67 research outputs found
Towards a framework for multiparadigm multimethodologies in systems thinking and practice
Burrell and Morgan (2000) claimed that knowledge is paradigmatic, encompassing a distinct worldview and rationality governing research strategies and methods for which they identified four sociological paradigms to locate them based on âmetatheoretical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and human behaviorâ (Cunliffe, 2010). They regard the competing theories developed from different paradigms as incommensurableâthose working in one paradigm are not understood by those committed to another. Moreover, âthere can be no measure, outside of the paradigms, which can be used as a basis for comparing and adjudicating between the claims toknowledge of theories produced from within different paradigmsâ (Jackson, 2000).This new theory states that because the problem of paradigm incommensurability begins at the level of ontology the solution lies there as well. Rather than supporting just one or a few paradigms, a different type of ontology is needed to explain ontological variety. It is argued that we can only perceive reality as meaningful paradigmatically, just as in the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant (Saxe, ca. 1850) where each comes upon a different part of an elephant andgeneralises that the whole is like their one piece. Furthermore, they cannot understand what they have found by comparing experiences.Solving the incommensurability issue is the theoretical key needed to properly underpin pluralist approaches to systems theory, design and intervention. But to do so, this new ontology is placed so that it operates within a suitable and otherwise complete theoretical framework which does not circumscribe, subsume, or in any way alter existing approaches, paradigms and theoriesâit purpose is only to sanction their use in a pluralist systemic approach. Such a framework, calledPâS Multiparadigm Perspectivity is described in this thesis.Ten interviews with systemists were conducted with mixed results. The tests mistakenly assumed that systemists were generally aware of paradigms and incommensurabilityâinstead, an aversion to theory was discovered. Surprisingly, though, two methods to address the issue were also found in the data. One of the interviewees teaches theory through storytelling; another demonstrates methods first, to pique the learnerâs interest and evoke their questions. It was learned that the adoption of this theory depends upon an improved awareness of the concepts of critical systems paradigms within the systemist community
Management of cull dairy cowsâConsensus of an expert consultation in Canada
Many cull dairy cows enter the marketing system and travel to widely dispersed and specialized slaughter plants, and they may experience multiple handling events (e.g., loading, unloading, mixing), change of ownership among dealers, and feed and water deprivation during transport and at livestock markets. The objectives of this study were to describe the diverse management of cull dairy cows in Canada and establish consensus on ways to achieve improvements. A 2-day expert consultation meeting was convened, involving farmers, veterinarians, regulators, and experts in animal transport, livestock auction, and slaughter. The 15 participants, recruited from across Canada, discussed regional management practices for cull cattle, related risk factors, animal welfare problems, and recommendations. An audio recording of the meeting was used to extract descriptive data on cull cattle management and identify points of agreement. Eight consensus points were reached: (1) to assemble information on travel times and delays from farm to slaughter; (2) to increase awareness among producers and herd veterinarians of potential travel distances and delays; (3) to promote pro-active culling; (4) to improve the ability of personnel to assess animal condition before loading; (5) to identify local options for slaughter of cull dairy cows; (6) to investigate different management options such as emergency slaughter and mobile slaughter; (7) to ensure that all farms and auctions have, or can access, personnel trained and equipped for euthanasia; and (8) to promote cooperation among enforcement agencies and wider adoption of beneficial regulatory options
Analysis and functional classification of transcripts from the nematode Meloidogyne incognita
BACKGROUND: Plant parasitic nematodes are major pathogens of most crops. Molecular characterization of these species as well as the development of new techniques for control can benefit from genomic approaches. As an entrée to characterizing plant parasitic nematode genomes, we analyzed 5,700 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from second-stage larvae (L2) of the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. RESULTS: From these, 1,625 EST clusters were formed and classified by function using the Gene Ontology (GO) hierarchy and the Kyoto KEGG database. L2 larvae, which represent the infective stage of the life cycle before plant invasion, express a diverse array of ligand-binding proteins and abundant cytoskeletal proteins. L2 are structurally similar to Caenorhabditis elegans dauer larva and the presence of transcripts encoding glyoxylate pathway enzymes in the M. incognita clusters suggests that root-knot nematode larvae metabolize lipid stores while in search of a host. Homology to other species was observed in 79% of translated cluster sequences, with the C. elegans genome providing more information than any other source. In addition to identifying putative nematode-specific and Tylenchida-specific genes, sequencing revealed previously uncharacterized horizontal gene transfer candidates in Meloidogyne with high identity to rhizobacterial genes including homologs of nodL acetyltransferase and novel cellulases. CONCLUSIONS: With sequencing from plant parasitic nematodes accelerating, the approaches to transcript characterization described here can be applied to more extensive datasets and also provide a foundation for more complex genome analyses
The Grizzly, October 9, 1990
Student Activities Reorganized âą Homecoming 1990: Student and Alumnae Festivities âą LaRouche Supporter to Speak âą Pledging Rules In Effect âą EcBa Club Holds First Meeting âą The Path to Opportunities âą Ursinus Goes South of the Border âą Olin Brick Explained âą Esther Remembered âą Homecoming Festivities âą Comedy Brightens Wismer âą Pennsylvania Impressionist âą Acting Sports âą Presenting ProTheatre âą Russian Trumpeter âą Soccer Team Gets It Together âą Grubb\u27s Fearless Predictions âą Football Impresses âą Field Hockey Rebounds âą Harley\u27s Haven âą Letters: RAs Question Editorial; Congrats, Now be Quiet! âą Classics: Guaranteed to Improve Your Life âą Losing Traditions âą Grading Our Food Service âą Middleton: Man of Many Projectshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1260/thumbnail.jp
The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope
that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs
in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very
first observations of the earliest luminous objects in the Universe and start a
new era of exoplanet atmospheric characterization. This transformative science
is enabled by a 6.6 m telescope that is passively cooled with a 5-layer
sunshield. The primary mirror is comprised of 18 controllable, low areal
density hexagonal segments, that were aligned and phased relative to each other
in orbit using innovative image-based wavefront sensing and control algorithms.
This revolutionary telescope took more than two decades to develop with a
widely distributed team across engineering disciplines. We present an overview
of the telescope requirements, architecture, development, superb on-orbit
performance, and lessons learned. JWST successfully demonstrates a segmented
aperture space telescope and establishes a path to building even larger space
telescopes.Comment: accepted by PASP for JWST Overview Special Issue; 34 pages, 25
figure
The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning
This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period.
We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments,
and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch
expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of
achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the
board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases,
JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite
have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range
that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through
observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures;
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29
The James Webb Space Telescope Mission
Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies,
expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling
for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least .
With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000
people realized that vision as the James Webb Space Telescope. A
generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of
the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the
scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000
team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image
quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief
history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing
program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite
detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space
Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure
Effects of fluoxetine on functional outcomes after acute stroke (FOCUS): a pragmatic, double-blind, randomised, controlled trial
Background
Results of small trials indicate that fluoxetine might improve functional outcomes after stroke. The FOCUS trial aimed to provide a precise estimate of these effects.
Methods
FOCUS was a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel group, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial done at 103 hospitals in the UK. Patients were eligible if they were aged 18 years or older, had a clinical stroke diagnosis, were enrolled and randomly assigned between 2 days and 15 days after onset, and had focal neurological deficits. Patients were randomly allocated fluoxetine 20 mg or matching placebo orally once daily for 6 months via a web-based system by use of a minimisation algorithm. The primary outcome was functional status, measured with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS), at 6 months. Patients, carers, health-care staff, and the trial team were masked to treatment allocation. Functional status was assessed at 6 months and 12 months after randomisation. Patients were analysed according to their treatment allocation. This trial is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number ISRCTN83290762.
Findings
Between Sept 10, 2012, and March 31, 2017, 3127 patients were recruited. 1564 patients were allocated fluoxetine and 1563 allocated placebo. mRS data at 6 months were available for 1553 (99·3%) patients in each treatment group. The distribution across mRS categories at 6 months was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (common odds ratio adjusted for minimisation variables 0·951 [95% CI 0·839â1·079]; p=0·439). Patients allocated fluoxetine were less likely than those allocated placebo to develop new depression by 6 months (210 [13·43%] patients vs 269 [17·21%]; difference 3·78% [95% CI 1·26â6·30]; p=0·0033), but they had more bone fractures (45 [2·88%] vs 23 [1·47%]; difference 1·41% [95% CI 0·38â2·43]; p=0·0070). There were no significant differences in any other event at 6 or 12 months.
Interpretation
Fluoxetine 20 mg given daily for 6 months after acute stroke does not seem to improve functional outcomes. Although the treatment reduced the occurrence of depression, it increased the frequency of bone fractures. These results do not support the routine use of fluoxetine either for the prevention of post-stroke depression or to promote recovery of function.
Funding
UK Stroke Association and NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme
Towards a framework for multiparadigm multimethodologies in systems thinking and practice
Burrell and Morgan (2000) claimed that knowledge is paradigmatic, encompassing a distinct worldview and rationality governing research strategies and methods for which they identified four sociological paradigms to locate them based on âmetatheoretical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and human behaviorâ (Cunliffe, 2010). They regard the competing theories developed from different paradigms as incommensurableâthose working in one paradigm are not understood by those committed to another. Moreover, âthere can be no measure, outside of the paradigms, which can be used as a basis for comparing and adjudicating between the claims to
knowledge of theories produced from within different paradigmsâ (Jackson, 2000).
This new theory states that because the problem of paradigm incommensurability begins at the level of ontology the solution lies there as well. Rather than supporting just one or a few paradigms, a different type of ontology is needed to explain ontological variety. It is argued that we can only perceive reality as meaningful paradigmatically, just as in the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant (Saxe, ca. 1850) where each comes upon a different part of an elephant and
generalises that the whole is like their one piece. Furthermore, they cannot understand what they have found by comparing experiences.
Solving the incommensurability issue is the theoretical key needed to properly underpin pluralist approaches to systems theory, design and intervention. But to do so, this new ontology is placed so that it operates within a suitable and otherwise complete theoretical framework which does not circumscribe, subsume, or in any way alter existing approaches, paradigms and theoriesâit purpose is only to sanction their use in a pluralist systemic approach. Such a framework, called
PâS Multiparadigm Perspectivity is described in this thesis.
Ten interviews with systemists were conducted with mixed results. The tests mistakenly assumed that systemists were generally aware of paradigms and incommensurabilityâinstead, an aversion to theory was discovered. Surprisingly, though, two methods to address the issue were also found in the data. One of the interviewees teaches theory through storytelling; another demonstrates methods first, to pique the learnerâs interest and evoke their questions. It was learned that the adoption of this theory depends upon an improved awareness of the concepts of critical systems paradigms within the systemist community
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