Change and Program Evaluation in Social Organization

There is an assumption of an inherent rationality in linking information on program effectiveness to program change. This article briefly discusses three typical evaluation studies and demonstration projects that fail to link information generated on the effectiveness of what people do, to program changes. Perceived inaccuracy of the information and the perceived threat of the information are emphasized as two reasons for this failure of program information to affect change in social organizations. A pre-planning functional information base is proposed as an important prerequisite in the sequence of creating a more receptive environment for organizational change. It is often assumed that information on the effectiveness of what an organization does will e utilized to improve those programs. In social organizations these program changes are expected to provide more effective service to clients. This assumption of an inherent rationality linking information on program effectiveness to program change has led o a multitude of evaluation studies and demonstration projects to provide information on program effectiveness. A review of actual cases of evaluative research and demonstration projects often does not substantiate the assumption of an inherent rationality in linking information to policy formation. This paper will briefly review three typical case studies that fail to link newly generated program information to policy change. It will suggest two major reasons for this failure and then outline a pre-planning functional information base as an important prerequisite in creating a more receptive environment for program information to affect policy changes in social organizations

Change and Social Organization

Organizations continually adapt to external organizational imperatives such as technology, population, knowledge and values. The increasing rate and intensity of these imperatives necessitates fhanges in services irrespective of the organization\u27s formal intentions to change. It is suggested that organizational characteristics amenable to handling change do not occur randomly. Six organizational characteristics are discussed. It is emphasized however, that these six organizational characteristics are not in themselves, sufficient to insure the successful implementation of change. A changing relationship between individuals, as well as a process of routinization must also be dealt with if the imperative for organizational change is to be effectively met. Three stages in this process of routinization are suggested. These are: (1) the provision of a functional input information base; (2) relating changing programs to explicitly defined goals; and (3) the implementation of management by objectives as a tool for providing the organizational characteristics discussed in this paper. It is suggested that these three stages should provide an appropriate environment for working towards a more sustained and effective implementation of organizational change

Baboon endogenous virus genome: Molecular cloning and structural characterization of nondefective viral genomes from DNA of a baboon cell strain

Several heterogeneities in the baboon endogenous virus (BaEV) genomes that are present in the DNA of normal baboon tissues and the baboon cell strain BEF-3 have been described previously. To study these genomes, we cloned BaEV proviruses from BEF-3 cellular DNA into the vector Charon 4A. Of the four full-length clones isolated, one was nondefective as determined by transfection. The sequence of a portion of this clone was found to code for amino acids 61-91 in the p30 region of the gag gene. This identification allowed us to align the restriction map with the BaEV genetic map. One heterogeneity, a BamHI site 2.4 kilobases (kb) from the proviral 5' end, was located close to the gag-pol junction; another, a BamHI site 1.4 kb from the 5' end of the genome, corresponded to the gag p30 coding sequence for amino acids 32-34; and a third, a Xho I site, was near the 3' end of the pol gene. To select the nondefective BaEV genomes from BEF-3 cells, we infected permissive cells with virus produced by BEF-3 cells and also transfected BEF-3 cellular DNA into permissive cells. The BaEV genomes in the permissive recipient cultures were then analyzed by restriction enzyme analysis. These nondefective genomes were found to be heterogeneous with respect to the gag-pol BamHI site and the Xho I site, but all were found to contain the BamHI site 1.4 kb from the 5' end of the genome

Utilizing Dynamic Tensiometry to Quantify Contact Angle Hysteresis and Wetting State Transitions on Nonwetting Surfaces

Goniometric techniques traditionally quantify two parameters, the advancing and receding contact angles, that are useful for characterizing the wetting properties of a solid surface; however, dynamic tensiometry, which measures changes in the net force on a surface during the repeated immersion and emersion of a solid into a probe liquid, can provide further insight into the wetting properties of a surface. We detail a framework for analyzing tensiometric results that allows for the determination of wetting hysteresis, wetting state transitions, and characteristic topographical length scales on textured, nonwetting surfaces, in addition to the more traditional measurement of apparent advancing and receding contact angles. Fluorodecyl POSS, a low-surface-energy material, was blended with commercially available poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and then dip- or spray-coated onto glass substrates. These surfaces were probed with a variety of liquids to illustrate the effects of probe liquid surface tension, solid surface chemistry, and surface texture on the apparent contact angles and wetting hysteresis of nonwetting surfaces. Woven meshes were then used as model structured substrates to add a second, larger length scale for the surface texture. When immersed into a probe liquid, these spray-coated mesh surfaces can form a metastable, solid–liquid–air interface on the largest length scale of surface texture. The increasing hydrostatic pressure associated with progressively greater immersion depths disrupts this metastable, composite interface and forces penetration of the probe liquid into the mesh structure. This transition is marked by a sudden change in the wetting hysteresis, which can be systematically probed using spray-coated, woven meshes of varying wire radius and spacing. We also show that dynamic tensiometry can accurately and quantitatively characterize topographical length scales that are present on microtextured surfaces.United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (W 911NF-07-D-0004

Intraoperative assessment of tumor margins during glioma resection by desorption electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

Gliomas infiltrate into surrounding healthy brain tissue. Microsurgical resection aims for maximal tumor resection while minimizing morbidity. Surgical margins are defined based on the surgeon’s experience, visual observation, and neuronavigation. Surgical margin assessment is rarely undertaken intraoperatively due to time constraints and unreliability of such evaluation. Routine, pathologic intraoperative examination provides no molecular information. Molecular measurements using mass spectrometry can be made rapidly on tissue during surgery to identify tissue types, estimate tumor infiltration, and recognize the presence of prognostic mutations by monitoring oncometabolites and phospholipids. This intraoperative study demonstrates the power of mass spectrometry in assessing diagnostic and prognostic information on discrete surgeon-defined points along the resection margins to improve tumor resection, even in regions without MRI contrast enhancement., Intraoperative desorption electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) is used to characterize tissue smears by comparison with a library of DESI mass spectra of pathologically determined tissue types. Measurements are performed in the operating room within 3 min. These mass spectra provide direct information on tumor infiltration into white or gray brain matter based on N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and on membrane-derived complex lipids. The mass spectra also indicate the isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation status of the tumor via detection of 2-hydroxyglutarate, currently assessed postoperatively on biopsied tissue using immunohistochemistry. Intraoperative DESI-MS measurements made at surgeon-defined positions enable assessment of relevant disease state of tissue within the tumor mass and examination of the resection cavity walls for residual tumor. Results for 73 biopsies from 10 surgical resection cases show that DESI-MS allows detection of glioma and estimation of high tumor cell percentage (TCP) at surgical margins with 93% sensitivity and 83% specificity. TCP measurements from NAA are corroborated by indirect measurements based on lipid profiles. Notably, high percentages (>50%) of unresected tumor were found in one-half of the margin biopsy smears, even in cases where postoperative MRI suggested gross total tumor resection. Unresected tumor causes recurrence and malignant progression, as observed within a year in one case examined in this study. These results corroborate the utility of DESI-MS in assessing surgical margins for maximal safe tumor resection. Intraoperative DESI-MS analysis of tissue smears, ex vivo, can be inserted into the current surgical workflow with no alterations. The data underscore the complexity of glioma infiltration

ConXsense - Automated Context Classification for Context-Aware Access Control

We present ConXsense, the first framework for context-aware access control on mobile devices based on context classification. Previous context-aware access control systems often require users to laboriously specify detailed policies or they rely on pre-defined policies not adequately reflecting the true preferences of users. We present the design and implementation of a context-aware framework that uses a probabilistic approach to overcome these deficiencies. The framework utilizes context sensing and machine learning to automatically classify contexts according to their security and privacy-related properties. We apply the framework to two important smartphone-related use cases: protection against device misuse using a dynamic device lock and protection against sensory malware. We ground our analysis on a sociological survey examining the perceptions and concerns of users related to contextual smartphone security and analyze the effectiveness of our approach with real-world context data. We also demonstrate the integration of our framework with the FlaskDroid architecture for fine-grained access control enforcement on the Android platform.Comment: Recipient of the Best Paper Awar

Lipid and metabolite profiles of human brain tumors by desorption electrospray ionization-MS

Examination of tissue sections using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)-MS revealed phospholipid-derived signals that differ between gray matter, white matter, gliomas, meningiomas, and pituitary tumors, allowing their ready discrimination by multivariate statistics. A set of lower mass signals, some corresponding to oncometabolites, including 2-hydroxyglutaric acid and N-acetyl-aspartic acid, was also observed in the DESI mass spectra, and these data further assisted in discrimination between brain parenchyma and gliomas. The combined information from the lipid and metabolite MS profiles recorded by DESI-MS and explored using multivariate statistics allowed successful differentiation of gray matter (n = 223), white matter (n = 66), gliomas (n = 158), meningiomas (n = 111), and pituitary tumors (n = 154) from 58 patients. A linear discriminant model used to distinguish brain parenchyma and gliomas yielded an overall sensitivity of 97.4% and a specificity of 98.5%. Furthermore, a discriminant model was created for tumor types (i.e., glioma, meningioma, and pituitary), which were discriminated with an overall sensitivity of 99.4% and a specificity of 99.7%. Unsupervised multivariate statistics were used to explore the chemical differences between anatomical regions of brain parenchyma and secondary infiltration. Infiltration of gliomas into normal tissue can be detected by DESI-MS. One hurdle to implementation of DESI-MS intraoperatively is the need for tissue freezing and sectioning, which we address by analyzing smeared biopsy tissue. Tissue smears are shown to give the same chemical information as tissue sections, eliminating the need for sectioning before MS analysis. These results lay the foundation for implementation of intraoperative DESI-MS evaluation of tissue smears for rapid diagnosis

Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers

In the current higher education climate, there is a growing perception that the pressures associated with being an academic middle manager outweigh the perceived rewards of the position. This article investigates the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers by drawing on data from life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female department heads from a range of disciplines, in a post-1992 UK university. The data suggests that experiencing conflict between personal and professional identities, manifested through different socialization experiences over time, can lead to a ‘turning point’ and a decision that affects a person’s career trajectory. Although the results of this study cannot be generalized, the findings may help other individuals and institutions move towards a firmer understanding of the academic who becomes head of department—in relation to theory, practice and research