Corruption and MNCs’ entry mode. An empirical econometric study of Portuguese firms investing in PALOPs

Extant literature on FDI entry modes and corruption tend to convey the idea that corruption leads to the choice of low equity, i.e. joint-ventures with local partners, or non-equity modes, namely export and contracting, in order to avoid the contact with corrupt state officials. Recently, however, Demirbag et al. (2010) argument that, despite corruption, linguistic and historical ties between home and host countries guide MNCs to prefer high equity modes (namely, wholly-owned subsidiaries). Focusing on a rather unexplored setting, the African countries, most specifically the PALOP (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa), which includes countries with both very high (Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola), high (Mozambique, São Tome and Principe) and middle (Cape Verde) levels of corruption, and that maintain quite close linguistic and historical ties with Portugal, we aim at testing Dermirbag’s argumentation; in particular, we aim at assessing the extent to which PALOP’s corruption levels influence the entry modes of Portuguese MNCs in these countries.Corruption, Emerging Economies, Entry mode

Co-creating a tailored public health intervention to reduce older adults’ sedentary behaviour

Objective: The increasing health care costs associated with an ageing population and chronic disease burden are largely attributable to modifiable lifestyle factors that are complex and vary between individuals and settings. Traditional approaches to promoting healthy lifestyles have so far had limited success. Recently, co-creating public health interventions with end-users has been advocated to provide more effective and sustainable solutions. The aim of this study was to document and evaluate the co-creation of a public health intervention to reduce sedentary behaviour in older adults. Design: Community-dwelling older adults (N = 11, mean age = 74 years) and academic researchers attended 10 interactive co-creation workshops together. Setting: Workshops took place on university campus and the co-creators completed fieldwork tasks outside the workshops. Method: Workshops were informed by the Participatory and Appreciative Action and Reflection methodology. Data were collected using field notes, video recording and worksheet tasks. Analysis was conducted using a qualitative content analysis approach. Results: The co-creators developed a tailored intervention delivered through a mode congruent with older adults' lives. Key elements of the intervention included (1) education on sedentary behaviour, (2) resources to interrupt sedentary behaviour, (3) self-monitoring, (4) action planning and (5) evaluating the benefits of interrupting sedentary behaviour. Conclusion: Co-creation is a feasible approach to develop public health interventions; however, it is limited by the lack of a systematic framework to guide the process. Future work should aim to develop principles and recommendations to ensure co-creation can be conducted in a more scientific and reproducible way. The effectiveness and scalability of the intervention should be assessed

Relationship Between Caffeine Use and the Total Hours of Sleep Per Week

Lack of sleep is a common theme throughout college students’ lives. Additionally, college students report being dependent on caffeine to perform their best.The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a link between how much caffeine students are using and how much sleep they are getting. The sample contained data from the 2011-2014 cohorts of the Spit for Science dataset. Both sleep and caffeine use data were collected at several points: first year fall semester (n=1799), third year spring semester (n=1918), and fourth year spring semester (n=859). Sleep data included the hours and minutes of sleep that students typically get per night. Caffeine use was asked by a simple yes or no “Do you drink any caffeinated beverages?” Independent sample t-tests were performed for each of the stated survey waves for caffeine use vs. the total hours of sleep of each cohort. The relationship between caffeine use and the total hours of sleep of the third year and fourth year spring surveys was found to be statistically significant (p=0.041 and p=0.034, respectively), with caffeine consumption related to decreased sleep. Additionally, linear regression was performed on both coffee and caffeinated soda use vs. total hours of sleep per week. Only first year fall semester (coffee) was found to be statistically significant (B= -0.514, p=\u3c0.01). Sleep is an important part of well being, so additional research is needed to figure out how students’ sleep cycles are being affected in relation to their caffeine consumption.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1215/thumbnail.jp

Effects of a falls exercise intervention on strength, power, functional ability and bone in older frequent fallers: FaME (Falls Management Exercise) RCT secondary analysis

OBJECTIVES: Falls Management Exercise (FaME) has been shown to reduce falls in frequent fallers and in lower risk sedentary older people. The effects of FaME on the strength, power, physical function and bone health of frequently falling older women are yet to be established. METHODS: This paper reports secondary analysis of data from the original randomised controlled trial of FaME in 100 community dwelling women aged ≥65 years with a history of ≥3 falls in the previous year. Intervention was group delivered, weekly one hour tailored dynamic balance and strength exercise classes and home exercise for nine months. OUTCOME MEASURES INCLUDED: strength (handgrip, quadriceps, hamstrings, hip abductors, ankles), lower limb explosive power and functional tests (timed up and go, functional reach, timed floor rise and balance), analysed using Linear Mixed Model analysis. Bone Mineral Density (BMD) at hip and spine was measured in a smaller sub-group and analysed using t-tests. RESULTS: Significant time*group interactions in all measures of strength, except isometric ankle dorsiflexion, concentric hamstring and eccentric quadriceps strength. These improvements in strength equated to average improvements of 7-45%. There were also significant improvements in explosive power (W/kg) (18%, p=0.000), timed up and go (16%, p=0.000), functional reach (17%, p=0.000), floor rise (10%, p=0.002) and eyes closed static balance (56%, p=0.000). There was a significant loss of hip BMD in the control group (neck of femur p<0.05; ward's triangle p<0.02). CONCLUSION: The FaME intervention improves lower limb strength, power and clinically relevant functional outcomes in frequently falling older women

Use of Electronic Transmission by Agricultural Communications News Units

Agricultural communications units in all 50 states were surveyed as to their use of electronic transmission of news releases, either computer-to-computer or via posting to electronic bulletin board

A Study of University of Idaho Ag News Published by Idaho Newspapers in 1984 and 1985

In 1984-86, the University of Idaho Agricultural Communications Center evaluated the extent to which news releases are used by Idaho newspapers and attempted to determine whether any of the variables used to describe a story enhanced its use

Decreasing Wait Times for New Referrals to an Outpatient Specialty Clinic

Abstract New patients to an Outpatient Allergy Clinic are waiting for 60 days or more for an appointment which is of concern because of severe allergic reactions, such as anaphylaxis, from which they could suffer. The aim of this project was to reduce the wait time by 25 percent or 15 days for all newly referred patients to the Children’s Outpatient Allergy clinic by August 1, 2016. The clinic is affiliated with a Children’s hospital, services adults and children, and sees approximately 750 patients monthly. Many patients have been on service for years. Implementation The implementation included a ‘buy in’ from stakeholders, an in-service for top referral sources, and adjusting the scheduling matrix to include seeing more new patients daily. Evaluation Currently, there are four ‘new patient slots’ created for each provider daily, with 36 new patients scheduled. The staff has shown increased effectiveness and efficiency. Recent authorizations received have been properly completed. The wait time for new patients is now 43 – 45 days. There is no available data yet for patient satisfaction scores. Conclusion Wait times for new patients have decreased by 25 percent from 60 days to 45 days, the number of new patients seen weekly has increased from 20 to 36 and complete authorization requests are being received. The recommendation is to maintain sustainability of this project by having a clinic champion, maintaining the support of the management team and including the results as an integral part of the daily work flow. Nursing Relevance Reduction in wait times will lead to improving patient satisfaction scores which is a key indicator of quality care and very relevant to nursing. This project focuses on the CNL curriculum element of Care Environment Management, utilizing the CNL competency role of Team Manager as its framework

An Oral History of Three Generations of Kapa Practitioners.

Ed.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2017

The Two-Screen Measurement Setup to Indirectly Measure Proton Beam Self-Modulation in AWAKE

The goal of the first phase of the AWAKE \cite{AWAKE1,AWAKE2} experiment at CERN is to measure the self-modulation \cite{SMI} of the $\sigma_z = 12\,\rm{cm}$ long SPS proton bunch into microbunches after traversing $10\,\rm{m}$ of plasma with a plasma density of $n_{pe}=7\times10^{14}\,\rm{electrons/cm}^3$. The two screen measurement setup \cite{Turner2016} is a proton beam diagnostic that can indirectly prove the successful development of the self-modulation of the proton beam by imaging protons that got defocused by the transverse plasma wakefields after passing through the plasma, at two locations downstream the end of the plasma. This article describes the design and realization of the two screen measurement setup integrated in the AWAKE experiment. We discuss the performance and background response of the system based on measurements performed with an unmodulated Gaussian SPS proton bunch during the AWAKE beam commissioning in September and October 2016. We show that the system is fully commissioned and adapted to eventually image the full profile of a self-modulated SPS proton bunch in a single shot measurement during the first phase of the AWAKE experiment.Comment: 5 pages 8 figure