Estimation of Acute Toxicity by Fitting a Dose-Time-Response Surface

In acute toxicity testing, organisms are continuously exposed to progressively increasing concentrations of a chemical and deaths of test organisms are recorded at several selected times. The results of the test are traditionally summarized by a dose-response curve, and the time course of effect is usually ignored for lack of a suitable model. A model which integrates the combined effects of dose and exposure duration on response is derived from the biological mechanisms of aquatic toxicity, and a statistically efficient approach for estimating acute toxicity by fitting the proposed model is developed in this paper. The proposed procedure has been computerized as software and a typical data set is used to illustrate the theory and procedure. The new statistical technique is also tested by a data base of a variety of chemical and fish species.     

ADOPTION:

In this article, we focus on how understandings of the past influence the process of integrating older special needs children into family life. We present the stories of two families who adopted older special needs children as they reconstructed the past, experinced the present, and projected the future. We draw upon social, pragmatic, and postmodern theories of the past to guide our interpretations and understandings of these families' adoption experiences. The dominant ideology of family influenced their story construction, and it was against this conception that their stories were evaluated. We followed the Litners and the Becks as they used the past to create stories that enabled and disabled their family life in the present and in the future. From the Litners' and the Becks' stories, we learned that when families are too limited by a cultural conception of an ideal adoptive family, their ability to use the past to create stories to help them live in the present and to project a shared future becomes restricted.
Our adoption failed because we understimated the past and overstimated our ability to create stories with happy endings. (Mrs. Beck)     

Supervision und Organisationsentwicklung in der Arbeit mit alten Menschen

Zusammenfassung Der Zuwachs der ?lteren Bev?lkerung wie auch der für sie bereitgestellten Versorgungseinrichtungen stellt die in der Altenpflege T?tigen vor vielf?ltige und schwierige Aufgaben. Vor dem Hintergrund einer verbreiteten, unbewu?ten aversiven Konnotation des Alterns stellt die Autorin das Spektrum von fachspezifischen Schwierigkeiten in der Supervisionsarbeit dar. Es wird aufgezeigt, dass feldspezifische Anforderungen im Umgang mit ?lteren in den Supervisionsprozess mit einzubeziehen sind und in weitere Schritte der Organisationsentwicklung münden k?nnen.

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The increased numbers of elderly and old people within our society as well as the growing number of institutional facilities for their support confronts those who work with them with manifold and difficult problems. Considering the background of a widespread, mostly unconscious negative connotation of age and ageing the author presents the spectrum of specific difficulties related to the specialised field of supervising work. It is shown that field-specific requirements in the relation with elderly have to be included and recognized in the supervising process and can lead to further organizational developments.

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Dr. phil. Gabriele Junkers ist Psychoanalytikerin und Lehranalytikerin (DPV/IPA), Generalsekret?rin der Europ?ischen Psychoanalytischen F?deration (EPF) Gerontologin. Supervision und Organisationsberatung.     

Using mixtures in seemingly unrelated linear regression models with non-normal errors

Seemingly unrelated linear regression models are introduced in which the distribution of the errors is a finite mixture of Gaussian distributions. Identifiability conditions are provided. The score vector and the Hessian matrix are derived. Parameter estimation is performed using the maximum likelihood method and an Expectation–Maximisation algorithm is developed. The usefulness of the proposed methods and a numerical evaluation of their properties are illustrated through the analysis of simulated and real datasets.     

Levelling across the life‐span?: Tracing the face vowel in panel data from the North East of England

Apparent time analysis has revealed that the Tyneside face vowel is the site of two intersecting trends: levelling towards the supra‐northern monophthong as well as the gradual incursion of the southern standard closing diphthong. This article investigates the participation of individual speakers across their life‐span in these ongoing changes in the face vowel. We report on a small‐scale panel sample of six speakers who were recorded in 1971 and again, 42 years later, in 2013. The analysis probes the stability of individual speakers’ grammars, relying on longitudinal ethnographic analysis in the community as well as insights gleaned from sociolinguistic interviews about the speakers’ socio‐demographic trajectory and their presentations of self. The article contributes to the growing body of panel research that aims to determine the scope and the limits of linguistic malleability across speakers’ life histories.     

A Structural Analysis of the Effectiveness of Buying Firms' Strategies to Improve Supplier Performance

Many manufacturing firms have increased the amount of component parts and services they outsource, while refocusing on their core capabilities. Outsourcing parts and services to independent, external suppliers means that suppliers' performance is increasingly critical to the long‐term success of these buying firms. Buying firms are increasingly using disparate supplier development strategies to improve supplier performance including supplier assessment, providing incentives for improved performance, instigating competition among suppliers, and direct involvement of the buying firm's personnel with suppliers through activities such as training of suppliers' personnel. Using resource‐based theory, internalization theory, and structural equation modeling, we examine the impact of these supplier development strategies on performance. We conclude that direct involvement activities, where the buying firm internalizes a significant amount of the supplier development effort, play a critical role in performance improvement.     

The evolution of employee engagement: Towards a social and contextual construct for balancing individual performance and wellbeing dynamically

Research demonstrates that high Employee Engagement (EE) sustains job satisfaction and performance among staff. This literature review analyses the evolution of EE, highlighting the theoretical frameworks used to explain the concept, the measurement scales adopted by researchers and the principal antecedents and outcomes relating to EE that have been progressively considered along the way. Three main findings emerge from the analysis. First, we highlight the social and relational nature of EE, providing a more sociological interpretation of this phenomenon. Second, we underscore the fact that EE is dynamic, and when combined with modern digital technologies, it can be studied through innovative approaches. Third, we discuss how EE could be a fundamental ingredient in shifting towards a human centred approach through which balancing individuals’ wellbeing and performance. We discuss the implications of these findings, highlighting the necessity to rethink EE in relation to the new normal ushered in by Covid-19, and the increasing role of hybrid working.     

Praxis des organisationsinternen Coachings

The article describes five different types of internal coaching programs. Specific attention is paid to the underlying concepts as well as to risks and chances regarding the impact on organizational development. The typical differentiating criteria of the different models and aspects for analysis and design of an internal coaching program are summarized at the end.     

Immigration in America

The purpose of this study was to analyze the evolution of geography in the United States’ K–12 education system throughout the Nineteenth Century to understand the causes of variations, shifts in focus, and relative importance placed on geography. A broad theoretical framework, based on the work of sociologists of education and education philosophers and historians, guided the process of data collection and analysis. The authors feel that this research is significant because it clearly shows that geography was a high-status, “stand alone” subject in the public schools throughout most of the Nineteenth Century. Factors contributing to geography's prominent curricular position correlate well with the theoretical notion that the variation of emphasis of school subjects hinges largely on the involvement of their respective academic disciplines and/or scholars, and that society must perceive the subject as macro-economically beneficial to the long-term longevity of the nation's interests and economy. For the social studies as a whole, this paper represents a model of analysis for all of the subject areas that are currently included in the collection of ideas, themes, and approaches that comprise the modern concept of the social studies.