Challenges in conducting and publishing research on the Middle East and Africa in leading journals

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the reasons for the lack of research attention paid to the Middle East (ME) and Africa regions. In particular, this study seeks to identify the reasons for and implications of the paucity of ME- and Africa-based studies in high-quality international journals in the marketing field with a specific focus on the challenges in conducting and publishing research on these regions. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature on the ME and Africa regions to identify papers published in 23 high-quality marketing, international business, and advertising journals. This search resulted in 301 articles, among which 125 articles were based on primary or secondary data collected from a local source in those regions. The authors of these 125 articles constitute the Delphi study sample. These academics provided input in an effort to reach a consensus regarding the two proposed models of academic research in both regions. Findings – This paper differs from previous studies, where academic freedom emerged as the most important inhibitor to conducting and publishing research. The most frequently mentioned challenges in conducting research in Africa were access to data, data collection issues, diversity of the region, and lack of research support infrastructure. For the ME, the most often described challenges included validity and reliability of data, language barriers, data collection issues, and availability of a network of researchers. Editors’ and reviewers’ low interest and limited knowledge were ranked high in both regions. South Africa, Israel, and Turkey emerged as outliers, in which research barriers were less challenging than in the rest of the two regions. The authors attribute this difference to the high incidence of US-trained or US-based scholars originating from these countries. Originality/value – To the best of the knowledge, no marketing studies have discussed the problems of publishing in high-quality international journals of marketing, international business, and advertising for either region. Thus, most of the issues the authors discuss in this paper offer new insightful results while supplementing previous research on the challenges of conducting and publishing research on specific world regions.

Temperature and meal size effects on the postprandial metabolism and energetics in a boid snake

We investigated the combined effect of meal size and temperature on the aerobic metabolism and energetics of digestion in Boa constrictor amarali. Oxygen uptake rates ((V) over dot o(2)) and the. duration of the digestion were determined in snakes fed with meals equaling to 5%, 10%, 20%, and 40% of the snake's body mass at 25degrees and 30 degreesC. The maximum (V) over dot o(2) values attained during digestion were greater at 30 degreesC than at 25 degreesC. Both maximal (V) over dot (o2) values and the duration of the specific dynamic action. (SDA) were attained sooner at 30 degreesC than at 25 degreesC. Therefore, the temperature effect on digestion in Boa is characterized by the shortening of the SDA duration at the expense of increased. Energy allocated to SDA was not affected by meal size but. was greater at 25 degreesC compared to 30 degreesC. This indicates that a postprandial thermophilic response can be advantageous not only by decreasing the duration of digestion but also by improving digestive efficiency. Maximal (V) over dot o(2) and SDA duration. increased with meal size at both temperatures.

Effects caused by the spinal administration of ketamine S (+) 5% with no preservatives, using a single puncture, and located on the spinal cord and meninges in rabbits

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of ketamine S (+) 5% with no preservatives and administered as a subarachnoid single puncture on the spinal cord and meninges of rabbits.METHODS: Twenty young adult female rabbits, each weighing 3500-5000 g and having a spine length between 34 and 38 cm, were divided by lot into two groups (G): 0.9% saline in G1 and ketamine S (+) 5% in G2, by volume of 5 μg per cm column (0.18 mL). After intravenous anaesthesia with ketamine and xylazine, the subarachnoid space was punctured at S1-S2 under ultrasound guidance, and a random solution was injected. The animals remained in captivity for 21 days under medical observation and were sacrificed by decapitation. The lumbosacral spinal cord portion was removed for immunohistochemistry to assess the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and histology was assessed using hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stain.RESULTS:No histological lesions were found in the nervous tissue (roots and cord) or meninges in either group.CONCLUSION: The ketamine S (+) 5% unpreserved triggered no neurological or histological lesions in the spinal cord or meninges of rabbits.

The book of the marine aquarium, or, Practical instructions on the formation, stocking, and management in all seasons, of collections of marine animals and plants /

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Russian social networks on the web: cohesion and coherence in Vkontakte

In this thesis connections between messages on the public wall of the Russian social network Vkontakte are analysed and classified. A total of 1818 messages from three different Vkontakte groups were collected and analysed according to a new framework based on Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) research into cohesion and Simmons’s (1981) adaptation of their classification for Russian. The two categories of textuality, cohesion and coherence, describe the linguistic connections between messages. The main aim was to find out how far the traditional categories of cohesion are applicable to an online social network including written text as well as multimedia-files. In addition to linguistic cohesion the pragmatic and topic coherence between Vkontakte messages was also analysed. The analysis of pragmatic coherence classifies the messages with acts according to their pragmatic function in relation to surrounding messages. Topic coherence analyses the content of the messages, describes where a topic begins, changes or is abandoned. Linguistic cohesion, topic coherence and pragmatic coherence enable three different types of connections between messages and these together form a coherent communication on the message wall. The cohesion devices identified by Halliday and Hasan and Simmons were found to occur in these texts, but additional devices were also identified: these are multimodal, graphical and grammatical cohesion.

The conversation on political issues on Twitter: an analysis of the participation and frames in the debate on the 'Wert law' and evictions in Spain

The aim of this study is to determine which social agents are involved in the political debate on Twitter and whether the interpretive hegemony of actors that have traditionally been the most prominent is tempered by the challenge of framing shared with audiences. The relationship between the interpretations expressed and the profiles of participants is analyzed in comparison with the frames used by mainstream media. The chosen methodology combines content analysis and discourse analysis techniques on a sample of 1,504 relevant tweets posted on two political issues –the approval of the education law LOMCE and the evictions caused by the crisis, which have also been studied in the front pages of four leading newspapers in Spain. The results show a correlation between political issue singularities, frames and the type of discussion depending on the participants.

The leishmaniases - survival and expansion in a changing world: a mini-review

The number of cases of visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis is increasing globally at an alarming rate irrespective of the region and the leishmaniases are amongst the top emergent diseases in spite of control measures. In the present review attention is drawn to some of the reasons for this. The leishmaniases have expanded beyond their natural ecotopes due to the ecological chaos caused by man and this in turn affects the levels of his exposure to the vectors. Examples of how different phenomana (such as war, civilian migration, immuno-suppression caused by medication and viral infections, globalization of work and leisure and transmission outside endemic areas) contribute to the spread and increase of the disease are discussed.

Review of the breeding status of birds in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Information on the breeding biology of birds is essential for improving avian life-history theory and implementing sound management and conservation actions for these organisms. Comprehensive reviews of this kind of information are lacking for most Neotropical regions, including Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost Brazilian state. Aiming to update the knowledge on the reproductive status of birds in Rio Grande do Sul, we reviewed breeding records of all potential breeding species recorded in the state using a set of predefined, restrictive criteria for accepting breeding evidences as effective. Data satisfying our criteria were available for 165 species in the literature. We also collected novel breeding information obtained in the state for an additional 126 species, including observations for several species whose reproductive biology is poorly known. Among these are birds previously unknown to breed in Brazil. This new data and the critical review of the previous information resulted in a total of 291 species for which breeding evidences are accepted as effective. This corresponds to 54.7% of the 532 species considered either confirmed or potential breeders in the state. In addition to providing information on nesting dates, clutch size, nest architecture and breeding behavior of south Brazilian birds, our review serves as a benchmark for the adequate assessment of avian breeding records elsewhere. We hope to stimulate observers to rigorously document breeding events, especially for taxa for which basic information is lacking.