphology of neurons in the main divisions of the hippocampal complex allow the easy identification of granule cells in the dentate gyrus and pyramidal cells in the CA1 and CA3 regions of Ammon's horn. However, neurons in the CA2 subfield have been much more difficult to reliably identify. We have recently identified a set of genes whose expression is restricted to either the dentate gyrus, CA1, CA2, or CA3. Here we show that these genes have an essentially nonoverlapping distribution throughout the entire septotemporal extent of the hippocampus. 3-Dimensional reconstruction of serial sections processed for in situ hybridization of mannosidase 1, alpha (CA1), bcl-2-related ovarian killer protein (CA3), and Purkinje cell protein 4 (dentate gyrus + CA2) was used to define the boundaries of each subregion throughout the entire hippocampus. The boundaries observed for these three genes are recapitulated across a much larger set of genes similarly enriched in specific hippocampal subregions. The extent of CA2 defined on the basis of gene expression is somewhat larger than that previously described on the basis of structural anatomical criteria, particularly at the rostral pole of the hippocampus. These results indicate that, at least at the molecular level, there are robust, consistent genetic boundaries between hippocampal subregions CA1, CA2, CA3, and the dentate gyrus, allowing a redefinition of their boundaries in order to facilitate functional studies of different neuronal subtypes in the hippocampus. J. Comp. Neurol. 485:1,10, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Upgrading the twin variables algorithm for large structuresACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A, Issue 2 2000K. Bethanis Phase extension from lower to higher resolution by using an upgraded TWIN variables algorithm [Hountas & Tsoucaris (1995). Acta Cryst. A51, 754,763] in protein molecules with close to 1000 non-H atoms is presented. Three points of this procedure are of particular interest. (i) The use of a set of auxiliary variables providing a satisfactory fit for many kinds of constraints: the new algorithm works efficiently despite the extreme `dilution' of very limited initial phase information into a much larger set of auxiliary variables. (ii) The extension of this auxiliary variables set beyond the resolution of the observed data, which enhances the phase extension in a so-called `super-resolution' sphere. (iii) The use of the crystallographic symmetry as a new figure of merit and as a reliable test for the correctness of the phase-extension process allows an efficient screening. [source] The value of observations.THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 628 2007III: Influence of weather regimes on targeting Abstract This paper assesses the value of targeted observations over the North Atlantic Ocean for different meteorological flow regimes. It shows that during tropical cyclone activity and particularly tropical cyclone transition to extratropical characteristics, removing observations in sensitive regions, indicated by singular vectors optimized on the 2-day forecast over Europe, degrades the skill of a given forecast more so than excluding observations in randomly selected regions. The maximum downstream degradation computed in terms of spatially and temporally averaged root-mean-square error of 500 hPa geopotential height is about 13%, a value which is 6 times larger than when removing observations in randomly selected areas. The forecast impact for these selected periods, resulting from degrading the observational coverage in sensitive areas, was similar to the impact found (elsewhere in other weather forecast systems) for the observational targeting campaigns carried out over recent years, and it was larger than the average impact obtained by considering a larger set of cases covering various seasons. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Analysis of Gene Expression in Parkinson's Disease: Possible Involvement of Neurotrophic Support and Axon Guidance in Dopaminergic Cell DeathBRAIN PATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Koen Bossers Abstract Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. We have studied alterations in gene expression in the substantia nigra, the caudate nucleus and putamen of four PD patients and four matched controls using custom designed Agilent microarrays. To gain insight into changes in gene expression during early stages of dopaminergic neurodegeneration, we selectively investigated the relatively spared parts of the PD substantia nigra, and correlated gene expression changes with alterations in neuronal density. We identified changes in the expression of 287 transcripts in the substantia nigra, 16 transcripts in the caudate nucleus and four transcripts in the putamen. For selected transcripts, transcriptional alterations were confirmed with qPCR on a larger set of seven PD cases and seven matched controls. We detected concerted changes in functionally connected groups of genes. In the PD substantia nigra, we observed strong evidence for a reduction in neurotrophic support and alterations in axon guidance cues. As the changes occur in relatively spared parts of the PD substantia nigra, they suggest novel disease mechanisms involving neurotrophic support and axon guidance in early stages of cellular stress events, ultimately leading to dopaminergic cell death in PD. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||