Showing papers by "University of Warwick published in 1996"

Stochastic Geometry and Its Applications

Abstract: Mathematical Foundation. Point Processes I--The Poisson Point Process. Random Closed Sets I--The Boolean Model. Point Processes II--General Theory. Point Processes III--Construction of Models. Random Closed Sets II--The General Case. Random Measures. Random Processes of Geometrical Objects. Fibre and Surface Processes. Random Tessellations. Stereology. References. Indexes.

The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy

Abstract: In April 1970, Susan Strange published an article in the Chatham House review which challenged the mutual exclusivity of international economics and international politics.(f.1) The consequence was a rebirth of the concept of political economy in international studies. She has continued consistently her liberation struggle from academic self-enclosure, disciplinary defensiveness, and turf wars. She insisted that the new international political economy be a broad church open to historians, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, and the whole range of humanistic studies, as well as economists and political scientists. In this, she echoed Fernand Braudel's appeal in 1958 for the integration of the human sciences in his famous essay on the longue duree. Her work never stood still. She moves forward in responding to her critics and, above all, by her acute perceptions of change in reality. She is not alone in perceiving that the field of international relations study (IR) is beset by an identity crisis.(f.2) The problem now is not just the need for a more ecumenical use of methods and approaches but also for a new ontology -- an updated view of the basic entities and relationships that constitute reality. This is what The Retreat of the State is all about. Susan Strange is a realist in the literal sense that she asks: Where does the power lie? What is the nature of the power? Who benefits? Who suffers? Conventional IR has said a priori that power lies with states. Susan Strange challenges the exclusivity of that assumption. Her enquiry into power and its workings contributes to a 'new realism' quite different from the 'neorealism' of established IR. It has, she writes, led her to a 'final parting of the ways from the discipline of international relations' (p xv). As a realist, Strange cuts through such currently fashionable euphemisms as 'regimes,'(f.3) 'interdependence,' 'globalization,' and 'global governance,' to demonstrate that these terms can act as ideological screens to obscure relations of dominance and subordination. Although she has been associated with the proposition that power is shifting from political authorities to markets,(f.4) in this book the classical notion of 'market' is also implicitly questioned. A market is no longer that abstractly defined infinity of buyers and sellers whose interactions are guided to a beneficent outcome by a providential unseen hand. There are many different markets, and they all need to be analysed as power systems. She illustrates with a few cases: telecoms, insurance, the big accountancy firms, and cartels. In all of these cases, the power systems work to strengthen big corporate translational business. On cartels, she asks why the subject of private protectionism seems to be taboo among liberal economists and concludes that 'while the rhetoric of free enterprise and open competition is necessary to a full integration of a world economy operating on a market principle, the rhetoric is often, in reality, empty of meaning' (p 60). The ontology of Strange's new realism includes a decline in the authority of states, an increase in the authority of big translational firms, a parcelling of authority downwards from states to smaller territorial entities, along with a general erosion of power based on territory and a rise in non-territorial power in economy, technology, and communications. Others have noted these tendencies; they give substance to Hedley Bull's vision of a new medievalism of overlapping authorities and loyalties.(f.5) While accepting this vision as foreshadowing present reality, Strange takes the next step and asks who governs in such circumstances. This must be the first question in reflecting upon the condition of the world and its future; and, of course, there is no clear answer to it. A conspiracy theory will not do. There is no effective conclave of big corporations with United States government power, though these forces do seem to be the predominate actors. A key word in this book is 'symbiosis. …

Arabidopsis AUX1 gene: a permease-like regulator of root gravitropism.

Abstract: The plant hormone auxin regulates various developmental processes including root formation, vascular development, and gravitropism. Mutations within the AUX1 gene confer an auxin-resistant root growth phenotype and abolish root gravitropic curvature. Polypeptide sequence similarity to amino acid permeases suggests that AUX1 mediates the transport of an amino acid-like signaling molecule. Indole-3-acetic acid, the major form of auxin in higher plants, is structurally similar to tryptophan and is a likely substrate for the AUX1 gene product. The cloned AUX1 gene can restore the auxin-responsiveness of transgenic aux1 roots. Spatially, AUX1 is expressed in root apical tissues that regulate root gravitropic curvature.

Three-dimensional Floquet stability analysis of the wake of a circular cylinder

Abstract: Results are reported from a highly accurate, global numerical stability analysis of the periodic wake of a circular cylinder for Reynolds numbers between 140 and 300 The analysis shows that the two-dimensional wake becomes (absolutely) linearly unstable to three-dimensional perturbations at a critical Reynolds number of 1885±10 The critical spanwise wavelength is 396 ± 002 diameters and the critical Floquet mode corresponds to a ‘Mode A’ instability At Reynolds number 259 the two-dimensional wake becomes linearly unstable to a second branch of modes with wavelength 0822 diameters at onset Stability spectra and corresponding neutral stability curves are presented for Reynolds numbers up to 300

Approaches to world order

Abstract: Part I. Overviews: 1. Beyond international relations theory: Robert W. Cox and approaches to world order Timothy J. Sinclair 2. Influences and commitments Part II. Theory: 3. The idea of international labour regulation 4. Realism, positivism 5. On thinking about future world order 6. Social forces, states and world orders 7. Gramsci, hegemony and international relations: an essay in method 8. Towards a post-hegemonic conceptualisation of world-order: reflections on the relevancy of Ibn Khaldun 9. 'Take six eggs': theory, finance, and the real economy in the work of Susan Strange Part III. Interpretations: 10. The global political economy and social choice 11. 'Real socialism' in historical perspective 12. Structural issues of global governance: implications for Europe 13. Middlepowermanship, Japan, and future world order 14. Production and security 15. Global perestroika Part IV. Multilateralism: 16. The executive head: an essay on leadership in international organisation 17. Decision making with Harold K. Jacobsen 18. Ideologies and the new international economic order: reflection on some recent literature 19. Labour and hegemony 20. Labour and hegemony: a reply 21. Multilateralism and world order 22. Globalisation, multilateralism and democracy.

Are Business Startups Debt-Rationed?

Abstract: Using a large random sample of U.K. start-ups and a rich data set, the paper demonstrates that human capital is the 'true' determinant of survival and that the correlation between financial capital and survival is spurious. Provision of finance is demand-driven, with banks supplying funds elastically and business requests governing take-up. Firms self-select for funds on the basis of the human capital endowments of the proprietors with 'better' businesses more likely to borrow. A reason why others have seemingly identified start-up debt gaps may be the failure to test a sufficiently rich empirical model. Copyright 1996 by Royal Economic Society.

Wages, Profits, and Rent-Sharing

Abstract: The paper suggests a new test for rent-sharing in the U.S. labor market. Using an unbalanced panel from the manufacturing sector, it shows that a rise in a sector's profitability leads after some years to an increase in the long-run level of wages in that sector. The paper controls for workers' characteristics, for industry fixed-effects, and for unionism. Lester's range of wages is estimated, for rent-sharing reasons alone, at approximately 24 per cent of the mean wage.

Measuring outcomes in primary care: a patient generated measure, MYMOP, compared with the SF-36 health survey

Abstract: Objective: To assess the sensitivity to within person change over time of an outcome measure for practitioners in primary care that is applicable to a wide range of illness. Design: Comparison of a new patient generated instrument, the measure yourself medical outcome profile (MYMOP), with the SF-36 health profile and a five point change score; all scales were completed during the consultation with practitioners and repeated after four weeks. 103 patients were followed up for 16 weeks and their results charted; seven practitioners were interviewed. Setting: Established practice of the four NHS general practitioners and four of the private complementary practitioners working in one medical centre. Subjects: Systematic sample of 218 patients from general practice and all 47 patients of complementary practitioners; patients had had symptoms for more than seven days. Outcome measures: Standardised response mean and index of responsiveness; views of practitioners. Results: The index of responsiveness, relating to the minimal clinically important difference, was high for MYMOP: 1.14 for the first symptom, 1.33 for activity, and 0.85 for the profile compared with Conclusion: MYMOP shows promise as an outcome measure for primary care and for complementary treatment. It is more sensitive to change than the SF-36 and has the added bonus of improving patient-practitioner communication. Key messages A generic health status instrument provides a useful profile of an individual or population, but is not necessarily responsive to change An instrument that is patient generated may be responsive while remaining brief The use of a patient generated measure within the consultation helps the practitioner to be more patient centred Outcome measurements in chronic disease are more meaningful if charted alongside the diverse treatment options that patients use.

Computer: A History of the Information Machine

Abstract: This history of the computer explores the roots of the industry's development, tracing not only the development of the machine itself--beginning with Charles Babbage's 1833 mechanical prototype--but also chronicling the effects of manufacturing and sales innovations by companies that made the boom possible.

Magnetic susceptibility of soil: an evaluation of conflicting theories using a national data set

Abstract: Magnetic susceptibility values for topsoils across England arc combined with data for soil type, geochemistry and concentrations of magnetotactic bacteria in order to evaluate different theories for explaining soil magnetism. Strongly magnetic soils in unpolluted areas are found over weakly magnetic substrates and are dominated by ultrafine superparamagnetic grains. Magnetotactic bacteria are present in insufficient concentrations to account for strongly magnetic soils, and crop burning is discounted as a major factor. A small number of samples show high values associated with either airborne magnetic particulates from pollution or residual primary ferrimagnetic minerals from igneous substrates. The results are used to construct a new mechanism for the formation of secondary ferrimagnetic minerals that links abiological weathering and biological fermentation processes. The fundamental driving force in the mechanism is Fe supply, which may be linked to climate. Observed causative associations between climate and the magnetic susceptibility of loess-palaeosol sequences are supported by the findings.

A conjecture on the explanation for high unemployment in the industrialized nations: part 1

Abstract: The paper conjectures that the high unemployment of the Western economies has been produced by the decline of the private house-rental market and the rise of home-ownership. Evidence is provided for the developed nations, the states of the USA, and the regions of the UK, Italy, France and Sweden. Although its calculations should be viewed as tentative, the paper's results imply that a 10 percentage point rise in the owner-occupation rate is associated with an increase of approximately 2 percentage points in the unemployment rate. This would be sufficient to explain a significant part of the rise in joblessness in the industrialized countries.

The Role of Networks In the Diffusion of Technological Innovation

Abstract: This research considers the diffusion of computer-aided production management (CAPM) technology in the UK manufacturing sector during the mid to late 1980s, focusing on the role of inter-organizational networks in the diffusion process. Research on innovation diffusion has tended to adopt a 'pro-innovation bias' such that adoption of prescribed best practice technologies is always considered to be the best policy. In the UK, one particular form of CAPM (MRP/MRPIT) has been heavily promoted by technology suppliers as best practice. However, the notion of 'best practice' de-emphasizes the importance of decisions about technology design when users attempt to develop firm-specific solutions. Crucial to these decisions are the inter-organizational networks through which potential adopters learn about relevant technologies. Using three case companies, where the introduction of CAPM occurred at approximately the same time, decisions regarding adoption, design and subsequent implementation, are explored in order to establish the influence of inter-organizational networks on the diffusion and subsequent appropriation of CAPM technologies. These cases revealed that potential adopters engaged in a range of inter-organizational networks through which they learned about new technologies. However, the knowledge diffused through many of these networks was shaped by technology suppliers who were promoting similar ideas about best practice. Thus, while involvement in interorganizational networks gave potential adopters access to information about new technology, this information tended to reinforce supplier images of best practice and did not always lead these firms to develop appropriate technological solutions. Problematic relationships between the suppliers of the technology and the users was seen here to limit the redesign and further diffusion of CAPM.

Marketing Strategies and Market Prospects for Environmentally‐Friendly Consumer Products1

Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that the extent of consumer adoption of 'green' products is much less than would be indicated by the enthusiastic opinion poll evidence concerning public attitudes towards environmentally-friendly consumption This paper reports on an empirical analysis of firms' marketing strategies and their influence on consumer demand for green products In twenty 2-3 hour interviews with senior managers, four representative groups of markets were analysed: household detergents, paper (recycled), petrol (unleaded) and automobile technology (focusing on catalytic converters) According to managers, firms' marketing strategies influenced consumer demand by making green technologies available in the first instance However, barriers to supplying green products that show parity with, or better performance than, conventional technologies constrain pricing and communication efforts Managers stressed that, in the absence of clarity of green products' environmental benefits, product performance and other attributes, not green benefits, remain the main determinants of product preference and choice Promotions focused much more on consumers than distribution channels, yet channel acceptance and support of green innovations are paramount in facilitating sales Firms see the costs of generating and promoting desirable green technologies as barriers to diffusion in the immediate future Legislation and/or economic incentives may help, but manufacturers are not optimistic that future green consumption rates will accelerate The results also highlight several propositions concerning the discrepancy between consumer environmental concerns and purchasing actions which warrant further testing: there is mis-specification of green products in relation to consumers' needs; there are barriers to perceptions of green products' environmental impact and consumers' free ride due to individual self-interest

Acidimicrobium ferrooxidans gen. nov., sp. nov.: mixed-culture ferrous iron oxidation with Sulfobacillus species.

Abstract: A new species of ferrous-iron-oxidizing, moderately thermophilic, acidophilic bacteria, Acidimicrobium ferrooxidans, has been described. Two isolates of the species differed only in the tendency of one, previously known as strain TH3, to grow in filaments. The chromosomal DNA base composition is between 67 and 69 mol% G + C. The capacity of this species to fix CO2 from air was greater than that of iron-oxidizing thermoacidophiles of the genus Sulfobacillus, which required an enhanced CO2 concentration for optimum autotrophic growth. Under air, ferrous iron oxidation in mixed cultures of A. ferrooxidans with either Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans or Sulfobacillus acidophilus was more extensive than in pure cultures of these three strains. The greater part of ferrous iron oxidation in mixed cultures probably resulted from activity of the Sulfobacillus species, which possess a greater tolerance of ferric iron, and which presumably grew mixotrophically utilizing organic compounds from A. ferrooxidans.

Protein folding in the cell: competing models of chaperonin function.

Abstract: The long-standing view that polypeptide chains newly synthesized inside cells fold spontaneously to their functional conformations in an energy-independent fashion derives from the observation that many pure denatured proteins will refold spontaneously in vitro when the denaturant is removed. This view is being challenged by the alternative proposal that in vivo many chains need to be helped to fold correctly by preexisting proteins acting as molecular chaperones, some of which hydrolyse ATP. The need for molecular chaperones arises because of the high concentrations of transiently interacting protein surfaces inside cells permit the formation of incorrect nonfunctional structures. The best-studied family of molecular chaperones are called the chaperonins, the archetypal examples being the GroEL and GroES proteins of Escherichia coli. The chaperonins increase the yield of correctly refolded polypeptide chains, both by decreasing their propensity to aggregate with one another and by allowing polypeptides kinetically trapped in incorrect conformations to make fresh attempts to refold into the functional conformations. The mechanisms by which the chaperonins achieve these remarkable results are currently under debate. This review surveys competing models for chaperonin action, and emphasizes the importance when evaluating these models of considering the intracellular environment in which the chaperonins have evolved to function.

The effect of phosphate status on the kinetics of cyanophage infection in the oceanic cyanobacterium synechococcus sp. wh78031

Abstract: Phycoerythrin-containing Synechococcus species are considered to be major primary producers in nutrient-limited gyres of subtropical and tropical oceanic provinces, and the cyanophages that infect them are thought to influence marine biogeochemical cycles. This study begins an examination of the effects of nutrient limitation on the dynamics of cyanophage/Synechococcus interactions in oligotrophic environments by analyzing the infection kinetics of cyanophage strain S-PM2 (Cyanomyoviridae isolated from coastal water off Plymouth, UK) propagated on Synechococcus sp. WH7803 grown in either phosphate-deplete or phosphate-replete conditions. When the growth of Synechococcus sp. WH7803 in phosphate-deplete medium was followed after infection with cyanophage, an 18-h delay in cell lysis was observed when compared to a phosphate-replete control. Synechococcus sp. WH7803 cultures grown at two different rates (in the same nutritional conditions) both lysed 24 h postinfection, ruling out growth rate itself as a factor in the delay of cell lysis. One-step growth kinetics of S-PM2 propagated on host Synechococcus sp. WH7803, grown in phosphate-deplete and-replete media, revealed an apparent 80% decrease in burst size in phosphate-deplete growth conditions, but phage adsorption kinetics ofS-PM2 under these conditions showed no differences. These results suggested that the cyanophages established lysogeny in response to phosphate-deplete growth of host cells. This suggestion was supported by comparison of the proportion of infected cells that lysed under phosphate-replete and-deplete conditions, which revealed that only 9.3% of phosphate-deplete infected cells lysed in contrast to 100% of infected phosphate-replete cells. Further studies with two independent cyanophage strains also revealed that only approximately 10% of infected phosphate-deplete host cells released progeny cyanophages. These data strongly support the concept that the phosphate status of the Synechococcus cell will have a profound effect on the eventual outcome of phage-host interactions and will therefore exert a similarly extensive effect on the dynamics of carbon flow in the marine environment.

Managing Through Networks: Some Issues and Implications for the NHS

Abstract: Hierarchies, markets and networks have been described as three alternative styles of organizing, each of which may call for distinctive managerial orientations and styles. The question arises as to whether there is now a deep-seated shift underway from organizational forms based on markets and hierarchies and towards more network-based forms of organization. This paper assesses the significance of these broader developments with reference to changing managerial practice within a major UK organization (the NHS). It seeks to access the developing theory of network-based organizations; to assess empirically the significance of these developments for managerial practice within public-sector organizations such as the NHS; and to consider the organizational and managerial implications, for example, Human Resource Management (HRM) strategy. There have so far been few studies which have taken public-sector settings for study or which have sought to connect network theory to practice, and this paper can make a useful contribution in these regards.

Intercept Corrections and Structural Change

Abstract: Analyses of forecasting that assume a constant, time-invariant data generating process (DGP), and so implicitly rule out structural change or regime shifts in the economy, ignore an aspect of the real world responsible for some of the more dramatic historical episodes of predictive failure. Some models may offer greater protection against unforeseen structural breaks than others, and various tricks may be employed to robustify forecasts to change. We show that in certain states of nature, vector autoregressions in the differences of the variables (in the spirit of Box-Jenkins time-series modelling), can outperform vector ‘equilibrium-correction’ mechanisms. However, appropriate intercept corrections can enhance the performance of the latter, albeit that reductions in forecast bias may only be achieved at the cost of inflated forecast error variances.

Characteristics of Sulfobacillus acidophilus sp. nov. and other moderately thermophilic mineral-sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.

Abstract: Several isolates of Gram-positive, acidophilic, moderately thermophilic, ferrous-iron- and mineral-sulphide-oxidizing bacteria were examined to establish unequivocally the characteristics of Sulfobacillus-like bacteria. Two species were evident: Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans with 48-50 mol% G + C and Sulfobacillus acidophilus sp. nov. with 55-57 mol% G + C. Both species grew autotrophically and mixotrophically on ferrous iron, on elemental sulphur in the presence of yeast extract, and heterotrophically on yeast extract. Autotrophic growth on sulphur was consistently obtained only with S. acidophilus.

A nonparametric measure of spatial interaction in point patterns

Abstract: The strength and range of interpoint interactions in a spatial point process can be quantified by the function J = (1 - G)/(1 - F), where G is the nearest-neighbour distance distribution function and F the empty space function of the process. J(r) is identically equal to 1 for a Poisson process; values of J(r) smaller or larger than 1 indicate clustering or regularity, respectively. We show that, for a large class of point processes, J(r) is constant for distances r greater than the range of spatial interaction. Hence both the range and type of interaction can be inferred from J without parametric model assumptions. It is also possible to evaluate J(r) explicitly for many point process models, so that J is also useful for parameter estimation. Various properties are derived, including the fact that the J function of the superposition of independent point processes is a weighted mean of the J functions of the individual processes. Estimators of J can be constructed from standard estimators of F and G. We compute estimates of J for several standard point pattern datasets and implement a Monte Carlo test for complete spatial randomness.

Factors associated with home advantage in English and Scottish soccer matches

Abstract: Using the results from the end‐of‐season (1992–93) league tables, overall home advantage was confirmed in the eight major divisions of the English and Scottish football leagues. The degree of home advantage was found to vary significantly across the divisions. Furthermore, these divisional differences in home advantage were found to be significantly associated with the mean attendance of each division. In an attempt to understand these findings, every occurrence of two influential events (either a sending‐off or penalty scored) reported in a national Sunday newspaper was recorded. The overall frequency of both sendings‐off and penalties scored favoured the home side, but again this was not constant across the divisions. In divisions with large crowds, the percentage of home sendings‐off was relatively small (30%), compared with no difference (50%) in divisions with smaller crowds. Similarly, the percentage of penalties scored by home sides in divisions with the largest crowds was large (> 70%), in contras...

Functions and Calculus

Abstract: This chapter is concerned with the changing perceptions of functions and calculus in recent years, both in terms of research into cognitive development of concepts and curriculum developments using computer technology.

Forecasting for Items with Intermittent Demand

Abstract: In a service environment, a stockist usually has many slow moving items whose infrequency of demand can give rise to forecasting problems. Moreover, when a demand occurs, the request is sometimes for more than a single unit, which results in so-called lumpy demand. In this paper, the standard method for dealing with such intermittent demand is reassessed. Some general results are presented that enable variance estimates to be made, and these are particularly straightforward when the demand occasions can be represented as a Poisson process. Some experimental evidence is advanced to support this model in the specific situation under study. Since EWMA forecasts are central to many commercial systems, a simulation analysis was conducted to determine under what conditions intermittent demand requires its own model, rather than an unadjusted EWMA. Superior performance is demonstrated for items that have an average inter-order interval greater than 1.25 forecast review periods, and the magnitude of the improvement increases as the average interval lengthens.

The 3-D Model of Information Systems Success: The Search for the Dependent Variable Continues

Abstract: Research into the issue of information systems IS success is vital if IS is to demonstrate its worth Predicated upon success not being a random variable, a number of models which attempt to delineate success and its causes have been proposed One of the more complete and better known is that of DeLone and McLean 1992 This model has been used as a basis for empirical research in information systems success Since its development other researchers have refined and extended the model This paper attempts to take the analysis further It evaluates the DeLone and McLean model on a number of dimensions, and a new model is proposed which fundamentally extends DeLone and McLean's work The new 3-D model is described and its contribution to further research assessed