Fiduciary Principles: Corporate Responsibilities to Stakeholders

The recent corporate scandals and financial crisis has increased demand for accountability in business decisions. Corporate governance reform initiatives designed to increase financial disclosure and responsibility are insufficient to rebuild public trust in business. Corporate boards and officers must comply with the legal norms to which they are already subject; as fiduciaries they have duties of care, loyalty and good faith. This article examines modern fiduciary duties that currently govern corporate conduct and thus severely limit corporate responsibility. Revisiting the historical and religious origins of fiduciaries that shaped the ethical and moral duties gives insight into the true role of a fiduciary. We propose a new, well-defined definition of fiduciary duties that could offer corporate managers guidance in developing new stakeholder relationships

Parents know best: transgenerational predator recognition through parental effects

In highly biodiverse systems, such as coral reefs, prey species are faced with predatory threats from numerous species. Recognition of predators can be innate, or learned, and can help increase the chance of survival. Research suggests that parental exposure to increased predatory threats can affect the development, behaviour, and ultimately, success of their offspring. Breeding pairs of damselfish (Acanthochromis polyacanthus) were subjected to one of three olfactory and visual treatments (predator, herbivore, or control), and their developing embryos were subsequently exposed to five different chemosensory cues. Offspring of parents assigned to the predator treatment exhibited a mean increase in heart rate two times greater than that of offspring from parents in herbivore or control treatments. This increased reaction to a parentally known predator odour suggests that predator-treated parents passed down relevant threat information to their offspring, via parental effects. This is the first time transgenerational recognition of a specific predator has been confirmed in any species. This phenomenon could influence predator-induced mortality rates and enable populations to adaptively respond to fluctuations in predator composition and environmental changes

A multi-objective approach for improving real-time audio peak reduction and speech clarity in a dental drill noise reduction device

Abstract Audio signals typically comprise several characteristics to be improved by signal processing and in practice, each of these characteristics has a unique relationship to the controllable system parameters. Quantifying these relationships in a multi‐objective (MO) approach will enable an improved system setup. This paper determines two novel objective functions of a complex audio signal for the real‐time simultaneous improvement of audio peak reduction and speech clarity in a dental drill noise reduction (DDNR) device. The influence of the DDNR system parameters on the outcome of peak reduction and speech clarity is determined by combining response surface methodology and a desirability function to enable MO optimisation. The results show an average improvement of nearly 30% over the original DDNR device performance. The approach described provides an effective means for addressing MO optimisation of other real‐time audio signal processing applications where the signal has similar peak reduction and speech clarity objectives to be processed, particularly where the physical outcome is not easy to evaluate in a virtual environment

Dimensional analysis using toric ideals: Primitive invariants

© 2014 Atherton et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Classical dimensional analysis in its original form starts by expressing the units for derived quantities, such as force, in terms of power products of basic units M, L, T etc. This suggests the use of toric ideal theory from algebraic geometry. Within this the Graver basis provides a unique primitive basis in a well-defined sense, which typically has more terms than the standard Buckingham approach. Some textbook examples are revisited and the full set of primitive invariants found. First, a worked example based on convection is introduced to recall the Buckingham method, but using computer algebra to obtain an integer K matrix from the initial integer A matrix holding the exponents for the derived quantities. The K matrix defines the dimensionless variables. But, rather than this integer linear algebra approach it is shown how, by staying with the power product representation, the full set of invariants (dimensionless groups) is obtained directly from the toric ideal defined by A. One candidate for the set of invariants is a simple basis of the toric ideal. This, although larger than the rank of K, is typically not unique. However, the alternative Graver basis is unique and defines a maximal set of invariants, which are primitive in a simple sense. In addition to the running example four examples are taken from: a windmill, convection, electrodynamics and the hydrogen atom. The method reveals some named invariants. A selection of computer algebra packages is used to show the considerable ease with which both a simple basis and a Graver basis can be found.The third author received funding from Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellowship (1-SST-U445) and United Kingdom EPSRC grant: MUCM EP/D049993/1

Assessing the effectiveness of business support services in England: evidence from a theory based evaluation

In England, publicly supported advisory services for small firms are organised primarily through the Business Link (BL) network. Based on the programme theory underlying this business support services we develop four propositions and test these empirically using data from a new survey of over 3,000 English small firms. Our empirical results provide a broad validation of the programme theory underlying BL assistance for small firms in England during 2003, and more limited support for its effectiveness. More specifically, we find strong support for the value of BL operators maintaining a high profile as a way of boosting take-up. We also find some support for the approach to market segmentation adopted by BL allowing more intensive assistance to be targeted on younger firms and those with limited liability status. In terms of the outcomes of BL support, and allowing for issues of sample selection, we find no significant effects on growth from ‘other’ assistance but do find positive and significant employment growth effects from intensive assistance. This provides partial support for the programme theory assertion that BL support will lead to improvements in business growth performance and stronger support for the proposition that there would be differential outcomes from intensive and other assistance. The positive employment growth outcomes identified here from intensive assistance, even allowing for sample selection, suggest something of an improvement in the effectiveness of the BL network since the late 1990s

Improving health outcome for young people with long term conditions: The role of digital communication in current and future patient-clinician communication for NHS providers of specialist clinical services for young people receiving specialist clinical services:LYNC study protocol.

Background: Young people living with long term conditions are vulnerable to health service disengagement. This endangers their long term health. Studies report requests for digital forms of communication - email, text, social media - with their health care team. Digital clinical communication is troublesome for the UK NHS. Aim: To present the research protocol for evaluating the impacts and outcomes of digital clinical communications for young people living with long term conditions and provide critical analysis of their use, monitoring and evaluation by NHS providers. Methods: The research involves: 1) Patient and Public Involvement activities with 16-24 year olds with and without long term health conditions; 2) six literature reviews; 3) case studies – the main empirical part of the study – and 4) synthesis and a consensus meeting. Case studies use a mixed methods design. Interviews and non-participant observation of practitioners and patients communicating in up to 20 specialist clinical settings will be combined with data, aggregated at the case level (non-identifiable patient data), on a range of clinical outcomes meaningful within the case and across cases. We will describe the use of digital clinical communication from the perspective of patients, clinical staff, support staff and managers, interviewing up to 15 young people and 15 staff per case study. Outcome data includes emergency admissions, A&E attendance and DNA rates. Case studies will be analysed to understand impacts of digital clinical communication on patient health outcomes, health care costs and consumption, ethics and patient safety

Prototype Design and Feasibility Analysis for Self-Levitated Conveying

In order to avoid friction and scratching when conveying object, an acoustic levitation prototype was designed to verify the feasibility. The modal shapes and the forced harmonic shapes of the prototype are obtained by an ANSYS coupled field computation with a one-quarter symmetry model and the levitation capacity was assessed by the use of groups of simulation and physical testing. The simulation results showed that the pure flexural and mixed flexural wave shapes with different wave numbers existed at some specific frequency. The amplitude in the central point of an aluminum plate having four piezo-electric discs glued to the bottom surface was simulated for a frequency spectrum. The experimental results confirmed the theoretical results and the feasibility of the prototype and confirm that objects can be floated at several resonant frequencies under forced vibrating condition. The system can provide largest bearing capacity when both the piezoelectric disc and the plate resonances coincide

Novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance.

Ketone bodies are the most energy-efficient fuel and yield more ATP per mole of substrate than pyruvate and increase the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis. Elevation of circulating ketones via high-fat, low-carbohydrate diets has been used for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy and for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. Ketones may also be beneficial for muscle and brain in times of stress, such as endurance exercise. The challenge has been to raise circulating ketone levels by using a palatable diet without altering lipid levels. We found that blood ketone levels can be increased and cholesterol and triglycerides decreased by feeding rats a novel ketone ester diet: chow that is supplemented with (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate as 30% of calories. For 5 d, rats on the ketone diet ran 32% further on a treadmill than did control rats that ate an isocaloric diet that was supplemented with either corn starch or palm oil (P < 0.05). Ketone-fed rats completed an 8-arm radial maze test 38% faster than did those on the other diets, making more correct decisions before making a mistake (P < 0.05). Isolated, perfused hearts from rats that were fed the ketone diet had greater free energy available from ATP hydrolysis during increased work than did hearts from rats on the other diets as shown by using [31P]-NMR spectroscopy. The novel ketone diet, therefore, improved physical performance and cognitive function in rats, and its energy-sparing properties suggest that it may help to treat a range of human conditions with metabolic abnormalities.-Murray, A. J., Knight, N. S., Cole, M. A., Cochlin, L. E., Carter, E., Tchabanenko, K., Pichulik, T., Gulston, M. K., Atherton, H. J., Schroeder, M. A., Deacon, R. M. J., Kashiwaya, Y., King, M. T., Pawlosky, R., Rawlins, J. N. P., Tyler, D. J., Griffin, J. L., Robertson, J., Veech, R. L., Clarke, K. Novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance.A.J.M. thanks the Research Councils UK for supporting his Academic Fellowship. This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from FASEB at https://doi.org/10.1096/fj.201600773R

Randomized, Controlled Trial Evaluating a Baby Wash Product on Skin Barrier Function in Healthy, Term Neonates

Objectives To examine the hypothesis that the use of a wash product formulated for newborn (<1 month of age) bathing is not inferior (no worse) to bathing with water only. Design Assessor‐blinded, randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial. Setting A teaching hospital in the Northwest of England and in participants’ homes. Participants Three‐hundred‐and‐seven healthy, term infants recruited within 48 hours of birth. Method We compared bathing with a wash product (n = 159) to bathing with water alone (n = 148). The primary outcome was transepidermal water loss (TEWL) at 14 days postbirth; the predefined difference deemed to be unimportant was 1.2. Secondary outcomes comprised changes in stratum corneum hydration, skin surface pH, clinical observations of the skin, and maternal views. Results Complete TEWL data were obtained for 242 (78.8%) infants. Wash was noninferior to water alone in terms of TEWL (intention‐to‐treat analysis: 95% confidence interval [CI] for difference [wash–water, adjusted for family history of eczema, neonate state, and baseline] −1.24, 1.07; per protocol analysis: 95% CI −1.42, 1.09). No significant differences were found in secondary outcomes. Conclusion We were unable to detect any differences between the newborn wash product and water. These findings provide reassurance to parents who choose to use the test newborn wash product or other technically equivalent cleansers and provide the evidence for health care professionals to support parental choice