The Performativity of Literature Reviewing: Constituting the Corporate Social Responsibility Literature through Re-Presentation and Intervention

Although numerous books and articles provide toolkit approaches to explain how to conduct literature reviews, these prescriptions regard literature reviewing as the production of representations of academic fields. Such representationalism is rarely questioned. Building on insights from social studies of science, we conceptualize literature reviewing as a performative endeavor that co-constitutes the literature it is supposed to “neutrally” describe, through a dual movement of re-presenting—constructing an account different from the literature, and intervening—adding to and potentially shaping this literature. We discuss four problems inherent to this movement of performativity—description, explicitness, provocation, and simulacrum—and then explore them through a systematic review of 48 reviews of the literature on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for the period 1975-2019. We provide evidence for the performative role of literature reviewing in the CSR field through both re-presenting and intervening. We find that reviews performed the CSR literature and, accordingly, the field’s boundaries, categories, priorities in a self-sustaining manner. By reflexively subjecting our own systematic review to the four performative problems we discuss, we also derive implications of performative analysis for the practice of literature reviewing

On the improvement of the low energy neutrino factory

The low energy neutrino factory has been proposed as a very sensitive setup for future searches for CP violation and matter effects. Here we study how its performance is affected when the experimental specifications of the setup are varied. Most notably, we have considered the addition of the 'platinum' nu_{mu} -> nu_{e} channel. We find that, whilst theoretically the extra channel provides very useful complementary information and helps to lift degeneracies, its practical usefulness is lost when considering realistic background levels. Conversely, an increase in statistics in the 'golden' nu_{e} -> nu_{mu} channel and, to some extent, an improvement in the energy resolution, lead to an important increase in the performance of the facility, given the rich energy dependence of the 'golden' channel at these energies. We show that a low energy neutrino factory with a baseline of 1300 km, muon energy of 4.5 GeV, and either a 20 kton totally active scintillating detector or 100 kton liquid argon detector, can have outstanding sensitivity to the neutrino oscillation parameters theta13, delta and the mass hierarchy. For our estimated exposure of 2.8 x 10^{23} kton x decays per muon polarity, the low energy neutrino factory has sensitivity to theta13 and delta for sin^{2}(2theta13) > 10^{-4} and to the mass hierarchy for sin^{2}(2theta13) > 10^{-3}.Comment: 13 pages, 8 eps figures. Version published in PRD - experimental section with preliminary results removed, abstract and conclusions re-written accordingly, title changed, author list amended

Spherically symmetric models: separating expansion from contraction in models with anisotropic pressures

We investigate spherically symmetric spacetimes with an anisotropic fluid and discuss the existence and stability of a dividing shell separating expanding and collapsing regions. We find that the dividing shell is defined by a relation between the pressure gradients, both isotropic and anisotropic, and the strength of the fields induced by the Misner-Sharpe mass inside the separating shell and by the pressure fluxes. This balance is a generalization of the Tolman-Oppenheimer- Volkoff equilibrium condition which defines a local equilibrium condition, but conveys also a non- local character given the definition of the Misner-Sharpe mass. We present a particular solution with dust and radiation that provides an illustration of our results.Comment: 4pp Towards New Paradigms: Proceeding Of The Spanish Relativity Meeting 2011. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1458, pp. 487-490 (2012). Published in AIP Conf.Proc. 1458 (2011) 487-49

Reparameterizing the Birkhoff Polytope for Variational Permutation Inference

Many matching, tracking, sorting, and ranking problems require probabilistic reasoning about possible permutations, a set that grows factorially with dimension. Combinatorial optimization algorithms may enable efficient point estimation, but fully Bayesian inference poses a severe challenge in this high-dimensional, discrete space. To surmount this challenge, we start with the usual step of relaxing a discrete set (here, of permutation matrices) to its convex hull, which here is the Birkhoff polytope: the set of all doubly-stochastic matrices. We then introduce two novel transformations: first, an invertible and differentiable stick-breaking procedure that maps unconstrained space to the Birkhoff polytope; second, a map that rounds points toward the vertices of the polytope. Both transformations include a temperature parameter that, in the limit, concentrates the densities on permutation matrices. We then exploit these transformations and reparameterization gradients to introduce variational inference over permutation matrices, and we demonstrate its utility in a series of experiments

The role of shell crossing on the existence and stability of trapped matter shells in spherical inhomogeneous \Lambda-CDM models

We analyse the dynamics of trapped matter shells in spherically symmetric inhomogeneous \Lambda-CDM models. The investigation uses a Generalised Lema\^itre-Tolman-Bondi description with initial conditions subject to the constraints of having spatially asymptotic cosmological expansion, initial Hubble-type flow and a regular initial density distribution. We discuss the effects of shell crossing and use a qualitative description of the local trapped matter shells to explore global properties of the models. Once shell crossing occurs, we find a splitting of the global shells separating expansion from collapse into, at most, two global shells: an inner and an outer limit trapped matter shell. In the case of expanding models, the outer limit trapped matter shell necessarily exists. We also study the role of shear in this process, compare our analysis with the Newtonian framework and give concrete examples using density profile models of structure formation in cosmology.Comment: 17pp 12fig

Brane Isotropisation in Extra-Dimensional Tolman-Bondi Universe

We consider the dynamics of a 3-brane embedded in an extra-dimensional Tolman-Bondi Universe where the origin of space plays a special role. The embedding is chosen such that the induced matter distribution on the brane respects the spherical symmetry of matter in the extra dimensional space. The mirage cosmology on the probe brane is studied, resulting in an inhomogeneous and anisotropic four dimensional cosmology where the origin of space is also special. We then focus on the spatial geometry around the origin and show that the induced geometry, which is initially inhomogeneous and anisotropic, converges to an isotropic and homogeneous Friedmann-Lemaitre 4d space-time. For instance, when a 3-brane is embedded in a 5d matter dominated model, the 4d dynamics around the origin converge to a Friedmann-Lemaitre Universe in a radiation dominated epoch. We analyse this isotropisation process and show that it is a late time attractor.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, one reference adde

Classification, characterisation and strategies for improvement of cattle and sheep pasture systems in marginal areas of Southern Chile

Pasture-based livestock systems in farms with medium or low size are especially important in less favored areas and are valuable for society. For these systems to survive, it is necessary to obtain an acceptable level of productivity and ensure commercialization of the products. This study was carried out in the district of Rio Ibáñez, General Carrera Province, in the XI (Aysén) Region of Chile. The sample consisted of 28 small-scale livestock farmers with dual-purpose cattle production; 16 of them also produced sheep for meat. The empirical data produced 55 variables which were subjected to multivariate analysis; three main components were obtained which explain 72.1 % of the variance. By cluster analysis it was obtained four groups with characteristics which varied by farm size, age and personal situation of farmers, farm management and farm profitability. The principal problems found are low productivity in the herds and the poor marketing channels of animals produced. In two groups, due to the low size and poor management, the profitability of the farms is very low and this may compromise their future. To improve production systems, the training and advice of farmers should be strengthened, investment should be supported, especially for young people, and the farmer partnership should be promoted. There is also a need to diversify the families' sources of income (sale of other farm products or handicrafts and touristic activities).Ministerio de Economía de Chile Innova-CORFO Project 11 NTEC 1279

Summary of Golden Measurements at a ν\nu-Factory

The precision and discovery potential of a neutrino factory based on muon storage rings is summarized. For three-family neutrino oscillations, we analyze how to measure or severely constraint the angle $\theta_{13}$, CP violation, MSW effects and the sign of the atmospheric mass difference $\Delta m^2_{23}$. The appearance of ``wrong-sign muons'' at three reference baselines is considered: 732 km, 3500 km and 7332 km. We exploit the dependence of the signal on the neutrino energy, and include as well realistic background estimations and detection efficiencies. The optimal baseline turns out to be $O$(3000 km).Comment: 7 pages, Latex2e, 5 eps figures, use package espfi

Displaced Mexican American Workers in Retraining Programs

One Stop Job Centers assist trade affected displaced workers in skills development and occupational retraining with the goal of re-incorporating them into the workforce. In this study, we explored the job loss and transitional experiences of two groups of low-literate, primarily Spanish speaking males. Findings included coping mechanisms and identification of barriers that included a failed method of instruction

Classification, characterisation and strategies for improvement of cattle and sheep pasture systems in marginal areas of Southern Chile

Pasture-based livestock systems in farms with medium or low size are especially important in less favored areas and are valuable for society. For these systems to survive, it is necessary to obtain an acceptable level of productivity and ensure commercialization of the products. This study was carried out in the district of Rio Ibáñez, General Carrera Province, in the XI (Aysén) Region of Chile. The sample consisted of 28 small-scale livestock farmers with dual-purpose cattle production; 16 of them also produced sheep for meat. The empirical data produced 55 variables which were subjected to multivariate analysis; three main components were obtained which explain 72.1 % of the variance. By cluster analysis it was obtained four groups with characteristics which varied by farm size, age and personal situation of farmers, farm management and farm profitability. The principal problems found are low productivity in the herds and the poor marketing channels of animals produced. In two groups, due to the low size and poor management, the profitability of the farms is very low and this may compromise their future. To improve production systems, the training and advice of farmers should be strengthened, investment should be supported, especially for young people, and the farmer partnership should be promoted. There is also a need to diversify the families' sources of income (sale of other farm products or handicrafts and touristic activities).Ministerio de Economía de Chile Innova-CORFO Project 11 NTEC 1279