Tackling strategic simultaneity: What NATO could do to adapt to the new multitude of threats

NATO is facing an unprecedented geostrategic environment characterized by simultaneous threats: Russian revisionism, the rise of China, the related problem of coping with threats in the cyber domain, and persistent challenges emanating from the southern flank. This article applies insights from the literature on organizational ambidexterity to provide a fresh perspective on how NATO could adapt to strategic simultaneity. Exisiting organizational ambidexterity literature focuses on the corporate challenge of striking a balance between exploiting existing markets and technologies, and exploring new ones altogether. In essence, strategic simultaneity demands that NATO do the same. NATO must cope with well-known and less-known threats and strike the right balance between effectiveness in handling known problems and innovation in coping with new ones. The article extracts three key categories from the strategic ambidexterity research: unified senior leadership; separate organizational units for exploitation and innovation; and a strategic approach to pursuing innovation through external partnerships. Applying these to NATO, it argues that, in order to become more ambidextrous, the organization’s major countries must unite around a vision that both places simultaneity at the center and is conducive to a balanced investment in tackling all four major challenges. While Allied Command Transformation (ACT) must be maintained as a distinct organizational unit, much stronger bridges must be built between ACT and the other commands. Further, NATO Centers of Excellence and external partnerships must be used in a more targeted way as sources of innovation and new ideas.publishedVersio

Suitability of dust and bioaerosols from a pig stable as inoculum for biological air filters

[Abstract] Biofiltration for removing ammonia and odour compounds from ventilation air of pig stables is a promising approach. In order to reduce the time for starting up a well-functioning biofilter a good inoculum suited for the environment is needed. In this study the microbial identity and quantity of dust and bioaerosols coming from a pig stable were analyzed for its suitability as inoculum. Inoculation of biofilters with dust had similar good ammonia removal capabilities as biofilters inoculated with activated sludge, although analysis of the microbial dust community revealed clear differences. The organic fraction of the dust particles seems to be important for mediating biofilm development on the filter material

VALUE POSITIONS IN E-GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES: SOMETHING IS (NOT) CHANGING IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

Clarifying what value new information systems (IS) may help to create for government organizations and society is a central concern in the public sector. National e-government strategies present such efforts to clarify the value entailed by IS, however, what is considered valuable is influenced by value positions deeply enshrined in the traditions of public administration. We present a theory directed content analysis of value positions in the national e-government strategy for Denmark published for the first time in 1994 and latest in 2016. Our comparison of the value positions in the two e-government strategies show consistency over time when looking at the ideals of professionalism, ser-vice, and efficiency. While the least dominant ideal of engagement, has declined. The 22-year timespan separating the development of these two strategies had major technological advances, but little transformational impact on Danish e-government strategies in their general value positions. We discuss how our findings contribute to previous research on values in e-government and have practical implications for working with e-government strategies

Microcontainers as an oral delivery system for spray dried cubosomes containing ovalbumin

Available online 18 December 2016Abstract not availableLine Hagner Nielsen, Thomas Rades, Ben Boyd, Anja Boise