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Original Survey (original + survey)
Terms modified by Original Survey Selected AbstractsMultinational Corporations and Patterns of Local Knowledge Transfer in Costa Rican High-Tech IndustriesDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2008Elisa Giuliani ABSTRACT Over recent decades, governments in industrializing countries have promoted policies to attract foreign investors, anticipating the benefits of technology transfer to host economies. During the 1990s, Costa Rica adopted an industrialization strategy based on attracting high-tech multinational companies (MNCs). Using an original survey of a sample of high-tech MNC subsidiaries, this article shows that the new wave of efficiency-seeking subsidiaries tend not to transfer knowledge to domestic firms even when they establish backward linkages with them. Instead, most of the knowledge transfer occurs between high-tech foreign subsidiaries. This has clear policy implications for host country governments. [source] Determinants of HMO Formulary Adoption DecisionsHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1p1 2003David Dranove Objective. To identify economic and organizational characteristics that affect the likelihood that health maintenance organizations (HMOs) include new drugs on their formularies. Data Sources. We administered an original survey to directors of pharmacy at 75 HMOs, of which 41 returned usable responses. We obtained drug-specific data from an industry trade journal. Study Design. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis, adjusting for fixed-drug effects and random-HMO effects. We used factor analysis to limit the number of predictors. Data Collection Methods. We held initial focus groups to help with survey design. We administered the survey in two waves. We asked respondents to report on seven popular new drugs, and to describe a variety of HMO organizational characteristics. Principal Findings. Several HMO organizational characteristics, including nonprofit status, the incentives facing the director of the pharmacy, size and make-up of the pharmacy and therapeutics committee, and relationships with drugs makers, all affect formulary adoption. Conclusions. There are many organizational factors that may cause HMOs to make different formulary adoption decisions for certain prescription drugs. [source] Influence of slope and aspect on long-term vegetation change in British chalk grasslandsJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2006JONATHAN BENNIE Summary 1,The species composition of fragmented semi-natural grasslands may change over time due to stochastic local extinction and colonization events, successional change and/or as a response to changing management or abiotic conditions. The resistance of vegetation to change may be mediated through the effects of topography (slope and aspect) on soils and microclimate. 2,To assess long-term vegetation change in British chalk grasslands, 92 plots first surveyed by F. H. Perring in 1952,53, and distributed across four climatic regions, were re-surveyed during 2001,03. Changes in vegetation since the original survey were assessed by comparing local colonization and extinction rates at the plot scale, and changes in species frequency at the subplot scale. Vegetation change was quantified using indirect ordination (Detrended Correspondence Analysis; DCA) and Ellenberg indicator values. 3,Across all four regions, there was a significant decrease in species number and a marked decline in stress-tolerant species typical of species-rich calcareous grasslands, both in terms of decreased plot occupancy and decreased frequency within occupied plots. More competitive species typical of mesotrophic grasslands had colonized plots they had not previously occupied, but had not increased significantly in frequency within occupied plots. 4,A significant increase in Ellenberg fertility values, which was highly correlated with the first DCA axis, was found across all regions. The magnitude of change of fertility and moisture values was found to decrease with angle of slope and with a topographic solar radiation index derived from slope and aspect. 5,The observed shift from calcareous grassland towards more mesotrophic grassland communities is consistent with the predicted effects of both habitat fragmentation and nutrient enrichment. It is hypothesized that chalk grassland swards on steeply sloping ground are more resistant to invasion by competitive grass species than those on flatter sites due to phosphorus limitation in shallow minerogenic rendzina soils, and that those with a southerly aspect are more resistant due to increased magnitude and frequency of drought events. [source] Where do educational technologists really publish?BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2006An examination of successful emerging scholars' publication outlets This study engages the question of where successful emerging (pretenure) scholars are most likely to publish their research. Spurred on by findings of a survey of leaders in the field of educational technology/instructional design and technology (ET/IDT) to determine the advisability of a rank-ordered list of journals for the purposes of decision making about tenure and promotion, this document analysis presents the results of measuring the conventional wisdom against the actual practices of emerging scholars. Findings suggest that pretenure scholars publish in a wide variety of outlets including some, but not all of those identified in earlier surveys. While it is understood that the tenure decision is a complicated one,based on many criteria (eg, teaching, service, grantsmanship, etc), research and scholarship remain primary determinants. Therefore, these findings will be useful to emerging scholars and to those decision makers seeking direction regarding research outlets. The study is limited by a focus from an original survey conducted in 2003 to primarily North American scholars as participants, however, international considerations are included. The findings indicate that a list of journals for tenure decision making may not be advisable at this point in the development of the field of ET/IDT. [source] An Assessment of the Dental Public Health Infrastructure in the United StatesJOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 1 2006Scott L. Tomar DMD Abstract Objectives: The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research commissioned an assessment of the dental public health infrastructure in the United States as a first step toward ensuring its adequacy. This study examined several elements of the US dental public health infrastructure in government, education, workforce, and regulatory issues, focused primarily at the state level. Methods: Data were drawn from a wide range of sources, including original surveys, analysis of existing databases, and compilation of publicly available information. Results: In 2002, 72.5% of states had a full-time dental director and 65% of state dental programs had total budgets of $1 million or less. Among U.S. dental schools, 68% had a dental public health academic unit. Twelve and a half percent of dental schools and 64.3% of dental hygiene programs had no faculty member with a public health degree. Among schools of public health, 15% offered a graduate degree in a dental public health concentration area, and 60% had no faculty member with a dental or dental hygiene degree. There were 141 active diplomates of the American Board of Dental Public Health as of February 2001; 15% worked for state, county, or local governments. In May 2003, there were 640 US members of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry with few members in most states. In 2002, 544 American Dental Association members reported their specialty as Dental Public Health, which ranged from 0 in five states to 41 in California. Just two states had a public health dentist on their dental licensing boards. Conclusions: Findings suggest the US dental public health workforce is small, most state programs have scant funding, the field has minimal presence in academia, and dental public health has little role in the regulation of dentistry and dental hygiene. Successful efforts to enhance the many aspects of the US dental public health infrastructure will require substantial collaboration among many diverse partners. [source] A Ten-Year Chronicle of Student Attitudes Toward Foreign Language in the Elementary SchoolMODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007AUDREY L. HEINING, BOYNTON This article reports the results of 2 studies conducted over a 10-year period that researched student attitudes toward early foreign language learning. These studies are unique because of the long time frame in which the students were followed, and the large data sets collected at the elementary school level. Surveys of students in the Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) programs examined the attitudes of all children in 2 school systems in North Carolina: one suburban and one urban. The students studied either French or Spanish. The number of responses to the survey questions ranged from 22,549 to 52,227 for a 4-year period. The results indicated that boys and girls had positive attitudes when responding to 2 questions about enjoyment of their FLES classes and teachers. The girls were positively inclined, and the boys were neutral, in their desire to continue with foreign language study in the next grade. Two items about the use of foreign language outside the school venue and comprehension of foreign language teacher input revealed negative attitudes for both genders. As a follow-up to the quantitative study, qualitative data about attitudes toward foreign language speakers, foreign cultures, and their own education with respect to foreign language study were gathered through structured interviews. The participants were the same students who had completed the original surveys 10 years earlier. In corroboration of the quantitative data, a qualitative analysis revealed that, for a majority of the students, foreign language study was viewed positively, as were foreign language speakers and their cultures. [source] |