Foreign Direct Investment For Developing Financing: Teaching Market-Related Aspects Through Cases

This article presents two cases that have been used to supplement the teaching of how market-related aspects impact decisions, policies and tasks associated with attracting foreign direct investment into emerging markets and developing economies. The authors share their experiences in workshops and in the classroom and provide discussion strategies and teaching notes for each case

Processing Popup Ads and Print Ads: A Comparative Study between American, Brazilian, and Argentinean Consumers

As more and more companies become global business entities, it will be important to find out how traditional consumer behavior processes and relationships work in different countries. A comparison of the processing of a traditional print ad and popup ad are compared within and between the United States, Brazil, and Argentina. Very little research exists regarding traditional consumer behavior and advertising model outcomes in Brazil and Argentina. Since these two Latin American countries have become large economic powers in the global economy, it is important to study how these countries’ consumers react to existing models of consumption and advertising. Could there be differences due to some cultural influences? Cross-cultural experimental research is a good first step to try and develop some answers so companies can correctly use existing or new marketing strategies to successfully sell their products in these countries. The experiment followed a two (media: print or web) by two (argument quality: strong or weak) by two (involvement: high or weak), between-subject factorial design. Subjects participated in groups that ranged in size from 23 to 30. Target ads included a brand of personal computer and orange soda that were not familiar to the subjects tested. Dependent variables included attitude- toward- the- ad, attitude-toward- the- brand, purchase intention, and attitude-toward-the-ad- claim. Preliminary results indicate American subjects have a higher Aad for web ads than for print ads and a greater Abrand for web ads than for print ads. But this is not the case for their Brazilian and Argentinean counterparts. The ultimate goal of course, is to aide marketers in understanding their customers and to help them sell more products. This experiment may help marketers determine where to put their promotional dollar allocations in several countries or not and in what advertising form

A Primer On International Environmental Law: Sustainability As A Principle Of International Law And Custom

International environmental law draws from two important sources: international treaties and conventions\u27 and customary international law

The Supreme Court as the Grand Mediator in Social Regulation of the Media - De Gustibus Non Disputandum Est: Or Are They

This article presents a study of administrative and statutory schemes designed to regulate various aspects of the media in considering broad questions of indecency, obscenity, and societal and parental controls over content in various forms of media broadcasting. The article then provides an important historical back-drop by referencing Burstyn v. Wilson (a 1950s case involving an alleged secular sacrilege ) and Pacifica Foundation (the George Carlin Filthy Words monologue case). It then turns to a discussion of the litigation and controversy spurred by passage of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 as the focus of congressional attention turned to regulating the Internet. In this context, the article discusses Reno v. ACLU and American Library Association v. United States, two cases which provided direct challenges to Congressional regulatory responses. This article concludes by noting important international implications of the attempts to place restrictions on the Internet, and offers several tentative conclusions by bringing to the forefront the debate on the use of filtering technology designed to provide controls and supervision over this new media

Comparación de la fibra detergente neutra en gramíneas, calculada mediante algoritmo de análisis de imágenes rojo, verde y azul vs espectroscopia del infrarrojo cercano

The aim of this study to the evaluate the precision of the Red, Green, Blue (RGB) image analysis algorithm included in the TaurusWebs V2017® software for calculating the percentage of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) in the dry matter of grasses, from images of the grasslands taken by a drone with RGB camera. The results were compared with NDF values calculated with near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Forty-two samples were taken for NIRS: 18 from grasses from the high tropics in Cundinamarca: kikuyu (Pennisetum clandestinum), velvet grass (Holcus lanatus) and reed canarian grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and 24 from the lower tropics in Tolima, Colombia: pangola (Digitaria decumbens), para (Brachiaria mutica), Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and silver grass (Bothriochloa pertusa). The results were compared against 180 evaluations made with the algorithm of the images of the same grasses where the samples were taken for NIRS. The Kendall and Spearman correlation tests were significant (p<0.05), with an association of rho = 0.81 for the Kruskal Wallis hypothesis test (p>0.05). There were no significant differences in NDF values under the two methodologies and according to the Wilcoxon test, the medians of DNF calculated by NIRS vs. those of the algorithm are the same. In conclusion, the information generated with the algorithm can be used for NDF analysis work in grasses.El trabajo estuvo orientado a evaluar la precisión del algoritmo de análisis de imágenes Red, Green, Blue (RGB) incluido en el software TaurusWebs V2017® para el cálculo del porcentaje de fibra detergente neutra (FDN) en la materia seca de gramíneas, a partir de imágenes de las praderas tomadas por un dron con cámara RGB. Los resultados fueron comparados con los valores de FDN calculados con espectroscopia del infrarrojo cercano (NIRS). Se tomaron 42 muestras para NIRS: 18 de gramíneas de trópico alto en Cundinamarca: kikuyo (Pennisetum clandestinum), falsa poa (Holcus lanatus) y pasto brasilero (Phalaris arundinacea) y 24 de trópico bajo en Tolima, Colombia: pangola (Digitaria decumbens), pará (Brachiaria mutica), bermuda (Cynodon dactylon) y colosuana (Bothriochloa pertusa). Los resultados se compararon contra 180 evaluaciones hechas con el algoritmo de las imágenes de las mismas gramíneas donde se tomaron las muestras para NIRS. Las pruebas de correlación de Kendall y de Spearman fueron significativas (p<0.05), con una asociación de rho=0.81 para la prueba de hipótesis de Kruskal Wallis (p> 0.05). No hubo diferencias significativas en los valores de FDN bajo las dos metodologías y según la prueba de Wilcoxon las medianas de la FDN calculada por NIRS vs. las del algoritmo son iguales. En conclusión, la información generada con el algoritmo se puede utilizar para trabajos de análisis del FDN en gramíneas

A phylogenetic classification of the world’s tropical forests

Knowledge about the biogeographic affinities of the world’s tropical forests helps to better understand regional differences in forest structure, diversity, composition and dynamics. Such understanding will enable anticipation of region specific responses to global environmental change. Modern phylogenies, in combination with broad coverage of species inventory data, now allow for global biogeographic analyses that take species evolutionary distance into account. Here we present the first classification of the world’s tropical forests based on their phylogenetic similarity. We identify five principal floristic regions and their floristic relationships: (1) Indo-Pacific, (2) Subtropical, (3) African, (4) American, and (5) Dry forests. Our results do not support the traditional Neo- versus Palaeo-tropical forest division, but instead separate the combined American and African forests from their Indo-Pacific counterparts. We also find indications for the existence of a global dry forest region, with representatives in America, Africa, Madagascar and India. Additionally, a northern hemisphere Subtropical forest region was identified with representatives in Asia and America, providing support for a link between Asian and American northern hemisphere forests

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Consistent patterns of common species across tropical tree communities

Trees structure the Earth’s most biodiverse ecosystem, tropical forests. The vast number of tree species presents a formidable challenge to understanding these forests, including their response to environmental change, as very little is known about most tropical tree species. A focus on the common species may circumvent this challenge. Here we investigate abundance patterns of common tree species using inventory data on 1,003,805 trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm across 1,568 locations1,2,3,4,5,6 in closed-canopy, structurally intact old-growth tropical forests in Africa, Amazonia and Southeast Asia. We estimate that 2.2%, 2.2% and 2.3% of species comprise 50% of the tropical trees in these regions, respectively. Extrapolating across all closed-canopy tropical forests, we estimate that just 1,053 species comprise half of Earth’s 800 billion tropical trees with trunk diameters of at least 10 cm. Despite differing biogeographic, climatic and anthropogenic histories7, we find notably consistent patterns of common species and species abundance distributions across the continents. This suggests that fundamental mechanisms of tree community assembly may apply to all tropical forests. Resampling analyses show that the most common species are likely to belong to a manageable list of known species, enabling targeted efforts to understand their ecology. Although they do not detract from the importance of rare species, our results open new opportunities to understand the world’s most diverse forests, including modelling their response to environmental change, by focusing on the common species that constitute the majority of their trees