An overview of historical and contemporary concrete shells, their construction and factors in their general disappearance

Only through understanding why concrete shells’ loss in popularity over the course of modern history can designers be equipped with the skills to create and apply this type of construction. Through modifications to design processes, construction stages, material understanding and relevant formwork improvements will architects and designers be able to meet the demands of the 21st century and beyond. To understand why concrete shells are no longer commonly built is to understand its construction process. An amorphous material, the fundamental relationship between formwork and the resultant concrete shell needs to be raised, appreciated, understood and analyzed for a holistic understanding of concrete shells. Through understanding this, issues and factors affecting concrete shells can be tackled and designed out in reviving this type of structures because they can be efficient in structural performance, economical in cost and provide high aesthetic value. This paper discusses concrete shells as an architectural solution by asking the question to what constituted their popularity and factors that led to their demise in the modern age of technological advancement, construction process and environmental concerns. This paper presents a cultural perspective and an overview of seminal, historical and contemporary concrete shells so as to bring about a renaissance of such structures in our built environment once again because of all the benefits it can offer.</p

Become the best coach you can be: the role of coach training and coaching experience in workplace coaching quality and quality control

This paper explores whether coach training or coaching experience leads to better coaching quality and quality control. In two large studies, both coaches (N1 = 2267) and personnel managers who book coaches for their company (N2 = 754) answered questions about coaching quality and quality control. The results show that more coach training leads to not only a better self-perceived coaching quality (Study 1) but also a better other-perceived coaching-quality (Study 2); moreover, more coach training positively affects quality control. It is remarkable that coaching experience showed no significant relation regarding other-perceived coaching quality and quality control. Study 2 further revealed that references lead to more recommendations but not to a better coaching quality or quality control. Thus, coach training is an essential factor when selecting organizational coaches. Further research is needed to understand the impact of different approaches to coach trainings on coaching outcomes

Studies of a Ring-Cleaving Dioxygenase Illuminate the Role of Cholesterol Metabolism in the Pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the etiological agent of TB, possesses a cholesterol catabolic pathway implicated in pathogenesis. This pathway includes an iron-dependent extradiol dioxygenase, HsaC, that cleaves catechols. Immuno-compromised mice infected with a ΔhsaC mutant of M. tuberculosis H37Rv survived 50% longer than mice infected with the wild-type strain. In guinea pigs, the mutant disseminated more slowly to the spleen, persisted less successfully in the lung, and caused little pathology. These data establish that, while cholesterol metabolism by M. tuberculosis appears to be most important during the chronic stage of infection, it begins much earlier and may contribute to the pathogen's dissemination within the host. Purified HsaC efficiently cleaved the catecholic cholesterol metabolite, DHSA (3,4-dihydroxy-9,10-seconandrost-1,3,5(10)-triene-9,17-dione; kcat/Km = 14.4±0.5 µM−1 s−1), and was inactivated by a halogenated substrate analogue (partition coefficient<50). Remarkably, cholesterol caused loss of viability in the ΔhsaC mutant, consistent with catechol toxicity. Structures of HsaC:DHSA binary complexes at 2.1 Å revealed two catechol-binding modes: bidentate binding to the active site iron, as has been reported in similar enzymes, and, unexpectedly, monodentate binding. The position of the bicyclo-alkanone moiety of DHSA was very similar in the two binding modes, suggesting that this interaction is a determinant in the initial substrate-binding event. These data provide insights into the binding of catechols by extradiol dioxygenases and facilitate inhibitor design

Organizational culture of participation: Development and validation of a measure

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This article specifies the concept of &quot;Organizational Culture of Participation&quot; (OCP) as that part of an organizational culture which is linked to employee participation. Three OCP-types are distinguished by the way participation is promoted and supported in an organizational culture: (1) leader promoted, (2) employee promoted, and (3) institution promoted OCPs -all types are considered to have different processes and outcomes of employee participation. The OCP concept&apos;s relevance for research on employee participation and a first validation of this concept is described. For this we developed a measure of OCP and conducted an empirical study to analyze construct, discriminant and incremental validity. After presenting this study implications for future research and of practical relevance are derived. Terms of use: Documents in Beteiligungskultur: Entwicklung und Validierung eines Messinstruments Dieser Beitrag beschreibt das Konzept &quot;Beteiligungskultur&quot; als den Teil einer Organisationskultur, der mit der Mitarbeiterbeteiligung in Verbindung steht. Drei Typen der Beteiligungskultur werden danach unterschieden, welche Gruppe im Unternehmen als Promotor der Beteiligung agiert: (1) führungsgetragende, (2) mitarbeitergetragene und (3) institutionsgetragende Beteiligungskulturen. Diese Typen sind durch unterschiedliche Prozesse und Wirkungen der Mitarbeiterbeteiligung charakterisiert. Die Bedeutung des Konzepts &quot;Beteiligungskultur&quot; für die Forschung zur Mitarbeiterbeteiligung und eine erste Validierung dieses Konzepts werden in diesem Beitrag beschrieben. Dazu wurde ein Instrument zur Messung der Beteiligungskultur entwickelt und eine empirische Studie durchgeführt, um die Konstruktvalidität, die diskriminante und inkrementelle Validität zu ermitteln. Nach der Darstellung dieser Studie werden Implikationen für die zukünftige Forschung und die unternehmerische Praxis abgeleitet

Organizational Culture of Participation: Development and Validation of a Measure

This article specifies the concept of 'Organizational Culture of Participation' (OCP) as that part of an organizational culture which is linked to employee participation. Three OCP-types are distinguished by the way participation is promoted and supported in an organizational culture: (1) leader promoted, (2) employee promoted, and (3) institution promoted OCPs – all types are considered to have different processes and outcomes of employee participation. The OCP concept’s relevance for research on employee participation and a first validation of this concept is described. For this we developed a measure of OCP and conducted an empirical study to analyze construct, discriminant and incremental validity. After presenting this study implications for future research and of practical relevance are derived.Organizational Culture, Employee Participation, Organizational Commitment, Innovative Behavior, Psychological Ownership, Validation