Relational Listening: Fostering Effective Communication Practices in Diverse Organizational Environments

[Excerpt] Interest in managing workforce diversity in the hospitality industry has grown steadily over the past several decades. Women, for example, are entering service industries and moving into managerial positions at an unprecedented rate (Del Sesto, 1993); the percentage of older workers has also risen (DeMicco & Reid, 1988; Sillies, DeMicco, Kavanaugh, & Mann, 1994). Furthermore, the introduction of legislation in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act presents new challenges as innovative programs are put into place to accommodate disabled employees (Woods & Kavanaugh, 1992; Smith, 1992). As our world becomes a global village, members of the hospitality workforce will require skills and attitudes that foster understanding and collaboration between individuals with different values and perspectives (Christensen, 1993; Gamio & Sneed, 1992; Griffin, 1992; Mill, 1994; Powers, 1992)

Attributing scientific and technical progress: the case of holography

Holography, the three-dimensional imaging technology, was portrayed widely as a paradigm of progress during its decade of explosive expansion 1964–73, and during its subsequent consolidation for commercial and artistic uses up to the mid 1980s. An unusually seductive and prolific subject, holography successively spawned scientific insights, putative applications and new constituencies of practitioners and consumers. Waves of forecasts, associated with different sponsors and user communities, cast holography as a field on the verge of success—but with the dimensions of success repeatedly refashioned. This retargeting of the subject represented a degree of cynical marketeering, but was underpinned by implicit confidence in philosophical positivism and faith in technological progressivism. Each of its communities defined success in terms of expansion, and anticipated continual progressive increase. This paper discusses the contrasting definitions of progress in holography, and how they were fashioned in changing contexts. Focusing equally on reputed ‘failures’ of some aspects of the subject, it explores the varied attributes by which success and failure were linked with progress by different technical communities. This important case illuminates the peculiar post-World War II environment that melded the military, commercial and popular engagement with scientific and technological subjects, and the competing criteria by which they assessed the products of science

An electrochromic ionic liquid: design, characterisation and performance in a solid state platform

This work describes the synthesis and characteristics of a novel electrochromic ionic liquid (IL) based on a phosphonium core tethered to a viologen moiety. When integrated into a solid-state electrochromic platform, the viologen modified IL behaved as both the electrolyte and the electrochromic material. Platform fabrication was achieved through in situ photo-polymerisation and encapsulation of this novel IL within a hybrid sol-gel. Important parameters of the platform performance, including its coloration efficiency, switching kinetics and optical properties were characterised using UV/Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry in tandem. The electrochromic platform exhibits a coloration efficiency of 10.72 cm2C-1, and a varied optical output as a function of the incident current. Despite the rather viscous nature of the material, the platform exhibited approximately two orders of magnitude faster switching kinetics (221 seconds to reach 95 % absorbance) when compared to previously reported electrochromic ILs (18,000 seconds)

Limited thermal stability of imidazolium and pyrrolidinium ionic liquids

a b s t r a c t Ionic liquids, with their vast applications, have been touted as being thermally stable to very high temperatures. However, decomposition not detected by standard TGA and NMR techniques are observed with spectroscopic techniques sensitive enough to see small amounts of impurities. Decomposition temperatures of common ionic liquids appear to occur at hundreds of degrees below those temperatures previously reported

BF 4 (py = pyridine): Evidence for spin exchange along strongly distorted F⋯H⋯F - bridges in a one-dimensional polymeric chain

Figure Persented: [Ni(HF 2)(3-Clpy) 4]BF 4 (py = pyridine) is a simple one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymer composed of compressed NiN 4F 2 octahedra that form chains with bridging HF 2- ligands. In spite of significant distortion of the HF 2- bridge, a quasi-1D antiferromagnetic (AFM) behavior was observed with J FHF = 4.86 K. © 2012 American Chemical Society

[Ni(HF2)(3-Clpy)4]BF4(py = pyridine): Evidence for Spin Exchange Along Strongly Distorted F···H···F Bridges in a One-Dimensional Polymeric Chain

Figure Persented: [Ni(HF 2)(3-Clpy) 4]BF 4 (py = pyridine) is a simple one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymer composed of compressed NiN 4F 2 octahedra that form chains with bridging HF 2- ligands. In spite of significant distortion of the HF 2- bridge, a quasi-1D antiferromagnetic (AFM) behavior was observed with J FHF = 4.86 K. © 2012 American Chemical Society