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A boom in technological advancements over the last two decades has driven a surge in both the diversity and power of analytical tools available to biomechanical and functional morphology research. However, in order to adequately investigate each of these dense datasets, one must often consider only one functional narrative at a time. There is more to each organism than any one of these form–function relationships. Joint performance landscapes determined by maximum likelihood are a valuable tool that can be used to synthesize our understanding of these multiple functional hypotheses to further explore an organism's ecology. We present an example framework for applying these tools to such a problem using the morphological transition of ammonoids from the Middle Triassic to the Early Jurassic. Across this time interval, morphospace occupation shifts from a broad occupation across Westermann Morphospace to a dense occupation of a region emphasizing an exposed umbilicus and modest frontal profile. The hydrodynamic capacities and limitations of the shell have seen intense scrutiny as a likely explanation of this transition. However, conflicting interpretations of hydrodynamic performance remain despite this scrutiny, with scant offerings of alternative explanations. Our analysis finds that hydrodynamic measures of performance do little to explain the shift in morphological occupation, highlighting a need for a more robust investigation of alternative functional hypotheses that are often intellectually set aside. With this we show a framework for consolidating the current understanding of the form–function relationships in an organism, and assess when they are insufficiently characterizing the dynamics those data are being used to explain. We aim to encourage the broader adoption of this framework and these ideas as a foundation to bring the field close to comprehensive synthesis and reconstruction of organisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors offer opinions on consumer research. Citing their own experiences as editors of the publication, they state that as a discipline, consumer research needs a bridge building approach in which scholarship uses the concepts and methodologies of a variety of approaches to the topic of consumer research to create an integrated approach to the discipline.

Introduction: The study's objectives were to improve providers' knowledge of mobile health core competencies; increase providers' knowledge and clinical use of the Virtual Hope Box (VHB) mobile app as an evidence-based treatment tool; and test elements of a structured knowledge translation paradigm.Materials and Methods: knowledge translation best practices were integrated into a training workshop with the goal to increase provider adoption of the VHB. Providers were trained at three sites and provided feedback before the training, post-training, and at 3, 6, and 12 months following the training.Results: Pretraining, <22% of respondents indicated that they had used the VHB in clinical practice; post-training, 89% of respondents reported their intent to use the VHB. At 3 and 6 months, 82% of evaluation respondents indicated actual use of the VHB.Conclusions: Using a public-facing technology, this study successfully integrated knowledge translation methods within an existing provider training program. Implementation planning should be deliberate and consider a target site's capacity for new ideas and potential adoption barriers. Lessons learned have implications for future efforts to bridge the gap between research and practice in improving the quality and impact of clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Activities” in innovation systems are the determinants of the development and diffusion of innovations. Examples are R&D, provision of organizations and institutions, financing of innovations, incubation, etc. These activities are partly performed by private organizations and partly by public organizations, the latter performing tasks that constitute innovation policy. As a basis for innovation policy, the problems (failures) in the systems must be identified. This article focuses upon the design of innovation policy through diagnostic analysis; it provides a framework for identification of systemic problems (or failures) in innovation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we study how firm heterogeneity influences productivity catching up using plant-level data from Mexico. The article addresses three issues: first, it evaluates the process of convergence towards the global versus the local technological frontier in a middle-income country such as Mexico. Second, it systematically evaluates the role of technological efforts in determining the speed of convergence towards each of these technological frontiers. Third, it assesses the role of openness and trade integration in determining the speed of convergence and presents a horse race between integration and technological effort in explaining the determinants of heterogeneity in influencing the process of convergence toward both the domestic and the global technological frontier. Our results suggest that building firm-level technological capabilities is important for catching up with the global frontier. A policy focused on trade alone will facilitate convergence towards the best technological practices available locally, but it will fall short of encouraging convergence with the global frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

I use newly digitised data on a million book translations for 1949–2000 to study the factors that affect the international diffusion of ideas carried by books. I estimate a gravity model and find translation flows decrease significantly with distance, although distance matters less in later years when the world is more highly globalised. Countries translate more from others that are culturally similar, but this explains none of translations' correlation with physical distance. Translations decrease faster with distance in developing countries, suggesting countries with the greatest potential benefit from adopting foreign ideas are least able to access them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We design two laboratory experiments to analyze the causal effects of competition on step-by-step innovation. Innovations result from costly R&D investments and move technology up one step. Competition is inversely measured by the ex post rents for firms that operate at the same technological level, that is, for neckand- neck firms. First, we find that increased competition leads to a significant increase in R&D investments by neck-and-neck firms. Second, increased competition decreases R&D investments by firms that are lagging behind, in particular if the time horizon is short. Third, we find that increased competition affects industry composition by reducing the fraction of sectors where firms are neck-and-neck. All these results are consistent with the predictions of step-by-step innovation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sharing or "gig" economy claims to bring the romance of entrepreneurialism to the masses. Through peer-to-peer technology, workers can monetise their homes, resources, time and skills to make additional money. What is marketed as an empowering business opportunity is laden with difficulties and contradictions. Sudden changes to platform design, service offerings and algorithms leave workers feeling vulnerable, not independent. Instead of embracing sharing economy rhetoric, most workers describe themselves as simply seeking money. This article sheds light on the diversity of the gig economy and questions sharing economy company claims that they are contributing to the growth of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in 1890, Americans exported specific ideas and images of the American West to Italy. Transnational exchanges of ideas, people, and culture help explain how Italians have adapted western mythology to accommodate their cultural, political, and economic circumstances, keeping the American West relevant to them in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in New Zealand were surveyed to explore influences on adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We sought to extend existing research by considering 'institutional' influences alongside organizational and environmental features and by examining how institutional forces affect optimal use of ICTs. Findings suggest that NPOs adopting and using ICTs tended to be self-perceived leaders or those who scanned the environment and emulated leaders and tended to have organizational decisionmakers with the expertise to enable adoption and use. Furthermore, optimal fit of ICTs tended to be spurred by institutional forces if accompanied by self-perceived leadership and appropriate organizational resources. Implications for practice and theory are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a contribution to the formalisation of Thagard’s coherence theory. The term coherence is defined as the quality or the state of cohering, especially a logical, orderly, and aesthetically consistent relationship of parts. A coherent set is interdependent such that every element in it contributes to the coherence. We take Thagard’s proposal of a coherence set as that of maximising satisfaction of constraints between elements and explore its use in normative multiagent systems. In particular, we interpret coherence maximisation as a decision-making criterion for norm adoption. We first provide a general coherence framework with the necessary computing tools. Later we introduce a proof-theoretic characterisation of a particular type of coherence, namely the deductive coherence based on Thagard’s principles, and derive a mechanism to compute coherence values between elements in a deductive coherence graph. Our use of graded logic helps us to incorporate reasoning under uncertainty, which is more realistic in the context of multiagent systems. We then conduct a case study where agents deliberate about norm adoption in a multiagent system where there is competition for a common resource. We show how a coherence-maximising agent decides to violate a norm guided by its coherence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about several papers discussed at a regional meeting sponsored in Mexico City on November 15 and 16, 2004 on the preparatory agenda for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Cartagena Declaration of Refugees of 1984 is presented. Topics include the challenges and opportunities for the international protection of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees' concern, especially the refugees and asylum seekers in Latin America, through the principles in the Cartagena Declaration.