New Product Development and Product Supply Within a Network Setting: The Case of the Chilled Ready-Meal Industry in the UK

This paper analyses inter-organizational networks that link together firms operating in the food processing and distribution industry in the UK. In doing so, the paper draws on insights recently developed by Mark Casson that treat inter-firm networks as an institutional response to the changing costs and opportunities of information management. Detailed analysis of product innovation and supply chain management issues within the industry, exemplified by the growth of chilled ready-meals, leads to the identification of two distinct but complementary inter-firm networks: a network of control and a network of innovation. In each case, the study finds that the critical information is derived from the retailers’ interface with consumers and thus that these information-based networks are effectively controlled by the leading supermarket chains. The study’s conclusions are considered in relation to the recent findings of the Competition Commission following its investigation into grocery retailing in the UK

Patterns of Innovation in UK Industry: Exploring the CIS Data to Contrast High and Low Technology Industries.

This paper is divided into two parts. The first part is an examination of the OECD classification of industries into high, medium and low technology industries, to look at the basis for this classification and to use that as a benchmark with which to classify the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) data for the UK into similar groupings. The industries are ranked according to their research intensities and the rankings between the two datasets are compared. Some features of the UK rankings are highlighted and anomalies between the two datasets pointed out. The second part of the paper goes on to use the OECD classification into high, medium and low technology industries, applied to the CIS dataset, to contrast patterns of innovation in high technology industries with those in low technology industries. We build on the three types of innovation surveyed in the CIS, namely product, process and organisational innovation and contrast those types across high and low technology sectors. The expected relationship between high technology industries and product innovation holds - that enterprises tend to do more product innovation, the higher their research intensity. But process innovation does not conform to this pattern and there is not such a clear division between high and low technology industries. However the way they do process innovations differs with high technology industries more reliant on internal resources whereas lower technology industries tend to do it using external resources in collaboration with others. Organisational innovation is more complex, with certain types of innovation done as widely by lower technology industries as by the more research intensive industries. This supports the idea that all types of innovation should be considered, with the diffusion of ICTs making an impact across the technological spectrum of industries and showing up in various forms of organisational innovation

Over The Edge: What Should We Do When Alcohol and Drug Use Become a Problem to Society?

The purpose of this issue guide is to help people talk together about what we should do when alcohol and drug use becomes a problem to society. It begins with an overview of substance use and abuse in the United States and the impact this has on individuals, families, and communities. It then offers three options for addressing the issue, along with potential actions that could be taken. These are starting points for the conversation, which may lead to other insights and possibilities.People from seven organizations across the country participated in developing the guide, conducting interviews, surveys, and conversations with diverse people in their communities to capture different views on the issue. The organizations included the Community College of Baltimore County, San Diego Deliberation Network, Tennessee State University, University of Alaska Anchorage, Walden University, SUNY Broome Community College, and the West Virginia Center for Civic Life.The guide may be used to support a single conversation or a series of conversations. The following suggestions can help you get started:Invite participants to share how substance use and abuse has affected them, their families, and others they know. Many will have direct experiences and are likely to mention concerns identified in the guide.Consider each option one at a time, using the actions and drawbacks as examples to illustrate what each option entails.Review the conversation as a group, and identify areas of common ground as well as disagreement. Talk about possible next steps, individually and as a group

Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Low-Income Families: Correlates and Change in Prevalence Over the First 5 Years of a Child’s Life

Despite evidence that individuals living in low-income and rural communities may be at heightened risk for intimate partner violence (IPV), little is known about the prevalence and nature of IPV occurring in these communities. The goal of the current study, therefore, was to characterize IPV occurring in a population-based sample of families living in communities characterized by rural poverty. Specifically, we examined the prevalence, severity, and chronicity of IPV occurring in this high-risk sample, as well as the demographic correlates thereof. Using data from multiple assessments across the first five years of their child’s life, we also examined changes in the prevalence of IPV across this time. Results indicate that IPV was most prevalent around the birth of the target child and that the population-level prevalence of IPV decreased significantly over the subsequent five years. Although previous research suggests that children under the age of five are at heightened risk for IPV relative to older children, this is the first study to our knowledge to demonstrate that there are changes in the prevalence of IPV within this high-risk age period

Developing hypnotic analogues of clinical delusions : Mirrored-self misidentification

Introduction. Despite current research interest in delusional beliefs, there are no viable models for studying delusions in the laboratory. However, hypnosis offers a technique for creating transient delusions that are resistant to challenge. The aim of this study was to develop an hypnotic analogue of one important delusion, mirrored-self misidentification. Methods. Twelve high hypnotisable participants received an hypnotic suggestion to see either a stranger in the mirror, a mirror as a window, or a mirror as a window with a view to a stranger. Participants' deluded beliefs were challenged, and following hypnosis, Sheehan and McConkey's (1982) Experiential Analysis Technique was used to explore participants' phenomenological experience of the delusion. Results. The majority of participants did not recognise their reflection in the mirror, described the person in the mirror as having different physical characteristics to themselves, and maintained their delusion when challenged. Conclusions. The hypnotic suggestion created a credible, compelling delusion with features strikingly similar to clinical cases of mirrored-self misidentification. Our findings suggest that Factor 2 within Langdon and Coltheart's (2000) two-factor framework may involve a lowering of the criteria used to accept or reject delusional hypotheses.PostprintPeer reviewe

The effect of study design on the reporting of mortality due to colorectal cancer in adults with mental illness in Nova Scotia

Objective: Some studies suggest a higher case fatality from colorectal cancer (CRC) in psychiatric patients even though the incidence is no greater than in the general population. However, this finding is not universal and may be confounded by study design (for example, inception, compared with historical, cohort), mean cohort age, or delays in presentation with more advanced staging at diagnosis. We assessed how study design and cancer stage at presentation affected outcomes in psychiatric patients

Gaps in affiliation indexing in Scopus and PubMed.

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to determine whether unexpected gaps existed in Scopus\u27s author affiliation indexing of publications written by the University of Nebraska Medical Center or Nebraska Medicine (UNMC/NM) authors during 2014. METHODS: First, we compared Scopus affiliation identifier search results to PubMed affiliation keyword search results. Then, we searched Scopus using affiliation keywords (UNMC, etc.) and compared the results to PubMed affiliation keyword and Scopus affiliation identifier searches. RESULTS: We found that Scopus\u27s records for approximately 7% of UNMC/NM authors\u27 publications lacked appropriate UNMC/NM author affiliation identifiers, and many journals\u27 publishers were supplying incomplete author affiliation information to PubMed. CONCLUSIONS: Institutions relying on Scopus to track their impact should determine whether Scopus\u27s affiliation identifiers will, in fact, identify all articles published by their authors and investigators

Salivary Cortisol Mediates Effects of Poverty and Parenting on Executive Functions in Early Childhood

In a predominantly low-income population-based longitudinal sample of 1,292 children followed from birth, higher level of salivary cortisol assessed at ages 7, 15, and 24 months was uniquely associated with lower executive function ability and to a lesser extent IQ at age 3 years. Measures of positive and negative aspects of parenting and household risk were also uniquely related to both executive functions and IQ. The effect of positive parenting on executive functions was partially mediated through cortisol. Typical or resting level of cortisol was increased in African American relative to White participants. In combination with positive and negative parenting and household risk, cortisol mediated effects of African American ethnicity, income-to-need, and maternal education on child cognitive ability.

Relations Among Intimate Partner Violence, Maternal Depressive Symptoms, and Maternal Parenting Behaviors

The authors examined the relations among intimate partner violence (IPV), maternal depressive symptoms, and maternal harsh intrusive parenting. Using a cross-lagged, autoregressive path model, they sought to clarify the directionality of the relations among these 3 variables over the first 2 years of the child’s life. The results indicated that, in this diverse sample of families living in predominantly low-income rural communities (N = 705), higher levels of early IPV were associated with increases in maternal depressive symptoms, which in turn were associated with increases in maternal harsh intrusive parenting behaviors. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving the parenting of women exposed to domestic violence may want to simultaneously target IPV and depressive symptomatology