Leadership in a post-merger context: The importance of people skills over politics

Drawing on the merger and CEO succession literature as well as on findings from research on organizational change, this study examines what leadership issues drive success in a post-merger context. Our data from 45 recently merged units within a cooperative bank in Europe indicate that the people skills of the newly appointed top manager matter most. Specifically, his/her integration ability followed by the ability to positively influence the internal working environment are significantly correlated with post-merger success. Politics in terms of whether the top manager had a track record inside or outside the organization did not appear to be important.management and organization theory ;

New Measurement of the Electron Magnetic Moment and the Fine Structure Constant

A measurement using a one-electron quantum cyclotron gives the electron magnetic moment in Bohr magnetons, g/2 = 1.001 159 652 180 73 (28) [0.28 ppt], with an uncertainty 2.7 and 15 times smaller than for previous measurements in 2006 and 1987. The electron is used as a magnetometer to allow lineshape statistics to accumulate, and its spontaneous emission rate determines the correction for its interaction with a cylindrical trap cavity. The new measurement and QED theory determine the fine structure constant, with alpha^{-1} = 137.035 999 084 (51) [0.37 ppb], and an uncertainty 20 times smaller than for any independent determination of alpha.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Cavity Control of a Single-Electron Quantum Cyclotron:\\Measuring the Electron Magnetic Moment

Measurements with a one-electron quantum cyclotron determine the electron magnetic moment, given by $g/2 = 1.001\,159\,652\,180\,73\,(28)\,[0.28~\textrm{ppt}]$, and the fine structure constant, $\alpha^{-1}=137.035\,999\,084\,(51)\,[0.37~\textrm{ppb}]$. Brief announcements of these measurements are supplemented here with a more complete description of the one-electron quantum cyclotron and the new measurement methods, a discussion of the cavity control of the radiation field, a summary of the analysis of the measurements, and a fuller discussion of the uncertainties

‘Who really speaks like that?’– Children’s implicit and explicit attitudes towards multilingual speakers of Dutch

This study investigates children’sexplicitand implicit language attitudes in a highly diverse primary education. Set in the bilingual province of Fryslân, the Netherlands, the current research was carried out in the scope of the 3M-project (‘More opportunities with multilingualism’: Duarte & Günther-van der Meij, 2018a. A holistic model for multilingualism in education. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 5(2), 24–43. https://doi.org/ 10.21283/2376905X.9.153), wherein pupils’ home languages are used as a resource to promote multilingualism and thereby facilitate learning. We examined socially significant language attitudes and children’s stereotypes towards prevalent minority and migrant languages. Participants consisted of 93 pupils (aged 7–12). They completed questionnaires to assess their explicit attitudes towards majority, migrant and minority languages. Additionally, 137 pupils performed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the relative attitudes of standard Dutch versus (1) the regional minority language (Frisian) and versus (2) a salient migrant language (Moroccan Arabic). Questionnaire results show significantly lower ratings for Moroccan Arabic and ‘other languages’ compared to Dutch, English and Frisian. Implicit results revealed a larger and significant preference for Dutch over Moroccan-Dutch accents and a smaller, non-significant, preference for Dutch over Frisian accents. Our results suggest a need for primary schools to explicitly address issues related to children’s attitudes towards different languages and accents

Learning with a Drifting Target Concept

We study the problem of learning in the presence of a drifting target concept. Specifically, we provide bounds on the error rate at a given time, given a learner with access to a history of independent samples labeled according to a target concept that can change on each round. One of our main contributions is a refinement of the best previous results for polynomial-time algorithms for the space of linear separators under a uniform distribution. We also provide general results for an algorithm capable of adapting to a variable rate of drift of the target concept. Some of the results also describe an active learning variant of this setting, and provide bounds on the number of queries for the labels of points in the sequence sufficient to obtain the stated bounds on the error rates

Temperature induced solubility transitions of various poly(2-oxazoline)s in ethanol-water solvent mixtures

The solution behavior of a series of poly(2-oxazoline)s with different side chains, namely methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, isopropyl, n-butyl, isobutyl, pentyl, hexyl, heptyl, octyl, nonyl, phenyl and benzyl, are reported in ethanol-water solvent mixtures based on turbidimetry investigations. The LCST transitions of poly(2-oxazoline) s with propyl side chains and the UCST transitions of the poly(2-oxazoline) s with more hydrophobic side chains are discussed in relation to the ethanol-water solvent composition and structure. The poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) s with side chains longer than propyl only dissolved during the first heating run, which is discussed and correlated to the melting transition of the polymers

Apparatus to control and visualize the impact of a high-energy laser pulse on a liquid target

We present an experimental apparatus to control and visualize the response of a liquid target to a laser-induced vaporization. We use a millimeter-sized drop as target and present two liquid-dye solutions that allow a variation of the absorption coefficient of the laser light in the drop by seven orders of magnitude. The excitation source is a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at its frequency-doubled wavelength emitting nanosecond pulses with energy densities above the local vaporization threshold. The absorption of the laser energy leads to a large-scale liquid motion at timescales that are separated by several orders of magnitude, which we spatiotemporally resolve by a combination of ultra-high-speed and stroboscopic high-resolution imaging in two orthogonal views. Surprisingly, the large-scale liquid motion at upon laser impact is completely controlled by the spatial energy distribution obtained by a precise beam-shaping technique. The apparatus demonstrates the potential for accurate and quantitative studies of laser-matter interactions.Comment: Submitted to Review of Scientific Instrument

Thermoresponsive poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers exhibiting two cloud points: complex multistep assembly behavior

Aqueous solutions of poly(2-oxazoline) block copolymers consisting of a 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline block and a block consisting of a random copolymer of 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline and 2-n-propyl-2-oxazoline (PEtOx-block-P(EtOx-stat-PropOx)) have been studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), and turbidimetry. Even at temperatures significantly below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), polymer unimers are found to coexist with a few large aggregates with an open structure. When heated, the systems exhibit an intricate transmittance behavior whereby the samples becomes visually clear again after an initial cloud point and then exhibit a second cloud point at even higher temperatures. The DLS data indicate that the aggregates formed around the first cloud point restructure and fragment into smaller micelle-like structures ascribed to further dehydration of the more hydrophobic PPropOx containing block, causing the samples to become optically clear again. The observed fragmentation is confirmed by the SLS experiments. At even higher temperatures, both blocks become hydrophobic, causing the formation of large, compact aggregates, resulting in a second cloud point

Early Category-Specific Cortical Activation Revealed by Visual Stimulus Inversion

Visual categorization may already start within the first 100-ms after stimulus onset, in contrast with the long-held view that during this early stage all complex stimuli are processed equally and that category-specific cortical activation occurs only at later stages. The neural basis of this proposed early stage of high-level analysis is however poorly understood. To address this question we used magnetoencephalography and anatomically-constrained distributed source modeling to monitor brain activity with millisecond-resolution while subjects performed an orientation task on the upright and upside-down presented images of three different stimulus categories: faces, houses and bodies. Significant inversion effects were found for all three stimulus categories between 70–100-ms after picture onset with a highly category-specific cortical distribution. Differential responses between upright and inverted faces were found in well-established face-selective areas of the inferior occipital cortex and right fusiform gyrus. In addition, early category-specific inversion effects were found well beyond visual areas. Our results provide the first direct evidence that category-specific processing in high-level category-sensitive cortical areas already takes place within the first 100-ms of visual processing, significantly earlier than previously thought, and suggests the existence of fast category-specific neocortical routes in the human brain