The meaning and measurement of implementation climate

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Climate has a long history in organizational studies, but few theoretical models integrate the complex effects of climate during innovation implementation. In 1996, a theoretical model was proposed that organizations could develop a positive climate for implementation by making use of various policies and practices that promote organizational members' means, motives, and opportunities for innovation use. The model proposes that implementation climate--or the extent to which organizational members perceive that innovation use is expected, supported, and rewarded--is positively associated with implementation effectiveness. The implementation climate construct holds significant promise for advancing scientific knowledge about the organizational determinants of innovation implementation. However, the construct has not received sufficient scholarly attention, despite numerous citations in the scientific literature. In this article, we clarify the meaning of implementation climate, discuss several measurement issues, and propose guidelines for empirical study.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Implementation climate differs from constructs such as organizational climate, culture, or context in two important respects: first, it has a strategic focus (implementation), and second, it is innovation-specific. Measuring implementation climate is challenging because the construct operates at the organizational level, but requires the collection of multi-dimensional perceptual data from many expected innovation users within an organization. In order to avoid problems with construct validity, assessments of within-group agreement of implementation climate measures must be carefully considered. Implementation climate implies a high degree of within-group agreement in climate perceptions. However, researchers might find it useful to distinguish implementation climate level (the average of implementation climate perceptions) from implementation climate strength (the variability of implementation climate perceptions). It is important to recognize that the implementation climate construct applies most readily to innovations that require collective, coordinated behavior change by many organizational members both for successful implementation and for realization of anticipated benefits. For innovations that do not possess these attributes, individual-level theories of behavior change could be more useful in explaining implementation effectiveness.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>This construct has considerable value in implementation science, however, further debate and development is necessary to refine and distinguish the construct for empirical use.</p

Sources, Distribution, and Fate of Microscopic Plastics in Marine Environments

Microplastics are pieces of plastic debris <5 mm in diameter. They enter the environment from a variety of sources including the direct input of small pieces such as exfoliating beads used in cosmetics and as a consequence of the fragmentation of larger items of debris. A range of common polymers, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride, are present in the environment as microplastic particles. Microplastics are widely distributed in marine and freshwater habitats. They have been reported on shorelines from the poles to the equator; they are present at the sea surface and have accumulated in ocean systems far from land. Microplastics are also present in substantial quantities on the seabed. A wide range of organisms including birds, fish, and invertebrates are known to ingest microplastics and for some species it is clear that a substantial proportion of the population have microplastic in their digestive tract. The extent to which this might have harmful effects is not clear; however, the widespread encounter rate indicates that substantial quantities of microplastic may be distributed within living organisms themselves as well as in the habitats in which they live. Our understanding about the long-term fate of microplastics is relatively limited. Some habitats such as the deep sea may be an ultimate sink for the accumulation of plastic debris at sea; indeed, some recent evidence indicates quantities in the deep sea can be greater than at the sea surface. It has also been suggested that microplastics might be susceptible to biodegradation by microorganisms; however, this is yet to be established and the prevailing view is that even if emissions of debris to the environment are substantially reduced, the abundance of microplastics will increase over the next few decades. However, it is also clear that the benefits which plastics bring to society can be realized without the need for emissions of end-of-life plastics to the ocean. To some extent the accumulation of microplastic debris in the environment is a symptom of an outdated business model. There are solutions at hand and many synergistic benefits can be achieved in terms of both waste reduction and sustainable use of resources by moving toward a circular economy

Understanding How Microplastics Affect Marine Biota on the Cellular Level Is Important for Assessing Ecosystem Function: A Review

Plastic has become indispensable for human life. When plastic debris is discarded into waterways, these items can interact with organisms. Of particular concern are microscopic plastic particles (microplastics) which are subject to ingestion by several taxa. This review summarizes the results of cutting-edge research about the interactions between a range of aquatic species and microplastics, including effects on biota physiology and secondary ingestion. Uptake pathways via digestive or ventilatory systems are discussed, including (1) the physical penetration of microplastic particles into cellular structures, (2) leaching of chemical additives or adsorbed persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and (3) consequences of bacterial or viral microbiota contamination associated with microplastic ingestion. Following uptake, a number of individual-level effects have been observed, including reduction of feeding activities, reduced growth and reproduction through cellular modifications, and oxidative stress. Microplastic-associated effects on marine biota have become increasingly investigated with growing concerns regarding human health through trophic transfer. We argue that research on the cellular interactions with microplastics provide an understanding of their impact to the organisms’ fitness and, therefore, its ability to sustain their functional role in the ecosystem. The review summarizes information from 236 scientific publications. Of those, only 4.6% extrapolate their research of microplastic intake on individual species to the impact on ecosystem functioning. We emphasize the need for risk evaluation from organismal effects to an ecosystem level to effectively evaluate the effect of microplastic pollution on marine environments. Further studies are encouraged to investigate sublethal effects in the context of environmentally relevant microplastic pollution conditions

High-throughput RNA structure probing reveals critical folding events during early 60S ribosome assembly in yeast

While the protein composition of various yeast 60S ribosomal subunit assembly intermediates has been studied in detail, little is known about ribosomal RNA (rRNA) structural rearrangements that take place during early 60S assembly steps. Using a high-throughput RNA structure probing method, we provide nucleotide resolution insights into rRNA structural rearrangements during nucleolar 60S assembly. Our results suggest that many rRNA-folding steps, such as folding of 5.8S rRNA, occur at a very specific stage of assembly, and propose that downstream nuclear assembly events can only continue once 5.8S folding has been completed. Our maps of nucleotide flexibility enable making predictions about the establishment of protein-rRNA interactions, providing intriguing insights into the temporal order of protein-rRNA as well as long-range inter-domain rRNA interactions. These data argue that many distant domains in the rRNA can assemble simultaneously during early 60S assembly and underscore the enormous complexity of 60S synthesis.Ribosome biogenesis is a dynamic process that involves the ordered assembly of ribosomal proteins and numerous RNA structural rearrangements. Here the authors apply ChemModSeq, a high-throughput RNA structure probing method, to quantitatively measure changes in RNA flexibility during the nucleolar stages of 60S assembly in yeast