The medical student

The Medical Student was published from 1888-1921 by the students of Boston University School of Medicine

The medical student

The Medical Student was published from 1888-1921 by the students of Boston University School of Medicine

Social presence and dishonesty in retail

Self-service checkouts (SCOs) in retail can benefit consumers and retailers, providing control and autonomy to shoppers independent from staff, together with reduced queuing times. Recent research indicates that the absence of staff may provide the opportunity for consumers to behave dishonestly, consistent with a perceived lack of social presence. This study examined whether a social presence in the form of various instantiations of embodied, visual, humanlike SCO interface agents had an effect on opportunistic behaviour. Using a simulated SCO scenario, participants experienced various dilemmas in which they could financially benefit themselves undeservedly. We hypothesised that a humanlike social presence integrated within the checkout screen would receive more attention and result in fewer instances of dishonesty compared to a less humanlike agent. This was partially supported by the results. The findings contribute to the theoretical framework in social presence research. We concluded that companies adopting self-service technology may consider the implementation of social presence in technology applications to support ethical consumer behaviour, but that more research is required to explore the mixed findings in the current study.<br/

What we talk about when we talk about "global mindset": managerial cognition in multinational corporations

Recent developments in the global economy and in multinational corporations have placed significant emphasis on the cognitive orientations of managers, giving rise to a number of concepts such as “global mindset” that are presumed to be associated with the effective management of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper reviews the literature on global mindset and clarifies some of the conceptual confusion surrounding the construct. We identify common themes across writers, suggesting that the majority of studies fall into one of three research perspectives: cultural, strategic, and multidimensional. We also identify two constructs from the social sciences that underlie the perspectives found in the literature: cosmopolitanism and cognitive complexity and use these two constructs to develop an integrative theoretical framework of global mindset. We then provide a critical assessment of the field of global mindset and suggest directions for future theoretical and empirical research

Glass microstructure characterization by laser light scattering, small angle X-ray scattering and electron microscopy

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and laser light scattering (LLS) have been used to characterize the microstructures of mixed alkali-lithia-potassia-silica glasses and soda lime silica glasses. In most cases the three methods complement one another very well. In the mixed alkali silicate glasses LLS measurements of particle size correlate very well with TEM measurements. In addition, there is a direct correlation between particle size measurements by both methods and flaw sizes calculated from strength measurements using the Griffith equation. In the soda lime silica system LLS measurements of the glasses prior to heat treatment in the temperature region of metastable liquid immiscibility correlate very well with SAXS measurements of the heat treated glasses. The merits of each method in studies involving these glass systems will be discussed