Commercial Firms Research Articles

Multi-Informant Assessment of ADHD Symptom-Related Impairments Among Children and Adolescents

Existing methods of assessing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are limited because they do not examine impairments in relation to symptoms of ADHD. This study investigated parent and teacher ratings of multiple domains of impairment, assessed in relation to the symptom dimensions of ADHD using the ADHD Rating Scale–5. Nationally representative samples of children rated by parents and teachers were recruited through commercial research firms. One sample included 2,079 parents who rated one of their children of age 5 to 17 years. The second sample included 1,070 teachers in grades K to 12 who rated 2 randomly selected students on their class rosters. Informants rated the extent to which each child displayed the 18 behaviors symptomatic of ADHD over the previous 6 months, as well as symptom-related impairments in the areas of family/teacher relationships, peer relationships, academics, behavior problems, homework, and self-esteem. Respondents were asked to complete the 6 impairment items after rating each of the Inattention and Hyperactivity/Impulsivity symptom items. For both informants a 6-factor model that combined impairment items across source of impairment was adequate and superior to a 2-factor structure based on source of impairment (i.e., impairment due to Inattention vs. Hyperactivity-Impulsivity). Impairment ratings were impacted by child demographic factors, but effect sizes were low. In contrast, impairment ratings were strongly related to ratings on the ADHD symptom dimensions. The study provides support for assessing 6 symptom-related domains of impairment but does not support differentiating whether Inattention or Hyperactivity-Impulsivity is the source of impairment.

Publishing the most important work in the life sciences

See video of the presentation.The assessment of scholarly achievement depends critically on the proper evaluation and publication of research work in scholarly journals. Investigators face a dizzying array of journal styles that include commercial, not-for-profit and academic society journals that are supported by a mix of subscription and page charges. The Open Access (OA) movement, launched in Britain but greatly expanded by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), seeks to eliminate the firewall that separates published work from public access. OA journals are funded by a mix of page charges and philanthropic or foundation support. Most OA journals embrace a more liberal licensing agreement on the use and reuse of published work, favoring the creative commons license rather than a copyright held by the publisher. Some publishers, particularly commercial firms, view the OA movement as a threat to the viability of their business plan. Major commercial publishers, particularly Elsevier, have fought against government mandates for OA publication of publicly funded research.The most selective and successful journals, Science, Nature and Cell (a life science journal owned by Elsevier), maintain a firm hold on the high end of the scientific literature by appealing to investigators to submit only their most important work. Typically, these journals publish only a small fraction of the papers they receive and for the most part they rely on professional editors rather than active scholars to make key editorial decisions. These publishers, particularly Nature and Cell, reinforce their high standing by relying on a metric, the impact factor (IF) that computes the average number of citations of papers published in the journal during the preceding two-year period. As a consequence, many investigators, who quite naturally seek career advancement, strive to publish in these journals even at the expense of repeated cycles of review, wasteful additional experimental work and ultimately lost time. I will argue that it is time for scholars to reassume authority for the publication of their research work and to eschew the use of IF in the evaluation of scholarly achievement and favor OA publications over what I have called the “luxury” journals.

Healthy Community and Healthy Commons: ‘Opensourcing’ as a Sustainable Model of Software Production

Many commercial software firms rely on opensourcing as a viable model of software production. Opensourcing is a specific form of interaction between firms and open source software (OSS) communities for collaboratively producing software. The existing literature has identified opensourcing as a viable form of software production, which could be a substitute for “in-house” or “outsourced” software development. However, little is known about how opensourcing works or is sustained in the long term. The objective of this research is to explain the factors affecting the sustainability of opensourcing as a model of software production. The study employs a single case study of hospital software in Thailand to understand how firms and the communities can live symbiotically and sustain their collaboration to peer-produce vertical domain software. The analysis reveals six mechanisms (positive experience, trust in the leadership of the project leader, the demonstration of reciprocity, marketing the community, enriching knowledge, and face-to-face meetings) and demonstrates how they operate in conjunction with each other to sustain opensourcing.

Las revistas de Geografía en el Journal Citation Reports: lucro económico versus acceso abierto

Within the field of the scientific publishing sphere and high impact journals, there exist a wide variety of formulas ranging from relevant multinational publishing houses to small scholar public organisms. This paper analyzes the editorial features and pricing policies of geographical journals indexed in Journal Citation Reports, taking into account individual article costs, subscriptions and pay-per-publish fees. It is observed a contrasted duality between commercial publishers —Anglo-American commercial firms, which are hegemonic— and non-profit publishers, which are heterogeneous and represent the minority. Underlying the text is the debate about the necessity of spreading scientific knowledge openly and without restrictions, an issue that has to do with Open Access principles.

History full circle: 'Novel' sympathomimetics in supplements.

Since the banning of ephedrine in over-the-counter nutritional supplements a decade ago, a plethora of untested and/or unsafe sympathomimetic stimulants have taken its place. This paper argues that these 'novel' stimulants in supplements recapitulate the work of synthetic chemists at commercial pharmaceutical firms during the 1930s and 1940s, all seeking substitutes for recently successful products based on ephedrine and amphetamine. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Gospel and the Flag: The Missionary Strands in the British Colonial Enterprise in Nigeria, 1841-1960

British colonial enterprise in Nigeria has often been discussed in the light of British commercial companies that began to operate along the coasts of West Africa from the 1840s. These commercial firms often obtained charters to administer different territories on behalf of the British government. These territories were further organized into Colonies and Protectorates and there was a resultant increase in British colonial interest in the regions. These Protectorates were eventually amalgamated in 1914 to form a single administrative unit and consequently, there was an effective establishment of British colonial rule in what later became modern Nigeria. However, much as this historical analysis might be empirical, there is an aspect of the history that appears not to have engaged enough scholarly attention in the recent past. The missionary strands in the British colonial enterprise in Nigeria are factors that seem to be neglected, yet without it; the history of British penetration into Nigeria in particular and effective colonial rule in general may not be complete. The British missionaries were in Nigeria for the spiritual and moral regeneration of the people, yet they cooperated with the British government in establishing British colonial administration in the area. Their invitation to the British colonial office for a military conquest of the “heathens” in the regions which they considered a basic prerequisite for effective establishment of Christianity, and their continued efforts to pacify the conquered people, predisposed them as the spiritual arm of British imperialism in Nigeria. Since the missionaries believed that European rule, rather than the existing African administration, facilitated their missionary enterprise, it was obvious that the establishment of British political authority would be looked upon as a welcome change. This is the missing link in the British colonial enterprise in Nigeria that the various sub-themes of this study have addressed. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n3p249

Trends in Voter Surveillance in Western Societies: Privacy Intrusions and Democratic Implications

This paper surveys the various voter surveillance practices recently observed in the United States, assesses the extent to which they have been adopted in other democratic countries, and discusses the broad implications for privacy and democracy. Four broad trends are discussed: the move from voter management databases to integrated voter management platforms; the shift from mass-messaging to micro-targeting employing personal data from commercial data brokerage firms; the analysis of social media and the social graph; and the decentralization of data to local campaigns through mobile applications. The de-alignment of the electorate in most Western societies has placed pressures on parties to target voters outside their traditional bases, and to find new, cheaper, and potentially more intrusive, ways to influence their political behavior. This paper builds on previous research to consider the theoretical tensions between concerns for excessive surveillance, and the broad democratic responsibility of parties to mobilize voters and increase political engagement. These issues have been insufficiently studied in the surveillance literature. They are not just confined to the privacy of the individual voter, but relate to broader dynamics in democratic politics.

Health, food and social inequality: critical perspectives on the supply and marketing of food

Health, Food and Social Inequality investigates how vast amounts of consumer data are used by the food industry to enable the social ranking of products, food outlets and consumers themselves, and how this influences food consumption patterns. This book supplies a fresh social scientific perspective on the health consequences of poor diet. Shifting the focus from individual behaviour to the food supply and the way it is developed and marketed, it discusses what is known about the shaping of food behaviours by both social theory and psychology. Exploring how knowledge of social identities and health beliefs and behaviours are used by the food industry, Health, Food and Social Inequality outlines, for example, how commercial marketing firms supply food companies with information on where to locate snack and fast foods whilst also advising governments on where to site health services for those consuming such foods disproportionately. Giving a sociological underpinning to Nudge theory while simultaneously critiquing it in the context of diet and health, this book explores how social class is an often overlooked factor mediating both individual dietary practice and food marketing strategies. This innovative volume provides a detailed critique of marketing and food industry practices and places class at the centre of diet and health. It is suitable for scholars in the social sciences, public health and marketing.

BORDER EFFECTS IN SUBURBAN LAND USE

Differences in property tax rates and sales tax distribution formulas can give suburban municipalities strong incentives to attract commercial and industrial firms to their jurisdictions. If these ...

BORDER EFFECTS IN SUBURBAN LAND USE

Differences in property tax rates and sales tax distribution formulas can give suburban municipalities strong incentives to attract commercial and industrial firms to their jurisdictions. If these land uses generate negative externalities for local residents, suburban governments may form concentrations of non-residential land use at the borders of neighboring suburbs. We test this prediction using land use data for every parcel in the Cook County suburbs of Chicago. After controlling for proximity to major streets and rail lines, both commercial and industrial parcels are significantly more likely to be located near municipal boundaries. Low-priced industrial properties are also significantly more likely to be located near municipal boundaries than in the interior of a suburb.

Commercial and Industrial Demand Response Under Mandatory Time‐of‐Use Electricity Pricing

This paper is the first to evaluate the impact of a large‐scale field deployment of mandatory time‐of‐use (TOU) pricing on the energy use of commercial and industrial firms. The regulation imposes higher prices during hours when electricity is generally more expensive to produce. We exploit a natural experiment that arises from the rules governing the program to present evidence that TOU pricing induced negligible change in overall usage, peak usage and peak load. As such, economic efficiency was not increased. Bill levels and volatility exhibit minor shifts, suggesting that concerns about increased expenditure and customer risk exposure have been overstated.

An Improved Technique Using Dental Prostheses for Field Quantification of the Force Required by Primates for the Dental Penetration of Fruit

Tooth morphology is an important determinant of primate diet, setting potential limits on processable item size and material properties. Plunger-based commercial fruit firmness testers (penetrometers) have been used to estimate primate diet item hardness and, by proxy, bite force required for penetration. However, geometric forms and surface areas of penetrometer plungers and primate teeth differ considerably. Accurate bite force estimation is especially important with pitheciine primates as these penetrate fruit pericarps with their canines. To achieve more realistic bite force measures, we replaced a fruit penetrometer's standard plunger with a Cacajao calvus canine prosthesis. We compared indentation and penetration values for Hevea spruceana (Euphorbiaceae; hard-pericarp) and Mauritia flexuosa (Arecaceae; soft-pericarp) fruits (both natural Cacajao foods), and standard penetrometer head and canine prosthesis values for penetrating H. spruceana sulci. Compared to the canine prosthesis, a standard head overestimated the force needed to indent and penetrate H. spruceana fruit by more than twofold and, due to greater width, could not effectively penetrate a sulcus: sulcal penetrability data were easily retrieved with the canine prosthesis. We believe this new approach using dental prostheses has potential in the analysis of primate foraging mechanisms, especially for pitheciines for which canines are of paramount importance in accessing food.

Organizational Hostility: Why and How Nonmarket Players Compete With Firms

Competitive dynamics theory overlooks an entire class of players who pose a serious threat to commercial firms: nonmarket players (NMPs) such as activists, environmentalists, social entrepreneurs, and NGOs. Using an institutional perspective, this conceptual manuscript advances competitive dynamics theory by developing a framework of organizational hostility. The framework profiles NMPs according to their propensity to engage firms; it also classifies firms based on their vulnerability and initial reaction to NMP attacks. Corroborated with a mathematical model (detailed in the appendix), the conceptual framework explains why and which NMPs are most hostile to firms, why some NMPs issue threats while others strike out at commercial firms quickly and without warning, and which firms are most vulnerable to such hostility.

Voter Surveillance, Micro-Targeting and Democratic Politics: Knowing How People Vote Before They Do

This paper surveys the various voter surveillance practices recently observed in the United States, assesses the extent to which they have been adopted in other democratic countries, and discusses the broad implications for privacy and democracy. Four broad trends are discussed: the move from voter management databases to integrated voter management platforms; the shift from mass-messaging to micro-targeting employing personal data from commercial data brokerage firms; the analysis of social media and the social graph; and the decentralization of data to local campaigns through mobile applications. The de-alignment of the electorate in most Western societies has placed pressures on parties to target voters outside their traditional bases, and to find new, cheaper, and potentially more intrusive, ways to influence their political behavior. This paper builds on previous research to consider the theoretical tensions between concerns for excessive surveillance, and the broad democratic responsibility of parties to mobilize voters and increase political engagement. These issues have been insufficiently studied in the surveillance literature. They are not just confined to the privacy of the individual voter, but relate to broader dynamics in democratic politics.

The meaning of concrete for inter-war Nottingham: geography, economy and politics

What did concrete mean to the city of Nottingham during the 1920s and 1930s? How did the city respond to the formative years of this material in terms of geography, economy and politics? On the one hand this was a city that momentarily saw concrete as the vanguard of pragmatic modernism and economic diversification alongside a utilitarian approach to social reform. And on the other, a city more willing to fall back on established materials and structures.Concrete was very rarely a monstrosity for inter-war Nottingham: it more often meant economic revitalisation, technological change, social improvement, cleanliness, efficiency, fashion and comfort. As a product of the landscape, the city made an important contribution to the formative years of this twentieth-century material. In a climate of recession after the First World War, concrete represented a hope for the future that was readily expressed by the most innovative of the city's commercial firms. Yet compared to the city's commercial concrete achievements, the approach from local government appeared tame: here a delicate balance had to be played out between the power of conservative symbolism and the efficiency of social improvement.

Adaptive capacity of commercial real estate firms in New York City to urban flooding

This article examines the adaptive capacities of real estate firms in New York City in light of the increased risks of urban flooding. This exploratory research attempts to shed light on how and why firms of varying risk profiles are strategically adapting to these risks – if at all. Through the lens of a qualitative multi-criteria adaptive capacity framework, the results of six case studies are analyzed to identify what influences are shaping the actions and strategies of firms. The article examines the propositions that: (A) firms with observable strategies have undertaken ex post strategies which are principally driven by the firms’ financial bottom line; (B) firm strategies attribute little to no influence in their decisions to external or delayed costs and/or impacts relating to social and environmental influences; and, (C) firms with the comparatively most robust adaptive capacities will be those who: (i) are most aware of their vulnerabilities; and (ii) are themselves comparatively more vulnerable to the immediate risks associated with urban flooding. While the evidence largely supports the propositions, the results of this research can help shape the development of intelligence and strategic units within firms as they develop a capacity to adapt to ever changing conditions.

Problems of implementation of the intellectual property rights on information resources in Ukraine

This article describes the problems of implementation of the intellectual property rights on information resources in Ukraine. The author analyzed the mechanism of implementation of this right, concluded that this area contains a number of problems in Ukraine which demand being solved with the goal of full realization of this right by citizens, organizations, commercial firms. Specific legal measures aimed at improving the process of implementation of intellectual property rights on information resources in Ukraine are justified in the work, the author also gives the proposals how to simplify the procedures of obtaining domain names and registering in the Ukrainian legislation provisions that will provide web sites the signs of independent intellectual property.

English

Summary The effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) and combination of both on fruit quality of ‘Elstar’, ‘Jonagold’ and ‘Gloster’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) were tested at three different storage temperatures. 1-MCP treatment and DCA storage prolonged storage- and shelf-life as indicated by delayed loss of firmness and titratable acids (TA) in all three cultivars. 1-MCP was more effective than DCA especially in prolonging shelf-life. At higher storage temperature of 3.5–10°C best results were achieved by the combination of 1-MCP plus DCA. Fruit firmness of apples stored under these conditions was similar or even superior to firmness of fruit stored under standard ULO conditions at 2°C. The current commercial firmness demand were fulfilled in most cases even at higher storage temperature. However, TA reduction by higher temperature could not be effectively slowed down by 1-MCP, DCA or the combination of both. 1-MCP treatment promoted the development of skin spots in ‘Elstar’ apples. The combination of 1-MCP and DCA led to less skin spots than 1-MCP alone, whereas DCA alone was most effective in reducing incidence of skin spots. Internal browning in ‘Elstar’ apples was increased by higher temperature, by 1-MCP and to a lesser extent DCA treatments whereby DCA moderated the negative effect of 1-MCP. Higher temperatures promoted the dissipation of watercore in ‘Gloster’ apples, resulting in reduced injury from associated internal browning. In contrast, 1-MCP reduced watercore dissipation and increased internal browning while DCA had no negative effect on watercore. Moreover, DCA prevented the transformation of watercore to flesh browning in 1-MCP treated apples. It was concluded that the combination of 1-MCP and DCA storage is more favorable than 1-MCP or DCA alone especially at higher storage temperature.

A dangerous method? Defending the rise of business law clinics in the UK

In clinical legal education (CLE) circles there is a deep-seated belief that all law school clinics must pursue a social justice agenda by helping the poor. Consequently, clinics which assist businesses who can afford to pay for legal services are often met with disapproval. This may account for the scarcity of publications, especially in the United Kingdom, which explore and reflect on business law clinics. Yet these clinics do exist, and they are growing in number and scope. Using the Business & Commercial firms at Northumbria University’s Student Law Office as a case study, this paper defends the right of business law clinics to be part of the CLE movement. First, it argues that business law clinics allow law students to pursue a diverse and relevant education. Secondly, it queries why these clinics cannot fulfil a (reconceptualised) social justice mission.

Selective Reporting of Factual Content by Commercial Media

The authors study the market for factual content and examine whether competition increases or decreases its provision. Factual content is supplied by commercial media firms, which observe a set of facts depicting the state of the world and selectively decide how to report them. Consumers value content that matches their opinion, which incentivizes media firms to slant their reports by omitting certain facts. Novel features in the authors’ model include consumers’ ability to anticipate the media's incentives for slant and the requirement that all media stances must be supported by facts. Furthermore, consumers find reports with more facts to be more convincing. Despite consumers’ ability to detect slant and their demand for factual support, the research shows that competition results in consumers reading fewer facts and being unable to update their prior beliefs about the state of the world. The authors also find that a monopoly medium may be more polarizing than competitive media and that polarized reporting can be less biased.