Scientific mindfulness: A foundation for future themes in international business.

We conceptualize new ways to qualify what themes should dominate the future international business and management (IB/IM) research agenda by examining three questions: Whom should we ask? What should we ask, and which selection criteria should we apply? What are the contextual forces? Our main findings are the following: (1) wider perspectives from academia and practice would benefit both rigor and relevance; (2) four key forces are climate change, globalization, inequality, and sustainability; and (3) we propose scientific mindfulness as the way forward for generating themes in IB/IM research. Scientific mindfulness is a holistic, cross-disciplinary, and contextual approach, whereby researchers need to make sense of multiple perspectives with the betterment of society as the ultimate criterion.

The attractiveness of nations in global competition : an empirical assessment of the effects of country attractiveness on the success of strategy for hosting international sports events, 1990-2012

This dissertation aims to investigate empirical evidence on the importance and influence of attractiveness of nations in global competition. The notion of country attractiveness, which has been widely developed in the research areas of international business, tourism and migration, is a multi-dimensional construct to measure a country's characteristics with regard to its market or destination that attract international investors, tourists and migrants. This analytical concept provides an account of the mechanism as to how potential stakeholders evaluate more attractive countries based on certain criteria. Thus, in the field of international sport-event bidding, do international sport event owners also have specific country attractiveness for their sport event hosts? The dissertation attempts to address this research question by statistically assessing the effects of country attractiveness on the success of strategy for hosting international sports events. Based on theories of signaling and soft power, country attractiveness is defined and measured as the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. This thesis proceeds to examine the concept of sport-event-hosting strategy and explore multi-level factors affecting the success in international sport-event bidding. By exploring past history of the Olympic Movement from theoretical perspectives, the thesis proposes and tests the hypotheses that economic, social and environmental attractiveness of a country may be correlated with its bid wins or the success of sport-event-hosting strategy. Quantitative analytical methods with various robustness checks are employed with using collected data on bidding results of major events in Olympic sports during the period from 1990 to 2012. The analysis results reveal that event owners of international Olympic sports are likely to prefer countries that have higher economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. The empirical assessment of this thesis suggests that high country attractiveness can be an essential element of prerequisites for a city/country to secure in order to bid with an increased chance of success.

Alcohol consumption and social inequality at the individual and country levels--results from an international study.

BACKGROUND: International comparisons of social inequalities in alcohol use have not been extensively investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of country-level characteristics and individual socio-economic status (SES) on individual alcohol consumption in 33 countries. METHODS: Data on 101,525 men and women collected by cross-sectional surveys in 33 countries of the GENACIS study were used. Individual SES was measured by highest attained educational level. Alcohol use measures included drinking status and monthly risky single occasion drinking (RSOD). The relationship between individuals' education and drinking indicators was examined by meta-analysis. In a second step the individual level data and country data were combined and tested in multilevel models. As country level indicators we used the Purchasing Power Parity of the gross national income, the Gini coefficient and the Gender Gap Index. RESULTS: For both genders and all countries higher individual SES was positively associated with drinking status. Also higher country level SES was associated with higher proportions of drinkers. Lower SES was associated with RSOD among men. Women of higher SES in low income countries were more often RSO drinkers than women of lower SES. The opposite was true in higher income countries. CONCLUSION: For the most part, findings regarding SES and drinking in higher income countries were as expected. However, women of higher SES in low and middle income countries appear at higher risk of engaging in RSOD. This finding should be kept in mind when developing new policy and prevention initiatives.

How central and connected am I in my family? Bridging and bonding social capital in family configurations of young adults with psychiatric disorders

AIMS: This article explores the structures of relational resources that individuals with psychiatric disorders get from their family configurations using the concept of social capital. METHODS: The research is based on a sample of 54 individuals with psychiatric disorders and behavioural problems, and a comparison sample of 54 individuals without a clinical record matched to the clinical respondents for age and sex. Standard measures of social capital from social network methods are applied on family configurations of individuals from both samples. Differences are tested by variance analysis. RESULTS: Structures of family resources available to individuals with psychiatric disorders are distinct. Individuals with psychiatric disorders perceive themselves as less central in their family configurations and less connected to their family members. Their significant family members are perceived as less connected with each other. As a whole, their family configurations are smaller and do not include spouses or partners. Therefore bridging and bonding social capitals are not readily available for them. CONCLUSION: As family configurations of individuals with psychiatric disorders provide fewer relational resources than other families, they are not able to deal with social integration of individuals with psychiatric disorders on their own.

Use of a multidimensional assessment tool in a psychiatric adolescent care unit.

AIMS: Adolescent mental health problems require treatment and care that are adapted to their needs. To evaluate this issue, it was decided to implement a multidimensional instrument focused on a global approach to adolescent social and behavioural functioning, combined with the ICD-10 classification. METHODS: The combination of an assessment interview and a classification tool enabled the method to integrate the measurement of several domains of patient-based outcome rather than focus on the measurement of symptoms. A group of 68 adolescents from an inpatient unit were compared with 67 adolescents from the general population. RESULTS: Results suggest that adolescents from the care unit adopt significantly riskier behaviour compared with adolescents from the control group. As expected, the main problems identified refer to the psychological and familial areas. A cluster analysis was performed and provided three different profiles: a group with externalizing disorders and two groups with internalizing disorders. On the basis of a structured interview it was possible to obtain information in a systematic way about the adolescents' trajectory (delinquency, physical and sexual abuse, psychoactive substance use). CONCLUSION: It was shown that treatment and care should not focus exclusively on mental health symptoms, but also upon physical, psychological and social aspects of the adolescent. A global approach helps in the consideration of the multitude of factors which must be taken into account when working with people with serious mental health problems and may help to turn the care unit's activity more specifically towards the needs of these adolescents.

Pluralized life courses? An exploration of the life trajectories of individuals with psychiatric disorders.

BACKGROUND: : Most of the existing research relating to the life courses of people with psychiatric symptoms focuses on the occurrence and the impact of non-normative events on the onsets of crises; it usually disregards the more regular dimensions of life, such as work, family and intimate partnerships that may be related to the timing and seriousness of psychiatric problems. An additional reason for empirically addressing life trajectories of individuals with psychiatric problems relates to recent changes of family and occupational trajectories in relation to societal trends such as individualization and pluralization of life courses.¦AIM: : This paper explores the life trajectories of 86 individuals under clinical supervision and proposes a typology of their occupational, co-residence and intimacy trajectories. The results are discussed in light of the life-course paradigm.¦METHOD: : A multidimensional optimal matching analysis was performed on a sample of 86 individuals under clinical supervision to create a typology of trajectories. The influence of these trajectories on psychiatric disorders, evaluated using a SCL-90-R questionnaire, was then assessed using linear regression modelling.¦RESULTS: : The typologies of trajectories showed that the patients developed a diversity of life trajectories. Individuals who have developed a standard life course with few institutionalization periods reported more symptoms and distress than individuals with an institutionalized life trajectory.¦CONCLUSION: : The results of this study stress that psychiatric patients are social actors who are influenced by society at large and its ongoing process of change. Therefore, it is essential to take into account the diversity of occupational and family trajectories when dealing with individuals in therapeutic settings.

In-vitro cell exposure studies for the assessment of nanoparticle toxicity in the lung: a dialog between aerosol science and biology

The introduction of engineered nanostructured materials into a rapidly increasing number of industrial and consumer products will result in enhanced exposure to engineered nanoparticles. Workplace exposure has been identified as the most likely source of uncontrolled inhalation of engineered aerosolized nanoparticles, but release of engineered nanoparticles may occur at any stage of the lifecycle of (consumer) products. The dynamic development of nanomaterials with possibly unknown toxicological effects poses a challenge for the assessment of nanoparticle induced toxicity and safety.In this consensus document from a workshop on in-vitro cell systems for nanoparticle toxicity testing11Workshop on 'In-Vitro Exposure Studies for Toxicity Testing of Engineered Nanoparticles' sponsored by the Association for Aerosol Research (GAeF), 5-6 September 2009, Karlsruhe, Germany. an overview is given of the main issues concerning exposure to airborne nanoparticles, lung physiology, biological mechanisms of (adverse) action, in-vitro cell exposure systems, realistic tissue doses, risk assessment and social aspects of nanotechnology. The workshop participants recognized the large potential of in-vitro cell exposure systems for reliable, high-throughput screening of nanoparticle toxicity. For the investigation of lung toxicity, a strong preference was expressed for air-liquid interface (ALI) cell exposure systems (rather than submerged cell exposure systems) as they more closely resemble in-vivo conditions in the lungs and they allow for unaltered and dosimetrically accurate delivery of aerosolized nanoparticles to the cells. An important aspect, which is frequently overlooked, is the comparison of typically used in-vitro dose levels with realistic in-vivo nanoparticle doses in the lung. If we consider average ambient urban exposure and occupational exposure at 5mg/m3 (maximum level allowed by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)) as the boundaries of human exposure, the corresponding upper-limit range of nanoparticle flux delivered to the lung tissue is 3×10-5-5×10-3μg/h/cm2 of lung tissue and 2-300particles/h/(epithelial) cell. This range can be easily matched and even exceeded by almost all currently available cell exposure systems.The consensus statement includes a set of recommendations for conducting in-vitro cell exposure studies with pulmonary cell systems and identifies urgent needs for future development. As these issues are crucial for the introduction of safe nanomaterials into the marketplace and the living environment, they deserve more attention and more interaction between biologists and aerosol scientists. The members of the workshop believe that further advances in in-vitro cell exposure studies would be greatly facilitated by a more active role of the aerosol scientists. The technical know-how for developing and running ALI in-vitro exposure systems is available in the aerosol community and at the same time biologists/toxicologists are required for proper assessment of the biological impact of nanoparticles.