Beyond categorization: new directions for theory development about entrepreneurial internationalization

Categorizations emphasizing the earliness of internationalization have long been a cornerstone of international entrepreneurship research. Here we contend that the prominence of categories has not been commensurate with theory development associated with them. We draw on categorization theory to explain why earliness-based categories are persistent, and argue that a greater focus on notions related to opportunity can open new avenues of research about the entrepreneurial internationalization of business. We propose and discuss three directions for opportunity-based research on entrepreneurial internationalization, involving context, dynamics and variety

Anticipating climate change: knowledge use in participatory flood management in the river Meuse

Given the latest knowledge on climate change, the Dutch government wants to anticipate the increased risk of flooding. For the river Meuse in The Netherlands, the design discharge is estimated to increase from 3800m3/s to 4600m3/s. With the existing policy of “Room for the River”, this increase is to be accommodated without raising the dikes. At the same time the floodplains are often claimed for other functions, e.g. new housing or industrial estates. In 2001 the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management started the study “Integrated assessment of the river Meuse (IVM)” with the objectives of making an inventory of the probable physical effects of a design flood, assuming climate change, on the river Meuse in 2050, investigating possible spatial and technical measures to mitigate these effects, and finally combining various measures to create an integral strategy for flood protection, while at the same time increasing spatial quality. This paper presents the results of research into the decision making process that took place in order to achieve these objectives. Special attention was given to the role of scientific and technical knowledge in the decision making process, e.g. by investigating the effect of the quality of input data on acceptance by stakeholders, and the interactive use of a decision support system to visualise hydraulic effects. Conclusions on successes and pitfalls are drawn from observation and interviews with participants. It demonstrates how it is possible to integrate the necessary, technically complex knowledge in a political debate with stakeholders on how to deal with flood risk. Furthermore, the experience indicates in what area improvements could be made

Charge Symmetry Breaking and QCD

Charge symmetry breaking (CSB) in the strong interaction occurs because of the difference between the masses of the up and down quarks. The use of effective field theories allows us to follow this influence of confined quarks in hadronic and nuclear systems. The progress in observing and understanding CSB is reviewed with particular attention to the recent successful observations of CSB in measurements involving the production of a single neutral pion and to the related theoretical progress.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figures, for Nov. 2006 edition Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Physic

Non-epileptic attack disorder: the importance of diagnosis and treatment

A 50-year-old woman was taken to hospital by emergency ambulance during her first seizure. She was admitted to hospital, treated with intravenous diazepam, diagnosed with epilepsy and started on antiepileptic drug (AED) therapy. This was ineffective so she was referred to a tertiary centre where she underwent video EEG and was diagnosed with non-epileptic attack disorder. Her experience of the diagnosis was positive; it allowed her to understand what was happening to her and to understand the link between her seizures, adverse childhood experiences and the death of her mother. She stopped taking AEDs and she was referred to a psychologist which led to a significant improvement in her functioning and quality of life. We present this case as a good example of the benefits of accurate diagnosis, clear explanation and access to specialist car

Toward the Automation of Diagnostic Conversation Analysis in Patients with Memory Complaints.

BACKGROUND: The early diagnosis of dementia is of great clinical and social importance. A recent study using the qualitative methodology of conversation analysis (CA) demonstrated that language and communication problems are evident during interactions between patients and neurologists, and that interactional observations can be used to differentiate between cognitive difficulties due to neurodegenerative disorders (ND) or functional memory disorders (FMD). OBJECTIVE: This study explores whether the differential diagnostic analysis of doctor-patient interactions in a memory clinic can be automated. METHODS: Verbatim transcripts of conversations between neurologists and patients initially presenting with memory problems to a specialist clinic were produced manually (15 with FMD, and 15 with ND). A range of automatically detectable features focusing on acoustic, lexical, semantic, and visual information contained in the transcripts were defined aiming to replicate the diagnostic qualitative observations. The features were used to train a set of five machine learning classifiers to distinguish between ND and FMD. RESULTS: The mean rate of correct classification between ND and FMD was 93% ranging from 97% by the Perceptron classifier to 90% by the Random Forest classifier.Using only the ten best features, the mean correct classification score increased to 95%. CONCLUSION: This pilot study provides proof-of-principle that a machine learning approach to analyzing transcripts of interactions between neurologists and patients describing memory problems can distinguish people with neurodegenerative dementia from people with FMD

An avatar-based system for identifying individuals likely to develop dementia

This paper presents work on developing an automatic dementia screening test based on patients’ ability to interact and communicate — a highly cognitively demanding process where early signs of dementia can often be detected. Such a test would help general practitioners, with no specialist knowledge, make better diagnostic decisions as current tests lack specificity and sensitivity. We investigate the feasibility of basing the test on conversations between a ‘talking head’ (avatar) and a patient and we present a system for analysing such conversations for signs of dementia in the patient’s speech and language. Previously we proposed a semi-automatic system that transcribed conversations between patients and neurologists and extracted conversation analysis style features in order to differentiate between patients with progressive neurodegenerative dementia (ND) and functional memory disorders (FMD). Determining who talks when in the conversations was performed manually. In this study, we investigate a fully automatic system including speaker diarisation, and the use of additional acoustic and lexical features. Initial results from a pilot study are presented which shows that the avatar conversations can successfully classify ND/FMD with around 91% accuracy, which is in line with previous results for conversations that were led by a neurologist

Correlated ππ\pi\pi and KKˉK\bar K exchange in the baryon-baryon interaction

A dynamical model for correlated two-pion and two-kaon exchange in the baryon- baryon interaction is presented, both in the scalar-isoscalar ($\sigma$) and the vector-isovector ($\rho$) channel. The correlations between the two pseudoscalar mesons are taken into account by means of $\pi\pi - K\bar K$ amplitudes derived from a meson-exchange model, which is in line with the empirical $\pi\pi$ data. It is found that correlated $K\bar K$ exchange plays an important role in the $\sigma$-channel for baryon-baryon states with non- vanishing strangeness. The strength of correlated $\pi\pi$ plus $K\bar K$ exchange in the $\sigma$-channel decreases with the strangeness of the baryon- baryon system becoming more negative. The results for correlated $\pi\pi$- exchange in the vector-isovector channel deviate from what is expected in the naive SU(3) picture for genuine $\rho$-exchange. Shortcomings of a simplified description in terms of sharp mass $\sigma$- and $\rho$-exchange are pointed out.Comment: 51 pages, Latex file, figures available from [email protected]

Diagnosis by Documentary: Professional Responsibilities in Informal Encounters

Most work addressing clinical workers' professional responsibilities concerns the norms of conduct within established professional-patient relationships, but such responsibilities may extend beyond the clinical context. We explore health workers' professional responsibilities in such "informal" encounters through the example of a doctor witnessing the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of a serious long-term condition in a television documentary, arguing that neither internalist approaches to professional responsibility (such as virtue ethics or care ethics) nor externalist ones (such as the "social contract" model) provide sufficiently clear guidance in such situations. We propose that a mix of both approaches, emphasizing the noncomplacency and practical wisdom of virtue ethics, but grounding the normative authority of virtue in an external source, is able to engage with the health worker's responsibilities in such situations to the individual, the health care system, and the population at large

Distinctive neuropsychological profiles differentiate patients with functional memory disorder from patients with amnestic-mild cognitive impairment

OBJECTIVES: Patients with functional memory disorder (FMD) report significant memory failures in everyday life. Differentiating these patients from those with memory difficulties due to early stage neurodegenerative conditions is clinically challenging. The current study explored whether distinctive neuropsychological profiles could be established, suitable to differentiate patients with FMD from healthy individuals and those experiencing amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI). METHODS: Patients with a clinical diagnosis of FMD were compared with patients with a-MCI, and healthy matched controls on several tests assessing different cognitive functions. Patients with clinically established mood disorders were excluded. Patients with FMD and a-MCI were broadly comparable on the level of their subjective memory complaints as assessed by clinical interview. RESULTS: The neuropsychological profile of the FMD patients, although they expressed subjective memory and attention concerns during their clinical interview was distinct from patients with a-MCI on tests of memory [semantic fluency, age of acquisition (AoA) analysis of semantic fluency, verbal and non-verbal memory]. FMD patients did not differ significantly from healthy controls, but their scores on the letter fluency and digit cancellation tasks were not significantly different from those of the a-MCI patients indicating a possible sub-threshold deficit on these tasks. CONCLUSION: Whilst subjective complaints are common within the FMD population, no objective impairment could be detected, even on a sensitive battery of tasks designed to detect subtle deficits caused by an early neurodegenerative brain disease. This study indicates that FMD patients can be successfully differentiated from patients with neurodegenerative memory decline by characterising their neuropsychological profile