bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experimental investigation of the dynamic stall phenomenon on a NACA 23012 oscillating airfoil
Authors: Zanotti Alex , Gibertini Giuseppe
Published: July 2012

An extensive experimental investigation was conducted on an oscillating NACA 23012 airfoil to study the flow structures and the consequent performances in dynamic stall conditions. The testing activity involved two different measurement techniques: fast unsteady pressure measurements and particle image velocimetry. The analysis of the experimental data set made possible to achieve a deep insight in the mechanism of the dynamic stall phenomena for the NACA 23012 airfoil in the different dynamic stall regimes. In particular, the flow velocity field measured on the airfoil upper surface described in detail the mechanism of the formation, migration and shedding of strong vortical structures characteristic of the deep dynamic stall. In addition, Gurney flap effects were investigated. The experimental results showed that it would be advantageous to deploy active Gurney flaps to improve helicopter rotor blade performances. The whole set of experimental results can be considered as a reference to validate computational fluid dynamics tools.
Sectors or countries? Typologies and levels of analysis in comparative industrial relations
Authors: Bechter Barbara , Brandl Bernd , Meardi Guglielmo
Published: July 2012

This article presents a critique of the ‘methodological nationalism’ of traditional comparative industrial relations. It investigates nine different sectors across the 27 EU member states on the basis of seven empirical indicators. It is found that industrial relations vary across sectors as deeply as they do across countries, and that a cluster analysis of sectoral industrial relations produces very different results from one at national aggregate level. The concept of ‘national model’ of industrial relations, implying coherence and homogeneity within countries, and geographical typologies of industrial relations ‘types’, are therefore put in question. The article concludes by pointing at the theoretical and methodological implications of a focus on the sector as an important level of analysis.
Analytical research on a single degree-of-freedom semi-active oscillator with time delay
Authors: Shen Yong-Jun , Yang Shao-Pu , Xing Hai-Jun , Pan Cun-Zhi
Published: July 2012

In this paper a single degree-of-freedom semi-active oscillator with time delay is researched. By averaging method, the first-order approximately analytical solution is obtained, and the stability condition is also established based on the Lyapunov theory. The analytical results show that the amplitude and the stability condition of the steady-state solution are all periodic functions of time delay, with the same period as the excitation one. Moreover, another simple case, namely the semi-active oscillator without time delay, is also investigated based on the first-order approximately analytical solution, and the result shows that the steady-state solution in this case is unconditionally stable. The comparisons of the analytical solution and the numerical one are fulfilled, and the results verify the correctness and satisfactory precision of the first-order approximately analytical solution. At last, the selection or design of an appropriate time delay to improve control performance through the first-order approximately analytical solution is studied.
Cheap talk: Transaction costs, quality of institutions, and trade agreements
Authors: Baccini Leonardo
Published: July 2012

While there is evidence that politics matter for international cooperation, the impact on economic integration of the quality of institutions has been given short shrift in the previous literature. I argue that the quality of institutions raises the quantity and the quality of information available to potential member states during the bargaining phase of a trade agreement. In turn, this inflow of information reduces the negotiation period of an agreement and, in doing so, dampens the transaction costs associated with it. As a result, countries with good institutions are more likely to form trade agreements. Using original data on both the formation of trade agreements and the duration of negotiations, I quantitatively test this argument. The results strongly support the claim that the quality of institutions is a crucial driver in explaining the recent wave of regionalism.
The satiric vision of politics: Ethics, interests and disorders
Authors: Hall Ian
Published: July 2012

In The Tragic Vision of Politics (Lebow, 2003), Richard Ned Lebow argues that a ‘tragic understanding of the political’ provides the best ontological and epistemological foundations for a theory of International Relations. This article challenges that claim. It argues that other literary modes of representing social life can offer equally strong bases for international theories. To that end, it examines the ‘satirical vision of politics’ with reference to satirists as diverse as Aristophanes and Erasmus. It concludes that satire can provide just as good a form of political education as tragedy and just as robust a foundation for the kind of theory Lebow prefers.
Judging the past
Authors: Vrielink Jogchum
Published: July 2012

In Belgium, a Congolese student and a minority organisation sought to obtain a ban on the comic book Tintin in the Congo. A Brussels court rejected their claims. Despite this outcome, the reasoning of the court jeopardises free speech. As regards the applicants: offensive as the comic may be, their recourse to the law seems both misdirected and counterproductive.
Making incentives work: Hospital organisation and performance
Authors: Bjorvatn Afsaneh
Published: July 2012

Aims:

In 1997, financing of Norwegian hospitals was changed to a combination of block grants and activity-based reimbursements. Since then, many hospitals have also reorganised their internal structures, for instance by implementing activity-based budgets at the departmental level. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of departmental activity-based budgets on overall hospital productivity and unit costs.

Methods:

The analysis is based on register data on hospital admissions and hospital input factors, along with survey data on internal organisation of hospitals. Fixed-effects regression models are applied for the analysis.

Results:

The main results indicate that hospitals with departmental activity-based budgets and department authority have higher productivity. The effect on unit costs is insignificant.

Conclusions:

The positive effect of the departmental activity-based budgets and departmental authority on productivity without increase in costs may indicate that providing incentives at lower hospital levels such as departments could be a useful tool for increasing overall hospital productivity and cost efficiency.
Healthcare spending in the case of a HPV16/18 population-wide vaccination programme
Authors: Vanagas Giedrius , Padaiga Zilvinas
Published: July 2012

Background: The policy of population-wide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has been debated as the introduction of such a programme in a low-resource country faces the risk of insufficient cost-effectiveness. Objectives: To assess the potential healthcare spending changes after the introduction of a HPV16/18 population-wide vaccination programme in Lithuania. Study design: For a cost-effectiveness analysis, we used mathematical simulation and epidemiological data modelling based on a Lithuanian female population. We performed comparative analysis of an annual 12-year-old girls population-wide vaccination programme combined with cervical cancer screening programme compared to the screening programme strategy only. Results: HPV vaccination would gain an average of 35.6 life years per death avoided or up to 284.8 thousand life years would be gained over 90 years in total. The programme costs would be 2932.58 EUR per life year gained. All costs associated with the introduction of the vaccination programme could be recovered in 48 years. The HPV vaccination programme in Lithuania has the potential to generate up to 40.07 million EUR of economic returns annually compared with the current practice of the cervical screening alone. Conclusions: In Lithuania the HPV16/18 vaccination programme would be economically effective only in the long term. The investment costs of HPV16/18 vaccination have the potential to be recovered.
Putting a price on prisoner release: The history of bail and a possible future of parole
Authors: Maruna Shadd , Dabney Dean , Topalli Volkan
Published: July 2012

In this article, we argue that the history of bail foretells the future of parole. Under a plan called the Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act (recently passed into law in three states), US prisoners can secure early release only after posting ‘post-conviction bail’. As with pre-trial bail, the fledgling model would require prisoners to pay a percentage of the bail amount to secure their release under the contractual responsibility of a commercial bail agency. If release conditions are breached, bounty hunters are legally empowered to seize and return the parolee to prison. Our inquiry outlines the origins of this post-conviction bond plan and the research upon which it is based. Drawing on the ‘new penology’ framework, we identify several underlying factors that make for a ripe advocacy environment and set the stage for widespread state-level adoption of this plan in the near future. Post-conviction bail fits squarely within the growing policy trends toward privatization, managerialism, and actuarial justice. Most importantly, though, advocates have the benefit of precedent on their side, as most US states have long relied on a system of commercial bail bonding and private bounty hunting to manage conditional pretrial release.
From gardeners to revolutionaries: The rise of the liquid ethos in political journalism
Authors: Kantola Anu
Published: July 2012

In many newsrooms, journalistic work has increasingly been reorganized in ways that make it more flexible, multi-skilled and assertive, or even ‘liquid’. Empirical studies on liquid journalism, however, are scarce. This article examines how the rise of liquidity can be seen in the work-related ethos of Finnish political journalists. The article is based on 25 in-depth interviews of political journalists. In the findings, three generational groups – the solid moderns, the liquefying moderns, and the liquid moderns – emerge divided roughly by age. These differences reflect a more general change, whereby the organizations of the solid industrial modernity have been flattened and decentralized and, in many professions, the expertise and career prospects have been questioned. In the course of this change, political journalists are developing an anti-institutional and flexible ethos accentuated by opinionated assertiveness – in effect, an ethos of liquid revolutionaries.
The “Science of HRD Research”
Authors: Wang Greg G. , Gilley Jerry W. , Sun Judy Y.
Published: July 2012

We explore opportunities for assessing and advancing Human Resource Development (HRD) research through an integrative literature review of scientometric theories and methods. Known as the “science of science,” scientometrics is concerned with the quantitative study of scholarly communications, disciplinary structure and assessment and measurement of research impact. The integrative review of scientometric literature showed importance in evaluating HRD research and publications, including citation analysis, citing behavior analysis, and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) journal quality control process. We discuss three major implications for engaging HRD scholars in evaluating and assessing HRD research and scholarly communications for the quality control and self-regulation of HRD research.
School shootings in the USA: Popular culture as risk, teen marginality, and violence against peers
Authors: De Venanzi Augusto
Published: July 2012

This article offers a critical appraisal of the widespread argument that violent media content is to blame for deadly school violence. The departing premise of this study is that, because of its reliance on sophisticated technologies, popular culture productions represent manufactured risks. The implications of this approach are three: the ‘impact’ of popular culture will depend on the social risk positions students occupy within the social mapping of the school; there will be risks associated to the observational shortcomings of popular culture as a self-referent system; and the risks implied in controlling deviance in schools, including policies destined to cope with popular culture’s presumed adverse effect on students’ behaviors, must be explored. The risk approach allows us to understand school shooting events as the end result of a series of interrelated social, cultural, and political processes. The point at which these factors intersect tends to produce the conditions under which school shooters may emerge.
Corporate crime and the discursive deletion of responsibility: A case study of the Paddington rail crash
Authors: Machin David , Mayr Andrea
Published: July 2012

There has been little in-depth research on media representations of corporate crime in either media studies or critical discourse analysis (CDA). Taking one small step to address this situation, this paper assesses the unfolding press representations of one instance where corporate negligence and greed led to the death of 31 people – the Paddington rail crash in London in 1999. At first the event is covered as a ‘disaster’ through its associated language of ‘accidents’ and ‘heroes’. Later, issues of corporate responsibility are raised even in the popular press, but there are a number of obstacles to the language of crime and criminality being used.
Development of a quality of patient–health care provider communication scale from the perspective of patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Salt Elizabeth , Crofford Leslie J , Studts Jamie L , Lightfoot Robert , Hall Lynne A
Published: July 2012

Objectives:

To devise a patient-perspective driven measure of the quality of patient–health care provider communication and to evaluate the psychometric properties of this scale in a sample of 150 patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Methods:

Items were developed from interviews with 15 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Two rheumatologists, a behavioral scientist, and a nurse researcher provided item feedback. Exploratory factor analysis with Oblimin rotation was used to examine the dimensionality of the newly developed Patient–Health Care Provider Communication Scale (PHCPCS). Cronbach’s alpha was computed to assess internal consistency. Test–retest reliability was determined using the intraclass correlation coefficient . Construct validity was tested by comparing the PHCPCS with the Perceived Involvement in Care Scale (PICS) using correlation analysis.

Results:

The PHCPCS measured two dimensions of the quality of patient–health care provider communication [ Quality Communication (α = 0.94) and Negative Patient–Health Care Provider Communication (α = 0.73)]. The total PHCPCS score and its Quality Communication Subscale were positively correlated with the total score on the PICS and with the doctor facilitation subscale of the PICS.

Discussion:

This new measure of the quality of patient–health care provider communication has the potential for use in clinical practice, provider education, and further studies to improve health care to patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Comparison of oral microbiota in tumor and non-tumor tissues of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: Pushalkar Smruti , Ji Xiaojie , Li Yihong , Estilo Cherry , Yegnanarayana Ramanathan , Singh Bhuvanesh , Li Xin , Saxena Deepak
Published: July 2012

Background

Bacterial infections have been linked to malignancies due to their ability to induce chronic inflammation. We investigated the association of oral bacteria in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC/tumor) tissues and compared with adjacent non-tumor mucosa sampled 5 cm distant from the same patient (n = 10). By using culture-independent 16S rRNA approaches, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and cloning and sequencing, we assessed the total bacterial diversity in these clinical samples.

Results

DGGE fingerprints showed variations in the band intensity profiles within non-tumor and tumor tissues of the same patient and among the two groups. The clonal analysis indicated that from a total of 1200 sequences characterized, 80 bacterial species/phylotypes were detected representing six phyla, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Fusobacteria, Actinobacteria and uncultivated TM7 in non-tumor and tumor libraries. In combined library, 12 classes, 16 order, 26 families and 40 genera were observed. Bacterial species, Streptococcus sp. oral taxon 058, Peptostreptococcus stomatis, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus gordonii, Gemella haemolysans, Gemella morbillorum, Johnsonella ignava and Streptococcus parasanguinis I were highly associated with tumor site where as Granulicatella adiacens was prevalent at non-tumor site. Streptococcus intermedius was present in 70% of both non-tumor and tumor sites.

Conclusions

The underlying changes in the bacterial diversity in the oral mucosal tissues from non-tumor and tumor sites of OSCC subjects indicated a shift in bacterial colonization. These most prevalent or unique bacterial species/phylotypes present in tumor tissues may be associated with OSCC and needs to be further investigated with a larger sample size.
Developmental expression and function of DKKL1/Dkkl1 in humans and mice
Authors: Yan Qiuxia , Wu Xiaoping , Chen Cairong , Diao Ruiying , Lai Yongqing , Huang Jun , Chen Jing , Yu Zhou , Gui Yaoting , Tang Aifa , Cai Zhiming
Published: July 2012

Background

Experiments were designed to identify the developmental expression and function of the Dickkopf-Like1 (DKKL1/Dkkl1) gene in humans and mice.

Methods

Mouse testes cDNA samples were collected at multiple postnatal times (days 4, 9, 18, 35, and 54, as well as at 6 months) and hybridized to Affymetrix mouse whole genome Genechips. To further characterize the homologous gene DKKL1 in human beings, the expression profiles between human adult testis and foetal testis were compared using Affymetrix human Genechips. The characteristics of DKKL1/Dkkl1 were analysed using various cellular and molecular biotechnologies.

Results

The expression of Dkkl1 was not detected in mouse testes on days 4 or 9, but was present on days 18, 35, and 54, as well as at 6 months, which was confirmed by RT-PCR and Western blot results. Examination of the tissue distribution of Dkkl1 demonstrated that while Dkkl1 mRNA was abundantly expressed in testes, little to no expression of Dkkl1 was observed in the epididymis or other tissues. In an in vitro fertilization assay, a Dkkl1 antibody was found to significantly reduce fertilization. Human Genechips results showed that the hybridization signal intensity of DKKL1 was 405.56-fold higher in adult testis than in foetal testis. RT-PCR analysis of multiple human tissues indicated that DKKL1 mRNA was exclusively expressed in the testis. Western blot analysis also demonstrated that DKKL1 was mainly expressed in human testis with a molecular weight of approximately 34 kDa. Additionally, immunohistochemical staining showed that the DKKL1 protein was predominantly located in spermatocytes and round spermatids in human testes. An examination of the expression levels of DKKL1 in infertile male patients revealed that while no DKKL1 appeared in the testes of patients with Sertoli cell only syndrome (SCOS) or cryptorchidism, DKKL1 was observed with variable expression in patients with spermatogenic arrest.

Conclusions

These results, together with previous studies, suggest that DKKL1/Dkkl1 may play an important role in testicular development and spermatogenesis and may be an important factor in male infertility.
Effects of IFN-γ on intracellular trafficking and activity of macrophage NADPH oxidase flavocytochrome b558
Authors: Casbon Amy-Jo , Long Matthew E , Dunn Kenneth W , Allen Lee-Ann H , Dinauer Mary C
Published: July 2012

IFNγ regulates trafficking and synthesis of flavocytochrome b558, suggesting a role to control superoxide production in macrophages.

Flavocytochrome b558, the catalytic core of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (NOX2), mediates electron transfer from NADPH to molecular oxygen to generate superoxide, the precursor of highly ROS for host defense. Flavocytochrome b558 is an integral membrane heterodimer consisting of a large glycosylated subunit, gp91phox, and a smaller subunit, p22phox. We recently showed in murine macrophages that flavocytochrome b558 localizes to the PM and Rab11-positive recycling endosomes, whereas in primary hMDMs, gp91phox and p22phox reside in the PM and the ER. The antimicrobial activity of macrophages, including ROS production, is greatly enhanced by IFN-γ, but how this is achieved is incompletely understood. To further define the mechanisms by which IFN-γ enhances macrophage NADPH oxidase activity, we evaluated changes in flavocytochrome b558 expression and localization, along with NADPH oxidase activity, in IFN-γ stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and primary murine BMDMs and hMDMs. We found that enhanced capacity for ROS production is, in part, a result of increased protein expression of gp91phox and p22phox but also demonstrate that IFN-γ induced a shift in the predominant localization of gp91phox and p22phox from intracellular membrane compartments to the PM. Our results are the first to show that a cytokine can change the distribution of macrophage flavocytochrome b558 and provide a potential, new mechanism by which IFN-γ modulates macrophage antimicrobial activity. Altogether, our data suggest that the mechanisms by which IFN-γ regulates antimicrobial activity of macrophages are more complex than previously appreciated.
The Will to Be Otherwise/The Effort of Endurance
Authors: Povinelli Elizabeth A.
Published: July 2012

This essay examines Michel Foucault’s reflections on self-formation in the shadow of the insurrection of subjugated knowledges. If, as Foucault argues in The Government of Self and Others, the conditions of the otherwise lie in the radically potential spaces of a kind of truth speaking (dire vrai, parrhesia), what political and theoretical weight will be given to the exhausting conditions of these spaces? The goal of this essay is not to solve this paradox ontologically, but to face it sociologically, not to develop an ontology of potentiality but to understand the dwelling of potentiality. The essay begins by examining will, risk, and exhaustion in Foucault’s late works, then turns Giorgio Agamben’s reflections on potentiality and thoughts on will, effort, and mental habit from the American pragmatists William James and Charles Sanders Peirce.
Foucault and Media: A Missed Encounter?
Authors: Hansen Mark B. N.
Published: July 2012

This essay stages an encounter between Michel Foucault’s work—especially his final thought concerning biopolitics, security, and population—and contemporary theorization of media’s experiential impact. The essay argues that the opportunity for such an encounter has been obscured largely due to the role played by Gilles Deleuze (in particular by the concept of “control society”) in filtering Foucault’s work for media theory. The essay develops an approach to Foucault’s late work that centers on the population as a vehicle for rethinking individualization beyond substance; such an approach makes it possible to retain certain aspects of the category of the individual that are simply jettisoned in the contemporary embrace of Deleuze’s “dividual.” The essay concludes by exploring how this rethinking of Foucault’s work on individualization facilitates exploration of the impact of twenty-first-century “atmospheric” media on human individuation.
Occupying Tahrir Square: The Myths and the Realities of the Egyptian Revolution
Authors: Abul-Magd Zeinab
Published: July 2012

This essay attempts to deconstruct myths about the Egyptian revolution. It reveals that it is far from being a peaceful and Cairo-centered revolt made by globalized, middle-class youth. It argues that the US “empire” and its media apparatus have created such myths about Egypt’s uprising in order to direct it to become another failed color revolution like its Eastern European counterparts that delivered neoliberal, United States–friendly regimes.
Squares in Movement
Authors: Stavrides Stavros
Published: July 2012

What has been called the squares movement is characterized by practices of commoning that reinvent public space as commons. People in the recent square occupations were not only demanding justice and direct democracy but were also creating ad hoc new forms of solidarity and egalitarian organization. Focusing especially on the Syntagma Square occupation in Athens, this essay explores the importance of a decentralization–recentralization dialectics both for the construction of a shared feeling of belonging to communities in movement and for the emergence of new forms of political subjectivation. Analysis attempts to compare discourses and manifestos to acts of coordination and mutual support in an effort to show that the “occupy the squares” phenomenon is multifarious and dynamic and that it challenges many of the certainties of oppositional movement (Left or anarchist).
Occupy x: Repossession by Occupation
Authors: Gautney Heather
Published: July 2012

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is part of an ongoing series of pro-democracy protests throughout the United States against alarming trends in social inequality, high rates of home foreclosure and unemployment, and the excessive influence of corporate and financial interests on government. OWS operates as a flexible, “leaderless” organization, without a centralized authority or party affiliation, promoting occupation as a primary form of protest. This essay discusses the significance of the movement’s organization and strategy of occupation for its pro-democracy and wealth redistribution platform. If neoliberal forces of privatization, financialization, and deregulation have dispossessed people of crucial resources, places, rights, and other forms of social wealth, then occupation should be understood as an act of repossession, in which persons or groups take back what they believe should be commonly held.
TORC2 and the AGC kinase Gad8 regulate phosphorylation of the ribosomal protein S6 in fission yeast
Authors: Du Wei , Hálová Lenka , Kirkham Sara , Atkin Jane , Petersen Janni
Published: July 2012

TOR (Target Of Rapamycin) signalling coordinates cell growth and division in response to changes in the nutritional environment of the cell. TOR kinases form two distinct complexes: TORC1 and TORC2. In mammals, the TORC1 controlled S6K1 kinase phosphorylates the ribosomal protein S6 thereby co-ordinating cell size and nutritional status. We show that the Schizosaccharomyces pombe AGC kinase Gad8 co-immunoprecipitates with the ribosomal protein S6 (Rps6) and regulates its phosphorylation status. It has previously been shown that Gad8 is phosphorylated by TORC2. Consistent with this, we find that TORC2 as well as TORC1 modulates Rps6 phosphorylation. Therefore, S6 phosphorylation in fission yeast actually represents a read-out of the combined activities of TORC1 and TORC2. In contrast, we find that the in vivo phosphorylation status of Maf1 (a repressor of RNA polymerase III) specifically correlates with TORC1 activity.
Iodide-promoted Deselenylation of β-Chloro- and β-Oxyselenides to Form Alkenes and Selenenyl Iodides
Authors: Sase Shohei , Ebisawa Kazuaki , Goto Kei
Published: July 2012

Deselenylation reaction of β-chloro- and β-oxyselenides proceeded efficiently by treatment with tetrabutylammonium iodide (TBAI) to afford alkenes in good yields. It was established that selenenyl iodides were formed in these reactions. Catalytic transformation of β-chloro- and β-oxyselenides to alkenes was also developed.
Synthesis and Crystal Structure of a One-dimensional Cu(II) Coordination Polymer Bridged by Inorganic CH3SO3− Anions Using Werner-type Cu(II) Complexes as Building Blocks
Authors: Noro Shin-ichiro , Kubo Kazuya , Nakamura Takayoshi
Published: July 2012

The reaction of [Cu(PF6)2(py)4] (py: pyridine) with [Cu(CH3SO3)2(py)4], both of which are Werner-type Cu(II) complexes, in a MeOH solution led to the formation of a one-dimensional framework composed of [–{Cu(1)2(MeO)2}–Cu(2)–Cu(3)–Cu(3)–Cu(2)–] repeating units bridged by inorganic CH3SO3− anions.
Financing the Newsvendor: Supplier vs. Bank, and the Structure of Optimal Trade Credit Contracts
Authors: Kouvelis Panos , Zhao Wenhui
Published: July 2012

We consider a supply chain with a retailer and a supplier: A newsvendor-like retailer has a single opportunity to order a product from a supplier to satisfy future uncertain demand. Both the retailer and supplier are capital constrained and in need of short-term financing. In the presence of bankruptcy risks for both the retailer and supplier, we model their strategic interaction as a Stackelberg game with the supplier as the leader. We use the supplier early payment discount scheme as a decision framework to analyze all decisions involved in optimally structuring the trade credit contract (discounted wholesale price if paying early, financing rate if delaying payment) from the supplier's perspective. Under mild assumptions we conclude that a risk-neutral supplier should always finance the retailer at rates less than or equal to the risk-free rate. The retailer, if offered an optimally structured trade credit contract, will always prefer supplier financing to bank financing. Furthermore, under optimal trade credit contracts, both the supplier's profit and supply chain efficiency improve, and the retailer might improve his profits relative to under bank financing (or equivalently, a rich retailer under wholesale price contracts), depending on his current “wealth” (working capital and collateral).
Fixed-Charge Transportation Problem: Facets of the Projection Polyhedron
Authors: Agarwal Yogesh , Aneja Yash
Published: July 2012

In this paper we consider the well-known fixed-charge transportation problem. To send any flow from source si to destination tj, we incur a unit variable shipping cost of cij and a fixed cost fij. Here we study the structure of the projection polyhedron of this problem, in the space of 0-1 variables associated with fixed charges, and we develop several classes of valid inequalities and derive conditions under which they are facet defining. In some cases, if the conditions are not satisfied, we show how they can be lifted to define facets. Several heuristics for generating and adding these facets are presented. Using these results, we develop a computationally effective algorithm for solving the problem. The computational results clearly indicate the usefulness of this approach.
Approximate Dynamic Programming via a Smoothed Linear Program
Authors: Desai Vijay V. , Farias Vivek F. , Moallemi Ciamac C.
Published: July 2012

We present a novel linear program for the approximation of the dynamic programming cost-to-go function in high-dimensional stochastic control problems. LP approaches to approximate DP have typically relied on a natural “projection” of a well-studied linear program for exact dynamic programming. Such programs restrict attention to approximations that are lower bounds to the optimal cost-to-go function. Our program—the “smoothed approximate linear program”—is distinct from such approaches and relaxes the restriction to lower bounding approximations in an appropriate fashion while remaining computationally tractable. Doing so appears to have several advantages: First, we demonstrate bounds on the quality of approximation to the optimal cost-to-go function afforded by our approach. These bounds are, in general, no worse than those available for extant LP approaches and for specific problem instances can be shown to be arbitrarily stronger. Second, experiments with our approach on a pair of challenging problems (the game of Tetris and a queueing network control problem) show that the approach outperforms the existing LP approach (which has previously been shown to be competitive with several ADP algorithms) by a substantial margin.
A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Multidepot and Periodic Vehicle Routing Problems
Authors: Vidal Thibaut , Crainic Teodor Gabriel , Gendreau Michel , Lahrichi Nadia , Rei Walter
Published: July 2012

We propose an algorithmic framework that successfully addresses three vehicle routing problems: the multidepot VRP, the periodic VRP, and the multidepot periodic VRP with capacitated vehicles and constrained route duration. The metaheuristic combines the exploration breadth of population-based evolutionary search, the aggressive-improvement capabilities of neighborhood-based metaheuristics, and advanced population-diversity management schemes. Extensive computational experiments show that the method performs impressively in terms of computational efficiency and solution quality, identifying either the best known solutions, including the optimal ones, or new best solutions for all currently available benchmark instances for the three problem classes. The proposed method also proves extremely competitive for the capacitated VRP.
A New Algorithm for the Open-Pit Mine Production Scheduling Problem
Authors: Chicoisne Renaud , Espinoza Daniel , Goycoolea Marcos , Moreno Eduardo , Rubio Enrique
Published: July 2012

For the purpose of production scheduling, open-pit mines are discretized into three-dimensional arrays known as block models. Production scheduling consists of deciding which blocks should be extracted, when they should be extracted, and what to do with the blocks once they are extracted. Blocks that are close to the surface should be extracted first, and capacity constraints limit the production in each time period. Since the 1960s, it has been known that this problem can be cast as an integer programming model. However, the large size of some real instances (3–10 million blocks, 15–20 time periods) has made these models impractical for use in real planning applications, thus leading to the use of numerous heuristic methods. In this article we study a well-known integer programming formulation of the problem that we refer to as C-PIT. We propose a new decomposition method for solving the linear programming relaxation (LP) of C-PIT when there is a single capacity constraint per time period. This algorithm is based on exploiting the structure of the precedence-constrained knapsack problem and runs in O (mn log n) in which n is the number of blocks and m a function of the precedence relationships in the mine. Our computations show that we can solve, in minutes, the LP relaxation of real-sized mine-planning applications with up to five million blocks and 20 time periods. Combining this with a quick rounding algorithm based on topological sorting, we obtain integer feasible solutions to the more general problem where multiple capacity constraints per time period are considered. Our implementation obtains solutions within 6% of optimality in seconds. A second heuristic step, based on local search, allows us to find solutions within 3% in one hour on all instances considered. For most instances, we obtain solutions within 1–2% of optimality if we let this heuristic run longer. Previous methods have been able to tackle only instances with up to 150,000 blocks and 15 time periods.
Technical Note—A Note on the Structure of Joint Inventory-Pricing Control with Leadtimes
Authors: Pang Zhan , Chen Frank Y. , Feng Youyi
Published: July 2012

We consider a joint inventory-pricing control problem for a periodic-review, single-stage inventory system with a positive order leadtime and a linear order cost. Demands in consecutive periods are independent, but their distributions depend on the price in accordance with a stochastic demand function of additive form. Pricing and ordering decisions are made simultaneously at the beginning of each period. The objective is to maximize the total expected discounted profit over a finite horizon. We partially characterize the structure of the optimal joint ordering and pricing policies. We also show that our structural analysis can be extended to a multistage (or serial) inventory system with constant or stochastic leadtimes and an assemble-to-order system with price-sensitive demand.
Optimization Under Probabilistic Envelope Constraints
Authors: Xu Huan , Caramanis Constantine , Mannor Shie
Published: July 2012

Chance constraints are an important modeling tool in stochastic optimization, providing probabilistic guarantees that a solution “succeeds” in satisfying a given constraint. Although they control the probability of “success,” they provide no control whatsoever in the event of a “failure.” That is, they do not distinguish between a slight overshoot or undershoot of the bounds and more catastrophic violation. In short, they do not capture the magnitude of violation of the bounds. This paper addresses precisely this topic, focusing on linear constraints and ellipsoidal (Gaussian-like) uncertainties. We show that the problem of requiring different probabilistic guarantees at each level of constraint violation can be reformulated as a semi-infinite optimization problem. We provide conditions that guarantee polynomial-time solvability of the resulting semi-infinite formulation. We show further that this resulting problem is what has been called a comprehensive robust optimization problem in the literature. As a byproduct, we provide tight probabilistic bounds for comprehensive robust optimization. Thus, analogously to the connection between chance constraints and robust optimization, we provide a broader connection between probabilistic envelope constraints and comprehensive robust optimization.
Introduction to the OR Forum Article: “Modeling the Impacts of Electricity Tariffs on Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Charging, Costs, and Emissions” by Ramteen Sioshansi
Authors: Pinker Edieal J.
Published: July 2012

Comment on “Modeling the Impacts of Electricity Tariffs on Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Charging, Costs, and Emissions” by Ramteen Sieshansi.
Between Ashkenaz and Québécois: Fifty Years of Francophone Sephardim in Montréal
Authors: Miles William F.S.
Published: July 2012

As a result of its historical cleavage on the basis of language (English and French) and the continuing importance of a majoritarian Francophone province (Québec), Canada is proactive about protecting communal identity. This double context of a proactive Canadian commitment to identity and Québécois commitment to Francophonie inadvertently encourages the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. Diasporic Jewish experience in Canada is thus intrinsically different from what prevails in the United States, particularly as it relates to Francophone Jewry. In Montréal, the religious ideal of klal Yisrael —unity of the Jewish people— is significantly tempered by the bilingual host environment. Canadian multiculturalism serves as a buffer for the ethnic identity of Jews from North Africa, while Montréal bilingualism encourages Frenchspeaking Jews to preserve their identity as Francophones. Ideal notions thus operate in contradiction with social fact: the ethnoreligious ideal of a single Jewish people transcending all sub-group divergences versus the lived reality that Ashkenazim and Sephardim are distanced by divergent histories, traits, languages, and rites. This surrounding national (and, in Québec, sub-national) context fosters— indeed, encourages—the preservation of ethnolinguistic distinctions within the Jewish community. In this way, the Québec Jewish experience differs substantially from both Israel (where language is no longer a significant differentiator between Ashkenazim and Sephardim) and the United States. These conclusions remain salient fifty years after the Sephardic community first began its collective emigration to Québec.
Wahrnehmen, Fühlen, Verhalten / Denken: Was können Tiere?
Authors: Brandt Reinhard
Published: July 2012

Our thoughts that can be enounced in speech have these characteristics: They refer to something as their object, they are affirmations or negations which contradict each other, and they can be translated into other languages. I thus look for thoughts in the comportment and communications of animals and afterwards reveal the special origin in mankind.
Die Geschichte lauert. Sozialontologie, Macht und die Zukunft des Griechentums
Authors: Koutroulis Spyros
Published: July 2012

Panajotis Kondylis interviewt von Spyros Koutroulis
Gutes über das Gute. Über: Ulla Wessels: Das Gute
Authors: Birnbacher Dieter
Published: July 2012

Ulla Wessels: Das Gute. Wohlfahrt, hedonisches Glück und die Erfüllung von Wünschen. Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt/M. 2011, 244 S.
Honey physicochemical properties of three species of the brazilian Melipona
Authors: Lage Lorena G.A. , Coelho Lívia L. , Resende Helder C. , Tavares Mara G. , Campos Lucio A.O. , Fernandes-Salomão Tânia M.
Published: July 2012

Physicochemical analyses were carried out to evaluate 27 samples of honeys from three species of the Brazilian genus Melipona (M. capixaba, M. rufiventris and M. mondury) from Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais States. The parameters water activity (Aw), percentage of soluble solids (Brix %), pH, acidity (meq/Kg) and moisture (%) were evaluated. The honey characteristics obtained from these samples were very similar to the ones from other Melipona species. However, regarding the honey from Apis (honey bee), only the pH values were similar. The low pH value and the high acidity detected in Melipona honey are potential factors for increasing the honey shelf life because they do not provide favorable conditions for the microbial development. On the other hand, the high level of water activity favors the growth of microorganisms, especially yeast, which demands a more careful handled and storage. The observed differences between Melipona and Apis honey reinforce the need for specific quality settings for stingless bee honey.
Os Círculos de Qualidade são ainda um tema atual?
Authors: Chevalier Françoise
Published: July 2012

Evolução dos Círculos de Qualidade na França, através de pesquisa em doze empresas.
Contratos de Gestão no estado de São Paulo: o caso das empresas estatais não-financeiras
Authors: Robles Léo Tadeu , Fischmann Adalberto A.
Published: July 2012

Análise da efetividade do Contrato de Gestão no governo do Estado de São Paulo e das relações entre estatais e os órgãos de controle governamentais.
A pesquisa qualitativa e sua utilização em Administração de Empresas
Authors: Godoy Arilda Schmidt
Published: July 2012

Exemplos concretos de aplicação da pesquisa documental, estudo de caso e etnografia em Administração de Empresas.
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) já é uma escola de pensamento em marketing?
Authors: Gaião Brunno Fernandes da Silva , Souza Ildembergue Leite de , Leão André Luiz M. de Souza
Published: July 2012

A década de 1980 trouxe uma visão alternativa à corrente positivista predominante no campo de pesquisa do consumidor: a Consumer Culture Theory (CCT), que assume uma orientação epistemológica baseada no interpretativismo e na pesquisa qualitativa. Diante do destaque alcançado pela CCT, levantou-se a seguinte questão: a CCT já pode ser considerada uma escola de pensamento em marketing autônoma? Pautados em três critérios fundamentais para a qualificação de uma escola de pensamento (reconhecimento acadêmico, corpo de conhecimento e contribuições), foi realizada uma desk research, baseada em periódicos e artigos da área e na construção de um corpus de pesquisa construído com base nas referências contidas no texto seminal Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): twenty years of research. A conclusão é de que a CCT atende aos critérios adotados na presente pesquisa, podendo ser considerada uma escola de pensamento a utônoma dentro do campo de pesquisa do consumo.
Contrato de trabajo, compromisso y satisfacción: moderación de la empleabilidad
Authors: Cesário Francisco Santos , Guillén Gestoso Carlos , Montalbán Peregrín F. Manuel
Published: July 2012

La búsqueda de prácticas flexibles de gestión de los recursos humanos viene desempeñando un papel importante para el desarrollo estratégico de las organizaciones y en particular en contextos de profunda crisis económica y financiera como la actual en Portugal, con una situación de desempleo creciente y un clima generalizado de inseguridad laboral. Este estudio pretende examinar si la percepción de empleabilidad por parte de los trabajadores puede desempeñar un papel moderador en la relación entre formas más flexibles de contratación, como el trabajo temporal, y las actitudes laborales. Resultados sugieren que la percepción de empleabilidad puede tener un efecto moderador en la relación entre el tipo de contrato de trabajo y el compromiso afectivo y la satisfacción laboral de los trabajadores bajo contrato directo con la organización pero esta interacción no se ha encontrado para trabajadores con contrato de trabajo temporal con las Agencias de Empleo.
Impact of urban atmospheric environment on hospital admissions in the elderly
Authors: Silva Edelci Nunes da , Ribeiro Helena
Published: July 2012

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the impact of intra-urban atmospheric conditions on circulatory and respiratory diseases in elder adults. METHODS: Cross-sectional study based on data from 33,212 hospital admissions in adults over 60 years in the city of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, from 2003 to 2007. The association between atmospheric variables from Congonhas airport and bioclimatic index, Physiological Equivalent Temperature, was analyzed according to the district's socioenvironmental profile. Descriptive statistical analysis and regression models were used. RESULTS: There was an increase in hospital admissions due to circulatory diseases as average and lowest temperatures decreased. The likelihood of being admitted to the hospital increased by 12% with 1ºC decrease in the bioclimatic index and with 1ºC increase in the highest temperatures in the group with lower socioenvironmental conditions. The risk of admission due to respiratory diseases increased with inadequate air quality in districts with higher socioenvironmental conditions. CONCLUSIONS: The associations between morbidity and climate variables and the comfort index varied in different groups and diseases. Lower and higher temperatures increased the risk of hospital admission in the elderly. Districts with lower socioenvironmental conditions showed greater adverse health impacts.
A pureza do samurai: história e política no pensamento de Yukio Mishima
Authors: Mohomed Carimo
Published: July 2012

Neste artigo analisa-se o pensamento político de Yukio Mishima (1925-1970), um dos escritores japoneses mais famosos e polémicos que, após tentar um golpe de Estado falhado, cometeu seppuku, o suicídio ritual samurai. Através da leitura e análise das suas obras mais relevantes, podemos ver como o escritor recuperou, releu e reinterpretou elementos da história e cultura japonesas tradicionais para responder a aquilo que ele considerava como a decadência da moderna sociedade japonesa da segunda metade do século XX. Muito importante no pensamento político de Mishima foi a figura do samurai que, para o escritor, corporizava a pureza e a verdadeira alma do povo japonês.
"Ser um defunto nas mãos do shaykh": sufismo e a produção de masculinidades em uma rede sufi damascena
Authors: Chagas Gisele Fonseca
Published: July 2012

Este artigo objetiva explorar, etnograficamente, idéias e tipos de masculinidades muçulmanas que são construídas a partir da relação entre mestre e discípulo no sufismo, uma das correntes místicas do islã. As questões aqui levantadas podem ser melhor compreendidas como tendo um caráter inicial, exploratório, pois serão analisadas pela primeira vez a partir do enfoque "masculinidade", aqui entendida como uma categoria fluida, que tem uma história e que é contextualmente construída. Espera-se, então, contribuir para o debate sobre o tema, ciente de que a análise que segue demanda mais discussão e aprofundamento. Para tanto, os dados etnográficos aqui analisados são fruto de quatorze meses de trabalho de campo realizado de 2009 a 2010 em Damasco, na Síria, junto aos membros da Kuftariyya, uma importante rede sufi local.