HOW NOT TO DO CROSS CULTURAL ANALYSIS: PREDICTIVE FAILURE AND CONSTRUCTION FLAWS IN GEERT HOFSTEDE’S CASE STUDY

This paper considers Hofstede’s claim that his national cultural “dimension scores” and related rankings of countries have predictive power by examining a ‘validating’ case study he has used in a number of publications to ‘demonstrate’ that capability. When tested against cross-sectional and longitudinal empirical evidence the case study is shown to have neither explanatory nor predictive power. A further unpacking of the case study demonstrates methodological flaws in its construction. Some characteristics of valid cross-national case studies are then outlined in a discussion of these flaws

Improved Techniques for the Surveillance of the Near Earth Space Environment with the Murchison Widefield Array

In this paper we demonstrate improved techniques to extend coherent processing intervals for passive radar processing, with the Murchison Widefield Array. Specifically, we apply a two stage linear range and Doppler migration compensation by utilising Keystone Formatting and a recent dechirping method. These methods are used to further demonstrate the potential for the surveillance of space with the Murchison Widefield Array using passive radar, by detecting objects orders of magnitude smaller than previous work. This paper also demonstrates how the linear Doppler migration methods can be extended to higher order compensation to further increase potential processing intervals.Comment: Presented at the 2019 IEEE Radar Conference in Boston earlier this yea

Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy (BARDS): a rapid test for enteric coating thickness and integrity of controlled release pellet formulations

There are no rapid dissolution based tests for determining coating thickness, integrity and drug concentration in controlled release pellets either during production or post-production. The manufacture of pellets requires several coating steps depending on the formulation. The sub-coating and enteric coating steps typically take up to six hours each followed by additional drying steps. Post production regulatory dissolution testing also takes up to six hours to determine if the batch can be released for commercial sale. The thickness of the enteric coating is a key factor that determines the release rate of the drug in the gastro-intestinal tract. Also, the amount of drug per unit mass decreases with increasing thickness of the enteric coating. In this study, the coating process is tracked from start to finish on an hourly basis by taking samples of pellets during production and testing those using BARDS (Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy). BARDS offers a rapid approach to characterising enteric coatings with measurements based on reproducible changes in the compressibility of a solvent due to the evolution of air during dissolution. This is monitored acoustically via associated changes in the frequency of induced acoustic resonances. A steady state acoustic lag time is associated with the disintegration of the enteric coatings in basic solution. This lag time is pH dependent and is indicative of the rate at which the coating layer dissolves. BARDS represents a possible future surrogate test for conventional USP dissolution testing as its data correlates directly with the thickness of the enteric coating, its integrity and also with the drug loading as validated by HPLC

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe

Fashion founded on a fl aw. The ecological mono-deterministic fallacy of Hofstede, GLOBE, and followers

Abstract Purpose -To comment on Brewer and Venaik's review of the misapplication of the national culture dimensions of Hofstede and GLOBE at the individual and other sub-national levels. This paper supports and extends their critique. Design/methodology/approach -The implausibility of deterministic claims about the multi-level power of national culture is described and discussed by drawing on a wide range of disciplines (including anthropology, geography, sociology, and historiography). Findings -Descriptions of the characteristics and origins of sub-national level behaviour based on a priori depictions of national culture values are invalid and misleading. Practical implications -There are important implications for practitioners. The paper highlights the unsoundness of descriptions of the sub-national (individuals, consumer segments, organizations, and so forth) which are derived from national-level depictions of culture and the dangers of ignoring the independent causal influence of non-national culture and non-cultural factors. Originality/value -The ecological fallacy in the national culture literature is located within a wider and long-standing critique of that fallacy. The paper is the first to show that the fallacy in the national culture literature is often an extreme causal version. It not merely supposes cross-level equivalence, as in the standard version, but more aggressively, it attributes deterministic power to national culture thus excluding other independent influences and agency

Is denial of the possibility of financial asset market failure responsible for an economic holocaust? (SoMWP0902)

Throughout the world every economic and socio-economic indicator has deteriorated. The so-called ‘real economy’ has been deeply contaminated by the most significant global financial crisis for seven decades. The ultimate extent and duration of this rampant degeneration and its longer-term political effects are unpredictable. What caused the crisis? This paper examines a range of suppositions made in theories which deny the possibility of financial asset market failure and identifies ways in which they contributed to the circumstances and actions which created the current crisis

Is denial of the possibility of financial asset market failure responsible for an economic holocaust? (SoMWP0902)

Throughout the world every economic and socio-economic indicator has deteriorated. The so-called ‘real economy’ has been deeply contaminated by the most significant global financial crisis for seven decades. The ultimate extent and duration of this rampant degeneration and its longer-term political effects are unpredictable. What caused the crisis? This paper examines a range of suppositions made in theories which deny the possibility of financial asset market failure and identifies ways in which they contributed to the circumstances and actions which created the current crisis

The roles of financial asset market failure denial and the economic crisis: Reflections on accounting and financial theories and practices

Throughout the world every economic and socio-economic indicator has deteriorated. The so-called 'real economy' has been deeply contaminated by the most significant global financial crisis for seven decades. The ultimate extent and duration of this rampant degeneration and its longer-term political effects are unpredictable but what caused the crisis? This paper examines a range of suppositions made in theories which deny the possibility of financial asset market failure and identifies ways in which they contributed to the circumstances and actions which created the current crisis.