Does ownership matter? Case studies of healthcare employee-ownership and the implications for alternative organisations

Since 2014, new employee-owned Public Service Mutuals in the UK have been created by transferring £1 shares to staff. Much current research draws upon conventional approaches to evaluating policy implementation and falls short in understanding the implications of such new ownership arrangements. Utilising insights from the critical scholarship of alternative organisations, this thesis offers to redress this absence. Long standing academic, as well as policy debates testify to the importance of talking about ownership, even if there is no consensus amongst social scientists about what it means and whether it is important as a replacement for state or private models. The capacity of employee owners to control management is doubted while organisational hierarchies’ use of co-option to seduce workers to self-discipline highlighted. This thesis investigates the dynamics of implementing employee-ownership in the context of the English healthcare sector, underpinned by a critical realist theoretical framework. Employing qualitative methods including interviews, group discussions and non-participant observations to compare four case studies the thesis asks several key questions about employee-ownership and the possibilities of alternative organising. Namely, how ownership was embraced or contested by staff; whether shareholding gave staff greater control; and how resistance to managerialism was manifested. Major observations and contributions were identified: 1) Interpretations of employee-ownership amongst local actors multiplied and became uncontrolled with managerial and individualist forms challenged by democratic-collective versions; 2) The transfer of shares initiated a new debate, creating space for arguments driven by ideals of democracy, justice and equality leading to tangible differences to management prerogatives. However, new forms of staff control over the organisation and management were limited and dependent on employees valuing ownership as more than the possession of property; 3) Staff showed substantial differences in responding to management’s version of employee-ownership. While non-ownership and indifference to shareholding were common; others embraced being an owner as they sought to radicalise its conceptualisation in their efforts to resist managerialism. The study suggests that despite shortcomings, employee-ownership in the healthcare sector has tangible (but partial) merit as an alternative organisational form. Drawing on a critical realist approach, the interaction between discursive contestation over the notion of ownership as well as the importance of non-discursive changes in organisational structure and economic roles is emphasised

Understanding the Formation and Evolution of Dark Galaxies in a Simulated Universe

We study the formation and evolution of dark galaxies using the IllustrisTNG cosmological hydrodynamical simulation. We first identify dark galaxies with stellar-to-total mass ratios, $M_* / M_{\text{tot}}$, smaller than $10^{-4}$, which differ from luminous galaxies with $M_* / M_{\text{tot}} \geq 10^{-4}$. We then select the galaxies with dark matter halo mass of $\sim 10^9 \, h^{-1}$$\rm M_{\odot}$ for mass completeness, and compare their physical properties with those of luminous galaxies. We find that at the present epoch ($z=0$), dark galaxies are predominantly located in void regions without star-forming gas. We also find that dark galaxies tend to have larger sizes and higher spin parameters than luminous galaxies. In the early universe, dark and luminous galaxies show small differences in the distributions of spin and local environment estimates, and the difference between the two samples becomes more significant as they evolve. Our results suggest that dark galaxies tend to be initially formed in less dense regions, and could not form stars because of heating from cosmic reionization and of few interactions and mergers with other systems containing stars unlike luminous galaxies. This study based on numerical simulations can provide important hints for validating dark galaxy candidates in observations and for constraining galaxy formation models.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Psychometric properties of the readiness for return to work scale in occupational rehabilitation in South Korea

This study validated the Korean version of the Readiness to Return to Work (RRTW) scale, as an assessment measure, following a musculoskeletal, work-related injury and as a measure of following return to work. The participants of this study were workers with experience in rehabilitation programs at the Workers Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL) Hospital in Korea. Factor analyses were employed to ensure the validity and reliability of the RRTW scale in claimants who were in treatment without working (the not-working group) or who had already returned to work (the working group). To test structural validity, we analyzed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) respectively for the not working group (exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (n= 200), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n= 109), and the working group (n= 123). To verify concurrent validity (multidimensional and assignment approach), the variables that were identified as relevant variables in previous studies were analyzed. The not working group EFA, as shown in the original scale, had four dimensions, and one item was deleted: (1) Precontemplation (PC), (2) Contemplation (C), (3) Prepared for Action-Self-evaluative (PAS), and (4) Prepared for Action-Behavioral (PAB). The CFA revealed that a good model fit and reliability were suitable. Regarding the working group of EFA, it appeared in two dimensions as in the original scale, one item was modified from the UM scale to the PM scale, and the reliability was appropriate. Concurrent validity was satisfied based on the correlation between the RRTW factor and related variables. RRTW in the Korean version of the instrument was similar to those reported for the original scale, indicating that it may be used in research and clinical settings

A locking-free face-centred finite volume (FCFV) method for linear elastostatics

A face-centred finite volume (FCFV) method is proposed for linear elastostatic problems. The FCFV is a mixed hybrid formulation, featuring a system of first-order equations, that defines the unknowns on the faces (edges in two dimensions) of the mesh cells. The symmetry of the stress tensor is strongly enforced using the well-known Voigt notation and the displacement and stress fields inside each cell are obtained by means of explicit formulas. The resulting FCFV method is robust and locking-free in the nearly incompressible limit. Numerical experiments in two and three dimensions show optimal convergence of the displacement and the stress fields without any reconstruction. Moreover, the accuracy of the FCFV method is not sensitive to mesh distortion and stretching. Classical benchmark tests including Kirch’s plate and Cook’s membrane problems in two dimensions as well as three dimensional problems involving shear phenomenons, pressurised thin shells and complex geometries are presented to show the capability and potential of the proposed methodology

Child-centered food systems: reorienting food systems towards healthy diets for children

Current food systems are failing to guide children towards healthy diets. This paper presents a tool to identify the actions needed to reorient food systems to become more child-centred from a nutrition perspective. To connect the dots between children's lives, their food environments and food supply systems, the tool takes a child-centred, food systems approach. Comprising six methodological steps, the tool starts by measuring and understanding children's realities and then working back up into the system to identify how food environments and supply systems could make relevant foods more or less available, affordable, appealing and aspirational in the contexts of children's lives. The paper spells out the mix of methods needed to make this assessment, gives examples of the data and studies already available and type of insights they provide, and discusses the methodological challenges and gaps. It presents a worked example that shows how following these steps in sequence enables the identification of a package of actions that can act coherently to reorient food systems in the way most likely to have impact on child malnutrition

Does the compact city promote the pedestrian safety?

Hypothetically, the compact city form decreases Vehicle Miles Travels (VMT) and the reduced VMT indicates lower exposure of pedestrian crash. The evidences of empirical studies, however, have shown a mixed findings. We speculate that the mismatches between theory and empirical evidences may be caused by the spatial scale of study areas, focusing on spatial distribution feature of job and housing density. To explore the relationship between compactness built environment and pedestrian crash, the three regression model (Negative binomial regression, Log transformed linear regression and Poisson regression) were used for both spatial scale of study (city and neighborhood level) based on pedestrian accidents data from 2007 to 2013 in whole of Korea at city level and from 2010 to 2011 in Seoul at neighborhood level. The results indicate that there is different relationship between compact city and pedestrian safety depending on the spatial scale of study areas. In city level, the compact city doesn???t affect the pedestrian safety, whereas in neighborhood level the more compactness built environment, more the greater likelihood of pedestrian crash. Moreover, in neighborhood level the relationship between pedestrian crash and population density is opposite to employment density. This means that the spatial distribution of housing and job density is separated in this level. Result also describes the demographic variables is greater associated with the pedestrian crashes than compactness built environment variables. This suggests that the results of this study contribute better understanding of compact city form and its influence on pedestrian safety