Showing papers by "University of Manchester published in 1990"

Errors and violations on the roads: a real distinction?

Abstract: In considering the human contribution to accidents, it seems necessary to make a distinction between errors and violations; two forms of aberration which may have different psychological origins and demand different modes of remediation. The present study investigated whether this distinction was justified for self-reported driver behaviour. Five hundred and twenty drivers completed a driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) which asked them to judge the frequency with which they committed various types of errors and violations when driving. Three fairly robust factors were identified: violations, dangerous errors, and relatively harmless lapses, respectively. Violations declined with age, errors did not. Men of all ages reported more violations than women. Women, however, were significantly more prone to harmless lapses (or more honest) than men. These findings were consistent with the view that errors and violations are indeed mediated by different psychological mechanisms. Violations require explanation in terms of social and motivational factors, whereas errors (slips, lapses, and mistakes) may be accounted for by reference to the information-processing characteristics of the individual.

Typology and Universals

Abstract: Comparison of the grammars of human languages reveals systematic patterns of variation. Typology and universals research uncovers those patterns to formulate universal constraints on language and seek their exploration. In this essential textbook, William Croft presents a comprehensive introduction to the method and theory used in studying typology and universals. The theoretical issues discussed range from the most fundamental to the most abstract. The book provides students and researchers with extensive examples of language universals in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. This second edition has been thoroughly rewritten and updated to reflect advances in typology and universals in the past decade, including: new methodologies such as the semantic map model and questions of syntactic argumentation; discussion of current debates over deeper explanations for specific classes of universals; and comparison of the typological and generative approaches to language.

A Prospective Study of the Relationship between Specific Language Impairment, Phonological Disorders and Reading Retardation

Abstract: Language and literacy skills were assessed in 83 8 1/2-year olds whose language development had been impaired at 4 years of age. Provided that language problems had resolved by age 5 1/2 years, literacy development was normal, but many of the children who still had verbal deficits at 5 1/2 years of age did have reading difficulties and persisting oral language impairments later on. In these children, reading comprehension tended to be poor relative to reading accuracy. Syntactic competence in the preschool period accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in literacy attainments, after allowing for the effects of non-verbal ability. There were only weak links between expressive phonological disorders and later ability to read either meaningful text or non-words.

Cooperation, Opportunism, and the Invisible Hand: Implications for Transaction Cost Theory

Abstract: Transaction cost theorists have generally neglected to consider the implications that the invisible hand of the market mechanism can have for the risk of opportunism. In the long run, the invisible hand deletes actors whose behaviors are habitually opportunistic. Consequently, as markets move toward the state of competitive equilibrium, the risk of opportunism will be low, even for transactions supported by specific asset investments. Therefore, in many contexts the transaction cost rationale for internalization has been overstated.

Researching management accounting practice: The role of case study methods

Abstract: Case studies are being increasingly used as a research method for studying management accounting practice. However, little has been written about the nature and role of case study research. This paper examines different uses which can be made of case studies and attempts to locate a role for case study methods in researching management accounting practice.

The Contribution of Latent Human Failures to the Breakdown of Complex Systems

Abstract: Several recent accidents in complex high-risk technologies had their primary origins in a variety of delayed-action human failures committed long before an emergency state could be recognized. These disasters were due to the adverse conjunction of a large number of causal factors, each one necessary but singly insufficient to achieve the catastrophic outcome. Although the errors and violations of those at the immediate human-system interface often feature large in the post-accident investigations, it is evident that these 'front-line' operators are rarely the principal instigators of system breakdown. Their part is often to provide just those local triggering conditions necessary to manifest systemic weaknesses created by fallible decisions made earlier in the organizational and managerial spheres. The challenge facing the human reliability community is to find ways of identifying and neutralizing these latent failures before they combine with local triggering events to breach the system's defences. New methods of risk assessment and risk management are needed if we are to achieve any significant improvements in the safety of complex, well-defended, socio-technical systems. This paper distinguishes between active and latent human failures and proposes a general framework for understanding the dynamics of accident causation. It also suggests ways in which current methods of protection may be enhanced, and concludes by discussing the unusual structural features of 'high-reliability' organizations.

A practical course in terminology processing

Abstract: Since the advent of the computer, terminology management can be carried out by almost anyone who has learnt to use a computer. Terminology management has proved to be an efficient tool in international communications in industry, education and international organisations. Software packages are readily available and international corporations often have their own terminology database. Following these developments, translators and terminologists are confronted with a specialised form of information management involving compilation and standardisation of vocabulary, storage, retrieval and updating. A Practical Course in Terminology Processing provides the key to methods of terminology management for the English language, for general and specific purposes. This unique course has been developed on the basis of years of teaching experience and research at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST, UK) and is particularly suitable for translation courses, freelance translators, technical writers, as well as for non-linguists who are confronted with terminology processing as part of their profession. The 1996 reprint of the paperback edition includes an index.

Strategy, organization and control: Some possibilities for accounting research☆

Abstract: Over the last decade, the developing field of strategic management has led to a new vocabulary for discourse among management theorists. This paper traces out some of the implications raised for future accounting research. Initially the paper provides a brief overview of themes in strategy research Subsequently the paper discussed three possibilities for research at the interface between accounting and strategy. The first concerns the relationship between organizations' control systems and their strategies, the second concerns accounting systems and the process of strategic decision making, while the third concerns connections between control systems and the emergence of strategic change.

Aid, the Public Sector and the Market in Less Developed Countries

Abstract: The article in this JOURNAL by Mosley et al. (I987) concludes its analysis of aid effectiveness as demonstrating '... inability of development aid over more than twenty years to provide a net increment to overall growth in the Third World' (p. 636). This note purports to show that this conclusion, which is ostensibly 'distressing' as the authors claim, is not warranted. The section of the study which is the basis of the conclusion cited and the subject of this note is a cross-section regression analysis, full details of which are shown in Mosley et al. Table 3. The note is concerned with the relation between the dependent variable specified as the growth rate of real GDP per cent per annum (hereafter GDP) and aid specified as a percentage of GDP (hereafter Aid).' The Aid results, with only two significant positive coefficients in one subsample, certainly give no basis for claiming aid-effectiveness in terms of GDP growth. The intention in this note is to interpret the results which are assumed to be valid. This is made possible by the fact that the authors have helpfully provided the full input set of mean values derived from the raw data. From this it is possible to calculate the GDP/Aid relationship for each country for the second and third period. The procedure for deriving these relationships is as follows. For each country the mean values of the time series of GDP and Aid are extracted from the data for I 960-70 and for I 970-80. Using I 960-70 as the base, the signs of the change in the levels of the GDP and Aid mean values between periods are recorded. This is repeated for I980-4 with I970-80 mean values as the base. The relationship between the two signs is an indication of the effect of Aid on GDP in the period in which the change in levels is effected. Thus in the case of an increase in Aid being combined with a decrease in GDP the latter must have fallen relatively to the former and aid-effectiveness is negative; Mutatis mutandis, for the other three sign combinations, thus generating the appropriate GDP/Aid relationship for each country in each period. A frequency distribution of the four sign-combinations, relating to the full sample, is presented in Table I. Since the signs of the changes in the levels of GDP and Aid are derived by making explicit the arithmetic relationship implicit in the data they form a valid base from which to draw conclusions without requiring any test of

On the aging of oxygen plasma-treated polydimethylsiloxane surfaces

Abstract: Oxygen plasma-treated polydimethylsiloxane surfaces were aged in a low-energy (air) and in a high-energy (water) medium. Treated samples were characterized using a combination of surface-sensitive techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, static secondary ion mass spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. Plasma treatments cause large increases in surface tension of treated samples. When aged in air (low-surface-energy medium) the samples returned to a low-surface-tension situation. The mechanism was a combination of diffusive burial of polar groups in the bulk and condensation of silanol groups formed by plasma treatment and consequent crosslinking. When aging was performed in water, a high surface tension was maintained.

Structuration theory in management accounting.

Abstract: This article proposes Giddens' structuration theory as a valuable framework for management accounting research to expand its domain beyond a technical focus to include social and political phenomena; it describes the theory, discusses its limitations, and presents an analysis of a longitudinal case study. The authors conclude that structuration theory is a more focused, informative, integrative, yet efficient, way to analyse how accounting systems are implicated in the construction, maintenance, and changes of the social order of an organization, than many frameworks used in previous studies. This article also speculates that Giddens' structuration theory with its key concepts of “structuration” and the “duality of structure” can be read along with Foucault's “power/knowledge” and Derrida's “deconstruction” as a post-modern genre for critical accounting research.

The person-environment fit approach to stress: Recurring problems and some suggested solutions

Abstract: In recent years, the person-environment (P-E) fit approach to stress has become widely accepted among organizational stress researchers (Eulberg, Weekley and Bhagat, 1988) The P-E fit approach characterizes stress as a lack of correspondence between characteristics of the person (eg abilities, values) and the environment (eg demands, supplies) This lack of correspondence is hypothesized to generate deleterious psychological, physiological, and behavioral outcomes, which eventually result in increased morbidity and mortality This basic framework forms the core of many current theories of organizational stress, such as those presented by French and his colleagues (French, Rogers and Cobb, 1974; French, Caplan and Harrison, 1982), McGrath (1976), Karasek (1979), Schuler (1980), and others

Interconversion of CD45R subsets of CD4 T cells in vivo.

Abstract: TLYMPHOCYTES express multiple forms of the leukocyte common antigen CD45, transcribed by alternative usage of leukocyte-common antigen exons 4–6 (refs 1–4). Species-specific monoclonal antibodies2,5– 8 against restricted epitopes (CD45R) of the antigen subdivide CD4 T cells into reciprocal subsets expressing either the high molecular weight isoforms CD45RA or RB (ref. 4) or a molecule in which exons 4–6 have been spliced out (CD45RO)4. CD45R+ or RB+ CD4 T cells are potent in graft-versus-host reactions9,10 and interleukin-2 related activities5,6, whereas the CD45RO+ subset responds in vitro to recall antigens5,11 and provides help for antibody synthesis5,9. It is unclear whether CD45RO subsets derive from separate lineages, or are products of unidirectional or reversible differentiation. We show by transferring CD45R+ or CD45R− allotype-marked CD4 T cells into athymic nude rats that both subsets routinely generate cells of the opposite phenotype with a function that follows phenotype, not parentage. The recent equation of CD45R subsets as maturation stages representing 'naive' and 'memory' T cells8,11–13 is difficult to reconcile with this finding.

De‐individuation and group polarization in computer‐mediated communication

Abstract: A computer-mediated communication system (CMCS) was used to explore the effects of de-individuation on group polarization. Reicher (1984) argued that de-individuating members of a group should increase the salience of group identity and hence normative behaviour, while de-individuating subjects treated as individuals should have the reverse effect. We extended this idea to the group polarization paradigm and in addition independently manipulated group salience and de-individuation, which were confounded factors in Reicher's study. It was reasoned that the visual anonymity created by isolating discussants in separate rooms would be de-individuating compared to seating them together in the same room. At the same time either the subject's group or individual identity was made salient. A computer-mediated communication system provided text-based communication for discussants in all four conditions. Assuming that group polarization reflects conformity to a group norm (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher & Wetherell, 1987), we predicted an interaction between the de-individuation and group salience factors, such that greatest polarization in the direction of a pre-established group norm would be obtained in the de-individuated—group condition and least in the de-individuated—individual condition. This prediction was confirmed. Explanations of the findings in terms of Reicher's earlier study and in terms of self-attention processes are considered within the general framework of social identity theory. Finally, the relevance of this research to the realm of human communication via computer networks is evaluated.

Quantum many-particle systems

Abstract: A review of Quantum Many-Particle Systems. By John W. Negele and Henri Orland. (Addison Wesley, 1988.) [Pp. xviii +459] £38·65 hbk. ISBN 0 201 12593 5. Scope: Textbook. Level: Postgraduate.

Computing Machinery and Intelligence.

Abstract: I propose to consider the question, “Can machines think?”♣ This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms “machine” and “think”. The definitions might be framed so as to reflect so far as possible the normal use of the words, but this attitude is dangerous. If the meaning of the words “machine” and “think” are to be found by examining how they are commonly used it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the meaning and the answer to the question, “Can machines think?” is to be sought in a statistical survey such as a Gallup poll.

A hypothesis on the pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie levodopa- or dopamine agonist-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease: implications for future strategies in treatment.

Abstract: Long-term treatment of human Parkinson's disease with levodopa or dopamine agonists is often complicated by the appearance of abnormal involuntary movements (dyskinesias) that are extremely difficult to control. Little is known of the cause, pathophysiological mechanisms, or possible strategies for amelioration of this manifestation of dyskinesia. A hypothesis is set forth on the neural mechanisms that mediate levodopa- or dopamine agonist-induced dyskinesia (in particular chorea) as a side effect of the treatment of parkinsonism. Evidence is drawn from both clinical observations and experimental studies in a spectrum of movement disorders ranging from ballism through chorea to parkinsonism. It is proposed that (a) All forms of chorea, whatever their origin, share a common underlying neural mechanism. (b) Disordered activity of the subthalamic nucleus is central to the generation of choreic movements. In levodopa- or dopamine agonist-induced dyskinesia, (c) The site of action of dopaminergic agents in causing chorea is the putamen. (d) The specific pathophysiological state conducive to the appearance of chorea is brought about by the long-term exposure of the dopamine-depleted (parkinsonian) putamen to exogenous dopaminergic agents. (e) Long-term exposure to dopaminergic agents causes (either directly or indirectly) preferential inhibition of the subpopulation of putaminal neurones that project specifically to the lateral segment of the globus pallidus. This causes disinhibition of lateral pallidal neurones, which become overactive and physiologically inhibit the subthalamic nucleus. (f) The hypothesis suggests a number of possible strategies that might be useful for the alleviation of levodopa-induced dyskinesia.

Eastern Asian Enterprise Structures and the Comparative Analysis of Forms of Business Organization

Abstract: The economic success of different forms of business organization in East Asian countries emphasizes the variety of viable enterprise structures and suggests the need for a comparative analysis of how they develop and operate in different societal contexts. Major differences between East Asian business 'recipes' include the range of activities that are authoritatively coordinated, their patterns of development, the ways in which they are organized and controlled and the organization of inter enterprise relations. These differences suggest eight major dimensions on which dominant enterprise structures in different societies can be compared and how their development can be linked to major social institu tions.

Serotonin and migraine.

Abstract: Migraine has long been considered as a "vascular headache" but clearly neurological mechanisms are involved. The pathophysiology appears to somehow involve serotonin, both peripherally and centrally, but its involvement may be just epiphenomenal. Adding to the enigma it is apparent that many of the presently available drugs for the treatment of migraine interact in one way or another with serotonin receptors. However, they tend to have a number of other unrelated actions and they are only of limited clinical value. Interestingly a promising new drug for the treatment of the acute attack, sumatriptan, has a very selective action as an agonist at a specific 5-HT1-like receptor sub-type, mediating vasoconstriction, which is localized on cranial blood vessels. Its action may, or may not, be independent of any involvement of serotonin in the genesis of migraine. Hopefully though, current attempts to determine sumatriptan's mechanism of action will shed further light on the pathology of migraine itself and the putative involvement of serotonin.

Extended maximum likelihood

Abstract: An account is given of the method of extended maximum likelihood. This differs from the standard method of maximum likelihood in that the normalisation of the probability distribution function is allowed to vary. It is thus applicable to problems in which the number of samples obtained is itself a relevant measurement. If the function is such that its size and shape can be independently varied, then the estimates given by the extended method are identical to the standard maximum likelihood estimators, though the errors require care of interpretation. If the function does not have this property, then extended maximum likelihood can give better results.

The Impact of Mergers and Acquisitions on People at Work: Existing Research and Issues

Abstract: Mergers and acquisitions are a high risk form of business activity involving the collective annual investment of billions of pounds and affecting the working lives of millions of employees. It has been suggested that in the long term between 50–80 per cent of all mergers are considered to be financially unsuccessful (Marks, 1988b), and in terms of financial return, represent ‘at best an each way bet’ (Lorenz, 1986).