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Casting Doubt (casting + doubt)
Selected AbstractsExamining the Link Between "Familiness" and Performance: Can the F-PEC Untangle the Family Business Theory Jungle?ENTREPRENEURSHIP THEORY AND PRACTICE, Issue 6 2008Matthew W. Rutherford Family business research appears to be caught in a "jungle" of competing theories in regards to familiness and performance. This study provides a further empirical examination into that relationship. We employ a family influence scale (the familiness-power, experience, and culture scale [F-PEC]) presented by Klein, Astrachan, and Smyrnios in an attempt to assess the relationship between familiness and performance in 831 family businesses. The resulting regression analysis adds to the current state of the literature by demonstrating significant and interesting results. Specifically, familiness showed associations with revenue, capital structure, growth, and perceived performance; however, the relationships were both positive and negative, thus casting doubt upon the F-PEC as a vehicle for untangling the jungle. We conclude with discussion and implications. [source] Non-enzymatic developmental functions of acetylcholinesterase , the question of redundancyFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 20 2008Glynis Johnson Despite in vitro demonstrations of non-enzymatic morphogenetic functions in acetylcholinesterase (AChE), the AChE knockout phenotype is milder than might be expected, casting doubt upon the relevance of such functions in vivo. Functional redundancy is a possible explanation. Using in vitro findings that AChE is able to bind to laminin-111, together with detailed information about the interaction sites, as well as an epitope analysis of adhesion-inhibiting anti-AChE mAbs, we have used molecular docking and bioinformatics techniques to explore this idea, investigating structurally similar molecules that have a comparable spatiotemporal expression pattern in the embryonic nervous system. On this basis, molecules with which AChE could be redundant are the syndecans, glypicans, perlecan, the receptor tyrosine kinase Mer, and the low-density lipoprotein receptor. It is also highly likely that AChE may be redundant with the homologous neuroligins, although there is no evidence that the latter are expressed before synaptogenesis. AChE was observed to dock with Gas6, the ligand for Mer, as well as with apolipoprotein E3 (but not apolipoprotein E4), both at the same site as the laminin interaction. These findings suggest that AChE may show direct functional redundancy with one or more of these molecules; it is also possible that it may itself have a unique function in the stabilization of the basement membrane. As basement membrane molecules are characterized by multiple molecular interactions, each contributing cumulatively to the construction and stability of the network, this may account for AChE's apparently promiscuous interactions, and also for the survival of the knockout. [source] The Governance of Global Production Networks and Regional Development: A Case Study of Taiwanese PC Production NetworksGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2009DANIEL YOU-REN YANG ABSTRACT This article applies a global production networks (GPN) perspective to the trans-border investments of Taiwanese personal computer (PC) companies in the Northern Taiwan, Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan regions. The findings of extensive field research are used to illustrate two conceptual arguments. First, we show the on-the-ground complexity of inter-firm governance arrangements within the PC industry, thereby casting doubt upon attempts to reduce notions of governance to simplistic, industry-wide categorisations. Second, by comparing Greater Suzhou and Greater Dongguan, we demonstrate that even within a single production system, there is geographical variation in the nature of the strategic coupling between the GPN and local institutional formations. We argue that conceptualising such geographical and organisational complexity is critical to understanding the regional development potential of GPNs. [source] Primitive complement system of invertebratesIMMUNOLOGICAL REVIEWS, Issue 1 2004Masaru Nonaka Summary:, Most components of the human complement system have unmistakable domain architectures, making evolutionary tracing feasible. In contrast to the major genes of the adaptive immune system, which are present only in jawed vertebrates, complement component genes with unique domain structures are present not only in jawed vertebrates but also in jawless fish and non-vertebrate deuterostomes. Recent progress in genome analysis in several eukaryotes, occupying the phylogenetically critical positions, showed that most individual domains found in the complement components are metazoa specific, being found both in deuterostomes and in protostomes but not in yeast or plant. However, unique domain architecture of complement components is not present in protostomes, suggesting that the complement system has been established in the deuterostome lineage not by invention of new domains but by innovation of unique combination of the pre-existing domains. The recently assembled Ciona intestinalis draft genome contained the most modular complement genes, except for factor I. However, some possible C. intestinalis complement components show critical structural divergence from the mammalian counterparts, casting doubt on their mutual interaction. Thus, another integrative step seems to have been required to establish the modern complement system of higher vertebrates. [source] Changes in the Ability to Detect Ordinal Numerical Relationships Between 9 and 11 Months of AgeINFANCY, Issue 4 2008Sumarga H. Suanda When are the precursors of ordinal numerical knowledge first evident in infancy? Brannon (2002) argued that by 11 months of age, infants possess the ability to appreciate the greater than and less than relations between numerical values but that this ability experiences a sudden onset between 9 and 11 months of age. Here we present 5 experiments that explore the changes that take place between 9 and 11 months of age in infants' ability to detect reversals in the ordinal direction of a sequence of arrays. In Experiment 1, we replicate the finding that 11- but not 9-month-old infants detect a numerical ordinal reversal. In Experiment 2 we rule out an alternative hypothesis that 11-month-old infants attended to changes in the absolute numerosity of the first stimulus in the sequence rather than a reversal in ordinal direction. In Experiment 3, we demonstrate that 9-month-old infants are not aided by additional exposure to each numerosity stimulus in a sequence. In Experiment 4 we find that 11-month-old but not 9-month-old infants succeed at detecting the reversal in a nonnumerical size or area-based rule, casting doubt on Brannon's prior claim that what develops between 9 and 11 months of age is a specifically numerical ability. In Experiment 5 we demonstrate that 9-month-old infants are capable of detecting a reversal in ordinal direction but only when there are multiple converging cues to ordinality. Collectively these data indicate that at 11 months of age infants can represent ordinal relations that are based on number, size, or cumulative area, whereas at 9 months of age infants are unable to use any of these dimensions in isolation but instead require a confluence of cues. [source] THE CAPITAL STRUCTURE CHOICE: NEW EVIDENCE FOR A DYNAMIC TRADEOFF MODELJOURNAL OF APPLIED CORPORATE FINANCE, Issue 1 2002Armen Hovakimian Most academic insights about corporate capital structure decisions come from models that focus on the trade-off between the tax benefits and financial distress costs of debt financing. But empirical tests of corporate capital structure indicate that actual debt ratios are considerably different from those predicted by the models, casting doubt on whether most companies have leverage targets at all. In particular, there is considerable evidence that corporate leverage ratios reflect in large part the tendency of profitable companies to use their excess cash flow to pay down debt, while unprofitable companies build up higher leverage ratios. Such behavior is consistent with a competing theory of capital structure known as the "pecking order" model, in which management's main objectives are to preserve financing flexibility and avoid issuing equity. The results of the authors' recent study suggest that although past profits are an important predictor of observed debt ratios at any given time, companies nevertheless often make financing and stock repurchase decisions designed to offset the effects of past profitability and move their debt ratios toward their target capital structures. This evidence provides support for a compromise theory called the dynamic tradeoff model, which says that although companies often deviate from their leverage targets, over the longer run they take measures to close the gap between their actual and targeted leverage ratios. [source] Trait Psychology and Culture: Exploring Intercultural ComparisonsJOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 6 2001Robert R. McCrae Personality traits, studied for decades by Western personality psychologists, have recently been reconceptualized as endogenous basic tendencies that, within a cultural context, give rise to habits, attitudes, skills, beliefs, and other characteristic adaptations. This conceptualization provides a new framework for studying personality and culture at three levels. Transcultural research focuses on identifying human universals, such as trait structure and development; intracultural studies examine the unique expression of traits in specific cultures; and intercultural research characterizes cultures and their subgroups in terms of mean levels of personality traits and seeks associations between cultural variables and aggregate personality traits. As an example of the problems and possibilities of intercultural analyses, data on mean levels of Revised NEO Personality Inventory scales from college age and adult samples (N = 23,031) of men and women from 26 cultures are examined. Results showed that age and gender differences resembled those found in American samples; different subsamples from each culture showed similar levels of personality traits; intercultural factor analysis yielded a close approximation to the Five-Factor Model; and factor scores were meaningfully related to other culture-level variables. However, mean trait levels were not apparent to expert raters, casting doubt on the accuracy of national stereotypes. Trait psychology can serve as a useful complement to cultural perspectives on human nature and personality. [source] PHYLOGENY OF THE DASYCLADALES (CHLOROPHYTA, ULVOPHYCEAE) BASED ON ANALYSES OF RUBISCO LARGE SUBUNIT (rbcL) GENE SEQUENCES,JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 4 2003Frederick W. Zechman The phylogeny of the green algal Order Dasycladales was inferred by maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses of chloroplast-encoded rbcL sequence data. Bayesian analysis suggested that the tribe Acetabularieae is monophyletic but that some genera within the tribe, such as Acetabularia Lamouroux and Polyphysa Lamouroux, are not. Bayesian analysis placed Halicoryne Harvey as the sister group of the Acetabularieae, a result consistent with limited fossil evidence and monophyly of the family Acetabulariaceae but was not supported by significant posterior probability. Bayesian analysis further suggested that the family Dasycladaceae is a paraphyletic assemblage at the base of the Dasycladales radiation, casting doubt on the current family-level classification. The genus Cymopolia Lamouroux was inferred to be the basal-most dasycladalean genus, which is also consistent with limited fossil evidence. Unweighted parsimony analyses provided similar results but primarily differed by the sister relationship between Halicoryne Lamouroux and Bornetella Munier-Chalmas, thus supporting the monophyly of neither the families Acetabulariaceae nor Dasycladaceae. This result, however, was supported by low bootstrap values. Low transition-to-transversion ratios, potential loss of phylogenetic signal in third codon positions, and the 550 million year old Dasycladalean lineage suggest that dasyclad rbcL sequences may be saturated due to deep time divergences. Such factors may have contributed to inaccurate reconstruction of phylogeny, particularly with respect to potential inconsistency of parsimony analyses. Regardless, strongly negative g1 values were obtained in analyses including all codon positions, indicating the presence of considerable phylogenetic signal in dasyclad rbcL sequence data. Morphological features relevant to the separation of taxa within the Dasycladales and the possible effects of extinction on phylogeny reconstruction are discussed relative to the inferred phylogenies. [source] Private Provision of a Discrete Public Good: Continuous-Strategy Equilibria in the Private-Information Subscription GameJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 4 2008STEFANO BARBIERI We reconsider Laussel and Palfrey's analysis of private provision of discrete public goods via the subscription game. We show their semi-regular equilibria do not exist, casting doubt on their efficiency analysis. Taking players' values for the public good as uniformly distributed on , we exhibit previously unrecognized continuous equilibria,those with contribution strategies strictly increasing up to their maximum values, not necessarily equal to the provision cost, c, at which point they become flat. We show piecewise-linear equilibria are not incentive efficient; and if and , then all symmetric equilibria are interim incentive inefficient. [source] Welfare Economics with Intransitive Revealed Preferences: A Theory of the Endowment EffectJOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMIC THEORY, Issue 2 2006H. LORNE CARMICHAEL Economists use the standard rational model to predict behavior after a policy change and to determine the policy's welfare implications. Recent experimental observations are casting doubt on the predictive accuracy of the standard model, but the more realistic behavioral alternatives often provide a poor basis for making normative evaluations. This paper suggests that we can still predict behavior and measure welfare within the same model. We show that optimizing agents with standard preferences will in some cases behave as if they are subject to an endowment effect. Even so, we may still be able to uncover information about their preferences. [source] Feminist Epistemology, Contextualism, and Philosophical SkepticismMETAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 5 2009EVELYN BRISTER Abstract: This essay explores the relation between feminist epistemology and the problem of philosophical skepticism. Even though feminist epistemology has not typically focused on skepticism as a problem, I argue that a feminist contextualist epistemology may solve many of the difficulties facing recent contextualist responses to skepticism. Philosophical skepticism appears to succeed in casting doubt on the very possibility of knowledge by shifting our attention to abnormal contexts. I argue that this shift in context constitutes an attempt to exercise unearned social and epistemic power and that it should be resisted on epistemic and pragmatic grounds. I conclude that skepticism is a problem that feminists can and should take up as they address the social aspects of traditional epistemological problems. [source] Surface of human sperm bears three differently charged CD52 forms, two of which remain stably bound to sperm after capacitationMOLECULAR REPRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2001C. Della Giovampaola Abstract gp20 is a sialoglycoprotein of the human sperm surface with a core peptide homologous to the leukocyte antigen CD52, a GPI-anchored glycosylated protein which is described by the monoclonal antibody CAMPATH-1. Comparative analyses, by means of CAMPATH and anti-gp20, indicated that they describe it in morphologically and functionally different ways, suggesting that the respective epitopes are different but also casting doubt on the immunological identity of the antigen. In the present study, we used immunodepletion to demonstrate that CAMPATH and anti-gp20 interact with the same antigen, but that anti-gp20 has a much higher avidity for the antigen than CAMPATH. Anion exchange fractionation analysis of the antigen revealed three differently charged gp20-CD52 forms, the least charged of which, was largely without a GPI-anchor. All three forms were associated with freshly ejaculated sperm, whereas capacitated sperm only contained the two GPI-anchored, more charged forms, which were also the ones found in the prostasome fraction of seminal plasma and in leukocytes. The two charged, GPI-anchored forms were described as homogeneous by anti-gp20, since they ran as a singlet; the third form ran as a doublet. When tested for insertion into Jurkat T cells, the medium charged form inserted the most readily and the less charged one could not be inserted at all. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 60: 89,96, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Aestheticized Politics,1 or the Long Shadow of Ernst Jünger's "Old Testament?"ORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 1 2000Karlheinz Hasselbach In his "Old Testament," inasmuch as its legacy crystallizes in the essay The Worker (1932), Jünger conceives of an anti-bourgeois, technological society whose signature is the rule of soldier cum technocrat. Without renouncing its theories, the author appears to reverse himself in his subsequent writings, notably in the fictitious works On the Marble Cliffs (1939) and Heliopolis (1949). However, the aestheticism of the essay also informs his later fiction, both casting doubt on the nature of the reversal and handicapping a proper appreciation of the author's politics. It will be argued that, while Jünger's aesthetic perception of reality has evolved intact from his "Old Testament," there is sufficient evidence in both his writing and conduct to contradict the captivating notion that aestheticized politics equals fascism. [source] IV,Three Moments in the Theory of Definition or Analysis: Its Possibility, Its Aim or Aims, and Its Limit or TerminusPROCEEDINGS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN SOCIETY (HARDBACK), Issue 1pt1 2007David Wiggins The reflections recorded in this paper arise from three moments in the theory of definition and of conceptual analysis. The moments are: (I) Frege's (1894) review of Husserl's Philosophy of Arithmetic (Vol. I), the discussion there of the paradox of analysis, and the division that Frege marks, ensuing upon his distinction of Sinn/sense from Bedeutung/reference, between two different conceptions of definition; (II) Leibniz's still serviceable account (1684, 1704) of a distinction between the clarity and the distinctness of ideas,a distinction that prompts the suggestion that the guiding purpose of lexical definition is Leibnizian clarity whereas that of real definition (as Aristotle has us conceive it) is inseparable from the pursuit of Leibnizian distinctness; (III) Leibniz's speculations (1679) concerning the limit or terminus of analysis. The apparent failure of these speculations, casting doubt as it does upon the aspirations that give rise to them (aspirations not necessarily or entirely alien to the Zeitgeist of our own epoch), points to the long-standing need to reconfigure the philosophical business of enquiry into concepts. [source] The Drosophila G protein-coupled receptor, Methuselah, exhibits a promiscuous response to peptidesPROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 11 2009William W. Ja Abstract Methuselah (Mth) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) associated with longevity in Drosophila melanogaster. Previously, Stunted (Sun) was identified as a peptide agonist of Mth. Here, we identify two additional activators of Mth signaling: Drosophila Sex Peptide (SP) and a novel peptide (Serendipitous Peptide Activator of Mth, SPAM). Minimal functional sequences and key residues were identified from Sun and SPAM by studying truncation and alanine-scanning mutations. These peptide agonists share little sequence homology and illustrate the promiscuity of Mth for activation. mth mutants exhibit no defects in behaviors controlled by SP, casting doubt on the biological significance of Mth activation by any of these agonists, and illustrating the difficulty in applying in vitro studies to their relevance in vivo. Future studies of Mth ligands will help further our understanding of the functional interaction of agonists and GPCRs. [source] Parsing the late positive complex: Mental chronometry and the ERP components that inhabit the neighborhood of the P300PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 5 2004Joseph Dien Abstract Falkenstein, Hohnsbein, and Hoorman (1994) suggested that common measures of P300 latency confound a "P-SR" component whose latency corresponds to stimulus evaluation time and a "P-CR" component whose latency varies with response-selection time, thus casting doubt on work in mental chronometry that relies on P300 latency. We report here a replication and extension of Falkenstein et al. (1994) using a high-density 129-electrode montage with 11 subjects. Spatiotemporal PCA was used to extract the components of the ERP. A centroid measure is also introduced for detecting waveform-timing changes beyond just peak latency. In terms of componentry, we argue that the P-SR and the P-CR, correspond to the P3a/Novelty P3 and the P300, respectively. Conceptually, we dispute the proposed distinction between stimulus evaluation and response selection. We suggest a four-stage ERP model of information processing and place the P3a and the P300 in this framework. [source] A Molecular Phylogenetic Investigation of Opisthonecta and Related Genera (Ciliophora, Peritrichia, Sessilida)THE JOURNAL OF EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2007DANIEL WILLIAMS ABSTRACT. The gene encoding 18S small subunit ribosomal RNA (ssu rRNA) was sequenced in the sessiline peritrichs Opisthonecta minima and Opisthonecta matiensis, whose free-swimming, paedomorphic trophonts resemble telotrochs. Using these new sequences, phylogenetic trees were constructed with four different methods to test a previously published association between Opisthonecta henneguyi and members of the families Vorticellidae and Astylozoidae. All trees had similar topologies, with O. minima, O. henneguyi, Vorticella microstoma, and Astylozoon enriquesi forming a well-supported, certainly monophyletic clade. On the basis of genetic evidence, genera of the families Opisthonectidae and Astylozoidae are assigned to the family Vorticellidae, which already includes some species with free-swimming morphotypes. The ssu rRNA sequence of O. matiensis places it in the family Epistylididae; its taxonomic revision will be left to another group of authors. A close association of Ophrydium versatile with members of the family Vorticellidae was confirmed, casting doubt on the validity of the family Ophrydiidae. Epistylis galea, Campanella umbellaria, and Opercularia microdiscum are confirmed as comprising an extremely distinct, monophyletic, but morphologically heterogeneous clade that is basal to other clades of sessiline peritrichs. [source] HLA-C and Liver Transplant Outcomes: Interpreting the FactsAMERICAN JOURNAL OF TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 7 2009J. B. Mendel The current issue contains a report contradicting an earlier report published in this journal casting doubt on the association of HLA-C genotype with liver transplant outcomes. See Brief Communication by Tran et al on page 1674,1678. [source] Factors Affecting the Small Mammal Community Inside and Outside Katavi National Park, Tanzania1BIOTROPICA, Issue 2 2002T. M. Caro ABSTRACT Small mammal trapping showed that a minimum of 12 species live in and around Katavi National Park in western Tanzania. Species richness and abundance were greater outside the park than inside, extending results of an earlier study. Species richness and abundance were not significantly associated with vegetation cover or plant biomass but were negatively correlated with seed diversity, seed biomass, and possibly small carnivore abundance. Unfortunately, small mammal diets are unknown in this ecosystem and it can be argued that carnivores are unlikely to reduce species diversity, casting doubt on the importance of these variables. While the factors causing small mammals to fare poorly in this protected area are not yet understood, reduced food availability remains the best candidate. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||