The relationship between likelihood and fear of criminal victimisation: evaluating risk sensitivity as a mediating concept

Crime surveys typically ask respondents how ‘likely’ they think it is that they will become a crime victim in the future. The responses are interpreted here as ‘risk’ statements. An investigation of the risk literature shows the concept to be considerably more complex than at first imagined, but shows that individual risk predictions are largely based on interpretations far removed from rational considerations of likelihood based on recorded crime rates. Responses from three waves of a longitudinal crime survey conducted in Trinidad are examined in this light. It is concluded that fear of criminal victimization might best be considered as differential sensitivity to predicted risk.</p

Do service and merchandise exporters behave and perform differently? : a New Zealand investigation

Research on export behaviour and the determinants of export performance of manufacturing firms abounds in the literature. By contrast relatively little research has been undertaken that focuses on service exporters despite the growing importance of service exports in most advanced industrialised countries. This paper compares the export behaviour and performance of service firms to those of manufacturing firms. The study is based on a survey of 155 small and medium size exporters from New Zealand. The results suggest that service exporters are distinctively unique in many respects and exhibit export behaviours that are different from exporters of merchandise. Generally, service firms have greater flexibility to adapt their products to the specific requirements of their customers, use direct export channels more often and are also more proactive than merchandise firms in the establishment of future export strategies. Overall, the size and commitment of service exporters have the greatest influence on their performance

Influence of Urban Landscapes on Population Dynamics in a Short-Distance Migrant Mosquito: Evidence for the Dengue Vector Aedes aegypti

Worldwide, 2.5 billion people are at risk for dengue infection, with no vaccine or treatment available. Thus dengue prevention is largely focused on controlling its mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti. Traditional mosquito control approaches typically include insecticide applications and breeding site source reduction. Presently, novel dengue control measures including the sterile insect technique and population replacement with dengue-incompetent transgenic mosquitoes are also being considered. Success of all population control programs is in part dependent upon understanding mosquito population ecology, including how anthropogenic effects on the urban landscape influence dispersal and expansion. We conducted a two year population genetic study examining how a major metropolitan highway impacts mosquito dispersal in Trinidad, West Indies. As evidenced by significant differentiation using both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences, the highway acted as a significant barrier to dispersal. Our results suggest that anthropogenic landscape features can be used effectively to enhance population suppression/replacement measures by defining mosquito control zones along recognized landscape barriers that limit population dispersal

A Novel Xenomonitoring Technique Using Mosquito Excreta/Feces for the Detection of Filarial Parasites and Malaria

Given the continued successes of the world’s lymphatic filariasis (LF) elimination programs and the growing successes of many malaria elimination efforts, the necessity of low cost tools and methodologies applicable to long-term disease surveillance is greater than ever before. As many countries reach the end of their LF mass drug administration programs and a growing number of countries realize unprecedented successes in their malaria interven- tion efforts, the need for practical molecular xenomonitoring (MX), capable of providing surveillance for disease recrudescence in settings of decreased parasite prevalence is increasingly clear. Current protocols, however, require testing of mosquitoes in pools of 25 or fewer, making high-throughput examination a challenge. The new method we present here screens the excreta/feces from hundreds of mosquitoes per pool and provides proof- of-concept for a practical alternative to traditional methodologies resulting in significant cost and labor savings

Tumor Necrosis Factor-α and Muc2 Mucin Play Major Roles in Disease Onset and Progression in Dextran Sodium Sulphate-Induced Colitis

The sequential events and the inflammatory mediators that characterize disease onset and progression of ulcerative colitis (UC) are not well known. In this study, we evaluated the early pathologic events in the pathogenesis of colonic ulcers in rats treated with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Following a lag phase, day 5 of DSS treatment was found clinically most critical as disease activity index (DAI) exhibited an exponential rise with severe weight loss and rectal bleeding. Surprisingly, on days 1-2, colonic TNF-α expression (70-80-fold) and tissue protein (50-fold) were increased, whereas IL-1β only increased on days 7-9 (60-90-fold). Days 3-6 of DSS treatment were characterized by a prominent down regulation in the expression of regulatory cytokines (40-fold for IL-10 and TGFβ) and mucin genes (15-18 fold for Muc2 and Muc3) concomitant with depletion of goblet cell and adherent mucin. Remarkably, treatment with TNF-α neutralizing antibody markedly altered DSS injury with reduced DAI, restoration of the adherent and goblet cell mucin and IL-1β and mucin gene expression. We conclude that early onset colitis is dependent on TNF-α that preceded depletion of adherent and goblet cell mucin prior to epithelial cell damage and these biomarkers can be used as therapeutic targets for UC

How dynamic capabilities drive performance in the Indian IT industry : the role of information and co-ordination

This study examines key issues and effects of capability management on a fast-growing area of knowledge-intensive global business services &ndash; IT outsourcing and offshoring. An exploratory study is undertaken of Indian companies providing complex process-oriented offshore IT services to their global customers. The analysis of the data related to the service provider side shows that developing dynamic capabilities is strongly driven by management and top-clients and results in the development of business processes and in establishing a strategic partnership with the client organization. Key findings are that information exchange and coordination are the key to a leveraging firm performance.<br /