The Effectiveness of Top Management Groups in Manufacturing Organisations

We test whether demographic characteristics and team processes in top management teams predict the subsequent productivity and profitability of their companies in 42 UK manufacturing organisation. The results that there are independent effects of both demographic characteristics and team processes. Team member mean educational level and team tenure both predict the subsequent productivity and profitability of the companies positively, while age diversity in the team is a negative predictor of company performance. Team processes (clarity of and commitment to objectives, participation, task orientation, and support for innovation) predict (positively) company performance. Only mean educational level, of the demographic variables, also predicts team processes, suggesting that the effects of demographic variables on company performance are not strongly mediated by team processes. The implications of these findings for the composition and development of top management teams are discussed.

Transfer Pricing in the Decentralized Multinational Corporation

This paper considers how the multinational corporation\u27s transfer price responds to changes in international corporate effective tax rates. It extends the decentralized decision-making analysis of transfer pricing in the context of different tax rates. It adopts and extends Bond\u27s (1980) model of the decentralized multinational corporation that assumes centralized transfer pricing. The direction of transfer price change is as expected, while the magnitude of change is likely to be less than predicted by the Horst (1971), centralized decision-making model. The paper extends the model further by assuming negotiated transfer pricing, where the analysis is partitioned into perfect and imperfect information cases. The negotiated transfer pricing result reverts to the Horst (1971), or centralized decision-making, result, under perfect information. Under imperfect information, the centralized decision-making result obtains when top management successfully informs division general managers or it successfully implements a non-monetary reward scheme to encourage division general managers to cooperate. Under simplifying assumptions, centralized decision-making dominates decentralized decision-making, while negotiated transfer pricing weakly dominates centralized transfer pricing

The ambient hydration of the aluminophosphate JDF-2 to AlPO-53(A):insights from NMR crystallography

The aluminophosphate (AlPO) JDF-2 is prepared hydro­thermally with methyl­ammonium hydroxide (MAH+·HO-, MAH+ = CH3NH3+), giving rise to a microporous AEN-type framework with occluded MAH+ cations and extra-framework (Al-bound) HO- anions. Despite the presence of these species within its pores, JDF-2 can hydrate upon exposure to atmospheric moisture to give AlPO-53(A), an isostructural material whose crystal structure contains one mol­ecule of H2O per formula unit. This hydration can be reversed by mild heating (such as the frictional heating from magic angle spinning). Previous work has shown good agreement between the NMR parameters obtained experimentally and those calculated from the (optimized) crystal structure of JDF-2. However, several discrepancies are apparent between the experimental NMR parameters for AlPO-53(A) and those calculated from the (optimized) crystal structure (e.g. four 13C resonances are observed, rather than the expected two). The unexpected resonances appear and disappear reversibly with the respective addition and removal of H2O, so clearly arise from AlPO-53(A). We investigate the ambient hydration of JDF-2 using qu­anti­tative 31P MAS NMR to follow the transformation over the course of 3 months. The structures of JDF-2 and AlPO-53(A) are also investigated using a combination of multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy to characterize the samples, and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations to evaluate a range of possible structural models in terms of calculated NMR parameters and energetics. The published structure of JDF-2 is shown to be a good representation of the dehydrated material, but modification of the published structure of AlPO-53(A) is required to provide calculated NMR parameters that are in better agreement with experiment. This modification includes reorientation of all the MAH+ cations and partial occupancy of the H2O sites

Evaluation of a direct access cardiac arrhythmia monitoring service

Background: This paper describes the clinical outcomes from a novel direct access arrhythmia monitoring service. Methods: The study was carried out in the north of Scotland. Data was collected over a 29 month period between 18 June 2008 and 8 November 2010 from consecutive cases from two groups of patients, general practitioner (GP) direct access and ‘redirected’ consultant referrals. Monitor test results, frequency of arrhythmias requiring further care and clinic attendances were recorded. Statistical differences were analyzed using Χ2, Fisher’s and Student’s t-test as appropriate with the significance taken at the 0.05 level. Results: 239 patients were referred from 47 GP practices. There were 165 (69%) referrals through the ‘direct’ and 72 (31%) through the ‘redirected’ route. The average age was 55.5 ± ± 16.7 years with 84 (35.1%) males. 127 (53.1%) had a patient activated event recording and the remaining 112 (46.9%) had Holter monitoring. Of the 239 patients, only nine (3.8%) cases required referral to a consultant cardiologist. Of these, three were directly returned to GP care without consultant clinic review. Six patients with significant arrhythmias were reviewed at cardiology clinic. There were no adverse events. Conclusions: Direct access for cardiac arrhythmia monitoring seems to provide an effective mechanism for diverting inappropriate or non-essential referrals away from the cardiology clinic. (Cardiol J 2012; 19, 1: 70–75

Solar Simulator Represents the Mars Surface Solar Environment

A report discusses the development of a Mars surface, laboratory-based solar simulator to create solar cells that can function better on Mars. The Mars Optimized Solar cell Technology (MOST) required defining the surface incident spectrum, developing an appropriate laboratory solar simulator measurement capability, and developing and testing commercial cells modified for the Mars surface spectrum

Molecular Characterization of \u3ci\u3eCitrus tatter leaf virus\u3c/i\u3e Historically Associated with Meyer Lemon Trees: Complete Genome Sequence and Development of Biologically Active In Vitro Transcripts

Citrus tatter leaf virus isolated from Meyer lemon trees (CTLV-ML) from California and Florida induces bud union incompatibility of citrus trees grafted on the widely used trifoliate and trifoliate hybrid rootstocks. The complete genome sequence of CTLV-ML was determined to be 6,495 nucleotides (nts), with two overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) and a poly (A) tail at the 3′ end. The genome organization is similar to other capilloviruses, with ORF1 (nts 37 to 6,354) encoding a putative 242-kDa polyprotein which contains replication-associated domains plus a coat protein (CP), and ORF2 (nts 4,788 to 5,750), which is located within ORF1 in a different reading frame and encodes a putative movement protein. Although the proteins encoded by CTLV-ML possesses 84 to 96% amino acid sequence identity with strains of Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV), we observed two strikingly different regions in ORF1: variable region I (amino acids 532 to 570) and variable region II (amino acids 1,583 to 1,868), with only 15 to 18 and 56 to 62% identities, respectively, with the corresponding regions of ASGV strains. Conditions for a herbaceous systemic assay host were optimized in which the wildtype virus induced systemic infection in Phaseolus vulgaris cv. Light Red Kidney (LRK) bean plants at 19 or 22°C but not at higher temperatures. In vitro transcripts generated from full-length cDNA clones induced systemic symptoms on LRK bean plants similar to that of the wild-type virus. Replication of the recombinant virus was confirmed by hybridization of a 5′ positive-stranded RNA-specific probe to a genome-sized RNA and by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction

Corrigendum: Inexpensive Aerial Photogrammetry for Studies of Whales and Large Marine Animals

We describe a simple system enabling accurate measurement of swimming marine mammals and other large vertebrates from low-altitude single-frame photogrammetry via inexpensive modifications to a “prosumer” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with gimballed micro4/3 camera and 25 mm lens. Image scale is established via an independently powered LIDAR/GPS data-logging system recording altitude and GPS location at 1 Hz. Photogrammetric calibration of the camera and lens allowed distortion parameters to be rigorously accounted for during image analysis, via a custom-programmed Graphical User Interface (GUI) running in MATLAB. The datalogger, camera calibration methods and measurement software are adaptable to a wide range of UAV platforms. Mean LIDAR accuracy, measured from 10 bridges 9–39 m above water, was 99.9%. We conducted 136 flights in New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland Islands to measure southern right whales. Mean lengths of 10 individual whales, each photographed between 7 and 15 times, had CVs (SD/mean) ranging from 0.5 to 1.8% (mean = 1.2%). Repeated measurements of a floating reference target showed a mean error of c.1%. Our system is relatively inexpensive, easily put together, produces accurate, repeatable measurements from single vertical images, and hence is applicable to a wide range of ecological questions in marine and terrestrial habitats

Physiological concentrations of bile acids down-regulate agonist induced secretion in colonic epithelial cells

In patients with bile acid malabsorption, high concentrations of bile acids enter the colon and stimulate Cl− and fluid secretion, thereby causing diarrhoea. However, deoxycholic acid (DCA), the predominant colonic bile acid, is normally present at lower concentrations where its role in regulating transport is unclear. Thus, the current study set out to investigate the effects of physiologically relevant DCA concentrations on colonic epithelial secretory function. Cl− secretion was measured as changes in short-circuit current across voltage-clamped T84 cell monolayers. At high concentrations (0.5–1 mM), DCA acutely stimulated Cl− secretion but this effect was associated with cell injury, as evidenced by decreased transepithelial resistance (TER) and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. In contrast, chronic (24 hrs) exposure to lower DCA concentrations (10–200 μM) inhibited responses to Ca2+ and cAMP-dependent secretagogues without altering TER, LDH release, or secretagogue-induced increases in intracellular second messengers. Other bile acids – taurodeoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid and cholic acid – had similar antisecretory effects. DCA (50 μM) rapidly stimulated phosphorylation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFr) and both ERK and p38 MAPKs (mitogen-activated protein kinases). The EGFr inhibitor, AG1478, and the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, reversed the antisecretory effects of DCA, while the MAPK inhibitors, PD98059 and SB203580, did not. In summary, our studies suggest that, in contrast to its acute prosecretory effects at pathophysiological concentrations, lower, physiologically relevant, levels of DCA chronically down-regulate colonic epithelial secretory function. On the basis of these data, we propose a novel role for bile acids as physiological regulators of colonic secretory capacity

Planetary Phase Variations of the 55 Cancri System

Characterization of the composition, surface properties, and atmospheric conditions of exoplanets is a rapidly progressing field as the data to study such aspects become more accessible. Bright targets, such as the multi-planet 55 Cancri system, allow an opportunity to achieve high signal-to-noise for the detection of photometric phase variations to constrain the planetary albedos. The recent discovery that that inner-most planet, 55 Cancri e, transits the host star introduces new prospects for studying this system. Here we calculate photometric phase curves at optical wavelengths for the system with varying assumptions for the surface and atmospheric properties of 55 Cancri e. We show that the large differences in geometric albedo allows one to distinguish between various surface models, that the scattering phase function cannot be constrained with foreseeable data, and that planet b will contribute significantly to the phase variation depending upon the surface of planet e. We discuss detection limits and how these models may be used with future instrumentation to further characterize these planets and distinguish between various assumptions regarding surface conditions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Ap