Employee voice and collective formation in the Indian ITES-BPO industry

The growth of the information technology enabled services-business process outsourcing industry calls for attention to employees' working conditions and rights. Can an independent organisation such as unites Pro (the union of information technology enabled services professionals) represent employees' interests and effectively work towards protecting their rights and improving their working conditions? A survey of unites members indicates that they identify with the need for such an organisation to deal with poor supervisory and managerial treatment, concerns for employee safety, grievances related to pay and workload, and even the indignities of favouritism

Preserving the Autographic/Allographic Distinction

In his study of forms of representation, Nel- son Goodman sought to explain why some representations, like words or musical scores, are considered replicable while others, such as paintings, are not. He named the replicable rep- resentations allographic and the ones we consider nonreplicable autographic (Goodman 1976, 113). His explanation of what grounds this distinction is in his theory of notations (chaps. IV–V). That theory essentially seeks to secure the possibility of identity for representations, as well as the possibility of knowing such identity, by setting out a number of requirements. Unless a repre- sentational practice satisfies the requirements (is “amenable to notation” [121]), the token repre- sentations it produces cannot count as identical to one another or else cannot be known to be identi- cal. That is why we consider such representations nonreplicable, that is, autographic. According to Goodman, written words satisfy some of the requirements for notations (Good- man 1976, 140), with the result that word tokens can be grouped into types whose members are equivalent and interchangeable. Pictures satisfy no notational requirements: “The sketch . . . is not in a language or notation at all, but in a system without either syntactic or semantic differentia- tion” (192). This means that token pictures can- not be classified into groupings whose members are type-identical and interchangeable. In other words, no picture can count as a replica of another picture, and pictures are autographic. In 2012, I published an analysis of digital pic- tures in this journal that cast doubt on Goodman’s distinction between allographic and autographic representations (Zeimbekis 2012). I argued that (i) digital pictures are replicable representations and therefore allographic, (ii) digital pictures are not notational representations, and (iii) there is no obstacle in principle to conceiving of all pictures as replicable (allographic) representations. In a recent article, Jason D’Cruz and P. D. Mag- nus reject points (ii) and (iii) (2014, Section iii). Concerning (i), they agree that digital pictures are allographic, but they argue that they are al- lographic because they are notational, whereas I argue that digital pictures are allographic despite not being notational. To defend these positions, D’Cruz and Magnus have to rebut my own views. However, when it comes to doing this, they mis- understand key parts of my proposal and fail to grasp the proposal’s structure. As a result, they succeed neither in rebutting points (ii) and (iii) nor in justifying point (i)

RAT J0455+1305: A rare hybrid pulsating subdwarf B star

We present results on the second-faintest pulsating subdwarf B (sdB) star known, RAT J0455+1305, derived from photometric data obtained in 2009. It shows both short and long periods oscillations, theoretically assigned as pressure and gravity modes. We identify six short-period frequencies (with one being a combination) and six long-period frequencies. This star is the fourth hybrid sdB star discovered so far which makes it of special interest as each type of mode probes a different part of the star. This star is similar to the sdB hybrid pulsator Balloon 090100001 in that it exhibits short-period mode groupings, which can be used to identify pulsation parameters and constrain theoretical models.Comment: published in MNRA

The clinical assessment study of the foot (CASF): study protocol for a prospective observational study of foot pain and foot osteoarthritis in the general population.

BACKGROUND: Symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) affects approximately 10% of adults aged over 60 years. The foot joint complex is commonly affected by OA, yet there is relatively little research into OA of the foot, compared with other frequently affected sites such as the knee and hand. Existing epidemiological studies of foot OA have focussed predominantly on the first metatarsophalangeal joint at the expense of other joints. This three-year prospective population-based observational cohort study will describe the prevalence of symptomatic radiographic foot OA, relate its occurrence to symptoms, examination findings and life-style-factors, describe the natural history of foot OA, and examine how it presents to, and is diagnosed and managed in primary care. METHODS: All adults aged 50 years and over registered with four general practices in North Staffordshire, UK, will be invited to participate in a postal Health Survey questionnaire. Respondents to the questionnaire who indicate that they have experienced foot pain in the preceding twelve months will be invited to attend a research clinic for a detailed clinical assessment. This assessment will consist of: clinical interview; physical examination; digital photography of both feet and ankles; plain x-rays of both feet, ankles and hands; ultrasound examination of the plantar fascia; anthropometric measurement; and a further self-complete questionnaire. Follow-up will be undertaken in consenting participants by postal questionnaire at 18 months (clinic attenders only) and three years (clinic attenders and survey participants), and also by review of medical records. DISCUSSION: This three-year prospective epidemiological study will combine survey data, comprehensive clinical, x-ray and ultrasound assessment, and review of primary care records to identify radiographic phenotypes of foot OA in a population of community-dwelling older adults, and describe their impact on symptoms, function and clinical examination findings, and their presentation, diagnosis and management in primary care

Medication decision-making and adherence in lupus: patient–physician discordance and the impact of previous ‘adverse medical experiences’

OBJECTIVES: Medication adherence is critical in the successful management of lupus. There is very limited existing literature on reasons why non-adherence is not reported. This study explores the impact of current and previous medical experiences on patient satisfaction, adherence and reporting of non-adherence. METHODS: Mixed methodology involved thematic analysis of in-depth interviews (N = 23) to further explore the statistically analysed quantitative survey findings (N = 186). RESULTS: This study identified five themes: 1) physician-patient discordance and a 'hierarchy of evidence' in medication decisions, 2) the association of adherence with satisfaction with care, 3) the persisting impact of past Adverse Medical Experiences (AMEs), 4) the dynamic balance of patient-physician control, and 5) holistic care - beyond a purely medication- based focus. Improving quality of life (43% of participants) and a supportive medical relationship (24%) were the main reasons for adherence. Patient-priorities and self-reported symptoms were perceived as less important to physicians than organ-protection and blood results. Non-reporters of non-adherence, non-adherers and those with past AMEs (e.g. psychosomatic misdiagnoses) had statistically significant lower satisfaction with care. The importance of listening to patients was a key component of every theme, and associated with patient satisfaction and adherence. The mean rating for rheumatologist's listening skills was 2.88 for non-adherers compared to 3.53 for other participants (mean difference 0.65, P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: Patients would like more weight and discussion given to self-reported symptoms and quality of life in medication decisions. Greater understanding and interventions are required to alleviate the persisting impact of past AMEs on some patients' wellbeing, behaviour and current medical relationships

Excitation of the 3.071mm Hyperfine Line in Li-Like 57-Fe in Astrophysical Plasmas

As noted first by Sunyaev & Churazov (1984), the 3.071 mm hyperfine line from $^{57}Fe^{+23}$ might be observable in astrophysical plasmas. We assess the atomic processes which might contribute to the excitation of this line. We determine the intensity of the hyperfine line from an isothermal, coronal plasma in collisional ionization equilibrium and for a coronal plasma cooling isobarically due to its own radiation. Comparisons of the hyperfine line to other lines emitted by the same ion, Fe$^{+23}$, are shown to be useful for deriving the isotopic fraction of $^{57}$Fe. We calculate the ratios of the hyperfine line to the 2s--2p EUV lines at 192 \AA and 255 \AA, and the 2s--3p X-ray doublet at 10.6 \AA.Comment: 28 pages text+figures, Accepted to ApJ in Jan 98, also at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~nld2n/research.htm

J08069+1527: A newly discovered high amplitude, hybrid subdwarf B pulsator

We present our discovery of a new hybrid pulsating subdwarf B star, J08069+1527. The effective temperature and surface gravity of 28,500$\pm$400\,K and 5.37$\pm$0.04\,dex, respectively, place this object inside the instability strip and also among other pulsating hot subdwarfs of a hybrid nature, right next to another fascinating star: Balloon\,090100001. From this proximity, we anticipated this star could pulsate in both high and low frequency modes. Indeed, our analysis of photometric data confirmed our prediction. We detected two peaks in the high frequency region and two other peaks at low frequencies. In addition, the amplitude of the dominant mode is very high and comparable to the dominant peaks in other hybrid subdwarf B stars. Since this star is bright, we performed time-series low resolution spectroscopy. Despite a low signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, we were able to detect the main peak from these data. All our results strongly indicate that J08069+1527 is a high amplitude pulsating hot subdwarf B star of hybrid nature. By analogy to the other pulsating sdB star, we judge that the dominant mode we detected here has radial nature. Future stellar modeling should provide us with quite good constrains as p- and g-modes presented in this star are driven in different parts of its interior.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Neurobehavioral Abnormalities in Firest-Degree Relative of Individuals With Autism

CONTEXT: Studying sensorimotor and neurocognitive impairments in unaffected family members of individuals with autism may help identify familial pathophysiological mechanisms associated with the disorder. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether atypical sensorimotor or neurocognitive characteristics associated with autism are present in first-degree relatives of individuals with autism. DESIGN: Case-control comparison of neurobehavioral functions. SETTING: University medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-seven first-degree relatives of individuals with autism and 40 age-, sex-, and IQ-matched healthy control participants (aged 8-54 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Oculomotor tests of sensorimotor responses (saccades and smooth pursuit); procedural learning and response inhibition; neuropsychological tests of motor, memory, and executive functions; and psychological measures of social behavior, communication skills, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. RESULTS: On eye movement testing, family members demonstrated saccadic hypometria, reduced steady-state pursuit gain, and a higher rate of voluntary response inhibition errors relative to controls. They also showed lateralized deficits in procedural learning and open-loop pursuit gain (initial 100 milliseconds of pursuit) and increased variability in the accuracy of large-amplitude saccades that were confined to rightward movements. In neuropsychological studies, only executive functions were impaired relative to those of controls. Family members reported more communication abnormalities and obsessive-compulsive behaviors than controls. Deficits across oculomotor, neuropsychological, and psychological domains were relatively independent from one another. CONCLUSIONS: Family members of individuals with autism demonstrate oculomotor abnormalities implicating pontocerebellar and frontostriatal circuits and left-lateralized alterations of frontotemporal circuitry and striatum. The left-lateralized alterations have not been identified in other neuropsychiatric disorders and are of interest given atypical brain lateralization and language development associated with the disorder. Similar oculomotor deficits have been reported in individuals with autism, suggesting that they may be familial and useful for studies of neurophysiological and genetic mechanisms in autism