A Distributed Algebra System for Time Integration on Parallel Computers

We present a distributed algebra system for efficient and compact implementation of numerical time integration schemes on parallel computers and graphics processing units (GPU). The software implementation combines the time integration library Odeint from Boost with the OpenFPM framework for scalable scientific computing. Implementing multi-stage, multi-step, or adaptive time integration methods in distributed-memory parallel codes or on GPUs is challenging. The present algebra system addresses this by making the time integration methods from Odeint available in a concise template-expression language for numerical simulations distributed and parallelized using OpenFPM. This allows using state-of-the-art time integration schemes, or switching between schemes, by changing one line of code, while maintaining parallel scalability. This enables scalable time integration with compact code and facilitates rapid rewriting and deployment of simulation algorithms. We benchmark the present software for exponential and sigmoidal dynamics and present an application example to the 3D Gray-Scott reaction-diffusion problem on both CPUs and GPUs in only 60 lines of code

Priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture.

This report provides a compilation of energy efficiency measures in agriculture, their opportunities and constraints to implement energy efficient agricultural systems across Europe as a result of the AGREE (Agriculture & Energy Efficiency) Coordination and Support Action funded by the 7th research framework of the EU (www.agree.aua.gr). The report dwells on earlier reports of the consortium, which listed potential energy efficiency measures (Project Deliverable 2.3: Energy Saving Measures in Agriculture – Overview on the Basis of National Reports) and identified trade-offs and win-win situations of various energy efficiency measures in agriculture (Project Deliverable 3.1: Economic and environmental analysis of energy efficiency measures in agriculture). It shows research gaps in crop production, greenhouse production, animal husbandry and system approaches, which can be regarded as priorities for energy efficiency measures in agriculture. The report is na important input for the strategic research agenda, which is one of the main outputs of the AGREE project

Performative Work: Bridging Performativity and Institutional Theory in the Responsible Investment Field

Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and political context. Our seven-year qualitative study of a large financial data company found that the company’s initial attempt to change the responsible investment field through a performative approach failed because of the constraints posed by field practices and organizational norms on the design of the calculative device. However, the company was subsequently able to put in place another form of performativity by attending to the normative and regulative associations of the device. We theorize this route to performativity by proposing the concept of performative work, which designates the necessary institutional work to enable translation and the subsequent adoption of the device. We conclude by considering the implications of performative work for the performativity and the institutional work literatures

Universities and Pricing on Higher Education Markets

Markets and prices in higher education. When can we speak of markets, and when markets exist, how are prices set

Maintenance of cross-sector partnerships: the role of frames in sustained collaboration

We examine the framing mechanisms used to maintain a cross-sector partnership (XSP) that was created to address a complex long-term social issue. We study the first eight years of existence of an XSP that aims to create a market for recycled phosphorus, a nutrient that is critical to crop growth but whose natural reserves have dwindled significantly. Drawing on 27 interviews and over 3,000 internal documents, we study the evolution of different frames used by diverse actors in an XSP. We demonstrate the role of framing in helping actors to avoid some of the common pitfalls for an XSP, such as debilitating conflict, and in creating sufficient common ground to sustain collaboration. As opposed to a commonly held assumption in the XSP literature, we find that collaboration in a partnership does not have to result in a unanimous agreement around a single or convergent frame regarding a contentious issue. Rather, successful collaboration between diverse partners can also be achieved by maintaining a productive tension between different frames through ‘optimal’ frame plurality – not excessive frame variety that may prevent agreements from emerging, but the retention of a select few frames and the deletion of others towards achieving a narrowing frame bandwidth. One managerial implication is that resources need not be focussed on reaching a unanimous agreement among all partners on a single mega-frame vis-à-vis a contentious issue, but can instead be used to kindle a sense of unity in diversity that allows sufficient common ground to emerge, despite the variety of actors and their positions

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND INVESTORS' PERCEPTIONS OF FOREIGN IPO VALUE: AN INSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

We build on sociology-grounded research on financial market behavior and suggest a “nested” legitimacy framework to explore U.S. investor perceptions of foreign IPO value. We draw on a fuzzy-set theoretic approach to demonstrate how different combinations of monitoring and incentive-based corporate governance mechanisms lead to the same level of investor valuations of firms. We also argue that institutional factors related to the minority shareholder protection strength in the foreign IPO’s home country represent a boundary condition that affects the number of governance mechanisms required to achieve U.S. investors’ high value perceptions. Our findings, drawn from a unique, hand-collected dataset of foreign IPOs in the U.S, contribute to the sociological perspective on comparative corporate governance and the inter-dependencies between organizations and institutions

The photochemistry of N-p-toluenesulfonyl peptides: the peptide bond as an electron donor

The scope of photobiological processes that involve absorbers within a protein matrix may be limited by the vulnerability of the peptide group to attack by highly reactive redox centers consequent upon electronic excitation. We have explored the nature of this vulnerability by undertaking comprehensive product analyses of aqueous photolysates of 12 N-p-toluene-sulfonyl peptides with systematically selected structures. The results indicate that degradation includes a major pathway that is initiated by intramolecular electron transfer in which the peptide bond serves as electron donor, and the data support the likelihood of a relay process in dipeptide derivatives

Do herbivorous minnows have “plug-flow reactor” guts? Evidence from digestive enzyme activities, gastrointestinal fermentation, and luminal nutrient concentrations

Few investigations have empirically analyzed fish gut function in the context of chemical reactor models. In this study, digestive enzyme activities, levels of gastrointestinal fermentation products [short chain fatty acids (SCFA)], luminal nutrient concentrations, and the mass of gut contents were measured along the digestive tract in herbivorous and carnivorous minnows to ascertain whether their guts function as “plug-flow reactors” (PFRs). Four of the species, Campostoma anomalum, C. ornatum, C. oligolepis, and C. pauciradii, are members of a monophyletic herbivorous clade, whereas the fifth species, Nocomis micropogon, is a carnivore from an adjacent carnivorous clade. In the context of a PFR model, the activities of amylase, trypsin and lipase, and the concentrations of glucose, protein, and lipid were predicted to decrease moving from the proximal to the distal intestine. I found support for this as these enzyme activities and nutrient concentrations generally decreased moving distally along the intestine of the four Campostoma species. Furthermore, gut content mass and the low SCFA concentrations did not change (increase or decrease) along the gut of any species. Combined with a previous investigation suggesting that species of Campostoma have rapid gut throughput rates, the data presented here generally support Campostoma as having guts that function as PFRs. The carnivorous N. micropogon showed some differences in the measured parameters, which were interpreted in the contexts of intake and retention time to suggest that PFR function breaks down in this carnivorous species

From Interactions to Institutions: Microprocesses of Framing and Mechanisms for the Structuring of Institutional Fields

Despite the centrality of meaning to institutionalization, little attention has been paid to how meanings evolve and amplify to become institutionalized cultural conventions. We develop an interactional framing perspective to explain the microprocesses and mechanisms by which this occurs. We identify three amplification processes and three ways frames stack up or laminate that become the building blocks for diffusion and institutionalization of meanings within organizations and fields. Although we focus on “bottom-up” dynamics, we argue that framing occurs in a politicized social context and is inherently bidirectional, in line with structuration, because microlevel interactions instantiate macrostructures. We consider how our approach complements other theories of meaning making, its utility for informing related theoretical streams, and its implications for organizing at the meso and macro levels