Between Boston and Berlin: American MNCs and the shifting contours of industrial relations in Ireland

peer-reviewedDrawing on detailed qualitative case studies and utilizing a national business system lens, we explore a largely underrepresented debate in the literature, namely the nature of change in a specific but critical element of business systems, that is the industrial relations (IR) institutions of the State and the impact of MNCs thereon. Given the critical mass of US investment in Ireland, we examine how US MNCs manage IR in their Irish subsidiaries, how the policies and practices they pursue have impacted on the Irish IR system, and more broadly their role in shaping the host institutional environment. Overall, we conclude that there is some evidence of change in the IR system, change that we trace indirectly to the US MNC sector. Further, the US MNC sector displays evidence of elements of the management of IR that is clearly at odds with Irish traditions. Thus, in these firms we point to the emergence of a hybrid system of the management of IR and the establishment of new traditions more reflective of US business system.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

Phase II randomised discontinuation trial of brivanib in patients with advanced solid tumours

Background: Brivanib is a selective inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signalling. We performed a phase II randomised discontinuation trial of brivanib in 7 tumour types (soft-tissue sarcomas [STS], ovarian cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, non-small-cell lung cancer [NSCLC], gastric/esophageal cancer and transitional cell carcinoma [TCC]). Patients and methods: During a 12-week open-label lead-in period, patients received brivanib 800 mg daily and were evaluated for FGF2 status by immunohistochemistry. Patients with stable disease at week 12 were randomised to brivanib or placebo. A study steering committee evaluated week 12 response to determine if enrolment in a tumour type would continue. The primary objective was progression-free survival (PFS) for brivanib versus placebo in patients with FGF2-positive tumours. Results: A total of 595 patients were treated, and stable disease was observed at the week 12 randomisation point in all tumour types. Closure decisions were made for breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, NSCLC, gastric cancer and TCC. Criteria for expansion were met for STS and ovarian cancer. In 53 randomised patients with STS and FGF2-positive tumours, the median PFS was 2.8 months for brivanib and 1.4 months for placebo (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.58, p = 0.08). For all randomised patients with sarcomas, the median PFS was 2.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4–4.0) for those treated with brivanib compared with 1.4 months (95% CI: 1.3–1.6) for placebo (HR = 0.64, 95% CI: 0.38–1.07; p = 0.09). In the 36 randomised patients with ovarian cancer and FGF2-positive tumours, the median PFS was 4.0 (95% CI: 2.6–4.2) months for brivanib and 2.0 months (95% CI: 1.2–2.7) for placebo (HR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.26–1.22). For all randomised patients with ovarian cancer, the median PFS in those randomised to brivanib was 4.0 months (95% CI: 2.6–4.2) and was 2.0 months (95% CI: 1.2–2.7) in those randomised to placebo (HR = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.25–1.17; p = 0.11). Conclusion: Brivanib demonstrated activity in STS and ovarian cancer with an acceptable safety profile. FGF2 expression, as defined in the protocol, is not a predictive biomarker of the efficacy of brivanib

Criteria and methods for delineation of groundwater source protection areas

Only one of the five standard criteria for delineation of a groundwater-source protection area (GSPA), identification of flow boundaries, is valid in unconfined carbonate aquifers. The most powerful method for reliable delineation of flow boundaries of a GSPA in such aquifers- indeed, the essential and only method for reliably doing so at other than faults, lithologic contacts, and water bodies - is groundwater tracing, usually with fluorescent dyes, and preferably with hydrogeologic mapping and contouring of a sufficient amount of relevant potentiometric data. Hydrogeologic mapping alone and discharge balancing, the latter using base-flow discharge, normalized base-flow (discharge per unit area), and hydrogeologic mapping, can each be used to estimate a GSPA, but such mapping or balancing is not a replacement for the judicious use of tracer tests. The most dangerous, misapplied criterion for GSPA delineation in any unconfined carbonate aquifer is time of travel (TOT) that is not based on tracer tests. Its use, when based on calculations from aquifer tests or on computer modeling, each of which assumes porous-medium equivalency and Darcian flow, is self-delusory and gives a false sense of security. In consideration of what is now known about flow velocities from more than 2250 tracer tests from 25 countries, use of non-tractt-based 10T in unconfined carbonate aquifezs is not defensible. Hydrogeologic mapping, combined with tracer-test and potentiometric data, has been successfully used to delineate a GSPA for a group of springs in a groundwater basin in Mississippian limestones of west-central Kentucky that is a water supply for approximately 36,000 people. No computer model could have predicted the tracer-test results or the basin boundaries - and had them recognizable as valid - unless confirmatory tracer tests had been conducted. The results of tracer testing are moderately predictable, but they can only be detennined empirically

Criteria and methods for delineation of groundwater source protection areas

Only one of the five standard criteria for delineation of a groundwater-source protection area (GSPA), identification of flow boundaries, is valid in unconfined carbonate aquifers. The most powerful method for reliable delineation of flow boundaries of a GSPA in such aquifers- indeed, the essential and only method for reliably doing so at other than faults, lithologic contacts, and water bodies - is groundwater tracing, usually with fluorescent dyes, and preferably with hydrogeologic mapping and contouring of a sufficient amount of relevant potentiometric data. Hydrogeologic mapping alone and discharge balancing, the latter using base-flow discharge, normalized base-flow (discharge per unit area), and hydrogeologic mapping, can each be used to estimate a GSPA, but such mapping or balancing is not a replacement for the judicious use of tracer tests. The most dangerous, misapplied criterion for GSPA delineation in any unconfined carbonate aquifer is time of travel (TOT) that is not based on tracer tests. Its use, when based on calculations from aquifer tests or on computer modeling, each of which assumes porous-medium equivalency and Darcian flow, is self-delusory and gives a false sense of security. In consideration of what is now known about flow velocities from more than 2250 tracer tests from 25 countries, use of non-tractt-based 10T in unconfined carbonate aquifezs is not defensible. Hydrogeologic mapping, combined with tracer-test and potentiometric data, has been successfully used to delineate a GSPA for a group of springs in a groundwater basin in Mississippian limestones of west-central Kentucky that is a water supply for approximately 36,000 people. No computer model could have predicted the tracer-test results or the basin boundaries - and had them recognizable as valid - unless confirmatory tracer tests had been conducted. The results of tracer testing are moderately predictable, but they can only be detennined empirically

Negotiated governance, industrial relations regimes and European integration

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9350.103085(UCD-CEROP-WP--18) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Multinationals and human resource practices in Ireland A rejection of the 'new conformance thesis'

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9350.103085(29) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo