Convergence and divergence dynamics in British and French business schools: how will the pressure for accreditation influence these dynamics?

This paper focuses on convergence and divergence dynamics among leading British and French business schools and explores how the pressure for accreditation influences these dynamics. We illustrate that despite historical differences in approaches to management education in Britain and France, these approaches have converged partly based on the influence of the American model of management education but more recently through the pursuit of accreditation, in particular AASCB and EQUIS. We explore these dynamics through the application of the resource-based view of the firm and institutional theory and suggest that whilst achieving accreditation is a necessary precursor for international competition, it is no longer a form of competitive advantage. The pursuit of accreditation has fostered a form of competitive mimicry reducing national distinctiveness. The resource-based view of the firm suggests that the top schools need a more heterogeneous approach that is not easily replicable if they are to outperform the competitors. Consequently, the convergence of management education in Britain and France will become a new impetus for divergence. We assert that future growth and competitive advantage might be better achieved through the reassertion of national, regional and local cultural characteristics

Stereopsis in sports: Visual skills and visuomotor integration models in professional and non-professional athletes

Visual skills in sport are considered relevant variables of athletic performance. However, data on the specific contribution of stereopsis—as the ability to perceive depth—in sport performance are still scarce and scattered in the literature. The aim of this review is therefore to take stock of the effects of stereopsis on the athletic performance, also looking at the training tools to improve visual abilities and potential differences in the visuomotor integration processes of professional and non-professional athletes. Dynamic stereopsis is mainly involved in catching or interceptive actions of ball sports, whereas strategic sports use different visual skills (peripheral and spatial vision) due to the sport-specific requirements. As expected, professional athletes show better visual skills as compared to non-professionals. However, both non-professional and professional athletes should train their visual skills by using sensory stations and light boards systems. Non-professional athletes use the visual inputs as the main method for programming motor gestures. In contrast, professional athletes integrate visual information with sport expertise, thus, they encode the match (or the athletic performance) through a more complex visuomotor integration system. Although studies on visual skills and stereopsis in sports still appear to be in their early stages, they show a large potential for both scientific knowledge and technical development

Strangeness production in heavy ion collisions at SPS and RHIC within two-source statistical model

The experimental data on hadron yields and ratios in central Pb+Pb and Au+Au collisions at SPS and RHIC energies, respectively, are analysed within a two-source statistical model of an ideal hadron gas. These two sources represent the expanding system of colliding heavy ions, where the hot central fireball is embedded in a larger but cooler fireball. The volume of the central source increases with rising bombarding energy. Results of the two-source model fit to RHIC experimental data at midrapidity coincide with the results of the one-source thermal model fit, indicating the formation of an extended fireball, which is three times larger than the corresponding core at SPS.Comment: Talk at "Strange Quarks in Matter" Conference (Strangeness'2001), September 2001, Frankfurt a.M., German

Acute exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: report of a series

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Calculation Of Secondary Particles In Atmosphere And Hadronic Interactions

Calculation of secondary particles produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with the nuclei of Earth's atmosphere pose important requirements to particle production models. Here we summarize the important features of hadronic simulations, stressing the importance of the so called ``microscopic'' approach, making explicit reference to the case of the FLUKA code. Some benchmarks are also presented.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Extended version of report given at the IInd Workshop on Matter and anti-Matter, Trento, Oct. 200

18F-FDG-PET/CT imaging in cardiac tumors: illustrative clinical cases and review of the literature.

Cardiac tumors are a very rare condition. Mostly, they are benign tumors (75%), with myxomas being the most frequent. The remaining 25% are malignant; either primary malignant sarcoma or secondary metastases. Given the small number of cases reported and the lack of prospective and randomized clinical trials, the level of evidence for the optimal multimodal treatment of primary cardiac sarcomas is very low and the optimal imaging diagnostic workup is not well established. In particular, 18F-FDG-PET/CT is not yet included in routine diagnosis of cardiac masses. Here, we report four illustrative clinical cases and a review of the literature on the current available data on the role of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT imaging in cardiac tumors

Caracterização preliminar do cacho e da qualidade da uva de onze clones putativos da cultivar "Moscato Branco".

O cacho da cultivar ?Moscato Branco? apresenta compacidade elevada, o que favorece a ocorrência de podridões. Onze clones putativos da cultivar ?Moscato Branco? foram coletados na Serra Gaúcha e estão sendo avaliados para confirmar diferenças em relação à cultivar original

Buffering Adaptive Immunity by Hydrogen Sulfide

Abstract: T cell-mediated adaptive immunity is designed to respond to non-self antigens and pathogens through the activation and proliferation of various T cell populations. T helper 1 (Th1), Th2, Th17 and Treg cells finely orchestrate cellular responses through a plethora of paracrine and autocrine stimuli that include cytokines, autacoids, and hormones. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is one of these mediators able to induce/inhibit immunological responses, playing a role in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders, asthma, acute pancreatitis, and sepsis. Both endogenous and exogenous H2S modulate numerous important cell signaling pathways. In monocytes, polymorphonuclear, and T cells H2S impacts on activation, survival, proliferation, polarization, adhesion pathways, and modulates cytokine production and sensitivity to chemokines. Here, we offer a comprehensive review on the role of H2S as a natural buffer able to maintain over time a functional balance between Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg immunological responses