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We examine how experience-induced adaptations that affect the breadth of an ongoing activity affect performance. The research on organizational learning suggests that accumulating experience, both from repetition and adaptation at the activity level, improves outcomes. Yet, findings on the effects of increasing breadth—the number of different processes making up an activity—are mixed. Greater breadth exposes organizations to diverse activities. It also generates an additional need for coordination that may undermine performance. We examine the joint effect of experience and breadth on waste reduction for U.S. manufacturing facilities managing their toxic waste from 1991 to 2014. These facilities manage toxic waste on a chemical by chemical basis. We find a detrimental effect of breadth on performance that is highest for facilities with low experience; however, this effect is moderated by experience with the waste management activity. Because most facilities manage toxic waste from several chemicals, we also see spillovers—in terms of both learning benefits and the costs of increasing breadth. When a facility expands waste management breadth anywhere, performance decreases for the focal chemical. Yet, this spillover effect of breadth decreases for activities where the facility has accrued more experience. Our research clarifies when facilities should consider adding breadth to a routine activity and why performance in the proximate period may falter as the organization learns and improves in the longer term.

Research Summary: Replication of practices is an important value‐creating strategy for multi‐unit firms, yet they often struggle to share knowledge internally across locations. Drawing on the replication and learning literatures and using data from a Fortune 100 retail chain that implemented a new restocking practice in 280 stores, I examine whether and how templates influence unit learning when replicating new practices. Stores were divided into districts, each with one randomly chosen template and 6–10 replicating stores. A replicating store's prior performance relative to that of its template influences the extent to which the store learns from the template versus from its own experience. These findings suggest that replication involves simultaneously and dynamically learning from both transferred knowledge and knowledge gained from experience. Managerial Summary: Transferring valuable practices within the firm is an important yet difficult task for many firm types, especially multi‐unit firms. One way that firms choose to transfer practices is through the use of templates—working examples of the new practice that act as models. Using data from a Fortune 100 retail chain, I show that the use of templates affects the way in which units learn to implement the practice. Because managers face tradeoffs when devoting attention to implementing the new practice, they must balance learning from the template with incorporating their own local experience with the new practice. Overall, my results suggest that choosing many templates is less important than choosing a few templates with superior performance for firms whose units or contexts are similar.

Social cognition interventions have shown promise for improving social functioning in people with schizophrenia. However, it is unclear how changes in social cognition affect social functioning. This study evaluates the impact of a social cognition intervention (GRASP - GRoup trAining for Social skills in Psychosis) on social cognition and social functioning outcomes and explores how two mechanisms, affect and physiological arousal, may drive changes.A two-arm single blind (assessor) randomized pilot trial comparing GRASP plus treatment-as-usual (TAU) with TAU alone in people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Participants were assessed with measures of social cognition, social functioning, and symptoms. All participants undertook a week-long mobile health assessment (experience sampling method) measuring social behavior and affect and used a wearable device recording autonomic activity. Assessments were performed at baseline and at week 10.Forty-eight participants were randomly allocated to the treatment or control condition. Individuals randomized to GRASP did not show improvements on experience sampled social behavior and social cognition measures compared to controls. However, participants in the GRASP group enjoyed social contact more and had lower levels of negative affect and higher levels of positive affect compared to controls. There was no evidence of autonomic changes (i.e., electrodermal activity) associated with social behavior resulting from the therapy.Social cognition interventions may be helpful in improving the quality of social contacts in people with schizophrenia by decreasing negative affect. Increase in social behavior may require longer periods to be evident. Future studies should consider how social cognition interventions may alter qualitative aspects associated with social behavior.

Funder: Unitaid, Repurposing approved drugs may rapidly establish effective interventions during a public health crisis. This has yielded immunomodulatory treatments for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but repurposed antivirals have not been successful to date because of redundancy of the target in vivo or suboptimal exposures at studied doses. Nitazoxanide is a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved antiparasitic medicine, that physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling has indicated may provide antiviral concentrations across the dosing interval, when repurposed at higher than approved doses. Within the AGILE trial platform (NCT04746183) an open label, adaptive, phase I trial in healthy adult participants was undertaken with high-dose nitazoxanide. Participants received 1,500 mg nitazoxanide orally twice-daily with food for 7 days. Primary outcomes were safety, tolerability, optimum dose, and schedule. Intensive pharmacokinetic (PK) sampling was undertaken day 1 and 5 with minimum concentration (Cmin ) sampling on days 3 and 7. Fourteen healthy participants were enrolled between February 18 and May 11, 2021. All 14 doses were completed by 10 of 14 participants. Nitazoxanide was safe and with no significant adverse events. Moderate gastrointestinal disturbance (loose stools or diarrhea) occurred in 8 participants (57.1%), with urine and sclera discoloration in 12 (85.7%) and 9 (64.3%) participants, respectively, without clinically significant bilirubin elevation. This was self-limiting and resolved upon drug discontinuation. PBPK predictions were confirmed on day 1 but with underprediction at day 5. Median Cmin was above the in vitro target concentration on the first dose and maintained throughout. Nitazoxanide administered at 1,500 mg b.i.d. with food was safe with acceptable tolerability a phase Ib/IIa study is now being initiated in patients with COVID-19.

398 Background: Phase III studies have shown a survival benefit for the addition of immune checkpoint inhibitors to conventional chemotherapy for patients with gastroesophageal cancer (GEC). Large scale studies of chemoimmunotherapy prior to and after surgery are under way. We sought to characterise the effects of the PDL1 inhibitor durvalumab (D) with standard neo-adjuvant chemo(radio)therapy regimens in an open label phase I/II study in patients (pts) with operable GEC (LUD2015-005, NCT02735239, EudraCT 2015-005298-19). Methods: In pts identified as suitable for potentially curative surgery we gave D (750mg q2w) alongside their standard treatment. Pts had D only at first then Oxaliplatin and Capecitabine (CapOx) q3w or fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin and taxotere (FLOT) starting with the third cycle of D. Chemotherapy and further D were given for 6 (CapOx) or 8 (FLOT) weeks before pts had surgery and for up to 12 further infusions of D after operation. Patients on FLOT could also have more chemotherapy. Pts suitable for chemoradiotherapy (CXRT, CROSS regimen) were offered two cycles of D before starting their treatment, and were able to have up to 12 further cycles after recovering from surgery. Participants were followed for toxicity, response and survival from the time of study enrolment until death, for 3 years or until June 2022 when the study ended. Results: 11 pts received D-CapOx, 9 D-FLOT and 15 D-CXRT. All were evaluable for safety and efficacy. Treatment side effects were as expected for the agents used with diarrhoea, nausea and fatigue the most commonly reported and no new safety signals. 156 of 160 planned pre-op D doses were given. Only 2 out of 35 patients did not have surgery, both due to progressive disease on D-CXRT. 23 of the 33 patients having surgery had post-operative treatment. Amongst 33 evaluable pts 2 (5.7%) and 6 (17.1%) had complete or partial pre-op responses (RECIST) and 3 (8.6%) progression prior to surgery. Tumor regression at surgery (Mandard 1-3) occurred in 24/33 pts. Median recurrence free survival was 25.4 months (mo) (D-CapOx), 32.0 mo (D-FLOT) and not reached (D-CXRT). 2 year survival was 81.8%, 77.8% and 77.8% respectively in the 3 arms. Conclusions: Adding D to standard neo-adjuvant regimens for GEC is well tolerated. Survival times and response rates exceeded those expected for the regimens used (2 year survivals with FLOT 68% and CROSS 67%) in this non-randomised multi-centre trial. Clinical trial information: NCT02735239 .

Introduction Technological advances have introduced three-dimensional (3-D) printing as an option for creating tactile maps for people with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision), diversifying the types of map products that are available. At the same time, it presents a challenge to map makers to implement designs across multiple production methods. We evaluated map symbols to determine their discriminability across three different materials: microcapsule paper, 3-D printer plastic, and embossed paper. Methods In a single session lasting less than 90 minutes, participants completed a matching task and provided informal feedback regarding their preferences. We measured speed and accuracy to establish discriminability of map symbols on each of the materials. Eighteen participants were recruited from a referred sample among attendees at the American Council of the Blind annual convention in 2013. Results Response times were significantly different across the three materials (p < 0.001). Without sacrificing accuracy, response times were faster for the 3-D printed graphics than for either the microcapsule paper (p < 0.001) or the embossed paper (p < 0.001). User preference was divided across the three materials. Some people disliked the “sharp” corners of the 3-D printed symbols, while others preferred their “crisp” edges. Discussion Our results demonstrate faster discriminability of a set of tactile symbols produced on a 3-D printer compared to those same symbols printed on microcapsule paper, the material for which the symbols were originally designed. Participant feedback reflected preferences both in favor of and against reading symbols produced on the 3-D printer. Implications for practitioners This article discusses the functional equivalence of tactile symbols produced across multiple production technologies. It addresses two considerations when using 3-D printing to make tactile maps: preparing digital files for printing and the printing work flow. Digital files ready for printing on each of the three materials are available for download (Brittell, Lobben, & Lawrence 2016).

There is a long-standing debate on the influence of physiological signals on social behavior. Recent studies suggested that heart rate variability (HRV) may be a marker of social cognitive processes. However, this evidence is preliminary and limited to laboratory studies. In this study, 25 participants were assessed with a social cognition battery and asked to wear a wearable device measuring HRV for 6 consecutive days. The results showed that reduced HRV correlated with higher hostility attribution bias. However, no relationship was found between HRV and other social cognitive measures including facial emotion recognition, theory of mind or emotional intelligence. These results suggest that HRV may be linked to specific social cognitive processes requiring online emotional processing, in particular those related to social threat. These findings are discussed in the context of the neurovisceral integration model.

Cartographers have been representing places and scenes for thousands of years. We know that there is not one single way to represent place. We can use a reference map, thematic map (not to mention all the different types), large scale, small scale, oblique and overhead remotely sensed image, hand-drawn cartoon maps, street view photographs, animated maps, and digital maps. We also know that the methods and then the resulting representations can be differentiated cartographically using established criteria. But, are these methods all equally effective in conveying a sense of place?We measure “effectiveness” by comparing activation differences in the parahippocampal place area when viewing different representations of place. The parahippocampal place area (PPA) is a region in the human brain that allows humans to recognize and characterize a place (or a representation of it) (Weiner et al., in press). The PPA is a functionally, as opposed to an anatomically, defined region. It overlaps several anatomical regions, including the parahippocampal cortex, the lingual gyrus, the collateral sulcus, and the fusiform gyrus (Figure 1) (Epstein, 2014). The place recognition function of the PPA has been well-documented (Weiner et al., in press; Epstein 2014, 2008; Baldassano et al. 2013; Aguirre et al., 1998; Epstein and Kanwisher, 1998), and we now know that this region is what allows humans to differentiate between a place and other objects such as faces, chairs, or apples.In this study, we measured the effect of cartographic representation on the human brain’s recognition of “place” by comparing the activation differences in the PPA. We compared four types of place representation: a street-view photograph of an urban environment, a drawn schematic similar to a subway-style map, a Google Maps street map, and a Google Maps satellite view. (Figure 2). The Google Maps images were used because they are common cartographic representations, and thus are likely representative of a general “map” condition.

Introduction: Research suggests that people with schizophrenia have autonomic dysfunctions. These have been linked to functioning problems, symptoms and considered a risk factor for illness chronicity. The aim of this study is to introduce a new Mobile Health (mHealth) method using wearable technology to assessing autonomic activity in people's everyday life. We aim to evaluate the new method acceptability and characterise the association between schizophrenia illness features and autonomic abnormalities. Method: Thirty participants with schizophrenia and 25 controls were asked to wear a mHealth device measuring autonomic activity and movements during their normal everyday life. Measures of device use acceptability were collected from all participants. Participants with schizophrenia were also assessed for symptoms and functioning levels. Measures of heart rate variability (HRV), electrodermal activity (EDA) and movement were collected by the device and groups were compared. Correlation between physiological measures, functioning, symptoms and medication levels were assessed in people with schizophrenia. Results: The mHealth device method proved to be acceptable and produced reliable measures of autonomic activity and behaviour. Compared to controls, people with schizophrenia showed lower levels of HRV, movement and functioning. In people with schizophrenia illness severity, particularly positive symptoms, was associated with parasympathetic deregulation. Conclusions: Autonomic abnormalities can be detected using wearable technology from people's everyday life. These are in line with previous research and support the notion that autonomic deregulation are relevant illness features for mental and physical health in schizophrenia. This method may be developed as a monitoring system for well-being and relapse prevention.

We examine how experience-induced adaptations that affect the breadth of an ongoing activity affect performance. The research on organizational learning suggests that accumulating experience, both from repetition and adaptation at the activity level, improves outcomes. Yet, findings on the effects of increasing breadth—the number of different processes making up an activity—are mixed. Greater breadth exposes organizations to diverse activities. It also generates an additional need for coordination that may undermine performance. We examine the joint effect of experience and breadth on waste reduction for US manufacturing facilities managing their toxic waste from 1991 to 2014. These facilities manage toxic waste on a chemical-by-chemical basis. We find a detrimental effect of breadth on performance that is highest for facilities with low experience; however, this effect is moderated by experience with the waste management activity. Because most facilities manage toxic waste from several chemicals, we also see spillovers—in terms of both learning benefits and the costs of increasing breadth. When a facility expands waste management breadth anywhere, performance decreases for the focal chemical. Yet, this spillover effect of breadth decreases for activities where the facility has accrued more experience. Our research clarifies when facilities should consider adding breadth to a routine activity and why performance in the proximate period may falter as the organization learns and improves in the longer term.

Background: People with a diagnosis of schizophrenia have significant social and functional difficulties. Social cognition was found to influences these outcomes and in recent years interventions targeting this domain were developed. This paper reviews the existing literature on social cognition interventions for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia focussing on: i) comparing focussed (i.e. targeting only one social cognitive domain) and global interventions and ii) studies methodological quality. Method: Systematic search was conducted on PubMed and PsycInfo. Studies were included if they were randomised control trials, participants had a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, and the intervention targeted at least one out of four social cognition domains (i.e. theory of mind, affect recognition, social perception and attribution bias). All papers were assessed for methodological quality. Information on the intervention, control condition, study methodology and the main findings from each study were extracted and critically summarised. Results: Data from 32 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, considering a total of 1440 participants. Taking part in social cognition interventions produced significant improvements in theory of mind and affect recognition compared to both passive and active control conditions. Results were less clear for social perception and attributional bias. Focussed and global interventions had similar results on outcomes. Overall study methodological quality was modest. There was very limited evidence showing that social cognitive intervention result in functional outcome improvement. Conclusions: The evidence considered suggests that social cognition interventions may be a valuable approach for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. However, evidence quality is limited by measure heterogeneity, modest study methodology and short follow-up periods. The findings point to a number of recommendations for future research, including measurement standardisation, appropriately powered studies and investigation of the impact of social cognition improvements on functioning problems.

Since the National Research Council (2006) report Learning to Think Spatially formalized geospatial thinking, researchers and educators have recognized the importance of investigating and understanding geospatial thinking. Conceptual frameworks have been developed and applied to individual research projects. Although useful in these contexts and potentially extendable to other related inquiries, they also overlap and conflict with one another. Moreover, the separate frameworks are built on different constructs, resulting in a disparate rather than a cohesive theoretical foundation for geospatial thinking. This article synthesizes existing frameworks and generates a model that represents conceptual advances and provides a foundation for research question generation.

A chief role of firms is to coordinate fragmented information to achieve superior performance. Yet firms differ widely in their abilities to do so. We examine how founding team conditions influence...

We report the first well-documented case of a South Island site where Mayor Island obsidian is not the dominant source represented. At the Pūrākaunui site (I44/21), located in coastal Otago, we find that most obsidians come from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, including sources near Lake Taupo (52%) and Rotorua (27.7 %). A small proportion of the collection comes from Mayor Island (10.8%) and the Coromandel Peninsula (9.5%) obsidian. The results point to early effects of regionalisation in source exploitation on the South Island.

This article presents research designed to investigate map use. Specifically, we interrogate the long-held assumption that people use maps for specific purposes and in specific ways and those purpo...

The study reported here investigated the design and legibility of tactile thematic maps, focusing on symbolization and the comprehension of spatial patterns on the maps. The results indicate that discriminable and effective tactile thematic maps can be produced using classed data with a microcapsule paper production method. The participants demonstrated that they could describe the spatial data patterns that were displayed. ********** Thematic maps are cartographic representations of themes, such as population or income. These types of maps can show information about specific locations, give general information about spatial patterns, and be used to compare the patterns on two or more maps (Slocum, McMaster, Kessler, & Howard, 2005). The importance of this cartographic method is evident in the sheer volume of scholarly papers and books on thematic mapping that provide guidelines that inform both the theoretical and design components of making these types of maps for sighted map users. Research has focused on creating tactile map symbols and formalizing the techniques in tactile mapping, including the articulation of good practices (Tatham, 2003). However, the development and use of symbols for static tactile thematic maps has not been studied extensively. The lack of attention is not due to the absence of need, however; researchers and practitioners have expressed a clear need for the development of effective tactile thematic maps (Lobben, 2005). Even though thematic mapping has been a popular cartographic method for nearly 200 years, we cannot directly apply knowledge of the design of symbols for printed thematic maps as a guide for the creation of tactile symbols, given that it is often inappropriate to translate print map symbols into a tactile map format (James, 1982; Klatzky & Lederman, 1987). But, as we discuss later, several principles of cartographic design may be shared between the thematic design of tactile and visual symbols, such as max-contrast symbolization (Cromley, 2005; Dougenik & Sheehan, 1975; Gilmartin & Shelton, 1989), half-toning (Slocum, 1999), and nonlinear assumption (Kimerling, 1985). In the study presented here, we borrowed and applied these guidelines for making traditional print thematic maps to the design and subsequent evaluation of tactile thematic maps. A primary goal of the research was to identify effective symbols for tactile thematic maps. An effective symbology is based on discriminability and the extent to which the symbols foster spatial understanding. The two research questions that drove the experimental design and data analysis were these: 1. Can the tactile map user discriminate among the different fill patterns that are used to represent distinct classes of maps? 2. Can these symbols be used to create a classed quantitative choropleth tactile map that facilitates the recognition and overall understanding of spatial patterns, such as the population distribution of a state? Symbolization and use of tactile maps A critical area of research in tactile mapping involves the legibility and meaningfulness of tactile symbologies (Lambert & Lederman, 1989). The reading of tactile maps consists of a series of processes, beginning with the discrimination and identification of symbols (Perkins, 2002). Early studies of legibility included those on the effect of noise in detecting point symbols (Berla & Murr, 1975); minimum sizes for areal and point tactile symbols (Nolan & Morris, 1971); and the identification of one symbol among a series of symbols of the same class, either points, lines, or area (Barth, 1982). Barth, along with others (Gill & James, 1973; Lambert & Lederman, 1989), used a matching task or a paired comparison task in which a single symbol was identified among a set. These studies are relevant because they mimicked behavior that would be performed with a map legend. …

Maps designed for and used by sighted audiences benefit from map symbol standardization and convention but, with very limited exception (most notably two European projects), neither standardization nor convention guides the design and use of symbols for tactile maps. In this project, we developed and field tested symbolization for and use of tactile street maps. The development process included consultation with the literature as well as with field experts (orientation and mobility teachers, Braillists, and teachers working with students who are blind or have low vision). Following development, we undertook a three-year field testing and validation phase, in which we conducted pilot testing and formal testing with travelers who are blind or have low vision. Research results reveal not only a discriminable and useful tactile symbol set but also environmental feature use by travelers who are blind or have low vision.

A course jointly taught with Geography and Computer Science designed the first haptic soundscape map of the University of Oregon campus. An electronic haptic soundscape map is a cartographic representation that is experienced through auditory cues and haptic (dynamic touch) feedback from the hand and fingers. The primary users of this map are blind and visually impaired persons. The goals of this student project was to create a tool that could be easily maintained, accessible at the low cost and flexible enough for update and change after research feedback. The outcome of the project is a preliminary version of the University of Oregon campus haptic soundscape map and this is continuing to be improved by students.

Local and state governments routinely compete for economic activity by offering firms tax breaks and subsidies. While we have empirical evidence to show that large industrial plants produce significant local benefits, we know little about the type of firm that local governments most seek to attract. To further our understanding of local tax discrimination, we conduct a randomized field experiment across 312 communities in the United States. We observe how each of the governments in our sample adjusts its property tax in response to variation in firm characteristics and local economic conditions. We find that our towns pursue a systematic local industrial policy whose goal is to attract manufacturing jobs and work for unskilled labor. Surprisingly, we find no evidence that towns seek to generate rents targeted at the current local population. Local tax policy also appears to disregard agglomeration effects and concerns over industrial diversification.

This symposium explores both drivers to variation in the success and adoption of management practices and the impact of management practices on firm performance. The first paper sets the tone of th...

This paper examines how firm divisionalization affects new practice implementation in the context of multi-unit firms. Specifically, I challenge the assumption that multiunit firms unilaterally ben...