Making Consumer Knowledge Available and Useful the case of the Computer Games Industry

It has been demonstrated that users occasionally innovate. However, it can now be observed that even end-consumers act as a source novel product designs. A case study of a firm, and “its” consumers - from the computer games industry - illustrates how sourcing of consumer knowledge has enabled the firm to improve product design. Two conditions favor the results firms can obtain from consumer’s knowledge. First, is firm’s ability to exploit new opportunities of information and communication technology - on-line communities - to establish interfaces connecting them with consumers. Second, is firm’s ability to initiate a mode of organization by which the consumers are guided and motivated to reveal merely relevant knowledge.Innovation, Consumers, On-line communities, Computer games

Local entropic effects of polymers grafted to soft interfaces

In this paper, we study the equilibrium properties of polymer chains end-tethered to a fluid membrane. The loss of conformational entropy of the polymer results in an inhomogeneous pressure field that we calculate for gaussian chains. We estimate the effects of excluded volume through a relation between pressure and concentration. Under the polymer pressure, a soft surface will deform. We calculate the deformation profile for a fluid membrane and show that close to the grafting point, this profile assumes a cone-like shape, independently of the boundary conditions. Interactions between different polymers are also mediated by the membrane deformation. This pair-additive potential is attractive for chains grafted on the same side of the membrane and repulsive otherwise.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Depletion forces between two spheres in a rod solution

We study the depletion interaction between spherical particles of radius R immersed in a dilute solution of rigid rods of length L. The computed interaction potential is, within numerical accuracy, exact for any value of L/R. In particular we find that for L of order R, the depth of the depletion well is smaller than the prediction of the Derjaguin approximation. Our results bring new light into the discussion on the lack of phase separation in colloidal mixtures of spheres and rods.Comment: 12 pages including figures. 5 eps figures. LaTeX with REVTe

The beef market in the European Union.

This report analyses the market for beef in the European Union. The information in this report primarily concerns the EU-15 countries. More than half of the beef consumption in the EU is sold as fresh beef products at the retail level, the rest being used in processed products or sold through catering outlets. This report will primarily focus on the market for beef sold fresh at the retail level. The report analyses consumption patterns and looks at various explanations of changes in beef consumption. A complementary analysis of the structure of the beef supply chain will comprise all links from farmers through cattle markets, slaughtering companies and wholesalers to retailers. Such an analysis of the basic structure of the distribution chain is helpful with a view to understanding the market’s use or non-use of marketing parameters like branding, advertising, product quality, and new product development. Section 2 contains an overview of the European beef market including trends in consumption, production and foreign trade as well as a description of some legal and political issues as well as of some factors concerning health and food safety, which are of importance to the beef market participants. In section 3 the beef consumption patterns in the EU are analysed and various factors influencing consumption patterns are considered, including demographic and economic factors as well as the influence of consumer preferences. Section 4 contains an analysis of the beef sector in terms of structure, competition and marketing strategies. Section 5 concludes the report with a summary of key findings. A number of interviews with slaughtering companies, trade organisations and retail chains in the United Kingdom, Greece and Denmark have been conducted to support the compilation of information for the report. The interviews have contributed to a better understanding of the market and they have provided validation for some of the information gathered in the report. The areas covered concern market trends, relations between actors in the distribution chain, product quality, new product development, branding, advertising and promotion. Where interviews contained valuable insights or comments which were difficult to summarise in a meaningful way, the answers have been reproduced in smaller print in nearly full length. Some of the data are incorporated in the text. The interview guidelines are attached in the Appendix. Five interviews were conducted in Denmark, three in the United Kingdom and four in Greece. The companies are classified according to size and market. Codes are used in the report to identify respondents. A legend of codes can be found in the Appendix.Food; Meat products; European Union

From Interview to Transcript to Story: Elucidating the Construction of Journalistic Narrative As Qualitative Research

There is a call to narrative investigators to be more explicit about their ways of working methodologically, in particular concerning dialogic/performative analysis. The purpose of this study was to examine how journalistic storytelling used as qualitative health research transformed, assembled and sequenced interview into transcripts, scenes, digressions, and other language products. A published story from a socio-narratological study of living with the terminal disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was selected. Distribution and sequence of modes of transcription, versions of dialogue, transformation of observation and memory to scenes, and conversion of the researcher’s reflection to digression, were identified and calculated. Spots in the story conveying the researcher’s imaginations were identified. Three modes of transcription were found. Differences between recorded and published dialogue were demonstrated. The construction of a scene and a digression from notes and transcript was shown. Sequencing of narrative techniques was illustrated. Twenty-two spots of imagination were highlighted. The full, published story itself served as discussion by elucidating how selected parts of interview and context became a story through varying narrative constructions. The highlighted imaginations composed a poetic conclusion resonating the intellectual and bodily experience of the interview

Monte Carlo Study of the Inflation-Deflation Transition in a Fluid Membrane

We study the conformation and scaling properties of a self-avoiding fluid membrane, subject to an osmotic pressure $p$, by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Using finite size scaling methods in combination with a histogram reweighting techniques we find that the surface undergoes an abrupt conformational transition at a critical pressure $p^\ast$, from low pressure deflated configurations with a branched polymer characteristics to a high pressure inflated phase, in agreement with previous findings \cite{gompper,baum}. The transition pressure $p^{\ast}$ scales with the system size as $p^\ast \propto N^{-\alpha}$, with $\alpha = 0.69 \pm 0.01$. Below $p^\ast$ the enclosed volume scales as $V \propto N$, in accordance with the self-avoiding branched polymer structure, and for $p\searrow p^{\ast}$ our data are consistent with the finite size scaling form $V \propto N^{\beta_{+}}$, where $\beta_{+} = 1.43 \pm 0.04$. Also the finite size scaling behavior of the radii of gyration and the compressibility moduli are obtained. Some of the observed exponents and the mechanism behind the conformational collapse are interpreted in terms of a Flory theory.Comment: 20 pages + postscript-file, Latex + Postscript, IFA Report No. 94/1

Approaches to results-based funding in tertiary education : identifying finance reform options for Chile

Unrealized potential exists for increasing accountability and transparency in Chilean tertiary education by allocating resources based on achieved results rather than historical precedence and political negotiation. Against this background, the authors profile approaches to results-based funding of tertiary education to identify efficacious finance reform options for Chile. International experience shows that financing by results is not a ready-made concept, but a broad label that offers a menu of design options. To decipher results-based funding, the authors cover all phases in designing and implementing a results-based funding system and highlight strengths and weaknesses of concepts, such as taximeter funding, performance contracts, and formula-based allocations.Public Health Promotion,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Decentralization,Teaching and Learning,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning

A Dance with Protein Assemblies : Analysis, Structure Prediction, and Design

Protein assemblies are some of the most complex molecular machines in nature. They facilitate many cellular functions, from DNA replication to molecular motion, energy production, and even the production of other proteins. In a series of 3 papers, we analyzed the structure, developed structure prediction tools, and design tools, for different protein assemblies. Many of the studies were centered around viral protein capsids. Viral capsids are protein coats found inside viruses that contain and protect the viral genome. In one paper, we studied the interfaces of these capids and their energy landscapes. We found that they differ from regular homomers in terms of the amino acid composition and size, but not in the quality of interactions. This contradicts existing experimental and theoretical studies that suggest that the interactions are weak. We hypothesise that the occlusion by our models of electrostatic and entropic contributions might be at play. In another paper, we developed methods to predict large cubic symmetrical protein assemblies, such as viral capsids, from sequence. This method is based upon AlphaFold, a new AI tool that has revolutionized protein structure prediction. We found that we can predict up to 50% of the structures of these assemblies. The method can quickly elucidate the structure of many relevant proteins for humans, and for understanding structures relevant to disease, such as the structures of viral capsids. In the final paper, we developed tools to design capsid-like proteins called cages – structures that can be used for drug delivery and vaccine design. A fundamental problem in designing cage structures is achieving different architectures and low porosity, goals that are important for vaccine design and the delivery of small drug molecules. By explicitly modelling the shapes of the subunits in the cage and matching the shapes with proteins from structural databases, we find that we can create structures with many different sizes, shapes, and porosities - including low porosities. While waiting for experimental validation, the design strategy described in the paper must be extended, and more designs must be tested