The question of organization: A manifesto for alternatives

Although foundational texts in Critical Management Studies (CMS) pointed to the empirical significance of anarchism as an inspiration for alternative ways of organizing (Burrell, 1992), relatively little work of substance has been undertaken within CMS to explore how anarchists organize or how anarchist principles of organization might fare in other contexts. This paper addresses this gap by reporting on the experiences of a UK Voluntary Sector Organization (VSO) seeking to adopt non-hierarchical working practices inspired by anarchism. The paper analyses this process of organizational change by examining how ideas and practices are translated and transformed as they travel from one context (direct action anarchism) to another (the voluntary sector). Whilst the onset of austerity and funding cuts created the conditions of possibility for this change, it was the discursive translation of ‘anarchism’ into ‘non-hierarchical organizing’ that enabled these ideas to take hold. The concept of ‘non-hierarchical’ organization constituted an open space that was defined by negation and therefore capable of containing a multiplicity of meanings. Rather than having to explicitly embrace anarchism, members were able to find common ground on what they did not want (hierarchy) and create a discursive space for democratically determining what might replace it

Subbarrel patterns in somatosensory cortical barrels can emerge from local dynamic instabilities

Complex spatial patterning, common in the brain as well as in other biological systems, can emerge as a result of dynamic interactions that occur locally within developing structures. In the rodent somatosensory cortex, groups of neurons called "barrels" correspond to individual whiskers on the contralateral face. Barrels themselves often contain subbarrels organized into one of a few characteristic patterns. Here we demonstrate that similar patterns can be simulated by means of local growth-promoting and growth-retarding interactions within the circular domains of single barrels. The model correctly predicts that larger barrels contain more spatially complex subbarrel patterns, suggesting that the development of barrels and of the patterns within them may be understood in terms of some relatively simple dynamic processes. We also simulate the full nonlinear equations to demonstrate the predictive value of our linear analysis. Finally, we show that the pattern formation is robust with respect to the geometry of the barrel by simulating patterns on a realistically shaped barrel domain. This work shows how simple pattern forming mechanisms can explain neural wiring both qualitatively and quantitatively even in complex and irregular domains. © 2009 Ermentrout et al

A BAYESIAN SHRINKAGE MODEL FOR INCOMPLETE LONGITUDINAL BINARY DATA WITH APPLICATION TO THE BREAST CANCER PREVENTION TRIAL

We consider inference in randomized studies, in which repeatedly measured outcomes may be informatively missing due to drop out. In this setting, it is well known that full data estimands are not identified unless unverified assumptions are imposed. We assume a non-future dependence model for the drop-out mechanism and posit an exponential tilt model that links non-identifiable and identifiable distributions. This model is indexed by non-identified parameters, which are assumed to have an informative prior distribution, elicited from subject-matter experts. Under this model, full data estimands are shown to be expressed as functionals of the distribution of the observed data. To avoid the curse of dimensionality, we model the distribution of the observed data using a Bayesian shrinkage model. In a simulation study, we compare our approach to a fully parametric and a fully saturated model for the distribution of the observed data. Our methodology is motivated and applied to data from the Breast Cancer Prevention Trial

CMB Anomalies from Imperfect Dark Energy: Confrontation with the Data

We test anisotropic dark energy models with the 7-year WMAP temperature observations data. In the presence of imperfect sources, due to large-scale gradients or anisotropies in the dark energy field, the CMB sky will be distorted anisotropically on its way to us by the ISW effect. The signal covariance matrix then becomes nondiagonal for small multipoles, but at $\ell \gtrsim 20$ the anisotropy is negligible. We parametrize possible violations of rotational invariance in the late universe by the magnitude of a post-Friedmannian deviation from isotropy and its scale dependence. This allows to obtain hints on possible imperfect nature of dark energy and the large-angle anomalous features in the CMB. A robust statistical analysis, subjected to various tests and consistency checks, is performed to compare the predicted correlations with those obtained from the satellite-measured CMB full sky maps. The preferred axis point towards $(l,b) = (168^\circ, -31^\circ)$ and the amplitude of the anisotropy is $\varpi_0 = (0.51\pm 0.94)$ (1$\sigma$ deviation quoted). The best-fit model has a steep blue anisotropic spectrum ($n_{\mathrm{de}} = 3.1\pm1.5$).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Evidence of hydrological control of Sr behavior in stream water (Strengbach catchment, Vosges mountains, France)

Strontium and particularly 87Sr/86Sr ratios in stream water have often been used to calculate weathering rates in catchments. Nevertheless, in the literature, discharge variation effects on the geochemical behavior of Sr are often omitted or considered as negligible. A regular survey of both Sr concentrations and Sr isotope ratios of the Strengbach stream water draining a granite (Vosges mountains, France) has been performed during one year. The results indicate that during low water flow periods, waters contain lower Sr concentrations and less radiogenic Sr isotope ratios (Sr=11.6 ppb and 87Sr/86Sr=0.7246 as an average, respectively) than during high water flow periods (Sr= 13 ppb and 87Sr/86Sr=0.7252 as an average, respectively). This is contrary to expected dilution processes by meteoric waters which have comparatively lower Sr isotopic ratios and lower Sr concentrations. Furthermore, 87Sr/86Sr ratios in stream water behave in 3 different ways depending on moisture and on hydrological conditions prevailing in the catchment. During low water flow periods (discharge < 9 l/s), a positive linear relationship exists between Sr isotope ratio and discharge, indicating the influence of radiogenic waters draining the saturated area during storm events. During high water flow conditions, rising discharges are characterized by significantly less radiogenic waters than the recession stages of discharge. This suggests a large contribution of radiogenic waters draining the deep layers of the hillslopes during the recession stages, particularly those from the more radiogenic north-facing slopes. These results allow one to confirm the negligible instantaneous incidence of rainwater on stream water chemistry during flood events, as well as the existence in the catchment of distinct contributive areas and reservoirs. The influence of these areas or reservoirs on the fluctuations of Sr concentrations and on Sr isotopic variations in stream water depends on both moisture and hydrological conditions. Hence, on a same bedrock type, 87Sr/86Sr ratios in surface waters can be related to flow rate. Consequently, discharge variations must be considered as a pre-requisite when using Sr isotopes for calculating weathering rates in catchments, particularly to define the range of variations of the end-members

Galaxy Zoo:reproducing galaxy morphologies via machine learning

We present morphological classifications obtained using machine learning for objects in SDSS DR6 that have been classified by Galaxy Zoo into three classes, namely early types, spirals and point sources/artifacts. An artificial neural network is trained on a subset of objects classified by the human eye and we test whether the machine learning algorithm can reproduce the human classifications for the rest of the sample. We find that the success of the neural network in matching the human classifications depends crucially on the set of input parameters chosen for the machine-learning algorithm. The colours and parameters associated with profile-fitting are reasonable in separating the objects into three classes. However, these results are considerably improved when adding adaptive shape parameters as well as concentration and texture. The adaptive moments, concentration and texture parameters alone cannot distinguish between early type galaxies and the point sources/artifacts. Using a set of twelve parameters, the neural network is able to reproduce the human classifications to better than 90% for all three morphological classes. We find that using a training set that is incomplete in magnitude does not degrade our results given our particular choice of the input parameters to the network. We conclude that it is promising to use machine- learning algorithms to perform morphological classification for the next generation of wide-field imaging surveys and that the Galaxy Zoo catalogue provides an invaluable training set for such purposes

Topological 4-manifolds with 4-dimensional fundamental group

Let $\pi$ be a group satisfying the Farrell-Jones conjecture and assume that $B\pi$ is a 4-dimensional Poincar\'e duality space. We consider closed, topological, almost spin manifolds with fundamental group $\pi$ whose canonical map to $B\pi$ has degree 1 and show that two such manifolds are s-cobordant if and only if their equivariant intersection forms are isometric. If $\pi$ is good in the sense of Freedman, it follows that two such manifolds are homeomorphic if and only if they are homotopy equivalent. This shows rigidity in many cases that lie between aspherical 4-manifolds, where rigidity is expected by Borel's conjecture, and simply connected manifolds where rigidity is a consequence of Freedman's classification results.Comment: 12 page

What Ownership Society: Debating Housing and Social Security Reform in the United States

This article explores President George W. Bush's "ownership society" blueprint in comparative and historical perspective. By taking the "ownership society" seriously, it is possible to understand how it is deeply rooted in the American cultural repertoire, and how it offers a coherent neo-liberal discourse aimed at constructing the "need to reform" existing social policy legacies in the sense of a greater reliance on private savings and ownership. Although grounded in the American repertoire, President Bush's "ownership society" is inspired by a foreign model: Thatcher's "popular capitalism," another neo-liberal blueprint that featured a similar celebration of personal ownership. Discussing Thatcherism briefly before analyzing the debate over President Bush's "ownership society" in the fields of housing and pensions, this article underlines the relationship between ideational processes and institutional legacies in policy-making.housing, pensions, ideas, institutions, United States, Britain