Leadership Styles and Decision-making in Finnish and Swedish Organizations

Globalization and other forces are challenging the European leadership models and practices. It can be seen that albeit what’s a very efficient leadership style for one country may be an extremely ineffective style for another - people aren’t always aware that cultural differences exist at all. Finland and Sweden are neighbouring countries which have a long common history behind them. This paper introduces how substantially the management cultures and leadership styles really differ in these countries. Cultural values have an influence on leadership practices and institutional arrangements. Many aspects of leadership are affected by cultural differences, and in this paper the differences in leadership styles between Finland and Sweden are presented, concentrating in management and decision making which vary culture by culture.consensus; culture; decision-making; leadership; management.

Group A Streptococcal S Protein Utilizes Red Blood Cells as Immune Camouflage and Is a Critical Determinant for Immune Evasion.

Group A Streptococcus (GAS) is a human-specific pathogen that evades the host immune response through the elaboration of multiple virulence factors. Although many of these factors have been studied, numerous proteins encoded by the GAS genome are of unknown function. Herein, we characterize a biomimetic red blood cell (RBC)-captured protein of unknown function-annotated subsequently as S protein-in GAS pathophysiology. S protein maintains the hydrophobic properties of GAS, and its absence reduces survival in human blood. S protein facilitates GAS coating with lysed RBCs to promote molecular mimicry, which increases virulence in vitro and in vivo. Proteomic profiling reveals that the removal of S protein from GAS alters cellular and extracellular protein landscapes and is accompanied by a decrease in the abundance of several key GAS virulence determinants. In vivo, the absence of S protein results in a striking attenuation of virulence and promotes a robust immune response and immunological memory

Molecular analysis of ivy cells of the hippocampal CA1 stratum radiatum using spectral identification of immunofluorophores

Neuronal nitric oxide synthase-expressing (nNOS+) GABAergic interneurons are common in hippocampal stratum (str.) radiatum. However, these cells are less well characterized than nNOS+ ivy cells in str. pyramidale or neurogliaform cells (NGC) in str. lacunosum-moleculare. Here we have studied the laminar distribution of the axons and dendrites, and the immunoreactivity of these neurons recorded in rat hippocampal slices. We have used spectral analysis of antibody- or streptavidin-conjugated fluorophores to improve recognition of genuine signals in reactions for molecules such as nNOS and neuropeptide-Y (NPY). We found that most nNOS+ cells with soma in the CA1 area str. radiatum exhibit characteristic properties of ivy cells, and were positive for NPY and negative for reelin. However, laminar distributions of their neurites differ from original characterization of ivy cells with the soma in or close to str. pyramidale. Both their dendrites and axon are mainly in str. radiatum and to a lesser extent in str. oriens, and in addition often extend to str. lacunosum-moleculare. We conclude that ivy cells in str. radiatum may predominantly be feedforward inhibitory interneurons in the CA1 area, and their axonal output delivering GABA, NPY, and NO can influence both the entorhinal cortex innervated and the CA3 innervated zones pre- and post-synaptically. Spectral analysis of fluorophores provides an objective algorithm to analyze signals in immunoreactions for neurochemical markers

The construction and evaluation of a general science inventory test for grade six

Thesis (Ed. M.)--Boston University, 195

CP asymmetry in B→ϕKSB \to \phi K_S in a general two-Higgs-doublet model with fourth-generation quarks

We discuss the time-dependent CP asymmetry of decay $B \to \phi K_S$ in an extension of the Standard Model with both two Higgs doublets and additional fourth-generation quarks. We show that although the Standard Model with two-Higgs-doublet and the Standard model with fourth generation quarks alone are not likely to largely change the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ from the decay of $B \to \phi K_S$, the model with both additional Higgs doublet and fourth-generation quarks can easily account for the possible large negative value of $\sin 2 \beta$ without conflicting with other experimental constraints. In this model, additional large CP violating effects may arise from the flavor changing Yukawa interactions between neutral Higgs bosons and the heavy fourth generation down type quark, which can modify the QCD penguin contributions. With the constraints obtained from $b \to s \bar{s} s$ processes such as $B \to X_s \gamma$ and $\Delta m_{B_s^0}$, this model can lead to the effective $\sin 2 \beta$ to be as large as $- 0.4$ in the CP asymmetry of $B \to \phi K_S$.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, references added, to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

Evidence for the Rare Decay B -> K*ll and Measurement of the B -> Kll Branching Fraction

We present evidence for the flavor-changing neutral current decay $B\to K^*\ell^+\ell^-$ and a measurement of the branching fraction for the related process $B\to K\ell^+\ell^-$, where $\ell^+\ell^-$ is either an $e^+e^-$ or $\mu^+\mu^-$ pair. These decays are highly suppressed in the Standard Model, and they are sensitive to contributions from new particles in the intermediate state. The data sample comprises $123\times 10^6$ $\Upsilon(4S)\to B\bar{B}$ decays collected with the Babar detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ storage ring. Averaging over $K^{(*)}$ isospin and lepton flavor, we obtain the branching fractions ${\mathcal B}(B\to K\ell^+\ell^-)=(0.65^{+0.14}_{-0.13}\pm 0.04)\times 10^{-6}$ and ${\mathcal B}(B\to K^*\ell^+\ell^-)=(0.88^{+0.33}_{-0.29}\pm 0.10)\times 10^{-6}$, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The significance of the $B\to K\ell^+\ell^-$ signal is over $8\sigma$, while for $B\to K^*\ell^+\ell^-$ it is $3.3\sigma$.Comment: 7 pages, 2 postscript figues, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Search for composite and exotic fermions at LEP 2

A search for unstable heavy fermions with the DELPHI detector at LEP is reported. Sequential and non-canonical leptons, as well as excited leptons and quarks, are considered. The data analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 48 pb^{-1} at an e^+e^- centre-of-mass energy of 183 GeV and about 20 pb^{-1} equally shared between the centre-of-mass energies of 172 GeV and 161 GeV. The search for pair-produced new leptons establishes 95% confidence level mass limits in the region between 70 GeV/c^2 and 90 GeV/c^2, depending on the channel. The search for singly produced excited leptons and quarks establishes upper limits on the ratio of the coupling of the excited fermio

Evidence for an Excess of Soft Photons in Hadronic Decays of Z^0

Soft photons inside hadronic jets converted in front of the DELPHI main tracker (TPC) in events of qqbar disintegrations of the Z^0 were studied in the kinematic range 0.2 < E_gamma < 1 GeV and transverse momentum with respect to the closest jet direction p_T < 80 MeV/c. A clear excess of photons in the experimental data as compared to the Monte Carlo predictions is observed. This excess (uncorrected for the photon detection efficiency) is (1.17 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet in the specified kinematic region, while the expected level of the inner hadronic bremsstrahlung (which is not included in the Monte Carlo) is (0.340 +/- 0.001 +/- 0.038) x 10^{-3} gamma/jet. The ratio of the excess to the predicted bremsstrahlung rate is then (3.4 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.8), which is similar in strength to the anomalous soft photon signal observed in fixed target experiments with hadronic beams.Comment: 37 pages, 9 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.