Multiple regions of quantum criticality in YbAgGe

Dilation and thermopower measurements on YbAgGe, a heavy-fermion antiferromagnet, clarify and refine the magnetic field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram and reveal a field-induced phase with T-linear resistivity. On the low-H side of this phase we find evidence for a first-order transition and suggest that YbAgGe at 4.5 T may be close to a quantum critical end point. On the high-H side our results are consistent with a second-order transition suppressed to a quantum critical point near 7.2 T. We discuss these results in light of global phase diagrams proposed for Kondo lattice systems

Green roofs for stormwater runoff retention: a global quantitative synthesis of the performance

The global popularity of green roofs (GRs) rises as urban runoff becomes a primary environmental concern in both developed and developing countries. Although a growing number of studies have measured the runoff retention (RR) performance of GRs and investigated the underpinning factors, a systematic and quantitative understanding is lacking. This study applies a statistical approach on a dataset of 2375 original experimental samples associated with the RR performance of GRs observed across 21 countries, consolidated from 75 internationally peer-reviewed studies published in 2005–2020. The results show that the sampled RR rates (i.e., the proportion of rainfall retained on a per-event basis) range widely (0–100%), with an average of 62%. Rainfall intensity, substrate depth, GR surface coverage, climate type, vegetation type, and season type partially explain the variances in retention performance. Moreover, the effects of some factors (e.g., rainfall intensity) are not isolated but contingent on other factors (e.g., vegetative cover). This global synthesis shows few samples emanate from Africa, Central America, and Central Asia, highlighting the need of more GR research and applications in these regions. The average GR RR rate appears lower than some specified in green building standards, which implies the need to further improve the RR performance of GRs or combine GRs with other RR measures. Contingent effects of GR RR influencing factors demonstrate the need to leverage design parameters and to account for local weather and climate characteristics in the optimization of GR performance.Industrial Ecolog

Performative Work: Bridging Performativity and Institutional Theory in the Responsible Investment Field

Callon’s performativity thesis has illuminated how economic theories and calculative devices shape markets, but has been challenged for its neglect of the organizational, institutional and political context. Our seven-year qualitative study of a large financial data company found that the company’s initial attempt to change the responsible investment field through a performative approach failed because of the constraints posed by field practices and organizational norms on the design of the calculative device. However, the company was subsequently able to put in place another form of performativity by attending to the normative and regulative associations of the device. We theorize this route to performativity by proposing the concept of performative work, which designates the necessary institutional work to enable translation and the subsequent adoption of the device. We conclude by considering the implications of performative work for the performativity and the institutional work literatures

Motivations for innovation in the built environment: new directions for research

Innovation in the built environment involves multiple actors with diverse motivations. Policy-makers find it difficult to promote changes that require cooperation from these numerous and dispersed actors and to align their sometimes divergent interests. Established research traditions on the economics and management of innovation pay only limited attention to stakeholder choices, engagement and motivation. This paper reviews the insights that emerge as research in these traditions comes into contact with work on innovation from sociological and political perspectives. It contributes by highlighting growing areas of research on user involvement in complex innovation, collective action, distributed innovation and transition management. To differing extents, these provide approaches to incorporate the motivations of different actors into theoretical understanding. These indicate new directions for research that promise to enrich understanding of innovation

Academic Performance and Behavioral Patterns

Identifying the factors that influence academic performance is an essential part of educational research. Previous studies have documented the importance of personality traits, class attendance, and social network structure. Because most of these analyses were based on a single behavioral aspect and/or small sample sizes, there is currently no quantification of the interplay of these factors. Here, we study the academic performance among a cohort of 538 undergraduate students forming a single, densely connected social network. Our work is based on data collected using smartphones, which the students used as their primary phones for two years. The availability of multi-channel data from a single population allows us to directly compare the explanatory power of individual and social characteristics. We find that the most informative indicators of performance are based on social ties and that network indicators result in better model performance than individual characteristics (including both personality and class attendance). We confirm earlier findings that class attendance is the most important predictor among individual characteristics. Finally, our results suggest the presence of strong homophily and/or peer effects among university students

Machina ex Deus? From Distributed to Orchestrated Agency

In this chapter, the author draws on a historical case study of the Australian wine industry to explore variations in collective agency. The inductively derived process model illustrates the emergence of a new profession of scientific win- emaking, which unfolds in three phases. Each phase is characterized by a dis- tinct form of agency: distributed agency during the earliest phase, coordinated agency during later phases, and orchestrated agency during consolidation. In addition to exploring the temporal shifts in agency, the study includes a detailed analysis of the early stages of distributed agency, examining how col- lective agency is achieved in the absence of shared intentions

The interplay of agency, culture and networks in field evolution

We examine organizational field change instigated by activists. Contrary to existing views emphasizing incumbent resistance, we suggest that collaboration between incumbents and challenger movements may emerge when a movement's cultural and relational fabric becomes moderately structured, creating threats and market opportunities but remaining permeable to external influence. We also elucidate how lead incumbents' attempts at movement cooptation may be deflected through distributed brokerage. The resulting confluence of cultural and relational "structuration" between movement and field accelerates the pace but dilutes the radicalness of institutional innovation, ensuring ongoing, incremental field change. Overall, this article contributes to the emergent literature on field dynamics by uncovering the evolution and outcomes of collaborative work at the intersection of social movements and incumbent fields

The cultural grammar of governance: The UK Code of Corporate Governance, reflexivity, and the limits of 'soft' regulation

We identify limits of ‘reflexive governance’ by examining the UK Code of Corporate Governance that is celebrated for its ‘reflexivity’. By placing the historical genesis of the Code within its politico-economic context, it is shown how its scope and penetration is impeded by a shallow, ‘single loop’ of reflexivity. Legitimized by agency theory, the Code is infused by a ‘cultural grammar’ that perpetuates relations of shareholder primacy as it restricts accountability to narrow forms of information disclosure directed exclusively at shareholders. Engagement of a deeper, ‘double loop’ reflexivity allows account to be taken of the historical conditions and theoretical conceptions that shape practices and outcomes of corporate governance. Only then is it possible to disclose, challenge and reform narrow conceptions, boundaries and workings of ‘reflexive governance’