The seat of the soul: on the inner and the outer, embodyment

Marcelo Stamm has been head of the UTas School of Philosophy since mid 2005. His research has had a double focus on problems of metaphysics, (cognitive horizons, demarcation lines, inner/outer and inside/outside) on the one hand and the theory of the mind and subjectivity, creativity and self-consciousness on the other. He has pursued these within the philosophical tradition of German Idealism and Wittgenstein. The aim of his presentation is to give an account of situatedness and embodiment, and provide an understanding of the human being as a be-souled creature, juxtaposed to machines. Are there ways to understand a specific dialect of "the inner" and "the outer" in relation to the liminal nature of the alleged demarcation line between "inside" and "outside" and how is this crucial to an understanding of human creativity

Femtosecond x-ray absorption spectroscopy of spin and orbital angular momentum in photoexcited Ni films during ultrafast demagnetization

We follow for the first time the evolution of the spin and orbital angular momentum of a thin Ni film during ultrafast demagnetization, by means of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. Both components decrease with a 130 +/- 40 fs time constant upon excitation with a femtosecond laser pulse. Additional x-ray absorption measurements reveal an increase in the spin-orbit interaction by 6 +/- 2 % during this process. This is the experimental demonstration quantifying the importance of spin-orbit mediated processes during the demagnetization

Marketing of an American art form and pastime

A musical hobby organization\u27s marketing efforts were examined in this Applied Management Decision Report. Though the report dealt with a non-profit organization, it was explained that sound business practices must be followed as in any business or organization seeking to maximize profits for its shareholders

Group Conditions for Entrepreneurial Visions: Role Confidence, Hierarchical Congruences, and the Imagining of Future in Entrepreneurial Groups

An essential part of entrepreneurial activity is the drafting and narrating of an entrepreneurial vision. This study is premised on the observation that entrepreneurial groups form an interaction arena for the practice of imagining the future and asks how the content of entrepreneurial visions is shaped by the conditions of the group. Taking an entrepreneurship-as-practice lens, which we enrich with sociological theory on the future (Beckert) and small groups (Fine), we engage in an in-depth case study of 12 entrepreneurial groups. We show how the content of entrepreneurial visions is configured by four elements (i.e., fictional expectation for the business or the group; future orientation that is continuing or divergent) and name two group conditions (i.e., role confidence and hierarchical congruence) that direct their configuration. We propose that lacking role confidence can impede thinking about the future of a business and that narrative hierarchies that challenge structural hierarchies can open a window for divergent future orientation. This study contributes to a novel theoretical understanding of where entrepreneurial visions come from by emphasizing politics of expectations within groups and calling to consider group conditions as a relevant context for entrepreneurial visions

Levothyroxine effects on depressive symptoms and limbic glucose metabolism in bipolar disorder: a randomized, placebo-controlled positron emission tomography study.

Adding supraphysiologic doses of levothyroxine (L-T4) to standard treatment for bipolar depression shows promise, but the mechanisms underlying clinical improvement are unknown. In a previous pilot study, L-T4 treatment reduced depression scores and activity within the anterior limbic network. Here we extended this work in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of patients with bipolar depression. Cerebral glucose metabolism was assessed with positron emission tomography and [F-18]fluorodeoxyglucose before and after 6 weeks of treatment with L-T4 (n=15) or placebo (n=10) in 12 volumes of interest (VOIs): the bilateral thalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, dorsal striatum and ventral striatum, and midline cerebellar vermis and subgenual cingulate cortex. Radioactivity in the VOIs, normalized to whole-brain radioactivity was taken as a surrogate index of glucose metabolism, and markers of thyroid function were assayed. Changes in brain activity and their association with clinical response were assessed using statistical parametric mapping. Adjunctive L-T4 treatment produced a significant decline in depression scores during the 6-week treatment. In patients treated with L-T4, we found a significant decrease in regional activity at P<0.05 after Bonferroni correction in the left thalamus, right amygdala, right hippocampus, left ventral striatum and the right dorsal striatum. Decreases in the left thalamus, left dorsal striatum and the subgenual cingulate were correlated with a reduction in depression scores (P<0.05 after Bonferroni correction). Placebo treatment was associated with a significant decrease in activity only in the right amygdala, and no region had a change in activity that was correlated with change in depression scores. The groups differed significantly in the relationship between the changes in depression scores and in activity in the thalamus bilaterally and the left ventral striatum. The findings provide evidence that administration of supraphysiologic thyroid hormone improves depressive symptoms in patients with bipolar disorder by modulating function in components of the anterior limbic network

Key Perfromance Indicators (KPI) for the implementation of lean methodologies in a manufacture-to-order small and medium enterprise

This paper presents a key performance indicator (KPI) concept for the implementation of Lean methodologies in a manufacture-to-order (MTO) small and medium enterprise (SME). Within a case study the concept is developed and improved. The purpose of the measurement system is to monitor the early Lean implementation process. The paper explores the current literature about Lean performance measurement and discusses the critical success factors of a Lean implementation. It is suggested to integrate the performance dimension “leadership” into a KPI concept. The KPI concept consists of five dimensions: leadership, quality, costs, time and people respectively organisation. Additionally the Lean metrics “Process Velocity” and “Value Velocity” are presented and adapted to the specific requirements of a MTO environment. The application of the KPI concept in the case study is discussed. The benefit of an early integration of an appropriate KPI system during a Lean implementation could be confirmed