Using intellectual capital statements to determine value drivers and priorities for organizational change: a portfolio selection approach

Ex post examination of a firm's performance in key intellectual capital indicators can demonstrate the value-creating potential and the organizational change aspect of intellectual capital reporting and management. These insights form the basis of an intellectual capital portfolio selection problem. Portfolio selection takes place in two stages. First, we calculate mean returns and variances for each market-valued portion of intellectual capital. Based on these estimations, we set up a portfolio selection problem. The solution to this portfolio selection problem provides priorities for organizational change. In this framework, the portfolio weights stand for organizational priorities, the weight constraints represent organizational barriers for change and the correlation of returns stands for the organizational interdependence of the intellectual capital components.     

Citizenship discourses: production and curriculum

This paper explores citizenship discourses empirically through upper secondary school student’s understandings, as these emerge in and through their everyday experiences. Drawing on a post-structuralist theorisation inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, a discourse analysis of data from interviews with students is carried out. This analysis characterises three discourses of the active citizen – a knowledgeable citizen, a responsive and holistic citizen, and a self-responsible ‘free’ citizen. The analysis raises questions over the implications of contemporary efforts for the intensification of standardising forces through citizenship education. It also stresses the notion that engaging students actively does always also involve discourses other than those stressed through the curriculum, which nurtures the body and nerve of democracy itself.     

Value orientations and motivational interference in school-leisure conflict: The case of Vietnam

The experience of motivational interference during studying and leisure in a school-leisure conflict and its relationship to pupils' value orientations were investigated in a self-report study of Vietnamese pupils (N = 346, mean age = 15 years). The results were compared with a combined sample consisting of pupils from nine other countries (N = 2155). From a cross-cultural perspective, the mean values of the variables show that Vietnamese pupils differ with regard to their values and motivational interference from pupils in other countries. Within the Vietnamese sample, modern value orientation was positively related to decision for a studying activity in a school-leisure conflict and to experience of motivational interference during a leisure activity and negatively related to interference during studying. For post-modern value orientation, the relationships were mostly reversed. Despite differences between sample means, the consistency in the relationships between the variables across the samples indicates that the pattern of relationships can be generalized.     

School-based prevention: effects on obesity and physical performance after 4 years

Juvenile obesity is increasing worldwide. Preventive strategies are warranted. The school-based Children's Health Interventional Trial (the CHILT Project) combines health education and physical activity for children. The effect on obesity and physical performance was studied after four years in 12 primary schools compared with five control schools. Anthropometric data were recorded. Physical performance was measured by a coordination test for children (balancing backwards, one-legged obstacle jumping, lateral jumping, sideways movements) and a 6-min run (endurance). No difference in the prevalence and incidence of overweight and obesity was found between the intervention and control schools before and after the intervention. Remission of overweight was higher in the intervention schools (23.2 vs. 19.2%), but not significant. An increase in coordination related to lateral jumping and balancing backwards was apparent in the intervention schools (30.6, s = 10.8 vs. 26.1, s = 10.8, P = 0.005; 21.8, s = 11.8 vs. 19.4, s = 11.7, P = 0.007), and the increase in endurance performance tended to be higher in intervention schools (100.8, s = 122.7 vs. 92.8, s = 126.0, P = 0.055), adjusted for age, sex, baseline test result, and body mass index at final examination. Therefore, preventive intervention in primary school offers the possibility to improve physical performance in children. The prevalence and incidence of obesity were not affected.     

Cycling power output produced during flat and mountain stages in the Giro d'Italia: a case study

Until recently, the physiological demands of cycling competitions were mostly reflected by the measurement of heart rate and the indirect estimation of exercise intensity. The purpose of this case study was to illustrate the varying power output of a professional cyclist during flat and mountain stages of a Grand Tour (Giro d'Italia). Nine stage recordings of a cyclist of the 2005 Giro d'Italia were monitored using a mobile power measurement device (SRM Trainingssystem, Julich, Germany), which recorded direct power output and heart rate. Stages were categorized into flat (n = 5) and mountain stages (n = 4). Data were processed electronically, and the overall mean power in flat and mountain stages and maximal mean power for various durations were calculated. Mean power output was 132 W +/- 26 (2.0 W x kg(-1) +/- 0.4) for the flat and 235 W +/- 10 (3.5 W x kg(-1) +/- 0.1) for the mountain stages. Mountain stages showed higher maximal mean power (367 W) for longer durations (1800 s) than flat stages (239 W). Flat stages are characterized by a large variability of power output with short bursts of high power and long periods with reduced intensity of exercise, whereas mountain stages mostly require submaximal, constant power output over longer periods.     

The only constant is change: analysing and understanding change in sport and exercise psychology research

The ability to examine within-person change is essential to test process-based theories in sport and exercise psychology. Longitudinal data, whether experimental or observational, are prerequisites to be able to examine change processes, but most longitudinal studies in sport and exercise psychology focus solely on between-person/group differences, not on within-person change. In this review, we (1) provide researchers in the sport and exercise psychology field with a framework for longitudinal research that focuses on within-person change; (2) provide an overview of how researchers in sport and exercise psychology currently analyse longitudinal data, which showed that most longitudinal studies focus on between-person/group differences; and (3) provide examples of statistical models for analysing longitudinal data that correspond to the framework for longitudinal research. In the examples, we focus on latent variable modelling, such as latent growth-curve modelling and latent change-score modelling, which capture within-person change. We argue that there is a need for stronger emphasis on the match among theory of change, temporal design, and statistical models when designing longitudinal studies in sport and exercise psychology.     

What is the future of electrical impedance spectroscopy in flow cytometry?

More than 20 years ago, electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was proposed as a potential characterization method for flow cytometry. As the setup is comparably simple and the method is label-free, EIS has attracted considerable interest from the research community as a potential alternative to standard optical methods, such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). However, until today, FACS remains by and large the laboratory standard with highly developed capabilities and broad use in research and clinical settings. Nevertheless, can EIS still provide a complement or alternative to FACS in specific applications? In this Perspective, we will give an overview of the current state of the art of EIS in terms of technologies and capabilities. We will then describe recent advances in EIS-based flow cytometry, compare the performance to that of FACS methods, and discuss potential prospects of EIS in flow cytometry.