Change Happens Research Articles

Nutrition in ornamental aquaculture: the raise of anthropocentrism in aquaculture?

AbstractOrnamental aquaculture nutrition is profoundly different from conventional aquaculture nutrition from several points of views as the prices, finality and diversity. This paper tries to answer to some simple questions: do modern ornamental fish feeds reflect more physiological fish needs or aquarist expectations? What are the driving forces behind the modern aquarium nutrition? On the light of the considerations made in this paper, it emerges that popularity of ornamental aquaculture is largely influenced by a progressive humanization of ornamental fish. Obesity and longevity transfer is the most evident nutritional effect of pet proximity to humans and this special kind of ‘contagion’ is observable in ornamental fish too. Assuming that aquarium fish have been humanized, ornamental fish industry has taken profit from this. A drastic change happens to fish feeds after crossing the human doorstep. This is probably ignored by humans, but not by ornamental aquafeed companies that sometimes induce erroneous customer expectations to improve their profits. Feeding an ornamental fish in our modern society represents a symbolic action more referred to humans than to fish physiological needs; therefore, human psychology affects the ornamental fish feeds quality much more than the fish physiology. This is the main and illogical conclusion of this paper. This paper tries to enlighten some unexpected relationship between us (humans) and this modern category of domesticated animals: aquarium fish and to give some possible future perspectives.

Multiple memristor series–parallel connections with use in synaptic circuit design

With the increase of research interest on memristors, various single or multiple memristor configurations have been integrated with advanced complementary metal-oxide-semiconducor technology, which promises efficient implementations of synaptic connections in neuromorphic computing systems, or computing elements in signal processing systems. In this study, multiple memristors, both in series and parallel connections, and their characteristics are further studied including the transient behaviours when asynchronous change happens and the composite electric properties in steady state etc. Particularly, the specific conditions to reach steady state and produce composite memristive effects are presented in detail. Furthermore, several synaptic memristor circuits based on series and parallel connections are also discussed.

Partial Structural Break Identification

AbstractWe propose an extension of the existing information criterion‐based structural break identification approaches. The extended approach helps identify both pure structural change (break) and partial structural change (break). A pure structural change refers to the case when breaks occur simultaneously in all parameters of regression equation, whereas a partial structural change happens when breaks occur in some parameters only. Our approach consistently outperforms other well‐known approaches. We also extend the simulation studies of Bai and Perron ( and Hall, Osborn and Sakkas () by including more general cases. This provides more comprehensive results and reveals the cases where the existing identification approaches lose power, which should be kept in mind when applying them.

Data-driven process planning for shipbuilding

AbstractErection planning in shipbuilding is a highly complex process. When a process change happens for some reason, it is often difficult to identify how many factors are affected and estimate how sensitive these factors can be. To optimize the planning and replanning of the shipbuilding plan for the best production performance, a data-driven approach for shipbuilding erection planning is proposed, which is composed of an erection plan model, identification of major factors related to the erection plan, and a data-driven algorithm to apply shipbuilding operation data for creating plans and forecasting, for plan adjustment, future availabilities of shipyard resources including machines, equipment, and man power. Through data clustering, the relevant factors are identified as a result of plan change, and critical equipment health management is carried out through data-driven anomaly detection. A case study is implemented, and the result shows that the proposed data-driven method is able to reschedule the shipbuilding plans smoothly.

Robust Identification of Local Biogeophysical Effects of Land-Cover Change in a Global Climate Model

Abstract Land-cover change (LCC) happens locally. However, in almost all simulation studies assessing biogeophysical climate effects of LCC, local effects (due to alterations in a model grid box) are mingled with nonlocal effects (due to changes in wide-ranging climate circulation). This study presents a method to robustly identify local effects by changing land surface properties in selected “LCC boxes” (where local plus nonlocal effects are present), while leaving others unchanged (where only nonlocal effects are present). While this study focuses on the climate effects of LCC, the method presented here is applicable to any land surface process that is acting locally but is capable of influencing wide-ranging climate when applied on a larger scale. Concerning LCC, the method is more widely applicable than methods used in earlier studies. The study illustrates the possibility of validating simulated local effects by comparison to observations on a global scale and contrasts the underlying mechanisms of local and nonlocal effects. In the MPI-ESM, the change in background climate induced by extensive deforestation is not strong enough to influence the local effects substantially, at least as long as sea surface temperatures are not affected. Accordingly, the local effects within a grid box are largely independent of the number of LCC boxes in the isolation approach.

Change Point Estimation in Panel Data without Boundary Issue

Panel data of our interest consist of a moderate number of panels, while the panels contain a small number of observations. An estimator of common breaks in panel means without a boundary issue for this kind of scenario is proposed. In particular, the novel estimator is able to detect a common break point even when the change happens immediately after the first time point or just before the last observation period. Another advantage of the elaborated change point estimator is that it results in the last observation in situations with no structural breaks. The consistency of the change point estimator in panel data is established. The results are illustrated through a simulation study. As a by-product of the developed estimation technique, a theoretical utilization for correlation structure estimation, hypothesis testing and bootstrapping in panel data is demonstrated. A practical application to non-life insurance is presented, as well.

Change Happens Successfully With Positive Transitions

Change Happens Successfully With Positive Transitions

Fuzzy cause selecting control chart for monitoring multistage processes

Many processes contain several dependent steps. If a change happens in a stage it will affect the successive quality characteristics which referred to as cascade property. Hence, to monitor the quality characteristics in each stage we have to use a procedure to omit the effect of preceding stages. Therefore, cause selecting control charts are suggested for this purpose. To the best of our knowledge, in all of the papers in the area of monitoring multistage processes with control charts, it is assumed that the quality characteristics are crisp. However, in some applications, the quality characteristics may be imprecise and they can be expressed by fuzzy numbers. In this paper, we specifically assume that there is a two-stage process with fuzzy quality characteristic in the second stage. Note that the fuzzy quality characteristic represents two kinds of uncertainty including randomness and fuzziness. Then, we propose a fuzzy cause selecting control chart to monitor the process in phase I. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using simulation studies in terms of power. The use of the proposed method is shown step by step through a numerical example. The results show the satisfactory performance of the proposed control chart.

Nursing Leadership: New Ways to See

Leading the nursing profession today is a challenging and rewarding opportunity. We see great challenges in the pace and breadth of change; today, change happens at a breathtaking pace, with new technology and data systems, new procedures and equipment, new research and guidelines, and changing patient and staff expectations. But the work is incredibly rewarding. Nurses are leading in new ways, at new sites of care, and in ways I never contemplated when I began my career as a nursing leader many years ago.

Effect of the nature of the substrate on the surface chemistry of atomic layer deposition precursors.

The thermal chemistry of Cu(I)-sec-butyl-2-iminopyrrolidinate, a promising copper amidinate complex for atomic layer deposition (ALD) applications, was explored comparatively on several surfaces by using a combination of surface-sensitive techniques, specifically temperature-programmed desorption and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The substrates explored include single crystals of transition metals (Ni(110) and Cu(110)), thin oxide films (NiO/Ni(110) and SiO2/Ta), and oxygen-treated metals (O/Cu(110)). Decomposition of the pyrrolidinate ligand leads to the desorption of several gas-phase products, including CH3CN, HCN and butene from the metals and CO and CO2 from the oxygen-containing surfaces. In all cases dehydrogenation of the organic moieties is accompanied by hydrogen removal from the surface, in the form of H2 on metals and mainly as water from the metal oxides, but the threshold for this chemistry varies wildly, from 270 K on Ni(110) to 430 K on O/Cu(110), 470 K on Cu(110), 500 K on NiO/Ni(110), and 570 K on SiO2/Ta. Copper reduction is also observed in both the Cu 2p3/2 XPS and the Cu L3 VV Auger (AES) spectra, reaching completion by 300 K on Ni(110) but occurring only between 500 and 600 K on Cu(110). On NiO/Ni(110), both Cu(I) and Cu(0) coexist between 200 and 500 K, and on SiO2/Ta a change happens between 500 and 600 K but the reduction is limited, with the copper atoms retaining a significant ionic character. Additional experiments to test adsorption at higher temperatures led to the identification of temperature windows for the self-limiting precursor uptake required for ALD between approximately 300 and 450 K on both Ni(110) and NiO/Ni(110); the range on SiO2 had been previously determined to be wider, reaching an upper limit at about 500 K. Finally, deposition of copper metal films via ALD cycles with O2 as the co-reactant was successfully accomplished on the Ni(110) substrate.

Femalentendue

This fictocritical experiment, self-translated between English and French, attempts a Slash fiction of Joanna Russ’s 1975 work of feminist science fiction The Female Man. In Russ’s book, characters travel in between possible worlds, encountering possible versions of themselves that are created each time an infinitesimal decision or change happens. In this work I propose that translation opens possible worlds in language in much the same way that decisions and changes do in-between Russ’s universes. I therefore propose an nth world existing in-between languages that I call ‘[xxx]’. This world [xxx] is not to be found in one version of this text nor in the other but in the space opened in-between my two translations.

Getting beneath the surface in program planning, monitoring and evaluation: Learning from use of participatory action research and theory of change in the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems

Many rural poor and marginalized people strive to make a living in social-ecological systems that are characterized by multiple and often inequitable interactions across agents, scale and space. Uncertainty and inequality in such systems require research and development interventions to be adaptive, support learning and to engage with underlying drivers of poverty. Such complexity-aware approaches to planning, monitoring and evaluating development interventions are gaining strength, yet, there is still little empirical evidence of what it takes to implement them in practice. In this paper, we share learning from an agricultural research program that used participatory action research and theory of change to foster learning and support transformative change in aquatic agricultural systems. We reflect on our use of critical reflection within participatory agricultural research interventions, and our use of theory of change to collectively surface and revisit assumptions about how change happens. We share learning on the importance of being strengths-based in engaging stakeholders across scales and building a common goal as a starting point, and then staging a more critical practice as capacity is built and opportunities for digging deeper emerge.

Exploring Process Dynamics by near Infrared Spectroscopy in Lactic Fermentations

In the industrial production of yoghurt, measurement of pH is normally the only in-line technique applied as a real-time monitoring signal for following the dynamics during the fermentation process. However, every dairy company would benefit from an in-line technique giving information about the chemical composition, physical/textural properties and/or microbial contamination. In this study lactic fermentation batches with the starter bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus are explored by in-line near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. The dynamics obtained from NIR spectroscopy is elucidated in order to explain what causes the variation of the indirect measurements. The results show that viscosity change has a large impact on the scatter, which affects the NIR data. It seems that the variation found by NIR spectroscopy is caused by both scatter and absorption, where the scatter gives us information about the textural change happening, and the absorption gives us information about the biomass formation plus the conversion of sugar into lactic acid.

Leadership

As schools and districts are seeking to transform to better serve all children in today’s complex world, leaders must ask critical questions about how much of their time is devoted to strategy. Leaders must be absolutely clear about their theory and strategy for change. As a leader, how do you think change happens, and what actions will you take to enact that strategy? The author identifies six design principles that he says are essential for understanding and implementing systems-level change from the classroom to the boardroom: values, governance, resources, content, talent, and culture.

Decarbonisation at home: The contingent politics of experimental domestic energy technologies

Policy efforts to reduce the carbon intensity of domestic energy consumption have, over the last three decades, been dominated by an almost dichotomous reading of the relationship between technology and social change. On the one hand, there is a conception of personal responsibility that constructs domestic energy users as key actors in the adoption and (appropriate) use of low carbon energy technologies; from this perspective, environmental change becomes a matter of mobilising personal capacities such that individuals make better choices. On the other hand, decarbonising homes is conceived to be an outcome of top-down infrastructural interventions, with householders (or end users) positioned as relatively passive agents who will respond to engineered efficiency in linear and predictable ways. In practice, both positions have been found wanting in terms of accounting for how (and why) change happens and in turn delivering on ambitious policy goals. The argument we develop in this article goes beyond critiquing these problematic framings of technology and the locus of agency. Drawing on three contrasting low carbon energy technology projects in the UK, we present an alternative perspective which foregrounds a more experimental, ad hoc and ultimately provisional mode of governing with domestic energy technologies. We reflect on the meaning and political implications of this experimental turn in transforming (and decarbonising) domestic energy practices.

A processual analysis of the purchasing and supply organization in transition: the impact of offshoring

Many companies have resorted to offshoring in order to reduce costs and grow their global market presence. Yet it remains unclear what impact the offshoring strategy has on the purchasing and supply organization (PSO) of these companies. In this paper the nature and type of changes offshoring organizations make within the PSO are examined, i.e. how new purchasing and supply management (PSM) structures and practices emerge, are maintained or are discarded as production operations are relocated. The processual perspective is used to analyze empirical data from a rich, in-depth case study within a global engineering company. Results suggest that in line with the law of requisite variety the PSO changes thoroughly when the company relocates its production activities through the captive offshoring mode, but does so in a more disjointed and non-linear manner than the current stage models would suggest. The offshoring process provides momentum for PSO change and influences where and how the change happens. We present five propositions for further research and conclude that offshoring provides managers with opportunities to: (i) change and influence the strategic direction of PSM in their organizations, and (ii) build viable strategies of retaining and managing knowledge and PSM competencies in global operations.

Embedding research in health systems: lessons from complexity theory.

BackgroundInternationally, there has been increasing focus on creating health research systems. This article aims to investigate the challenges of implementing apparently simple strategies to support the development of a health research system. We focus on a case study of an English National Health Service Hospital Trust that sought to implement the national recommendation that health organisations should introduce a statement about research on all patient admission letters.MethodsWe apply core concepts from complexity theory to the case study and undertake a documentary analysis of the email dialogue between staff involved in implementing this initiative.ResultsThe process of implementing a research statement in patient admission letters in one clinical service took 1 year and 21 days. The length of time needed was influenced firstly by adaptive self-organisation, underpinned by competing interests. Secondly, it was influenced by the relationship between systems, rather than simply being a product of issues within those systems. The relationship between the health system and the research system was weaker than might have been expected. Responsibilities were unclear, leading to confusion and delayed action.ConclusionsConventional ways of thinking about organisations suggest that change happens when leaders and managers change the strategic vision, structure or procedures in an organisation and then persuade others to rationally implement the strategy. However, health research systems are complex adaptive systems characterised by high levels of unpredictability due to self-organisation and systemic interactions, which give rise to ‘emergent’ properties. We argue for the need to study how micro-processes of organisational dynamics may give rise to macro patterns of behaviour and strategic organisational direction and for the use of systems approaches to investigate the emergent properties of health research systems.

Making Change Happen: Black and White Activists talk to Kevin Cook about Aboriginal, Union and Liberation Politics

Making Change Happen: Black and White Activists talk to Kevin Cook about Aboriginal, Union and Liberation Politics. By Kevin Cook and Heather Goodall (Canberra: Australian National University E Press, 2013), pp.viii + 437, AU$40.00 (pb).

Mapping Motions and Structure to a State Necessary for Oligomerization of a Large GTPase: A Joint SAXS, NSE, EPR and FRET Study

By combining double electron-electron resonance (EPR), small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) and time-resolved fluorescence-measurements (TCSPC) we resolved two distinct conformational states in hGBP1 a large GTPase composed out of three domains, a GTPase-, a middle- and a helical-domain. We find that the C-terminal helix of the helical domain, which is important for oligomerization, has two distinct binding modes on the GTPase domain. By neutron spin echo spectroscopy we show that the correlation time of the conformational change is slower than nanoseconds. By FRET lifetime filtered species cross-correlation (fFCS) we fully characterize the relaxation time distribution of the conformational changes and find that it happens mainly in the microsecond-regime. By multiple FRET-fFCS measurements we determined the internal flexibility of the protein and find that the C-terminal helices a12/a13 are highly flexible relatively to the middle domain. This finding is consistent with the two conformational changes that involve a domain-flip of the middle-domain and the C-terminal helices relatively to the LG-domain and in line with molecular dynamics simulations. We can describe most observations by a two state system. However, the amplitude decay of the relaxation time spectrum suggests that the conformational change happens on a rugged energy landscape. We previously showed that the GTPase- and the C-terminal helices of two hGBP1s associate in presence of GDP-AlFx. If the protein remains in its major state at room temperature an association of the helices a13 is sterically impossible. Hence, we conclude that the minor state at room temperature or a transient state populated during the domain flip is relevant for association of the C-terminal helices a13.

Effect of Slag on Titanium, Silicon, and Aluminum Contents in Superalloy During Electroslag Remelting

Many factors influence the chemical composition in electroslag remelting (ESR) steel, including atmosphere in crucible, melting rate, slag composition, deoxidation, and so on. Fluoride-based slag, which is exposed to liquid metal directly, influences the chemical composition of ESR ingots to a large extent. The present paper focuses on the effect of slag on the titanium, silicon, and aluminum contents in ingots based on the interaction of the slag and metal. In present work, superalloy of GH8825 and several slags containing different CaO contents have been employed for investigating the effect of slag on titanium, silicon, and aluminum contents in an electrical resistance furnace under argon atmosphere. Results indicate that the higher CaO content in slag has better capacity for avoiding loss of titanium caused by the reaction of titanium with silica in slag, especially in case of remelting superalloy with high titanium and low silicon content. The CaO has a great effect on the activities of TiO2, SiO2, and Al2O3. Thermodynamic analysis is applied to investigate the CaO behavior. Based on the ion and molecule coexistence theory of slag, activity model is established to calculate the activities of components containing titanium, silicon, and aluminum elements in a six-component slag consisting of CaO-CaF2-Al2O3-SiO2-TiO2-MgO. The components containing titanium, silicon, and aluminum in slag are mainly CaO·TiO2, 2CaO·SiO2, CaO·SiO2, CaO·Al2O3, and MgO·Al2O3. With the increase of CaO mass fraction in slag, the activity coefficient of SiO2 decreases significantly, whereas slightly change happens for Al2O3. As a result, the \( \lg ({{\gamma_{{{\text{SiO}}_{2} }} } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\gamma_{{{\text{SiO}}_{2} }} } {\gamma_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }} }}} \right. \kern-0pt} {\gamma_{{{\text{TiO}}_{2} }} }}) \) decreases with increasing CaO content, which is better for preventing loss of titanium caused by the reaction of titanium with silica in slag. The slag with high CaO and appropriate TiO2 content is suitable for electroslag remelting of GH8825.