Understanding “Diversity in Organizations” Paradigmatically and Methodologically

This paper is part of a larger dissertation project named: A Production of Diversity: Appearances, Ideas, Interests, Actions, Contradictions and Praxis. In this dissertation project, which is planned to be completed by the first half of 2006, I have attempted to describe, understand and analyse a process of diversity production at a large manufacturing company, which is located in Sweden and owned by a large American company (for the reason of confidentiality the name of the studied company, which is a large, technical-oriented company, has been changed and some of the information is modified, while another cannot be offered because it would expose the company. The studied manufacturing company will from now be called Diversico). My ambition with this paper is to call attention to different paradigmatical and methodological ways of understanding and studying “diversity in organizations”. A starting-point for my discussion here is an assumption that researchers, by exploring different social phenomena (including “diversity in organizations”), bring their different sets of assumptions to what the studied phenomenon is (or could be) but also at the same time make assumptions on what organizations are (or could be). In other words, researchers, by studying “diversity in organizations” (as well as other social phenomena) construct ideas of diversity by positioning this phenomenon differently, asking different questions or designing research projects differently. In that sense I try to actively engage in both showing some benefits and limits in the present literature and searching for new theoretical and methodological possibilities. In that sense, I give some empirical illustrations inspired by one of these other possibilities. More concretely, I show how my study fulfils images of diversity as actively produced and positioned significant issues, and as domination of particular sectional interests. Furthermore I give illustrations of universalization and naturalization of some aspects of diversity, as identified in the studied process of diversity production at the manufacturing company.Diversity, Critical Theory, Social-Historical Context and Domination

Ir-Ni oxide as a promising material for nerve and brain stimulating electrodes

Tremendous potential for successful medical device development lies in both electrical stimulation therapies and neuronal prosthetic devices, which can be utilized in an extensive number of neurological disorders. These technologies rely on the successful electrical stimulation of biological tissue (i.e. neurons) through the use of electrodes. However, this technology faces the principal problem of poor stimulus selectivity due to the currently available electrode’s large size relative to its targeted population of neurons. Irreversible damage to both the stimulated tissue and electrode are limiting factors in miniaturization of this technology, as charge density increases with decreasing electrode size. In an attempt to find an equilibrium between these two opposing constraints (electrode size and charge density), the objective of this work was to develop a novel iridium-nickel oxide (Ir0.2-Ni0.8-oxide) coating that could intrinsically offer high charge storage capacity. Thermal decomposition was used to fabricate titanium oxide, iridium oxide, nickel oxide, and bimetallic iridium-nickel oxide coatings on titanium electrode substrates. The Ir0.2-Ni0.8-oxide coating yielded the highest intrinsic (material property) and extrinsic (material property + surface area) charge storage capacity (CSC) among the investigated materials, exceeding the performance of the current state-of-the-art neural stimulating electrode, Ir-oxide. This indicates that the Ir0.2-Ni0.8-oxide material is a promising alternative to currently used Ir-oxide, Pt, Au and carbon-based stimulating electrodes

Albert forms, Quaternions, Schubert Varieties & Embeddability

The origin of embedding problems can be understood as an effort to find some minimal datum which describes certain algebraic or geometric objects. In the algebraic theory of quadratic forms, Pfister forms are studied for a litany of powerful properties and representations which make them particularly interesting to study in terms of embeddability. A generalization of these properties is captured by the study of central simple algebras carrying involutions, where we may characterize the involution by the existence of particular elements in the algebra. Extending this idea even further, embeddings are just flags in the Grassmannian, meaning that their study is amenable to tools coming from intersection theory. We show that in each of the preceeding cases, embeddability can be used to obtain new characterizations of some primary information related to the ambient structure

Matching of Dental X-rays for Human Forensic Identification

Dental records have been widely used as tools in forensic identification. With the vast volume of cases that need to be investigated by forensic odontologists, a move towards a computer-aided dental identification system is necessary. We propose a computer-aided framework for efficient matching of dental x-rays for human identification purposes. Given a dental x-ray with a marked region of interest (ROI), we search the database of x-rays (presumed to be taken from known individuals) to retrieve a closest match. In this work we use a slightly extended Weighted Sum of Squared Differences (SSD) cost function to express the degree of similarity/overlap between two dental radiographs. Unlike other iterative Least Squares methods that use local information for gradient-based optimization, our method finds the globally optimal translation. In 90% of the identification trials, our method ranked the correct match in the top 10% using a database of 571 images. Experiments indicate that matching dental records using the extended SSD cost function is a viable method for human dental identification

Solid-phase microextraction/gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method optimization for characterization of surface adsorption forces of nanoparticles

A complete characterization of the different physical chemical properties of nanoparticles (NPs) is necessary for the evaluation of their impact on health and environment. Among these properties, the surface characterization of the nanomaterial is the least developed and in many cases limited to the measurement of surface composition and Zeta potential. The biological surface adsorption index approach (BSAI) for characterization of surface adsorption properties of nanoparticles (NPs) has been recently introduced [1,2]. BSAI approach offers in principle the possibility to characterize the different interaction forces exerted between a nanomaterial surface and an organic –and by extension biological- entity. The present work develops further the BSAI approach of and optimizes a solid-phase microextraction – gas chromatography mass spectrometry (SPME/GC-MS) method, which is applied to measure the adsorption properties of different nanomaterials taking into account their specific surface area. This approach gives thus a better defined quantification of the adsorption properties on NPs. To optimize the SPME/GC-MS method, we investigated the various aspects of the process including: kinetics of adsorption of probe compounds on SPME fiber, kinetic of adsorption of probe compounds on NPs surface, and optimization of NPs concentration. The optimized conditions were then tested on 33 probe compounds and on Au NPs (15 nm) and SiO2 NPs (50 nm). The results demonstrated that this detailed optimization of the SPME/GC-MS method under various conditions is a critical factor and pre-requisite to the application of BSAI approach as a tool to characterize surface adsorption properties of NPs and therefore to any further conclusions on their potential impact on health.JRC.I.4-Nanobioscience

Pharmacogenomics: Sex Differences and Application in Pediatrics

Pharmacogenomics is a promising field which increasingly influences medicine and biomedical research in many areas. The aim of this article is to review recent advancements in the understanding of genetic polymorphisms and their influence on interindividual variability in drug response. Also, the main variabilities in drug response according to sex differences will be discussed. The translation of pharmacogenomics into the clinical routine as well as the challenges of achieving the goal of personalized medicine are also discussed. The role of pharmacogenetic tests in pediatrics has not been well defined yet, but it is clear that those tests could help in resolving some issues regarding the administration of drugs to children. At the conclusion, the foremost ethical, social and regulatory issues regarding the translation of pharmacogenomics into clinical practice and future perspectives in the field will be discussed

Direct Electrochemical Regeneration of NADH on Au, Cu and Pt-Au Electrodes

The regeneration of a reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) in a batch electrochemical reactor employing Au, Cu and Pt-Au electrodes was investigated. The yield of enzymatically active NADH regenerated was found to depend on the electrolysis potential and the electrode material used. At low negative potentials the yield of active NADH regenerated is similar on both Au and Cu, and relatively high (75 % and 71 %, respectively), but the NAD+ reduction rate and the corresponding conversion degree is low. At high (industrially relevant) negative potentials the NAD+ reduction rate and the corresponding conversion degree is high, while the yield of active NADH formed on Au is low (28 %) and intermediate on Cu (52 %). In order to increase the yield of enzymatically active NADH formed at high (industrially relevant) potentials, the Au surface was modified with Pt. This resulted in an increase in the yield of active NADH from 29.6 % to 63 %. A reaction mechanism taking into account the influence of Pt is proposed

PKCα expression is a marker for breast cancer aggressiveness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms are potential targets for breast cancer therapy. This study was designed to evaluate which PKC isoforms might be optimal targets for different breast cancer subtypes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In two cohorts of primary breast cancers, PKCα levels correlated to estrogen and progesterone receptor negativity, tumor grade, and proliferative activity, whereas PKCδ and PKCε did not correlate to clinicopathological parameters. Patients with PKCα-positive tumors showed poorer survival than patients with PKCα-negative tumors independently of other factors. Cell line studies demonstrated that PKCα levels are high in MDA-MB-231 and absent in T47D cells which proliferated slower than other cell lines. Furthermore, PKCα silencing reduced proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells. PKCα inhibition or downregulation also reduced cell migration <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PKCα is a marker for poor prognosis of breast cancer and correlates to and is important for cell functions associated with breast cancer progression.</p