New insights into the internationalization of producer services:Organizational strategies and spatial economies for global headhunting firms

This paper uses the exemplar of global headhunting firms to provide new insights into the intricacies of internationalization and related ‘spatial economies’ of producer services in the world economy. In particular, we unpack the complex relationships between the organisational rationale for, the selected mode of, and future benefits gained by internationalization, as headhunting firms seek and create new geographical markets. We achieve this through an analysis of headhunting firm-specific case study data that details the evolving way such firms organize their differential strategic growth (organic, merger and acquisition, and alliances/network) and forms (wholly-owned, networked or hybrid). We also highlight how, as elite labour market intermediaries, headhunters are important, yet understudied, actors within the (re)production of a ‘softer’, ‘knowledgeable’ capitalism. Our argument, exemplified through detailed mapping of the changing geographies of headhunting firms between 1992 and 2005, demonstrates the need for complex and blurred typologies of internationalization and similarly complex internationalization theory

Serious Game Evaluation as a Meta-game

Purpose – This paper aims to briefly outline the seamless evaluation approach and its application during an evaluation of ORIENT, a serious game aimed at young adults. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the authors detail a unobtrusive, embedded evaluation approach that occurs within the game context, adding value and entertainment to the player experience whilst accumulating useful data for the development team. Findings – The key result from this study was that during the “seamless evaluation” approach, users were unaware that they had been participating in an evaluation, with instruments enhancing rather than detracting from the in-role game experience. Practical implications – This approach, seamless evaluation, was devised in response to player expectations, perspectives and requirements, recognising that in the evaluation of games the whole process of interaction including its evaluation must be enjoyable and fun for the user. Originality/value – Through using seamless evaluation, the authors created an evaluation completely embedded within the “magic circle” of an in-game experience that added value to the user experience whilst also yielding relevant results for the development team

The complexity of the California recall election

The October 7, 2003 California Recall Election strained California’s direct democracy. In recent California politics there has not been a statewide election conducted on such short notice; county election officials were informed on July 24 that the election would be held on October 7. Nor has California recently seen a ballot with so many candidates running for a single statewide office (see Mueller 1970). Under easy ballot access requirements, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certified 135 candidates for the official ballot on August 13^1. In the recall, voters cast votes on (1) whether to recall Governor Davis from office, and (2) his possible successor. These two voting decisions were made independent by the federal district court’s decision on July 29. The court’s decision invalidated a state law requiring a vote on the recall question in order for a vote on the successor election to be counted (Partnoy et al. 2003). The abbreviated election calendar also led to many improvisations, including a dramatically reduced number of precinct poll sites throughout the state and the unprecedented ability of military personnel, their dependents, and civilians living overseas to return their absentee ballots by fax. These problems produced litigation and speculation that substantial problems would mar the election and throw the outcome of both the recall and a possible successor’s election into doubt. In the end, the litigation failed to stall the recall election, and the large final vote margins on both the recall question and the successor ballot seemingly overwhelmed Election Day problems. In this paper, we concentrate on some of the problems produced by the complexity of the recall election, but we do not attempt an exhaustive presentation of these problems. We focus on polling place problems on election day, the problems associated with translating the complicated recall election ballot into six languages, how the long ballot influenced voter behavior, and voter difficulties with the ballot measured with survey data. We conclude with a short discussion of the possible impact of these problems on the recall election

On the Application of Strong Magnetic Fields during Organic Crystal Growth

We investigate the effect of crystal growth within a magnetic field for three polymorphic pharmaceuticals, using an experiment where the magnetic field can be varied in strength without altering other crystallization conditions. In the case of carbamazepine, fields above 0.6 T produce metastable form I, and for flufenamic acid, there is an increased propensity to crystallize metastable form I around 1 T. In contrast, the magnetic field has no effect on the crystallization of mefenamic acid, a closely related molecule. The growth of the metastable β polymorph of coronene within a magnetic field at ambient temperature is difficult to reproduce but has been seen as a minor component, consistent with this transformation to the more stable form being facile, depending on the particle size. Calculations of the diamagnetic susceptibility tensors of the polymorphs and their morphologies provide semiquantitative estimates of how the diamagnetic susceptibilities of crystallites differ between polymorphs and explain why mefenamic acid crystallization is unaffected. As the onset of crystallization of carbamazepine and coronene, as defined by changes in turbidity, occur at lower temperatures and hence greater supersaturations in certain ranges of magnetic field strength, this suggests that the field causes precipitation of the metastable form through Ostwald’s rule of stages

Expansion of Foxp3+ T-cell populations by Candida albicans enhances both Th17-cell responses and fungal dissemination after intravenous challenge

Research Funding Wellcome Trust, UK. Grant Numbers: 086827, 080088 NIH. Grant Number: DE022550Peer reviewedPublisher PD

High Power Demonstration of a 100 kW Nested Hall Thruster System

The XR-100 team successfully completed high power system testing of a Nested Hall Thruster system made up of the X3 Nested Hall Thruster, a modular Power Processing Unit, and a 5 valve Mass Flow Controller as the culmination of work performed under a NASA NextSTEP program. The test campaign attained several key firsts, including highest directly measured thrust of an electric propulsion (EP) string, highest demonstrated current of an EP string, and highest power operation of an EP string at thermal equilibrium published to date. Most importantly, the XR-100 system testing demonstrated that a 100 kW-class Nested Hall Thruster system has comparable performance and behavior to current state-of-the-art mid power Hall Thrusters, validating that the heritage technology can be scaled up to 100+ k

Developmental programming modulates olfactory behavior in C. elegans via endogenous RNAi pathways

Environmental stress during early development can impact adult phenotypes via programmed changes in gene expression. C. elegans larvae respond to environmental stress by entering the stress-resistant dauer diapause pathway and resume development once conditions improve (postdauers). Here we show that the osm-9 TRPV channel gene is a target of developmental programming and is down-regulated specifically in the ADL chemosensory neurons of postdauer adults, resulting in a corresponding altered olfactory behavior that is mediated by ADL in an OSM-9-dependent manner. We identify a cis-acting motif bound by the DAF-3 SMAD and ZFP-1 (AF10) proteins that is necessary for the differential regulation of osm-9, and demonstrate that both chromatin remodeling and endo-siRNA pathways are major contributors to the transcriptional silencing of the osm-9 locus. This work describes an elegant mechanism by which developmental experience influences adult phenotypes by establishing and maintaining transcriptional changes via RNAi and chromatin remodeling pathways.1

The stimulating effects of ethanol on ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons projecting to the ventral pallidum and medial prefrontal cortex in female Wistar rats: regional difference and involvement of serotonin-3 receptors

RATIONALE: The ventral tegmental area (VTA) mediates the local stimulating effects of ethanol (EtOH) in a region-dependent manner, with EtOH administration in the posterior but not anterior VTA stimulating the mesolimbic system. The serotonin-3 (5-HT(3)) receptor has been involved in the effects of EtOH on the mesolimbic system. OBJECTIVES: The current study tested the hypothesis that EtOH would stimulate mesopallidal and mesocortical dopamine neurons in the posterior but not anterior VTA and that the stimulating effects of EtOH in the VTA would involve activation of local 5-HT(3) receptors. METHODS: Wistar female rats were surgically implanted with two cannulae, one in one sub-region of the VTA for microinjection and the other in the ventral pallidum (VP) or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) for microdialysis. Artificial cerebrospinal fluid or EtOH (200 mg%; 44 mM) was microinjected in the anterior or posterior VTA, and extracellular dopamine was measured in the VP or mPFC with microdialysis-HPLC. RESULTS: EtOH injections in the posterior but not anterior VTA significantly increased extracellular dopamine levels in the VP and mPFC. Co-injections of the 5-HT(3) receptor antagonist ICS-205,930 with EtOH in the posterior VTA significantly reduced the effects of EtOH on extracellular dopamine levels in the VP and mPFC. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that posterior VTA dopamine neurons projecting to the VP and mPFC are stimulated by local administration of EtOH and that the local stimulating effects of EtOH are mediated, at least in part, by 5-HT(3) receptors