Using history to help refine international business theory: ownership advantages and the eclectic paradigm.

In John Dunning’s eclectic paradigm firms need to have ownership, location, and internalisation advantages in order to cross borders and engage in foreign direct investment. By drawing on historical evidence on the evolution of a group of leading marketing-based multinationals in consumer goods, this paper claims that, despite its richness, the eclectic paradigm, and in particular the concept of ‘ownership advantages’, needs to be revised and extended, to take into account different levels of institutional analysis. For the eclectic paradigm to give a rounded view of the internationalising firm it needs to acknowledge the critical importance of firm-specific ownership advantages such as the role of the entrepreneur

Using history to help refine international business theory: ownership advantages and the eclectic paradigm

In John Dunning’s eclectic paradigm firms need to have ownership, location, and internalisation advantages in order to cross borders and engage in foreign direct investment. By drawing on historical evidence on the evolution of a group of leading marketing-based multinationals in consumer goods, this paper claims that, despite its richness, the eclectic paradigm, and in particular the concept of ‘ownership advantages’, needs to be revised and extended, to take into account different levels of institutional analysis. For the eclectic paradigm to give a rounded view of the internationalising firm it needs to acknowledge the critical importance of firm-specific ownership advantages such as the role of the entrepreneur.

Propagation velocity of epileptiform activity in the hippocampus

The propagation of epileptiform burst activity was investigated in the CA1 area of the in-vitro hippocampal slice preparation of the guinea pig. This activity was provoked by 0.1 mM 4-aminopyridine in the bathing medium and was recorded in the pyramidal layer with an array of eight electrodes. The delay between the first population spike of a burst recorded with different electrodes was calculated using the cross-correlation function. The propagation velocity was estimated from the delays and the electrode intervals. It was found that the velocity of spontaneous and evoked epileptiform bursts varies between 0.15 and 5 m/s and is not confined to the range of conduction velocities of the fibre systems in CA1 (0.3–0.55 and 1.0–1.8 m/s). Different velocities can be present in different parts of the CA1 area and the initiation of spontaneous bursts is not confined to the CA2–3 areas, but can also occur in CA1. Burst activity also propagated in a low calcium-high magnesium medium. Different mechanisms of propagation are discussed and it is argued that the propagation velocity due to ephaptic interaction may vary largely. It is concluded that epileptiform activity can be propagated not only by synaptic connections at or near the pyramidal layer, but also by way of electrical field effects of population spikes

The Order of Integration for Quarterly Macroeconomic Time series: a Simple Testing Strategy

Besides introducing a simple and intuitive definition for the order of integration of quarterly time series, this paper also presents a simple testing strategy to determine that order for the case of macroeconomic data. A simulation study shows that much more attention should be devoted to the practical issue of selecting the maximum admissible order of integration. In fact, it is shown that when that order is too high, one may get (spurious) evidence for an excessive number of unit roots, resulting in an overdifferenced series.

Deterministic Seasonality in Dickey-Fuller Tests: Should We Care?

This paper investigates the properties of Dickey-Fuller tests for seasonally unadjusted quarterly data when deterministic seasonality is present but it is neglected in the test regression. While for the random walk case the answer is straightforward, an extensive Monte Carlo study has to be performed for more realistic processes and testing strategies. The most important conclusion is that the common perception that deterministic seasonality has nothing to do with the long-run properties of the data is incorrect. Further numerical evidence on the shortcomings of the general-to-specific t-sig lag selection method is also presented.unit root; Dickey-Fuller tests; similar tests; seasonality; Monte Carlo

Residents’ perceptions of tourism activity in a rural North-Eastern Portuguese community: a cluster analysis

The recognition of the role of tourism planners in seeking to contribute to local residents’ well-being by mitigating the potential costs of tourism development has been given more attention in the last decades. Several studies on the perception of positive or negative impacts, based on sustainability (namely the three pillars: economic, sociocultural and environmental) have been developed. However, the studies have been somewhat limited in terms of approaches, namely with respect to the contribution and participation of stakeholders. In this study, we attempted to use a bidirectional analysis of involvement and tourism knowledge to segment the residents and analyse their perception of the impacts. A total of 373 valid surveys were applied in a rural mountainous municipality (Boticas) during 2015 and 2016. In this municipality, tourism (activity) is an emergent activity. The results show that more informed and more involved residents have more positive perceptions of tourism than other groups, while less informed and less involved residents have more negative perceptions of it. The study contributes to increasing the knowledge about residents’ perceptions of tourism, adding the aspects of involvement, especially in rural areas. This type of proposal can be applied to any destination to help manage residents’ opinions and, consequently, their support of tourism development. Keywords: rural tourism; perceptions; segmentation; clusters; rural development; botica

"Sobre" Guimarães Rosa: anotações para a leitura do conto "Os Chapéus Transeuntes"

II Jornadas Latino-Americanas de Linguagens e Cultura. Em comemoração aos 100 anos de nascimento de Roa Bastos e 50 anos da morte de Guimarães RosaApós apresentar informações introdutórias com respeito a “Os Chapéus Transeuntes”, a comunicação indaga possíveis motivos para o conto ser tão pouco estudado até hoje, concluindo que, ao atravessar vida e obra de Guimarães Rosa, essa estória especificamente é elemento fundamental para a compreensão da biobibliografia do autor mineiro.Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura Comparada Programa de Pós-Graduação Interdisciplinar em Estudos Latino-Americanos Curso de Graduação em Letras – Artes e Mediação Cultura

El Tatuaje en el mundo y su relación con la Religión

Tattoos have been used for thousands of years as an important part of the rituals and traditions. The fusion of magic and tattoo was a common belief in many countries on all continents. Thus, the tattoo has played a very important role for some religions.. The aim of this article is to review the influence of religion, and in a broader sense of spirituality, dating from antiquity to the present day, paying particular attention to the use of tattooing within each culture.Los tatuajes se han utilizado durante miles de años como parte importante de los rituales y tradiciones. La fusión de magia y tatuaje era una creencia común en muchos países, en todos los continentes. De esta forma, el tatuaje ha desempeñado un papel muy importante para algunas religiones. El objetivo de este artículo es hacer un repaso sobre la influencia de la religión, y en un sentido más amplio de la espiritualidad, remontándose desde la antigüedad hasta los días actuales, prestando especial atención al uso del tatuaje en el ámbito de cada cultura

Determinação de metais tóxicos em cosméticos

Neste trabalho determinou-se o teor dos metais crómio, níquel, Chumbo e cádmio em produtos cosméticos. Foram analisados produtos de quatro categorias diferentes: cremes (de corpo e de rosto), protectores solares, batons (de cor e de tratamento) e lápis para olhos. Os produtos foram adquiridos em grandes superfícies e em “lojas chinesas”. Alguns produtos são de marcas conhecidas e outros são de “marca branca”. A determinação de metais foi efectuada por Espectrometria de Absorção Atómica com Câmara de Grafite (GFAAS), após digestão ácida das amostras. O estudo revelou a existência dos referidos metais na maioria dos produtos analisados. Os metais pesados detectados em maior concentração nas amostras foram o níquel e o crómio. Os produtos onde se verificou maior concentração de níquel e crómio foram os batons de cor e os lápis para os olhos. O cádmio foi o metal detectado num maior número de amostras, mas em concentrações muito baixas. A concentração mais elevada de chumbo foi detectada num protector solar. Com os resultados obtidos pretende-se demonstrar a existência de crómio, níquel, chumbo e cádmio em produtos cosméticos, apesar de a legislação proibir a sua presença. Esta legislação revela ser inadequada pois não impões a análise à presença de metais e não define limites máximos para estes, impondo a concentração zero relativamente à presença de metais pesados, o que para alguns produtos é irrealista. A presença de metias pesados nestes produtos revela-se preocupante pois estes são aplicados directamente na pele e muitos deles em zonas sensíveis como lábios e olhos. O facto de alguns dos metais detectados terem efeitos nocivos para a saúde humana torna este assunto merecedor de futura atenção por quem os regula