Rethinking 'Current Crisis' Arguments: Gouldner and the Legacy of Critical Sociology

Proclamations of \'current crisis\' in sociology are long-standing and have recently resurfaced in British and North America. This article explores the response of Alvin Gouldner to an earlier 1970s perceived \'current crisis\'. It then discusses some of the key dimensions ascribed to the current \'current crisis\' – fragmentation, the decline of the intellectual, the need for a higher profile for public and professional sociology - to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Gouldner\'s ideas for analysing the situation of contemporary sociology. It concludes that Gouldner\'s critical sociology provides a useful basis for understanding current debates about fragmentation and public sociology, but less so in explaining the decline of intellectuals. In addition, neither Gouldner nor contemporary thinking about sociology\'s present-day \'current crisis\' give much attention to the vastly increased regulation and bureaucratisation of the university system accompanying the expended remit of regulatory government, something we think underlies the discipline\'s successive perceptions of crisis. The contemporary version of critical sociology, with which this article aligns itself, provides a more structural and less voluntaristic rethinking of \'current crisis\' arguments.Critical Sociology, Gouldner, Crisis, Intellectuals, Reflexivity, Social Change, Mobilities

Tillering Response of \u27Monon\u27 And \u27Newton\u27 Winter Wheats Infested With Biotype L Hessian Fly (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) Larvae

Two wheat, Triticum aestivum, cultivars that differed in their ability to tiller were infested by ovipositing Hessian flies, Mayetiola destructor, under similar controlled conditions. Since a larva typically stunts and kills the stem where it feeds and develops, tiller development of fly infested-wheat seedlings is an important plant trait relative to grain yield. \u27Monon\u27 tillered more than \u27Newton at the 0 infestation level (control). \u27Monon\u27 had about the same number of tillers at 0, 1, 2, and 3 puparia (indicative of the number of feeding larvae) per plant; and \u27Newton\u27 had fewer tillers at 0 than 1, 2, or 3 puparia per stem. However, tillering of both cultivars was less at 4 or more puparia per stem, perhaps due to the depletion of plant nutrients. In general, for both cultivars there was a decrease in leaf length, number and wet weight as the number of puparia increased per tiller

Macroeconomics and Finance: The Role of the Stock Market

The treatment of the stock market in finance and macroeconomics exemplifies many of the important differences in perspective between the two fields. In finance, the stock market is the single most important market with respect to corporate investment decisions. In contrast, macroeconomic modelling and policy discussion assign a relatively minor role to the stockmarket in investment decisions. This paper explores four possible explanations for this neglect and concludes that macro analysis should give more attention to the stock market. Despite the frequent jibe that "the stockmarket has forecast ten of the last six recessions," the stock market is in fact a good predictor of the business cycle and the components of GNP. We examine the relative importance of the required return on equity compared with the interest rate in the determination of the cost of capital, and hence,investment. In this connection, we review the empirical success of the Q theory of investment which relates investment to stock market evaluations of firms. One of the explanations for the neglect of the stock market in macroeconomics may be the view that because the stock market fluctuates excessively, rational managers will pay little attention to the market informulating investment plans. This view is shown to be unfounded by demonstrating that rational managers will react to stock price changes even if the stock market fluctuates excessively. Finally, we review the extremely important issue of whether the market does fluctuate excessively, and conclude that while not ruled out on a priori theoretical grounds, the empirical evidence for such excess fluctuations has not been decisive.

Managing Intellectual Property to Foster Agricultural Development

Over the past decades, consideration of IPRs has become increasingly important in many areas of agricultural development, including foreign direct investment, technology transfer, trade, investment in innovation, access to genetic resources, and the protection of traditional knowledge. The widening role of IPRs in governing the ownership of—and access to—innovation, information, and knowledge makes them particularly critical in ensuring that developing countries benefit from the introduction of new technologies that could radically alter the welfare of the poor. Failing to improve IPR policies and practices to support the needs of developing countries will eliminate significant development opportunities. The discussion in this note moves away from policy prescriptions to focus on investments to improve how IPRs are used in practice in agricultural development. These investments must be seen as complementary to other investments in agricultural development. IPRs are woven into the context of innovation and R&D. They can enable entrepreneurship and allow the leveraging of private resources for resolving the problems of poverty. Conversely, IPRs issues can delay important scientific advancements, deter investment in products for the poor, and impose crippling transaction costs on organizations if the wrong tools are used or tools are badly applied. The central benefit of pursuing the investments outlined in this note is to build into the system a more robust capacity for strategic and flexible use of IPRs tailored to development goals

Difference between low cadence-high resistance and high cadence low resistance in relation to muscle breakdown in cyclists

Training at different cadences provides a different training stimulus (Brisswalter et al, 2000) which can be metabolic adaptations or skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Studies have considered the role of cadence in metabolic efficiency and/or participants perceptions of effort (Coyle et al, 1991. Cangley et al, 2009) however there is little literature measuring the efficiency of cadence in relation to muscle breakdown. This may be due to it being difficult to measure muscle breakdown in a noninvasive manner and without conducting a muscle biopsy. Creatine Kinase can be used as a marker of increased muscle breakdown and it is measured using a finger prick blood sample however this indirect method of measuring muscle breakdown is not as reliable and discrepancies in the results can occur as a result of differing response rates between participants or other health issues causing an increase in creatine kinase levels (Brancaccio et al, 2007). Coaches and athletes often use high intensity interval training as a method of improving metabolic efficiency (Laursen et al. 2005) however there is little research into the effects of high intensity interval training for skeletal muscle hypertrophy and strength training in cyclists. This literature review will form the basis for a research project that will consider the effects of differing cadences on muscle breakdown during a high intensity interval training protocol. This research hopes to provide recommendations for coaches and well trained cyclists to improve the training that they conduct to have the desired training stimulus they hope to achieve whether that be increasing muscle breakdown to cause hypertrophy and increase strength or increase adenosine triphosphate production by improving metabolic efficiency. By considering the existing literature surrounding cadence, this review hopes to provide potential reasoning for the results of the proceeding research project. The method’s for how best to conduct the research shall also be reviewed along with a discussion about the use of high intensity interval training protocol’s for well trained cyclists

Intellectual Property Management Strategies to Accelerate the Development and Access of Vaccines and Diagnostics: Case Studies on Pandemic Influenza, Malaria and SARS

Achieving global access to vaccines, diagnostics, and pharmaceuticals remains a challenge. Throughout the developing world, intellectual property (IP) constraints complicate access to critically essential medical technologies and products. Vaccines for malaria and pandemic strains of influenza, as well as diagnostic and vaccine technologies for SARS, are not only relevant to global public health but are particularly critical to the needs of developing countries. A global access solution is urgently needed. This article offers a timely case‐by‐case analysis of preliminary patent landscape surveys and formulates options via patent pools and other forms of creative IP management to accelerate development and access. The analysis of the feasibility of patent pools reveals several impediments to patent pools: these include antitrust considerations, bargaining difficulties caused by asymmetric interests and asymmetric rights among IP holders (e.g. improvement vs. foundational patents), and the difficulties of securing financial support given the significant transaction costs associated with pools. Because of the above conceptual and operational hurdles, patent pools do not appear to be a feasible way to accelerate development. Other mechanisms, however, can ameliorate IP constraints. For example, a key IP constraint related to pandemic influenza vaccines R&D appears to have been resolved when Medimmune secured the assembly of all relevant reverse genetics IP and pledged broad access. Clearly, the landscape is complex and multidimensional. Licensing systems are not the only issue. Measures must also be taken to limit regulatory hurdles and enable the swift, legal production of pandemic influenza vaccines to meet the needs of developing countries. This is why a comprehensive analysis is so necessary. From a strictly legal perspective, IP systems work through the power to exclude. However, as this study’s exploration and formulation of creative licensing strategies reveals, it is also true that IP can be structured and managed to work through the “power to include.

Experiments in cooperative manipulation: A system perspective

In addition to cooperative dynamic control, the system incorporates real time vision feedback, a novel programming technique, and a graphical high level user interface. By focusing on the vertical integration problem, not only these subsystems are examined, but also their interfaces and interactions. The control system implements a multi-level hierarchical structure; the techniques developed for operator input, strategic command, and cooperative dynamic control are presented. At the highest level, a mouse-based graphical user interface allows an operator to direct the activities of the system. Strategic command is provided by a table-driven finite state machine; this methodology provides a powerful yet flexible technique for managing the concurrent system interactions. The dynamic controller implements object impedance control; an extension of Nevill Hogan's impedance control concept to cooperative arm manipulation of a single object. Experimental results are presented, showing the system locating and identifying a moving object catching it, and performing a simple cooperative assembly. Results from dynamic control experiments are also presented, showing the controller's excellent dynamic trajectory tracking performance, while also permitting control of environmental contact force