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Today, when it is a luxury not to be involved in globalisation and information integration processes, countries and companies are trying to operate in an extremely competitive environment. In this environment, while states attach importance to national competitive advantage, companies prefer foreign direct investments to ensure their corporate sustainability in internationalisation processes. As mentioned in Porter's models, the motivations of foreign direct investments can be differentiated in multiple layers. Various variables play a major role in this differentiation. The difference is due to the competitiveness that has been in mankind since the existence of mankind. It is stated that competitiveness is not only an economic but also a social and environmental indicator. In the study, after a detailed literature review, the relationship between FDI and competitiveness was analysed in the light of Porter's fivetier models, namely the diamond model at the national level, the 5 forces model at the sector level, the 4 corners model (main competitor analysis) at the sector level, the value chain at the company level, and generic strategies at the product service level. For the empirical verification of the study, 61 countries from 6 continents were identified based on secondary data and the relationship between outward FDI and competitiveness was investigated. The results of the statistical analyses subject to the conceptual model are discussed and the contributions of the study are mentioned. Finally, the limitations of the study and the subject of further research are stated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, when it is a luxury not to be involved in globalisation and information integration processes, countries and companies are trying to operate in an extremely competitive environment. In this environment, while states attach importance to national competitive advantage, companies prefer foreign direct investments to ensure their corporate sustainability in internationalisation processes. As mentioned in Porter's models, the motivations of foreign direct investments can be differentiated in multiple layers. Various variables play a major role in this differentiation. The difference is due to the competitiveness that has been in mankind since the existence of mankind. It is stated that competitiveness is not only an economic but also a social and environmental indicator. In the study, after a detailed literature review, the relationship between FDI and competitiveness was analysed in the light of Porter's five-tier models, namely the diamond model at the national level, the 5 forces model at the sector level, the 4 corners model (main competitor analysis) at the sector level, the value chain at the company level, and generic strategies at the product service level. For the empirical verification of the study, 61 countries from 6 continents were identified based on secondary data and the relationship between outward FDI and competitiveness was investigated. The results of the statistical analyses subject to the conceptual model are discussed and the contributions of the study are mentioned. Finally, the limitations of the study and the subject of further research are stated.

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German vegetable production is characterized by its pronounced variety of cultivated vegetable crops. There are also large differences among distinct production regions in terms of climate conditions, farm structures and marketing infrastructure. Two of the most important vegetable production regions in Southern Germany are the so-called 'Knoblauchsland' (Garlic Country) in Middle Franconia and the open-field production region in Lower Bavaria. Although these two vegetable production regions are geographically not far apart, they show distinct differences in size of the region, their historical development, and different scope of production. This paper analyzes the competitiveness of the two vegetable production regions following Porter's definition of industry clusters and his Diamond model. Applying this approach, competitiveness is specified by four bundles of determinants, namely factor conditions, local demand conditions, available supporting industries, and type of rivalry and strategies. The cluster concept emphasizes the importance of the interplay of the different determinant bundles and, in addition to the existing networks and competitiveness, it also helps identify possible options for improvements of the framework conditions. Thus, practical implications have been derived on how cluster stakeholders can mitigate weaknesses such as unfavorable conditions, and further combine their strengths to increase competitiveness in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkish Defense Industry is the locomotive of the national technology move. However, there is a need to develop strategies in line with the national strategic objectives to increase the contribution of the defense industry to the national competitive edge. The ever-changing environmental and technological conditions and advances in the understanding of defense and security make it necessary to update vision for the defense industry. Porter’s diamond model has become a generally accepted and frequently used model in terms of providing a more systematic and disciplined perspective in the context of competition strategies, promoting the creation of a value chain on a sectorial basis and supporting national competitiveness. Towards this end, the aim of this study is to analyze Turkey’s defense industry’s competitiveness by means of Porter’s diamond model and present a future perspective. The reports of the Defense Industry Presidency and the Defense Industry Association have been systematically examined and analyzed.

As student populations keep soaring on university campuses, the management of residential housing facilities becomes challenging. To access availablerooms and their associatedcosts, the deployment of an automated residential housing system via the WWW, will ease some of these bottlenecksof prospective applicants. It was therefore thought appropriate to develop a robust system that can facilitate the works of administrators as they attend to students' housing needs. This system was thus developed to handle the housing needs of both continuing and freshman students using the University of Ghana as a case study. The findings from subsequent data collected from users of this system after its deployment confirmed that it reduced the times for residential housing searches, change of halls or rooms, costs to pay etc., to the barest minimum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Language & Literary Studies / Folia Linguistica & Litteraria is the property of Journal of Language & Literary Studies / Folia Linguistica & Litteraria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The history of the use of computer and data driven technologies by the railways is largely unknown and is very much overshadowed by a deep fascination with the steam railway. However, it was a willingness to embrace and develop these technologies that laid the foundations for the railway that we have today. This paper aims to show the history of the railway’s ‘long engagement’ with these forms of communication and control technologies. This history forms the background to the increasing adoption of internet-based technology on today’s railway, and thus provides a thread connecting the past, present and future of the rail system. A central argument here is that railway management of necessity focuses on control to ensure the safe operation and efficient running of trains and the management of a large and scattered workforce.[1] Control of revenue and costs, including wages and pensions,[2] as well as control of trains on heavily used lines, generated the need for control of data from an early stage. Consequently, UK railways were pioneer adopters of a succession of control technologies including the electric telegraph, ‘Hollerith’ tabulating machines and digital computers.

The history of the use of computer and data driven technologies by the railways is largely unknown and is very much overshadowed by a deep fascination with the steam railway. However, it was a willingness to embrace and develop these technologies that laid the foundations for the railway that we have today. This paper aims to show the history of the railway's 'long engagement' with these forms of communication and control technologies. This history forms the background to the increasing adoption of internet-based technology on today's railway, and thus provides a thread connecting the past, present and future of the rail system. A central argument here is that railway management of necessity focuses on control to ensure the safe operation and efficient running of trains and the management of a large and scattered workforce.[1] Control of revenue and costs, including wages and pensions,[2] as well as control of trains on heavily used lines, generated the need for control of data from an early stage. Consequently, UK railways were pioneer adopters of a succession of control technologies including the electric telegraph, 'Hollerith' tabulating machines and digital computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mainstream medical humanities puts emphasis on the illness narrative as a tool in diagnosis and medical education, thereby defining it as the linear narrative in autobiography and other related genres. Critical medical humanities, which is aimed at breaking through linear narrative and social critique, is the developmental trend of traditional medical humanities. Katherine Anne Porter's autobiographical novella, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, represents the chaotic experience of illness that is hard to document by nonfictional illness narrative through such modernist techniques as stream of consciousness, fragmentation of subject, and non-referentiality of language, hence, in a sense, compensating the cultural absence in the wake of the Great Pandemic of 1918 due to the obliteration of the First World War and the difficulty in handling the representation of the illness. By incorporating this novella into the illness narrative genre, we may adopt the approach of Disability Studies in literary criticism to explore the nature of social stigmatization of illness. Breaking the conceptual boundaries between illness and disability will not only offer us a full understanding of the relationship between illness, disability, body and society, but also help us cultivate more ideas about practicing critical medical humanities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkish Defense Industry is the locomotive of the national technology move. However, there is a need to develop strategies in line with the national strategic objectives to increase the contribution of the defense industry to national competitive edge. The ever-changing environmental and technological conditions and advances in the understanding of defense and security make it necessary to update vision for the defense industry. Porter's diamond model has become a generally accepted and frequently used model in terms of providing a more systematic and disciplined perspective in the context of competition strategies, promoting the creation of a value chain on a sectorial basis and supporting national competitiveness. Towards this end, the aim of this study is to analyze Turkey's defense industry's competitiveness by means of Porter's diamond model and present a future perspective. The reports of the Defense Industry Presidency and the Defense Industry Association have been systematically examined and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Max Porter’s Grief is the Thing with Feathers and Nicholas Royle’s Quilt fall within a literary tradition of contemporary elegy which turns to the poetics of anti-consolation. Porter’s novel presents mourners caught in the ambivalence of mourning, as they waver between normal mourning and melancholia. Conversely, Royle’s Quilt shows how the pain of loss endures, and thereby plunges the bereaved into a melancholic state: a frozen time and a space haunted by the spectral presence of the dead. Inspired by the notion of ‘fidelity’ as developed by Jacques Derrida and through the innovative techniques of these two novels, fidelity manifests itself in a poetics of anti-consolation and the search for reciprocity with the dead, which impels the bereaved to open up to otherness. Moreover, fidelity is illustrated through the process of recollection which is marked by failures of memory induced by the abrupt loss of a beloved one.

Manual Material Handling (MMH) is a type of heavy work that causes a wide variety of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Porters constitute a poor socioeconomic group of workers who are faced with these risk factors. This study focuses on porters who push and pull loads of goods on handcarts inside and outside the Tehran Grand Bazaar. This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of MSDs in porters of the Tehran Grand Bazaar. Based on official registries, more than 5000 porters work in the Tehran Grand Bazaar. In total, 398 porters were selected using the simple random sampling method. The prevalence of MSDs was assessed using the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire for the Analysis of Musculoskeletal Symptoms. The tasks of the porters were analyzed during walk-through surveys in the Tehran Grand Bazaar. The prevalence of MSDs in at least one body part was 53.8% in the last 12 months and 45.2% in the last 7 days. The most prevalent symptoms in the last 12 months were low-back pain (29.6%) and knee pain (19.6%). Symptoms were associated with age, height, weight, waist circumference, work duration, number of children, and manually handling goods heavier than 20 kg. The prevalence of MSDs is high in the porters of the Tehran Grand Bazaar, likely due to heavy MMH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yük taşıyan insanlar bir devletin sosyal ve siyasi hayatında ne kadar etkili olabilirler? Anadolu’nun farklı kentlerinde ve bilhassa başkent İstanbul’da, daha çok iskele ve limanlarda çalışan Ermeni hamallar incelendiğinde bu soruya çok ilginç cevaplar bulunabilir. Mahallelerden ziyade han ve bekâr odalarında yaşayan ve sayıları on binlerle ifade edilen bu güçlü topluluk, bazen Avusturya gibi bir devletin boykotunda bazen de kilise ve mekteplerin iane tedarikinde ya da Hınçak ve Taşnak gibi Ermeni komitelerinin tertiplediği etnik bir isyanda karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Zamanla hamallık mesleğinden farklı bir kimliğe bürünen bu potansiyel güç, lokal sevkle memleketlerine gönderilmelerine rağmen önemli bir kısmı bağımsız Ermenistan düşüncesi nedeniyle Romanya ve Bulgaristan gibi Balkan coğrafyasını ikinci vatanları gibi görüp I. Dünya Savaşı’nda Rus ordusunun gönüllü neferleri haline gelmişlerdir. Dolayısıyla sosyal tabakanın en alt grubu sayılan hamalların Osmanlı Devleti’nde dengeleri değiştirebilecek ağırlığa sahip oldukları söylenebilir.

Agglomeration economies are considered as the driving force behind the development of mega cities and large cities/regions, which are the most successful regions in world economy. According to "New Economic Geography" stream, externalities are approached as static and dynamic externalities. Dynamic externalities are classified as "Marshall (1891) - Arrow (1962) - Romer (1986, 1990) (MAR), Porter (1990) and Jacobs (1969)" by Glaeser et al. (1992). Dynamic externalities come out by the emergence of local knowledge and by strengthening communication among economic actors in the long term. Knowledge spillover also accelerates via strengthening of communication. This paper investigates whether agglomeration externalities affected regional growth in Turkey at the NUTS 3 level during the period 2010 - 2016 by using sectoral employment growth. The results of the study show that effect of MAR (Marshall-Arrow- Romer) externalities is found to be negative as they are in the studies done through the data of most of the countries. It is concluded that unrelated variety (JACOBS) has no effect on employment growth. Coefficients in most of the sectors are seen to be positive in PORTER externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Estimating fetal weight using ultrasound measurements is an essential task in obstetrics departments. Most of the commonly used weight estimation formulas underestimate fetal weight when the actual birthweight exceeds 4000 g. Porter et al. published a specially designed formula in an attempt to improve detection rates for such macrosomic infants. In this study, we question the usefulness of the Porter formula in clinical practice and draw attention to some critical issues concerning the derivation of specialized formulas of this type.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out, including 4654 singleton pregnancies with a birthweight ≥ 3500 g, with ultrasound examinations performed within 14 days before delivery. Fetal weight estimations derived using the Porter and Hadlock formulas were compared.Results: Of the macrosomic infants, 27.08% were identified by the Hadlock formula, with a false-positive rate of 4.60%. All macrosomic fetuses were detected using the Porter formula, with a false-positive rate of 100%; 99.96% of all weight estimations using the Porter formula fell within a range of 4300 g ± 10%. The Porter formula only provides macrosomic estimates.Conclusions: The Porter formula does not succeed in distinguishing macrosomic from normal-weight fetuses. High-risk fetuses with a birthweight ≥ 4500 g in particular are not detected more precisely than with the Hadlock formula. For these reasons, we believe that the Porter formula should not be used in clinical practice. Newly derived weight estimation formulas for macrosomic fetuses must not be based solely on a macrosomic data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juliusz Słowacki came to London in early August 1831 and spent a month there. The poet was interested not only in the monuments of the past, but also in the exceptionally dynamic industrial revolution. In a letter to his mother he describes the construction of the tunnel under the Thames River, which he was able to inspect; the same theme is found in the poem Podróż do Ziemi Świętej [Journey to the Holy Land]. It is not unlikely that Słowacki - like others before him - visited one London's great breweries. In the drama Kordian, in the protagonist's monologue (Act II) suggests that he tried London porter, the first beverage to be produced using modern methods (i.e. in bulk, with the use of steam machines and with the use of technology allowing for production during the summer months). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to analyze and explore thoroughly the economic situation of one of the leading European producers of masterbatches and agricultural films, hereafter (PK SA) and to propose various ways of development and expansion. In this paper, the operational analysis tools (PEST, SWOT and Porter) were used to analyze the company's external and internal environment. Next, a financial analysis based on the financial data of PK SA was carried out. Moreover, a financial model for the years 2012-2016 has been constructed in Excel so that by using possible future scenarios to forecast the financial future of the company for the next five years 2017-2021. The conclusions show that the company has a great potential to increase sales and profits, exploiting its potential and, above all, its extroversion, can achieve further growth over the next five years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Healthcare professionals are exposed to high levels of stress in the course of their profession and are particularly susceptible to experiencing burnout. In the USA, burnout among physicians is highly prevalent, exceeding that of other workers. Little literature has been published describing burnout prevalence in the context of the Irish emergency healthcare population. We conducted a survey to determine burnout in the Emergency Department hospital staff at Cork University Hospital (CUH). Methods: This is a prospective inclusive cross-sectional study assessing burnout with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). Over 90 staff (physicians, nurses, administrators, radiographers, care assistants, and porters) participated. Provider demographic differences were documented and comparisons of burnout were made between this study population and previous international studies. Results: Sixty-three percent of administrators (8), 100% of care assistants (3), 78% of nurses (50), 70% of physicians (23), 67% of porters (3), and 80% of radiographers (10) met the criteria for burnout (75% overall). Burnout was significantly associated with a history of depression (p = 0.030). The burnout rates were not significantly different between professions (p = 0.77), age groups (p = 0.078), years working in the ED (p = 0.16), or gender (p = 0.46). Discussion and conclusions: Burnout is very common in the Emergency Department at CUH. Approximately three out of four staff met the cutoff for burnout. Self-reported depression was also significantly associated with burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mkhuze Game Reserve was proclaimed in 1912 and is one of the oldest extant protected areas in South Africa. The game reserve provides six categories of tourist accommodation within the Mantuma rest camp, and at a separate exclusive, bush lodge overlooking the Nhlonhlela Pan. Porter (1980) developed three generic strategies for business and argues that any business can focus on cost leadership, differentiation, or can adopt a cost leadership focus within a differentiation strategy, or a differentiation focus within a broad cost leadership strategy. This study analyses tourist preferences for hutted accommodation in a state-run game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal and concludes that even where superior accommodation facilities were available, customers expressed a preference for more affordable accommodation. The low-cost accommodation options, even where they involve a shared kitchen and ablution facilities, obtained a higher occupancy rate than for the more exclusive safari tents, which include en-suite bathrooms and separate kitchens. Tourists showed no marked preference for the newer accommodation units, and the two most popular categories of accommodation were constructed from 38 to 57 years ago. The 2-bed and 4-bed safari tents, which are situated in the bush and which offer greater privacy and closer contact with wild animals, only achieved a combined occupancy rate of 46%. accommodation units which accommodate from six to eight tourists, displayed low occupancy rates of 44% and 38% respectively, which reflects of the size of the average touring party. The study reveals that although the section of the market which is attracted to Mkhuze is concerned with cost, accommodation categories which include television and other amenities achieved the highest occupancy rates. This suggests that tourist preferences have changed over time, and facilities, which were at one time considered to be incompatible with protected areas, are now desired by tourists. The differentiation focus, in the example of the Nhlonhlela bush lodge, recorded a low occupancy rate, but the study concludes that this is due to the current tariff system where the minimum charge for the facility is for six people, and is not due to a failure of the differentiation focus