657 research outputs found
Collaborative Standards, Voluntary Codes and Industry Self-regulation
In a complex, global economy, firms seek a range of mechanisms for addressing regulatory and social movement pressures. This requires an evolution beyond our current models of response to regulation and control. This paper offers ideas on collaborative control and industry self-regulation as alternative mechanisms for addressing regulatory complexity. It explores a range of self-regulatory practices worldwide, proposes a framework for examining its use, potential and limits, and discusses the critical role of third-party organisations in the process
Building momentum for business school curriculum change: Measurable lessons from a pilot course in real business experience
Curriculum change requires thoughtful planning and a willingness to experiment with different modes of content delivery. While many business schools are experimenting, few measure student outcomes against the traditional courses they replace. One element of Butler University\u27s College of Business Administration curriculum revision was a pilot course, Real Business Experience , in which students developed a professional business plan, sought and received funding from a professional level funding panel, and ran their businesses. To determine whether the pilot course was successful in reaching its goal of teaching students about the messiness of business and developing more adaptable and confident business leaders assessment instruments were used to identify student development in both the pilot and traditional courses. The analysis presented in this article suggests that the pilot course utilizing the constructivist approach was successful in achieving its goal, but not always in the ways expected
The logic of customary law, with reference to selected African societies.
This thesis is an attempt to explain the facility with which ratiocination in customary law courts leads to decisions of great import. Or, to put it as a question: how do African judges reach decisions as grave and far reaching as those of their Western counterparts without equivalent court paraphenalia? The answer to this is an examination of how African judges think, and makes especial reference to the semantic philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and its relation to traditional concepts of language and social structure
A large population of mid-infrared selected, obscured active galaxies in the Bootes field
We identify a population of 640 obscured and 839 unobscured AGNs at redshifts
0.7<z<~3 using multiwavelength observations of the 9 deg^2 NOAO Deep Wide-Field
Survey (NDWFS) region in Bootes. We select AGNs on the basis of Spitzer IRAC
colors obtained by the IRAC Shallow Survey. Redshifts are obtained from optical
spectroscopy or photometric redshift estimators. We classify the IR-selected
AGNs as IRAGN 1 (unobscured) and IRAGN 2 (obscured) using a simple criterion
based on the observed optical to mid-IR color, with a selection boundary of
R-[4.5]=6.1, where R and [4.5] are the Vega magnitudes in the R and IRAC 4.5
micron bands, respectively. We verify this selection using X-ray stacking
analyses with data from the Chandra XBootes survey, as well as optical
photometry from NDWFS and spectroscopy from MMT/AGES. We show that (1) these
sources are indeed AGNs, and (2) the optical/IR color selection separates
obscured sources (with average N_H~3x10^22 cm^-2 obtained from X-ray hardness
ratios, and optical colors and morphologies typical of galaxies) and unobscured
sources (with no X-ray absorption, and quasar colors and morphologies), with a
reliability of >~80%. The observed numbers of IRAGNs are comparable to
predictions from previous X-ray, optical, and IR luminosity functions, for the
given redshifts and IRAC flux limits. We observe a bimodal distribution in
R-[4.5] color, suggesting that luminous IR-selected AGNs have either low or
significant dust extinction, which may have implications for models of AGN
obscuration.Comment: 23 emulateapj pages, 24 figures, 4 tables, v2: minor changes match
version to appear in Ap
U(2) and Maximal Mixing of nu_{mu}
A U(2) flavor symmetry can successfully describe the charged fermion masses
and mixings, and supress SUSY FCNC processes, making it a viable candidate for
a theory of flavor. We show that a direct application of this U(2) flavor
symmetry automatically predicts a mixing of 45 degrees for nu_mu to nu_s, where
nu_s is a light, right-handed state. The introduction of an additional flavor
symmetry acting on the right-handed neutrinos makes the model
phenomenologically viable, explaining the solar neutrino deficit as well as the
atmospheric neutrino anomaly, while giving a potential hot dark matter
candidate and retaining the theory's predictivity in the quark sector.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
Root production is determined by radiation flux in a temperate grassland community
Accurate knowledge of the response of root turnover to a changing climate is needed to predict growth and produce carbon cycle models. A soil warming system and shading were used to vary soil temperature and received radiation independently in a temperate grassland dominated by Holcus lanatus L. Minirhizotrons allowed root growth and turnover to be examined non-destructively. In two short-term (8 week) experiments, root responses to temperature were seasonally distinct. Root number increased when heating was applied during spring, but root death increased during autumnal heating. An experiment lasting 12 months demonstrated that any positive response to temperature was short-lived and that over a full growing season, soil warming led to a reduction in root number and mass due to increased root death during autumn and winter. Root respiration was also insensitive to soil temperature over much of the year. In contrast, root growth was strongly affected by incident radiation. Root biomass, length, birth rate, number and turnover were all reduced by shading. Photosynthesis in H. lanatus exhibited some acclimation to shading, but assimilation rates at growth irradiance were still lower in shaded plants. The negative effects of shading and soil warming on roots were additive. Comparison of root data with environmental measurements demonstrated a number of positive relationships with photosynthetically active radiation, but not with soil temperature. This was true both across the entire data set and within a shade treatment. These results demonstrate that root growth is unlikely to be directly affected by increased soil temperatures as a result of global warming, at least in temperate areas, and that predictions of net primary productivity should not be based on a positive root growth response to temperature
Perspectives in Fundamental Physics in Space
We discuss the fundamental principles underlying the current physical
theories and the prospects of further improving their knowledge through
experiments in space.Comment: Gravitational waves, gravitomagnetism, Equivalence Principle,
Antimatter, Pioneer Anomaly, Lorentz invariance. To appear in IAA - Acta
Astronautica Journal (2006
Dark matter halos and the anisotropy of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
Several explanations for the existence of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays
invoke the idea that they originate from the decay of massive particles created
in the reheating following inflation. It has been suggested that the decay
products can explain the observed isotropic flux of cosmic rays. We have
calculated the anisotropy expected for various models of the dark matter
distribution and find that at present data are too sparse above eV to discriminate between different models. However we show that with
data from three years of operation of the southern section of the Pierre Auger
Observatory significant progress in testing the proposals will be made.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures (ps), Astroparticle Physics (accepted for
publication
The influence of in-pregnancy smoking cessation programmes on partner quitting and women's social support mobilization: a randomized controlled trial [ISRCTN89131885]
BACKGROUND: Smoking cessation interventions in pregnancy could influence a woman's social behaviour and her partner's smoking behaviour, but this has not been examined in any published randomized trials. METHOD: 918 women smoking at booking for antenatal care were enrolled in a cluster-randomized trial of three interventions: standard care, self-help manual and enhanced stage-based counselling, or self-help manual, enhanced stage-based counselling and use of an interactive computer program. The outcomes were change in social support received by women between booking for maternity care and 30 weeks gestation and 10 days postpartum and reported cessation in the woman's partner at these times. RESULTS: Few pregnant women's partners stopped smoking (4.1% at 30 weeks of gestation and 5.8% at 10 days postpartum) and the probability of quitting did not differ significantly by trial arm. Women's scores on the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors showed a slight decline from booking to 30 weeks gestation, and a slight increase to 10 days postpartum, but these changes did not differ significantly by trial arm. CONCLUSION: The stage-based interventions tested in this trial aimed partly to influence women's mobilization of support and might have influenced partners' quitting, but there was no evidence that they did so. Given that women and their partners often stopped smoking together, future interventions to prevent smoking in pregnant women could encourage both partners to quit together
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