DYNAMIC LEARNING AND CONTEXT-DEPENDENCE IN SEQUENTIAL, ATTRIBUTE-BASED CONTINGENT VALUATION

A hybrid stated-preference model is developed that combines the referendum contingent valuation response format with an experimentally designed set of attributes. A sequence of valuation questions is asked to a random sample in a mail-out mail-back format. Econometric analysis shows that willingness to pay for policy attributes is formed dynamically.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Time to shift from systems thinking-talking to systems thinking-action Comment on “Constraints to applying systems thinking concepts in health systems: A regional perspective from surveying stakeholders in Eastern Mediterranean countries”

A recent International Journal of Health Policy and Management (IJHPM) article by Fadi El-Jardali and colleagues makes an important contribution to the literature on health system strengthening by reporting on a survey of healthcare stakeholders in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) about Systems Thinking (ST). The study’s main contributions are its confirmation that healthcare stakeholders understand the importance of ST but do not know how to act on that understanding, and the call for collective action by the global community of systems thinkers committed to healthcare improvement. We offer three basic considerations for next steps by this community, derived from our recent work in ST and the related field of Knowledge Translation (KT): resist the temptation to adopt a reductionist approach; recognize not everyone needs to understand ST; and do not wait for everything to be in place before getting started

A METHOD COMPARISON STUDY OF ACCELEROMETER BASED BLOCK RESPONSE TIMES IN SPRINTING

This study aimed to provide a method comparison of a rail mounted accelerometer for detection of block response-times (RT) with an International Association of Athletic Federation (IAAF) approved automatic start control system (IAAF RT). Twenty national and international sprinters completed sprint trials under simulated race conditions. An accelerometer was placed on the block rail of blocks and RT was determined using visual inspection of the accelerometer signal and using a 3SD threshold method. On average, the visual method detected the RT event 7 ms before, and the 3SD method detected RT 1 ms after the IAAF RT. The results indicated close agreement between the 3SD threshold method and the IAAF RT, however, this highlights the need for further re-examination of threshold-based detection algorithms which may delay the detection of the RT event

Experimental and theoretical study of free-free electron-helium scattering in a CO2 laser field

International audienceFree-free transitions during the scattering of electrons by helium in the presence of a linearly polarized CO2 laser field are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Signals for laser-assisted scattering at 22 eV with absorption or emission of up to two photons are measured at scattering angles between 20° and 70°, and are compared to the values obtained from an 11-state R-matrix Floquet calculation and from the low-frequency approximation of Kroll and Watson. The two sets of theoretical results are found to be in very good agreement for the scattering geometries considered in the experiment. The order of magnitude of the experimental results is reproduced by calculations with intensities in the region of 107 W cm-2. Agreement is improved by averaging the theoretical results over the spatial distributions of the three beams as well as the temporal intensity profile of the laser pulse, and by allowing for some misalignment of the three beams in the experiment

Management innovations : Their adoption, diffusion and high-fidelity adaptation.

Innovation in the widest sense is, arguably, the only thing that drives organisations and economies forward - as such innovation ought to be a prime concern of decisionmakers, whether in the private or public spheres, but equally of those academics who study organisations. Recent research has also emphasised the importance of management innovation for firm performance, both as a complement to technological innovation (Damanpour et al. 2009) and as an independent phenomenon (Mol and Birkinshaw, 2009) and there is broad agreement that a better understanding of management innovation should be high on the research agenda (Volberda et al. 2013). This research is based on a single fine-grained longitudinal case study that focuses on the chronology as a narrative of a management innovation and uses archival data to explore not only how the case study organisation changes in order to adopt a management innovation, but also addresses research questions linked to the content, deployment approach and performance of that management innovation. It uses the case study to develop and validate a seven phase Intraorganisational Management Innovation Framework that is used to characterise the life-cycle of management innovations and also a Management Innovation Content Typology that is used to characterise their content. It finds that the role and impact of senior leadership and line manager support is consistent with Peeters et al. (2014) findings of fostering of legitimacy of the management innovation and also the actions of internal change agents to be instrumental in maintaining a high level of conformity. Fidelity to the original management innovation is also enhanced by recipients' participation in a global Performance Management System (De Waal, 2004) with its ingredients of a Strategy House, Policy Deployment Matrix and a weekly performance review or Comms Cell.The study also shows an emerging pattern of resistance from individuals to the adoption of the management innovation and it attributes this partly to 'over-zealous' behaviours by the internal change agents linking these to their role and psychological profiles. Rowland and Higgs (2009) describe this as 'shaping' leadership behaviours and a 'directive' approach to change. The study identifies the management innovation as 'hybridised' (Mamman, 2002) with its 'roots' in the existing disciplines of Project Management, Organisational Development and Lean Six Sigma or Continuous Improvement - this is consistent with the Gibson and Tesone (2001) argument that management innovations will morph into other names as time goes by

BRIEF REPORT Does Categorical Perception in the Left Hemisphere Depend on Language?

Categorical perception (CP) refers to the influence of category knowledge on perception and is revealed by a superior ability to discriminate items across categories relative to items within a category. In recent years, the finding that CP is lateralized to the left hemisphere in adults has been interpreted as evidence for a kind of CP driven by language. The present research challenges this conclusion. In 2 experiments, we found that CP for novel object categories was stronger in the left hemisphere than in the right, consistent with a role for language. However, both labeled and unlabeled categories gave rise to such effects, and to comparable degrees. These results suggest that left-lateralized CP does not depend on language but rather may reflect the left hemisphere's more general propensity for categorical processing. Our findings raise implications for research on linguistic relativity

Synthesis, powder-metallurgical production and lithium tracer diffusion in LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 cathode material for lithium-ion batteries

The Li(Ni0.33Mn0.33Co0.33)O2 (NMC333) compound is one of the most promising cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. In the following, the solid-state reaction in a two-step synthesis scheme of this material is examined, as well as the powder-metallurgical production of sintered bulk samples. Long range Li tracer self-diffusion is investigated in polycrystalline sintered bulk NMC333 samples with an average grain size of about 50 nm. For analysis, stable 6Li tracers are used in combination with secondary ion mass spectrometry. At a temperature of T = 300 °C the determined Li diffusivity yields DLi = 4.9 ∙ 10-16 m2/s

How language shapes anti-fat bias: comparing the effects of disease and fat-rights framing

Being fat is often described as a “disease”—a form of linguistic framing that may exacerbate bias against fat people rather than reduce it as intended. Framing fatness as a matter of equal treatment and respect (“fat rights”) may be more effective for bias reduction. In a preregistered experiment (N = 401), we directly compared the effects of disease and fat-rights framing on attitudes toward fat people. Participants read a news article that affirmed or negated (a) the claim that fatness is a disease and (b) the unacceptability of weight discrimination, and then expressed their attitudes toward fat people. Disease-affirming articles yielded more negative attitudes than disease-negating articles, but only for participants who explicitly recognized that the article influenced their attitudes. For these participants, fat-rights framing also had a significant impact: those who read a disease-affirming article expressed less negative attitudes toward fat people when the article also affirmed rather than negated fat rights. These results show that language can shift public opinion about fatness when people are aware of its persuasive power. Our findings support a social-pragmatic account of linguistic framing and have implications for real-world anti-bias efforts