The Latent Function of the Production Council

Par définition, une organisation possède des statuts qui déterminent sa structure, son fonctionnement, ses buts ou objectifs. En théorie, si les statuts sont rationnels et si l'organisation contrôle l'issue de certaines variables, elle peut atteindre sa fin. En pratique, cependant, on découvre souvent qu'une organisation s'éloignera de ses buts pour remplir une fonction qu'elle ne recherche pas. Il est souhaitable, en conséquence, de chercher à expliquer une pareille déviation afin de préciser la fonction de l'organisation.Dans le présent article, nous présentons une analyse fonctionnelle du conseil de production dans l'industrie en Israël. Le conseil de production est un organisme formé d'un nombre égal de représentants des travailleurs et des employeurs. Deux représentants sont nommés, l'un par le conseil des ouvriers (un organisme électif qui représente les travailleurs dans l'entreprise en matière de relations professionnelles) et l'autre, par la direction. Les autres membres sont élus par le groupe qu'ils représentent.Les fonctions réglementaires du conseil de production sont les suivantes: assurer la coopération entre les salariés et la direction de l'entreprise en vue de trouver les voies et moyens nécessaires au développement des entreprises industrielles; accroître l'efficacité et hausser la productivité; établir des méthodes de travail adéquates et les rémunérations au rendement. La fin explicite de l'accord relatif au conseil de production est de séparer nettement la compétence du conseil de production du régime de négociations collectives entre la direction et le conseil des ouvriers au sein de l'entreprise. Les procédés par lesquels le conseil de production exerce son activité sont établis dans cet accord. Les décisions du conseil de production lient la direction et le conseil des ouvriers, ce qui laisse les groupes sans beaucoup d'influence directe formelle sur le conseil de production.En vue d'examiner le conseil de production dans l'industrie en Israël, nous avons utilisé la théorie fonctionnelle de Merton (1957) et de Stinchcombe (1968). Nous avons considéré ensuite trois propositions: a) la proposition de la fonction réglementaire qui rattache les modèles de comportement réels et normaux à cette fonction, selon l'accord formel du conseil de production; b) une proposition structurelle différente qui énonce que, même si les modèles réels diffèrent des modèles normaux, le conseil de production s'explique encore par sa fonction authentique; c) la proposition de fonction latente qui énonce que le conseil fournit aux parties dans l'entreprise une fonction différente de celle qui est manifestée dans les statuts.Les trois propositions ont été examinées une à une. La proposition de fonction réglementaire est à rejeter comme explication valable du conseil de production. La deuxième proposition n'apparaît pas être une explication alternative et elle est aussi à rejeter. Les deux propositions ont été analysées à partir de données recueillies auprès d'un échantillon représentatif de 201 membres de conseils de production dans l'industrie en Israël.La fonction latente semble fournir une explication valable du conseil de production dans l'entreprise. Touchant les limites imposées aux parties dans l'entreprise par la convention collective nationale dans l'industrie en Israël, le conseil répond aux besoins des parties dans l'entreprise d'être impliquées dans le processus de négociation. Le conseil de production est un mécanisme de négociations pour ces parties. Aussi longtemps que le conseil de production conserve cette fonction et continue à contribuer à de telles réalisations, les parties continueront à soutenir le conseil de production, quelle que soit sa fonction réglementaire.The author presents a functional analysis of the Production Council in Israeli industry. He first presents the P.C.’s manifest function and discusses its existence and reasoning. He then provides a latent function interpretation of the phenomenon and suggests that this interpretation adequately explains the phenomenon and contributes to its understanding within the enterprise context

Distance Oracles for Time-Dependent Networks

We present the first approximate distance oracle for sparse directed networks with time-dependent arc-travel-times determined by continuous, piecewise linear, positive functions possessing the FIFO property. Our approach precomputes $(1+\epsilon)-$approximate distance summaries from selected landmark vertices to all other vertices in the network. Our oracle uses subquadratic space and time preprocessing, and provides two sublinear-time query algorithms that deliver constant and $(1+\sigma)-$approximate shortest-travel-times, respectively, for arbitrary origin-destination pairs in the network, for any constant $\sigma > \epsilon$. Our oracle is based only on the sparsity of the network, along with two quite natural assumptions about travel-time functions which allow the smooth transition towards asymmetric and time-dependent distance metrics.Comment: A preliminary version appeared as Technical Report ECOMPASS-TR-025 of EU funded research project eCOMPASS (http://www.ecompass-project.eu/). An extended abstract also appeared in the 41st International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2014, track-A

Using cascading Bloom filters to improve the memory usage for de Brujin graphs

De Brujin graphs are widely used in bioinformatics for processing next-generation sequencing data. Due to a very large size of NGS datasets, it is essential to represent de Bruijn graphs compactly, and several approaches to this problem have been proposed recently. In this work, we show how to reduce the memory required by the algorithm of [3] that represents de Brujin graphs using Bloom filters. Our method requires 30% to 40% less memory with respect to the method of [3], with insignificant impact to construction time. At the same time, our experiments showed a better query time compared to [3]. This is, to our knowledge, the best practical representation for de Bruijn graphs.Comment: 12 pages, submitte

Mean field limit for one dimensional opinion dynamics with Coulomb interaction and time dependent weights

The mean field limit with time dependent weights for a 1D singular case, given by the attractive Coulomb interactions, is considered. This extends recent results [1,8] for the case of regular interactions. The approach taken here is based on transferring the kinetic target equation to a Burgers-type equation through the distribution function of the measures. The analysis leading to the stability estimates of the latter equation makes use of Kruzkov entropy type estimates adapted to deal with nonlocal source terms.Comment: 26 page

Attosecond time-resolved photoelectron holography

Ultrafast strong-field physics provides insight into quantum phenomena that evolve on an attosecond time scale, the most fundamental of which is quantum tunneling. The tunneling process initiates a range of strong field phenomena such as high harmonic generation (HHG), laser-induced electron diffraction, double ionization and photoelectron holography—all evolving during a fraction of the optical cycle. Here we apply attosecond photoelectron holography as a method to resolve the temporal properties of the tunneling process. Adding a weak second harmonic (SH) field to a strong fundamental laser field enables us to reconstruct the ionization times of photoelectrons that play a role in the formation of a photoelectron hologram with attosecond precision. We decouple the contributions of the two arms of the hologram and resolve the subtle differences in their ionization times, separated by only a few tens of attoseconds

The role of clinical decision support systems in preventing stroke in primary care: a systematic review.

Computerized clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are increasingly being used to facilitate the role of clinicians in complex decision-making processes. This systematic review evaluates evidence of the available CDSS developed and tested to support the decision-making process in primary healthcare for stroke prevention and barriers to practical implementations in primary care settings. A systematic search of Web of Science, Medline Ovid, Embase Ovid, and Cinahl was done. A total of five studies, experimental and observational, were synthesised in this review. This review found that CDSS facilitate decision-making processes in primary health care settings in stroke prevention options. However, barriers were identified in designing, implementing, and using the CDSS

Incremental Edge Orientation in Forests

For any forest G = (V, E) it is possible to orient the edges E so that no vertex in V has out-degree greater than 1. This paper considers the incremental edge-orientation problem, in which the edges E arrive over time and the algorithm must maintain a low-out-degree edge orientation at all times. We give an algorithm that maintains a maximum out-degree of 3 while flipping at most O(log log n) edge orientations per edge insertion, with high probability in n. The algorithm requires worst-case time O(log n log log n) per insertion, and takes amortized time O(1). The previous state of the art required up to O(log n / log log n) edge flips per insertion. We then apply our edge-orientation results to the problem of dynamic Cuckoo hashing. The problem of designing simple families ? of hash functions that are compatible with Cuckoo hashing has received extensive attention. These families ? are known to satisfy static guarantees, but do not come typically with dynamic guarantees for the running time of inserts and deletes. We show how to transform static guarantees (for 1-associativity) into near-state-of-the-art dynamic guarantees (for O(1)-associativity) in a black-box fashion. Rather than relying on the family ? to supply randomness, as in past work, we instead rely on randomness within our table-maintenance algorithm

Higher FKBP5, COMT, CHRNA5, and CRHR1 allele burdens are associated with PTSD and interact with trauma exposure: implications for neuropsychiatric research and treatment

Joseph A Boscarino1,2, Porat M Erlich1,3, Stuart N Hoffman4, Xiaopeng Zhang51Center for Health Research, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, 2Department of Psychiatry, 3Department of Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 4Department of Neurology, 5Department of Anesthesiology, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, USAObjective: The study aim was to assess the cumulative burden of polymorphisms located within four genetic loci previously associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among outpatients at risk for PTSD.Methods: Diagnostic interviews were completed and DNA samples collected among 412 pain patients to determine if FKBP5 (rs9470080), COMT (rs4680), CHRNA5 (rs16969968), and CRHR1 (rs110402) single nucleotide polymorphisms were cumulatively associated with increased risk for PTSD.Results: In bivariate analyses, it was found that a count of specific PTSD risk alleles located within FKBP5, COMT, CHRNA5, and CRHR1 genetic loci (allele range = 0–6, mean count = 2.92, standard deviation = 1.36) was associated with lifetime (t [409] = 3.430, P = 0.001) and early onset PTSD (t [409] = 4.239, P = 0.000028). In logistic regression, controlling for demographic factors, personality traits, and trauma exposures, this risk allele count remained associated with both lifetime (odds ratio = 1.49, P = 0.00158) and early onset PTSD (odds ratio = 2.36, P = 0.000093). Interaction effects were also detected, whereby individuals with higher risk allele counts and higher trauma exposures had an increased risk of lifetime PTSD (allele count × high trauma, P = 0.026) and early onset PTSD (allele count × high trauma, P = 0.016) in these logistic regressions. Those with no or few risk alleles appeared resilient to PTSD, regardless of exposure history.Conclusion: A cumulative risk allele count involving four single nucleotide polymorphisms located within the FKBP5, COMT, CHRNA5, and CRHR1 genes are associated with PTSD. Level of trauma exposure interacts with risk allele count, such that PTSD is increased in those with higher risk allele counts and higher trauma exposures. Since the single nucleotide polymorphisms studied encompass stress circuitry and addiction biology, these findings may have implications for neuropsychiatric research and treatment.Keywords: posttraumatic stress disorder, genetic association study, single nucleotide polymorphism, risk alleles, trauma exposure, neuroticism, childhood adversit

Public Health and Risk Communication During COVID-19—Enhancing Psychological Needs to Promote Sustainable Behavior Change

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic requires sustainable behavior change to mitigate the impact of the virus. A phenomenon which has arisen in parallel with this pandemic is an infodemic—an over-abundance of information, of which some is accurate and some is not, making it hard for people to find trustworthy and reliable guidance to make informed decisions. This infodemic has also been found to create distress and increase risks for mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Aim: To propose practical guidelines for public health and risk communication that will enhance current recommendations and will cut through the infodemic, supporting accessible, reliable, actionable, and inclusive communication. The guidelines aim to support basic human psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness to support well-being and sustainable behavior change. Method: We applied the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and concepts from psychology, philosophy and human computer interaction to better understand human behaviors and motivations and propose practical guidelines for public health communication focusing on well-being and sustainable behavior change. We then systematically searched the literature for research on health communication strategies during COVID-19 to discuss our proposed guidelines in light of the emerging literature. We illustrate the guidelines in a communication case study: wearing face-coverings. Findings: We propose five practical guidelines for public health and risk communication that will cut through the infodemic and support well-being and sustainable behavior change: (1) create an autonomy-supportive health care climate; (2) provide choice; (3) apply a bottom-up approach to communication; (4) create solidarity; (5) be transparent and acknowledge uncertainty. Conclusion: Health communication that starts by fostering well-being and basic human psychological needs has the potential to cut through the infodemic and promote effective and sustainable behavior change during such pandemics. Our guidelines provide a starting point for developing a concrete public health communication strategy