Improved data for solar flare X-ray spectral analysis

The inclusion of collisional rates for He-like Fe and Ca ions is discussed with reference to the analysis of solar flare Fe XXV and Ca XIX line emission, particularly from the Yohkoh Bragg Crystal Spectrometer (BCS). The new data are a slight improvement on calculations presently used in the BCS analysis software in that the discrepancy in the Fe XXV y and z line intensities (observed larger than predicted) is reduced. Values of electron temperature from satellite-to-resonance line ratios are slightly reduced (by up to 1 MK) for a given observed ratio. The new atomic data will be incorporated in the Yohkoh BCS databases. The data should also be of interest for the analysis of high-resolution, non-solar spectra expected from the Constellation-X and Astro-E space missions. A comparison is made of a tokamak S XV spectrum with a synthetic spectrum using atomic data in the existing software and the agreement is found to be good, so validating these data for particularly high-n satellite wavelengths close to the S XV resonance line. An error in a data file used for analyzing BCS Fe XXVI spectra is corrected, so permitting analysis of these spectra.

Tetrahedra and vertex-sharing double tetrahedra in the ammonium iodomercurates(II) (NH4)(7)[HgI4](2)[Hg2I7](H2O) and (NH4)(3)[Hg2I7]

The new ammonium iodomercurates(II), (NH4)(7)[HgI4](2)[Hg2I7](H2O) (1) and (NH4)(3)[Hg2I7] (2) contain isolated tetrahedra and vertex-sharing double tetrahedra as the anions. The crystal structures were determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data: 1: orthorhombic, Pnma (no. 62), a = 2175.9(2), b = 1781.8(2), c = 1256.2(2) pm, Z = 4. R-1 [I-0 > 2 sigma(I-0)] = 0.0520; 2: monoclinic, P2(1)/c (no. 14), a = 1259.0(2), b = 773.2(1), c = 2172.4(3) pm, beta = 101.18(2)degrees, Z = 4, R, [I-0 > 2 sigma(I-0)] = 0.0308.

A GREM1 gene variant associates with diabetic nephropathy

Gremlin, a cell growth and differentiation factor, promotes the development of diabetic nephropathy in animal models, but whether GREM1 gene variants associate with diabetic nephropathy is unknown. We comprehensively screened the 5' upstream region (including the predicted promoter), all exons, intron-exon boundaries, complete untranslated regions, and the 3' region downstream of the GREM1 gene. We identified 31 unique variants, including 24 with a minor allele frequency exceeding 5%, and 9 haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs). We selected one additional variant that we predicted to alter transcription factor binding. We genotyped 709 individuals with type 1 diabetes of whom 267 had nephropathy (cases) and 442 had no evidence of kidney disease (controls). Three individual SNPs significantly associated with nephropathy at the 5% level, and two remained significant after adjustment for multiple testing. Subsequently, we genotyped a replicate population comprising 597 cases and 502 controls: this population supported an association with one of the SNPs (rs1129456; P = 0.0003). Combined analysis, adjusted for recruitment center (n = 8), suggested that the T allele conferred greater odds of nephropathy (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.36 to 2.11). In summary, the GREM1 variant rs1129456 associates with diabetic nephropathy, perhaps explaining some of the genetic susceptibility to this condition.

Parenting Control in Contexts of Political Violence: Testing Bidirectional Relations Between Violence Exposure and Control in Post-Accord Belfast

Objective. The authors examined bidirectional relations between youth exposure to sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behavior and mothers' efforts to control youths' exposure to community violence in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Design. Mother-child dyads (N = 773) were interviewed in their homes twice over 2 years regarding youths' exposure to sectarian and nonsectarian community antisocial behavior and mothers' use of control strategies, including behavioral and psychological control. Results. Youths' exposure to nonsectarian antisocial behavior was related to increases in mothers' use of behavioral and psychological control strategies over time, controlling for earlier levels of these constructs. Reflecting bidirectional relations, mothers' behavioral control strategies were associated with youths' reduced exposure to nonsectarian and sectarian antisocial behavior over time, whereas psychological control was not related to reduced exposure. Conclusion. Only nonsectarian community violence was associated longitudinally with mothers' increased use of control strategies, and only behavioral control strategies were effective in reducing youths' exposure to community antisocial behavior, including sectarian and nonsectarian antisocial behavior.

A Question of Legitimacy? A Dynamic Perspective on Multinational Firm Control

The control and coordination of a network of geographically and culturally dispersed subsidiaries is one of the most prominent challenges in international management. However, many empirical findings on the effectiveness of various control mechanisms and combinations thereof are still counterintuitive. This study uses longitudinal case studies and cross-sectional interview data to extend control theory by examining why, how, and in what sequence large multinational firms (MNCs) implement controls in their networks of foreign subsidiaries. Our analysis draws from literature on institutional theory, embeddedness, and organizational power to demonstrate that MNC headquarters need to overcome institutional duality when implementing their controls abroad. We find that headquarters do so by using social controls, primarily as a way of legitimizing and institutionalizing their process and output controls that are implemented subsequently.

The personality of “aggressive” and “non-aggressive” dog owners

The relationship between pet-keeping and owner personality has attracted considerable attention. Little focus, however, has been directed towards the personality of pet owners in relation to the type of pet owned. This study therefore explored the personality of pet owners in relation to the type of dog breed owned, focusing specifically on owners of breeds widely considered to be “aggressive” versus those more generally perceived as “non-aggressive”. One hundred and forty seven owners of “aggressive” (German shepherd dogs, Rottweilers) or “non-aggressive” (Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers) dog breeds completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire short scale. Breed of dog owned was significantly related to owners’ psychoticism scores, with people who kept “aggressive” dogs having significantly higher scores on this trait than owners of “non-aggressive” dogs. Dog breed ownership was not significantly related to neuroticism, extraversion or lie scale scores, although male owners of “aggressive” dogs were found to be significantly less neurotic than women who kept “aggressive” or “non-aggressive” dogs. Overall, findings suggest that there is a significant relationship between dog breed ownership and specific personality traits, with owners of breeds widely considered to be “aggressive” harbouring more psychotic tendencies than people who choose to keep dogs with a reputedly less aggressive temperament.

Analyzing longitudinal continuity and change in public sector organizations

This article provides the introduction to a special edition that presents for the first time a series of detailed country case studies concerned with the matter of organizational life cycles. Building on some recent scholarship, it begins by surveying the development of the field, before setting out some of the key methodological and theoretical issues and challenges involved in adopting a longitudinal perspective to the study of organizational change. It proposes that by capturing the variety of ways in which public sector organizations emerge, survive, and terminate, new perspectives on how administrative systems evolve can be presented and compared. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Luce Irigaray: Back to the Beginning

In 2014 it will be 40 years since Luce Irigaray’s (second) doctoral thesis Speculum de l'autre femme was first published. That book, widely recognized as the most important text in feminist philosophy, was to introduce Irigaray’s critique of western philosophy and psychoanalysis and her ethics of sexual difference for which she was to become so well known. Irigaray, well into her eighties now, has published continuously since Speculum, despite her exclusion from French academic life after her expulsion in 1974 from the Université de Paris VIII Vincennes. That her latest book In the Beginning, She Was, released on the eve of Speculum’s anniversary, is perhaps the most personally revelatory of her works and revisits many of the same themes and issues that concerned her in Speculum cannot be coincidental. In this critical notice we examine Irigaray’s latest offering arguing that her contribution is twofold as she combines with new clarity her longstanding critique of phallocratic culture and her transformative vision of humanity as a culture of sexuate difference. There are a number of important themes addressed in the six chapters of the book, but for the purposes of this discussion our analysis will focus mostly on elaborating her critique of Western culture, on the usefulness of her work for rethinking masculine subject formation and on the figure of Antigone, as a feminine subject on her own terms, as a way of imagining a possible relation between two subjects within a culture of sexuate difference. We argue that this book continues to illustrate Irigaray’s importance as one of the most radical and prophetic philosophers of our time.