Restoring Confidence: A Qualitative Study of the Experience of Interim Commanding Officers in U.S. Navy Operational Units

Commanding officers in the United States Navy are entrusted by law with absolute authority, responsibility, and accountability. Despite a rigorous selection process, some commanding officers are relieved of command every year. In many cases, these commanding officers are replaced by interim commanding officers, leaders selected to fill the job for short periods of time. There is a gap in leadership literature about the phenomenon of interim command leadership in the Navy. This study investigated interim commanding officers\u27 experiences of taking command following the deliberate removal of the unit\u27s previous commanding officer. A review of current literature on the subjects of command at sea, leadership, organizational culture, and leading planned change in organizations was conducted to develop a basis for understanding existing theories about challenges facing incoming leaders, effective leadership behaviors to generate change within an organization, and recommended strategies for effecting organizational change. A qualitative research methodology was used to provide rich detail about the experiences of interim commanding officers and to develop theories grounded in the data. Eleven former Navy interim commanding officers were interviewed to obtain data to answer the following research questions: (1) What were the experiences and leadership challenges faced by interim commanding officers? (2) Which experiences, if any, differed from their first command tour? (3) What observations were made by interim commanding officers about the organizational culture and morale of the wardroom upon their arrival and departure from the unit? (4) Which leadership behaviors and strategies, if any, did interim commanding officers find useful to change the organizational culture and morale of the wardroom? The findings suggested that: (a) interim commanding officers experienced a higher degree of confidence entering the assignment than on their first command tour, (b) the unknown and not knowing who among the crew they could trust were challenges, (c) effects on the wardroom varied with severity of the incident, the crew\u27s perceived association with the event, and remoteness factors, and (d) that by modeling desired behaviors and focusing on communication, interim commanding officers restored confidence in leadership and mission readiness to the wardroom, the crew and external stakeholders

RFID-enabled Warehouse Process Optimization in the TPL Industry

Using the value chain model and a longitudinal real-world case study of a third-party logistics (TPL) supply chain, this study provides support for the enabling role of RFID technology in effecting warehouse process optimization. Furthermore, the findings of our study reveal the RFID technology implementation costs as the key inhibitors factor of RFID widespread adoption and usage among suppliers

Exploration of provider exercise prescriptions and exercise referrals to place or professional: A pilot survey research study

Background: Physical inactivity contributes to roughly $28 billion in annual US health care expenditures, although few US-based providers write exercise prescriptions (EPs). Little research has explored the practice of provider referrals to places for exercise as part of an EP or part of general exercise counseling, despite the known relationship between place and health. The purpose of this pilot study, conducted with Northeast Ohio-based providers, was to assess a new instrument designed to explore provider practices related to EP and referral to place and professional.Methods: The 88-item survey combined standardized and new items to fully address the purpose. Providers were surveyed via paper and online methods. Logistic regression was conducted to explore factors related to referrals to a specific place or exercise professional.Results: Of 166 providers who completed the survey, 14.8% of prescribed exercise to patients and 54.3% referred patients to an exercise professional or specific place. Logistic regression analysis suggested that physicians who prescribed exercise were more likely to provide a referral to professional or place (OR = 6.12, 95% CI = 1.36 – 27.47) while physicians who had accurate knowledge of exercise recommendations were less likely to provide a referral to a professional or place (OR = 0.15, 95% CI = 0.04 – 0.57).Conclusions: A key reason for failure to prescribe place-based exercise referrals was provider unfamiliarity with convenient and safelocations other than health system owned fitness facilities, so provision of exercise location resources for providers potentially willincrease use of EPs

Nitric acid scavenging by mineral and biomass burning aerosols

The abundance of gas phase nitric acid in the upper troposphere is overestimated by global chemistry-transport models, especially during the spring and summer seasons. Recent aircraft data obtained over the central US show that mineral aerosols were abundant in the upper troposphere during spring. Chemical reactions on mineral dust may provide an important sink for nitric acid. In regions where the mineral dust abundance is low in the upper troposphere similar HNO3 removal processes may occur on biomass burning aerosols. We propose that mineral and biomass burning aerosols may provide an important global sink for gas phase nitric acid, particularly during spring and summer when aerosol composition in the upper troposphere may be greatly affected by dust storms from east Asia or tropical biomass burning plumes

Modeling the effect of plume-rise on the transport of carbon monoxide over Africa and its exports with NCAR CAM

International audienceWe investigated the effects of fire-induced plume-rise on the predicted export of carbon monoxide (CO) over Africa during SAFARI 2000 using the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) with a CO tracer and plume-rise parameterization scheme. The plume-rise parameterization scheme simulates the consequences of strong buoyancy of hot gases emitted from biomass burning, including both dry and cloud-associated (pyrocumulus) lofting. The scheme was first adapted from a regional model. The current implementation of the plume-rise parameterization scheme into the global model provides an opportunity to examine the effect of plume-rise on long-range transport. The CAM simulation with the plume-rise parameterization scheme shows a substantial improvement of the agreements between the modeled and aircraft-measured vertical distribution of CO over southern Africa biomass burning area. The plume-rise mechanism plays a crucial role in lofting biomass burning pollutants to the middle troposphere. In the presence of deep convection we found that the plume-rise mechanism results in a decrease of CO concentration in the upper troposphere. The plume rise depletes the boundary layer, and thus leaves lower concentrations of CO to be lofted by the deep convection process. The effect of the plume-rise on free troposphere CO concentration is more important for the source area (short-distance transport) than for remote areas (long-distance transport). The plume-rise scheme also increases the CO export fluxes from Africa to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. These results further confirm and extend previous findings in a regional model study. Effective lofting of large concentration of CO by the plume-rise mechanism also has implication for local air quality forecast in areas affected by other fire-related pollutants

UK sustainable drainage systems: past, present and future

Urban drainage has developed from an engineering discipline, concerned principally with public health and safety outcomes, into a multifaceted vision linking drainage with environmental and wider social and economic imperatives to deliver multifunctional outcomes. UK attention is too often focused on surface water as ‘a problem’, despite international progress and initiatives showing that an ‘opportunity-centred’ approach needs to be taken. Sustainable drainage systems, or ‘Suds’, can, when they are part of an integrated approach to water management, cost-effectively provide many benefits beyond management of water quality and quantity. New tools are available that can design Suds for maximum value to society but this requires greater collaboration across disciplines to seize all of the opportunities available. This paper introduces those tools and a roadmap for their use, including guidance, design objectives and criteria for maximising benefits. These new supporting tools and guidance can help to provide a business case for greater use of Suds in future

Long-Term Stability of an Area-Reversible Atom-Interferometer Sagnac Gyroscope

We report on a study of the long-term stability and absolute accuracy of an atom interferometer gyroscope. This study included the implementation of an electro-optical technique to reverse the vector area of the interferometer for reduced systematics and a careful study of systematic phase shifts. Our data strongly suggests that drifts less than 96 $\mu$deg/hr are possible after empirically removing shifts due to measured changes in temperature, laser intensity, and several other experimental parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR