Different Countries Of Origin Research Articles

The role of home market context in business model change in internationalizing SMEs

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the underlying reasons for business model change among internationalizing SMEs and illustrate how home market context affects that change.Design/methodology/approachThis is a comparative case study of two companies with similar backgrounds from different countries of origin. In each case, the data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with key informants. For its theoretical background, the study draws on the business model innovation and international business literature.FindingsThe authors found that home market context has two kinds of effect on business model change in internationalizing SMEs. First, home market maturity has a strong effect on the timing of companies’ internationalization efforts. Second, the company’s home market can either be used to strengthen the value proposition or may be disguised, depending on how the country of origin is seen in international markets. This factor has a strong influence on how SMEs change their business model when internationalizing.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s limitations relate to its qualitative and exploratory nature. Future research should further assess the generalizability of these findings across different cultural contexts and countries of origin by quantifying the central concepts and examining how they relate to larger-scale cross-national and cross-sectional panel data.Practical implicationsAs internationalization increasingly poses both threats and opportunities, companies must be able to experiment with business models when necessary to adapt to the host market. In so doing, it is also important to consider how a company’s home market affects business model change.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies to illustrate how the process of internationalization drives SMEs to change their business models. As such, the paper enhances existing understanding of business model change in the context of internationalization. To our knowledge, no previous study has described these dynamics in a comparative context that takes account of SME country of origin.

An approach to study medicine in China based on artificial intelligence analysis model for international students’

This study utilizes empirical research method to compile the questionnaire for the motivation of Chinese medical students coming to China. The survey was conducted on 653 medical students from 55 origin countries and 8 universities in China. In addition to motivation research, we also analyzes the relationship between the factors such as university, educational background, gender and origin of students and the motivation. The results show that safe and stable social environment, profound history and culture, and a large number of universities are the most important motives for foreign students to study medicine in China. There are significant differences in the motivations of international medical students from different genders, universities, and educational background to study abroad, and but there were no significant differences among students from different countries of origin.

Evaluation of women's worries in different strategies for the prevention of early onset group B streptococcal disease in neonates

ObjectiveEarly onset group B streptococcal (EOGBS) disease is an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. EOGBS preventive strategies aim to reduce the risk of neonatal complications. Two new strategies to prevent EOGBS were implemented in two regions in the Netherlands: a risk-based and a combination strategy and were compared to the Dutch strategy in a third region. Little is known how women feel about preventive EOGBS strategies, the consequences for management during labour, side effects such as harm caused by over prescribing of antibiotics or anxiety caused by screening. Women's worries in pregnancy overall and on women's worries related to GBS regarding the different strategies were explored. MethodsDesign - Setting - Participants - Interventions (if appropriate) - Before implementation of the two new strategies, all three regions worked according to the Dutch strategy. Women completed the Cambridge worry scale and a newly developed worry scale aimed to detect GBS related worries at 35 weeks of pregnancy before (T0) and after (T1) implementation of new strategies. Analyses were performed to test whether women's overall worries in pregnancy and their GBS related worries differed between the three strategies. Measurements and findingsIn total 1369 women participated, 519 before implementation (T0) and 850 during implementation (T1) of EOGBS preventive strategies. Mean overall worries in pregnancy and GBS related worries were low during the whole study period in all three regions. No differences were found in total mean GBS related worries between the three strategies during implementation (T1). When looking at the combined 10% highest CWS and/or GBS related worries during implementation the adjOR were 1.94 (95% CI 1.21–3.12) for the combination strategy, 2.09 (95% CI 1.42–3.08 for primiparity and 6.37 (95% CI 2.98–13.60) for having a different country of origin. Key conclusionsOverall women had minor GBS related worries in all EOGBS preventive strategies. Implementation of the combination strategy, primiparity and having a different country of origin are associated with the highest levels of overall worries in pregnancy and GBS related worries. Implications for practiceThe low level of women's worries combined with limited effects and cost effectiveness of the three strategies suggests that the strategy with the least costs and lowest antibiotic use should be implemented. A more tailored approach seems needed to address the specific needs of primiparous women and of women from different countries of origin when implementing the combination strategy.

Classifying green teas with near infrared hyperspectral imaging

Tea products analysis is currently limited to high-end analytical techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and isotope analysis. However, these techniques are time-consuming, expensive, destructive and require trained experts to perform the experiments. In the present work, an application of near infrared hyperspectral imaging for the classification of similarly appearing green tea products is demonstrated. The tea products were classified based on their origin utilising a support vector machine classifier. Results showed good accuracy (96.36 ± 0.17%) for the classification of green tea products from seven different countries of origin.

An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds within the Casire International Cohort of Sickle Cell Disease Patients: Implications for Disease Phenotype and Clinical Research

An Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds within the Casire International Cohort of Sickle Cell Disease Patients: Implications for Disease Phenotype and Clinical Research

ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN FACTORS INFLUENCING ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE AND PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE AMONG ELDERS

This study examines differences in attitudes toward suicide and physician-assisted suicide in chronic pain scenarios among Latino and White elders. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 204 elders at four community-based, outpatient care sites in the metropolitan area of San Antonio, Texas. In addition to ethnicity and the suicide-related questions, the interviews collected data on age, gender, marital status, education, income level, acculturation (Latinos only), depression, self-reported health status, daily living functioning, and religiosity/spirituality. In general, there were no ethnic group differences in attitudes, however, the factors associated with those attitudes varied between ethnic groups. Among Whites, attitudes toward suicide and toward physician-assisted suicide were significantly and negatively associated with religiosity. Among Latinos, depression was significantly and positively associated with attitudes toward suicide in chronic pain scenarios, while acculturation was significantly and negatively associated with attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide in chronic pain scenarios. This study’s findings suggest that depression among Latino elders and religion among White elders are determinant factors of attitudes toward suicide in chronic pain scenarios. Future research is needed to confirm our findings with a more heterogeneous study sample, including Latinos from different countries of origin (e.g. Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans); and more heterogeneous ethnic groups in terms of socioeconomic status and educational level characteristics.

Trust, distrust and translation in a disaster

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe, explain and provide context for relationships between translation, trust and distrust using accounts of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake given by foreign residents who experienced the disaster.Design/methodology/approachThis research provides a qualitative analysis of ethnographic interview data drawn from a broader study of communication in the 2011 disaster using the cases of 28 foreign residents of the disaster zone from 12 different countries of origin.FindingsThe study confirms the general importance, the linguistic challenges and the context dependency of trust in disaster-related communication at the response phase. It found that translation was involved in some trust reasoning carried out by foreign residents and that translation was anad hocact undertaken by linguistically and culturally proficient acquaintances and friends.Research limitations/implicationsThe research examines a limited range of trust phenomena and research participants: only reason-based, social trust described by documented foreign residents of the 2011 disaster zone in Japan was considered. Furthermore, generalisations from the case study data should be approached with caution.Originality/valueThis paper adds to the literature on trust and disaster response as opposed to trust and disaster preparedness, which has already been comprehensively studied. It responds to calls for more studies of the role of context in the understanding of trust and for greater attention to be paid in research to relationships between trust and other phenomena.

Diagnostic value of MRI combined with ultrasound for lymph node metastasis in breast cancer: Protocol for a meta-analysis.

Background:Early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer are important to prevent fatal tumor progression. Axillary lymph node (ALN) status is the most significant prognostic factor for diagnosing overall survival in breast cancer patients. Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is regarded as the reference standard for determining ALN status. However, ALND is an invasive therapy with high morbidity and complications such as lymphedema, seroma and nerve injury. Comparatively, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound are noninvasive and non-radiative techniques that are common imaging methods to diagnose breast cancer lymph node metastasis. Many studies have investigated the diagnostic value of MRI combined with ultrasound for breast cancer ALN metastasis, but the evidence has been insufficient to apply these modalities when diagnosing new patients.Methods:We will search electronic databases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Database, WangFang Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. The language of studies is limited in English or Chinese. The final search includes articles published in June, 2018. Stata 14.0 software will be used for all statistical analyses, and Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) will be utilized to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Meta-regression and subgroup analyses will be performed to explore heterogeneity, which will be derived from the different countries of origin of the included studies. Deeks’ funnel plot asymmetry test will be demonstrated the inexistence of publication bias.Result:This study will provide a rational synthesis of current evidences for magnetic resonance imaging combined with ultrasound for breast cancer.Conclusion:The conclusion of this study will provide evidence for the diagnostic value of MRI combined with ultrasound for lymph node metastasis in breast cancer.Registration:PROS-PERO CRD42019134474

“Why Have You Bought a Black Doll?” How Young Children Talk about Diversity

The qualitative Early Childhood research project analyzes how children, aged five to six years, talk about the dimensions of diversity they recognize in their kindergarten and how two kindergartens in Austria deal with diversity. The children talk about age, gender, size, language, religion, different countries of origin, and skin colors. With regard to the kindergarten organization, there is a tendency toward normativity in dealing with some dimensions of diversity. Religious education may contribute to develop safe and brave spaces where differences are allowed and discrimination against children is avoided.

Natives' Attitudes and Immigrants' Unemployment Durations.

In this study, we investigate how the attitude of natives-defined as the perceived trustworthiness of citizens from different countries-affects immigrants' labor market outcomes in Germany. Evidence in the literature suggests that barriers to economic assimilation might be higher for some groups of immigrants, but the role of natives' heterogeneous attitudes toward immigrants from different countries of origin has received little attention. Using individual-level panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel covering the years 1984 to 2014, we apply survival analysis methods to model immigrants' unemployment durations. We find that lower levels of trust expressed by natives toward the citizens of a given country, measured using Eurobarometer surveys, are associated with increased unemployment durations for immigrants from this country. We show that this result is not driven by origin-specific unobserved heterogeneity and that it is robust to different specifications and alternative explanations.

An investigation of pre-service EFL teachers’ attitudes towards speakers from three circles of English

This study investigated World Englishes from the perspectives of non-native pre-service teachers in Turkey. More specifically, the study explored how EFL pre-service teachers evaluated speakers from different countries of origin, representing the different circle in Kachru’s (1985) model, either positively or negatively. To elicit their perceptions of the speakers’ English accents, we asked them to listen to audio-recordings of six different speakers representing Kachru’s Three Circles of English, reading the same passage, and then to discuss which variety they were familiar with and which one they would prefer. Pre-service teachers’ orientations towards speakers from different varieties emerged under the following themes: (i) native speakerism, (ii) intelligibility, (iii) reference to own experience, (iv) potential ownership and (v) potential professional awareness. The findings suggest that, although they were starting to develop professional awareness regarding different varieties of English, to broaden their experience of varieties, and even to develop a potential ownership, they still revealed a tendency to conform to the native-speaker norms and to rate speaker intelligibility according to these norms. We argue that revisiting language teacher education programmes to address the current sociolinguistic reality of English is a must.

Innovative and rapid analysis for rice authenticity using hand-held NIR spectrometry and chemometrics.

Rice is the second most important food staple worldwide and the demand will continue to increase with the growth of the world population. As reports grow that frauds is prevalent in many supply chains there is the need for an effective and rapid technique for monitoring the authenticity and quality of rice. This study investigated the novel application of hand-held NIR spectrometry coupled to chemometric for the estimation of rice authenticity and quality in real time. A total of 520 rice samples from different quality grades (high quality, mid quality and low quality) and different countries (Ghana, Thailand, and Vietnam) of origin were used. Among the pre-processing methods used multiplicative scatter correction (MSC) was found to be superior. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract relevant information from the spectral data set and the results showed that rice samples of different categories could be clearly clustered under the first three PCs using the MSC preprocessing method. The performance of K-nearest neighbor (KNN) revealed that for authentication of rice quality grades, the classification rate gave 91.62% and 91.81% in training set and prediction set respectively while identification rate based on different country of origin was 90.84% and 90.64% in both training set and prediction set respectively. For the differentiation of local rice from the imported, KNN and SVM all had 100% in both the training set and prediction set. These gives very strong evidence that hand-held spectrometry coupled with MSC-PCA-KNN could successfully be used to provide rapid and nondestructive classification of rice samples according to different quality grades, geographical origin and imported versus locally produced rice. This technique could enhance the work of quality control inspectors both from industry and regulatory perspectives for the rapid detection of rice integrity and fraud issues.

The Perception of the Integration Process and the Provision of Social Services by Immigrants

Migration is a phenomenon that is present in every country. For some countries, emigration is more typical, for another immigration. In the past, Slovakia was typically the emigration. Recently, however, more and more immigrants arrive in Slovakia, especially in terms of looking for work. The aim of the study was to explore how foreigners perceive their integration process and the provision of social services in Slovakia. We particularly focused what social services they used during their integration process, How do they assess the approach of the staff of the institutions that provide social services. The survey sample was composed of immigrants living in Slovakia for at least one year. We used a snowball technique to select the participants. The survey sample consisted of 25 people from different countries of origin. Qualitative research strategy was used. Semi-structured interviews with immigrants living in Slovakia at least one year were conducted. The data were analyzed using the program Atlas.Ti. Findings describe how immigrants perceive their integration process and how they perceive the provision of social services were mainly positive with a few of negative experiences. This paper was prepared as a part of the project The Identity of Social Work in the Context of Slovakia [APVV-0524-12] funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency.

The Same Fertility Ideals as in the Country of Origin? A Study of the Personal Ideal Family Size among Immigrant Women in Italy

The role of the personal ideal family size for international migrants has rarely been studied in the current debate on fertility and migration in the European context. It is not known to which extent the reduction of fertility observed among immigrants who settle in a country where fertility is lower than in their country of origin is the result of a change in fertility norms among those immigrants. The study of migrants’ ideals family size has the potential to shed light on fertility norms without the interference of economic conditions and migration-related disruptive phenomena. Due to the complexity of its migration context, Italy is an interesting destination country for studying changes in migrants’ ideal family sizes. This paper uses data from the survey of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) on immigrant families conducted in 2011-12. We compare the personal ideal family size of women of reproductive age with the prevalent norm in their country of origin, applying a multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results show that the country of origin has an important role in the determination of immigrants’ ideal family sizes. Women from countries where large families are the ideal are more likely to show a lower personal ideal family size compared to their non-migrant co-nationals, while women from countries where two children are considered ideal mostly share the same norm. The occurrence of fertility preferences expressed in a non-numeric form (e.g. “Up to God”) changes between women with different countries of origin. This study confirms that conformity with the ideal of the country of origin is more likely among women who migrated as adults. At the same time, the number of years spent in the destination country is not significantly associated with a shift away from the norms prevalent in the country of origin. Finally, female empowerment and gender equity show their effects mainly on the reduction of non-numeric responses. * This article belongs to a special issue on migrant fertility.

Bioinformatics-Based Tools and Software in Clinical Research: A New Emerging Area.

Nowadays, drug discovery is a long process which includes target identification, validation, lead optimization, and many other major/minor steps. The huge flow of data has necessitated the need for computational support for collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and correlation of data sets of complex information. At the beginning of the twentieth century, it was cumbersome to elaborate the experimental findings in the form of clinical outcomes, but current research in the field of bioinformatics clearly shows ongoing unification of experimental findings and clinical outcomes. Bioinformatics has made it easier for researchers to overcome various challenges of time-consuming and expensive procedures of evaluation of safety and efficacy of drugs at a much faster and economic way. In the near future, it may be a major game player and trendsetter for personalized medicine, drug discovery, drug standardization, as well as food products. Due to rapidly increasing commercial interest, currently probiotic-based industries are flooding the market with a range of probiotic products under the banner of dietary supplements, natural health products, food supplements, or functional foods. Most of the consumers are attracted toward probiotic formulations due to the rosy picture provided by the media and advertisements about high beneficial claims. These products are not regulated by pharmaceutical regulatory authorities in different countries of origin and are rather regulated as per their intended use. Lack of stipulated quality standard is a major challenge for probiotic industry; hence there would always be a possibility of marketing of ineffective and unsafe products with false claims. Hence it is very important and pertinent to ensure the safety of probiotic formulations available as over-the-counter (OTC) products for ignorant society. At the same time, probiotic industry, being in its initial stages in developing and underdeveloped countries, requires to ensure safe, swift, and successful usage of probiotics. In the absence of harmonized regulatory guidelines, safety, quality, as well as the efficacy of the probiotic strain does not remain a mandate but becomes a choice for the manufacturer. Hence there is an urgent need to screen already marketed probiotic formulations for their safety with respect to specific strains of probiotic. Various conventional methods used by the manufacturers for the identification of probiotic microbes create a blurred image about their status as probiotics. The present manuscript focuses on a bioinformatics-based technique for validation of marketed probiotic formulation using 16s rRNA sequencing and strain-level identification of bacterial species using Ez Texan and laser gene software. This technique gives a clear picture about the safety of the product for human use.

NEW PARTHENOCARPIC CUCUMBER HYBRIDS TOLERANT TO DOWNY MILDEW

Research work was carried out in the State University "Transnistrian Research Institute of agriculture" in film greenhouses (spring-summer and summer turnover) and in the open field on the trellis. The aim of the work is to study the source material and create promising lines of cucumber with high parthenocarpic ability, yield and resistance to downy mildew to obtain on their basis heterosis hybrids of cucumber of universal type for various crop rotations. To achieve this goal in 2013-2017 the following tasks were identified: to study the collection samples and to identify the most resistant to downy mildew; to evaluate the source material and select the stable forms; to study the combinational ability of the main features and properties of the parent forms of cucumber hybrids (parthenocarpy, yield, disease resistance); to study the variability and inheritance of the main useful features and properties; to test promising cucumber hybrids for economically valuable traits and properties. The standards were hybrids Enthusiasm (selection RF) and Claudia (Dutch selection). In order to create a source material of parthenocarpic hybrids of cucumber resistant to peronosporosis, 20 samples of breeding material from different countries of origin were studied in the closed and open ground. Four maternal and six paternal forms, as well as eighteen large-humped hybrid combinations were evaluated by the topcross method according to the complex of economically valuable traits and properties. And full diallele the scheme of the seven lines and forty-two tuberculate hybrid combinations. The regularities of variability and signs manifestation in the first generation of hybrids are studied. Given information about the inheritance of the trait of resistance to downy mildew is a promising parthenocarpic hybrid combinations of cucumber created in the Transnistrian agricultural research Institute. Highlighted is sixty-six hybrid combinations of cucumber. Three samples that showed high resistance to downy mildew, was submitted to the State varietal Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria under the name Condor, Orlan and Shegol.

Target groups for fish from aquaculture: Consumer segmentation based on sustainability attributes and country of origin

Sustainable food products have become significantly more important over the last decades. One example is the constant growth in the market for organic food. However, market shares for sustainable aquaculture products remain small. Parallel to emerging markets for sustainable foods, consumers' interest in the geographical origin, in particular domestic and local food production evolved. The aim of this paper was to elicit target groups for fish from sustainable aquaculture and their preferences for different countries of origin. Choice experiments and structured interviews were conducted with 447 German consumers of fish to analyze heterogeneous consumer groups. The results of latent class modelling yielded five target groups. One consumer segment (19%) was predominantly considering sustainability labels and claims on production criteria, i.e. ‘production in natural ponds’ and ‘sustainably produced’. The largest consumer segment (39%) placed highest importance on the COO while sustainability labels and claims had a positive but much weaker impact. Yet, another consumer segment (20%) gave the country of origin priority over all other attributes. Two more classes based their choice primarily on price, with one class preferring premium prices and the other class low prices. Marketers of sustainable aquaculture products are advised to source products from countries of origin that consumers prefer, and prominently declare the country of origin. For reaching new target groups, certified sustainable producers should not only rely on their label. It is recommended to focus on production criteria of consumer interest, for example the production in natural ponds, and state these on the product package.

Medical treatment rates on shore for crew members of cruise ships

ABSTRACTBackground: The human resources required on large cruise ships can only be secured with crew members from different countries of origin with different health statuses. Method: The present secondary data analysis is to determine whether there is an increased frequency of treatment for crew members for certain diseases or injuries, or a difference in the frequency of treatment for certain groups and/or countries of origin; whether an increased use of dental procedures could be confirmed, and their average costs. The data were collected over six months in 2015 from a major cruise ship company. Results: There were 1,627 treatments for 1,026 crew members. The illness and injury rates were significantly different both in the occupational groups (p < .001) as well as the countries of origin (p = .004). It was confirmed that dental procedures were most frequent (n = 915 cases), in particular for Asian crew members; in contrast to Germans they had a 1.6-fold higher chance of dental procedures.Conclusions: A mixed calculation for dental and jaw treatments for the crew members and the expected passenger treatments would justify the employment of a dentist on the ship. However, medical follow-up costs for crew members on board could be minimised by a previous thorough assessment of their state of health.

Family typology and gender empowerment: the labour market performance of married immigrants

This paper examines the impact of gender empowerment on labor market performance of U.S. married immigrants across different family types. Three types of families are defined based on the nationality of immigrants’ spouses; ‘Home-country Marriage’ where both spouses come from the same home-country, ‘Native Marriage’ where one spouse is an immigrant and the other is a Native, and ‘Foreign Marriage’ where both spouses are immigrants, but each comes from a different country of origin from the other. Recognizing the role of gender ideology across different family structures, this study provides empirical evidence of the impact culturally based gender status has on immigrants across family types. Labor market performance is measured by wages and the labor force participation decision of immigrants, using the Ordinary Least Squares and Logit models. The gender empowerment measure is utilized to reflect different cultural and institutional conditions, which shape gender status in the immigrants’ home countries. Results indicate the positive effect of gender equality on women’s earnings and labor force participation, as well as that home-country gender status strongly influence women’s labor force participation and earnings when they share the same cultural norms as their husbands. Interestingly, women are more influenced by their spouses’ gender norms than men when immigrants come from a different cultural gender norm than their spouse.

In Vitro Pepsin Digestibility of Cooked Proso Millet ( Panicum miliaceum L.) and Related Species from Around the World.

Thirty-three samples of proso millet ( Panicum miliaceum) with different countries of origin were screened for their pepsin digestibility after cooking to identify samples with high digestibility. The pepsin digestibility of all samples ranged from 26% to 57% (average 32%). There were no apparent differences in protein profiles (by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE) of samples with the lowest, intermediate, and highest digestibilities. However, liquid chromatographic-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) analysis revealed a negative correlation between pepsin digestibility and peptides that matched to high molecular weight proteins (24 kDa) from Panicum hallii with regions of contiguous hydrophobic amino acids. Low digestibility upon cooking was also observed for other species from the Panicum genus, such as little millet, switchgrass, and panicgrass, which suggests a unique inherent property of the genus. The results obtained from this study may form a basis for in-depth analysis of proso proteins that may help in developing new cultivars with higher digestibility upon cooking.