Antecedents of New Director Social Capital

Prior research shows that firms benefit from the social capital of their boards of directors but has not explored the antecedents of new director social capital. We argue that firms can attract directors with social capital by offering more compensation. We also argue that more complex firms (firms with a greater scale and scope of operations) are more attractive to such directors because of the greater experience and exposure that such directorships provide. Similarly, we argue that firms with high-status directors on their current boards will be more attractive to directors with social capital. We analyse the social capital of new outside directors added to boards of semiconductor firms between 1993 and 2007. Surprisingly, we find no support for the hypothesis that higher compensation is associated with adding directors with high status or board ties. However, firm complexity is associated with the ability to add new directors who have social capital, and the status of current board members is associated with the ability to add new directors who also have high status

A promising Start? The Local Network Fund for Children and Young People: Interim Findings from the National Evaluation

This is a summary of the interim evaluation report of the National Evaluation of the Local Network Fund (LNF) for Children and Young People. It is based on data gathered during the first phase of the evaluation (between October 2002 to December 2003). A final report of the National Evaluation will be available early in 2005. A consortium of research organisations, led by the University of Hull and including BMRB Social Research, The University of York and the University of Sheffield were commissioned in August 2002 by the-then Children and Young People’s Unit (CYPU) to carry out the evaluation

What fosters or prevents interprofessional teamworking in primary and community care? A literature review

Background: The increase in prevalence of long-term conditions in Western societies, with the subsequent need for non-acute quality patient healthcare, has brought the issue of collaboration between health professionals to the fore. Within primary care, it has been suggested that multidisciplinary teamworking is essential to develop an integrated approach to promoting and maintaining the health of the population whilst improving service effectiveness. Although it is becoming widely accepted that no single discipline can provide complete care for patients with a long-term condition, in practice, interprofessional working is not always achieved. Objectives: This review aimed to explore the factors that inhibit or facilitate interprofessional teamworking in primary and community care settings, in order to inform development of multidisciplinary working at the turn of the century. Design: A comprehensive search of the literature was undertaken using a variety of approaches to identify appropriate literature for inclusion in the study. The selected articles used both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Findings: Following a thematic analysis of the literature, two main themes emerged that had an impact on interprofessional teamworking: team structure and team processes. Within these two themes, six categories were identified: team premises; team size and composition; organisational support; team meetings; clear goals and objectives; and audit. The complex nature of interprofessional teamworking in primary care meant that despite teamwork being an efficient and productive way of achieving goals and results, several barriers exist that hinder its potential from becoming fully exploited; implications and recommendations for practice are discussed. Conclusions: These findings can inform development of current best practice, although further research needs to be conducted into multidisciplinary teamworking at both the team and organisation level, to ensure that enhancement and maintenance of teamwork leads to an improved quality of healthcare provision. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Relative effects of postnatal rapid growth and maternal factors on early childhood growth trajectories.

BACKGROUND: A range of postnatal and maternal factors influences childhood obesity, but their relative importance remains unclear. This study aimed to assess the relative impact of postnatal rapid growth and maternal factors on early childhood growth trajectories. SUBJECTS: Secondary longitudinal analysis of pooled data from the Melbourne Infant Feeding Activity and Nutrition Trial (InFANT) Program and the InFANT Extend Program (n = 977) was performed. Children's height and weight were collected at birth, 3, 9, 18, and 36/42 months. Body mass index-for-age and height-for-age z-scores (BAZ, HAZ) were computed using WHO growth standards. Mixed-effect polynomial regression models were fitted to examine BAZ and HAZ trajectories and their determinants. RESULTS: Rapid growth from birth to 3 months, maternal country of birth, and pre-pregnancy BMI were each independently associated with BAZ from 3 to 42 months. Children with rapid growth, those whose mothers were Australian-born, and those whose mothers were overweight/obese pre-pregnancy had higher BAZ from 3 to 42 months. Children with rapid growth had an increase in HAZ growth, but their average HAZ from 3 to 42 months was smaller than children without rapid growth. Children of tall mothers (above average height) had higher HAZ than those of short mothers (below average height). Average HAZ from 3 to 42 months did not differ by maternal country of birth. CONCLUSION: Children who experienced rapid growth from birth to 3 months, whose mothers were Australian-born or whose mothers were overweight/obese pre-pregnancy demonstrated less favourable growth trajectories across early childhood, potentially predispose them for development of future obesity

An overview of the PubChem BioAssay resource

The PubChem BioAssay database (http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) is a public repository for biological activities of small molecules and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) hosted by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). It archives experimental descriptions of assays and biological test results and makes the information freely accessible to the public. A PubChem BioAssay data entry includes an assay description, a summary and detailed test results. Each assay record is linked to the molecular target, whenever possible, and is cross-referenced to other National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database records. ‘Related BioAssays’ are identified by examining the assay target relationship and activity profile of commonly tested compounds. A key goal of PubChem BioAssay is to make the biological activity information easily accessible through the NCBI information retrieval system-Entrez, and various web-based PubChem services. An integrated suite of data analysis tools are available to optimize the utility of the chemical structure and biological activity information within PubChem, enabling researchers to aggregate, compare and analyze biological test results contributed by multiple organizations. In this work, we describe the PubChem BioAssay database, including data model, bioassay deposition and utilities that PubChem provides for searching, downloading and analyzing the biological activity information contained therein

Differences in infant feeding practices between Chinese-born and Australian-born mothers living in Australia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Chinese immigrants are the third largest immigrant group in Australia. Recent qualitative evidence from Victorian Maternal and Child Health nurses indicate that infants of Chinese parents commonly have rapid growth trajectories and that high value is placed on rapid growth and having a fatter child; with low breastfeeding rates and overfeeding of infant formula. The aim of this study was to compare infant feeding practices (breastfeeding, infant formula, other liquids, solids) of Chinese-born and Australian-born mothers living in Australia. METHODS: Using the Australian National Infant Feeding Survey dataset (2010-2011), infant feeding data from Chinese-born mothers (n = 602) were compared with a random sub-sample of Australian-born mothers (n = 602). Group differences on feeding practices were tested using Chi-square or t-tests and the effect of ethnicity on infant feeding behaviours assessed using regression. RESULTS: Compared to infants of Australian-born mothers, infants of Chinese-born mothers were younger when they first consumed infant formula, water-based drinks and fruit juice and older when they first ate solid foods (p < 0.05). Furthermore, infants of Chinese-born mothers were less likely to have ever had cow\u27s milk (OR: 0.37 95%CI:, 0.18-0.78) and solids (0.41, 0.25-0.68); but were more likely to have ever had infant formula (2.19, 1.32-3.62), water (2.45, 1.55-3.87), toddler milk (3.39, 1.60-7.18), water-based drinks (e.g. cordial, soft drink, tea; 2.48, 1.12-5.49), and fruit juice (4.03, 2.50-6.51). Those ≤4 months of age were more likely to have had water-based drinks (7.77, 1.96-30.77) and fruit juice (3.44, 1.14-10.38) (p < 0.05) compared to infants of Australian-born mothers. CONCLUSION: Differences in mothers\u27 early infant feeding practices exist between Chinese-born and Australian-born mothers living in Australia. Better understanding these ethnically patterned infant feeding practices is important for identifying key opportunities to promote best nutrition and growth in early life in different ethnic groups within our population

SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey data release 12 : galaxy target selection and large-scale structure catalogues

The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) III project, has provided the largest survey of galaxy redshifts available to date, in terms of both the number of galaxy redshifts measured by a single survey, and the effective cosmological volume covered. Key to analysing the clustering of these data to provide cosmological measurements is understanding the detailed properties of this sample. Potential issues include variations in the target catalogue caused by changes either in the targeting algorithm or properties of the data used, the pattern of spectroscopic observations, the spatial distribution of targets for which redshifts were not obtained, and variations in the target sky density due to observational systematics. We document here the target selection algorithms used to create the galaxy samples that comprise BOSS. We also present the algorithms used to create large-scale structure catalogues for the final Data Release (DR12) samples and the associated random catalogues that quantify the survey mask. The algorithms are an evolution of those used by the BOSS team to construct catalogues from earlier data, and have been designed to accurately quantify the galaxy sample. The code used, designated mksample, is released with this paper.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Trauma history and depression predict incomplete adherence to antiretroviral therapies in a low income country.

As antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV becomes increasingly available in low and middle income countries (LMICs), understanding reasons for lack of adherence is critical to stemming the tide of infections and improving health. Understanding the effect of psychosocial experiences and mental health symptomatology on ART adherence can help maximize the benefit of expanded ART programs by indicating types of services, which could be offered in combination with HIV care. The Coping with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania (CHAT) study is a longitudinal cohort study in the Kilimanjaro Region that included randomly selected HIV-infected (HIV+) participants from two local hospital-based HIV clinics and four free-standing voluntary HIV counselling and testing sites. Baseline data were collected in 2008 and 2009; this paper used data from 36 month follow-up interviews (N = 468). Regression analyses were used to predict factors associated with incomplete self-reported adherence to ART. INCOMPLETE ART ADHERENCE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LIKELY TO BE REPORTED AMONGST PARTICIPANTS WHO EXPERIENCED A GREATER NUMBER OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMATIC EVENTS: sexual abuse prior to puberty and the death in childhood of an immediate family member not from suicide or homicide were significantly more likely in the non-adherent group and other negative childhood events trended toward being more likely. Those with incomplete adherence had higher depressive symptom severity and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In multivariable analyses, childhood trauma, depression, and financial sacrifice remained associated with incomplete adherence.\ud This is the first study to examine the effect of childhood trauma, depression and PTSD on HIV medication adherence in a low income country facing a significant burden of HIV. Allocating spending on HIV/AIDS toward integrating mental health services with HIV care is essential to the creation of systems that enhance medication adherence and maximize the potential of expanded antiretroviral access to improve health and reduce new infections