DEAD WEIGHT OR CHANGE CATALYSTS? LONG-TERM EMPLOYEES AND THEIR IMPACT ON ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE EFFORTS

In today\u27s world, organizational change is inevitable for organizations and for the employees who support and labor for that organization (Goodstein & Burke, 2005; Leana & Barry, 2000). How employees perceive initiated changes will impact if and when they adopt the change, and how they participate in the change. The role of long-tenured employees in organizational change efforts has not been studied sufficiently. The assumption that long-tenured employees resist change and have lower productivity (Auer, Berg & Coulibaly, 2004) is juxtaposed against the assertion in the literature that it is these long-term employees who move into change because they feel comfortable taking risks and need opportunity for growth (Cunningham, Woodward, Shannon, MacIntosh, Lendrum, Rosenbloom, & Brown, 2002; Haveman, 1995). Thus, organizations may not have been capitalizing on their long-tenured employees\u27 energies to spur change initiatives (Auer, Berg, & Coulibaly, 2004). This study identifies how long-term employees respond and contribute to change efforts. Employees who had more than 25 years of experience in an academic medical center participated in data collection. Thirty-five participants completed the Cynicism about Organizational Change survey (Reichers, Wanous, and Austin, 1997), five participated in a focus group, 14 individual interviews and 13 priority card sort participants resulted in five findings. Long-term employees act as informal leaders and influencers to get others involved with change, they will get on board with change even if they disagree with the change, they want to be informed of changes and have input to change efforts. Additionally, long-term employees drive change and engage in change targeted at theories in action. Recommendations for organizations to capitalize on their long-term employees contributions during change efforts result directly from these five findings. They include informing employees of the change, asking for their input toward the change effort, aligning change with the organization\u27s vision and mission, implementing changes at the individual job or work group level, and providing opportunity for long-term employees to engage in change as innovators or early adopters. These strategies are supported in the literature has having a positive effect on employee engagement and the change goals of the organization

Experiments on Tracer Diffusion in Aqueous and Non-Aqueous Solvent Combinations

Forced Rayleigh scattering is used to study the tracer diffusion of an azobenzene in binary combinations of polar solvents, including water. In the absence of water, the tracer diffusion coefficient D in the mixture lies between the diffusion coefficients within the pure solvents, on a curve that is reasonably close to the prediction of free-volume theory. If water is present, on the other hand, the diffusion coefficient displays a minimum that is less than the smaller of the two pure-solvent values. We attempt to understand the different behavior in water by concentrating on the fairly hydrophobic nature of the solute, leading to a first solvent shell that is hydrophobic on the inside and hydrophilic on the outside. We also believe that clusters of amphiphiles explain the observation that, in aqueous combinations, D is nearly constant above a certain amphiphile mole fraction

Nuclear antigens follow different pathways into daughter nuclei during mitosis in early Drosophila embryos

In the early embryonic development of Drosophila melanogaster, there is a series of 13 rapid and highly synchronous nuclear divisions. We have used a collection of monoclonal antibodies to follow the re-distribution of nuclear antigens into daughter nuclei at this developmental stage by indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. The antigens fall into several categories in terms of the pathways that are followed at mitosis. At one extreme is a group of antigens that remains continuously associated with the DNA throughout all the mitotic phases. At the other extreme, another group of antigens is excluded from the nucleus at prophase, and does not associate with the nucleus again until late telophase. One antigen, which becomes incorporated into the nucleolus at cellularization after the thirteenth division, becomes associated with the chromosomes during mitosis, but not until anaphase. Several different antibodies stain a diamond-shaped compartment that develops over the spindle at anaphase. The distribution of antigens within this spindle compartment shows some variation: one antigen appears to be present at higher concentrations in the central region of the spindle; others appear in three quite distinct areas corresponding to the positions of the new daughter nuclei and the old parental nucleus. Yet another antibody gives uniform staining of the spindle compartment. This antibody also recognizes a protein present in centrosomes

Mathematical Modelling of Chemical Diffusion through Skin using Grid-based PSEs

A Problem Solving Environment (PSE) with connections to remote distributed Grid processes is developed. The Grid simulation is itself a parallel process and allows steering of individual or multiple runs of the core computation of chemical diffusion through the stratum corneum, the outer layer of the skin. The effectiveness of this Grid-based approach in improving the quality of the simulation is assessed

Effective Exploration Behavior for Chemical-Sensing Robots

Mobile robots that can effectively detect chemical effluents could be useful in a variety of situations, such as disaster relief or drug sniffing. Such a robot might mimic biological systems that exhibit chemotaxis, which is movement towards or away from a chemical stimulant in the environment. Some existing robotic exploration algorithms that mimic chemotaxis suffer from the problems of getting stuck in local maxima and becoming “lost”, or unable to find the chemical if there is no initial detection. We introduce the use of the RapidCell algorithm for mobile robots exploring regions with potentially detectable chemical concentrations. The RapidCell algorithm mimics the biology behind the biased random walk of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria more closely than traditional chemotaxis algorithms by simulating the chemical signaling pathways interior to the cell. For comparison, we implemented a classical chemotaxis controller and a controller based on RapidCell, then tested them in a variety of simulated and real environments (using phototaxis as a surrogate for chemotaxis). We also added simple obstacle avoidance behavior to explore how it affects the success of the algorithms. Both simulations and experiments showed that the RapidCell controller more fully explored the entire region of detectable chemical when compared with the classical controller. If there is no detectable chemical present, the RapidCell controller performs random walk in a much wider range, hence increasing the chance of encountering the chemical. We also simulated an environment with triple effluent to show that the RapidCell controller avoided being captured by the first encountered peak, which is a common issue for the classical controller. Our study demonstrates that mimicking the adapting sensory system of E. coli chemotaxis can help mobile robots to efficiently explore the environment while retaining their sensitivity to the chemical gradient

Microglial memory of early life stress and inflammation: Susceptibility to neurodegeneration in adulthood

We review evidence supporting the role of early life programming in the susceptibility for adult neurodegenerative diseases while highlighting questions and proposing avenues for future research to advance our understanding of this fundamental process. The key elements of this phenomenon are chronic stress, neuroinflammation triggering microglial polarization, microglial memory and their connection to neurodegeneration. We review the mediating mechanisms which may function as early biomarkers of increased susceptibility for neurodegeneration. Can we devise novel early life modifying interventions to steer developmental trajectories to their optimum?.Fil: Desplats, Paula. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Gutierrez, Ashley M.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Antonelli, Marta Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia "Prof. Eduardo de Robertis". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia; ArgentinaFil: Frasch, Martin G.. University of Washington; Estados Unido

Cloning of a gene encoding an antigen associated with the centrosome in Drosophila

The monoclonal antibody Bx63 recognizes a centrosomal antigen of Drosophila melanogaster by indirect immunofluorescence and identifies two proteins, with apparent molecular weights of 185 x 10³ and 66 x 10³, on Western blots. We have used this antibody to isolate five clones (λcs1, -2, -3, -4 and λj63) from λgt11 expression libraries of Drosophila DNA. Using polyclonal anti-centrosomal sera raised against both immunoaffinity-purified Bx63 antigen and electrophoretically purified fusion protein from clone λcs3, we have demonstrated that the fusion proteins encoded by four of these clones (λcs1-4) share at least two epitopes with the 185 x 10³ M_r centrosomal antigen. This indicates that clones λcs1-4 contain DNA from the gene coding for this protein. The four clones are independent isolates from a single chromosomal site, which we show by in situ hybridization to correspond with salivary gland chromosome region 88E 4-8. A low-abundance transcript of approximately 4.0 x 10³ bases corresponding to the cloned gene is detected in all stages of the Drosophila life-cycle

Cloning of a gene encoding an antigen associated with the centrosome in Drosophila

The monoclonal antibody Bx63 recognizes a centrosomal antigen of Drosophila melanogaster by indirect immunofluorescence and identifies two proteins, with apparent molecular weights of 185 x 10³ and 66 x 10³, on Western blots. We have used this antibody to isolate five clones (λcs1, -2, -3, -4 and λj63) from λgt11 expression libraries of Drosophila DNA. Using polyclonal anti-centrosomal sera raised against both immunoaffinity-purified Bx63 antigen and electrophoretically purified fusion protein from clone λcs3, we have demonstrated that the fusion proteins encoded by four of these clones (λcs1-4) share at least two epitopes with the 185 x 10³ M_r centrosomal antigen. This indicates that clones λcs1-4 contain DNA from the gene coding for this protein. The four clones are independent isolates from a single chromosomal site, which we show by in situ hybridization to correspond with salivary gland chromosome region 88E 4-8. A low-abundance transcript of approximately 4.0 x 10³ bases corresponding to the cloned gene is detected in all stages of the Drosophila life-cycle

Modulation of Macrophage Efferocytosis in Inflammation

A critical function of macrophages within the inflammatory milieu is the removal of dying cells by a specialized phagocytic process called efferocytosis (“to carry to the grave”). Through specific receptor engagement and induction of downstream signaling, efferocytosing macrophages promote resolution of inflammation by (i) efficiently engulfing dying cells, thus avoiding cellular disruption and release of inflammatory contents, and (ii) producing anti-inflammatory mediators such as IL-10 and TGF-β that dampen pro-inflammatory responses. Evidence suggests that plasticity in macrophage programming, in response to changing environmental cues, modulates efferocytic capability. Essential to programming for enhanced efferocytosis is activation of the nuclear receptors PPARγ, PPARδ, LXR, and possibly RXRα. Additionally, a number of signals in the inflammatory milieu, including those from dying cells themselves, can influence efferocytic efficacy either by acting as immediate inhibitors/enhancers or by altering macrophage programming for longer-term effects. Importantly, sustained inflammatory programming of macrophages can lead to defective apoptotic cell clearance and is associated with development of autoimmunity and other chronic inflammatory disorders. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the multiple factors that modulate macrophage efferocytic ability and highlights emerging therapeutic targets with significant potential for limiting chronic inflammation