An invaluable pocket translator for the major European cuisinesWritten by leading experts, the guide covers the four main European cuisines - France, Italy, Germany and Spain - and includes comprehensive reference to little-known regional dishes not usually covered by other guidesDesigned for ease of use and pocket carriage, this is a discreet and indispensible guide for the traveller who enjoys eating out and likes to know what he is eating!
After Blackwell, a small town in Southeastern Massachusetts, experiences three separate murders, all with the same modus operandi, Jacob Reason arrives to join a former mentor's practice. Before long he encounters an old love and finds himself knee deep in clues as to the identity of the Blackwell strangler. The action in this story occurs in the 1980's.
From French Physiocrat theories of the blood-like circulation of wealth to Adam Smith's "invisible hand" of the market, the body has played a crucial role in Western perceptions of the economic. In Renaissance culture, however, the dominant bodily metaphors for national wealth and economy were derived from the relatively new language of infectious disease. Whereas traditional Galenic medicine had understood illness as a state of imbalance within the body, early modern writers increasingly reimagined disease as an invasive foreign agent. The rapid rise of global trade in the sixteenth century, and the resulting migrations of people, money, and commodities across national borders, contributed to this growing pathologization of the foreign; conversely, the new trade-inflected vocabularies of disease helped writers to represent the contours of national and global economies. Grounded in scrupulous analyses of cultural and economic history, Sick Economies: Drama, Mercantilism, and Disease in Shakespeare's England teases out the double helix of the pathological and the economic in two seemingly disparate spheres of early modern textual production: drama and mercantilist writing. Of particular interest to this study are the ways English playwrights, such as Shakespeare, Jonson, Heywood, Massinger, and Middleton, and mercantilists, such as Malynes, Milles, Misselden, and Mun, rooted their conceptions of national economy in the language of disease. Some of these diseases—syphilis, taint, canker, plague, hepatitis—have subsequently lost their economic connotations; others—most notably consumption—remain integral to the modern economic lexicon but have by and large shed their pathological senses. Breaking new ground by analyzing English mercantilism primarily as a discursive rather than an ideological or economic system, Sick Economies provides a compelling history of how, even in our own time, defenses of transnational economy have paradoxically pathologized the foreign. In the process, Jonathan Gil Harris argues that what we now regard as the discrete sphere of the economic cannot be disentangled from seemingly unrelated domains of Renaissance culture, especially medicine and the theater.
Jonathan Gil Harris examines the origins of modern discourses of social pathology in Elizabethan and Jacobean medical and political writing. Plays, pamphlets and political treatises of this period display an increasingly xenophobic tendency to attribute England's ills to 'foreign bodies' such as Jews, Catholics and witches, as well as treat their allegedly 'poisonous' features for the health of the body politic. Harris argues that this tendency resonates with two of the distinctive paradigms of Paracelsus' pharmacy which also includes the notion that poison has a medicinal power. The emergence of these paradigms in early modern English political thought signals a decisive shift from Galenic humoral tradition towards twentieth-century politico-medical discourses of 'infection' and 'containment', which, like their early modern predecessors, make mysterious the domestic origins of social conflict and the operations of political authority.
Many countries around the world are investing a great amount of resources in government IT initiatives. However, few of these projects achieve their stated goals and some of them are complete failures. Therefore, understanding e-government success has become very important and urgent in recent years. In order to develop relevant knowledge about this complex phenomenon, researchers and practitioners need to identify and assess what are the main conditions, variables, or factors that have an impact on e-government success. However, before being able to evaluate these impacts, it is necessary to define what e-government success is and what some e-government success measures are. This book presents a review of both e-government success measures and e-government success factors. It also provides empirical evidence from quantitative analysis and two in-depth case studies. Although based on sound theory and rigorous empirical analysis, the book not only significantly contributes to academic knowledge, but also includes some practical recommendations for government officials and public managers. Theoretically, the book proposes a way to quantitatively operationalize Fountain’s enactment framework. Based on the institutional tradition, the technology enactment framework attempts to explain the effects of organizational forms and institutional arrangements on the information technology used by government agencies. According to Fountain (1995; 2001) the technology enactment framework pays attention to the relationships among information technology, organizations, embeddedness, and institutions. This framework is very well known in the e-government field, but is normally used for qualitative analysis and there is no previous proposal of how to use it with quantitative data. The book proposes variables to measure each of the different constructs in this framework and also tests the relationships hypothesized by Fountain’s theory. Finally, using the advantages of the selected quantitative analysis technique (Partial Least Squares), the study also proposes some adjustments and extensions to the original framework in a theory building effort. Methodologically, the book reports on one of the first multi-method studies in the field of e-government in general and e-government success in particular. This study uses a nested research design, which combines statistical analysis with two in depth case studies. The study begins with a statistical analysis using organizational, institutional, and contextual factors as the independent variables. An overall score representing e-government success in terms of the functionality of state websites is the dependent variable. Second, based on the statistical results two cases are selected based on their relative fitness to the model (residuals) and their position in the general ranking of website functionality (which includes four different measures). In order to complement the results of the statistical analysis, case studies were developed for the two selected states (New York and Indiana), using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. In terms of the statistical analysis, the book constitutes one of the first applications of Partial Least Squares (PLS) to an e-government success study. PLS is a structural equations modeling (SEM) technique and, therefore, allows estimating the measurement model and the structural model simultaneously. The use of this sophisticated statistical strategy helped to test the relationships between e-government success and different factors influencing it, as well as some of the relationships between several of the factors, thus allowing exploring some indirect effects too.
The Singers Drummer chronicles the music and times of Harold Jones, a world class musician whose career spans the last five decades of jazz and big band swing music. This book highlights Jones career as he evolved into the drummer of choice for some of our most popular vocal legends. But it is about much more than that. It also gives us an entertaining insight into life on the road and is filled with Harolds insightful, sometimes humorous, anecdotes and musings about the famous sidemen, legendary jazz musicians and vocal headliners he has known; featuring more than 100 photos of his renowned friends. Read The Singers Drummer and learn why Paul Winter called Harold the Michael Jordan of young jazz drummers in Chicago. Read why Harold became acknowledged as Count Basies favorite drummer. And why Tony Bennett says This book is a knockout! I am happy that someone is finally putting together a history of what really happens on the road!
A major new look at the evolution of mating decisions in organisms from protozoans to humans The popular consensus on mate choice has long been that females select mates likely to pass good genes to offspring. In Mate Choice, Gil Rosenthal overturns much of this conventional wisdom. Providing the first synthesis of the topic in more than three decades, and drawing from a wide range of fields, including animal behavior, evolutionary biology, social psychology, neuroscience, and economics, Rosenthal argues that "good genes" play a relatively minor role in shaping mate choice decisions and demonstrates how mate choice is influenced by genetic factors, environmental effects, and social interactions. Looking at diverse organisms, from protozoans to humans, Rosenthal explores how factors beyond the hunt for good genes combine to produce an endless array of preferences among species and individuals. He explains how mating decisions originate from structural constraints on perception and from nonsexual functions, and how single organisms benefit or lose from their choices. Both the origin of species and their fusion through hybridization are strongly influenced by direct selection on preferences in sexual and nonsexual contexts. Rosenthal broadens the traditional scope of mate choice research to encompass not just animal behavior and behavioral ecology but also neurobiology, the social sciences, and other areas. Focusing on mate choice mechanisms, rather than the traits they target, Mate Choice offers a groundbreaking perspective on the proximate and ultimate forces determining the evolutionary fate of species and populations.
Expatriation-enhanced competencies: A multiple case study of technology-based entrepreneurs Abstract PURPOSE: Facing the research gap of entrepreneurial learning by self-expatriated technology-based entrepreneurs, the purpose of this research is to explore those entrepreneurs’ beliefs and experiences across expatriation to identify the enhancement of their competencies. METHODOLOGY: Within a qualitative and exploratory multiple case theory-building approach, data was collected from twelve technology entrepreneurs from Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Israel that went to the following destination countries: Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Ireland, Turkey, and the Netherlands. With interview data as the primary source, the data analysis rests on a qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: Data allows structuring techpreneurs’ experience of expatriation along the following steps: (a) arrival in the destination country and initial process of socialization, (b) engaging in activities to get familiar with the culture of the destination country, (c) the gradual comprehensive understanding of the new context, and (d) comparisons between the home and destination country. Expatriation had an evident impact on the technology-based entrepreneurs that materializes in three groups of competencies: entrepreneurial competencies, knowledge and innovative competencies, and international competencies. Entrepreneurial competencies relate to relational and behavioral skills and the learning of doing business in different contexts. Concerning knowledge and innovative competencies, creativity, learning new techniques and international innovation environment stand at the fore. Finally, international competencies relate to the acceptance of different cultures (multicultural learning and perception of cultural differences), developing a sense of an international community and an international innovation culture. IMPLICATIONS: This study evidenced the influence of expatriation experiences on the training of skills of technology-based entrepreneurs, in a specific approach to entrepreneurial, innovative, and intercultural competencies. The research portrays self-expatriation as an opportunity for technology-based entrepreneurs to develop different competencies being helpful to innovate, to manage business and to operate in international markets. Universities and innovators may recognize their discretion to develop programs for people like former students who want to self-expatriate. In the same vein, government can design policy to attract self-expatriate in innovations hubs, considering that local inhabitants can benefit from the cultural exchange. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This study contributes to better understanding the influence of self-expatriation experiences on the development of skills of technology-based entrepreneurs. Compared to previous studies, it advances research through providing a wider range of learning from expatriation experiences beyond the effect of internationalization on market knowledge and cultural aspects. Furthermore, this study focuses the process, not the results of self-expatriation to understand entrepreneurs’ learning. Keywords: technology-based entrepreneurs, innovation, entrepreneurs, skills, competencies, expatriation A phenomenological exploration of technology start-up failure in Sri Lanka PURPOSE: The main purpose of this qualitative study was to explore tech start-up failures in Sri Lanka to emerge themes that explain the critical factors that are impacting failures of Sri Lankan tech start-ups and also to identify recommendations that could help evade those factors. The paper also presents the finding to enrich tech entrepreneurs to build their strategies with an understanding of factors that leads to failure and to make well-educated decisions. METHODOLOGY: The study is based on a qualitative research approach that helps to present findings in a theoretical way. A phenomenological analysis has been used to identify, understand, and analyze the phenomena of tech start-up failures. Twelve start-up leaders participated in this study and shared their lived experiences of tech start-up failures in Sri Lanka. Interviews were conducted with them based on twelve interview questions and twelve core themes emerged based on the participants’ lived experiences. In analyzing data, the modified Van Kaam approach was used, utilizing a seven-step framework that considers the structural and textual aspects of experiences, as well as the perceptual characteristics of the phenomenon. FINDINGS: The themes answered the key research question of the study: What are the critical factors that are impacting on failures of tech start-ups in Sri Lanka? The cause of tech start-up failures according to the current study varied including, financial uncertainty, no market research, no product–market fit, paranoid behaviors of innovators, lack of timely response to changing conditions, and location of the venture. IMPLICATIONS: The paper concisely presents twelve critical reasons for tech start-up failures. The results of the research will enable Sri Lankan tech start-ups to identify key factors of failure for the growth of their surviving strategies. Identifying secret obstacles in the industry helps entrepreneurs prepare for pitfalls and provides guidelines for policymakers to make informed choices when implementing national policies. More importantly, it has been discovered that the major areas that require more attention are leadership, funding, marketing, and innovation. Finally, four groups of recommendations have been discussed under financing, market research, leadership, and inventors. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The comparison of the current study themes with the findings of related studies is inconclusive because the literature on tech start-up failures in other countries and in Sri Lanka is minimal. Some of the themes align with the findings of research conducted in other countries, although there were some themes that were explored uniquely. Keywords: entrepreneurship, tech entrepreneur, start-up failure, critical success factors, software start-up, survival strategies, technology start-up Going green to keep talent: Exploring the relationship between sustainable business practices and turnover intention PURPOSE: This study explores the association between sustainable business practices (SBP) and turnover intention (TI) to understand the role of sustainability initiatives in influencing employee retention and organizational commitment. METHODOLOGY: The present study conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement. From an initial selection of 326 articles, a rigorous double-blind screening process identified 31 key papers for in-depth analysis. FINDINGS: The systematic review provides compelling evidence that SBP have a robust positive association with employee outcomes, especially in reducing TI. This relationship is notably mediated by job satisfaction and organizational commitment and moderated by psychological safety and ethical leadership elements. Further, key gaps were discerned, including the necessity to explore the varied impact of SBP across industries, the enduring effects of SBP on TI, the influence of cultural and contextual facets, and the urgency for methodological advancements in cross-cultural research. In response to these gaps, four hypotheses were conceptualized to provide deeper insights into the complex interplay between SBP, TI, and overarching cultural/contextual variables. IMPLICATIONS: Theoretically, this research adds to the existing literature by empirically validating the relationship between SBP and TI, highlighting critical mediators and moderators, and suggesting avenues for future research. Incorporating the identified gaps and proposed hypotheses provides a structured direction for subsequent investigations. The findings emphasize the importance of integrating SBP into organizational strategies to promote sustainability while enhancing workforce well-being and retention. Organizations can align with sustainability goals and boost employee satisfaction by focusing on organizational commitment, open communication, and leadership grounded in ethical and sustainable principles. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This research provides a comprehensive overview of the interplay between SBP and TI, integrating insights from various studies. By emphasizing understudied mediators and moderators, identifying research gaps, and outlining derived hypotheses, the study sets the stage for future inquiries. Its practical recommendations are essential for organizations that balance sustainability goals with workforce stability, benefiting organizational performance and employee satisfaction. Keywords: sustainable business practices, turnover intention, TI, job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational commitment, employee involvement, employee empowerment, systematic literature review, PRISMA, future research directions, hypotheses, research gaps, green HRM What are the real motivations and experiences of silver entrepreneurs? Empirical evidence from Poland PURPOSE: Along with demographic changes, it is increasingly frequent that many mature people resign from their full-time jobs and decide to start their own businesses at a later age. Entrepreneurial activity among this group of so-called silver entrepreneurs can be caused by many motives, but these factors usually remain unknown to current employers or do not constitute a valid reason for understanding and keeping a mature person in the workplace. The purpose of this paper is to present new scientific results concerning entrepreneurial motivations, both internal and external, and the previous experiences of silver entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe based on an example from Poland. METHODOLOGY: We analyzed a unique sample of 1,003 owners of micro and small enterprises from Poland. The sample included only people over fifty. Our empirical study used a survey to explore the motivations and experiences of silver entrepreneurs that influenced their decision to start a business later in life. We linked attitude toward the behavior with motivation and utilized the “pull” and “push” factors. We utilized logistic regression to determine the factors related to starting a business above fifty. We also used the ordinary least square regression to determine the relationship between the explanatory variables and the age of starting a business by the respondents. FINDINGS: We found that the main “pull” factor positively influencing the start of business activity by silver entrepreneurs is the fulfillment of dreams as a broadly understood need for self-realization. However, the “push” factors (such as the occurrence of ageism in the workplace, as well as the loss of employment and lack of other opportunities on the labor market) significantly reduced the probability of starting a company at the age of over fifty. On the basis of the positive impact of a “pull” factor, it can be concluded that entrepreneurial activity at a later age is the result of opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Due to the negative impact of the job-loss factor, people made redundant started their business activity at an earlier age, before the age of fifty. Regarding external entrepreneurial motivations, the support received from family is the most important factor related to the individual’s environment affecting starting a business by silver entrepreneurs. However, the support from friends and the support from government bodies were not significant factors influencing starting a business at a later age.IMPLICATIONS: Findings from our study have implications for both employers and groups who support entrepreneurship. First, from the point of view of employers, the occurrence of ageism in the previous workplace could have resulted in resignation from full-time employment at an earlier age and a faster start of business activity. It is surprising that negative behavior towards older employees may also be associated with resignation from work by younger people. From the point of view of government bodies and other stakeholder groups related to the development of entrepreneurship, it is interesting that the support received from government bodies in conducting business activities was statistically insignificant for each group of respondents. This suggests the need to identify effective support and to design a comprehensive strategy for the development of silver entrepreneurship. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The vast majority of previous studies used secondary data or focused mainly on Western Europe, in particular the United Kingdom, Finland, and France. Our contribution is to provide empirical evidence about the silver entrepreneurs from Eastern Europe, especially Poland. Our research included individuals who actually run their own businesses, opposite to previous studies that take into account people who are just considering starting a business. This is particularly important in relation to research on the entrepreneurial intentions of mature people to undertake entrepreneurial activities at a later age, and the real motivations of silver entrepreneurs. Keywords: silver entrepreneurs, ageing, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial motivations, push/pull factors Team members’ direct participation in decision-making processes and the quality of decisions PURPOSE: Do teams manage to reach better decisions than those made by individuals? Numerous studies have delivered inconclusive results. Meanwhile, participation in decision-making can take various forms and is not limited to consensus group decisions, and the influence of the various forms of participation on the quality of decisions has been less frequently examined. The aim of the research was to determine the effect on decision quality of changing the form of direct participation in the decision-making process in the case of complex, multi-stage problems. METHODOLOGY: The article presents the results of a long-term experiment in which 598 teams of 2,673 people took part. The participants were asked to solve a decision problem using three decision-making styles: autocratic, consultative, and group. The participants played the role of members of a newly established project team that must plan its own work. The task concerned a problem that requires the analysis of a number of dependencies between sub-problems, in contrast to eureka-type problems. The decision problem was new to the participants, making it impossible to apply known solutions; a creative approach was therefore required. The decision was then compared with the optimal solution established by experts. Decision quality was based on the deviation of the proposed solution from the optimal solution. FINDINGS: The results of the experiment confirm the significant synergistic potential of increasing direct participation in decision-making for complex, multi-stage problems. A significant proportion of teams made better decisions as a result of increasing direct participation – replacing autocratic decisions with consultative and group decisions. The quality of consultative decisions was roughly in the middle of autocratic and group decisions. By using group decision-making, teams made better decisions than the average individual decision and came closer to the decision quality achieved by the best team members. This effect was universal, observed both in the strongest and weakest teams. It should be remembered that, while group decision-making has the potential for synergy, it is not always achieved. Group decision-making markedly reduced the risk of making highly misguided decisions, and it can be reasoned that direct participation protects against serious mistakes more than it guarantees the best possible results. IMPLICATIONS: Team leaders should be familiar with different decision-making styles, their advantages and disadvantages, and the scope of their application. This research suggests that increasing team members’ participation to a consultative role and even better, a full participatory role, increases the quality of the decision. With the growing complexity of organizations that have to deal with accelerating change, technology development and increased competition, creating structures that can flexibly respond to the challenges of the environment requires the participation of team members at all managerial levels. The use of consultative and group decision-making styles for complex and multi-stage problems supports this process. The group decision-making style can bring better quality, but it has its limitations and it is not always possible to use it. It requires a team of highly competent people who identify themselves with the interests of the organization. Otherwise, the consultative form will bring better results. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: For the first time, an empirical study analyses the case of consultative decision-making, in which the team leader consults the individual opinions independently to finally come up with a final “team” decision. This approach is widely used by team leaders and managers in the field. This study shows that this approach constitutes an improvement over the individual (autocratic) one but still falls short of the group decision-making approach. Finally, this study which has been done with the largest number of participant teams (598 teams, 2,673 individuals), professionally active post-graduate students and over a 24-year period allows a sound statistical confirmation of the proposed decision quality improvement when moving from individual to consultative and group decision-making styles. Keywords: participation in decision-making (PDM), decision quality, consultative decision-making, group decision-making Bankers' job stress, job performance, and job commitment trajectories during the COVID-19 pandemic PURPOSE: The global COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted multiple sectors across industries and regions, including medical services, financial institutions, and others. The escalating global pandemic in both emerging and developed nations has resulted in the implementation of stringent lockdown measures and unparalleled disruptions to economic activities. Consequently, individuals have become accustomed to relying on banking operations as a routine aspect of their lives, regardless of the circumstances. Learning how bankers engage with customers in response to the given circumstances would be intriguing. Hence, the study aimed to unearth the relationship between bankers’ job stress, job performance, and job commitment, as well as the stress-based job performance and its impact on job commitment during the second to third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in an emerging market. METHODOLOGY: A number of 287 data (response rate 71.75 percent) were collected by online platforms due to the COVID-19 pandemic through the simple random sampling technique. The exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were run to test the proposed research framework with the help of MS Excel 2007, SPSS 22.0, and AMOS 23.0. FINDINGS: The findings showed that bankers’ work-related stress has a positive impact on job performance but no relationship with job commitment; acute stress has a negative impact on job commitment but no significant relationship with job performance; and stress-based job performance has a significant positive impact on job commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic. IMPLICATIONS: The outcomes of this study provide value to the field of behavioral science by introducing the phenomena of COVID-19 in the context of bankers and emerging economies. The demographic variables and the revealed relationships of bankers’ job stress, job performance, and job commitment trajectories would help policymakers rethink stress management practices and policy building in the bank job and the long-term relationship building with their existing employees. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The novelty of the research is the COVID-19 phenomenon and an emerging economy’s bankers’ context. Keywords: work-related stress, acute stress, job performance, job commitment, bankers, COVID-19 pandemic Entrepreneurship education for women through project-based flipped learning: The impact of innovativeness and risk-taking on course satisfaction PURPOSE: The primary aim of this research is to explore the correlation between learners’ characteristics and the perceived value and satisfaction associated with Project-Based Flipped Learning (PBFL) methodologies. A secondary objective involves investigating how these PBFL methodologies can be employed to enhance the quality of entrepreneurship education for women. METHODOLOGY: During the first semester of 2018, a total of 80 students enrolled in the Communication Society class were engaged in a longitudinal study, involving bi-weekly online surveys prior to the semester’s conclusion. The survey instruments utilized Likert-scale measurements, with a 5-point scoring system. The data acquired was subsequently analyzed using structural equation modeling, which facilitated the examination of both the pre- and post-change scores and the structural properties of their relationships with overall course satisfaction. In terms of statistical evaluation, the study employed Generalized Structured Component Analysis (GSCA), a powerful component-based SEM technique, thus ensuring a robust and academically rigorous interpretation of the data. FINDINGS: Our research sought to understand the effects of learners’ characteristics, specifically innovativeness and risk-taking, on course satisfaction in Project-Based Flipped Learning (PBFL). We found that female learners’ innovativeness positively influenced their perception of the project’s entertainment and educational value, which in turn increased preference for PBFL and course satisfaction. Interestingly, risk-taking did not significantly influence perceived project value, which provides insights into the role of personality traits in learning outcomes. IMPLICATIONS: Our study invigorates entrepreneurship education theory by highlighting the key role of learner innovativeness in PBFL course satisfaction, urging a nuanced examination of personality traits in educational contexts. Further, we question the established importance of risk-taking, necessitating a critical reassessment in this domain. These pivotal theoretical contributions challenge prevailing assumptions, enrich scholarly discourse, and open new avenues for research. On the practical side, our findings emphasize the imperative of fostering innovativeness in women’s entrepreneurship education. These insights underscore the need for a strategically tailored, creative learning environment, with the potential to enhance learner engagement and satisfaction significantly. In sum, our research generates transformative theoretical insights and provides actionable strategies for improving the practice of entrepreneurship education. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: Our research presents a novel approach to fostering women entrepreneurs in the media sector through PBFL. This unique focus on the intersection of gender, media entrepreneurship, and PBFL distinguishes our study from existing literature. Furthermore, our findings offer educators invaluable guidance for enhancing female entrepreneurship education, thereby enriching the pedagogical landscape of this domain. Keywords: entrepreneurship education, women entrepreneurship, project-based flipped learning, innovativeness, risk-taking, course satisfaction
This book is the first comprehensive guide to Florida's amazing variety of tree species: from scrub oak on the high central ridges to mangroves stretching along the southern coasts, from mighty live oaks to the delicate and diminutive hawthornes, from bald cypress with their knees poking up from the swamps to the coppery-colored gumbo limbo found in tropical hammocks of the Everglades and Keys, from the sabal palm found all over the state to the rare and endangered yew found only along the banks of the Apalachicola River in northern Florida. Florida, unique among the states, has both tropical and temperate forests. The early Florida visitor was awed by miles of unending pine flatwoods. Most modern Florida visitors are amazed by the lush tropical trees planted in cities, suburbs, and public gardens. This book covers both natives and exotics and includes suggested field sites for observing the species described. Divided into two sections, this book serves as both a reference and a field guide. Both sections help the reader answer the question “What tree is that?" by focusing on the families of Florida's trees. The line drawings show a combination of typical leaves, fruits, and flowers, and while accurate in detail, capture an overall impression, so helpful when trying to identify a species in the field. The color photos, all taken in Florida, are useful where color is important in identification. The first edition was very popular with both professionals and laypeople alike—it was heralded as accurate, comprehensive, and organized and written in an easy-to-understand way. This edition will be even more useful, as it adds about 140 more tree accounts for a total of more than 480 species. There are almost 600 color photos and many drawings and range maps. And now included is a key to tree families that will help with field identification.
Structure and Agency in Everyday Life outlines the major concepts of interactionism through its leading theoreticians, from William James to Erving Goffman, to contemporary writers. The text underscores the dynamic relationship between the structures or social forces of constraint and humans' ability to act self-reflexively and constitute meaning in their lives through everyday action. The major foci of interactionism-emotions, deviance, childhood socialization, gender, the negotiated order, and the self are covered in-depth. The text presents a history of the interactionist perspective.
This book offers a comprehensible overview of Big Data Preprocessing, which includes a formal description of each problem. It also focuses on the most relevant proposed solutions. This book illustrates actual implementations of algorithms that helps the reader deal with these problems. This book stresses the gap that exists between big, raw data and the requirements of quality data that businesses are demanding. This is called Smart Data, and to achieve Smart Data the preprocessing is a key step, where the imperfections, integration tasks and other processes are carried out to eliminate superfluous information. The authors present the concept of Smart Data through data preprocessing in Big Data scenarios and connect it with the emerging paradigms of IoT and edge computing, where the end points generate Smart Data without completely relying on the cloud. Finally, this book provides some novel areas of study that are gathering a deeper attention on the Big Data preprocessing. Specifically, it considers the relation with Deep Learning (as of a technique that also relies in large volumes of data), the difficulty of finding the appropriate selection and concatenation of preprocessing techniques applied and some other open problems. Practitioners and data scientists who work in this field, and want to introduce themselves to preprocessing in large data volume scenarios will want to purchase this book. Researchers that work in this field, who want to know which algorithms are currently implemented to help their investigations, may also be interested in this book.
Entrepreneurial experience and venture success: A comprehensive meta-analysis of performance determinants Abstract PURPOSE: In both theory and practice, the entrepreneur’s prior experience is considered to be one of the most important human capital factors affecting venture performance. Nonetheless, the research on the effect of experience on venture performance has produced inconclusive findings. The literature explaining this inconclusiveness is sparse, but several determinants have been identified, such as the variability in the conceptualization and measurement of experience and performance, age of the investigated ventures, types of industry, or size and composition of venture management. The inconsistency of these features across primary studies makes it difficult to compare the results and to integrate findings. METHODOLOGY: This meta-analysis reviews and summarizes 80 primary studies in order to investigate the relationship between entrepreneur’s experience and venture performance. We investigated the effect of five determinants of this relationship, namely the type of experience, type of performance, venture age, size of managerial team, and composition of managerial team. A random effect model was applied and the correlation coefficient was used as an indicator of effect size. FINDINGS: The study found that experience positively affected venture performance, although the magnitude of the effect was rather small. Venture performance showed to have the strongest significant relationship with start-up experience, followed by industrial, working, and managerial experience. International, functional, and entrepreneurial experience had a non-significant effect on venture performance. Moreover, the effect of experience on venture performance was not significant for older ventures. Experience significantly affected two types of venture performance, namely the size of venture and profitability, while the effect on growth was non-significant. Finally, of all the types of venture management, the experience of owner-inclusive entrepreneurial teams had the greatest effect on venture performance. IMPLICATIONS: Investor practitioners may find it helpful to assess entrepreneurs’ experience within a broader context, taking account of the types of experience the entrepreneur possesses. Entrepreneurs’ international, functional, and entrepreneurial experience should be considered very carefully, as they had a non-significant effect on venture performance. In contrast, having experience of founding a venture or of a particular industry seems to provide more value than experience of doing business internationally, or being in business for many years. Another important aspect that investors and venture capitalists should take into account is the size and composition of the entrepreneurial team and the extent to which the venture proposal reflects the different types of experience the team members possess. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The study contributes to the human capital literature by firstly attempting to examine systematically the overall magnitude of the relationship between entrepreneur’s experience and venture performance. It also contributes by investigating the determinants of the relationship between experience and venture performance. It summarizes and combines previous inconclusive findings about the impact of different types of experience on different venture performance outcomes. Keywords: entrepreneurial experience, venture performance, entrepreneurship, human capital, learning by doing, meta-analysis, start-up, investor decision-making, performance, knowledge generation Entrepreneurial orientation and SME export performance: Unveiling the mediating roles of innovation capability and international networking accessibility in the brass industry Abstract PURPOSE: This paper answered the research gap on entrepreneurial orientation with a sample of small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) export performance and the mediating role of innovation capability and international networking accessibility that has not been tested in previous research. This study also tested the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on SMEs’ export performance in the global market. The mediating role of international networking accessibility and innovation capability on SMEs’ export performance also became another focus of this study. METHODOLOGY: This paper implemented a quantitative approach with 282 owners or managers of the SMEs brass industry cluster in Boyolali, Indonesia, who were examined using purposive sampling. FINDINGS: The findings of this study revealed that entrepreneurial orientation did not significantly affect SMEs’ export performance but did significantly affect innovation capability and international networking accessibility. Another empirical test found that innovation capability had significantly affected SMEs’ export performance and the international networking accessibility. International networking accessibility also significantly affected the performance of export SMEs. This study also found an important mediating role of international network accessibility and innovation capability in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and SMEs’ export performance. IMPLICATIONS: This study contributes to research investigating the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance by conducting in-depth studies on innovation capabilities and international networking accessibility. Many studies have tested the mediating role of innovation capability and international networking accessibility. The practical implication of this study is that it can help managers or owners of SMEs better understand and find optimal solutions through enhancing innovation capability and international networking accessibility, which can be instilled in the characteristics of SME owners or managers to improve performance. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The results of this study indicate the mediating role of innovation capability and accessibility of international networking on SMEs’ export performance. Therefore, the main contribution of the study is to determine the mediating role of innovation capability and international network accessibility in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance by integrating the theoretical perspective of the resource-based view (RBV). Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, SME export performance, innovation capability, international networking accessibility, brass industry, Indonesia, resource-based view, RBV Relationship between knowledge transfer and sustainable innovation in interorganizational environments of small and medium-sized enterprises Abstract PURPOSE: The trends promoted for the strengthening of capacities that allow the interaction and valuation of knowledge as an intangible asset, deserve a management based on its transfer as a basis that drives innovation. Based on this, the purpose of the study is to examine the relationships between knowledge transfer (KT) and sustainable innovation (SI) in interorganizational contexts of small and medium-sized companies. METHODOLOGY: A process was carried out through the application of a questionnaire addressed to managers and owners of 109 small and medium-sized companies of activity in management and the development of information and communication technologies in two regions of Colombia. To show the significant differences between the two selected populations, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney test for independent samples was applied. Likewise, an application of the K-means algorithm was used to group the variables into subsets. The study of the data was complemented with the multivariate technique and the principal components analysis (PCA) to validate the contrasting of the declared hypotheses. FINDINGS: The results determine that by means of the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test for independent samples there are significant differences between the two selected populations. Likewise, the positive correlation between the variables of knowledge transfer and innovation is confirmed, as well as designing the interactions and the flow of processes between the components that support the aforementioned variables from the theoretical and empirical approach, whose interaction capacity between them has to promote the innovative potential under sustainability principles in small and medium-sized enterprises. IMPLICATIONS: Based on the results of the research carried out, scenarios are promoted through which it is sought to strengthen the interorganizational management of small and medium-sized enterprises, minimizing the barriers that weaken their stability. As well as promoting new ways of valuing knowledge as an intangible asset that, when transferred, generates effects in innovation management as part of the strengthening and interorganizational sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: It is based on the generation of value through the proposal of a design of a system of relations between the components that promote the transfer of knowledge and sustainable innovation. Its structure is based on empirical results that allowed defining five strategic stages that show the relationships between the components that promote interorganizational and competitive management of tangible and intangible assets available in small and medium-sized enterprises. Keywords: knowledge transfer, sustainable innovation, interorganizational environments, knowledge management, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, SMEs, intangible assets, Colombia Comparative analysis of national innovation systems: Implications for SMEs' adoption of fourth industrial revolution technologies in developing and developed countries Abstract PURPOSE: This study aims to identify the differences and similarities in the innovation systems of developing vs. developed countries that influence SMEs’ adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies. There is a notable absence of comparative research between National Innovation Systems (NIS) of developing and developed countries. Additionally, the current scholarly conversation lacks a holistic view of NIS. Our study aims to fill these gaps by employing Lundvall’s framework to explore both developed and developing countries’ systems comprehensively. METHODOLOGY: The data was collected through a Systematic Literature Review, identifying a total of 695 publications from SCOPUS, Web of Science (WoS), and ProQuest. The PRISMA process was adhered to, resulting in 32 papers undergoing quality evaluation using Gough’s ‘weight of evidence’ guidelines. Twenty-nine primary papers were selected, comprising twelve from developed countries, another twelve from developing countries, and the remainder from both categories. Using Qualitative Meta-synthesis (QMS) with ATLAS.ti, a systematic alignment of codes with research inquiries pertaining to NIS ensued, revealing a multifaceted spectrum of findings across these scholarly investigations. FINDINGS: We found that there are similarities and differences between the innovation systems of developed and developing nations. The similarities include the intra-firm interactions taking place between managers and workers, inter-firm relations between the SMEs and Academia and other SMEs, as well as the role of the government in providing funding and regulation (albeit at significantly varying degrees). The most significant differences observed were in the funding mechanisms, the role of the government, and the R&D systems. It was found that governments in developed countries provided SMEs with substantial incentives, tax credits, and subsidies to adopt 4IR technologies, which appears to positively impact the adoption rate. We conclude by developing a conceptual framework for the NIS necessary for the adoption of SMEs’ 4IR technologies in developing countries. IMPLICATIONS: This study contributes to the literature on innovation systems by examining the NIS of both developed and developing countries. This analysis allows us to gain deeper insights into how specific aspects of each country (developed or developing) affect (positively or negatively) SMEs’ adoption of 4IR technologies. Practically, it informs governments in developing countries on which aspects to focus on in their NIS to increase the rate of the adoption of 4IR technologies by SMEs. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: A distinctive aspect of this study lies in the creation of a comprehensive conceptual model delineating the essential components of the innovation system pivotal for the successful integration of 4IR technologies within SMEs. This model is designed to serve as a practical tool for governments in developing countries, providing a structured framework to facilitate and enhance the strategic development of their innovation landscapes. Keywords: national innovation systems, fourth industrial revolution technologies, SME, adoption, developed countries, developing countries, comparative analysis, government policies, Lundvall’s framework, qualitative meta-synthesis Social cognitive career theory and higher education students’ entrepreneurial intention: The role of perceived educational support and perceived entrepreneurial opportunity Abstract PURPOSE: This study aims to integrate insights from the Socio-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and entrepreneurship literature to develop a research framework of how perceived entrepreneurial opportunities (PEO) and perceived educational support (PES) shape the progression of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and entrepreneurial career interests (ECI). Additionally, this study investigates whether ECI mediates the effects of PEO and PES on entrepreneurial intention (EI) and how PEO and PES moderate the effects of ESE and ECI on EI. METHODOLOGY: A sample of 888 university students was recruited from Vietnam. Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analyses were adopted to test the reliability and validity of the scales. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is then used to test formulated hypotheses. FINDINGS: The current study demonstrates that ESE and ECI directly trigger EI. Although PES and PEO did not directly impact EI, their influence on EI was mediated through ESE and ECI. In addition, PEO was found to act as a positive catalyst for the transformation of ESE and ECI into EI. The greater the entrepreneurial opportunities students perceive, the more likely they are to convert ESE and ECI into intentions to become entrepreneurs. IMPLICATIONS: This study makes a significant contribution by emphasizing the relevance of the SCCT framework in understanding entrepreneurship and brings to the forefront the role of PES and PEO in shaping the progression of ESE, ECI and, ultimately, EI. In addition, the findings of this study provide practical implications for nascent entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship educators, and policymakers. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: This study is one of the first to investigate the role of PEO and PES in the development of Vietnamese students’ SES, ECI and, ultimately, their intention to engage in entrepreneurship. Keywords: entrepreneurial intention, social cognitive career theory, perceived educational support, perceived entrepreneurial opportunities, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial career interests, structural equation modeling, SEM Entrepreneurial intentions of students from Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine: The role of perceived entrepreneurial education results Abstract Purpose: Our main aim is to establish which factors influence entrepreneurial intentions, with a particular focus on the role of entrepreneurial education and university support in Central and Eastern European countries (CEE). An additional aim is to determine the differences in these perceptions between students from seemingly similar but rather different CEE countries. Methodology: We based our study mainly on two theory constructs, namely the entrepreneurial support model (ESM) and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE). Both concepts often appear in research on entrepreneurial intentions, but they are not used together. Moreover, we proposed a new education-related factor – perceived entrepreneurial education results (PEER). To verify hypotheses quantitative research was conducted using surveys among 2,085 first-year undergraduate students from three technical universities in three countries: Latvia, Poland and Ukraine. Findings: The results of the study indicate that entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived entrepreneurial education results, and perceived educational and relational support all influence the intention of students to launch a venture. The research did not provide support for the hypothesis of an impact of perceived structural support (PSS) on intentions. The impact of perceived educational and relational support appeared to be less important than the impact of ESE and PEER on intentions. Additionally, we identified that there are significant differences between students from the analysed countries. Implications for theory and practice: Our research has identified a new factor, not previously used in studies of entrepreneurial intentions, that is, perceived entrepreneurial education results. This new factor can be used in research as a complement to self-efficacy and it refers to hard skills related, in this particular case, to entrepreneurship. The results show the importance of the national context, implying the need to take this into account when modelling support policies at a national level. The findings can be used to remodel how this knowledge is delivered to young people. Originality and value: Firstly, we proposed the inclusion of a new education-related component called perceived entrepreneurial education results, which can examine the perceived results of education at any level, in our case, at the secondary school level. Secondly, we showed the stronger influence of factors related to perceptions of one's own skills than perceptions of support from the environment. In addition, we demonstrated that making judgements or recommendations about entrepreneurial support, for rather similar countries, should be considered separately. Furthermore, we conceptualised the three aspects ESE, PEER and ESM in a new way. Finally, we also proved that the role of individual factors varies from country to country, even if the countries belong to the same cultural background and share a similar past experience. Keywords: entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurial education, perceived entrepreneurial support model, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, perceived entrepreneurial educational results, Central and Eastern European Countries, CEE countries, comparative analysis
An invaluable pocket translator for the major European cuisinesWritten by leading experts, the guide covers the four main European cuisines - France, Italy, Germany and Spain - and includes comprehensive reference to little-known regional dishes not usually covered by other guidesDesigned for ease of use and pocket carriage, this is a discreet and indispensible guide for the traveller who enjoys eating out and likes to know what he is eating!
The most comprehensive and user-friendly field guide to the trees of eastern North America Covering 825 species, more than any comparable field guide, Trees of Eastern North America is the most comprehensive, best illustrated, and easiest-to-use book of its kind. Presenting all the native and naturalized trees of the eastern United States and Canada as far west as the Great Plains—including those species found only in tropical and subtropical Florida and northernmost Canada—the book features superior descriptions; thousands of meticulous color paintings by David More that illustrate important visual details; range maps that provide a thumbnail view of distribution for each native species; "Quick ID" summaries; a user-friendly layout; scientific and common names; the latest taxonomy; information on the most recently naturalized species; keys to leaves and twigs; and an introduction to tree identification, forest ecology, and plant classification and structure. The easy-to-read descriptions present details of size, shape, growth habit, bark, leaves, flowers, fruit, flowering and fruiting times, habitat, and range. Using a broad definition of a tree, the book covers many small, overlooked species normally thought of as shrubs. With its unmatched combination of breadth and depth, this is an essential guide for every tree lover. The most comprehensive, best illustrated, and easiest-to-use field guide to the trees of eastern North America Covers 825 species, more than any comparable guide, including all the native and naturalized trees of the United States and Canada as far west as the Great Plains Features specially commissioned artwork, detailed descriptions, range maps for native species, up-to-date taxonomy and names, and much, much more An essential guide for every tree lover
This book demonstrates and analyzes patterns in the response of the Imperial Roman state to local resistance, focusing on decisions made within military and administrative organizations during the Principate. Through a thorough investigation of the official Roman approach towards local revolt, author Gil Gambash answers significant questions that, until now, have produced conflicting explanations in the literature: Was Rome’s rule of its empire mostly based on oppressive measures, or on the willing cooperation of local populations? To what extent did Roman decisions and actions indicate a dedication towards stability in the provinces? And to what degree were Roman interests pursued at the risk of provoking local resistance? Examining the motivations and judgment of decision-makers within the military and administrative organizations – from the emperor down to the provincial procurator – this book reconstructs the premises for decisions and ensuing actions that promoted negotiation and cooperation with local populations. A ground-breaking work that, for the first time, provides a centralized view of Roman responses to indigenous revolt, Rome and Provincial Resistance is essential reading for scholars of Roman imperial history.
An excellent 90-year history book, edited by former National Press Club president, John Cosgrove, which depicts the rich heritage that has established the National Press Club as the leading news organization in the world. Founded in 1908, the National Press Club has served as host to hundreds of world leaders and celebrities. Hundreds of historic photos from the NPC archives highlight this book. Read about visits from Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Other guest speakers have included Lech Walesa, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhamed Ali, and many more!
This handy handbook, which can be used independently or as a companion to The Trees of Florida and The Shrubs and Woody Vines of Florida, makes it possible to easily identify all of Florida's native and naturalized woody plants. The text is formatted as a traditional botanical key, offering a series of either/or decisions leading to the precise identification of a plant in hand. Designed primarily for field use and targeted to both amateurs and professionals, the keys are clear, concise, non-technical, and rely on conspicuous and easily seen features with emphasis on characteristics that are observable year-round. An important addition to any plant lovers field gear.
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