Historical Research Approaches to the Analysis of Internationalisation

Historical research methods and approaches can improve understanding of the most appropriate techniques to confront data and test theories in internationalisation research. A critical analysis of all “texts” (sources), time series analyses, comparative methods across time periods and space, counterfactual analysis and the examination of outliers are shown to have the potential to improve research practices. Examples and applications are shown in these key areas of research with special reference to internationalisation processes. Examination of these methods allows us to see internationalisation processes as a sequenced set of decisions in time and space, path dependent to some extent but subject to managerial discretion. Internationalisation process research can benefit from the use of historical research methods in analysis of sources, production of time-lines, using comparative evidence across time and space and in the examination of feasible alternative choices

Calf health from birth to weaning. III. housing and management of calf pneumonia

Calfhood diseases have a major impact on the economic viability of cattle operations. A three part review series has been developed focusing on calf health from birth to weaning. In this paper, the last of the three part series, we review disease prevention and management with particular reference to pneumonia, focusing primarily on the pre-weaned calf. Pneumonia in recently weaned suckler calves is also considered, where the key risk factors are related to the time of weaning. Weaning of the suckler calf is often combined with additional stressors including a change in nutrition, environmental change, transport and painful husbandry procedures (castration, dehorning). The reduction of the cumulative effects of these multiple stressors around the time of weaning together with vaccination programmes (preconditioning) can reduce subsequent morbidity and mortality in the feedlot. In most studies, calves housed individually and calves housed outdoors with shelter, are associated with decreased risk of disease. Even though it poses greater management challenges, successful group housing of calves is possible. Special emphasis should be given to equal age groups and to keeping groups stable once they are formed. The management of pneumonia in calves is reliant on a sound understanding of aetiology, relevant risk factors, and of effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment. Early signs of pneumonia include increased respiratory rate and fever, followed by depression. The single most important factor determining the success of therapy in calves with pneumonia is early onset of treatment, and subsequent adequate duration of treatment. The efficacy and economical viability of vaccination against respiratory disease in calves remains unclear

Differential effect of actomyosin relaxation on the dynamic properties of focal adhesion proteins

Treatment of cultured cells with inhibitors of actomyosin contractility induces rapid deterioration of stress fibers, and disassembly of the associated focal adhesions (FAs). In this study, we show that treatment with the Rho kinase inhibitor Y-27632, which blocks actomyosin contractility, induces disarray in the FA-associated actin bundles, followed by the differential dissociation of eight FA components from the adhesion sites. Live-cell microscopy indicated that the drug triggers rapid dissociation of VASP and zyxin from FAs (τ values of 7-8 min), followed by talin, paxillin and ILK (τ ~16 min), and then by FAK, vinculin and kindlin-2 (τ = 25-28 min). Examination of the molecular kinetics of the various FA constituents, using Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching (FRAP), in the absence of or following short-term treatment with the drug, revealed major changes in the kon and koff values of the different proteins tested, which are in close agreement with their differential dissociation rates from the adhesion sites. These findings indicate that mechanical, actomyosin-generated forces differentially regulate the molecular kinetics of individual FA-associated molecules, and thereby modulate FA composition and stability

Designing environmental uncertainty information for experts and non‐experts: does data presentation affect users' decisions and interpretations?

Uncertainty information in natural hazard forecasts is increasingly being explicitly communicated. This study was designed to determine whether different ways of communicating uncertainty graphically affects decisions and interpretations of forecasts and whether expertise was a factor in decisions and interpretations from forecasts explicitly showing uncertainty. In a hypothetical decision-making task regarding ice thickness and shipping, 138 experts and non-experts received ice-thickness forecasts in four different presentations expressing uncertainty: worded probability, spaghetti plot, fan plot, and box plot. These forecasts contained no measures of central tendency. There was no consistent difference in decision or best-guess forecast (deterministic ice thickness forecast based on the forecast representation) between the different forecast representations. However, participants interpreted different amounts of uncertainty across the different forecast representations. Experts made significantly more economically rational decisions than non-experts, interpreted lower best-guess forecasts, and inferred significantly more uncertainty than nonexperts. These results suggest that care be taken in choosing how uncertainty is represented in forecasts, especially between expert and non-expert audiences

Restructuring of firms in transition: ownership, institutions and openness to trade

We develop a theoretical framework for defensive and strategic restructuring, and provide estimates of restructuring in privatized firms in an advanced transition economy: Slovenia. Our rich data point to both types of restructuring, as well credit rationing and bargaining with respect to investment. Privatized firms display profit-maximizing behavior, and a firm's export orientation and institutional features, such as insider vs outsider privatization, employee ownership, and employee control, do not affect the firm's employment and investment behavior. The results suggest that a major exposure to world competition induces similar economic behavior in firms with different structural and institutional characteristics. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 725–746. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400379

Cournot competition and endogenous firm size

Firm size, Adjustment dynamics, Artificial neural networks, Cournot games, C63, D21, D83, L13,

Immunosuppressive drugs as a tool to explore immunopathology in experimental Chagas disease

Submitted by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2020-06-07T12:55:55Z No. of bitstreams: 1 KatiaS_Calabrese_IOC_1999.pdf: 38451 bytes, checksum: 8ff072aabd0a77c14ab182f9a4301727 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Sandra Infurna ([email protected]) on 2020-06-07T13:07:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 KatiaS_Calabrese_IOC_1999.pdf: 38451 bytes, checksum: 8ff072aabd0a77c14ab182f9a4301727 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2020-06-07T13:07:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 KatiaS_Calabrese_IOC_1999.pdf: 38451 bytes, checksum: 8ff072aabd0a77c14ab182f9a4301727 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1999Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Departamento de Protozoologia. Laboratório de Immunomodulação. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil