Entrepreneurial orientation and international performance: the moderating effect of decision-making rationality

This research examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) influences international performance (IP) of the firm taking into account the moderating effect of decision-making rationality (DR) on the EO–IP association. Such an investigation is significant because it considers the interplay of strategic decision-making processes supported by the bounded rationality concept in the entrepreneurship field. Drawing from a study on activities of 216 firms in the United States and United Kingdom, the evidence suggests that DR positively moderates the EO–IP association. The findings suggest that managers can improve IP by combining EO with rational (analytical) processes in their strategic decisions

Victimisation and life satisfaction of gay and bisexual individuals in 44 European countries: the moderating role of country-level and person-level attitudes towards homosexuality

We examined the link between victimisation and life satisfaction for 85,301 gay and bisexual individuals across 44 European countries. We expected this negative link to be stronger when the internalised homonegativity of the victim was high (e.g. because the victim is more vulnerable) and weaker when victimisation occurs in countries that express intolerance towards homosexuality (e.g. because in such contexts victims expect victimisation more and they attribute it to their external environment). Additionally, we expected internalised homonegativity to relate negatively to life satisfaction. Multilevel analyses revealed that victimisation (i.e. verbal insults, threats of violence, minor or major physical assaults) and internalised homonegativity were negatively related to life satisfaction. Furthermore, as we expected, the negative link between victimisation and life satisfaction was stronger when high internalised homonegativity was reported (and the interaction effect occurred for verbal insults and major assaults as outcome variables), while it was weaker when there was low national tolerance of homosexuality (and the interaction effect occurred for verbal insults and for minor assaults). Future research and social policy should consider how the consequences of victimisation are dependent on personal as well as national attitudes towards homosexuality

Single-cell biomolecular analysis of coral algal symbionts reveals opposing metabolic responses to heat stress and expulsion

© 2018 Petrou, Nielsen and Heraud. The success of corals in nutrient poor environments is largely attributed to the symbiosis between the cnidarian host and its intracellular alga. Warm water anomalies have been shown to destabilize this symbiosis, yet detailed analysis of the effect of temperature and expulsion on cell-specific carbon and nutrient allocation in the symbiont is limited. Here, we exposed colonies of the hard coral Acropora millepora to heat stress and using synchrotron-based infrared microspectroscopy measured the biomolecular profiles of individual in hospite and expelled symbiont cells at an acute state of bleaching. Our results showed symbiont metabolic profiles to be remarkably distinct with heat stress and expulsion, where the two effectors elicited opposing metabolic adjustments independent of treatment or cell type. Elevated temperature resulted in biomolecular changes reflecting cellular stress, with relative increases in free amino acids and phosphorylation of molecules and a concomitant decline in protein content, suggesting protein modification and degradation. This contrasted with the metabolic profiles of expelled symbionts, which showed relative decreases in free amino acids and phosphorylated molecules, but increases in proteins and lipids, suggesting expulsion lessens the overall effect of heat stress on the metabolic signature of the algal symbionts. Interestingly, the combined effects of expulsion and thermal stress were additive, reducing the overall shifts in all biomolecules, with the notable exception of the significant accumulation of lipids and saturated fatty acids. This first use of a single-cell metabolomics approach on the coral symbiosis provides novel insight into coral bleaching and emphasizes the importance of a single-cell approach to demark the cell-to-cell variability in the physiology of coral cellular populations

Modelling the Influence of Layout On Overheating Risk of London Flats

An analysis of overheating levels corresponding to building morphology yielded the modelling uncertainty due to the geometry and layout of two-bedroom flats in London, England. A new method is introduced, which collates information on various flat layouts in the current London housing stock. To ensure an unbiased sample was selected, dwellings were chosen randomly, yielding twelve flats in and around inner London. Dynamic thermal simulations were performed using EnergyPlus to determine individual dwellings’ overheating risk. The results described the influence of geometry and layout configuration on overheating risk, which has rarely been analysed in previous studies. Irregular façades led to higher overheating levels in the set-back part of the building. Default configurations were used to model basecase archetypes, with further simulations performed to study the effects of orientation, ceiling heights and window glazing fractions. Compared with these factors, bigger differences between mean operative temperatures of flats were due to layout, with 3.5 °C in bedrooms, 1.5 °C in living rooms and 2.2 °C in kitchens

A case study on the impact of fixed input parameter values in the modelling of indoor overheating

Global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings while also improving their environmental resilience have intensified. These efforts are often supported by building stock models which can inform policymakers on the impact of policies on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and the indoor environment. The input values of such models are commonly informed by reference tables, which can result in inaccurate specification and incomplete representation of the distribution of possible values. In this modelling case study of a semi-detached dwelling archetype, the influence of using a reference U-value (2.1 W/(m2K)) for solid walls in England on heat-related mortality rate is compared to a probabilistic specification based on empirical evidence (median = 1.7W/(m2K)). Using the theoretical reference U-value generally resulted in a lower indoor overheating risk compared to the use of the empirically derived U-values pre-retrofit, but a larger increase in heat-related mortality rate following internal wall insulation (1.20%) than the use of the empirical median (0.94%, 95 % Confidence Interval = 0.87–0.99 %). This highlights the potentially significant implications of using fixed reference values. Future work will employ this probabilistic framework on multiple influential parameters