19,648 research outputs found
Small
No full textA proverbial objective in nanomaterial science is to construct low-dimensional nanoparticle (NP) assemblies with fascinating properties, which have shown great promise in optical, electronic and biomedical applications. [1-4] Thereinto, organization of Au NPs into one-dimensional (1D) chainlike nanostructures has attracted a booming interest because of the unique plasmonic properties arising from the coupling effect of the Au NP's surface plasmon resonance (SPR). ? 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000342687700003&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Chemistry, MultidisciplinaryChemistry, PhysicalNanoscience & NanotechnologyMaterials Science, MultidisciplinaryPhysics, AppliedPhysics, Condensed MatterSCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Gary Alan Fine : From Small Groups to Peopled Ethnography
No full textThis chapter considers the work of Gary Alan Fine (born 1950), probably the most prolific contemporary cultural ethnographer and one of the key contributors to the sociology of small groups. Fine’s intellectual journey has been punctuated by a series of ethnographic works, from his earlier studies on the Baseball Little League to his recent research on ‘futurework’ and the way prevision is culturally structured, socially organized, and legitimated. Alongside empirical work, and through an interdisciplinary perspective including social psychology, sociology and anthropology (with particular reference to folklore and language studies), Fine has theoretically developed the symbolic interactionist tradition by showing how shared meanings come into existence, are selected and become shared ways of thinking and the fundamental role that everyday interaction in small groups plays in such a process.
Gary Alan Fine’s work highlights the constructed nature of social worlds by emphasizing the set of meanings through which social actors define such worlds and their limits. As we travel by, we shape the map in which they are located and through which we recognize ourselves. As Herbert Blumer maintained, we ‘act toward things on the basis of the meaning that things have’ for us, and such a meaning ‘is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one's fellows’ (Blumer 1969:2). Building on these interactionist premises, Fine devoted his work to the clarification of the process through which meanings emerge, a process whose underspecification is evident also in Blumer's double formulation (‘deriving from’ or ‘arising out of’). Therefore, Fine not only looks at everyday interaction as the locus in which social structures comes (re)produced and enlivened through the enactment of cultural forms, but also posits small groups, with their continued interaction, as the social unit acting as a filter in the collective construction of meanings, frames (Goffman, 1974), narratives, scripts, and all sorts of stories (rumours, urban legends, gossip, jokes ...) – that is, the basic bricks through which we make sense of experienced reality – that together build up to a shared culture, a culture shared beyond the boundaries of small groups and specific communities alike. Through his ethnographic works, Fine has analysed such a process at play in a deeply diverse range of social worlds: from pre-adolescent baseball teams (Fine 1987a), to ‘soft’ communities of competitive chess players (Fine 2015) or amateur mushroomers (Fine 1998); from cultural networks of role-playing gamers (Fine 1983) or self-taught artists (Fine 2004), to professional communities such as those of restaurant cooks (Fine 1996) and weather forecasters (Fine 2007). Furthermore, in line with the traditions of cultural sociology and folklore studies, Fine has directly taken into consideration ‘contemporary legends’ as cultural templates that come differently practiced in interaction by different groups and communities – by black vs. white Americans, for instance (see Fine & Turner 2004) – thereby manifesting broader societal aspects and effects.
After some biographical notes aimed at introducing Gary Alan Fine’s composite theoretical and methodological background and resulting perspective, the chapter considers his whole opus, to suggest that Fine's crucial contribution lies in the ability to recognize the actual presence of social structures as it is translated into specific cultural forms anchored to small group interaction. We close with an overall appreciation of Fine’s contribution to the symbolic interactionist tradition, focusing in particular on his furthering of our understanding of the emotional and the cognitive aspects of interaction as connected to larger cultural processes and structural elements of social life
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Energy transfers in small-scale and large-scale dynamos
No full textWe study energy transfers during magnetic energy growth in small-scale and large-scale dynamos. We perform direct numerical simulations for magnetic Prandtl number Pm =20 and 0.2 in a periodic box on 1024^3 grid. Energy fluxes and shell-to-shell energy transfers indicate that in small-scale dynamo for Pm =20, the magnetic energy growth takes place due to a non-local energy transfer from large-scale velocity field to small-scale magnetic field. On the other hand, in large-scale dynamo for Pm =0.2, local energy transfers from large-scale velocity field to large-scale magnetic field takes place
Small and medium-size enterprises in economic development : possiblities for research and policy
No full textThe World Bank's most important long-term advantage in promoting development, says the author, may lie in opportunities to address related obstacles simultaneously. It could mount concurrent efforts to address the problems of small and medium-size enterprises in a particular sector, region, or economy, for example. It could address the conditions of founding new firms, providing finance or technical assistance, developing mutual support institutions, resolving disputes, and perhaps reducing counterproductive government interventions. Were the Bank to follow such a coordinated approach, programs could be designed to generate data to illuminate the impacts and interactions of various elements of policy. These data could be exploited, then, in research designs, or even the design of management information systems, shaped by program evaluation. The author proposes four general issues for research (plus a series of topics for each issue). (1) Can Bank initiatives involving small and medium-size enterprises in developing countries facilitate the entry of these enterprises into similar learning relationships with other firms - foreign firms, larger firms in their own countries, or each other? (2) The economic significance of high"turbulence"(entry and exit rates) in small-firm populations is poorly understood. The fact of high turbulence is well-documented in industrial countries; it is not for developing countries, but available data suggest a broadly similar pattern. Are high failure rates for small businesses symptomatic of an important shortcoming in the system of economic organization itself? Or should the unit of analysis be the enterprise, the entrepreneur, or the entrepreneur's family? (3) Is the apparent trend favoring a larger economic role for smaller production units autonomous rather than induced by other changes? Does it depend on general operating factors such as the declining costs of communication and computation? (4) The rate of learning by a small firm may depend on the nature of its transacting partner. Certain multinational enterprises make good teachers, for example, but certain local labor markets or markets for consumer goods and services may not be well-positioned for relevant learning. They may learn well how to adjust to local circumstances but not to the international diffusion of technology and ways of organizing (the main source of hope for developing countries). Perhaps Bank policy should be more concerned with transaction patterns.General Technology,Environmental Economics&Policies,Decentralization,ICT Policy and Strategies,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,Environmental Economics&Policies,General Technology,Small and Medium Size Enterprises,ICT Policy and Strategies,Small Scale Enterprise
Solution-Processable High-Purity Semiconducting SWCNTs for Large-Area Fabrication of High-Performance Thin-Film Transistors
No full textFor the large-area fabrication of thin-film transistors (TFTs), a new conjugated polymer poly[9-(1-octylonoyl)-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl] is developed to harvest ultrahigh-purity semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes. Combined with spectral and nanodevice characterization, the purity is estimated up to 99.9%. High density and uniform network formed by dip-coating process is liable to fabricate high-performance TFTs on a wafer-scale and the as-fabricated TFTs exhibit a high degree of uniformity.? 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.National Natural Science Foundation of China [61274130, 21373262]SCI(E)[email protected]; [email protected],SI4993-49991
RURAL SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE: EVIDENCE FROM THE 1998 SURVEY OF SMALL BUSINESS FINANCES
No full textThe 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances provides robust information on the financing of small businesses including an overview of their firm's organization, financial characteristics, and credit use. Information from the survey is used in this study to compare the financial characteristics of urban and rural small businesses. Overall, rural small businesses have very similar financial characteristics, access to technology and financial services, sources of financial capital, and creditworthiness when compared to urban small businesses. Nonparametric rank order statistical methods were required when comparing dollar values of urban and rural small businesses because normality assumptions were violated due to the high concentration of small firms. On average, rural and urban small businesses were strong financially and profitable. Accounts receivable and inventory comprise nearly a third of total assets. Most were organized as either sole proprietorships or corporations. The majority of small businesses utilized computers, primarily for accounting/bookkeeping, administration, and email. Primary financial services are used for transactions and trade credit. Two-thirds of purchases involve trade credit from more than 20 trade credit suppliers, on average. Both urban and rural small businesses rely on a wide variety of sources for financing and use each to the same degree. Rural small businesses possess higher creditworthiness, but nearly one-fourth still report being delinquent on business obligations.rural, small, business, finances, survey, Community/Rural/Urban Development,
A taste of small-island success: a case from Prince Edward Island
No full textPT: J; CR: BALDACCHINIO G, 1998, ASIA PACIFIC VIEWPOI, V39, P267 BALDACCHINO G, 1993, DEV CHANGE, V24, P29 BALDACCHINO G, 1999, J SMALL BUS MANAGE, V37, P80 BALDACCHINO G, 2000, J PACIFIC STUDIES, V23, P27 BALDACCHINO G, 2000, LESSONS POLITICAL EC BEAUDIN M, 1998, EC REGION EDWARD ISL CODY J, 1986, GUARDIAN 1006, P7 DESROCHES C, 1999, RETAIL FUTURE STUDY FAIRBAIRN TIJ, 1988, ISLAND ENTREPRENEURS, P55 LYNCH A, 1996, SWEAT EQUITY ATLANTI MACANDREW B, 1985, ATLANTIC INSIGHT, V7, P45 MILNE D, 2000, LESSONS POLITICAL EC, P75 PATERSON R, 2000, LESSONS POLITICAL EC, P159 WALKER K, 1998, INSIDER, V1, P4 WIGHTMAN R, 1991, GUARDIAN 1022, P6; NR: 15; TC: 0; J9: J SMALL BUS MANAGEMENT; PG: 6; GA: 561CYSource type: Electronic(1
Poole, Heather (Legislative analyst), Small Business Express Program
No full text1 online resource (4 pages)"March 31, 2020 ."Provides an overview of and recent data on the Small Business Express (EXP) program. Updates OLR research report 2014-R-025
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