Where constructionism and critical realism converge: interrogating the domain of epistemological relativism

The paper interrogates the status, nature and significance of epistemological relativism as a key element of constructionism and critical realism. It finds that epistemological relativism is espoused by authorities in critical realism and marginalized or displaced in the field of management and organization studies, resulting in forms of analysis that are empirically, but not fully critically, realist. This evaluation prompts reflection on the question of whether, how and with what implications epistemological relativism might be recast at the heart of critical realist studies of management and organization

Optical Technologies for UV Remote Sensing Instruments

Over the last decade significant advances in technology have made possible development of instruments with substantially improved efficiency in the UV spectral region. In the area of optical coatings and materials, the importance of recent developments in chemical vapor deposited (CVD) silicon carbide (SiC) mirrors, SiC films, and multilayer coatings in the context of ultraviolet instrumentation design are discussed. For example, the development of chemically vapor deposited (CVD) silicon carbide (SiC) mirrors, with high ultraviolet (UV) reflectance and low scatter surfaces, provides the opportunity to extend higher spectral/spatial resolution capability into the 50-nm region. Optical coatings for normal incidence diffraction gratings are particularly important for the evolution of efficient extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrographs. SiC films are important for optimizing the spectrograph performance in the 90 nm spectral region. The performance evaluation of the flight optical components for the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) instrument, a spectroscopic instrument to fly aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission, designed to study dynamic processes, temperatures, and densities in the plasma of the upper atmosphere of the Sun in the wavelength range from 50 nm to 160 nm, is discussed. The optical components were evaluated for imaging and scatter in the UV. The performance evaluation of SOHO/CDS (Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer) flight gratings tested for spectral resolution and scatter in the DGEF is reviewed and preliminary results on resolution and scatter testing of Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) technology development diffraction gratings are presented

Comparative assessment of onabotulinumtoxinA and mirabegron for overactive bladder: an indirect treatment comparison

CONTEXT: OnabotulinumtoxinA and mirabegron have recently gained marketing authorisation to treat symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative efficacy of mirabegron and onabotulinumtoxinA in patients with idiopathic OAB. DESIGN: Network meta-analysis. DATA SOURCES: A search of 9 electronic databases, review documents, guidelines and websites. METHODS: Randomised trials comparing any licensed dose of onabotulinumtoxinA or mirabegron with each other, anticholinergic drugs or placebo were eligible (19 randomised trials were identified). 1 reviewer extracted data from the studies and a second reviewer checked the data. Candidate trials were assessed for similarity and networks were developed for each outcome. Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted using both fixed-effects and random-effects models. When there were differences in mean baseline values between mirabegron and onabotulinumtoxinA trials they were adjusted for using network meta-regression (NMR). RESULTS: No studies directly comparing onabotulinumtoxinA to mirabegron were identified. A network was created for each of the 7 outcomes, with 3-9 studies included in each individual network. The trials included in the networks were broadly similar. Patients in the onabotulinumtoxinA trials had more urinary incontinence and urgency episodes at baseline than patients in the mirabegron trials and these differences were adjusted for using NMR. Both onabotulinumtoxinA and mirabegron were more efficacious than placebo at reducing the frequency of urinary incontinence, urgency, urination and nocturia. OnabotulinumtoxinA was more efficacious than mirabegron (50 and 25 mg) in completely resolving daily episodes of urinary incontinence and urgency and in reducing the frequency of urinary incontinence, urgency and urination. NMR supported the results of the network meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of head-to-head trials comparing onabotulinumtoxinA to mirabegron, this indirect comparison indicates that onabotulinumtoxinA may be superior to mirabegron in improving symptoms of urinary incontinence, urgency and urinary frequency in patients with idiopathic OAB

Severe mental illness and mortality and coronary revascularisation following a myocardial infarction:a retrospective cohort study

Background: Severe mental illness (SMI), comprising schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression, is associated with higher myocardial infarction (MI) mortality but lower coronary revascularisation rates. Previous studies have largely focused on schizophrenia, with limited information on bipolar disorder and major depression, long-term mortality or the effects of either sociodemographic factors or year of MI. We investigated the associations between SMI and MI prognosis and how these differed by age at MI, sex and year of MI. Methods: We conducted a national retrospective cohort study, including adults with a hospitalised MI in Scotland between 1991 and 2014. We ascertained previous history of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression from psychiatric and general hospital admission records. We used logistic regression to obtain odds ratios adjusted for sociodemographic factors for 30-day, 1-year and 5-year mortality, comparing people with each SMI to a comparison group without a prior hospital record for any mental health condition. We used Cox regression to analyse coronary revascularisation within 30 days, risk of further MI and further vascular events (MI or stroke). We investigated associations for interaction with age at MI, sex and year of MI. Results: Among 235,310 people with MI, 923 (0.4%) had schizophrenia, 642 (0.3%) had bipolar disorder and 6239 (2.7%) had major depression. SMI was associated with higher 30-day, 1-year and 5-year mortality and risk of further MI and stroke. Thirty-day mortality was higher for schizophrenia (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.64–2.30), bipolar disorder (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.26–1.86) and major depression (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.23–1.40). Odds ratios for 1-year and 5-year mortality were larger for all three conditions. Revascularisation rates were lower in schizophrenia (HR 0.57, 95% CI 0.48–0.67), bipolar disorder (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.56–0.85) and major depression (HR 0.78, 95% CI 0.73–0.83). Mortality and revascularisation disparities persisted from 1991 to 2014, with absolute mortality disparities more apparent for MIs that occurred around 70 years of age, the overall mean age of MI. Women with major depression had a greater reduction in revascularisation than men with major depression. Conclusions: There are sustained SMI disparities in MI intervention and prognosis. There is an urgent need to understand and tackle the reasons for these disparities

Effects on focused ion beam irradiation on MOS transistors

The effects of irradiation from a focused ion beam (FIB) system on MOS transistors are reported systematically for the first time. Three MOS transistor technologies, with 0.5, 1, and 3 {mu}m minimum feature sizes and with gate oxide thicknesses ranging from 11 to 50 nm, were analyzed. Significant shifts in transistor parameters (such as threshold voltage, transconductance, and mobility) were observed following irradiation with a 30 keV Ga{sup +} focused ion beam with ion doses varying by over 5 orders of magnitude. The apparent damage mechanism (which involved the creation of interface traps, oxide trapped charge, or both) and extent of damage were different for each of the three technologies investigated

Power between Habitus and Reflexivity – Introducing Margaret Archer to the Power Debate

This article introduces Margaret Archer’s research on reflexivity to the power debate, alongside Pierre Bourdieu’s already influential concept of habitus. Both offer significant insights on social conditioning in late modernity. However, their tendency to the extreme of social determinism and voluntarism must be avoided. To do so, this article adopts Haugaard’s family resemblance concept of power, describing habitus and reflexivity as an important new binary of power instead of a conceptual zero-sum game. This strengthens the explanatory role of agency, central to the three dimensions of power, without losing sight of constitutive, structural power. It also helps overcome the habitus-reflexivity dichotomy in social theory and provides a starting point to evaluate Archer’s work from a power perspective

Opportunity or dead end? Rethinking the study of entrepreneurial action without a concept of opportunity

This article has two objectives: to critique the dominant opportunity discovery and creation literatures and to propose a new, critical realist–inspired analytical framework to theorise the causes, processes and consequences of entrepreneurial action – one that needs no concept of opportunity. We offer three reasons to support our critique of opportunity studies. First, there are important absences, contradictions and inconsistencies in definitions of opportunity in theoretical and empirical work that mean the term cannot signal a clear direction for theorising or empirical research. Our central criticism is that the concept of opportunity cannot refer simultaneously, without contradiction, to a social context offering profit-making prospects, to particular practices and to agents’ subjective beliefs or imagined futures. Second, a new definition of opportunity would perpetuate the conceptual chaos. Third, useful concepts to capture important entrepreneurial processes are readily available, for instance, combining resources, creating new ventures and achieving product sales, which render a concept of opportunity superfluous. Instead, we conceptualise entrepreneurial action as investments in resources intended to create new goods and services for market exchange emergent from the interaction between agential, socialstructural and cultural causal powers