5,517 research outputs found
Being a Critical Social Scientist: An Interview with David Fasenfest
No full textAn interview with David Fasenfest, editor of Critical Sociology and author of Marx Matters by Raju Das and Robert Latham from 2023
The selection of subcontractors: is price the major factor?
No full textThe philosophy of ‘lowest price wins’ in the selection of subcontractors often leads to problems with quality of work and claims for further costs. Since Latham (1994), many models have offered selection methods that take account of a wide range of quality criteria as well as price. A review of existing literature and models enables a list of selection criteria to be drawn up and a survey ascertains which selection criteria are considered most important and whether opinions change when faced with different types of project. The results of the questionnaire are analysed through the use of Simple Relative Indexes, Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient tests and a number of T-tests. It is established that price is no longer considered the only important factor in subcontractor selection, and that health and safety, past performance, and insurance cover are considered equally important and, in some scenarios, more important than price
Cracking the Neural Code for Sensory Perception by Combining Statistics, Intervention, and Behavior
No full textThe two basic processes underlying perceptual decisions—how neural responses encode stimuli, and how they inform behavioral choices—have mainly been studied separately. Thus, although many spatiotemporal features of neural population activity, or “neural codes,” have been shown to carry sensory information, it is often unknown whether the brain uses these features for perception. To address this issue, we propose a new framework centered on redefining the neural code as the neural features that carry sensory information used by the animal to drive appropriate behavior; that is, the features that have an intersection between sensory and choice information. We show how this framework leads to a new statistical analysis of neural activity recorded during behavior that can identify such neural codes, and we discuss how to combine intersection-based analysis of neural recordings with intervention on neural activity to determine definitively whether specific neural activity features are involved in a task
Programmed cell death in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta: Alteration in protein synthesis
No full textThe metamorphic death of the labial glands of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, occurs during a 4 day period during larva-to-pupa metamorphosis. The earliest changes marking the death of the cell, all occurring on the first day, are a sharp drop in protein synthesis, coupled with the selective survival or upregulation of a few messages. An early rearrangement of the rough endoplasmic reticulum is presumably related to the generalized decrease in protein synthesis. Lysosomal acid phosphatase also begins to increase very early, and ultimately the bulk of the cytoplasm is destroyed in autophagic vacuoles, but activation of lysosomes does not account for the decreased rate of synthesis. The mechanism by which most protein synthesis is depressed remains under investigation
DELAYED INTERNUCLEOSOMAL DNA FRAGMENTATION IN PROGRAMMED CELL-DEATH
No full textDNA fragmentation was evaluated in three instances of programmed cell death, interdigital cell death in embryonic mouse limbs, and metamorphic death of both the labial glands and intersegmental muscle in the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta. In the mouse, we evaluated both developmental cell death and expanded-range cell death induced by retinoic acid. The status of DNA was examined in several ways. Nuclei were examined by electron microscopy and Feulgen staining. Quantitative assessment of total DNA content in Feulgen-stained degenerating nuclei was made for the gland. In the labial gland, DNA content does not drop during the early phases of cell death; nor is an endonucleolytic ladder seen when DNA was examined by ethidium bromide staining or prelabeling with [H-3]thymidine. Only by using end labeling of DNA could we detect DNA fragmentation at a very late stage in cell death, day 4 of the collapse of the gland. In contrast, WEHI 7.1 lymphoma cells display an early and extensive ladder after treatment with glucocorticoids. In mouse limb, for which cell death follows a more classic apoptotic morphology, a ladder is likewise not seen. We conclude that activation of an endonuclease is neither a trigger nor a necessary or defining component of the early phases of developmental programmed cell death, and that reported failure by others to find such a ladder may depend on limitations in the system that is under investigation
Correction for Khan et al., Global selective sweep of a highly inbred genome of the cattle parasiteNeospora caninum
No full textThe authors note three author names appeared incorrectly. The author name Sarah M. Latham should instead appear as Sophia M. Latham, the author name Elizabeth A. Innes should instead appear as Elisabeth A. Innes, and the author name Johnathan M. Wastling should instead appear as Jonathan M. Wastling. The corrected author line appears below. The online version has been corrected. The authors also note that the author contributions footnote appeared incorrectly. Sophia M. Latham should be credited with designing research, performing research, and contributing new reagents/analytic tools. The corrected author contributions footnote appears below. Asis Khan, Ayako Wendy Fujita, Nadine Randle, Javier Regidor-Cerrillo, Jahangheer S. Shaik, Kui Shen, Andrew J. Oler, Mariam Quinones, Sophia M. Latham, Bartholomew D. Akanmori, Sarah Cleaveland, Elisabeth A. Innes, Una Ryan, Jan Slapeta, Gereon Schares, Luis M. Ortega-Mora, Jitender P. Dubey, Jonathan M. Wastling, and Michael E. Grigg Author contributions: A.W.F., S.M.L., J.P.D., J.M.W., and M.E.G. designed research; A.K., A.W.F., N.R., and S.M.L. performed research; A.K., J.R.-C., J.S.S., K.S., A.J.O., M.Q., S.M.L., B.D.A., S.C., E.A.I., U.R., J.S., G.S., L.M.O.-M., J.P.D., J.M.W., and M.E.G. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.K., A.W.F., N.R., and M.E.G. analyzed data; and A.K., J.P.D., J.M.W., and M.E.G. wrote the paper
Return on investment: Investigating managerial preferences for alternative return on investment reports
No full textResponses of 32 Officers and 1 Non Commissioned Officer, of the Royal New Zealand Navy, to three return on investment (ROI) training reports were investigated. The three report types were presented as a function of two ROI calculations: Critical Outcome Technique, and Utility Analysis - with Utility Analysis being used as the basis for two of the three reports. Participants were placed into one of three groups, each group consisted of 11 participants. Each participant group was presented with one of the three report types. Responses from participants were gained using a survey instrument for two constructs: perceived usefulness, and perceived understanding and clarity. The results of this study replicated the findings of previous studies in this area (i.e. Carson, Becker & Henderson, 1998; Macan & Foster, 2004). An analysis of quantitative data using Kruskal-Wallis statistical test failed to show significantly different perceptions of either perceived usefulness, or perceived understanding and clarity between the three groups. While the presented reports lacked high levels of support from participants, the findings of Latham and Whyte’s study (1994) are brought further into question (i.e. Cronshaw, 1997; Macan & Foster, 2004) as utility analysis based reports did not negatively influence participants on the uptake of the hypothetical training initiative. Content analysis of the qualitative data, revealed a number of potential factors which may have caused a lack of significance between report type preferences. Most critically these causes may not be limited to this this study alone, but may have implications for both previous and future studies into ROI acceptance
Real-world fuel economy and emission levels of a typical EURO-IV passenger vehicle
No full textThis paper presents the findings of research into real-world emission levels of a typical EURO-IV passenger car in the United Kingdom (UK). Four real-world drive cycles representing typical urban driving in the UK were used for the experiments. The work identified that the real-world emission levels of a EURO-IV vehicle in the UK are significantly higher than the certified legislative emission levels. The present work also identified that tailpipe-out carbon monoxide is the most affected emission specie in a gasoline-powered vehicle for real-world driving conditions
Measurement of the ratio of prompt χ c to J / ψ production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV
No full textThe prompt production of charmonium χ c and J / ψ states is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The χ c and J / ψ mesons are identified through their decays χ c → J / ψ γ and J / ψ → μ + μ - using 36 pb - 1 of data collected by the LHCb detector in 2010. The ratio of the prompt production cross-sections for χ c and J / ψ, σ (χ c → J / ψ γ) / σ (J / ψ), is determined as a function of the J / ψ transverse momentum in the range 2 < p T J / ψ < 15 GeV / c. The results are in excellent agreement with next-to-leading order non-relativistic expectations and show a significant discrepancy compared with the colour singlet model prediction at leading order, especially in the low p T J / ψ region
"Causes, Consequences and Dynamics of 'Complex' Distributions of Technological Activities: The Case of Prolific Inventors"
No full textWe provide a framework for understanding the causes and consequences of the observed shapes of the distributions of individual inventors' productivities. We review a literature that begins with Lotka's (1926) "law" regarding the persistence of variability in scientific productivity at any point in time and also over time. We discuss use of the "power law" and the Pareto distribution to describe and explain the empirical distributions. We focus on the upper parts of the frequency distributions for inventors exploring the processes underlying knowledge accumulation at the individual level, including its features, characteristics, and structural trends. Finally we explore the specific processes by which these individuals create, maintain, and increase knowledge accumulation as their careers evolve.patents, inventors, prolific, lotka
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