4,190 research outputs found
Employee representation and consultative voice in multinational companies operating in Britain
Multinational companies (MNCs) from different countries of origin are widely held to have distinct preferences regarding the presence of employee representative structures and the form that employee 'voice' over management decisions takes. Such preferences are said to derive from the national models that prevail in the different countries of origin in which MNCs are based. Findings from a large-scale survey of the UK operations of MNCs indicate that country-of-origin influences on patterns of employee representation and emphasis on direct or indirect channels of employee 'voice' are attenuated by other factors, notably sector and method of growth. They also reveal significant recent innovation in representation and voice arrangements by this key group of employers
Forgiveness in Community Cultural Contexts: Applications in Therapy and Opportunities for Expanded Professional Roles
After a decade of research, forgiveness is now emerging as a legitimately recognized psychological intervention. Clinical models, in order to\u27 be useful for the broad range of clients seen in therapy, are designed to be essentially nonreligious. However, many clients are religious and many cultural groups have used forgiveness to deal with a myriad of issues, both individual and societal. Descriptions of how diverse groups are currently applying forgiveness in a community cultural context are therefore needed in the clinical literature. This article will describe three such indigenous forgiveness applications. Forgiveness is seen to address racial, gender, and religious conflicts. Implications for clinicians in the therapeutic and broader community contexts are considered
Mining State-Based Models from Proof Corpora
Interactive theorem provers have been used extensively to reason about
various software/hardware systems and mathematical theorems. The key challenge
when using an interactive prover is finding a suitable sequence of proof steps
that will lead to a successful proof requires a significant amount of human
intervention. This paper presents an automated technique that takes as input
examples of successful proofs and infers an Extended Finite State Machine as
output. This can in turn be used to generate proofs of new conjectures. Our
preliminary experiments show that the inferred models are generally accurate
(contain few false-positive sequences) and that representing existing proofs in
such a way can be very useful when guiding new ones.Comment: To Appear at Conferences on Intelligent Computer Mathematics 201
Note on the Existence of Hydrogen Atoms in Higher Dimensional Euclidean Spaces
The question of whether hydrogen atoms can exist or not in spaces with a
number of dimensions greater than 3 is revisited, considering higher
dimensional Euclidean spaces. Previous results which lead to different answers
to this question are briefly reviewed. The scenario where not only the
kinematical term of Schr\"odinger equation is generalized to a D-dimensional
space but also the electric charge conservation law (expressed here by the
Poisson law) should actually remains valid is assumed. In this case, the
potential energy in the Schr\"odinger equation goes like 1/r^{D-2}. The lowest
quantum mechanical bound states and the corresponding wave functions are
determined by applying the Numerov numerical method to solve Schr\"odinger's
eigenvalue equation. States for different angular momentum quantum number (l =
0; 1) and dimensionality (5 \leq D \leq 10) are considered. One is lead to the
result that hydrogen atoms in higher dimensions could actually exist. For the
same range of the dimensionality D, the energy eigenvalues and wave functions
are determined for l = 1. The most probable distance between the electron and
the nucleus are then computed as a function of D showing the possibility of
tiny bound states.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure
A New Human NHERF1 Mutation Decreases Renal Phosphate Transporter NPT2a Expression by a PTH-Independent Mechanism
Background: The sodium-hydrogen exchanger regulatory factor 1 (NHERF1) binds to the main renal phosphate transporter NPT2a and to the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor. We have recently identified mutations in NHERF1 that decrease renal phosphate reabsorption by increasing PTH-induced cAMP production in the renal proximal tubule. Methods: We compared relevant parameters of phosphate homeostasis in a patient with a previously undescribed mutation in NHERF1 and in control subjects. We expressed the mutant NHERF1 protein in Xenopus Oocytes and in cultured cells to study its effects on phosphate transport and PTH-induced cAMP production. Results: We identified in a patient with inappropriate renal phosphate reabsorption a previously unidentified mutation (E68A) located in the PDZ1 domain of NHERF1.We report the consequences of this mutation on NHERF1 function. E68A mutation did not modify cAMP production in the patient. PTH-induced cAMP synthesis and PKC activity were not altered by E68A mutation in renal cells in culture. In contrast to wild-type NHERF1, expression of the E68A mutant in Xenopus oocytes and in human cells failed to increase phosphate transport. Pull down experiments showed that E68A mutant did not interact with NPT2a, which robustly interacted with wild type NHERF1 and previously identified mutants. Biotinylation studies revealed that E68A mutant was unable to increase cell surface expression of NPT2a. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the PDZ1 domain is critical for NHERF1- NPT2a interaction in humans and for th
Long slit Spectropolarimetry of Jupiter and Saturn
We present ground-based limb polarization measurements of Jupiter and Saturn
consisting of full disk imaging polarimetry for the wavelength 7300 A and
spatially resolved (long slit) spectropolarimetry covering the wavelength range
5200 to 9350 A.
For the polar region of Jupiter we find for wl=6000 A a very strong radial
polarization with a seeing corrected maximum of about +11.5% in the South and
+10.0% in the North. Our model calculations demonstrate that the high limb
polarization can be explained by strongly polarizing (p~1.0), high albedo
(omega~0.98) haze particles with a scattering asymmetry parameter of g~0.6 as
expected for aggregate particles. The deduced particle parameters are
distinctively different when compared to lower latitude regions.
The spectropolarimetry of Jupiter shows a decrease in the polar limb
polarization towards longer wavelengths and a significantly enhanced
polarization in strong methane bands when compared to the adjacent continuum.
For lower latitudes the fractional polarization is small, negative, and it
depends only little on wavelength except for the strong CH4-band at 8870 A.
The South pole of Saturn shows a lower polarization (p~1.0-1.5%) than the
poles of Jupiter. The spectropolarimetric signal for Saturn decrease rapidly
with wavelength and shows no significant enhancements in the fractional
polarization in the absorption bands. These properties can be explained by a
vertically extended stratospheric haze region composed of small particles
<100nm.
In addition we find a previously not observed strong polarization feature
(p=1.5-2.0%) near the equator of Saturn. The origin of this polarization signal
is unclear but it could be related to a seasonal effect.Comment: Accepted for publication in ICARU
Signalling the Dotcom bubble: a multiple changes in persistence approach
This study investigates multiple changes in persistence in the dividend-price and price-earnings ratio of the NASDAQ composite index. Recent time series methods that are capable of signalling and dating asset price bubbles are employed, in particular the method developed by Leybourne et al. (2007). The method allows for breaks between periods in which the data are integrated of order zero I(0) and integrated of order one I(1). The results confirm the existence of the so-called Dotcom bubble with its start and end dates. Furthermore, an unexpected negative bubble was also identified, extending from the beginning of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s, suggesting that the NASDAQ stock prices were below their fundamental values as indicated by their dividend yields, finding not previously reported in the literature. As the tools used by regulators take considerable time to take effect, methods capable of picking up warnings signals of the start of a bubble could be very useful. We conjecture that the methodology can also be applied to study recent phenomena in real estate, commodity and foreign exchange markets
pH-dependent modulation of intracellular free magnesium ions with ion-selective electrodes in papillary muscle of guinea pig
A change in pH can alter the intracellular concentration of electrolytes such as intracellular Ca2+ and Na+ ([Na+]i) that are important for the cardiac function. For the determination of the role of pH in the cardiac magnesium homeostasis, the intracellular Mg2+ concentration ([Mg2+]i), membrane potential and contraction in the papillary muscle of guinea pigs using ion-selective electrodes changing extracellular pH ([pH]o) or intracellular pH ([pH]i) were measured in this study. A high CO2-induced low [pH]o causes a significant increase in the [Mg2+]i and [Na+]i, which was accompanied by a decrease in the membrane potential and twitch force. The high [pH]o had the opposite effect. These effects were reversible in both the beating and quiescent muscles. The low [pH]o-induced increase in [Mg2+]i occurred in the absence of [Mg2+]o. The [Mg2+]i was increased by the low [pH]i induced by propionate. The [Mg2+]i was increased by the low [pH]i induced by NH4Cl-prepulse and decreased by the recovery of [pH]i induced by the removal of NH4Cl. These results suggest that the pH can modulate [Mg2+]i with a reverse relationship in heart, probably by affecting the intracellular Mg2+ homeostasis, but not by Mg2+ transport across the sarcolemma
Gender equality, resilience to climate change, and the design of livestock projects for rural livelihoods
Currently, there is growing interest in how livestock projects can contribute to resilience
to the effects of climate change. In this article we recommend a shift away from gross
productivity to sustainability, via the use of thrifty local breeds, with an additional
emphasis on improving survival of young animals. These animals, due to their local
adaptations, are more likely to be resilient to climate change. There is a gender
dimension to these proposals, since smaller animals and local breeds are more likely to
be perceived by communities as suitable for husbandry by women. We recommend a
re-orientation towards an explicit gender-equality focus for these projects
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