1,594 research outputs found
Taylorism, targets and the pursuit of quantity and quality by call centre management
The paper locates the rise of the call centre within the context of the development of Taylorist methods and technological change in office work in general. Managerial utilisation of targets to impose and measure employees' quantitative and qualitative performance is analysed in four case-study organisations. The paper concludes that call centre work reflects a pardigmic re-configuration of customer servicing operations, and that the continuing application of Taylorist methods appears likely
Pinch Technique and the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism
In this paper we take the first step towards a non-diagrammatic formulation
of the Pinch Technique. In particular we proceed into a systematic
identification of the parts of the one-loop and two-loop Feynman diagrams that
are exchanged during the pinching process in terms of unphysical ghost Green's
functions; the latter appear in the standard Slavnov-Taylor identity satisfied
by the tree-level and one-loop three-gluon vertex. This identification allows
for the consistent generalization of the intrinsic pinch technique to two
loops, through the collective treatment of entire sets of diagrams, instead of
the laborious algebraic manipulation of individual graphs, and sets up the
stage for the generalization of the method to all orders. We show that the task
of comparing the effective Green's functions obtained by the Pinch Technique
with those computed in the background field method Feynman gauge is
significantly facilitated when employing the powerful quantization framework of
Batalin and Vilkovisky. This formalism allows for the derivation of a set of
useful non-linear identities, which express the Background Field Method Green's
functions in terms of the conventional (quantum) ones and auxiliary Green's
functions involving the background source and the gluonic anti-field; these
latter Green's functions are subsequently related by means of a Schwinger-Dyson
type of equation to the ghost Green's functions appearing in the aforementioned
Slavnov-Taylor identity.Comment: 45 pages, uses axodraw; typos corrected, one figure changed, final
version to appear in Phys.Rev.
The Infrared Behaviour of the Pure Yang-Mills Green Functions
We review the infrared properties of the pure Yang-Mills correlators and
discuss recent results concerning the two classes of low-momentum solutions for
them reported in literature; i.e. decoupling and scaling solutions. We will
mainly focuss on the Landau gauge and pay special attention to the results
inferred from the analysis of the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the theory and
from "{\it quenched}" lattice QCD. The results obtained from properly
interplaying both approaches are strongly emphasized.Comment: Final version to be published in FBS (54 pgs., 11 figs., 4 tabs
On the dust properties of high-redshift molecular clouds and the connection to the 2175 Ă extinction bump
We present a study of the extinction and depletion-derived dust properties of
gamma-ray burst (GRB) absorbers at showing the presence of neutral
carbon (\ion{C}{I}). By modelling their parametric extinction laws, we discover
a broad range of dust models characterizing the GRB \ion{C}{I} absorption
systems. In addition to the already well-established correlation between the
amount of \ion{C}{I} and visual extinction, , we also observe a
correlation with the total-to-selective reddening, . All three quantities
are also found to be connected to the presence and strength of the 2175\,{\AA}
dust extinction feature. While the amount of \ion{C}{I} is found to be
correlated with the SED-derived dust properties, we do not find any evidence
for a connection with the depletion-derived dust content as measured from
[Zn/Fe] and (Fe). To reconcile this, we discuss a scenario
where the observed extinction is dominated by the composition of dust particles
confined in the molecular gas-phase of the ISM. We argue that since the
depletion level trace non-carbonaceous dust in the ISM, the observed extinction
in GRB \ion{C}{I} absorbers is primarily produced by carbon-rich dust in the
molecular cloud and is therefore only observable in the extinction curves and
not in the depletion patterns. This also indicates that the 2175\,{\AA} dust
extinction feature is caused by dust and molecules in the cold and molecular
gas-phase. This scenario provides a possible resolution to the discrepancy
between the depletion- and SED-derived amounts of dust in high- absorbers.Comment: 10 pages, 5 Figs. + Appendix. Accepted in MNRA
The Effect of Resistance Exercise on Inflammatory and Myogenic Markers in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease
Background: Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) experience muscle wasting
which is associated with morbidity and mortality. Exercise can provide physiological
and psychological benefits for CKD patients, however the molecular response to
exercise is unknown. The aim of our study was to investigate the molecular response
to resistance exercise before and after training in patients with CKD.
Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a randomized trial that investigated the effect
of 8-week progressive resistance training on muscle mass and strength compared to
non-exercising controls. A sub-set of the cohort consented to vastus lateralis skeletal
muscle biopsies in which we have studied molecular events relating to protein
degradation, myogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress.
Results: Untrained, a single bout of exercise resulted in blunted phosphorylation of Akt
and reduced mRNA expression of MyoD and myogenin, which was somewhat restored
after 8 weeks of resistance training. We also observed a heightened and prolonged
inflammatory response to unaccustomed exercise, which was reduced after training.
There was no evidence that resistance exercise training created a prolonged oxidative
stress response within the muscle, or increased catabolism suggesting that the
exercise was not damaging.
Conclusions: These results indicate that resistance exercise training may help restore
the anabolic environment that is usually created by a bout of exercise, but is initially
absent in these patients. These data also suggest that if patients are similarly limited
in their response to other anabolic stimuli such as feeding, this may provide part of the
explanation why patients lose muscle mass
Cosmological parameter estimation using Very Small Array data out to â= 1500
We estimate cosmological parameters using data obtained by the Very Small Array (VSA) in its extended configuration, in conjunction with a variety of other cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and external priors. Within the flat Î cold dark matter (ÎCDM) model, we find that the inclusion of high-resolution data from the VSA modifies the limits on the cosmological parameters as compared to those suggested by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) alone, while still remaining compatible with their estimates. We find that Ωbh2= 0.0234+0.0012â0.0014, Ωdmh2= 0.111+0.014â0.016, h= 0.73+0.09â0.05, nS= 0.97+0.06â0.03, 1010AS= 23+7â3 and Ï= 0.14+0.14â0.07 for WMAP and VSA when no external prior is included. On extending the model to include a running spectral index of density fluctuations, we find that the inclusion of VSA data leads to a negative running at a level of more than 95 per cent confidence ( nrun=â0.069 ± 0.032 ), something that is not significantly changed by the inclusion of a stringent prior on the Hubble constant. Inclusion of prior information from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey reduces the significance of the result by constraining the value of Ωm. We discuss the veracity of this result in the context of various systematic effects and also a broken spectral index model. We also constrain the fraction of neutrinos and find that fÎœ < 0.087 at 95 per cent confidence, which corresponds to mÎœ < 0.32 eV when all neutrino masses are equal. Finally, we consider the global best fit within a general cosmological model with 12 parameters and find consistency with other analyses available in the literature. The evidence for nrun < 0 is only marginal within this model
Looking into the matter of light-quark hadrons
In tackling QCD, a constructive feedback between theory and extant and
forthcoming experiments is necessary in order to place constraints on the
infrared behaviour of QCD's \beta-function, a key nonperturbative quantity in
hadron physics. The Dyson-Schwinger equations provide a tool with which to work
toward this goal. They connect confinement with dynamical chiral symmetry
breaking, both with the observable properties of hadrons, and hence provide a
means of elucidating the material content of real-world QCD. This contribution
illustrates these points via comments on: in-hadron condensates; dressed-quark
anomalous chromo- and electro-magnetic moments; the spectra of mesons and
baryons, and the critical role played by hadron-hadron interactions in
producing these spectra.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Contribution to the Proceedings of "Applications
of light-cone coordinates to highly relativistic systems - LIGHTCONE 2011,"
23-27 May, 2011, Dallas. The Proceedings will be published in Few Body
System
Solution of coupled vertex and propagator Dyson-Schwinger equations in the scalar Munczek-Nemirovsky model
In a scalar model, we exactly solve the vertex and
propagator Dyson-Schwinger equations under the assumption of a spatially
constant (Munczek-Nemirovsky) propagator for the field. Various
truncation schemes are also considered.Comment: 7 pages,4 figures, minor changes, reference added for published
versio
The Importance of Time Congruity in the Organisation.
In 1991 Kaufman, Lane, and Lindquist proposed that time congruity in terms of an individual's time preferences and the time use methods of an organisation would lead to satisfactory performance and enhancement of quality of work and general life. The research reported here presents a study which uses commensurate person and job measures of time personality in an organisational setting to assess the effects of time congruity on one aspect of work life, job-related affective well-being. Results show that time personality and time congruity were found to have direct effects on well-being and the influence of time congruity was found to be mediated through time personality, thus contributing to the personâjob (PâJ) fit literature which suggests that direct effects are often more important than indirect effects. The study also provides some practical examples of ways to address some of the previously cited methodological issues in PâJ fit research
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