Balanced Scoredcard: Evaluation of Air Force Material Command\u27s Implementation and Use

Managing in a contemporary world has become increasingly more complex. It has evolved from a manufacturing setting with little to steer managers but a single, financial indicator to managing a greater percentage of intangible assets through numerous leading and lagging indicators. The industry has also evolved from centrally located and managed to decentralized, multi-national companies. In response to these changes, a new strategic management tool was developed called the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). This management tool has proved successful throughout the last decade. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the implementation and use of Air Force Materiel Command\u27s (AFMC\u27s) BSC, which started as a program in 2001. To guide this effort, a meta-synthesis approach was used to synthesize qualitative BSC data that resulted in eleven keys to successful BSC implementation and use. Secondly, an historical methodology was employed to review AFMC\u27s BSC history within each of these eleven key areas. Finally, perceived gaps between AFMC\u27s BSC and the literature were identified and recommendations to improve AFMC\u27s BSC were provided. Two important recommendations are: 1) to conduct analyses to confirm hypothesized cause-and-effect objective relationships and 2) to ensure new BSC software can continue to meet AFMC\u27s BSC needs. As Paul R. Niven stated (2003), a properly constructed BSC can inspire and motivate all employees, set direction for the organization, and encourage alignment from top to bottom

Design data for brazed Rene 41 honeycomb sandwich

Strength data, creep data and residual strength data after cyclic thermal exposure were obtained at temperatures from 78 K to 1144 K (-320 F to 1600 F). The influences of face thickness, core depth, core gage, cell size and thermal/stress exposure conditions on the mechanical design properties were investigated. A braze alloy and process was developed that is adequate to fully develop the strength of the honeycomb core while simultaneously solution treating and aging the Rene 41 fact sheets. New test procedures and test specimen configurations were developed to avoid excessive thermal stresses during cyclic thermal exposure

Separator plugs for liquid helium

Work performed during Summer 1984 (from June to Sept. 30) in the area of porous media for use in low temperature applications is discussed. Recent applications are in the area of vapor - liquid phase separation, pumping based on the fountain effect and related subsystems. Areas of potential applications of the latter are outlined in supplementary work. Experimental data have been developed. The linear equations of the two-fluid model are inspected critically in the light of forced convection evidence reported recently. It is emphasized that the Darcy permeability is a unique throughput quantity in the porous media application areas whose use will permit meaningful comparisons of data not only in one lab but also within a group of labs doing porous plug studies

Perturbation Analysis of Calcium, Alkalinity and Secretion during Growth of Lily Pollen Tubes

Pollen tubes grow by spatially and temporally regulated expansion of new material secreted into the cell wall at the tip of the tube. A complex web of interactions among cellular components, ions and small molecule provides dynamic control of localized expansion and secretion. Cross-correlation studies on oscillating lily (Lilium formosanum Wallace) pollen tubes showed that an increase in intracellular calcium follows an increase in growth, whereas the increase in the alkaline band and in secretion both anticipate the increase in growth rate. Calcium, as a follower, is unlikely to be a stimulator of growth, whereas the alkaline band, as a leader, may be an activator. To gain further insight herein we reversibly inhibited growth with potassium cyanide (KCN) and followed the re-establishment of calcium, pH and secretion patterns as growth resumed. While KCN markedly slows growth and causes the associated gradients of calcium and pH to sharply decline, its removal allows growth and vital processes to fully recover. The calcium gradient reappears before growth restarts; however, it is preceded by both the alkaline band and secretion, in which the alkaline band is slightly advanced over secretion. Thus the pH gradient, rather than the tip-focused calcium gradient, may regulate pollen tube growth

Vapor-liquid phase separator studies

Porous plugs serve as both entropy rejection devices and phase separation components separating the vapor phase on the downstream side from liquid Helium 2 upstream. The liquid upstream is the cryo-reservoir fluid needed for equipment cooling by means of Helium 2, i.e Helium-4 below its lambda temperature in near-saturated states. The topics outlined are characteristic lengths, transport equations and plug results

Immunochemical and Immunocytochemical Identification of a Myosin Heavy Chain Polypeptide in Nicotiana Pollen Tubes

A myosin heavy chain polypeptide has been identified and localized in Nicotiana pollen tubes using monoclonal anti-myosin antibodies. The epitopes of these antibodies were found to reside on the myosin heavy chain head and rod portion and were, therefore, designated anti-S-1 (myosin S-1) and anti-LMM (light meromyosin). On Western blots of the total soluble pollen tube proteins, both anti-S-1 and anti-LMM label a polypeptide of approximately 175,000 Mr. Immunofluorescence microscopy shows that both antibodies yield numerous fluorescent spots throughout the whole length of the tube, often with an enrichment in the tube tip. These fluorescent spots are thought to represent vesicles and/or organelles in the pollen tubes. In addition to this common pattern, anti-S-1 stains both the generative cell and the vegetative nuclear envelope. The different staining patterns of the nucleus between anti-S-1 and anti-LMM may be caused by some organization and/or anchorage state of the myosin molecules on the nuclear surface that differs from those on the vesicles and/or organelles

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by Carl F. Eiberger, Donald W. Bebenek, Walter C. Clements, Robert J. Hepler, Norman H. McNeil, John P. Coyne, Mark S. Tolle, Robert D. LeMense, Michael C. Dionise, and John W. Houck

Recent Decisions

Comments on recent decisions by Norman H. McNeil, David N. McBride, Robert J. Hepler, John P. Coyne, and Allan Schmid