On calibrated representations of the degenerate affine periplectic Brauer algebra

We initiate the representation theory of the degenerate affine periplectic Brauer algebra on $n$ strands by constructing its finite-dimensional calibrated representations when $n=2$. We show that any such representation that is indecomposable and does not factor through a representation of the degenerate affine Hecke algebra occurs as an extension of two semisimple representations with one-dimensional composition factors; and furthermore, we classify such representations with regular eigenvalues up to isomorphism

Strategic Leadership: Do Supply Chain Management Leaders make Better Senior Executives?

Starting in the 1990’s, various companies began to see Logistics and Supply Chain Management as tools to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace (Li et. Al., 2006). The rise of Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a critical element of various companies’ strategies raises the question of the abilities of various leaders. For most companies, there is an assumption that the senior leader(s) should be a person whose operational and tactical experiences are in the basic function the company performs (i.e., a manufacturing company would be best led by an engineer that progressed through the manufacturing process/floor/plant/etc.) However, the assumption that tactical success will result in strategic success is likely flawed. Furthermore, many organizations struggle to develop talented managers to become excellent strategic leaders. It is estimated that organizations in the United States spend up to $200 billion annually to train their workforce (Salas and Cannon-Bowers, 2001). A second study identified that over half of CEOs (62%) recognized the importance and challenges of developing trained employees (Mourao, 2018). While neither study focused specifically on strategic leadership or training, both highlight the importance companies have traditionally placed on the development of their organizations’ individuals. Given this importance across all levels of the organization, it would be safe to assume that the critical nature of strategic leadership would be equally, if not more, important to develop key employees’ skills. However, the question becomes how to select and develop the best candidates for strategic development. Traditionally, organizations were likely to choose managers for promotion that matched their primary business (Breaugh, 2011). For example, a manufacturing firm would like choose an engineer with an operations background to be its CEO or key strategic The assumption is that the functions, skills and abilities that make a person successful in an area, lead to their promotion to higher and higher levels within that organization and would be best suited to the C-level. Perhaps a better approach would be to develop strategic leaders from a pool of managers that have strategic level responsibilities within their organization. The implication is that a SCM executive is often positioned earlier in their career and has boarder set of responsibilities than many functional leaders and could possibly be a better candidate for the strategic level position. This abstract is an early step in developing the literature, theories, propositions and methodology needed to examine the role of SCM leaders as future strategic leaders in organizations

A Multiwavelength Investigation of the Relationship Between 2CG135+1 and LSI+61o 303

We present the results of a multiwavelength monitoring campaign targeting the gamma-ray source 2CG 135+1 in an attempt to confirm the association of this object with the radio/Be/X-ray binary system LSI +61o 303. The campaign included simultaneous radio, optical, infrared, and hard x-ray/gamma-ray observations carried out with a variety of instruments, covering (not continously) almost three binary cycles of LSI +61o 303 during the period April-July 1994. Three separate OSSE observations of the gamma-ray source were carried out, covering different phases of the radio lightcurve. Hard X-ray/gamma-ray emission was detected from the direction of 2CG 135+1 during the first of these OSSE observations. The signal to noise ratio of the OSSE observations was insufficient to establish a spectral or intensity correlation of the high-energy emission with simultaneous radio, optical and infrared emission of LSI +61o 303. We briefly discuss the theoretical implications of our observations.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables to be published in Astrophysical Journal, 10 April 199

"It's just horrible": a qualitative study of patients' and carers' experiences of bowel dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis

Background: Around 50% of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience neurogenic bowel dysfunction (constipation and / or faecal incontinence), reducing quality of life and increasing carer burden. No previous qualitative studies have explored the experiences of bowel problems in people with MS, or the views of their family carers. Objective: To understand 'what it is like' to live with bowel dysfunction and the impact this has on people with MS and carers. Methods: Using exploratory qualitative methods, 47 semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants recruited from specialist hospital clinics and community sources using purposive and chain-referral sampling. Data were analysed using a pragmatic inductive-deductive method. Results: Participants identified multiple psychological, physical and social impacts of bowel dysfunction. Health care professional support ranged from empathy and appropriate onward referral, to lack of interest or not referring to appropriate services. Participants want bowel issues to be discussed more openly, with clinicians instigating a discussion early after MS diagnosis and repeating enquiries regularly. Conclusions: Bowel dysfunction impacts on the lives of people with MS and their carers; their experience with care services is often unsatisfactory. Understanding patient and carer preferences about management of bowel dysfunction can inform clinical care and referral pathways

Force-detected nuclear magnetic resonance: Recent advances and future challenges

We review recent efforts to detect small numbers of nuclear spins using magnetic resonance force microscopy. Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) is a scanning probe technique that relies on the mechanical measurement of the weak magnetic force between a microscopic magnet and the magnetic moments in a sample. Spurred by the recent progress in fabricating ultrasensitive force detectors, MRFM has rapidly improved its capability over the last decade. Today it boasts a spin sensitivity that surpasses conventional, inductive nuclear magnetic resonance detectors by about eight orders of magnitude. In this review we touch on the origins of this technique and focus on its recent application to nanoscale nuclear spin ensembles, in particular on the imaging of nanoscale objects with a three-dimensional (3D) spatial resolution better than 10 nm. We consider the experimental advances driving this work and highlight the underlying physical principles and limitations of the method. Finally, we discuss the challenges that must be met in order to advance the technique towards single nuclear spin sensitivity -- and perhaps -- to 3D microscopy of molecules with atomic resolution.Comment: 15 pages & 11 figure

Towards the noise reduction of piezoelectrical-driven synthetic jet actuators

This paper details an experimental investigation aimed at reducing the noise output of piezoelectrical-driven synthetic jet actuators without compromising peak jet velocity. Specifically, the study considers double-chamber ('back-to-back') actuators for anti-phase noise suppression and corrugated-lobed orifices as a method to enhance turbulent mixing of the jets to suppress jet noise. The study involved the design, manufacture and bench test of interchangeable actuator hardware. Hot-wire anemometry and microphone recordings were employed to acquire velocity and noise measurements respectively for each chamber configuration and orifice plate across a range of excitation frequencies and for a fixed input voltage. The data analysis indicated a 32% noise reduction (20 dBA) from operating a singlechamber, circular orifice SJA to a double-chamber, corrugated-lobed orifice SJA at the Helmholtz resonant frequency. Results also showed there was a small reduction in peak jet velocity of 7% (~3 m/s) between these two cases based on orifices of the same discharge area. Finally, the electrical-to-fluidic power conversion efficiency of the double-chamber actuator was found to be 15% across all orifice designs at the resonant frequency; approximately double the efficiency of a single-chamber actuator. This work has thus demonstrated feasible gains in noise reduction and power efficiency through synthetic jet actuator design

On the injectivity of the circular Radon transform arising in thermoacoustic tomography

The circular Radon transform integrates a function over the set of all spheres with a given set of centers. The problem of injectivity of this transform (as well as inversion formulas, range descriptions, etc.) arises in many fields from approximation theory to integral geometry, to inverse problems for PDEs, and recently to newly developing types of tomography. The article discusses known and provides new results that one can obtain by methods that essentially involve only the finite speed of propagation and domain dependence for the wave equation.Comment: To appear in Inverse Problem