2,059 research outputs found
Soft systems methodology: a context within a 50-year retrospective of OR/MS
Soft systems methodology (SSM) has been used in the practice of operations research and management science OR/MS) since the early 1970s. In the 1990s, it emerged as a viable academic discipline. Unfortunately, its proponents consider SSM and traditional systems thinking to be mutually exclusive. Despite the differences claimed by SSM proponents between the two, they have been complementary. An extensive sampling of the OR/MS literature over its entire lifetime demonstrates the richness with which the non-SSM literature has been addressing the very same issues as does SSM
A narrative analysis of career transition themes and outcomes using chaos theory as a guiding metaphor
In a rapidly changing world of work little research exists on mid-career transitions. We investigated these using the open-systems approach of chaos theory as a guiding metaphor and conducted interviews with seven mid-career individuals chosen for their experience of a significant mid-career transition. Four common themes were identified through narrative analysis, where âfalse startsâ to a career were a common experience prior to finding a career âfitâ. Career transitions, precipitated by a trigger state and/or event such as a period of disillusionment, were an important part of this âfinding a fitâ process. Overall, career success outcomes were shaped by a combination of chaos elements: chance, unplanned events, and non-linearity of resultant outcomes. We discuss implications for future research and for practice
Differential Production Cross Section of Z Bosons as a Function of Transverse Momentum at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV
We present a measurement of the transverse momentum distribution of Z bosons
produced in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV using data collected by the D0
experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during 1994--1996. We find good
agreement between our data and a current resummation calculation. We also use
our data to extract values of the non-perturbative parameters for a particular
version of the resummation formalism, obtaining significantly more precise
values than previous determinations.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters v2 has margin
error correcte
A measurement of the W boson mass using large rapidity electrons
We present a measurement of the W boson mass using data collected by the D0
experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron during 1994--1995. We identify W bosons by
their decays to e-nu final states where the electron is detected in a forward
calorimeter. We extract the W boson mass, Mw, by fitting the transverse mass
and transverse electron and neutrino momentum spectra from a sample of 11,089 W
-> e nu decay candidates. We use a sample of 1,687 dielectron events, mostly
due to Z -> ee decays, to constrain our model of the detector response. Using
the forward calorimeter data, we measure Mw = 80.691 +- 0.227 GeV. Combining
the forward calorimeter measurements with our previously published central
calorimeter results, we obtain Mw = 80.482 +- 0.091 GeV
Comparing nuclear power trajectories in Germany and the UK: from âregimes' to âdemocraciesâ in sociotechnical transitions and Discontinuities
This paper focuses on arguably the single most striking contrast in contemporary major energy politics in Europe (and even the developed world as a whole): the starkly differing civil nuclear policies of Germany and the UK. Germany is seeking entirely to phase out nuclear power by 2022. Yet the UK advocates a ânuclear renaissanceâ, promoting the most ambitious new nuclear construction programme in Western Europe.Here,this paper poses a simple yet quite fundamental question: what are the particular divergent conditions most strongly implicated in the contrasting developments in these two countries. With nuclear playing such an iconic role in historical discussions over technological continuity and transformation, answering this may assist in wider understandings of sociotechnical incumbency and discontinuity in the burgeoning field ofâsustainability transitionsâ. To this end, an âabductiveâ approach is taken: deploying nine potentially relevant criteria for understanding the different directions pursued in Germany and the UK. Together constituted by 30 parameters spanning literatures related to socio-technical regimes in general as well as nuclear technology in particular, the criteria are divided into those that are âinternalâ and âexternalâ to the âfocal regime configurationâ of nuclear power and associated âchallenger technologiesâ like renewables.
It is âinternalâ criteria that are emphasised in conventional sociotechnical regime theory, with âexternalâ criteria relatively less well explored. Asking under each criterion whether attempted discontinuation of nuclear power would be more likely in Germany or the UK, a clear picture emerges. âInternalâ criteria suggest attempted nuclear discontinuation should be more likely in the UK than in Germanyâ the reverse of what is occurring.
âExternalâ criteria are more aligned with observed dynamics âespecially those relating to military nuclear commitments and broader âqualities of democracyâ. Despite many differences of framing concerning exactly what constitutes âdemocracyâ, a rich political science literature on this point is unanimous in characterising Germany more positively than the UK. Although based only on a single case,a potentially important question is nonetheless raised as to whether sociotechnical regime theory might usefully give greater attention to the general importance of various aspects of democracy in constituting conditions for significant technological discontinuities and transformations. If so, the policy implications are significant. A number of important areas are identified for future research, including the roles of diverse understandings and specific aspects of democracy and the particular relevance of military nuclear commitmentsâ whose under-discussion in civil nuclear policy literatures raises its own questions of democratic accountability
Comparative effectiveness of incident oral antidiabetic drugs on kidney function
Diabetes is a major cause of chronic kidney disease, and oral antidiabetic drugs are the mainstay of therapy for most patients with Type 2 diabetes. Here we evaluated their role on renal outcomes by using a national Veterans Administration database to assemble a retrospective cohort of 93,577 diabetic patients who filled an incident oral antidiabetic drug prescription for metformin, sulfonylurea, or rosiglitazone, and had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of 60âml/min or better. The primary composite outcome was a persistent decline in eGFR from baseline of 25% or more (eGFR event) or a diagnosis of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The secondary outcome was an eGFR event, ESRD, or death. Sensitivity analyses included using a more stringent definition of the eGFR event requiring an eGFR <60âml/min per 1.73âm2 in addition to the 25% or more decline; controlling for baseline proteinuria thereby restricting data to 15,065 patients; and not requiring persistent treatment with the initial oral antidiabetic drug. Compared to patients using metformin, sulfonylurea users had an increased risk for both the primary and the secondary outcome, each with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.20. Results of sensitivity analyses were consistent with the main findings. The risk associated with rosiglitazone was similar to metformin for both outcomes. Thus, compared to metformin, oral antidiabetic drug treatment with sulfonylureas increased the risk of a decline in eGFR, ESRD, or death
Analysis of a renormalization group method and normal form theory for perturbed ordinary differential equations
Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at â s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fbâ1 of â s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente
RITUAL, TIME, AND ENTERNITY
It is argued here that the construction of time and eternity are among ritual's entailments. In dividing continuous duration into distinct periods ritual distinguishes two temporal conditions: (1) that prevailing in mundane periods and (2) that prevailing during the intervals between them. Differences in the frequency, length, and relationship among the rituals constituting different liturgical orders are considered, as are differences between mundane periods and ritual's intervals with respect to social relations, cognitive modes, meaningfulness, and typical interactive frequencies. Periods, it is observed, relate to intervals as everchanging to never-changing, and close relationships of never changing to eternity, eternity to sanctity, and sanctity to truth are proposed. In the argument that ritual's âtimes out of timeâ really are outside mundane time, similarities to the operations of digital computers and Herbert Simon's discussion of interaction frequencies in the organization of matter are noted.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72989/1/j.1467-9744.1992.tb00996.x.pd
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