Change, psychosocial stress and health in an era of globalization

In the last decades, globalization has produced an acceleration of social, economic and political changes worldwide. These changes had a number of positive effects including enhancing political freedom, living standards and health conditions. However, many of them have also produced adverse health consequences, especially when they have been implemented in a sudden, rapid and unexpected way. This is especially true among those populations whose ability to adjust to the new circumstances generated by rapid change was limited. The aim of the present research project was to examine the health consequences of rapid social, economic and political change following globalization as well as to investigate the role of psychosocial factors in explaining these relationships. A theoretical framework proposing major psychosocial pathways connecting rapid change with health-related outcomes has been developed. A series of case studies from countries affected by rapid change supported the hypothesized relationships included in the framework. Countries of interest were the former Soviet Union nations, China, Japan, Micronesia Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United States. The limited ability of certain populations to adjust to rapid changes induced by globalization as well as the pace of change of social, economic and political reforms are discussed

Differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and product-service systems (PSS)

This paper examines the forecasting implications for Product-Service Systems (PSS) applications in manufacturing firms. The approach taken is to identify the scope of operations for PSS applications by identifying all the activities associated with the total cost of ownership (TCO). The paper then develops a revenue model for manufacturing firms providing PSS applications. The revenue model identifies three generic revenue streams that provide the basis for discussion on the differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and Product-Service Systems (PSS) in manufacturing firms. The forecasting approaches are different due to the nature of customer involvement in the service aspect of PSS applications. This necessitates an understanding of the customer service experience and the factors affecting this such as the service profit chain which links profitability, customer loyalty and service value to employee satisfaction, capability and productivity. The forecasting approaches identified raises forecasting challenges for each of the three generic revenue sources. These challenges vary from the difficulty in obtaining the service user’s viewpoint through to difficulties in determining market acceptance of PSS applications

Canonical ``Loop'' Quantum Gravity and Spin Foam Models

The canonical ``loop'' formulation of quantum gravity is a mathematically well defined, background independent, non perturbative standard quantization of Einstein's theory of General Relativity. Some among the most meaningful results of the theory are: 1) the complete calculation of the spectrum of geometric quantities like the area and the volume and the consequent physical predictions about the structure of the space-time at the Plank scale; 2) a microscopical derivation of the Bekenstein-Hawking black-hole entropy formula. Unfortunately, despite recent results, the dynamical aspect of the theory (imposition of the Wheller-De Witt constraint) remains elusive. After a short description of the basic ideas and the main results of loop quantum gravity we show in which sence the exponential of the super Hamiltonian constraint leads to the concept of spin foam and to a four dimensional formulation of the theory. Moreover, we show that some topological field theories as the BF theory in 3 and 4 dimension admits a spin foam formulation. We argue that the spin-foams/spin-networks formalism it is the natural framework to discuss loop quantum gravity and topological field theory.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX2e, 7 figures. To appear in the proceeding of the XXIII SIGRAV conference, Monopoli (ITALY), September 21st-25th, 1998. Minor correction

Stellar Distributions and NIR Colours of Normal Galaxies

We discuss some results of a morphological study of edge-on galaxies, based on optical and especially near-infrared surface photometry. We find that the vertical surface brightness distributions of galaxies are fitted very well by exponential profiles, much better than by isothermal distributions. We find that in general the vertical scale height increases when going outward. This increase is strong for early-type spiral galaxies and very small for late types. We argue that it can be due to the presence of thick discs with scale lengths larger than the galaxy's main disc. Finally we discuss the colour-magnitude relation in I-K for spiral galaxies. We find that it is a tight relation, for which the scatter is similar to the observational uncertainties, with a steeper slope than for elliptical galaxies.Comment: Invited review, to appear in "Extragalactic Astronomy in the Infrared", eds. G.A. Mamon, Trinh Xuan Thuan, and J. Tran Thanh Van, Editions Frontieres, Gif-sur-Yvette. LaTeX2e, 10 pages, 6 postscript figures and moriond.sty included. See also ftp://kapteyn.astro.rug.nl/peletier/lesarcs.ps.g

Spiral galaxy distance indicators based on near-infrared photometry

We compare two methods of distance determination to spiral galaxies using optical/near-infrared (NIR) observations, the (I-K) versus M_K colour - absolute magnitude (CM) relation and the I and K-band Tully-Fisher relation (TFR). Dust-free colours and NIR absolute magnitudes greatly enhance the usefulness of the NIR CM relation as a distance indicator for moderately to highly inclined_spiral_ galaxies_in the field_ (inclinations between ~ 80 and 90 deg); by avoiding contamination by dust the scatter in the CM relation is significantly reduced, compared to similar galaxy samples published previously. The CM relation can be used to determine distances to field spiral galaxies with M_K > -25.5, to at least M_K ~ -20. Our results, supplemented with previously published observations for which we can - to some degree - control the effects of extinction, are consistent with a universal nature of the CM relation for field spiral galaxies. High-resolution observations done with the Hubble Space Telescope can provide a powerful tool to calibrate the relation and extend the useful distance range by more than a factor of 2 compared to ground-based observations. The intrinsic scatter in the NIR CM relation in the absolute K-band magnitudes is ~0.5 mag, yielding a lower limit to the accuracy of distance determinations on the order of 25%. Although we find an unusually low scatter in the TFR (probably a statistical accident), a typical scatter in the TFR would yield distances to our sample galaxies with uncertainties of only about 15%. However, one of the main advantages of the use of the NIR CM relation is that_we only need photometric data_ to obtain distance estimates; use of the TFR requires additional kinematic data, although it can be used to significantly greater distances.Comment: 12 pages, incl. 5 postscript files, LaTeX, accepted for publication in MNRA

The global structure of galactic discs

A statistical study of global galaxy parameters can help to improve our understanding of galaxy formation processes. In this paper we present the analysis of global galaxy parameters based on optical and near-infrared observations of a large sample of edge-on disc galaxies. We found a correlation between the ratio of the radial to vertical scale parameter and galaxy type: galaxies become systematically thinner when going from S0's to Sc's, whereas the distribution seems to level off for later types. The observed scale length ratios (and thus the radial colour gradients) largely represent the galaxies' dust content. On average the colour gradients indicated by the scale length ratios increase from type Sa to at least type Sc. For galaxy types later than Sc, the average colour gradient seems to decrease again. The distribution of K-band (edge-on) disc central surface brightnesses is rather flat, although with a large scatter. However, the latest-type sample galaxies (T > 6) show an indication that their average disc central surface brightnesses may be fainter than those of the earlier types. This effect is probably not the result of dust extinction.Comment: 17 pages, LaTex, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA