Latent Phenomenon Research Articles

Intellectual capital in Ugandan service firms as mediator of board governance and firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of intellectual capital on the relationship between board governance and perceived firm financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – This study was cross-sectional. Analyses were by SPSS and Analysis of Moment Structure on a sample of 128 firms. Findings – The mediated model provides support for the hypothesis that intellectual capital mediates the relationship between board governance and perceived firm performance. while the direct relationship between board governance and firm financial performance without the mediation effect of intellectual capital was found to be significant, this relationship becomes insignificant when mediation of intellectual capital is allowed. Thus, the entire effect does not only go through the main hypothesised predictor variable (board governance) but majorly also, through intellectual capital. Accordingly, the connection between board governance and firm financial performance is very much weakened by the presence of intellectual capital in the model – confirming that the presence of intellectual capital significantly acts as a conduit in the association between board governance and firm financial performance. Overall, 36 per cent of the variance in perceived firm performance is explained. the error variance being 64 per cent of perceived firm performance itself. Research limitations/implications – The authors surveyed directors or managers of firms and although the influence of common methods variance was minimal, the non-existence of common methods bias could not be guaranteed. Although the constructs have been defined as precisely as possible by drawing upon relevant literature and theory, the measurements used may not perfectly represent all the dimensions. For example board governance concept (used here as a behavioural concept) is very much in its infancy just as intellectual capital is. Similarly the authors have employed perceived firm financial performance as proxy for firm financial performance. The implication is that the constructs used/developed can realistically only be proxies for an underlying latent phenomenon that itself is not fully measureable. Practical implications – In considering the behavioural constructs of the board, a new integrative framework for board effectiveness is much needed as a starting point, followed by examining intellectual capital in firms whose mediating effect should formally be accounted for in the board governance – financial performance equation. Originality/value – Results add to the conceptual improvement in board governance studies and lend considerable support for the behavioural perspective in the study of boards and their firm performance improvement potential. Using qualitative factors for intellectual capital to predict the perceived firm financial performance, this study offers a unique dimension in understanding the causes of poor financial performance. It is always a sign of a maturing discipline (like corporate governance) to examine the role of a third variable in the relationship so as to make meaningful conclusions.

Analysis of a nonautonomous plant disease model with latent period

In this paper, we consider a plant disease model with latent period and nonautonomous phenomenon. We investigate the long-time behavior of the epidemic model. By constructing auxiliary functions, the weaker integral form conditions for permanence and extinction of the model are obtained. Numerical simulations which support our theoretical analysis are also given.

Dynamic latent trait models: An application to Latin American banking crises

Dynamic latent trait models combine information from a variety of manifest variables, possibly measured on different scales, that are presumed to be indicators of an unobserved latent phenomenon, while allowing appropriate consideration of the longitudinal character of time series. I use a Bayesian dynamic latent trait model of banking sector financial accounts measured at the country/quarter level to build an indicator of banking system robustness in Latin America. As a methodological innovation, I extend dynamic latent trait models to take into account country-specific effects of bank regulatory regimes through hierarchical modeling of factor loadings. I suggest how these models can be applied to other types of phenomena—for example to combine existing political regime indicators to build a more informative measure of democracy.

Managing the knowledge paradox in product development

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to obtain from paradox a novel lens to elucidate the connections between knowledge management (KM) and product development as a knowledge intensive process. By focusing on the “social side” of KM, it is proposed that different KM orientations can emerge as a result of higher or lower emphasis on both cultural and structural enablers. These KM orientations generate specific potential to manage the tension and paradox of managing both knowledge exploration and knowledge exploitation knowledge during product development.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical evidence is provided by performing survey research with data collected from 80 product development projects developed in Spain.FindingsResults show that product development efforts can show three different KM orientations that significantly differ in their results in terms of knowledge exploration and, specially, knowledge exploitation. Moreover, product development requires a symbiosis between both cultural and structural enablers to best manage the paradox of exploration and exploitation.Originality/valueThe measurement items used can realistically be thought of as only proxies for an underlying and latent phenomenon that is neither fully nor easily measurable. Together with it, replies from multiple respondents would have ruled out potential drawbacks.

Sport and National Identity: A Comparison of the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups™

Big sport events may strengthen negative nationalism or alternatively fuel positive patriotism. The 2006 FIFA World™ Cup held in Germany enabled Germans to express certain types of identities. Given Germany's history, there is the question whether this was accompanied with xenophobia. In South Africa, the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ is in part held to transcend deeply entrenched social cleavages and to help foster national cohesion. This article explores the way in which large-scale sport events such as the FIFA world tournament can influence processes related to national identity construction. Through an analysis of the social effects of the 2006 finals held in Germany some prospects are raised for the 2010 World Cup. Empirical data show that the 2006 tournament did not contribute to sustainable patriotism but it did have small effects in reducing xenophobia. Hereby it enhances a longer-established trend. Although there are cases of violence against foreigners in East Germany, xenophobia has been diminishing since the 1980s. National pride, too, has been growing since then. In South Africa national pride is much stronger, although it is diminishing within the white population. However, national identity is cross-cut by stronger racial identities. In spite of the implementation of certain policies by the national government, xenophobia against African foreigners is becoming a latent phenomenon. Major sport events can be used to promote values such as team spirit and discipline, but also at a wider level, tolerance, multiculturalism and solidarity.

Symptoms and Syndromes of Bodily Distress: An Exploratory Study of 978 Internal Medical, Neurological, and Primary Care Patients

Physical complaints not attributable to verifiable, conventionally defined diseases, i.e., medically unexplained or functional somatic symptoms, are prevalent in all medical settings, but their classification is contested as numerous overlapping diagnoses and syndrome labels have been introduced. This study aims to determine whether functional somatic symptoms cluster into distinct syndromes and diagnostic entities. The 978 consecutively admitted patients from a neurological department (n = 120), a medical department (n = 157), and from primary care (n = 701) were interviewed using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) diagnostic instrument. Patients complained of a median of five functional somatic symptoms; women of six, men of four (p < .0001). No single symptoms stood out as distinctive for patients with multiple symptoms. Principal component factor analysis identified a cardiopulmonary including autonomic (CP), a musculoskeletal (MS), and a gastrointestinal (GI) symptom group explaining 36.9% of the variance. Latent class analysis showed that the symptom groups are likely to materialize in the same patients, suggesting that they are different manifestations of a common latent phenomenon. Inclusion of a group of five additional general, unspecific symptoms in latent class analysis allowed construction of clinical diagnostic criteria for 'bodily distress disorder' dividing patients into three classes: nonbodily distress (n = 589), modest bodily distress (n = 329, prevalence 25.3%, men 20.4%, women 25.6%), and severe bodily distress (n = 60, prevalence 3.3%, men 1.2%, women 4.8%). The study suggests that bodily distress disorder as defined here may unite many of the functional somatic syndromes and some somatoform disorder diagnoses. Bodily distress may be triggered by stress rather than being distinct diseases of noncerebral pathology.

水熱連成移動解析にもとづく高強度マスコンクリート中の温度及び湿度分布の予測

High strength concrete, which is characterized by a low water to cement ratio, has larger cement content than ordinary concrete. Even if die cross sectional area of reinforced concrete member is reduced on account of high strength, significant temperature rise at an early age can be observed. Additionally the low water to cement ratio leads autogenous shrinkage in the concrete. These phenomena may jeopardize durability and appearance of concrete members due to early age cracking. Regarding this problem, it is of vital importance to predict distribution and histories of temperature and moisture, which play important roles in early age cracking. In this research, based on the hydration model, heat and moisture transport behavior including latent phenomenon is modeled. And a potential of the proposed model is investigated with comparison of experimental data. As a result, it shows that the proposed model has a high potential to render the experimental data.

Action and Possibility: Reconciling Dual Perspectives of Knowledge in Organizations

At times knowledge can be seen as the source of organizational innovation and change—at other times, however, it can be the very constraint on that change. This conflicted role offers insights into why the phenomenon of organizational knowledge has been interpreted by researchers in multiple and possibly conflicting ways. Some theories depict knowledge as an empirical phenomenon, residing in action and becoming “organizational” in the acquisition, diffusion, and replication of those actions throughout the organization. Others consider it a latent phenomenon, residing in the possibility for constructing novel organizational actions. This paper argues that while each of these qualities—empirical and latent—are intrinsic to knowledge in organizations, our understanding of organizational phenomena is essentially incomplete until the relationship between them is considered. Building on structuration theory, we propose a complementary perspective that views organizational knowledge as the product of an ongoing and recursive interaction between empirical and latent knowledge, between knowledge as action and knowledge as possibility. We ground this complementary model of knowledge in evidence from the field study of two firms whose innovation practices provide unique insights into how knowledge simultaneously enables and constrains behavior in organizations. We then discuss how a complementary perspective avoids the reification of knowledge by depicting it instead as an ongoing and social process and offers an alternative distinction between individual and collective knowledge.

Transcranial Doppler and systemic hemodynamic studies in septic shock.

The present study outlines the relationship between cerebral and systemic hemodynamics in patients with septic shock. Sepsis is an immune mediated systemic disease in which the systemic vascular resistance (SVR) often decreases as a result of a Gram negative sepsis. The result is a hyperdynamic systemic circulation with redistribution phenomena in different organ systems. In order to study the effect of sepsis on cerebral vessels 20 patients with septic shock (12 men, 8 women, mean age 57.9 years) were subjected to both pulmonary artery catheter and transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring. The data were correlated to the APACHE II score and outcome. The study showed that cerebral mean and end-diastolic blood flow velocities (BFV) in the middle cerebral arteries significantly enhanced if the SVR-index decreases. In some patients a severely reduced SVRI (below 500 dynes.s/cm5.m2) was observed in combination with a downstroke latent steal phenomenon. TCD abnormalities were strongly related to disease severity and outcome. The increased BFV are explained by a mild vasospasm of the basal cerebral arteries. TCD appears to be a valuable tool to monitor the cerebral hemodynamics in these patients. They are particularly at risk for ischemic brain damage if they are subjected to therapeutic or spontaneous hyperventilation, which can potentially be detected by TCD.

Los Conventillos: un Mercado de la Vivienda en Plena Actividad

This paper addresses the issue associated with the tenant houses located in downtown Santiago. Based on field research, this study identifies new features related to these units: a) this is a latent phenomenon fueled by the presence of a real estate sub-market; b) tenement houses are inhabited by low-income groups that have no access to better housing options and prefer to live in the downtown area rather than in other parts of the city; and c) there are not so many tenement houses and they offer affordable rents, thus becoming a popular rental system that, according to the author of this research, could give rise to a housing policy intended to make up for the housing deficit that affects the country.