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2013

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Xylo-Oligosaccharides Production From Corn Fiber And In-Vitro Evaluation For Prebiotic Effect, Aditya Samala Dec 2013

Xylo-Oligosaccharides Production From Corn Fiber And In-Vitro Evaluation For Prebiotic Effect, Aditya Samala

Theses and Dissertations

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) are considered to be prebiotics. Prebiotics are defined as non-digestible food ingredients that benefit the host by stimulating the growth and activity of a limited number of bacteria, such as the Bifidobacterium genus, in the colon. Corn fiber separated from distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) could be a valuable feedstock for XOS production. The objective of the first chapter was to determine the efficacy for autohydrolysis to produce XOS using fiber separated from DDGS. Fiber was treated with deionized water in a Parr-reactor, at temperatures ranging from 140 to 220 °C to produce XOS. The maximum total …

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164th Commencement, Fall Dec 2013

164th Commencement, Fall

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

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On The Centenary Of Muriel Rukeyser's Birth: The Lives Of A Poet, Catherine Gander Dec 2013

On The Centenary Of Muriel Rukeyser's Birth: The Lives Of A Poet, Catherine Gander

Ruke Blog

No abstract provided.

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Model-Based Autonomic Performance Management Of Distributed Enterprise Systems And Applications, Rajat Mehrotra Dec 2013

Model-Based Autonomic Performance Management Of Distributed Enterprise Systems And Applications, Rajat Mehrotra

Theses and Dissertations

Distributed computing systems (DCS) host a wide variety of enterprise applications in dynamic and uncertain operating environments. These applications require stringent reliability, availability, and quality of service (QoS) guarantee to maintain their service level agreements (SLAs). Due to the growing size and complexity of DCS, an autonomic performance management system is required to maintain SLAs of these applications. A model-based autonomic performance management structure is developed in this dissertation for applications hosted in DCS. A systematic application performance modeling approach is introduced in this dissertation to define the dependency relationships among the system parameters, which impact the application performance. The …

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Drawing Lessons From The U.K. Constitutional Reform Act Of 2005, Terence J. Lau Dec 2013

Drawing Lessons From The U.K. Constitutional Reform Act Of 2005, Terence J. Lau

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

In this City Square dialogue, Professor Judith Maute provided the initial spark in her important 2007 article on reforms to judicial selection in the United Kingdom.[1] In her article, Professor Maute outlined the breathtaking and daring changes implemented in the U.K. that upended centuries of tradition to modernize and strengthen public confidence in the judiciary. Most significant among these changes were the creation of a Supreme Court and dramatically moving the process of becoming a judge away from a secretive appointment to a professional Judicial Appointments Commission.[2] The reforms eschew direct affirmative action, but place an explicit value on diversity …

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Optimization Models For Cost Efficient And Environmentally Friendly Supply Chain Management, Gokce Palak Dec 2013

Optimization Models For Cost Efficient And Environmentally Friendly Supply Chain Management, Gokce Palak

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to provide models which will help companies make sustainable logistics management and transportation decisions. These models are extensions of the economic lot sizing model with the availability of multiple replenishment modes. The objective of the models is to minimize total replenishment costs and emissions. The study provides applications of these models on contemporary supply chain problems. Initially, the impact of carbon regulatory mechanisms on the replenishment decisions are analyzed for a biomass supply chain under fixed charge replenishment costs. Then, models are extended to consider multiple-setups replenishment costs for age dependent perishable products. For a cost minimization …

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Attitudes And Perceptions Of Nursing Homes., Amanda C. Black Dec 2013

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Nursing Homes., Amanda C. Black

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how past experiences with nursing homes influence perceptions and attitudes of college students toward nursing homes in the United States. A review of the current research literature indicates that nursing homes are publicly scrutinized in a negative manner. Variables examined included students’ college of study, experience with nursing homes either from personal experience, from a well-known relative or friend, or the media, and different attitudes and perceptions including good or bad views of nursing homes. Results indicate that students’ perceive nursing homes more negatively than positively even when their experience came from …

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Conventional Pavements And Perpetual Pavements: A Rational And Empirical Approach, Wenqi Wang Dec 2013

Conventional Pavements And Perpetual Pavements: A Rational And Empirical Approach, Wenqi Wang

Theses and Dissertations

A study has been conducted to compare conventional pavements and perpetual pavements with a particular emphasis on perpetual pavements. One of the main drawbacks of conventional pavements and motivations for this work is the maintenance required for hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements with sub-drainage systems. Perpetual pavements, as the name suggests, are designed with a long life. However, this is a relatively new concept and there are still many unknowns concerning their performance. This dissertation was written to answer some of the questions. The study examines structural response and performance of perpetual pavements. Also, deterioration and performance of perpetual pavements …

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Automatic Modulation Recognition For Aeronautical Telemetry, Jacob William Frogget Dec 2013

Automatic Modulation Recognition For Aeronautical Telemetry, Jacob William Frogget

Theses and Dissertations

This these explores automatic modulation recognition as applied to PCM/FM, SOQPSK- TG and ARTM CPM. It found that the likelihood based approach is intractable. The statistical features of the amplitude, phase and frequency are ineffective at distinguishing these modulation types. A method based on the phase changes between symbols is developed and shows that as long as symbol timing is established, this method can effectively distinguish PCM/FM, SOQPSK-TG and ARTM CPM for signal-to-noise ratios above 30 dB. Another method, the Bianchi-Loubaton- Sirven technique, was able to distinguish PCM/FM and SOQPSK-TG but was unable to distinguish ARTM CPM. A happy byproduct …

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Racial Desegregation Of Higher Education In Virginia: Black And White, And Gray?, Alexandra Jaclyn Kolleda Dec 2013

Racial Desegregation Of Higher Education In Virginia: Black And White, And Gray?, Alexandra Jaclyn Kolleda

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

No abstract provided.

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Public Perception On The State Of Air Quality In Malta, Nikolas Cassar Dec 2013

Public Perception On The State Of Air Quality In Malta, Nikolas Cassar

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Public perception on the state of air quality is an unclear and hazy concept whereby every individual has different opinions and views. In fact, the state of air quality is a major concern in many countries, including in Malta. This problem arises from the emissions of a number of pollutants to the atmosphere from a host of processes such as the combustion of fuel to generate electricity and the internal combustion engines to manoeuvre cars. Amongst these pollutants, there are benzene and nitrogen dioxide, which are very hazardous since they cause problems related to human health and contribute in the …

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Temperature Effects Of Dielectric Properties And Their Impact On Medical Device Development, Erin Elizabeth Colebeck Dec 2013

Temperature Effects Of Dielectric Properties And Their Impact On Medical Device Development, Erin Elizabeth Colebeck

Theses and Dissertations

Dielectric properties play an influential role in the development of medical devices. Understanding the behavior of these properties and how they respond to external stimuli, such as heat, over an extended frequency has yet to be researched. The focus of this study is to examine the impact of temperature on dielectric properties from 500 MHz to 10 GHz in order to better match the antenna properties of medical applications to the dielectric properties of biological tissue in question; more specifically, microwave ablation, microwave hyperthermia, and thermal modeling of brown adipose tissue’s metabolic processes. The dielectric properties of biological tissue samples …

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Meta-Heuristic Optimization Of Antennas For Biomedical Applications, Aaron Zachary Hood Dec 2013

Meta-Heuristic Optimization Of Antennas For Biomedical Applications, Aaron Zachary Hood

Theses and Dissertations

Given the proper conditions, antennas applied in medicine can offer improved quality of life to patients. However the human body proves hostile to typical, analytical antenna design techniques as it is composed entirely of frequency- and temperature-dependent lossy media. By combining optimization techniques with numerical methods, many of these challenges may be overcome. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) models the solution process after the natural movement of groups such as swarms of bees as they search for food sources. This meta-heuristic procedure has proven adept at overcoming many challenging problems in the electromagnetics literature. Therefore, this dissertation explores PSO and some …

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Differentiation Of Fungal Phytopathogens By Ft-Ir And Maldi-Tof Ms, Curtis Muldrow Atkinson Dec 2013

Differentiation Of Fungal Phytopathogens By Ft-Ir And Maldi-Tof Ms, Curtis Muldrow Atkinson

Theses and Dissertations

The use of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-oflight mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and other analytical means of identifying and differentiating microorganisms hold much promise. These analytical tools have been extensively assessed for their ability to differentiate bacteria and fungi. Most of this research has been coordinated in medically relevant microorganisms, but the technology can work just as well with agriculturally important microorganisms. In this thesis, these technologies were reviewed and then subsequently studied for their ability to differentiate Aspergillus species (that devastate corn and other crops yearly with aflatoxin contamination), as well as Macrophomina phaseolina and Thielaviopsis …

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Early Survival And Growth Performance Of Two Oak Species And Three Planting Stocks On Hurricane Katrina Disturbed Lands, John Alec Conrad Dec 2013

Early Survival And Growth Performance Of Two Oak Species And Three Planting Stocks On Hurricane Katrina Disturbed Lands, John Alec Conrad

Theses and Dissertations

Survival and growth of two oak species, live oak (Quercus virginiana) and Nuttall oak (Quercus texana), and three planting stocks: 1-0 bareroot, conventional containerized, and Root Production Method (RPM™) seedlings were compared. Conventional containerized live oak and bareroot Nuttall oak seedlings exhibited greatest survival. RPM™ seedlings exhibited the lowest survival in both species. Conventional containerized seedlings exhibited greater groundline diameter (GLD) growth and twice as much height growth as bareroot seedlings during the first year. During the second year, conventional containerized seedlings exhibited greater GLD growth than bareroot seedlings in live oak, but in Nuttall oak, bareroot seedlings exhibited greater …

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Cyberthreats, Attacks And Intrusion Detection In Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition Networks, Wei Gao Dec 2013

Cyberthreats, Attacks And Intrusion Detection In Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition Networks, Wei Gao

Theses and Dissertations

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are computer-based process control systems that interconnect and monitor remote physical processes. There have been many real world documented incidents and cyber-attacks affecting SCADA systems, which clearly illustrate critical infrastructure vulnerabilities. These reported incidents demonstrate that cyber-attacks against SCADA systems might produce a variety of financial damage and harmful events to humans and their environment. This dissertation documents four contributions towards increased security for SCADA systems. First, a set of cyber-attacks was developed. Second, each attack was executed against two fully functional SCADA systems in a laboratory environment; a gas pipeline and a …

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The Effect Of National Board Certified Teachers On Mathematics Achievement For Students In A Title I School, Watress Lashun Harris Dec 2013

The Effect Of National Board Certified Teachers On Mathematics Achievement For Students In A Title I School, Watress Lashun Harris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to determine if there is a difference in mathematics mean scale score growth on the MCT2 mathematics assessment between students taught by national board certified teachers (NBCTs) and those taught by non-NBCTs in a low socioeconomic, high minority, Title I school. For this study, a causal-comparative research design and a statistical analysis procedure of ANCOVA were used to answer two research questions: First, is there a statistically significant difference in mathematics mean scale score growth on the MCT2 mathematics assessment between fourth grade African American and Caucasian students taught by NBCTs and those taught …

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The Unwanted Horse Population: A Survey, Shannon Alina Lindsey Dec 2013

The Unwanted Horse Population: A Survey, Shannon Alina Lindsey

Theses and Dissertations

Unwanted horses are a growing problem in the United States, and through the use of surveys, researchers can understand public opinion and experiences related to this problem. This study administered surveys specific to horse and non-horse owners through face-toace delivery and to rescue/retirement and auction facilities through the mail. Data was analyzed using a CRD, GLM and Fisher’s Protected LSD with á of 0.05. Comparisons were completed between horse and non-horse owners, horse owners and non-horse owners with equine experience, non-horse owners with and without equine experience, Quarter horse and other breeds owners, and auction and rescue/retirement facilities. Similarities were …

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Characterization Of A Novel Ring-Type Ubiquitin E3 Ligase Ghring2 Involved In Cotton Fiber Development, Shiva Theja Reddy Soma Dec 2013

Characterization Of A Novel Ring-Type Ubiquitin E3 Ligase Ghring2 Involved In Cotton Fiber Development, Shiva Theja Reddy Soma

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquitin-proteasome proteolysis pathway is responsible for the degradation of abnormal and short-lived proteins to regulate many important biochemical activities in eukaryotes. By employing affymetrix microarray analysis, we have identified a novel ubiquitin ligase E3 gene GhRING2 that is expressed differentially between two G. hirsutum lines - Texas Marker-1 and Chromosome Substitution Line CS-B25. The complete GhRING2 gene sequence was obtained by genomic and cDNA walking. The expression of GhRING2 in cotton fiber is developmentally regulated, suggesting that the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway may regulate cotton fiber growth and development. Using a yeast two-hybrid assay GhRING2 was found to interact with a …

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Characterization Of A Test Stand For Evaluating Performance And Qualifying Metal Media Filters Under Asme Ag-1, John Andrew Wilson Dec 2013

Characterization Of A Test Stand For Evaluating Performance And Qualifying Metal Media Filters Under Asme Ag-1, John Andrew Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

The Institute of Clean Energy Technology (ICET) at Mississippi State University was awarded a contract by the DOE to design, fabricate, assemble, and characterize a research grade test stand to assist in the development of ASME AG-1 Section FI Metal Media Filters. The major barriers to completing the code section is development of a test stand for collecting data necessary to specify performance requirements for use and for filter qualification. Currently there is not a test stand capable of performing this testing. Performance criteria for the FI test stand were developed by the Section FI project team and ICET. These …

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Efficacy Of A Novel Through-Thickness Perfusion Bioreactor To Create Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineered Cartilage, Eric Andrew Gilbert Dec 2013

Efficacy Of A Novel Through-Thickness Perfusion Bioreactor To Create Scaffold-Free Tissue Engineered Cartilage, Eric Andrew Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

Articular cartilage is an avascular, aneural tissue that covers the ends of diarthroidal joints. Once damaged by disease or injury, cartilage lacks the ability to self-repair. Generating tissue engineered cartilage is an exciting field that may provide a possible solution to this problem. The purpose of this study is to determine the efficacy of a through-thickness perfusion bioreactor to generate scaffoldree tissue engineered cartilage. The results of the study show that allowing long-term static culture to cell constructs before perfusion increases the efficacy of the bioreactor. Immediate perfusion of cell constructs in the bioreactor is shown to decrease the efficacy …

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Evaluation Of Catalytic And Non-Catalytic Production Of Biodiesel From Wet Microbial Media And Reaction Schemes, Adebola Titilope Coker Dec 2013

Evaluation Of Catalytic And Non-Catalytic Production Of Biodiesel From Wet Microbial Media And Reaction Schemes, Adebola Titilope Coker

Theses and Dissertations

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can supplement petroleum fuel supply. A major deterrent to commercial biodiesel production from traditional feedstock like soybean, canola or rapeseed oils is the high cost of feedstock: 70 - 95% of total biodiesel production cost. Therefore, a relatively cheaper feedstock is needed to make the price of biodiesel cost-competitive with petroleum diesel. Activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants is a relatively cheaper feedstock and relatively easy to obtain. However, drying of this sludge prior to oil extraction is a major operating cost of this process, as high as 50% of biodiesel production cost. The …

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An Assessment Of Human Vulnerability To Prolonged Cold In The Zeravshan Valley Of Tajikistan, R Bryson Touchstone Dec 2013

An Assessment Of Human Vulnerability To Prolonged Cold In The Zeravshan Valley Of Tajikistan, R Bryson Touchstone

Theses and Dissertations

The Central Asian country of Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics; it is also prone to a plethora of natural hazards including mass wasting, flood, and extreme temperature. This thesis seeks to characterize how vulnerable rural Tajik mountain communities are to prolonged cold. The primary focus was in Navobod, in the Zeravshan Valley of Tajikistan, where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 31 households, the village leader and doctor, and school staff. The results from the interviews were compared with GIS analysis of the region. Interviews indicated that the area is highly vulnerable to the impacts of prolonged …

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Understanding Binding-Induced Conformational Change In The Pin1 Prolyl Isomerase, Hawa Gyamfi Dec 2013

Understanding Binding-Induced Conformational Change In The Pin1 Prolyl Isomerase, Hawa Gyamfi

Theses and Dissertations

Pin1 is a Prolyl Isomerase that catalyzes cis-trans isomerization of peptides with pSer/Thr-Pro motifs in many cell signaling proteins. This conformational switch is implicated in diseases. Pin1 activity is considered a target for therapeutic applications. Pin1 targets motifs by its N-terminal WW-binding domain. A C-terminal PPIase domain is responsible for catalysis. To understand how Pin1 coordinates its enzymatic activities, it is necessary to probe how the domains behave in the presence of substrates. Here, we used novel (Histone H1 and Sic1) and other existing peptides to characterize the dynamics of Pin1 and impact of substrate binding on inter-domain interactions. Pin1- …

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Urban Flow-Through Facilities' Media Compositions For Stormwater Quality And Quantity Improvements, Emily Gwynne Overbey Dec 2013

Urban Flow-Through Facilities' Media Compositions For Stormwater Quality And Quantity Improvements, Emily Gwynne Overbey

Theses and Dissertations

Urban stormwater management is evolving toward sustainable approaches which rely on dispersed small-scale bioretention BMPs. One such BMP is the flow-through planter, commonly applied in areas where infiltration into in situ soil is restricted or not possible. A project was developed to evaluate 18, vertically scaled flow-through mesocosms. Three replicates of six treatments, including four soil mixtures containing varied percentages of sand, compost and topsoil, were tested for orthophosphate and nitrate removal, volume reduction capabilities, and peak flow attenuation through the application of a synthetic solution over a simulated 2-inch, Type II storm event. Runoff volume was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced compared to controls. Nutrient levels observed along the hydrograph at different time-steps and flow rates revealed patterns not apparent in cumulative results. The observation of preferential flow patterns along with variability in nutrient removal across treatments highlights the need for design modifications of flow-through facilities.

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System Dynamics Simulation Model Of Salmonella Contamination Of Broiler Carcasses In The Chill Tank Of A Poultry Processing Plant, Karen Dazo Galarneau Dec 2013

System Dynamics Simulation Model Of Salmonella Contamination Of Broiler Carcasses In The Chill Tank Of A Poultry Processing Plant, Karen Dazo Galarneau

Theses and Dissertations

Salmonella has been studied and researched for more than a hundred years and yet it remains a problem for human and animal health. The goal of this dissertation was to apply the systems thinking approach to Salmonella contamination and develop a System Dynamics (SD) simulation model for Salmonella contamination in the chill tank of a poultry processing plant. But first the appropriate carcass rinse sampling method that would not impact on the resulting Salmonella contamination status of the broiler carcass was studied. Kappa agreement analysis was used to evaluate three sampling methods. The adjacent rinse method was found to be …

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Molecular Basis Of Salmonella Enterica Serovar Kentucky Attachment To Broiler Skin, Sanaz Salehi Dec 2013

Molecular Basis Of Salmonella Enterica Serovar Kentucky Attachment To Broiler Skin, Sanaz Salehi

Theses and Dissertations

The presence of Salmonella enterica throughout the production and processing continuum is a concern in broiler industry. While federal regulations have lowered the acceptable level of Salmonella contamination on broiler carcasses, the mechanisms that contribute to pathogen attachment are not fully understood. Salmonella Kentucky has become the predominant Salmonella serovar isolated from broilers carcasses at the end of the immersion chill tank. In Europe and Africa this serovar has been shown to acquire antibiotic resistance genes that may lead this non-typhoidal serotype to become a potential public health concern. To investigate the genes that are involved in colonization of the …

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Examining The Influence Of Nutritional Behaviors, Knowledge And Attitudes On Body Mass Index Of Adults In North Mississippi, Gloria Therese Broughan Dec 2013

Examining The Influence Of Nutritional Behaviors, Knowledge And Attitudes On Body Mass Index Of Adults In North Mississippi, Gloria Therese Broughan

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with weight statuses approaching obesity may be at risk for chronic health problems. Diet, weight, health behaviors, level of knowledge, and attitudes or perceptions have been identified as key factors influencing body weight. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors were related to BMI in adults in north Mississippi and to determine if there were relationships between those factors. A telephone survey was conducted with 500 participants (mean age 46.3 ± 18.5). The average BMI was 27.5 ± 6.2 kg/m2. Knowledge and attitude/perception-based data were associated with a higher BMI in the population more than dietary …

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A Non-Equilibrium, Pressure-Pressure Formulation For Air-Water Two-Phase Flow And Heat Transport In Porous Media, Amanda Meadows Hines Dec 2013

A Non-Equilibrium, Pressure-Pressure Formulation For Air-Water Two-Phase Flow And Heat Transport In Porous Media, Amanda Meadows Hines

Theses and Dissertations

The detection of trace explosives in the subsurface is an active area of research for landmine detection. Understanding the air-water flow and heat transport phenomena in the subsurface plays an important role in improving chemical vapor detection. Implementing a finite element method that accurately captures water vapor transport in the vadose zone is still an open question. A non-equilibrium, pressure-pressure formulation has been implemented based on Smits, et al [22]. This implementation consists of four equations: a wetting phase (water) mass balance equation, a non-wetting phase (air) mass balance equation, a water vapor transport equation, and a heat transport equation. …

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How Creative Professional Service Firms Internationalize: A Business Model Portfolio Approach, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin Dec 2013

How Creative Professional Service Firms Internationalize: A Business Model Portfolio Approach, Deirdre Mcquillan, Pamela Sharkey Scott, Vincent Mangematin

Conference Papers

Traditional theory of firm internationalization assumes all firms are homogeneous in their approach to managing uncertainties and implementing business strategies when internationalizing. A business model portfolio approach articulates a more complex process and suggests that firms adopt a portfolio of business models to balance uncertainties. Combining these two perspectives, this multiple case study research design explores how creative professional service firms (creative PSFs) internationalize. Creative PSFs such as architects are embedded in their local cultures, operating at the intersection of business and art. Our study reveals the complexities of creative PSF internationalization, showing that in contrast to existing explanations, multiple …

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