1,165 research outputs found
Finding a reflexive voice : -- researching the problems of implementing new learning practices within a New Zealand manufacturing organisation : a 100pt thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Human Resources Management at Massey University
This study explored the social forces mediating manager's participation in a new reflexive participative learning practice designed to improve profitability within a New Zealand manufacturing organisation. Despite a large theoretical and managerial body of literature on organisational learning there has been little empirical investigation of how people experience and engage their reflexivity towards challenging the status-quo to create high level learning and new knowledge. Power was identified as a potential moderator of the reflexive learning experience and the variable relations of power and learning were constructed from a review of literature and these relationships were explored and investigated within the case study. Two prevailing discourses were identified as powerful moderators of public reflexivity, the traditionalist discourse which constructed managers actions and conversations towards insularism and survivalist concerns and the productionist discourse in which institutionalised production practices encircled and mediated managers actions and what constituted legitimacy in conversations. This study used a critical action research method to place the reflexive experience of managers and the researcher at the centre of the study and provide data representative of the social discourses that constructed variable freedoms and constraints upon the reflexive voice
An effective long-range attraction between protein molecules in solutions studied by small angle neutron scattering
Small angle neutron scattering intensity distributions taken from cytochrome
C and lysozyme protein solutions show a rising intensity at very small wave
vector, Q, which can be interpreted in terms of the presence of a weak
long-range attraction between protein molecules. This interaction has a range
several times that of the diameter of the protein molecule, much greater than
the range of the screened electrostatic repulsion. We show evidence that this
long-range attraction is closely related to the type of anion present and ion
concentration in the solution
Two-phase water model in the cellulose network of paper
Water diffusion in cellulose was studied via two-phase Karger model and the propagator method. In addition to ruling out anomalous diffusion, the mean squared displacements obtained at different diffusion times from the Karger model allowed to characterize the system's phases by their average confining sizes, average connectivity and average apparent diffusion coefficients. The two-phase scheme was confirmed by the propagator method, which has given insights into the confining phase-geometry, found consistent with a parallel-plane arrangement. Final results indicate that water in cellulose is confined in two different types of amorphous domains, one placed at fiber surfaces, the other at fiber cores. This picture fully corresponds to the phenomenological categories so far used to identify water in cellulose fibers, namely, free and bound water, or freezing and non-freezing water
Two-phase water model in the cellulose network of paper
Water diffusion in cellulose was studied via two-phase Karger model and the propagator method. In addition to ruling out anomalous diffusion, the mean squared displacements obtained at different diffusion times from the Karger model allowed to characterize the system's phases by their average confining sizes, average connectivity and average apparent diffusion coefficients. The two-phase scheme was confirmed by the propagator method, which has given insights into the confining phase-geometry, found consistent with a parallel-plane arrangement. Final results indicate that water in cellulose is confined in two different types of amorphous domains, one placed at fiber surfaces, the other at fiber cores. This picture fully corresponds to the phenomenological categories so far used to identify water in cellulose fibers, namely, free and bound water, or freezing and non-freezing water
Mode-coupling theory predictions for a limited valency attractive square-well model
Recently we have studied, using numerical simulations, a limited valency
model, i.e. an attractive square well model with a constraint on the maximum
number of bonded neighbors. Studying a large region of temperatures and
packing fractions , we have estimated the location of the liquid-gas
phase separation spinodal and the loci of dynamic arrest, where the system is
trapped in a disordered non-ergodic state. Two distinct arrest lines for the
system are present in the system: a {\it (repulsive) glass} line at high
packing fraction, and a {\it gel} line at low and . The former is
essentially vertical (-controlled), while the latter is rather horizontal
(-controlled) in the plane. We here complement the molecular
dynamics results with mode coupling theory calculations, using the numerical
structure factors as input. We find that the theory predicts a repulsive glass
line -- in satisfactory agreement with the simulation results -- and an
attractive glass line which appears to be unrelated to the gel line.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. To appear in J. Phys. Condens. Matter, special
issue: "Topics in Application of Scattering Methods for Investigation of
Structure and Dynamics of Soft Condensed Matter", Fiesole, November 200
Dental Morphology, Palaeoecology and Palaeobiogeographic Significance of a New Species of Requiem Shark (Genus Carcharhinus) from the Lower Miocene of Peru (East Pisco Basin, Chilcatay Formation)
Nowadays, the requiem sharks comprise one of the most diverse and widespread families of selachians, i.e., Carcharhinidae. Among the carcharhinids, the genus Carcharhinus has the largest number of living species, namely, at least 35. Known from fossils as old as the Cretaceous, the requiem sharks did not significantly radiate before the Eocene (when Carcharhinus also appeared), and their diversification mainly occurred in Neogene times. Here, we describe a new species of requiem shark, Carcharhinus dicelmai sp. nov., based on fossil teeth from Lower Miocene (18.4–18.1 Ma) strata of the Chilcatay Formation of the East Pisco Basin (southern Peru). Upper teeth of C. dicelmai sp. nov. are typically provided with a slender, smooth-edged cusp; a marked coronal twist; and a distal heel that bears 1–5 coarse, angularly lobate serrae that become more prominent toward the base of the cusp. The dentition of C. dicelmai sp. nov. appears less akin to that of most other carcharhines to the cutting-clutching type, and seemingly testifies to the development of more predominantly clutching adaptations. A carcharhinid tooth from the Burdigalian to lower Langhian Cantaure Formation of Venezuela is reassigned to C. dicelmai sp. nov., suggesting a trans-Panamanian distribution for this extinct shark species
Observation of Fragile-to-Strong Dynamic Crossover in Protein Hydration Water
At low temperatures proteins exist in a glassy state, a state which has no
conformational flexibility and shows no biological functions. In a hydrated
protein, at and above 220 K, this flexibility is restored and the protein is
able to sample more conformational sub-states, thus becomes biologically
functional. This 'dynamical' transition of protein is believed to be triggered
by its strong coupling with the hydration water, which also shows a similar
dynamic transition. Here we demonstrate experimentally that this sudden switch
in dynamic behavior of the hydration water on lysozyme occurs precisely at 220
K and can be described as a Fragile-to-Strong dynamic crossover (FSC). At FSC,
the structure of hydration water makes a transition from predominantly
high-density (more fluid state) to low-density (less fluid state) forms derived
from existence of the second critical point at an elevated pressure.Comment: 6 pages (Latex), 4 figures (Postscript
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