Exploring the impact of institutional and organizational factors on the reaction of MNCs to the global financial crisis

This paper analyses some of the factors that impact multinational companies' (MNCs) reaction to the global financial crisis. This paper reports the results from a large-scale study of its impact on MNCs in Australia, considering occurrences of site closures, offshoring, outsourcing, labour force reductions, reductions in working hours, salary reductions, and reductions in training and travel. Evidence showed that MNC reactions varied according to certain institutional and organizational effects. For example, MNCs originating from liberal-market economies are more likely to have offshored and outsourced production and reduced employment. The implications for understanding of MNC behaviour are discussed. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Evaluation of an in situ spatial resolution instrument for fixed beds through the assessment of the invasiveness of probes and a comparison with a micro-kinetic model

This paper reports the detailed description and validation of a fully automated, computer controlled analytical method to spatially probe the gas composition and thermal characteristics in packed bed systems. This method has been designed to limit the invasiveness of the probe, a characteristic assessed using CFD. The thermocouple is aligned with the sampling holes to enable simultaneous recording of the gas composition and temperature profiles. This analysis technique has been validated by studying CO oxidation over a 1% Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The resultant profiles have been compared with a micro-kinetic model, to further assess the strength of the technique. 

Opening eyes to opera: the process of translation for blind and partially-sighted audiences

In today’s rapidly developing digital age and increasingly socially-aware society, the notion of media accessibility is evolving in response to shifting audience expectations. Performing arts and media, such as opera, are called upon to include all audiences, and related audiovisual translation methods are progressing in this direction. These comprise audio description and touch tours for the blind and partially-sighted, two relatively new translation modalities which are consumer-oriented and require an original research design for the analysis of the translation processes involved. This research design follows two fundamental principles: (1) audience reception studies should be an integral part of the investigation into the translation process; and (2) the translation process is regarded as a network. Therefore, this paper explores the unique translation processes of audio description and touch tours within the context of live opera from the perspective of actor-network theory and by providing an overview of a reception project. Through discussion of the methodology and findings, this paper addresses the question of the impact of audience reception on the translation process.

Opening Eyes to Opera: the process of translation for blind and partially-sighted audiences

In today’s rapidly developing digital age and increasingly socially-aware society, the notion of media accessibility is evolving in response to shifting audience expectations. Performing arts and media, such as opera, are called upon to include all audiences, and related audiovisual translation methods are progressing in this direction. These comprise audio description and touch tours for the blind and partially-sighted, two relatively new translation modalities which are consumer-oriented and require an original research design for the analysis of the translation processes involved. This research design follows two fundamental principles: (1) audience reception studies should be an integral part of the investigation into the translation process; and (2) the translation process is regarded as a network. Therefore, this chapter explores the unique translation processes of audio description and touch tours within the context of live opera from the perspective of actor-network theory and by providing an overview of a reception project. Through discussion of the methodology and findings, this chapter addresses the question of the impact of audience reception on the translation process.

Home and Workplace Built Environment Supports for Physical Activity

BACKGROUND: Physical inactivity has been associated with obesity and related chronic diseases. Understanding built environment (BE) influences on specific domains of physical activity (PA) around homes and workplaces is important for public health interventions to increase population PA.

PURPOSE: To examine the association of home and workplace BE features with PA occurring across specific life domains (work, leisure, and travel).

METHODS: Between 2012 and 2013, telephone interviews were conducted with participants in four Missouri metropolitan areas. Questions included sociodemographic characteristics, home and workplace supports for PA, and dietary behaviors. Data analysis was conducted in 2013; logistic regression was used to examine associations between BE features and domain-specific PA.

RESULTS: In home neighborhoods, seven of 12 BE features (availability of fruits and vegetables, presence of shops and stores, bike facilities, recreation facilities, crime rate, seeing others active, and interesting things) were associated with leisure PA. The global average score of home neighborhood BE features was associated with greater odds of travel PA (AOR=1.99, 95% CI=1.46, 2.72); leisure PA (AOR=1.84, 95% CI=1.44, 2.34); and total PA (AOR=1.41, 95% CI=1.04, 1.92). Associations between workplace neighborhoods' BE features and workplace PA were small but in the expected direction.

CONCLUSIONS: This study offers empirical evidence on BE supports for domain-specific PA. Findings suggest that diverse, attractive, and walkable neighborhoods around workplaces support walking, bicycling, and use of public transit. Public health practitioners, researchers, and worksite leaders could benefit by utilizing worksite domains and measures from this study for future BE assessments.

Efficient FPGA Hardware Development: A Multi-Language Approach

This paper presents a multi-language framework to FPGA hardware development which aims to satisfy the dual requirement of high-level hardware design and efficient hardware implementation. The central idea of this framework is the integration of different hardware languages in a way that harnesses the best features of each language. This is illustrated in this paper by the integration of two hardware languages in the form of HIDE: a structured hardware language which provides more abstract and elegant hardware descriptions and compositions than are possible in traditional hardware description languages such as VHDL or Verilog, and Handel-C: an ANSI C-like hardware language which allows software and hardware engineers alike to target FPGAs from high-level algorithmic descriptions. On the one hand, HIDE has proven to be very successful in the description and generation of highly optimised parameterisable FPGA circuits from geometric descriptions. On the other hand, Handel-C has also proven to be very successful in the rapid design and prototyping of FPGA circuits from algorithmic application descriptions. The proposed integrated framework hence harnesses HIDE for the generation of highly optimised circuits for regular parts of algorithms, while Handel-C is used as a top-level design language from which HIDE functionality is dynamically invoked. The overall message of this paper posits that there need not be an exclusive choice between different hardware design flows. Rather, an integrated framework where different design flows can seamlessly interoperate should be adopted. Although the idea might seem simple prima facie, it could have serious implications on the design of future generations of hardware languages.

Human information retrieval

Information retrieval in the age of Internet search engines has become part of ordinary discourse and everyday practice: "Google" is a verb in common usage. Thus far, more attention has been given to practical understanding of information retrieval than to a full theoretical account. In Human Information Retrieval, Julian Warner offers a comprehensive overview of information retrieval, synthesizing theories from different disciplines (information and computer science, librarianship and indexing, and information society discourse) and incorporating such disparate systems as WorldCat and Google into a single, robust theoretical framework. There is a need for such a theoretical treatment, he argues, one that reveals the structure and underlying patterns of this complex field while remaining congruent with everyday practice. Warner presents a labor theoretic approach to information retrieval, building on his previously formulated distinction between semantic and syntactic mental labor, arguing that the description and search labor of information retrieval can be understood as both semantic and syntactic in character. Warner's information science approach is rooted in the humanities and the social sciences but informed by an understanding of information technology and information theory. The chapters offer a progressive exposition of the topic, with illustrative examples to explain the concepts presented. Neither narrowly practical nor largely speculative, Human Information Retrieval meets the contemporary need for a broader treatment of information and information systems.

Complete nonlinear theory of longitudinal-to-transverse dust lattice mode coupling in a single-layer dusty plasma crystal

A comprehensive nonlinear model is put forward for coupled longitudinal to transverse displacements in a horizontal dust mono-layer, levitated under the combined influence of gravity and an electric and/or magnetic sheath field. A set of coupled nonlinear evolution equations are obtained in a discrete description, and a pair of coupled (Boussinesq-like) PDEs are obtained in the continuum approximation. Finally, the amplitude modulation of the coupled modes is discussed, pointing out the importance of the coupling. All these results are generic, i.e. valid for any assumed form of the inter-grain interaction potential U and the sheath potential Phi.

Network biology: a direct approach to study biological function

In this paper we discuss the dualism of gene networks and their role in systems biology. We argue that gene networks ( 1) can serve as a conceptual framework, forming a fundamental level of a phenomenological description, and ( 2) are a means to represent and analyze data. The latter point does not only allow a systems analysis but is even amenable for a direct approach to study biological function. Here we focus on the clarity of our main arguments and conceptual meaning of gene networks, rather than the causal inference of gene networks from data. (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2011 3 379-391 DOI: 10.1002/wsbm.134

Impact of weather conditions on electric vehicle performance

Seasonal and day-to-day variations in travel behaviour and performance of private passenger vehicles can be partially explained by changes in weather conditions. Likewise, in the electricity sector, weather affects energy demand. The impact of weather conditions on private passenger vehicle performance, usership statistics and travel behaviour has been studied for conventional, internal combustion engine, vehicles. Similarly, weather-driven variability in electricity demand and generation has been investigated widely. The aim of these analyses in both sectors is to improve energy efficiency, reduce consumption in peak hours and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, the potential effects of seasonal weather variations on electric vehicle usage have not yet been investigated. In Ireland the government has set a target requiring 10% of all vehicles in the transport fleet to be powered by electricity by 2020 to meet part of its European Union obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency. This paper fills this knowledge gap by compiling some of the published information available for internal combustion engine vehicles and applying the lessons learned and results to electric vehicles with an analysis of historical weather data in Ireland and electricity market data in a number of what-if scenarios. Areas particularly impacted by weather conditions are battery performance, energy consumption and choice of transportation mode by private individuals.

Prisons Memory Archive

Between 2006 and 2007, the Prisons Memory Archive (PMA) filmed participants, including former prisoners, prison staff, teachers, chaplains, visitors, solicitors and welfare workers back inside the Maze/Long Kesh Prison and Armagh Gaol. They shared the memory of the time spent in these prisons during the period of political violence from 1970 - 2000 in Northern Ireland, commonly known as the Troubles. Underpinning the overall methodology is co-ownership of the material, which gives participants the right to veto as well as to participate in the processes of editing and exhibiting their stories, so prioritising the value of co-authorship of their stories. The PMA adopted life-story interviewing techniques with the empty sites stimulating participants’ memory while they walked and talked their way around the empty sites. A third feature is inclusivity: the archive holds stories from across the full spectrum of the prison experience. A selection of the material, with accompanying context and links is available online www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com

Further Information:

The protocols of inclusivity, co-ownership and life-story telling make this collection significant as an initiative that engages with contemporary problems of how to negotiate narratives about a conflicted past in a society emerging out of violence. Inclusivity means that prison staff, prisoners, governors, chaplains, tutors and visitors have participated, relating their individual and collective experiences, which sit side by side on the PMA website. Co-ownership addresses the issues of ethics and sensitivity, allowing key constituencies to be involved. Life-story telling, based on oral history methodologies allows participants to be the authors of their own stories, crucial when dealing with sensitive issues from a violent past. The website hosts a selection of excerpts, e.g. the Armagh Stories page shows excerpts from 15 participants, while the Maze and Long Kesh Prison page offers interactive access to 24 participants from that prison. Using an interactive documentary structure, the site offers users opportunities to navigate their own way through the material and encourages them to hear and see the ‘other’, central to attempts at encouraging dialogue in a divided society. Further, public discussions have been held after screening of excerpts with community groups in the following locations - Belfast, Newtownabbey, Derry, Armagh, Enniskillen, London, Cork, Maynooth, Clones, and Monaghan. Extracts have been screened at international academic conferences in Valencia, Australia, Tartu, Estonia, Prague, and York. A dataset of the content, with description and links, is available for REF purposes.

Demographic noise can lead to the spontaneous formation of species

When a collection of phenotypically diverse organisms compete with each other for limited resources, the population can evolve into tightly localised clusters. Past studies have neglected the effects of demographic noise and studied the population on a macroscopic scale, where cluster formation is found to depend on the shape of the curve describing the decline of competition strength with phenotypic distance. Here we show how including the effects of demographic noise leads to a radically different conclusion. Two situations are identified: a weak-noise regime in which the population exhibits patterns of fluctuation around the macroscopic description, and a strong-noise regime where clusters appear spontaneously even in the case that all organisms have equal fitness. editor's choice Copyright (C) EPLA, 2012

A proposed systems approach to the evaluation of integrated palliative care

Background. There is increasing global interest in regional palliative care networks (PCN) to integrate care, creating systems that are more cost-effective and responsive in multi-agency settings. Networks are particularly relevant where different professional skill sets are required to serve the broad spectrum of end-of-life needs. We propose a comprehensive framework for evaluating PCNs, focusing on the nature and extent of inter-professional collaboration, community readiness, and client-centred care. Methods. In the absence of an overarching structure for examining PCNs, a framework was developed based on previous models of health system evaluation, explicit theory, and the research literature relevant to PCN functioning. This research evidence was used to substantiate the choice of model factors. Results. The proposed framework takes a systems approach with system structure, process of care, and patient outcomes levels of consideration. Each factor represented makes an independent contribution to the description and assessment of the network. Conclusions. Realizing palliative patients' needs for complex packages of treatment and social support, in a seamless, cost-effective manner, are major drivers of the impetus for network-integrated care. The framework proposed is a first step to guide evaluation to inform the development of appropriate strategies to further promote collaboration within the PCN and, ultimately, optimal palliative care that meets patients' needs and expectations. © 2010 Bainbridge et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.