Is the International Business Environment the actual context for international business research?

The International Business Environment (IBE) has been argued to be the essential context for international business (IB) studies and the distinguishing factor from other management studies and studies of large enterprises. Two content analysis show that many papers published in top tier IB journals either lack reference to any dimension of the IBE or tend to be uni-or bi-dimensional when addressing the IBE; it is not a surprise that the cultural dimension is the most often used. We suggest that: (a) there is need to developed more uni-and multi-dimensional environmental constructs; (b) a more holistic view of the IBE provides richer insights on the actual complexity underlying IB research. Future studies that provide more comprehensive models of the IBE that overcome the usual broad classifications of the international environment as undefined and uncontrollable factors are warranted to advance conceptual and empirical research.

Educational inequality in the occurrence of abdominal obesity:Pró-Saúde Study

OBJECTIVE To estimate the degree of educational inequality in the occurrence of abdominal obesity in a population of non-faculty civil servants at university campi.METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we used data from 3,117 subjects of both genders aged 24 to 65-years old, regarding the baseline ofPró-Saúde Study, 1999-2001. Abdominal obesity was defined according to abdominal circumference thresholds of 88 cm for women and 102 cm for men. A multi-dimensional, self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate education levels and demographic variables. Slope and relative indices of inequality, and Chi-squared test for linear trend were used in the data analysis. All analyses were stratified by genders, and the indices of inequality were standardized by age.RESULTS Abdominal obesity was the most prevalent among women (43.5%; 95%CI 41.2;45.9), as compared to men (24.3%; 95%CI 22.1;26.7), in all educational strata and age ranges. The association between education levels and abdominal obesity was an inverse one among women (p < 0.001); it was not statistically significant among men (p = 0.436). The educational inequality regarding abdominal obesity in the female population, in absolute terms (slope index of inequality), was 24.0% (95%CI 15.5;32.6). In relative terms (relative index of inequality), it was 2.8 (95%CI 1.9;4.1), after the age adjustment.CONCLUSIONS Gender inequality in the prevalence of abdominal obesity increases with older age and lower education. The slope and relative indices of inequality summarize the strictly monotonous trend between education levels and abdominal obesity, and it described educational inequality regarding abdominal obesity among women. Such indices provide relevant quantitative estimates for monitoring abdominal obesity and dealing with health inequalities.

PARAFAC: uma ferramenta quimiométrica para tratamento de dados multidimensionais. Aplicações na determinação direta de fármacos em plasma humano por espectrofluorimetria

Since the last decade, the combined use of chemometrics and molecular spectroscopic techniques has become a new alternative for direct drug determination, without the need of physical separation. Among the new methodologies developed, the application of PARAFAC in the decomposition of spectrofluorimetric data should be highlighted. The first objective of this article is to describe the theoretical basis of PARAFAC. For this purpose, a discussion about the order of chemometric methods used in multivariate calibration and the development of multi-dimensional methods is presented first. The other objective of this article is to divulge for the Brazilian chemical community the potential of the combination PARAFAC/spectrofluorimetry for the determination of drugs in complex biological matrices. For this purpose, two applications aiming at determining, respectively, doxorrubicine and salicylate in human plasma are presented.

Multi-level governance and social cohesion in the European Union: the assessment of local agents, a study case inside Galicia

Implementing multi-level governance has been a key priority in EU cohesion policy. This study assesses the perceived achievements and shortcomings in implementing European Social Fund by analyzing the deficits and weaknesses as well as the poor participation of local agents who are in direct contact with the beneficiaries in order to design and implement this fund, which is the main financial instrument of EU social policy.

Comparative analysis of two-dimensional electrophoresis maps (2-DE) of Helicobacter pylori from Brazilian patients with chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcer: a preliminary report

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium recognized as the major cause of peptic ulcer and chronic gastritis. Recently, a proteome-based approach was developed to investigate pathogenic factors related to H. pylori. In this preliminary study, H. pylori strains were isolated from gastric biopsies of patients with chronic gastritis and duodenal ulcers. A partial proteomic analysis of H. pylori strains was performed by bacterial lyses and proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). A comparative analysis was performed to verify a differential protein expression between these two 2-DE maps. These data should be useful to clarify the role of different proteins related to bacterial pathogenesis. This study will be completed using a larger number of samples and protein identification of H. pylori by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

Immunoblotting analyses using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of Trypanosoma cruzi excreted-secreted antigens

Trypanosoma cruzi trypomastigotes excrete-secrete a complex mixture of antigenic molecules. This antigenic mixture denominated trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigens contains a 150-160 kDa band that shows excellent performance in Chagas' disease diagnosis by immunoblotting. The present study partially characterized by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis the immunoreactivity against the 150-160kDa protein using sera samples from chagasic patients in different phases of the disease. Trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigen preparations were subjected to high-resolution two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting with sera from chagasic and non-chagasic patients. The 150-160kDa protein presented four isoforms with isoelectric focusing ranging from 6.2 to 6.7. The four isoforms were recognized by IgM from acute phase and IgG from chronic phase sera of chagasic patients. The 150-160kDa isoform with IF of approximately 6.4 became the immunodominant spot with the progression of the disease. No cross-reactivity was observed with non-chagasic or patients infected with Leishmania sp. In this study we provide basic knowledge that supports the validation of trypomastigote excreted-secreted antigens for serological diagnosis of Chagas' disease.

VARIAÇÃO DIMENSIONAL DOS ELEMENTOS XILEMÂTICOS EM DUAS ESPÉCIES MADEIREIRAS DA AMAZÔNIA

Árvores de Saccoglotis guianensis Benth e Andira parviflora Ducke com aproximadamente 26 metros de altura foram seccionadas em sete partes para estudo das dimensões de fibras e dos elementos de vasos. No sentido radial ambas espécies mostraram um aumento no comprimento de fibras com algumas irregularidades da medula para o câmbio bem como fibras mais curtas no topo do tronco. Neste existe um maior número de vasos por milímetro quadrado. É discutido a influência de reguladores de crescimento no número de elementos de vasos. Existe uma diminuição no comprimento das fibras e elementos de vasos em direção ao topo depois de terem alcançado valores máximos numa determinada altura, e um decrescimo irregular na largura desses elementos da base para o topo das árvores. No sentido radial ambas espécies mostraram um pequeno aumento na largura das fibras e elementos de vasos. Estes e as fibras são menores nos galhos, e onde o número de elementos de vasos é maior para as duas espécies. A razão W/C utilizada como uma estimativa da razão do volume da parede celular para o volume da celula diminui da medula em direção ao câmbio. São apresentados 10 gráficos e uma tabela é discutido os fatores que podem influenciar na variação dos elementos ao longo da árvore.

Soil mineral N dynamics beneath mixtures of leaves from legume and fruit trees in Central Amazonian multi-strata agroforests

Long term applications of leguminous green mulch could increase mineralizable nitrogen (N) beneath cupuaçu trees produced on the infertile acidic Ultisols and Oxisols of the Amazon Basin. However, low quality standing cupuaçu litter could interfere with green mulch N release and soil N mineralization. This study compared mineral N, total N, and microbial biomass N beneath cupuaçu trees grown in two different agroforestry systems, north of Manaus, Brazil, following seven years of different green mulch application rates. To test for net interactions between green mulch and cupuaçu litter, dried gliricidia and inga leaves were mixed with senescent cupuaçu leaves, surface applied to an Oxisol soil, and incubated in a greenhouse for 162 days. Leaf decomposition, N release and soil N mineralization were periodically measured in the mixed species litter treatments and compared to single species applications. The effect of legume biomass and cupuaçu litter on soil mineral N was additive implying that recommendations for green mulch applications to cupuaçu trees can be based on N dynamics of individual green mulch species. Results demonstrated that residue quality, not quantity, was the dominant factor affecting the rate of N release from leaves and soil N mineralization in a controlled environment. In the field, complex N cycling and other factors, including soil fauna, roots, and microclimatic effects, had a stronger influence on available soil N than residue quality.

Multi-temporal analysis of radiometric changes in satellite images of forest edges to infer selective-logging areas in the Amazon forest

Radiometric changes observed in multi-temporal optical satellite images have an important role in efforts to characterize selective-logging areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the multi-temporal behavior of spectral-mixture responses in satellite images in simulated selective-logging areas in the Amazon forest, considering red/near-infrared spectral relationships. Forest edges were used to infer the selective-logging infrastructure using differently oriented edges in the transition between forest and deforested areas in satellite images. TM/Landsat-5 images acquired at three dates with different solar-illumination geometries were used in this analysis. The method assumed that the radiometric responses between forest with selective-logging effects and forest edges in contact with recent clear-cuts are related. The spatial frequency attributes of red/near infrared bands for edge areas were analyzed. Analysis of dispersion diagrams showed two groups of pixels that represent selective-logging areas. The attributes for size and radiometric distance representing these two groups were related to solar-elevation angle. The results suggest that detection of timber exploitation areas is limited because of the complexity of the selective-logging radiometric response. Thus, the accuracy of detecting selective logging can be influenced by the solar-elevation angle at the time of image acquisition. We conclude that images with lower solar-elevation angles are less reliable for delineation of selecting logging.

Land cover classification of Lago Grande de Curuai floodplain (Amazon, Brazil) using multi-sensor and image fusion techniques

Given the limitations of different types of remote sensing images, automated land-cover classifications of the Amazon várzea may yield poor accuracy indexes. One way to improve accuracy is through the combination of images from different sensors, by either image fusion or multi-sensor classifications. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine which classification method is more efficient in improving land cover classification accuracies for the Amazon várzea and similar wetland environments - (a) synthetically fused optical and SAR images or (b) multi-sensor classification of paired SAR and optical images. Land cover classifications based on images from a single sensor (Landsat TM or Radarsat-2) are compared with multi-sensor and image fusion classifications. Object-based image analyses (OBIA) and the J.48 data-mining algorithm were used for automated classification, and classification accuracies were assessed using the kappa index of agreement and the recently proposed allocation and quantity disagreement measures. Overall, optical-based classifications had better accuracy than SAR-based classifications. Once both datasets were combined using the multi-sensor approach, there was a 2% decrease in allocation disagreement, as the method was able to overcome part of the limitations present in both images. Accuracy decreased when image fusion methods were used, however. We therefore concluded that the multi-sensor classification method is more appropriate for classifying land cover in the Amazon várzea.

Dynamic three-dimensional reconstruction of the heart by transesophageal echocardiography

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate echocardiography accuracy in performing and obtaining images for dynamical three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction. METHODS: Three-dimensional (3D) image reconstruction was obtained in 20 consecutive patients who underwent transesophageal echocardiography. A multiplanar 5 MHz transducer was used for 3D reconstruction. RESULTS: Twenty patients were studied consecutively. The following cardiac diseases were present: valvar prostheses-6 (2 mitral, 2 aortic and 2 mitral and aortic); mitral valve prolapse- 3; mitral and aortic disease - 2; aortic valve disease- 5; congenital heart disease- 3 (2 atrial septal defect- ASD - and 1 transposition of the great arteries -TGA); arteriovenous fistula- 1. In 7 patients, color Doppler was also obtained and used for 3D flow reconstruction. Twenty five cardiac structures were acquired and 60 reconstructions generated (28 of mitral valves, 14 of aortic valves, 4 of mitral prostheses, 7 of aortic prostheses and 7 of the ASD). Fifty five of 60 (91.6%) reconstructions were considered of good quality by 2 independent observers. The 11 reconstructed mitral valves/prostheses and the 2 reconstructed ASDs provided more anatomical information than two dimensional echocardiography (2DE) alone. CONCLUSION: 3D echocardiography using a transesophageal transducer is a feasible technique, which improves detection of anatomical details of cardiac structures, particularly of the mitral valve and atrial septum.

Normal values of echocardiographic measurements. A population-based study

OBJECTIVE: To describe echocardiographic measurements and left ventricular mass in a population sample of healthy adults inhabitants of the urban region of Porto Alegre. METHODS: An analytical, observational, population-based, cross-sectional study was done. Through a multi-stage probability sample, 114 individuals were selected to be submitted to a M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiogram with color Doppler. The analyses were restricted to healthy participants. Echocardiographic measurements were described by mean, standard deviation, 95 percentile and 95% confidence limits. RESULTS: A total of 100 healthy participants, with several characteristics similar to those from the original population, had a complete and reliable echocardiographic examination. The measurements of aorta, left atrium, interventricular septum, left ventricle in systole and diastole, left posterior wall and left ventricular mass, adjusted or not for body surface area or height, were significantly higher in males. The right ventricle size was similar among the genders. Several echocardiographic measurements were within standard normal limits. Interventricular septum, left posterior wall and left ventricular mass, adjusted or not for anthropometric measurements, and aortic dimensions had lower mean and range than the reference limits. CONCLUSION: The means and estimates of distribution for the measurements of interventricular septum, left posterior wall and left ventricular mass found in this survey were lower than those indicated by the international literature and accepted as normal limits.