193 research outputs found
Obstacle Effects on Airflow and Containment Dispersion around a Naturally Ventilated Livestock Building
Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a Technical Paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 5 (2003): G. Zhang, A. Ikeguchi, J. Strom, S. Morsing, H. Takai, P. Ravn, and L. Okushima. Obstacle Effects on Airflow and Containment Dispersion around a Naturally Ventilated Livestock Building. Vol. V. December 2003
Fractional exhaled nitric oxide in preterm-born subjects: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background
Decreased lung function is common in pretermâborn survivors. Increased fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) appears to be a reliable test for eosinophillic airway inflammation especially in asthma. We, systematically, reviewed the literature to compare FeNO levels in pretermâborn children and adults who did or did not have chronic lung disease of prematurity (CLD) in infancy with termâborn controls.
Methods
We searched eight databases up to February 2018. Studies comparing FeNO levels in pretermâborn subjects (<37â
weeksâ gestation) in childhood and adulthood with and without (CLD) with termâborn subjects were identified and extracted by two reviewers. Data were analysed using Review Manager v5.3.
Results
From 6042 article titles, 183 full articles were screened for inclusion. Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Seventeen studies compared FeNO levels in pretermâ and termâborn children and adults; 11 studies (preterm nâ=â640 and term nâ=â4005) were included in a metaâanalysis. The mean FeNO concentration difference between the pretermâborn and termâborn group was â0.74 (95% CI â1.88 to 0.41) ppb. For the six studies reporting data on CLD (preterm nâ=â204 and term nâ=â211) the mean difference for FeNO levels was â2.82 (95% CI â5.87 to 0.22) ppb between the pretermâborn CLD and termâborn groups.
Conclusions
Our data suggest that preterm born children with and without CLD have similar FeNO levels to termâborn children suggesting an alternative mechanism to eosinophilic inflammation for symptoms of wheezing and airway obstruction observed in pretermâborn subjects
Corporate Social Responsibility Strategies of Spanish Listed Firms and Controlling Shareholdersâ Representatives
This article aims at analyzing how controlling shareholdersâ representatives on boards affect
corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies (disclosing CSR matters) in Spain, a context
characterized by high ownership concentration, one-tier boards, little board independence, weak
legal protection for investors, and the presence of large shareholders, especially institutional
shareholders. Furthermore, among controlling shareholdersâ representatives, we can distinguish
between those appointed by insurance companies and banks and those appointed by mutual funds,
investment funds, and pension funds. The effect of these categories of directors on CSR strategies
is, therefore, also analyzed. Our findings suggest that controlling shareholdersâ representatives
have a positive effect on CSR strategies, as do directors appointed by investment funds, pension
funds, and mutual funds, while directors appointed by banks and insurance companies have no
impact on CSR strategies. This analysis offers new insights into the role played by certain types
of directors on CSR strategies
DPRESS: Localizing estimates of predictive uncertainty
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The need to have a quantitative estimate of the uncertainty of prediction for QSAR models is steadily increasing, in part because such predictions are being widely distributed as tabulated values disconnected from the models used to generate them. Classical statistical theory assumes that the error in the population being modeled is independent and identically distributed (IID), but this is often not actually the case. Such inhomogeneous error (heteroskedasticity) can be addressed by providing an individualized estimate of predictive uncertainty for each particular new object <it>u</it>: the standard error of prediction <it>s</it><sub>u </sub>can be estimated as the non-cross-validated error <it>s</it><sub>t* </sub>for the closest object <it>t</it>* in the training set adjusted for its separation <it>d </it>from <it>u </it>in the descriptor space relative to the size of the training set.</p> <p><display-formula><graphic file="1758-2946-1-11-i1.gif"/></display-formula></p> <p>The predictive uncertainty factor <it>Îł</it><sub>t* </sub>is obtained by distributing the internal predictive error sum of squares across objects in the training set based on the distances between them, hence the acronym: <it>D</it>istributed <it>PR</it>edictive <it>E</it>rror <it>S</it>um of <it>S</it>quares (DPRESS). Note that <it>s</it><sub>t* </sub>and <it>Îł</it><sub>t*</sub>are characteristic of each training set compound contributing to the model of interest.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The method was applied to partial least-squares models built using 2D (molecular hologram) or 3D (molecular field) descriptors applied to mid-sized training sets (<it>N </it>= 75) drawn from a large (<it>N </it>= 304), well-characterized pool of cyclooxygenase inhibitors. The observed variation in predictive error for the external 229 compound test sets was compared with the uncertainty estimates from DPRESS. Good qualitative and quantitative agreement was seen between the distributions of predictive error observed and those predicted using DPRESS. Inclusion of the distance-dependent term was essential to getting good agreement between the estimated uncertainties and the observed distributions of predictive error. The uncertainty estimates derived by DPRESS were conservative even when the training set was biased, but not excessively so.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DPRESS is a straightforward and powerful way to reliably estimate individual predictive uncertainties for compounds outside the training set based on their distance to the training set and the internal predictive uncertainty associated with its nearest neighbor in that set. It represents a sample-based, <it>a posteriori </it>approach to defining applicability domains in terms of localized uncertainty.</p
Synthesising Corporate Responsibility on Organisational and Societal Levels of Analysis: An Integrative Perspective
This article develops an integrative perspective on corporate responsibility by synthesising competing perspectives on the responsibility of the corporation at the organisational and societal levels of analysis. We review three major corporate responsibility perspectives, which we refer to as economic, critical, and politico-ethical. We analyse the major potential uses and pitfalls of the perspectives, and integrate the debate on these two levels. Our synthesis concludes that when a society has a robust division of moral labour in place, the responsibility of a corporation may be economic (as suggested under the economic perspective) without jeopardising democracy and sustainability (as reported under the critical perspective). Moreover, the economic role of corporations neither signifies the absence of deliberative democratic mechanisms nor business practices extending beyond compliance (as called for under the politico-ethical perspective). The study underscores the value of integrating different perspectives and multiple levels of analysis to present comprehensive descriptions and prescriptions of the responsibility phenomenon
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