Inertia and Incentives: Bridging Organizational Economics and Organizational Theory

Organizational theorists have long acknowledged the importance of the formal and informal incentives facing a firm%u2019s employees, stressing that the political economy of a firm plays a major role in shaping organizational life and firm behavior. Yet the detailed study of incentive systems has traditionally been left in the hands of (organizational) economists, with most organizational theorists focusing their attention on critical problems in culture, network structure, framing and so on -- in essence, the social context in which economics and incentive systems are embedded. We argue that this separation of domains is problematic. The economics literature, for example, is unable to explain why organizations should find it difficult to change incentive structures in the face of environmental change, while the organizational literature focuses heavily on the role of inertia as sources of organizational rigidity. Drawing on recent research on incentives in organizational economics and on cognition in organizational theory, we build a framework for the analysis of incentives that highlights the ways in which incentives and cognition -- while being analytically distinct concepts -- are phenomenologically deeply intertwined. We suggest that incentives and cognition coevolve so that organizational competencies or routines are as much about building knowledge of %u201Cwhat should be rewarded%u201D as they are about %u201Cwhat should be done.%u201D

Barriers and Solutions to Advance Care Planning among Homeless-Experienced Older Adults.

Background/Objectives: Older homeless-experienced adults have low rates of advance care planning (ACP) engagement despite high rates of morbidity and mortality. To inform intervention development, we examined potential barriers and solutions to ACP engagement. Design: Cross-sectional qualitative study. Setting: We recruited adults who were homeless in the prior three years and ≥50 years of age in the San Francisco Bay Area, and recruited clinical stakeholders from a national meeting of homeless providers. We analyzed qualitative data using thematic analysis. Measurements: We conducted semistructured interviews with homeless-experienced older adults (n = 20) and focus groups with clinical stakeholders (n = 24) about perceived barriers and solutions to ACP engagement. Results: Participants considered ACP important, reflecting on deaths of people in their networks who had died. Participant-identified barriers to ACP included poor ACP knowledge, lack of familial ties and social isolation, competing priorities, avoidance and lack of readiness, fatalism and mistrust, and lack of ACP training for clinical and nonclinical staff. They identified solutions that included framing ACP as a way to provide meaning and assert choice, providing easy-to-read written documents focused on the populations' unique needs, tailoring content and delivery, initiating ACP in nonclinical settings, such as permanent supportive housing, and providing incentives. Conclusions: Both older homeless-experienced adults and clinical stakeholders believe that ACP is important, but acknowledge multiple barriers that impede engagement. By focusing on potential solutions, including capitalizing on opportunities outside of health care settings, focusing on the period after housing, and tailoring content, there are opportunities to improve ACP uptake

Cutting Edge : Failure of Antigen-Specific CD4+ T Cell Recruitment to the Kidney during Systemic Candidiasis

Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Acknowledgments We thank E. Bolton and H. Bagavant for reagents and advice. We also acknowledge the staff of the Medical Research Facility at the University of Aberdeen for care of the animals used in this study. This work was supported by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ability of γδ T cells to modulate the Foxp3 T cell response is dependent on adenosine.

Whether γδ T cells inhibit or enhance the Foxp3 T cell response depends upon their activation status. The critical enhancing effector in the supernatant is adenosine. Activated γδ T cells express adenosine receptors at high levels, which enables them to deprive Foxp3+ T cells of adenosine, and to inhibit their expansion. Meanwhile, cell-free supernatants of γδ T cell cultures enhance Foxp3 T cell expansion. Thus, inhibition and enhancement by γδ T cells of Foxp3 T cell response are a reflection of the balance between adenosine production and absorption by γδ T cells. Non-activated γδ T cells produce adenosine but bind little, and thus enhance the Foxp3 T cell response. Activated γδ T cells express high density of adenosine receptors and have a greatly increased ability to bind adenosine. Extracellular adenosine metabolism and expression of adenosine receptor A2ARs by γδ T cells played a major role in the outcome of γδ and Foxp3 T cell interactions. A better understanding of the functional conversion of γδ T cells could lead to γδ T cell-targeted immunotherapies for related diseases

Women's social identities and attitudes : a thesis

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, 1995."June, 1995."Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-69).by Rebecca Dawn Kaplan.S.B

APC mutations lead to cytokinetic failures in vitro and tetraploid genotypes in Min mice

Previous research has proposed that genomic instability contributes to cancer progression, with its initiation linked to tetraploid cell formation (Duesberg, P., and R. Li. 2003. Cell Cycle. 2:202–210; Ganem, N.J., Z. Storchova, and D. Pellman. 2007. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 17:157–162). However, there is little direct evidence linking cancer-causing mutations with such events, and it remains controversial whether genomic instability is a cause or an effect of cancer. In this study, we show that adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) mutations found in human colorectal cancers dominantly inhibit cytokinesis by preventing mitotic spindle anchoring at the anaphase cortex and, thus, blocking initiation of the cytokinetic furrow. We find that dividing crypt cells in the small intestines of APCMin/+ mice exhibit similar mitotic defects, including misoriented spindles and misaligned chromosomes. These defects are observed in normal crypt cells with wild-type levels of β-catenin and, importantly, are associated with tetraploid genotypes. We provide direct evidence that the dominant activity of APC mutants induces aneuploidy in vivo. Our data support a model whereby tetraploid cells represent a first step in the onset of genomic instability and colorectal cancer

Participatory Approaches to Educator Learning: Toward Equity and Allyship in Education

The three articles in this dissertation explore in-service educator learning through participatory approaches, with an aim toward equity in education. Combining sociocultural theories of learning as increasing participation within social and cultural practices (Gutiérrez, & Rogoff, 2003), and the political commitments of participatory action research (Strand et al., 2003), I hope to contribute to discussions on approaches to teacher education which center equity and justice. The articles in this dissertation demonstrate that participatory approaches can support educators at different levels throughout the system- within a single school and with leaders across states. Participatory approaches to inquiry, with the intentional use of mediational tools, can support shifts in educators’ research use (Weiss, 1979), equity literacy (Gorski & Swalwell, 2015), and practice-linked identities (Nasir & Hand, 2008). While national political discourse focuses on standardization, it is crucial to consider how education research can support educator learning, agency, and action. Participatory approaches to teaching and learning can shift the focus to collaboration, inquiry, and community: ingredients to work toward social change. In the first article, “Going on a Statewide Listening Tour: Involving Education Leaders in the Process of Research to Enhance the Practical Value of Qualitative Research,” my colleagues and I illustrate how researchers can design for practitioners’ research use by involving education leaders in the process of conducting qualitative research. We found that science leaders became more engaged with research findings from their own collaborative research projects than from other sources, and that engaging in participatory research enhanced the practical value of the research. In the second article, “From Fiction to Action: Queer Reading for Educator Equity Literacy,” I explore how educators utilized a queer reading lens to discuss young adult (YA) novels; data from a discussion about the popular YA novel Every Day by David Levithan showed how they engaged in a process of becoming literate to the structures and systems that maintain inequity. And in the third article, “Educator as Ally: Developing Identity Resources Through Collaborative Inquiry,” I share illustrative cases which demonstrate how educators began to shift their actions as their identities expanded, through allying with students and colleagues

Ohio\u27s Public Employee Bargaining Law: Can It Withstand Constitutional Challenge?

Public employees in Ohio are now statutorily entitled to bargain collectively with their government employers. This controversial right was obtained on July 6, 1983, when Ohio Governor Richard Celeste fulfilled a major campaign promise by signing into law Senate Bill 133. This bill, which took effect April 1, 1984, has been labeled one of the most pro-labor public employee bargaining statutes in the nation. As with any legislation that provides sweeping social and economic changes, challenges to the bill\u27s legitimacy can be expected. Experience in other states teaches that constitutional attacks on the statute will be mounted swiftly, attacks that undoubtedly will allege the bill contains an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority, does not comply with the requisites of procedural due process, and is a violation of the home rule provisions of the state constitution. This Article analyzes the ways these issues have been handled by out-of-state courts and suggests their proper resolution by the courts of Ohio. It begins by tracing the development of public employee bargaining and by detailing the checkered history such bargaining efforts have had in Ohio. It next provides an overview of Senate Bill 133, focusing on those provisions likely to come under constitutional attack. It then examines out-of-state authority for guidelines on how Ohio can and should deal with these constitutional questions. On an issue-by-issue basis, a framework for resolving these questions is supplied