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The ‘co-operative principles’ are a set of operating and aspirational guidelines for co-operative businesses that originated in England in the 1840s and are used worldwide today. We evaluate alternative explanations for their emergence and spread. One hypothesis is that the co-operative principles constitute institutional adaptations helping co-operatives survive and spread. Alternatively, the principles might be adaptively neutral but spread fad-like between co-operatives, or they may spread even while hampering co-operative survival, constituting a maladaptation. We use established empirical rubrics to identify the preconditions and signatures of adaptive evolution in the co-operative principles in their 170-year historical record. Historical analysis provides compelling evidence of the variation, transmission and selection of the co-operative principles in various periods and environments. We document that the principles arose and have been modified via intentional innovation, that they sometimes work to facilitate cooperation among the members of a co-operative, and that in some cases they have spread due to their beneficial effects on the co-operatives which adopt them. We also report macro-evolutionary patterns which suggest adaptive evolution may have occurred, including patterns of descent with modification and the adaptive radiation of the principles into worker co-operatives. The patchwork evidence is consistent with a mix of evolutionary processes varying over time, and some principles may have been selected against. We conclude that the co-operative principles likely constituted institutional adaptations as a whole in 1840s England and 1950s Spain but may have only been adaptive in a piecemeal fashion otherwise. We conclude by proposing that the co-operative principles can be revised and improved scientifically.

In promoting healthier built environments, attention worldwide has focused largely on streetscapes and recreational spaces, with less regard given to housing form, in particular to the health effects of communal housing. Research demonstrates that communal housing models, such as cohousing and co-operative housing, promote social inclusion, and increase the perceived well-being and mental and physical health of residents, particularly of seniors. In Canada, relative to other countries, there is a paucity of evidence for the health effects of co-operatives and cohousing. Historically, some Indigenous communities constructed longhouses, connected dwellings situated around common areas, a form which may still be useful in promoting healthy communities. In this commentary, we suggest that improving access to co-operative and communal housing is an important area for public health involvement.

Copyright: 2017 Springer Japan. Due to copyright restrictions, the attached PDF file only contains the abstract of the full text item. For access to the full text item, kindly consult the publisher's website.

Network virtualization provides a promising solution for next-generation network management by allowing multiple isolated and heterogeneous virtual networks to coexist and run on a shared substrate network. A long-standing challenge in network virtualization is how to effectively and efficiently map these virtual nodes and links of heterogeneous virtual networks onto specific nodes and links of the shared substrate network, known as the Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) problem. Existing centralized VNE algorithms and distributed VNE algorithms both have advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, a novel cooperative VNE algorithm is proposed to coordinate centralized and distributed algorithms and unite their respective advantages and specialties. By leveraging the learning technology and topology decomposition, autonomous substrate nodes entrusted with detailed mapping solutions cooperate closely with the central controller with a global view and in charge of general management to achieve a successful embedding process. Besides a topology-aware resource evaluation mechanism and customized mapping management policies, Bloom filter is elaborately introduced to synchronize the mapping information within the substrate network, instead of flooding which generates massive communication overhead. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed cooperative algorithm has acceptable and even better performance in terms of long-term average revenue and acceptance ratio than previous algorithms.

Coffee producers in many parts of the world have the option of either becoming a member of and selling their coffee to a Fairtrade and organic co-operative, or selling it to a “coyote”, the Central American nickname for intermediary purchaser. This study investigates why different producers make different choices, looking at both material and immaterial costs and benefits of the two choices. A qualitative study from Chiapas (Mexico) finds that a main reason for not choosing the co-operatives is the production requirements that follow organic certification. A survey on production costs confirms that members of an organic co-operative have more work hours than non-members in the same area. A probit analysis indicates that both coffee plot size and number of working household members influence the producers’ decision on sales channel. However, the study also finds that aspects not related to the organic production requirements can affect the choice, such as the level of trust in co-operative leadership, and the co-operatives’ payment systems.

We determine the degree of variation of model fitness, to a true model based on amplitude variation with angle (AVA) methodology for a synthetic gas hydrate model, using co-operative fuzzy c-means clustering, constrained to a rock physics model. When a homogeneous starting model is used, with only traditional least squares optimization scheme for inversion, the variance of the parameters is found to be comparatively high. In this co-operative methodology, the output from the least squares inversion is fed as an input to the fuzzy scheme. Tests with co-operative inversion using fuzzy c-means with damped least squares technique and constraints derived from empirical relationship based on rock properties model show improved stability, model fitness and variance for all the three parameters in comparison with the standard inversion alone.

With vehicle production growing annually and pressure on manufacturers to reduce vehicle emissions, innovative methods will have to be found to make engines more efficient. The PSA Group has set up with Bekaert a co operative test programme to measure the impact of Diamond-like Carbon (DLC) coatings on the frictional behaviour of certain components within the valve train of a production engine.

Based on the Fourier transform IR spectroscopy together with the published NMR and X-ray data, it was shown that cyclic co-operative intramolecular hydrogen bond in calix[n]arene (n = 4, 6, 8) molecules is mainly responsible for their conformational state irrespective of the presence or absence of bulky substituents at the upper rim of the molecules. In accordance with the size of a macrocycle (n = 4, 6, 8), the stable conformation, secured by such a hydrogen bond, constitutes a cone, a pinched cone, and a pleated loop, respectively. The new, potentially competing system of hydrogen bonds in calix[6]arenes with 3-carboxymethyl-1-adamantyl substituents does not affect the conformational state of the macrocycle and its H-bonding. Six carboxy groups at the upper rim form in pairs three cyclic dimers, which does not disturb the hydrogen bonds of the hydroxy groups and the conformation of the macrocycle. In addition, the cavity of the molecule is considerably enlarged. The removal or rearrangement of the guest molecules in the solid calixarene by heating up to 180 °C only slightly affects the conformational state of macrocycles bearing bulky substituents, whereas in calixarenes devoid of such substituents, the similar procedure leads to somewhat of a distortion of the macrocycles (judging from the IR spectral indications of hydrogen bonding).

This paper studies the features of de novo Co-operative Credit Banks (CCBs) established in Italy during the 1990s. It shows that de novo CCBs in the start-up period are endowed with a higher default risk than long-run incumbent CCBs. Split-population duration models distiguish the determinants of duration and probability of default. The focus is on those determinants related to market structure. We find that duration is positively related to the market share of large banks. Conversely, duration is higher when there are no incumbent CCBs in the same market. Survival probability is directly related to the local level of GDP.

The conversion of the Alexandra Park public housing project into the Atkinson Housing Co-operative took place from 1992 to 2003. The new co-operative represents an attempt to increase resident participation in the management of their housing community. Although there have been other efforts to increase resident participation, this is the first conversion of its kind in Canada, and as a result a new housing model has been created. This paper discusses this new model, referred to as a hybrid structure that contains elements of the co-operative and public housing models.

This paper recounts and explores the early stages of a Black women managers' Co-operative Inquiry group exploring strategies for moving from surviving to thriving. The term “Black” describes any person perceived not to be White. It considers why Action Research methodology was perceived to be appropriate for this work, outlines key considerations attended to in setting up the inquiry, and then, briefly, explores some of the dilemmas encountered and insights gained in the process of undertaking the inquiry. To ensure confidentiality all names used are fictional ones chosen by the individuals.

Received July 20, 2001Recent government guidance concerning the welfare of children emphasizes the ne-cessity for change in interprofessional practice. This paper examines how co-operativeinquiryenabledadiverseprofessionalgrouptoinquireintohowchangecanbepromotedin complex practice systems. It considers the influence of external stakeholders, high-lights the consequent tension between task and process, and addresses the implicationsfor the role of facilitators.KEY WORDS: Co-operative inquiry; interprofessional; multiple stakeholders.

This paper gives a detailed account of the activities I engaged in when establishing a co-operative inquiry (CI) group of 12 young women managers. I feel this “beginning” stage is not (well) documented. I acutely felt the gap this left in my understanding of how inquiries of this nature emerge and the shape they take, when setting out to inquire in this way for the first time. I believe voice and language are key throughout this early stage and here I evidence the choices I made in relation to both of these. Reflecting on these choices enabled me to understand my developing focus on process as well as the many “why?” and “how?” questions, which emerge at this early stage—an understanding which I believe is central to enriching both our “experience of” and our “talking about” our practice as inquirers.

This paper describes an investigation into the ways in which learning using a multimedia application can be supported and enhanced by means of a simple co-operative student model of learner characteristics. This paper reports the design, implementation and evaluation of an individually configurable multimedia learning application, based upon such a model. A multimedia learning application was developed that presented information differentially based upon the individual characteristics of learners, held in the student model. The characteristics employed in the model were language level, cognitive style, task and question levels, and help level. Small groups of learners followed the multimedia course in learning centres located in colleges in the UK. A Grounded Theory study was carried out in order to understand the many and complex interactions that took place between learners, tutors and the learning environment. Stages in the Grounded Theory method are described and some qualitative data is presented. It was possible to conclude from these, that the quality of learning for individuals was improved by the use of the co-operative student model. Quantitative data is presented to support this view and where possible, to relate performance on the multimedia learning application to the student model configuration.

Issues arising during a participatory action research project with a group of midwives are explored, in particular, those related to group process, membership, and roles. A Midwives Action Research Group established an Early Mothering Group for women in hospital to talk to each other and form supportive social networks. The time-honored ritual of sharing morning tea and cake allowed both midwives and mothers to experience the therapeutic potential and power of women's ordinary talk.

The Canadian Forest Service, the Ontario Ministry of NaturalResources, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment all conduct monitoring of forest health in Ontario. Amongthese agencies over 1500 permanent sample plots are monitoredfor purposes of assessing tree condition and/or siteproductivity. The data and length of record differ dependingon the original intent of the plot system. However, a numberof common variables are collected including basic treemeasurements (tree height, stem diameter), mortality and sitecondition. Other variables collected at certain sites includecrown condition, pest damage, ground vegetation, soilsdescriptions, and soils and foliage chemistry. A co-operativehas been formed to compile this information from varioussources and to make it more easily accessible. Informationfrom these projects is available through the co-operative website and can be extracted to report on forest health in aregion of the province, or on an individual tree species.Information from these sources provide a picture of foresthealth in Ontario.

If contracts cannot be fully specified Pareto optimal results may be closed off because individuals cannot rationally trust each other's promises. This paper assumes that human individuals can become internally committed not to act opportunistically and that others can detect to a certain extent whether they are dealing with an uncommitted (untrustworthy) or a committed (trustworthy) partner. Adopting an `indirect evolutionary approach' we show that co-operative commitments can survive in evolutionary competition even if conventional mechanisms like repetition, reputation, contract or promising are lacking. If detection of uncommitted individuals is neither too costly nor too unreliable there will in general be a `niche' for both committed and uncommitted actors even in one off large numbers' interactions.

A mechanism for co-operative load transport was detected in the seed-harvesting ant Messor barbarus. Workers co-operated sequentially, transferring the load from one to another and thus forming what might be termed a transport chain. Although most of the colony's workers could have transported loads unaided, co-operation was prompted by the appearance of high loading ratios in the vicinity of the food source. The first worker in such a chain tended to be small or medium-sized, with a high loading ratio, while the last was larger, and had a correspondingly lower loading ratio. This strategy was of major benefit to the colony, in that it considerably reduced the time required for transport to the nest.

This paper has grown out of my specific dissatisfaction with a view of the world centred on technology, rather than on the people who will use that technology. I have therefore looked for a framework which makes a definite shift of focus towards users, but allowing existing techniques wherever these are helpful. The paper presents a new framework in which requirements engineering is treated as a co-operative inquiry (C1), a general method for reaching shared understanding within a group. The treatment leads to a division of the requirements engineering life cycle into four cycles of co-operation between users and developers. With each cycle, a model (which may be quite conventional) is developed. The approach is compared with existing methods, and some predictions are made about how it may perform.

Today, industrial production steps outside the boundaries of individual enterprises, so new management approaches are needed to be able to co-ordinate the work of the different manufacturing organizations. A new co-operative manufacturing network model is proposed for balancing the production of SMEs, based on the holonic paradigm. The model has been developed within the framework of an ESPRIT project by four countries. The paper describes the main modules of the model and briefly introduces an application under realization in Hungary, in an agricultural SME network.

Melanoma risk among subjects from Germany, France and Belgium who had lived for 1 year or more in sunny climates was examined in a one-to-one unmatched case-control study conducted among white subjects 20 years old or more. A total of 412 consecutive patients with melanoma diagnosed from 1 January 1991 onwards, were derived from hospital registers; 445 controls were randomly chosen in the same municipality as the cases. After adjustment for host characteristics, melanoma risk associated with residence in a sunny area was 2.7 (95% CI: 1.4-5.2), increasing to 4.7 (95% CI: 1.4-13.5) if subjects sought a suntan when residing in sunny climates, and to 4.3 (95% CI: 1.7-11.1) if subjects arrived before the age of 10 years in the sunny area. Residence in sunny areas and recreational sun exposure seemed to combine their effects on melanoma risk. Increase in melanoma risk conveyed by deliberate sun exposure during adulthood was highest among subjects who had lived in sunny areas as a child or adolescent and lowest among subjects who had never resided in sunny areas. Our results support conclusions from migrant studies that indicated that childhood is a critical period of either vulnerability to solar radiation or more frequent exposures to melanoma risk factors. They also suggest that moderate sun exposure of an adult who was heavily sun exposed in childhood is associated with a higher melanoma risk than that of high sun exposure of an adult who was sun protected in childhood.

It can be expect that, in the near future, a large number of ships must be equipped with Automatic Iden tification Systems (AIS). From a technical point of view, this will cause a high co-operation ability in maritime traffic. The goal of the project NADAKOS was to investigate a co-ordinated approach in navigation. Through the use of simulation, the advantages of AIS in comparison with currently available technology were exam ined. The paper describes the structure of the simulation-model used and the approaches for solving the fol lowing problems

An algorithm called a Hamming scan was developed recently for obtaining sequences with large merit factors and is adopted here to obtain such sequences within which there are nontrivial segments of large merit factors. Correlative detection of the return signal can be based simultaneously on the entire sequence and its segments with large merit factors. Such a coincidence detection scheme can be characterized by a Schur merit factor of the sequence. Sequences with large Schur merit factors are listed.

Trail, Canada has been the site of a large lead/zinc smelting facility since 1916. In mid 1990, the Trail Community Lead Task Force was established and given responsibility for developing a strategy to reduce children's blood lead levels. With funding from the provincial government, the smelting company and the municipal government, the Task Force has carried out blood lead screening, case management, community education, exposure pathways modelling and remediation trials. The decline in children's blood lead levels appeared to accelerate following the implementation of these programmes. The average blood lead in Trail children aged 6-72 months fell 14% from the autumn of 1991 to autumn of 1992, whereas for the previous 16 years, the average annual decline had been about 4%. In subsequent years, blood lead levels have appeared to plateau. Throughout the 5-year history of the Task Force, its members have demonstrated a strong sense of common purpose and have worked co-operatively to reach consensus on most issues.

ICP Forests was launched in 1985 under the Working Group on Effects of the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution of UN/ECE. As part of the Programme, forest condition is surveyed annually on up to 33,600 sample plots with about 622,000 sample trees in 35 countries, representing about 225 million hectares of forest. Results of the national surveys are reported as country related mean values, split into tree species and age groups. A special transnational survey is performed in cooperation with the European Commission, based on a uniform 16 × 16 km grid of 4,800 plots with 103,000 trees in 27 countries. Results show that large scale forest decline has been less dramatic than was suggested in the early 1980s. Nevertheless, a general worsening of forest condition can be shown in many parts of Europe. In some areas, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, several thousand hectares of forest have died. Whilst the most important probable causes reported for the observed forest damage are adverse weather conditions, insects and fungi, most countries consider air pollution as a threatening to forest health.

The development of a model polymeric system where chains can interact and form aggregates of different size and shape by a cooperative linking mechanism is here reported. With a description of the algorithm determining the dynamics of the chains and the formation of stable linkages between them, we report the first results in function of volume concentration and molecular length. A comparison with experimental systems is also proposed with a tentative interpretation of the phase behaviors of different polysaccharides of qualitative nature.

Drug Use in Pregnancy (DUP) is an international epidemiological survey of drug use in pregnancy conducted from 1988 to 1990 in 148 maternity wards, representing the general delivery practices of 22 countries. Data on exposure of pregnant women to psychotropic drugs, the indications for their use and their correlation with maternal characteristics are reported.

The data on arachnoid cysts in children (0-15 years) operated upon between 1980 and 1988 were analysed in a retrospective, co-operative study. The results from 285 patients indicate a predominance of these lesions in boys (64%) more than girls (36%) and a mean age of 6 years at onset of symptoms. Focal EEG patterns corresponding to the cyst's location were encountered in 32%. About 40% of all cysts were located along the midline, the sylvian fissure representing the predominant location. Open surgery, i.e. total excision or marsurpialization (together 43.3%), emerged as the first-choice surgical procedure. The type of surgery switched somewhat to shunting procedures in cases of lesions in deeper locations (22.8%). Morphological results on follow-up revealed a reduction of the size of the cyst in a significant majority (61%); in 18% the cyst had disappeared completely on CT scans. There was an obvious correlation between postoperative morphological findings and clinical outcome.

Four criteria are discussed as important conditions of successful applications in Computer Supported Co-operative Work (CSCW). They are equality, mutual influence, new competence, and double-level language. The criteria originate in the experience of the International Co-operative Movement. They are examined and illustrated withreference to eight contemporary CSCW applications: meeting scheduling and support; bargaining; co-authoring; co-ordination; planning; design support and collaborative design.

A many-body, co-operative, theory of relaxation recently presented by the authors is extended to the case of non-linear response in the time domain to the application of high force fields. It is shown that the characteristic fractional power law time decay of the initial perturbation is an essential feature of co-operative relaxation. The application of the theory to experimental situations is considered.

An international co-operative blood-lead interlaboratory survey was conducted based on lyophilised bovine blood samples with different endogenous lead contents. The samples were prepared from whole blood of a non-exposed cow and another fed with a single dose of lead acetate trihydrate. The mean values computed for the two samples analyzed by 25 participants from 13 countries were 55 and 250 μg Pb/l, respectively. These results showed a positive bias of 10% for the low lead level and 9% for the high lead level in relation to the reference values obtained by mass spectrometric isotope dilution analysis. Despite such a bias, the data, on the whole, are of acceptable precision and accuracy, especially when compared to previous interlaboratory blood-lead surveys.

Das Risikoempfinden der Einleger und Bankzusammenbruche im System einer gemeinsamen Kreditstutzung. — In diesem Aufsatz wird versucht zu bestimmen, welche Wirkung die gemeinsame Rettungsaktion der Bank von England und der Clearing Banken auf das Vertrauen der Einleger in den britischen Geldmarkt gehabt hat. Das Vertrauen wird durch die Hohe der Risikopramien gemessen, welche die Investoren verlangen, wenn sie Bankeinlagen anstelle von risikofreien Anlagen (Schatzwechseln) halten. Ein Modell wird spezifiziert, in dem die Risikopramien der Investoren mit solchen Gro\en in eine funktionale Beziehung gebracht werden, die die Angemessenheit des Eigenkapitals, die Illiquiditat und Mobilisierbarkeit der Anlagen sowie die Gro\e des “Rettungsfonds” wiedergeben. Regressionsanalysen bestatigen, da\ es eine signifikante negative Beziehung gibt zwischen den bei der Rettungsaktion gewahrten Krediten und den Risikopramien, die fur verbriefte Termineinlagen und Interbankeinlagen verlangt werden. Im Ergebnis scheint die Bank von England recht zu haben, wenn sie behauptet, ihre Unterstutzungsaktionen hatten das Vertrauen der Einleger in das Bankensystem wiederhergestellt, jedenfalls was die gro\en Einleger betrifft. Infolgedessen kann dieses System der Zusammenarbeit als Muster fur Lander dienen, in denen die Konzentration des Bankensystems relativ hoch ist.

Applied rheology research at Warren Spring Laboratory is now organised as a co-operative project between subscribing industrial companies and government, called the Rheological Research Service. The programme of research topics is chosen on the advice of the industrial participants and the progress of the work is monitored by a Project Committee of practising rheologists and engineers from the participating companies. The project, scheduled to last for three years, is in the second year of operation. It has produced valuable novel apparatus, testing techniques and data and has stimulated parallel applications in industry.

In previous papers (a-s) the co-operative spontaneous decay of N two-level atoms was described by an equation for the density operator of the atomic system. That equation was solved analytically; the solution, however, is so complicated that cannot be used to obtain explicit expressions for the mean values of the various quantities. Hence, those expressions have been evaluated by machine calculations, for the cases of 100and 10000 atoms. The most striking result was that if the atoms are initially all excited, the variance of the atomic energy increases as N 2 as the system approaches the superradiant state, i.e. that state in which )7/2 atoms are on the ground level. A similar behaviour has been found for the radiated intensity too. This result is not in agreement with re{. (4.5), in which it is stated that the variance of the atomic energy, in the aame conditions referred to above, is proportional to N. In this letter we give an analytical proof of the result of re{. (3), using a method of calculation very similar to that developed by PR~:PARATA and one of us (~). In re{. (~-3) the following equation for the probability of having n+ atoms up and n_ atoms down (with n+ + n_ = N) was derived (7)

“The Observer”, London, reported last February to its readers on the Indian steel scenery the following: “The story of the three foreign steelworks in India is like an anecdote about a Russian, an Englishman and a German. At Bhilai, the Russians started with a roar of self-congratulation and are now a bit behind the times. The British at Durgapur were modest and their achievements are still modest. The Germans at Rourkela began in notorious muddle... and are now far and away the winners.” This is certainly a compliment to the achievements of the Rourkela steelworks for its now attained productivity and high profits. One should, however, not forget the many difficulties and shortcomings which the project had to face during its planning and construction phase. Mr. Klaus Röh has for one year personally studied the problems at the spot. His findings will shortly be published in a German monograph “Rourkela als Testfall”.

A new type of excitation in spinel systems exhibiting the co-operative Jahn-Teller effect is suggested. The Hamiltonian of the considered system is expressed in terms of the pseudospin space. It si then possible to use the standard methods of the spin-wave theory for the determination of the excitation spectrum. The influence of the excitations on the temperature dependence of the co-operative effect is briefly discussed.