Leveraging Internal Competency and Managing Environmental Uncertainty: Propensity to Collaborate in International Markets

Purpose – The choice of an international market entry mode involves two critical considerations, leveraging internal competencies and managing environmental uncertainties in host countries. The purpose of the paper is to explicate how these two considerations affect the propensity to collaborate in international markets. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on existing theories and develops hypotheses showing relations between competencies and uncertainty and collaboration in international markets. Findings – Conceptual relations show that the goals of leveraging competencies and managing environmental uncertainty in host countries have varying effects on the level of international collaboration. Originality/value – The effects are shown through the integration of different theories and empirical findings. Furthermore, the significance of collaboration in international market entry decisions is established. Directions for future research are also provided

Fluid-solid transition in hard hyper-sphere systems

In this work we present a numerical study, based on molecular dynamics simulations, to estimate the freezing point of hard spheres and hypersphere systems in dimension D = 4, 5, 6 and 7. We have studied the changes of the Radial Distribution Function (RDF) as a function of density in the coexistence region. We started our simulations from crystalline states with densities above the melting point, and moved down to densities in the liquid state below the freezing point. For all the examined dimensions (including D = 3) it was observed that the height of the first minimum of the RDF changes in an almost continuous way around the freezing density and resembles a second order phase transition. With these results we propose a numerical method to estimate the freezing point as a function of the dimension D using numerical fits and semiempirical approaches. We find that the estimated values of the freezing point are very close to previously reported values from simulations and theoretical approaches up to D = 6 reinforcing the validity of the proposed method. This was also applied to numerical simulations for D = 7 giving new estimations of the freezing point for this dimensionality.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Human identification: an investigation of 3D models of paranasal sinuses to establish a biological profile on a modern UK population

Forensic anthropology traditionally aims to assist law enforcement with human identification by physically examining skeletal remains and assigning a biological profile using various metric and visual methods. These methods are crucial when a body undergoes extreme damage and standard approaches for positive identification are not possible. However, the traditional methods employed by forensic anthropologists were primarily developed from North American reference populations and have demonstrated varying accuracy rates when assigning age, sex, and ancestry to individuals outside of the reference collection. Medical imaging is a valuable source for facilitating empirical research and an accessible gateway for developing novel forensic anthropological methods for analysis including 3D modelling. This is especially critical for the United Kingdom (UK) where biological profiling methods developed from modern UK populations do not currently exist. Researchers have quantified the variability of the paranasal sinuses between individuals and have begun to explore their ability to provide biological information. However, the published literature that addresses these structures in a forensic context presents extremely varied insights and to date there has been no standardisation. This thesis presents research that addresses this gap and introduces a new approach for human identification using 3D models of the paranasal sinuses. The models were produced from a database of modern CT scans provided by University College London Hospital (UCLH), London, UK. Linear measurements and elliptic Fourier coefficients taken from 1,500 three-dimensional models across six ethnic groups assessed by one-way ANOVA and discriminant function analysis showed a range of classification rates with certain rates reaching 75-85.7% (p<0.05) in correctly classifying age and sex according to size and shape. The findings offer insights into the potential for employing CT scans to develop identification methods within the UK and establishes a foundation for using the paranasal sinuses as an attribute for establishing identification of unknown human remains in future crime reconstructions

Chronoprints: Identifying Samples by Visualizing How They Change over Space and Time.

The modern tools of chemistry excel at identifying a sample, but the cost, size, complexity, and power consumption of these instruments often preclude their use in resource-limited settings. In this work, we demonstrate a simple and low-cost method for identifying a sample based on visualizing how the sample changes over space and time in response to a perturbation. Different types of perturbations could be used, and in this proof-of-concept we use a dynamic temperature gradient that rapidly cools different parts of the sample at different rates. We accomplish this by first loading several samples into long parallel channels on a "microfluidic thermometer chip." We then immerse one end of the chip in liquid nitrogen to create a dynamic temperature gradient along the channels, and we use an inexpensive USB microscope to record a video of how the samples respond to the changing temperature gradient. The video is then converted into several bitmap images (one per sample) that capture each sample's response to the perturbation in both space (the y-axis; the distance along the dynamic temperature gradient) and time (the x-axis); we call these images "chronological fingerprints" or "chronoprints" of each sample. If two samples' chronoprints are similar, this suggests that the samples are the same chemical substance or mixture, but if two samples' chronoprints are significantly different, this proves that the samples are chemically different. Since chronoprints are just bitmap images, they can be compared using a variety of techniques from computer science, and in this work we use three different image comparison algorithms to quantify chronoprint similarity. As a demonstration of the versatility of chronoprints, we use them in three different applications: distinguishing authentic olive oil from adulterated oil (an example of the over $10 billion global problem of food fraud), identifying adulterated or counterfeit medication (which represents around 10% of all medication in low- and middle-income countries), and distinguishing the occasionally confused pharmaceutical ingredients glycerol and diethylene glycol (whose accidental or intentional substitution has led to hundreds of deaths). The simplicity and versatility of chronoprints should make them valuable analytical tools in a variety of different fields

Weak boson production measured in PbPb and pp collisions by CMS

The unprecedented center-of-mass energy available at the LHC offers unique opportunities for studying the properties of the strongly-interacting QCD matter created in PbPb collisions at extreme temperatures and very low parton momentum fractions. Electroweak boson production is an important benchmark process at hadron colliders. Precise measurements of Z production in heavy-ion collisions can help to constrain nuclear PDFs as well as serve as a standard candle of the initial state in PbPb collisions at the LHC energies. The inclusive and differential measurements of the Z boson yield in the muon decay channel will be presented, establishing that no modification is observed with respect to next-to-leading order pQCD calculations, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions. The status of the Z measurement in the electron decay channel, as well as the first observation of W \rightarrow \mu {\nu} in heavy ion collisions will be given. The heavy-ion results will be presented in the context of those obtained in pp collisions with the CMS detector.Comment: Quark Matter 2011 conference proceeding

Assessing complexity in hominid dental evolution: Fractal analysis of great ape and human molars

OBJECTIVES: Molar crenulation is defined as the accessory pattern of grooves that appears on the occlusal surface of many mammalian molars. Although frequently used in the characterization of species, this trait is often assessed qualitatively, which poses unavoidable subjective biases. The objective of this study is to quantitatively test the variability in the expression of molar crenulation in primates and its association with molar size and diet. METHODS: The variability in the expression of molar crenulation in hominids (human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan) was assessed with fractal analysis using photographs of first, second and third upper and lower molars. After this, representative values for 29 primate species were used to evaluate the correlation between molar complexity, molar size, and diet using a phylogenetic generalized least squares regression. RESULTS: Results show that there are statistically significant differences in fractal dimensions across hominid species in all molars, with orangutan molars presenting higher values of occlusal complexity. Our results indicate that there is no significant association between molar complexity and molar size or diet. DISCUSSION: Our results show higher levels of occlusal complexity in orangutans, thus supporting previously published observations. Our analyses, however, do not indicate a clear association between molar complexity and molar size or diet, pointing to other factors as the major drivers of complexity. To our knowledge, our study is the first one to use fractal analysis to measure occlusal complexity in primates. Our results show that this approach is a rapid and cost-effective way to measure molar complexity

“LA APLICACIÓN DE ACCIONES AFIRMATIVAS PARA CUMPLIR EL PRINCIPIO DE PARIDAD Y LA EDUCACIÓN EN LA INTEGRACIÓN DE LOS AYUNTAMIENTOS (CASO TABASCO)”

A partir de lo expuesto en estas líneas, consideramos que para brindar certeza y seguridad jurídica es necesario emprender reformas para establecer que antes de iniciar el proceso electoral se disponga de lineamientos y determinaciones que eviten problemas como los aquí referidos, y en particular para que el principio de paridad se cumpla cabalmente, pues tal como lo concebimos, éste no se cumple con sólo postular a igual número de candidatos del mismo sexo a ese tipo de cargos, sino que es necesario que la paridad transcienda al resultado electoral, para que la mitad de 67 los ayuntamientos esté encabezada por hombres y la mitad por mujeres. Por lo tanto, se considera necesario llevar a cabo las siguientes acciones:En el presente trabajo se hace referencia a las acciones afirmativas y, de manera especial, al impacto que éstas tienen en la integración de los Ayuntamientos. Así también, se enfatiza los efectos positivos —para la vida democrática de México— de una educación orientada a reforzar los derechos políticos, en su necesario vínculo con los principios de igualdad, no discriminación y paridad de género; este último, aplicado como tal por primera vez en el proceso electoral 2014-2015 en el estado de Tabasco, para elegir integrantes de los Ayuntamientos y de la Cámara de Diputados.