The bribery paradox in transition economies and the enactment of ‘new normal’ business environments

We develop a novel, sensemaking perspective on corruption in transition economies. Prior research has focused on understanding why some entrepreneurs are more likely to pay bribes than others. It typically assumes that paying bribes will lead to an intended – albeit unfair – competitive advantage. We challenge this assumption and uncover a bribery paradox: drawing upon sensemaking logic, we argue that beyond gaining an immediate benefit from bribing, entrepreneurs who frequently pay bribes may in the longer run be enacting a ‘new normal’ business environment perceived as high in obstacles, especially in transition countries. As sensemaking is grounded in identity construction and one’s social context, we argue that owners of family firms will be especially vulnerable to the dangers of perceiving greater obstacles over time and enacting an obstacle‐ridden ‘new normal’ business environment. We find empirical support for our framework on a sample of 310 privately‐held small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from 22 transition economies

Rappers and Linguistic Variation: A study of Non-Standard Language in Selected Francophone Rap Tracks

This thesis examines the use of non-standard language, more specifically non-standard vocabulary (i.e. slang, verlan, colloquialisms, vulgarities, foreign borrowings, and abbreviations), in a corpus of selected francophone rap tracks in order both to quantify its use and to investigate what determines its variation, focusing on the impact of diachronic, diatopic, gender and diaphasic determinants. The methodology relies on a lexicographic analysis to produce quantitative results which are then analysed qualitatively by means of extract analyses and semi-structured interviews with francophone rappers. To answer the research questions, the thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter presents the aforementioned methodology and the overall quantitative results from the thesis, while also introducing the notion of variation, which is then tackled in the last four chapters. The second chapter investigates diachronic determinants from two perspectives: different generations of rappers (1990/1991, 2001 and 2011) and one artist throughout his career (Akhenaton in 1991, 2011 and 2011). The third chapter looks at diatopic determinants, analysing the impact of ethnic and spatial origins. Three ethnic origins are compared (rappers of French, Algerian and Senegalese origin), together with three cities (Marseille, Paris and Brussels) and three departments (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne). The fourth chapter focuses on gender determinants, with a comparison of male versus female rappers that also takes broader gender performativity into account. Finally, the fifth chapter examines the impact of diaphasic determinants. It analyses three rap genres (jazz/poetic, ego trip and knowledge rap), which then form the foundation for qualitative discussions of the effect of aesthetics, figures of speech, themes and performance. In conclusion, the contribution to knowledge of this work is the observation that the main determinant of high use of non-standard vocabulary is the performance of modern ego trip. The other determinants do not impact non-standard vocabulary to the same extent quantitatively or systematically, due to the complexity of the contextual and fluid identity performances involved with these determinants

On the origin of bursts in blue compact dwarf galaxies: clues from kinematics and stellar populations

Blue compact dwarf galaxies (BCDs) form stars at, for their sizes, extraordinarily high rates. In this paper, we study what triggers this starburst and what is the fate of the galaxy once its gas fuel is exhausted. We select four BCDs with smooth outer regions, indicating them as possible progenitors of dwarf elliptical galaxies. We have obtained photometric and spectroscopic data with the FORS and ISAAC instruments on the VLT. We analyse their infrared spectra using a full spectrum fitting technique, which yields the kinematics of their stars and ionized gas together with their stellar population characteristics. We find that the stellar velocity to velocity dispersion ratio ((nu/sigma)(star)) of our BCDs is of the order of 1.5, similar to that of dwarf elliptical galaxies. Thus, those objects do not require significant (if any) loss of angular momentum to fade into early-type dwarfs. This finding is in discordance with previous studies, which however compared the stellar kinematics of dwarf elliptical galaxies with the gaseous kinematics of star-forming dwarfs. The stellar velocity fields of our objects are very disturbed and the star formation regions are often kinematically decoupled from the rest of the galaxy. These regions can be more or less metal rich with respect to the galactic body and sometimes they are long lived. These characteristics prevent us from pinpointing a unique trigger of the star formation, even within the same galaxy. Gas impacts, mergers, and in-spiraling gas clumps are all possible star formation igniters for our targets

Above- and belowground herbivory jointly impact defense and seed dispersal traits in Taraxacum officinale

Plants are able to cope with herbivores by inducing defensive traits or growth responses that allow them to reduce or avoid the impact of herbivores. Since above- and belowground herbivores differ substantially in life-history traits, for example feeding types, and their spatial distribution, it is likely that they induce different responses in plants. Moreover, strong interactive effects on defense and plant growth are expected when above- and belowground herbivores are jointly present. The strengths and directions of these responses have been scarcely addressed in the literature. Using Taraxacum officinale, the root-feeding nematode Meloidogyne hapla and the locust Schistocerca gregaria as a model species, we examined to what degree above- and belowground herbivory affect (1) plant growth responses, (2) the induction of plant defensive traits, that is, leaf trichomes, and (3) changes in dispersal-related seed traits and seed germination. We compared the performance of plants originating from different populations to address whether plant responses are conserved across putative different genotypes. Overall, aboveground herbivory resulted in increased plant biomass. Root herbivory had no effect on plant growth. Plants exposed to the two herbivores showed fewer leaf trichomes than plants challenged only by one herbivore and consequently experienced greater aboveground herbivory. In addition, herbivory had effects that reached beyond the individual plant by modifying seed morphology, producing seeds with longer pappus, and germination success

Social Consumer Neuroscience: Neurophysiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness in a Social Context

The application of neurophysiological methods to study the effects of advertising on consumer purchase behavior has seen an enormous growth in recent years. However, little is known about the role social settings have on shaping the human brain during the processing of advertising stimuli. To address this issue, we first review previous key findings of neuroscience research on advertising effectiveness. Next, we discuss traditional advertising research into the effects social context has on the way consumers experience advertising messages and explain why marketers, who aim to predict advertising effectiveness, should place participants in social settings, in addition to the traditional ways of studying consumer brain responses to advertising in social isolation. This article contributes to the literature by offering advertising researchers a series of research agendas on the key indicators of advertising effectiveness (attention, emotion, memory, and preference). It aims to improve understanding of the impact social context has on consumers' neurophysiological responses to advertising messages

ADAPTr Exhibition

The book is one of the outcomes of the grant (funded by the EU seventh framework Programme grant number 317325. Period of grant 01.01.2013 to 31.12.20160. It describes the exhibition held in Ambika P3. It includes a double page statement from each of the seven partners and from each of the 42 research fellows employed under the scheme. There are four new essays (Prof Richard Blythe, Prof Kester Rattenbury, Prof Leon van Schaik, Dr Fleur Watson) a preface by Prof John Verbeke, and introduction by Prof Katharine Heron. It is included on the ADAPTr website and submitted to the EU as one of the deliverable outputs

LAI determination in dune vegetation: a comparison of different techniques

Research was conducted in the nature reserve De Westhoek (De Panne, Belgium) in order to determine leaf-area-index (LAI) in different dune vegetation types by both direct (destructively) and indirect optical measurements. The destructive LAI determination was conducted in herbaceous and shrub vegetation types. It was found that the LAI of herbaceous vegetation ranges between 0.87 and 4.60 and the LAI of shrub vegetation between 2.25 and 3.58. Ground-based optical determination of LAI was only conducted in the shrub vegetation, by means of the SunScan (Delta-T Devices Ltd, Cambridge, UK). This indirect LAI method systematically overestimated direct LAI. Another applied optical method is the hemispherical photography (Nikon Coolpix 5000 camera). Airborne remote sensing data are used to establish a relationship between direct LAI and some vegetation indices. Based on the above established relationship a map of the horizontal LAI distribution in the nature reserve De Westhoek will be produced

A new astrophysical solution to the Too Big To Fail problem: Insights from the MORIA simulations

Aims. We test whether or not realistic analysis techniques of advanced hydrodynamical simulations can alleviate the Too Big To Fail problem (TBTF) for late-type galaxies. TBTF states that isolated dwarf galaxy kinematics imply that dwarfs live in halos with lower mass than is expected in a A cold dark matter universe. Furthermore, we want to identify the physical mechanisms that are responsible for this observed tension between theory and observations. Methods. We use the MORIA suite of dwarf galaxy simulations to investigate whether observational effects are involved in TBTF for late-type field dwarf galaxies. To this end, we create synthetic radio data cubes of the simulated MORIA galaxies and analyse their HI kinematics as if they were real, observed galaxies. Results. We find that for low-mass galaxies, the circular velocity profile inferred from spatially resolved HI kinematics often underestimates the true circular velocity profile, as derived directly from the enclosed mass. Fitting the HI kinematics of MORIA dwarfs with a theoretical halo profile results in a systematic underestimate of the mass of their host halos. We attribute this effect to the fact that the interstellar medium of a low-mass late-type dwarf is continuously stirred by supernova explosions into a vertically puffed-up, turbulent state to the extent that the rotation velocity of the gas is simply no longer a good tracer of the underlying gravitational force field. If this holds true for real dwarf galaxies as well, it implies that they inhabit more massive dark matter halos than would be inferred from their kinematics, solving TBTF for late-type field dwarf galaxies

Novel copper-containing membrane monooxygenases (CuMMOs) encoded by alkane-utilizing Betaproteobacteria.

Copper-containing membrane monooxygenases (CuMMOs) are encoded by xmoCAB(D) gene clusters and catalyze the oxidation of methane, ammonia, or some short-chain alkanes and alkenes. In a metagenome constructed from an oilsands tailings pond we detected an xmoCABD gene cluster with <59% derived protein sequence identity to genes from known bacteria. Stable isotope probing experiments combined with a specific xmoA qPCR assay demonstrated that the bacteria possessing these genes were incapable of methane assimilation, but did grow on ethane and propane. Single-cell amplified genomes (SAGs) from propane-enriched samples were screened with the specific PCR assay to identify bacteria possessing the target gene cluster. Multiple SAGs of Betaproteobacteria belonging to the genera Rhodoferax and Polaromonas possessed homologues of the metagenomic xmoCABD gene cluster. Unexpectedly, each of these two genera also possessed other xmoCABD paralogs, representing two additional lineages in phylogenetic analyses. Metabolic reconstructions from SAGs predicted that neither bacterium encoded enzymes with the potential to support catabolic methane or ammonia oxidation, but that both were capable of higher n-alkane degradation. The involvement of the encoded CuMMOs in alkane oxidation was further suggested by reverse transcription PCR analyses, which detected elevated transcription of the xmoA genes upon enrichment of water samples with propane as the sole energy source. Enrichments, isotope incorporation studies, genome reconstructions, and gene expression studies therefore all agreed that the unknown xmoCABD operons did not encode methane or ammonia monooxygenases, but rather n-alkane monooxygenases. This study broadens the known diversity of CuMMOs and identifies these enzymes in non-nitrifying Betaproteobacteria

Analogies, metaphors, and wondering about the future: Lay sense-making around synthetic meat

Drawing on social representations theory, we explore how the public make sense of the unfamiliar, taking as the example a novel technology: synthetic meat. Data from an online deliberation study and eighteen focus groups in Belgium, Portugal and the UK indicated that the various strategies of sense-making afforded different levels of critical thinking about synthetic meat. Anchoring to genetic modification, metaphors like ‘Frankenfoods’ and commonplaces like ‘playing God’ closed off debates around potential applications of synthetic meat, whereas asking factual and rhetorical questions about it, weighing up pragmatically its risks and benefits, and envisaging changing current mentalities or behaviours in order to adapt to scientific developments enabled a consideration of synthetic meat’s possible implications for agriculture, environment, and society. We suggest that research on public understanding of technology should cultivate a climate of active thinking and should encourage questioning during the process of sense-making to try to reduce unhelpful anchoring