Managing long-lasting cultural changes

Research on cultural change has produced mixed results. Some studies celebrate the capacity of charismatic and visionary leaders to carry out rapid transformations in organizational norms and values. Other studies warn us that these changes may be short-lived: organizations tend to resist cultural change, and when coercive pressure from the top is relaxed, they often revert to traditional patterns of behavior. Our longitudinal study of the implementation of Six Sigma at 3M suggests that organizational cultures may be simultaneously more and less receptive to long-lasting changes that currently believed. When asked to behave in ways that conflict with the usual “way we do things around here” employees may accept to revise their beliefs and habits if they experience changes as offering superior solutions to their problems. They will do so, however, only to the extent that changes are not perceived as threatening deeply-held, emotionally-laden “core” values, that they perceive as foundational, enduring and distinctive for the organization. Our observations suggest a multi-layered conceptualization of organizational culture according to their relative malleability of its elements. They remind organizational leaders about the importance of assessing whether the changes that they envision will simply enrich the cultural repertoire of the organization or will require modifications in the widely-accepted, but not deeply-held beliefs and norms of behavior, or may challenge the core values that define the very identity of the organization and its members

Biosolids: What are the different types of reuse?

In recent years, rapid population growth and industrialization have increased the use of natural resources and the production of waste. To develop a circular economy, it is necessary to study and promote alternative long-term solutions for waste disposal, such as reuse and recovery. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can be an important part of circular sustainability if re-oriented to function as a water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs). In this context, biological sewage sludge (SS) can be treated in order to produce more stabilized residues: biosolids (BS). This paper aims to review the possible alternatives to reuse the BS in order to increase matter recovery. Around 250 papers, reviews, books and conference proceedings have been examined. Authors explored the application of BS on land, such as soil amendment/fertilizer both in agriculture and for interventions on abandoned mine sites, and on engineering fields, in partial or total substitution of virgin materials. The reuse of BS as adsorbent materials and as a source of phosphorus is also discussed

Impact of sidewall etching on the dynamic performance of GaN-on-Si E-mode transistors

Abstract The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of the etching of the sidewalls of p-GaN on the dynamic performance of normally-off GaN HEMTs with p-type gate. We analyze two wafers having identical epitaxy but with different recipes for the sidewall etching, referred to as "Etch A" (non-optimized) and "Etch B" (optimized). We demonstrate the following relevant results: (i) the devices with non-optimized etching (Etch A), when submitted to positive gate bias, show a negative threshold voltage shift and a decrease in Ron, which are ascribed to hole injection under the gate and/or in the access regions; (ii) transient characterization indicates the existence of two trap states, with activation energies of 0.84 eV (CN defects) and 0.30 eV. The latter (with time-constants in the ms range) is indicative of the hole de-trapping process, possibly related to trap states in the AlGaN barrier or at the passivation/AlGaN interface; (iii) by optimizing the p-GaN sidewall etching (for the same epitaxy) it is possible to completely eliminate the threshold voltage shift. This indicates that hole injection mostly takes place along the sidewalls

Mechanical and Electrophysiological Properties of the Sarcolemma of Muscle Fibers in Two Murine Models of Muscle Dystrophy: Col6a1−/− and Mdx

This study aimed to analyse the sarcolemma of Col6a1−/− fibers in comparison with wild type and mdx fibers, taken as positive control in view of the known structural and functional alterations of their membranes. Structural and mechanical properties were studied in single muscle fibers prepared from FDB muscle using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and conventional electrophysiological techniques to measure ionic conductance and capacitance. While the sarcolemma topography was preserved in both types of dystrophic fibers, membrane elasticity was significantly reduced in Col6a1−/− and increased in mdx fibers. In the membrane of Col6a1−/− fibers ionic conductance was increased likely due to an increased leakage, whereas capacitance was reduced, and the action potential (ap) depolarization rate was reduced. The picture emerging from experiments on fibers in culture was consistent with that obtained on intact freshly dissected muscle. Mdx fibers in culture showed a reduction of both membrane conductance and capacitance. In contrast, in mdx intact FDB muscle resting conductance was increased while resting potential and ap depolarization rate were reduced, likely indicating the presence of a consistent population of severely altered fibers which disappear during the culture preparation

Mice Null for Calsequestrin 1 Exhibit Deficits in Functional Performance and Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Calcium Handling

In skeletal muscle, the release of calcium (Ca2+) by ryanodine sensitive sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release channels (i.e., ryanodine receptors; RyR1s) is the primary determinant of contractile filament activation. Much attention has been focused on calsequestrin (CASQ1) and its role in SR Ca2+ buffering as well as its potential for modulating RyR1, the L-type Ca2+ channel (dihydropyridine receptor, DHPR) and other sarcolemmal channels through sensing luminal [Ca2+]. The genetic ablation of CASQ1 expression results in significant alterations in SR Ca2+ content and SR Ca2+ release especially during prolonged activation. While these findings predict a significant loss-of-function phenotype in vivo, little information on functional status of CASQ1 null mice is available. We examined fast muscle in vivo and in vitro and identified significant deficits in functional performance that indicate an inability to sustain contractile activation. In single CASQ1 null skeletal myofibers we demonstrate a decrease in voltage dependent RyR Ca2+ release with single action potentials and a collapse of the Ca2+ release with repetitive trains. Under voltage clamp, SR Ca2+ release flux and total SR Ca2+ release are significantly reduced in CASQ1 null myofibers. The decrease in peak Ca2+ release flux appears to be solely due to elimination of the slowly decaying component of SR Ca2+ release, whereas the rapidly decaying component of SR Ca2+ release is not altered in either amplitude or time course in CASQ1 null fibers. Finally, intra-SR [Ca2+] during ligand and voltage activation of RyR1 revealed a significant decrease in the SR[Ca2+]free in intact CASQ1 null fibers and a increase in the release and uptake kinetics consistent with a depletion of intra-SR Ca2+ buffering capacity. Taken together we have revealed that the genetic ablation of CASQ1 expression results in significant functional deficits consistent with a decrease in the slowly decaying component of SR Ca2+ release