The internationalization of SMEs has been recognized as one of the important paths to growth in SMEs. However, internationalization is also a resource and competence-demanding process. This is especially true for smaller-sized SMEs – the small and micro-sized firms – which have a large resource constraint, making internationalization even more challenging. Although this group of small firms counts for an average of over 98% of the total population of enterprises in EU countries, extant research on the internationalization of this group is still limited. Therefore, the main purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to a better understanding of evolving patterns of internationalization in the smaller-sized SMEs. The study uses emerging market entry along the internationalization of small firms as a context to probe the dynamics of perceived risk (uncertainty) and perceived opportunity in different foreign markets which influence the important decisions of small firms during their internationalization. The main study takes a longitudinal approach and uses mixed methods to investigate the features in both the initial period and the continued period of internationalization. It mainly builds on a multiple-case study of 12 Swedish firms, which have/had emerging market entry experience and/or involvement. This study illustrates influences from the environmental, organizational and individual levels on evolving patterns of internationalization in the investigated firms. This dissertation concludes that critical decisions and actions taken in the internationalization process depend on interactions among the influence and resources from the three levels. Such interactions form a conditional preference on perceived risk (uncertainty) and perceived opportunity during the internationalization of small firms. The study further proposes that the dynamics in the internationalization process are caused by a prospect-guided change mechanism. This dissertation contributes to the literature by: differentiating patterns of internationalization; enriching the study of “born global” in the continued period of internationalization; introducing a new perspective on the interpretation of dynamics in the internationalization; and increasing the understanding on the interactions of resources from three levels on the internationalization of small firms.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) use atypical approaches when processing facial stimuli. The first purpose of this research was to investigate face processing abilities in adults with ASD using several tasks, to compare patterns of interference between static identity and expression processing in adults with ASD and typical adults, and to investigate whether the introduction of dynamic cues caused members of one or both groups to shift from a global to a more local processing strategy. The second purpose was to compare the gaze behaviour of groups of participants as they viewed static and dynamic single- and multiple-character scenes. I tested 16 adults with ASD and 16 sex-, age-, and IQ-matched typical controls. In Study 1, participants completed a task designed to assess processing speed, another to measure visual processing bias, and two tasks involving static and dynamic face stimuli -- an identity-matching task and a Garner selective attention task. Adults with ASD were less sensitive to facial identity, and, unlike typical controls, showed negligible interference between identity and expression processing when judging both static and moving faces. In Study 2, participants viewed scenes while their gaze behaviour was recorded. Overall, participants with ASD showed fewer and shorter fixations on faces compared to their peers. Additionally, whereas the introduction of motion and increased social complexity of the scenes affected the gaze behaviour of typical adults, only the latter manipulation affected adults with ASD. My findings emphasize the importance of using dynamic displays when studying typical and atypical face processing mechanisms. / October 2015

No description available.

Bipeds and quadrupeds are inherently unstable and their bodies sway during quiet stance and require complex patterns of muscle activation to produce direction-specific forces to control the body’s center of mass. The relative strength of length and force feedback within and across muscles collectively regulates the mechanical properties of the limb as a whole during standing and locomotion (Bonasera and Nichols 1994; Ross and Nichols 2009). Loss of posture control following spinal cord injury (SCI) is a major clinical challenge. While much is known about intermuscular force feedback during crossed extension reflex (XER) and locomotion in decerebrate cats, these have not been well characterized in animals with spinal cord injury. In this study, we mapped the distribution of heterogenic force feedback in hindlimb ankle extensor muscles using muscle stretch (natural stimulation) in intercollicular, non-locomoting, decerebrate cats with chronic lateral spinal hemisection (LSH). We also, determined the time of onset of redistribution of heterogenic force feedback following LSH by collecting force feedback data from cats with acute sci. In addition we revisited heterogenic force feedback between ankle extensors in decerebrate non-locomoting cats during mid-stance to ascertain whether these cats with intact spinal cord depict a certain pattern of force feedback. The goal was to ascertain whether the patterns and strength of feedback was different between the two states (cats with intact spinal cord and cats with SCI). We found that heterogenic feedback pathways remained inhibitory in non-locomoting decerebrate cats in two states. The latencies of inhibition also corresponded to those observed for force feedback from Golgi tendon organs. We observed variable patterns of force feedback between ankle extensors in decerebrate/control cats. On the other hand we observed consistent results in cats with chronic LSH exhibiting very strong distal to proximal pattern of inhibition from 2 weeks to 20 weeks following chronic LSH. The same results were obtained in acute LSH cats suggest that the change in neuromuscular system appears immediately after SCI and persists even after the animal start walking following SCI. The observed altered pattern of force feedback after spinal cord injury suggests either presence of a pattern intrinsic to the spinal cord or a unique pattern exhibited by the damaged spinal cord. The results are important clinically because even with vigorous rehabilitation attempts patients do not regain posture control after SCI even though they regain ability to walk. Therefore, to effectively administer treatment and therapy for patients with compromised posture control, a complete understanding of the circuitry is required.

Η παρούσα εργασία πραγματεύεται το πρόβλημα της εξόρυξης γνώσης μέσα από μεγάλες βάσεις δεδομένων. Πιο συγκεκριμένα αναλύονται τεχνικές εύρεσης συχνών συνόλων αντικειμένων και κανόνων συσχέτισης (association rules). Οι τεχνικές αυτές έχουν μεγάλη εφαρμογή σε τομείς της καθημερινής ζωής. Ένα παράδειγμα είναι το σύνολο των αντικειμένων που μπορεί να αγοράσει κάποιος από ένα πολυκατάστημα (market analysis). Η εύρεση συσχετισμού μεταξύ των αντικειμένων που περιέχει το καλάθι των προϊόντων μπορεί να βοηθήσει σε μεγάλο βαθμό την διεύθυνση της επιχείρησης ώστε να αναδιατάξει τη σειρά με την οποία τοποθετεί τα προϊόντα στα ράφια. Οι πιο δημοφιλείς αλγόριθμοι που επιλύουν το πρόβλημα είναι ο apriori και ο fp-growth, χρησιμοποιούν ένα κατώφλι εμπιστοσύνης πάνω από το οποίο πρέπει να είναι ο αριθμός εμφανίσεων των συνόλων αντικειμένων μέσα στην βάση δεδομένων. Αυτό όμως δεν ανταποκρίνεται στην πραγματικότητα γιατί στην καθημερινότητα υπάρχουν προϊόντα (items) τα οποία εμφανίζονται από τη φύση τους αρκετά σπάνια οπότε το όριο της υποστήριξης τους πρέπει να τεθεί αρκετά χαμηλά ώστε να αποκτήσουν σημασία οι λιγοστές εμφανίσεις τους. Αντίστοιχα τα προϊόντα που εμφανίζονται αρκετά συχνά μπορούν να έχουν όριο υποστήριξης σχετικά μεγάλο. Για το λόγο αυτό αναπτύχθηκαν αλγόριθμοι όπου αντί για ένα ενιαίο κατώφλι υποστήριξης, έχουμε πολλαπλά (multiple minimum support) και κάθε item έχει το δικό του. Έτσι υλοποιήθηκε ο αλγόριθμος apriori ενώ η παρούσα εργασία φιλοδοξεί να εφαρμόσει τον αλγόριθμο fp-growth και μάλιστα με δύο εναλλακτικές τεχνικές σε πολλαπλές υποστηρίξεις. Οι δύο τεχνικές διαφέρουν ως προς τον τρόπο κατασκευής της βασικής δομής δηλαδή του δέντρου fp-tree. Το δέντρο αυτό περιέχει τα υποσύνολα αντικειμένων, τα οποία θα διερευνήσουμε αν εμφανίζονται αρκετά συχνά ώστε να θεωρήσουμε ότι τα αντικείμενα τους συσχετίζονται μεταξύ τους. Στη συνέχεια μελετάμε τις τεχνικές εύρεσης αρνητικών κανόνων συσχέτισης (negative association rules). Οι κανόνες αυτοί είναι χρήσιμοι στην ανάλυση αγορών με στόχο να ανακαλυφθούν τα προϊόντα που ‘συγκρούονται’ μεταξύ τους ή αλληλοσυμπληρώνονται. Η μορφή τους είναι X→⌐Y και υποδηλώνει την απουσία κάποιων αντικειμένων (Υ) ως αποτέλεσμα της παρουσίας των συνόλου αντικειμένων Χ. Και σε αυτό τον τομέα έχει αναπτυχθεί ένας αλγόριθμος που εφαρμόζει apriori για την εύρεση των συνόλων από όπου θα προκύψουν τα Χ και Y και εισάγει μια μετρική συσχέτισης των δύο συνόλων αντικειμένων, που επιλέχθηκε να είναι το correlation coefficient . Αυτό που εμείς υλοποιήσαμε είναι η εφαρμογή του ίδιου αλγορίθμου αλλάζοντας όμως τεχνική χρησιμοποιώντας τον fp-growth αντί για apriori. Τέλος ασχοληθήκαμε με το πρόβλημα της εξόρυξης προτύπων με προαπαιτούμενο τη διατήρηση της σειράς των αντικειμένων (order preserving). Αναπτύχθηκε μια νέα τεχνική εξόρυξης η οποία βασίζεται στον υπάρχοντα αλγόριθμο fp-growth αλλά βασισμένη σε μια εναλλακτική μορφή τον λεγόμενο fp γράφο. Συμπερασματικά σε αυτήν την εργασία θα αναπτυχθούν τα παρακάτω: 1. Αλγόριθμος fp-growth σε πολλαπλές υποστηρίξεις όπου η βασική δομή- το δέντρο FP-tree- έχει στα φύλλα αντικείμενα με τις μεγαλύτερες υποστηρίξεις. 2. Αλγόριθμος fp-growth σε πολλαπλές υποστηρίξεις όπου η βασική δομή- το δέντρο FP-tree- έχει στα φύλλα αντικείμενα με τις μικρότερες υποστηρίξεις. 3. Αλγόριθμος fp-growth για την εύρεση αρνητικών κανόνων συσχέτισης. 4. Αλγόριθμος fp-growth για την εξόρυξη προτύπων με διατήρηση σειράς αντικειμένων όπου η βασική δομή είναι ο fp γράφος / The present work deals with the problem of data mining from databases. More specifically we analyze methods for detection of frequent itemsets and association rules. The most popular case study of data mining is the market analysis. The important here is the detection of relation among buying items. These relation could follow to a new different classification of items inside the super market. The most popular algorithms of data mining – apriori and fp growth – use a single support threshold for the number of appearances of items inside the database. This single threshold is not appropriate because of the different kind of items. This conclude to replacement of single threshold with multiple threshold, one for each concrete item. We implement the algorithm fp growth for multiple minimum supports, using two different methods. These two methods differs in the way we build the fp tree. The fp tree contents the itemsets which we must examine if they are frequent or not. Right after that we study methods for detection positive and negative association rules. Negative association rules have the form X→⌐Y. The symbol ⌐ indicate the absence of itemset Y. Our method also use a statistic method for calculate the relation between X and Y called ‘correlation coefficient’. This method leads to an algorithm fp growth for detection of positive and negative rules. Finally we involve with the data mining problem using a semantic requirement: ‘The order of the items in an itemset cannot change’. We develop an fp growth algorithm for detect frequent itemsets with order preserving. This algorithm use a fp graph instead of fp tree.

Οι εφαρμογές παγκόσμιου ιστού προσφέρουν ολοένα και περισσότερες, με υψηλό βαθμό πολυπλοκότητας υπηρεσίες, σε σχέση με τους πρώτους ιστότοπους που χρησιμοποιούνταν απλά και μόνο για την προβολή πληροφοριών. Όμως, η πολυπλοκότητα αυτή καθιστά τις εφαρμογές δύσχρηστες καθώς είναι πολύ δύσκολο να συντηρηθούν και να επεκταθούν. Η ερευνητική κοινότητα προκειμένου να αντιμετωπίσει την αυξανόμενη πολυπλοκότητα του σχεδιασμού εφαρμογών παγκόσμιου ιστού έχει προτείνει ένα πλήθος προσεγγίσεων και μεθόδων βασισμένων σε μοντέλα. Η δουλειά του σχεδιαστή εφαρμογών παγκόσμιου ιστού μπορεί να απλοποιηθεί ακόμα περισσότερο με την επαναχρησιμοποίηση της εμπειρίας άλλων σχεδιαστών εφαρμογών παγκόσμιου ιστού. Η επαναχρησιμοποίηση της εμπειρίας αυτής γίνεται με χρήση σχεδιαστικών προτύπων που ορίζονται από πεπειραμένους σχεδιαστές. Αν κατά το σχεδιασμό μιας εφαρμογής χρησιμοποιηθεί κάποια μέθοδος μοντελοποίησης σε συνδυασμό με ένα σύνολο σχεδιαστικών προτύπων, η τελική εφαρμογή θα είναι πιο αποδοτική και ποιοτική. Πολλές φορές όμως, κατά το σχεδιασμό και την ανάπτυξη μιας εφαρμογής παγκόσμιου ιστού δε λαμβάνεται υπόψη κάποια συγκεκριμένη μεθοδολογία μοντελοποίησης και ανάπτυξης. Ένα πλήθος μεθόδων αντίστροφης μηχανίκευσης έχει αναπτυχθεί για την ανάλυση, κατανόηση και μοντελοποίηση των αρχιτεκτονικών τέτοιου είδους εφαρμογών. Στα πλαίσια της συγκεκριμένης διπλωματικής εργασίας μελετώνται οι μέθοδοι μοντελοποίησης που έχουν προταθεί από την ερευνητική κοινότητα, τα σχεδιαστικά πρότυπα που έχουν οριστεί καθώς και οι μέθοδοι και οι διαδικασίες αντίστροφης μηχανίκευσης που έχουν αναπτυχθεί. Επιπλέον προτείνεται μία μέθοδος που ανιχνεύει και αξιολογεί την ύπαρξη πιθανών κλώνων μοντέλων. / Web Applications provide many services and they are not used just to display content, as it was the case for the first web sites. Due to the growing complexity, the design, development and maintenance of these aplications has become one of the major challenges that the developer has to face. In an attempt to face this growing complexity, the research community has proposed a number of model based approaches and methods. The task of the hypertext architect may be further facilitated by reusing the experience of other hypertext architects. This reuse is achieved by means of design patterns that have been defined by experts. If, we make use of a modelling method in combination with design patterns when designing a web application, the final result will be more efficient and qualitative. Usually, due to the pressing market demands, the modeling methods or techniques are not applied during the design and development of the web applications. A number of reverse engineering methods and tools have been proposed in order to analyse, comprehend and model the architectures of such applications. In this thesis, we study the various modelling methods that have been proposed, as well as the design patterns that have been defined and the reverse engineering methods that have been developed. Furthermore, we propose a method to detect and evaluate the existence of possible model clones.

No description available.

The initiatives of open space conservation, as outlined in the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, have been implemented through the purchase of nearly 65 thousand acres by Pima County. This land abuts sections of grazing leases held by state and federal agencies, forming largely unfragmented landscapes surrounding the city's urban core. Much of the outlying acreage is rural historic working ranches, now managed as open space conservation preserves. Ranches are landscapes of low-intensity impact, where the archaeological record of centuries of human land use is well preserved. Much of the land, however, remains relatively unstudied. To refine spatial predictions of archaeologically sensitive areas in southern Pima County, I use multivariate logistic regression to develop predictive models of probable archaeological site locations for three time periods at Rancho Seco as a case study. Results suggest portions Rancho Seco might contain additional Preceramic and Historic cultural resources but additional data collection is needed.

Most people have difficulty maintaining a healthy diet. Both social and individual factors play a role in shaping one's diet, and individual factors might be differentially associated with eating depending on social conditions. The present research focuses on eating to regulate emotion and body weight in the context of couple relationships. Forty-three committed heterosexual couples reported on emotion-regulation strategies including the use of eating to regulate emotion (ERE). During a lab visit, participants discussed their health habits with their partners and their body composition was measured (e.g.: weight, height, percent body fat). Finally, participants completed daily diaries assessing their emotions as well as their food intake relative to their own normal eating. I first tested whether ERE was associated with other measures of emotion regulation as well as body composition at an individual level. As predicted, ERE demonstrated internal consistency, was moderately correlated with an established measure of emotion-eating, and uncorrelated with other measures of emotion regulation. High ERE was associated with higher body mass index, as well as higher waist circumference and percent body fat among older women, and with higher percent body fat among younger men. Secondly, I tested whether self-reported ERE predicted connections between daily emotional fluctuations and eating. Consistent with my hypothesis, those who reported high ERE ate worse when they experienced negative emotions or did not eat better when they experienced positive ones (which was the case among people with low ERE). Finally, I tested whether ERE in couples was associated with body composition under specific relationship conditions. As predicted, when both partners had high ERE, women who used more we-talk during a discussion of health habits also had higher BMI. However, women who used high I-talk in such couples had lower BMI despite having high ERE. Moreover, in such couples expression of negative emotion by partners was associated with higher BMI. Identifying individual and couple-level factors shaping dietary practices adds to development of interventions for poor health habits. It is an important step in shifting disease-focused models of medical care towards more comprehensive, patient-centered care.

Sepsis is a devastating, life-threatening disease and a major problem for many newborns; it develops rapidly and requires expertise to identify the early, subtle signs to prevent death or disability. Evidence from nursing practice and philosophic inquiry indicates that nurses use diverse ways of knowing in their assessments. The purpose of this research was to address research questions concerning two areas: 1) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses’ patterns of knowing in the assessment of infants with sepsis as related to dimensions of nursing practice; and 2) Test the psychometric properties of the Newborn Scale of Sepsis (SOS) as a diagnostic or assessment tool. The theoretical framework incorporated the epistemological theories of nurses Carper and Benner and philosopher of science Nagel. This study employed a prospective, correlational design with a convenience sample of 119 NICU nurses. Twenty-eight of these nurses also completed the Newborn SOS to document their assessments of 62 newborns for sepsis. Two instruments were used: 1) The 16-item norm-referenced Nursing Patterns of Knowing (POK) scale (ɑ = .82 and item-scale correlations ≥ 0.33), and 2) The 13-item Newborn Scale of Sepsis (SOS), developed to assist the novice nurse to assess for signs of sepsis (ɑ = .65 and interrater reliability of 96.3%). Descriptive, psychometric, and correlational analyses were applied to the research questions. Results indicated that the more clinically experienced NICU nurses used a more integrated pattern of knowing when assessing newborns for signs of sepsis. The more experienced and competent nurses incorporated empirical, aesthetic and personal knowing in their assessments. More experienced nurses also used less authority-based knowing. More diversity in work experiences was negatively correlated with the sociopolitical pattern of knowing. Psychometric properties of the Newborn SOS indicated that, while its sensitivity was very good, its low specificity limited its usefulness as a diagnostic tool. It was concluded that the Newborn SOS can be used to assist novice nurses in developing pattern recognition of newborn sepsis. The Nursing POK has strong potential for use in a wide variety of studies examining nursing patterns of knowing in assessment of critical health conditions.