Toward a Process Theory of Making Sustainability Strategies Legitimate in Action

We draw on a three-year qualitative study of the processual dynamics of implementing a sustainability strategy alongside an existing mainstream competitive strategy. We show that despite the legitimacy of the sustainability strategy at the organizational level, actors experience tensions with its implementation at the action level vis-à-vis the mainstream strategy, thus creating the potential for decoupling. Our findings show that working through these tensions on specific tasks, enables actors to legitimate the sustainability strategy in action and to co-enact it with the mainstream strategy within those tasks. Cumulatively, multiple instances of such co-enactment at the action level reinforce the organizational-level legitimacy of the sustainability strategy and its integration with the mainstream strategy. We draw these findings together into a dynamic process model that contributes to the literature on integration of dual strategies at the action and organizational levels as a process of legitimacy making

Teamwork Quality and Team Performance: Exploring Differences Between Small and Large Agile Projects

Agile principles were originally developed for small projects but are now widely used in larger projects with hundreds of developers. Teamwork quality is essential in any development work, but how does teamwork quality differ in small and large agile projects? We report from an explorative survey with 64 agile teams and 320 team members and team leaders, from 31 teams in small projects and 33 teams in large projects. For small projects, teamwork quality was considered by both team members and team leaders to primarily affect product quality. For large projects, the effect of teamwork quality on product quality was positive when it was rated by team members but was negative when rated by team leaders. At a finer granularity, the six dimensions of teamwork quality that we investigated affected team performance differently in small and large projects. These findings question to what extent findings from previous studies on teamwork in agile development in small projects apply to large projects.publishedVersio

Agile at scale : a summary of the 8th International Workshop on Large-Scale Agile Development

The Large-Scale Agile Development workshop explored the main research challenges in large-scale software development. We considered multi-site organisations with large-scale projects that include a large number of teams adopting agile methods. Such topics include inter-team coordination, knowledge sharing, large project organisation, agile transformation, agile teamwork quality, project models that facilitate several self-organising teams, and practices for scaling agile methods. We accepted five full research papers, which are included in this volume. The accepted papers report empirical research studies using surveys, observations and case studies. Also, an interactive online discussion session was conducted to compare the two approaches, SAFe and Spotify. The workshop participants, which were around a hundred people, joined this discussion to compare the two approaches and suggest some future research questions about the hybridisation of SAFe and Spotify. This workshop summary contributes as a current snapshot of research along with some results from an interactive discussion about SAFe and Spotify

Improved ventricular function during inhalation of PGI(2) aerosol partly relies on enhanced myocardial contractility

Inhaled prostacyclin (PGI(2)) aerosol induces selective pulmonary vasodilation. Further, it improves right ventricular ( RV) function, which may largely rely on pulmonary vasodilation, but also on enhanced myocardial contractility. We investigated the effects of the inhaled PGI(2) analogs epoprostenol (EPO) and iloprost (ILO) on RV function and myocardial contractility in 9 anesthetized pigs receiving aerosolized EPO (25 and 50 ng center dot kg(-1) center dot min(-1)) and, consecutively, ILO (60 ng center dot kg(-1) center dot min(-1)) for 20 min each. We measured pulmonary artery pressure ( PAP), RV ejection fraction (RVEF) and RV end-diastolic-volume (RV-EDV), and left ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume-relation (end-systolic elastance, E-es). EPO and ILO reduced PAP, increased RVEF and reduced RVEDV. E-es was enhanced during all doses tested, which reached statistical significance during EPO25ng and ILO, but not during EPO50ng. PGI(2) aerosol enhances myocardial contractility in healthy pigs, contributing to improve RV function. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

Innovator resilience potential: A process perspective of individual resilience as influenced by innovation project termination

Innovation projects fail at an astonishing rate. Yet, the negative effects of innovation project failures on the team members of these projects have been largely neglected in research streams that deal with innovation project failures. After such setbacks, it is vital to maintain or even strengthen project members’ innovative capabilities for subsequent innovation projects. For this, the concept of resilience, i.e. project members’ potential to positively adjust (or even grow) after a setback such as an innovation project failure, is fundamental. We develop the second-order construct of innovator resilience potential, which consists of six components – self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, optimism, hope, self-esteem, and risk propensity – that are important for project members’ potential of innovative functioning in innovation projects subsequent to a failure. We illustrate our theoretical findings by means of a qualitative study of a terminated large-scale innovation project, and derive implications for research and management

Orexin Receptor Antagonism, a New Sleep-Enabling Paradigm: A Proof-of-Concept Clinical Trial

Peer reviewe

Human resource allocation management in multiple projects using sociometric techniques

This article describes a new application of key psychological concepts in the area of Sociometry for the selection of workers within organizations in which projects are developed. The project manager can use a new procedure to determine which individuals should be chosen from a given pool of resources and how to combine them into one or several simultaneous groups/projects in order to assure the highest possible overall work efficiency from the standpoint of social interaction. The optimization process was carried out by means of matrix calculations performed using a computer or even manually, and based on a number of new ratios generated ad-hoc and composed on the basis of indices frequently used in Sociometry

Use of near-infrared light to reduce symptoms associated with restless legs syndrome in a woman: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>We describe a potential new treatment option for patients suffering from restless legs syndrome. Contemporary treatment for restless legs syndrome consists mostly of dopaminergic drugs that leave some patients feeling nauseated and dizzy. A non-invasive, drug-free option would open new doors for patients suffering from restless legs syndrome.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 69-year-old Caucasian woman met International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group criteria for the diagnosis of restless legs syndrome. She had been afflicted with restless legs syndrome for over 30 years and tried many of the available pharmaceutical remedies without success. For this study she received 30-minute treatment sessions with near-infrared light, three times a week for four weeks. The restless legs syndrome rating scale was used to track symptom changes; at baseline she scored "27" on the 0 to 40 point scale, which is considered to be "severe". Our patient was almost symptom free at week two, indicated by a score of "2" on the rating scale. By week four she was completely symptom free. The symptoms slowly returned during week three post treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings suggest that near-infrared light may be a feasible method for treating patients suffering from restless legs syndrome. Undesirable side-effects from medication are non-existent. This study might revive the neglected vascular mechanism theory behind restless legs syndrome and encourage further research into this area.</p

Influence of firm size on the competencies required to management engineers in the Jordanian telecommunications sector

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Engineering Education on [13 jun 2016], available online:http://www.tandfonline.com/ doi/abs/10.1080/03043797.2016.1197890.[EN] The objective of this study is to identify the competencies required to achieve success in the transition from higher education to the labour market based on the perceptions of employers. This paper analyses the assessments made by a group of engineering company employers. An item-battery of 20 competencies was grouped into 3 dimensions by using factor analysis. Subsequently, respondents scores were also clustered into three groups and characterised through contingency tables. The competencies demanded by employers were grouped into business and finance, problem-solving and strategic planning. Significant differences were found between responses from employers working in medium and small companies, who placed more importance on competencies related to problem-solving and strategic planning, and employers in big companies, who were more concerned about the difficulties of finding well-trained graduates. The findings from this paper have important implications for research in the areas of higher education and organisations that usually employ graduate engineers.The authors would like to thank the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) [Tempus program. Project number 511074] of the European Commission for providing funding for conducting this study. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Conchado Peiró, A.; Bas Cerdá, MDC.; Gharaibeh, KM.; Kaylani, H. (2016). 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