Missing Dimension Research Articles

Exploring the Role of Design in Systems Engineering

AbstractThe paper explores the role of design in systems engineering. It reviews the treatment of design in systems engineering in general and in the Systems Engineering Handbook in particular, and concludes that design is the missing dimension in systems engineering. It provides a review of salient viewpoints from research in design that can enhance the understanding of the design dimension in system engineering.

Efficacy of the theory of planned behavior in the context of hiring Malaysians with disabilities

Employers’ negative attitudes and unfounded concerns about hiring disabled workers are contributing factors to high unemployment rates among the disabled population. Employers view disabled workers are unproductive and consider as liabilities to their companies. The negative perceptions among employers explain why those persons with disabilities (PWDs) are likely not hired by companies in Malaysia although they have sufficient qualifications for the jobs offered. In particular, hiring PWDs is a missing dimension in the employment context in Malaysia. Employers are viewed to practice discrimination in developing their employment policy for those PWDs even those PWDs are significant to their companies’ performance. Hence, employers’ unwillingness to hire PWDs contributes to the untapped pool of labor, leading to high unemployment rates among PWDs. Within a modified theory of planned behavior (TPB) framework, this paper is aimed at validating the claim that employer attitudes towards persons with disabilities (PWDs) are significantly relevant as they can either positively or negatively influence intention to hire the Malaysians with disabilities. The TPB provides the theoretical foundation for the current study. Data were obtained using a survey which garnered the participation of 200 employers in East Malaysia. The modified TPB model was examined using partial least squares (PLS) method. The PLS is chosen because of two main reasons. Firstly, the PLS requires minimal demand on the residual distribution, measurement scales and sample size. Secondly, the PLS is easily conducted using two stages, namely, measurement model and structural analysis. Using PLS, the current study finds that all constructs’ items are valid, reliable and suitable in the current context. At the structural level, this study discovers significant effects of subjective norm and perceived behavioral control on attitudes. Attitudes, in turn, influence intention to hire. Our results suggest that the TPB constructs are adequate to explain the hiring Malaysians with disabilities in the context of Malaysia. Notably, attitudes mediate the relationships between the independent variables (i.e., subjective norm and perceived behavioral control) and the dependent variable (i.e., intention to hire). Considering attitudes as a mediator in the current context provides further refinement to the TPB. In all, the results indicate that all the hypothesized relationship in the core model was confirmed. The results provide valuable insights, which may help, increase PWDs’ employment by addressing negative managerial attitudes towards PWDs. This study offers guidelines on the formation of pro-hiring attitudes towards PWDs and the significance of subjective norm as an attitude-shaping mechanism.

Tourism and biological exchange and invasions: a missing dimension in sustainable tourism?

A highly significant though often unrecognized dimension of globalization is the movement of plant and animal species around the world. The increase in the movement of alien species is directly related to the growth in international trade and tourism and human mobility. However, the ecological, economic and social implications of such species transfer is little recognized in the tourism literature and, surprisingly, in discussions of sustainable tourism and tourism's contribution to conservation. This is remarkable, given the scale of impacts that invasive species and diseases can have, along with the measures put in place to prevent them. If a quarantine is applied, then by definition mobility, and hence tourism, is prevented. Drawing on a range of sources, the paper provides an analysis of the relationship between tourism and biological exchange as well as the biosecurity methods that are put in place to prevent exchange and its impacts. The paper highlights the difficulties in applying some of these measures. The paper concludes by noting the possible implications of forecast growth in international tourism for biological exchange, including potential health and environmental concerns.

Love/Hate Story: Moshe Sharett and AMAN (Military Intelligence), 1954–1956

The history of the Israeli intelligence community during the 1950s and its relationship with the political leadership is discussed in the literature mainly from the perspective of the “Unfortunate Affair”. This article explains this “missing dimension” by examining Sharett’s attitude towards AMAN (Military Intelligence) during 1953–1956. It describes and explains the way Sharett used the intelligence estimate concerning the implications of the Egyptian-Czech arms deal and the problem of infiltration. The study demonstrates that Sharett’s attitude towards AMAN became different under the leadership of Yehoshafat Harkabi when compared with Binyamin Gibli’s tenure as head of AMAN. It presents the relationship Sharett had with Harkabi as an ideal interaction between the political leader and the intelligence provider, a situation that reflects personal trust and professional appreciation between the leader and the intelligence provider.

The representation of violence by insurgent political actors: the “violent” part of “violent extremism”?

Terrorism is often held to be “violence as communication”. However, terrorism studies has had very little to say about how violence as such is specifically represented by insurgent “extremist” or transgressive political actors. Informed by social movement theories of framing and the literature on virtualization, this paper sets out to offer a preliminary typology of representations of violence by such groups, and the ways in which subcultural engagement with mediated representations of violence may represent a missing dimension in our understanding of “violent extremism” or “violent radicalization”.

Historical developments inWheeler diagrams and future directions

AbstractThe Wheeler diagram is a type of chronostratigraphic chart and is one of the fundamental instruments available in the geologists' toolkit that is used to understand spatiotemporal relationships of strata. Over the last four decades, these diagrams have continued to improve due to advances in seismic technology. This article examines the historical developments behind Wheeler diagrams, not only stressing their merits, but also their pitfalls and the role that sequence stratigraphic principles have played in interpreting these diagrams. It is emphasized that the diagrams are only complete if one utilizes the thicknesses of a sequence stratigraphic unit (sequence, systems tracts) – a missing dimension that turns a 3D Wheeler diagram into 4D. The article also argues that the latter 4D diagrams represent the future for Wheeler diagrams.

The men in the middle: a missing dimension in global land deals

Middlemen are largely absent from the literature and policymaking on land deals. Based on qualitative evidence from India, this paper shows a highly organised field of aggregators, brokers, touts, musclemen and others permeating the land economy. Biographical accounts provide glimpses of everyday work, career and aspirations. A high-definition narrative of middlemen as middlemen allows a shift away from instrumental analyses of bridges in global capitalist accumulation. Even as they reproduce larger structures, middlemen can be rule-makers who personalise, localise and actively shape the land economy. Global debates cannot afford to ignore these hitherto missing dimensions in land deals.

The missing dimension: The relevance of people's conception of time

While a timely conceptual innovation for the digital age, the "map" proposed by Bentley et al. would benefit from strengthening through the inclusion of a non-clock-time perspective. In this way, there could be new hypotheses developed which could be applied and tested relevant to more diverse societies, cultures, and individuals.

Institutions and First Mover Advantages

We complement extant FMA literature by systematically bringing in the institutional context, a hitherto missing dimension. We focus on two components of the formal and informal institutional contex...

The role of interpersonal relationships in men's attendance in primary care: qualitative findings in a cohort of men with prostate cancer

Men's response to ill health is framed as a "battleground" for the enactment of masculinities. With an increase in diagnoses of men's cancers, there is a need to better understand the features which influence timely access to diagnostic services. This study explored the ways in which men account for the timing of their diagnosis of prostate cancer. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with men and, where possible, their partner. Data were analyzed with reference to framework analysis. Relationships, including spousal, familial, and friendships, appear pivotal in informing men's help-seeking behaviors. Friends and partners were often critical in facilitating access to primary care. Following their own diagnosis, this virtuous cycle of encouragement led many men to encourage others to seek medical attention for prostate tests. Interpersonal relationships are a missing dimension in models of delay. We need to know more about how to use relationships, in addition to traditional routes, to harness health promotion messages. Interpersonal relationship, including partners and social networks, may be powerful conduits and may prove effective mechanisms to identify and access men most at risk of prostate cancer.

Texans and the Civilian Conservation Corps: Personal Memories

Texans and the Civilian Conservation Corps:Personal Memories Mary L. Wilson (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution CCC group at Pineland, Texas, c. 1933-34. Photograph by Connie Ford McCann courtesy of University of North Texas Archives and Rare Books and found at The Portal to Texas History, <http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth121755> [Accessed January 19, 2012]. [End Page 144] The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of the most visible and successful of the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) in Texas as well as the rest of the nation. The CCC in its nine years of existence employed more than 2.5 million young men from ages eighteen to twenty-five. The program arose to combat some of the effects of the Great Depression, the greatest economic crisis the United States has ever faced. Unemployment shot from 3.14 percent in 1929 to 24.75 percent in 1933. One author claims it was more than 28 percent. Just before the United States entered World War II, it still stood at 14.45 percent, well above current government estimates. The economic hardships experienced in the 1930s are hard to comprehend for younger Americans. There were no social safety nets to cope with the crisis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Government-sponsored employment on the scale of the CCC was unimaginable in the United States prior to the stock market crash on October 29, 1929. The American people were ready for different ideas, and President Roosevelt seemed to be the perfect leader to bring them to life.1 The newly elected president took office with many promises and ideas but little else. A newspaper cartoonist picked the term "New Deal" out of FDR's presidential nomination acceptance speech, and it became the name applied to any and all programs suggested by FDR's administration. The programs were as varied as the different populations that the Roosevelt Administration aimed them at. The Public Works Administration, [End Page 145] designed to stimulate heavy industry, gave money for projects costing more than $25,000, while the Federal Emergency Relief Administration gave federal monies to the states to distribute to the needy. For every federal dollar, the state was required to provide three. The largest project was the Tennessee Valley Authority, an experiment in regional planning. It funded the building of dams on the Tennessee River, affecting the economies of six states. Smaller projects included the Federal Music Project, which gave unemployed performers jobs, and the Federal Art Projects, which allowed artists to continue producing their art although practically no one could afford to buy it. Aimed at both urban and rural young men (the program was not open to women), one of the most popular of the programs was the rural-based CCC, which began in 1933.2 The CCC had three objectives: enrollment of workers so as not to interfere with normal employment; grants to states for relief work; and the development of a broad public works program to create jobs. The planners designed the CCC to be involved in forest protection and conservation, soil conservation, recreational development, aid to grazing and wildlife, reclamation, drainage, erosion control, flood control, and related projects.3 Evidence of these public works can still be seen across the country. The qualifications for enrollment in the CCC initially required men to be single and between eighteen to twenty-five years of age. Their families had to be on some type of public relief, and they had to be willing to send part of their paychecks home to their dependents. The pay was $30 a month, with the families receiving an allotment of $22 to $25 from this money. The enrollees kept the remaining $5 to $8 for their own use. These monetary requirements changed several times during the life of the organization; only the age and marital restrictions remained the same.4 Statistics abound that show how much money went to these young men and how much they sent home to their families. The missing dimension of the story that this article addresses is the effect the CCC had on the lives of the young men in Texas...

Consenso y pos-consenso de Washington: dos generaciones de reformas incompletas

La dimensión perdida de las reformas emprendidas tanto por el énfasis macro-económico del Consenso de Washington, como por el tenor institucional del pos-Consenso radica en lo político y lo social. La pretensión de armonización de ambas generaciones de reformas ha fallado en reconocer la centralidad política de los actores en los procesos en los que toman parte activa, ignorando el carácter intencional, contingente e impredecible que logran imprimirle.

State Fragility, Rent Seeking and Lobbying: Evidence from African Data

This paper assesses the determinants of state fragility in sub-Saharan Africa using hitherto unexplored variables in the literature. The previously missing dimension of nation building is integrated and the hypothesis of state fragility being a function of rent seeking and/or lobbying by de facto power holders is tested. The resulting interesting finding is that, political interference, rent seeking and lobbying increase the probability of state fragility by mitigating the effectiveness of governance capacity. This relationship (after controlling for a range of economic, institutional and demographic factors) is consistent with a plethora of models and specifications. The validity of the hypothesis is confirmed in a scenario of extreme state fragility. Moreover, the interaction between political interferences and revolutions mitigate the probability of state fragility while the interaction between natural resources and political interferences breeds the probability of extreme state fragility. As a policy implication, there is a ‘sub-Saharan African specificity’ in ‘nation building’ and prevention of conflicts. Blanket fragility oriented policies will be misplaced unless they are contingent on the degree of fragility, since ‘fragile’ and ‘extreme fragile’ countries respond differently to economic, institutional and demographic characteristics of state fragility.

Innovation and experience goods: a critical appraisal of a missing dimension in innovation theory

This paper discusses how the concept of experience goods could be integrated conceptually into innovation studies. Experience goods are distinguishable in that their value or utility cannot be determined until after they have been consumed. The concept encompasses an enormous variety of consumer goods whose value is determined largely or entirely by subjective and non-rational factors that are difficult to accommodate in the established framework of innovation theory. This theory has a strong historical orientation to manufactured goods and to technology producer goods. The paper provides some critical perspectives on the conceptual evolution of ‘value’ in innovation theory. It then introduces the experience goods dimension, demonstrating its potential for exploring how historical, social, cultural and economic factors combine in the construction of value-producing innovations. Drawing on the literature of marketing, consumer research, and cultural economics, various dimensions of experience as a factor in innovation are mapped onto Schumpeter’s innovation typology. The paper concludes by discussing some of the implications for future research.

Economics of collective choice—the missing dimension of constitutional theory

Economics of collective choice—the missing dimension of constitutional theory

Hi–C: A comprehensive technique to capture the conformation of genomes

We describe a method, Hi–C, to comprehensively detect chromatin interactions in the mammalian nucleus. This method is based on Chromosome Conformation Capture, in which chromatin is crosslinked with formaldehyde, then digested, and re-ligated in such a way that only DNA fragments that are covalently linked together form ligation products. The ligation products contain the information of not only where they originated from in the genomic sequence but also where they reside, physically, in the 3D organization of the genome. In Hi–C, a biotin-labeled nucleotide is incorporated at the ligation junction, enabling selective purification of chimeric DNA ligation junctions followed by deep sequencing. The compatibility of Hi–C with next generation sequencing platforms makes it possible to detect chromatin interactions on an unprecedented scale. This advance gives Hi–C the power to both explore the biophysical properties of chromatin as well as the implications of chromatin structure for the biological functions of the nucleus. A massively parallel survey of chromatin interaction provides the previously missing dimension of spatial context to other genomic studies. This spatial context will provide a new perspective to studies of chromatin and its role in genome regulation in normal conditions and in disease.

Determining Degradation and Synthesis Rates of Arabidopsis Proteins Using the Kinetics of Progressive 15N Labeling of Two-dimensional Gel-separated Protein Spots

The growth and development of plant tissues is associated with an ordered succession of cellular processes that are reflected in the appearance and disappearance of proteins. The control of the kinetics of protein turnover is central to how plants can rapidly and specifically alter protein abundance and thus molecular function in response to environmental or developmental cues. However, the processes of turnover are largely hidden during periods of apparent steady-state protein abundance, and even when proteins accumulate it is unclear whether enhanced synthesis or decreased degradation is responsible. We have used a (15)N labeling strategy with inorganic nitrogen sources coupled to a two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analysis of two-dimensional IEF/SDS-PAGE gel spots to define the rate of protein synthesis (K(S)) and degradation (K(D)) of Arabidopsis cell culture proteins. Through analysis of MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectra from 120 protein spots, we were able to quantify K(S) and K(D) for 84 proteins across six functional groups and observe over 65-fold variation in protein degradation rates. K(S) and K(D) correlate with functional roles of the proteins in the cell and the time in the cell culture cycle. This approach is based on progressive (15)N labeling that is innocuous for the plant cells and, because it can be used to target analysis of proteins through the use of specific gel spots, it has broad applicability.

Book Review

Book Review

Dose–response curve slope is a missing dimension in the analysis of HIV-1 drug resistance

HIV-1 drug resistance is a major clinical problem. Resistance is evaluated using in vitro assays measuring the fold change in IC(50) caused by resistance mutations. Antiretroviral drugs are used at concentrations above IC(50), however, and inhibition at clinical concentrations can only be predicted from IC(50) if the shape of the dose-response curve is also known. Curve shape is influenced by cooperative interactions and is described mathematically by the slope parameter or Hill coefficient (m). Implicit in current analysis of resistance is the assumption that mutations shift dose-response curves to the right without affecting the slope. We show here that m is altered by resistance mutations. For reverse transcriptase and fusion inhibitors, single resistance mutations affect both slope and IC(50). For protease inhibitors, single mutations primarily affect slope. For integrase inhibitors, only IC(50) is affected. Thus, there are fundamental pharmacodynamic differences in resistance to different drug classes. Instantaneous inhibitory potential (IIP), the log inhibition of single-round infectivity at clinical concentrations, takes into account both slope and IC(50), and thus provides a direct measure of the reduction in susceptibility produced by mutations and the residual activity of drugs against resistant viruses. The standard measure, fold change in IC(50), does not correlate well with changes in IIP when mutations alter slope. These results challenge a fundamental assumption underlying current analysis of HIV-1 drug resistance and suggest that a more complete understanding of how resistance mutations reduce antiviral activity requires consideration of a previously ignored parameter, the dose-response curve slope.

Wielding Finance as a Weapon of Diplomacy: France and Britain in the 1920s

France had long conceived of finance as an instrument of diplomacy. The role of French finance in the sealing of the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892 is well known; the Quai d'Orsay's use of access to the French financial markets and the Bourse as an arm of foreign policy before the War was the subject of much research in the early 1970s. However, the use of currency speculation as a diplomatic instrument has received little attention. Of course, under a regime of fixed rate parities as existed before the Great War—the Gold Exchange Standard—currency fluctuation was uncommon; it was extremely difficult to attack currencies in a concerted manner on the international money markets for any reason, let alone for diplomatic advantage. But following the outbreak of the Great War, many currencies came off the gold standard, and a state of financial turmoil prevailed in the post-war period. The French franc was not alone in being buffeted on the international market. Currency vulnerability and the ramifications it had for national economic policies became all too obvious. Friends and foe alike could not ignore how short-term concerted action by banks and financial institutions on a currency by heavy selling or buying could undermine governments and their policies. It was not long before governments would view currency speculation as a means of influencing policy. The question of stabilising the French franc in the 1920s and returning it to a fixed parity against gold has been studied from economic and political dimensions; the diplomatic has been the missing dimension. This article looks at the stabilisation of the French currency in 1926 under Raymond Poincaré and the manner in which finance was wielded as an instrument of diplomacy against Britain. It first analyses how France perceived herself to be the object of currency manipulation for political aims by Germany and Britain in the early 1920s, and then it analyses how during the stabilisation of the franc after 1926 under Premier and Finance Minister Raymond Poincaré she was able to turn the tables and use short-term financial advantage as leverage against Britain on important policy matters.