Challenging Institutional Theory’s Critical Credentials

Institutional theory’s claim to be critical rings hollow. Not only does the theory lack an emancipatory agenda but most institutional studies privilege agentic power over hegemonic. Even when engaging with ‘grand challenges’ institutional theorists are inclined to overlook larger structures of domination in favour of focusing on smaller, more manageable issues. As a result, institutional theorists run the risk of becoming complicit in the reification and legitimation of structures of domination. A process of self-critique must be initiated in order to recognize the role institutional theory is playing in this process

About Time Too: Online News and Changing Temporal Structures in the Newspaper Industry

We examine how changes in information and communication technologies (ICTs) become implicated in temporal shifts within organizations. Specifically, we explore how the established temporal structures associated with the production of news are changing as news organizations expand their strategies from only printing traditional newspapers to also publishing online news. We identify a number of shifts in temporal structures in such organizations, and describe how these reflect neither technological necessity nor autonomous managerial strategy, but are constituted in and through the everyday work practices of editors and journalists, as these are shaped by the online medium. Our analysis suggests a number of important implications for understanding the temporality of ICT-mediated change in organizations

From Patañjali to the “Gospel of Sweat”: Yoga’s Remarkable Transformation from a Sacred Movement into a Thriving Global Market

Movements seeking to infuse markets with moral values often end up utilizing the market mechanism and support from mainstream actors to scale up, even if it comes at the cost of diluting their founding ethos. But this process can be particularly challenging for movements that are explicitly opposed to using a market mechanism as a means of scaling up. Our analysis of yoga between 1975 and 2016 reveals how a countercultural movement fundamentally opposed to a capitalist market economy but seeking to grow can paradoxically become syncretic with or infiltrated by concepts and beliefs that are core to the market system but incompatible with the movement’s original ethos. We show how, before such a movement can be commodified, it must be de-essentialized, a process that requires stripping away key aspects of its history, context, and religious commitments and transforming collective goals into individual ones. This process involves not only external entrepreneurs looking to mine the movement but also movement leaders seeking wider enrollment of resource-rich actors to scale the movement up. We show how codes borrowed from parallel movements and templates borrowed from markets can be instrumental in driving such a movement’s transformation. Through this extreme case of the yoga movement, we advance understandings of how movements can become syncretic with values and practices they fundamentally oppose

Comparison of Outcomes of Topical Anesthesia with Peribulbar Anesthesia in Vitrectomy for Unresolving Vitreous Hemorrhage

OBJECTIVES: To compare the Surgeon's ease level and duration of surgery in topical anesthesia with peribulbar anesthesia for vitrectomy without sedation in patients with unresolving vitreous hemorrhage of duration greater than 3 months. METHODOLOGY: A randomized controlled trial was carried out at the Department of Ophthalmology, Lahore General Hospital, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore from October 2017 to September 2018. A total of 110 patients were equally divided (n=55) in group A (topical anesthesia) and group B (peribulbar anesthesia) by lottery method. In group A, 0.5% proparacaine hydrochloride eye drops were instilled into the conjunctival sac every 3 minutes preoperatively 5 times before surgery. For group B patients, 5cc injection consisting of 2.5ml of 0.5% bupivacaine and 2.5ml of 1% lidocaine was injected thirty minutes before surgery. Surgical time was noted from first incision to enter the eye for vitrectomy till application of last closing suture. Surgeon ease was recorded with a 4 Grade scale. All data was recorded, entered, and analyzed by SPSS version 25.0. Continuous variables were presented as mean, standard deviation and independent t-test was applied. RESULTS:  The mean age of the patient was 43.83±9.76 years. Male cases were 78 (70.9%) and female cases were 32 (29.1%). Mean duration of surgery was 30.32±7.07 minutes and the surgeon’s ease was 2.30±0.98. There was a significant difference (P<0.05) with respect to mean duration of surgery and surgeon’s ease level in patients who were given topical anesthesia (28.12±6.57 minutes and 3.11±0.90) versus peribulbar anesthesia (32.52±6.92 minutes and 2.67±0.90). CONCLUSION: Topical anesthesia without sedation is better than peribulbar anesthesia for vitrectomy without sedation in patients with unresolving vitreous hemorrhage of duration greater than 3 months

A novel hook-shaped antenna operating at 28 ghz for future 5g mmwave applications

To address atmospheric attenuation and path loss issues in the mmwave portion of the spectrum, high gain and narrow beam antenna systems are essential for the next generation communication networks. This paper presents a novel hook-shaped antenna array for 28 GHz 5G mmwave applications. The proposed antenna was fabricated on commercially available Rogers 5880 substrate with thickness of 0.508 mm and dimensions of 10 x 8 mm2. The proposed shape consists of a circle with an arc-shaped slot on top of it and T-shaped resonating lengths are introduced in order to attain broad band characteristics having gain of 3.59 dBi with radiation and total efficiency of 92% and 86% for single element. The proposed structure is transformed into a four-element array with total size of 26.9 x 18.5 mm2 in order to increase the gain up to 10.3 dBi at desired frequency of interest. The four-element array is designed such that it exhibits dual-beam response over the entire band of interest and the simulated results agree with fabricated prototype measurements. The proposed antenna array, because of its robustness, high gain, and dual-beam characteristics can be considered as a potential candidate for the next generation 5G communication systems

Plant responses and tolerance to high temperature stress: role of exogenous phytoprotectants

Among the abiotic stresses high temperature stress is one of the most detrimental stresses threatening higher plant productivity and survival throughout the world. Each degree Celsius increase of average growing season temperature may decrease crop yield and affect plant distribution. On the other hand, global average temperatures are supposed to increase from 1.8 to 4.0 °C or higher by 2100 as compared to the 1980–2000 average. Plants are intimidated by adverse effects of high temperature stresses. Protein denaturation, inactivation of enzymes, production of reactive oxygen species, and disruption of membrane structure are some of the primary damage effects of high temperature that are also responsible for damage of ultrastructural cellular components. These anomalies hamper plant growth and development. Although higher plants develop their own defense strategies to overcome the high temperature stress effects, these often are not enough, therefore substantial damage is observed. The metabolism in plants is altered in response to high temperature stress. The antioxidants, secondary metabolites, hormones, osmoprotectants, and many other essential biomolecules are modulated, which help to defend against high temperature impacts. Moreover, numerous studies have proved that as protectants the exogenously applied hormones, osmoregulators, antioxidants, signaling molecules, polyamines, and trace elements confer high temperature stress tolerance in the organisms. This chapter presents the responses of plants to high temperature stress and evaluates the role of exogenous protectants under high temperature stress

Effectiveness of the Drought-tolerant Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) that Supports Paddy Growth in Drought Condition

Drought stress is the primary constraint on plant-based food production, particularly paddy production. Several studies have examined plant resistance to heat and osmotic pressure. This study aimed to isolate bacteria with plant growth-promoting properties that could tolerate high temperatures and improve paddy growth during drought. Five isolates with a high optical density value (OD600) at 30% PEG 6000 (equivalent to -1.03MPa) and able to grow at high temperatures were identified based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences as Achromobacter spanius UKM UR10, Bacillus pumillus UKM UR11, Bacillus cereus UKM R66, and Bacillus altitudinis UKM RB11, which were isolated from the root, where as Bacillus sp. UKM S8 was isolated from rhizosphere soil. These isolates exhibited 1-amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activities ranging between 1.01 and 1.12 mmol α-ketobutyrate mg-1 protein h-1, which degraded ACC to α-ketobutyrate and ammonia. Other plant growth promoters assessed include indole acetic acid (IAA; concentration between 9.69 and 13.15µg/ml) and phosphate solubilization (concentrations between 31.74 and 51.30 mg/l) production. Subsequently, the selected plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) were incorporated as a consortium and inoculated on paddy seeds, thus increasing total chlorophyll, proline, and soluble sugar content in paddy subjected to drought-stress conditions. Paddy yield components and performances, such as panicle number, spikelet number, dry grain weight, number of leaves, stalk length, and root length increased significantly. This isolated PGPR exhibits heat resistance, promotes plant growth, and can serve as an inoculant for paddy plants under drought conditions