The Corporate Character Ethical Value Structure: Construct Definition, Measurement, Validation and Relationship to Organizational Commitment

The corporate character value structure consists of ethical values applied in a business setting arranged in a two dimensional matrix presented here as the Corporate Character Ethical Value Matrix, or CC-EVM. The two matrix dimensions are: behavior-types defined as either (1)custodial or (2)proactive; and behavior targets (1)task, (2)consideration-specific, directed toward a specific relationship, or (3)consideration-general, directed at generalized relationships or the organization. The current research developed the matrix to define and classify the six values presented by The Character Counts Coalition’s (1993) as core “pillars” of character: trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, caring, fairness and citizenship. The theoretical background for this matrix was built from the organizational trust and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literatures, and the business ethics literature. The study tested the uniqueness of these six constructs using items developed from established measures that were combined as one instrument with items developed based on Character Counts Coalition statements. Factor analysis of student (n=324) responses explored the existence of theorized dimensions underlying the established trust and OCB measures. Item reduction eliminated items failing to discriminate between factors, and five factors emerged. The first factor contained items from McAlister\u27s (1995) cognitive-based trust measure and Van Dyne, Graham, and Dienesch’s (1994) obedience measure. The second and third factors contained items from Van Dyne et al.’s advocacy and loyalty measures respectively. The fourth and fifth factors expressed concern for friends and country, and contained items developed from the Character Counts Coalition. Reliable (alpha \u3e.80) scales from the factor items allowed further testing for inferences about the scales validity using personality and demographic measures. Findings show support for the behavior-targets dimension of the CC-EVM. The first factor corresponded to the task target. The advocacy and loyalty measures corresponded to the consideration-specific and consideration-general targets. The friends and country scales failed to exhibit predicted relationships. The five measures were regressed against measures provided by an insurance agency industry sample (n=112) of organizational commitment and shared ethical values. The strongest relationship emerged between consideration-general (loyalty) and organizational commitment. No support emerged for the behavior-types dimension. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed

Bulk, rare earth and other trace elements in Apollo 14 and 15 and Luna 16 samples

The chemical abundances were measured by instrumental and radiochemical neutron activation analysis in a variety of lunar specimens. Apollo 14 soils are characterized by significant enrichments of Al2O3, Na2O and K2O and depletions of TiO2, FeO, MnO and Cr2O3 relative to Apollo 11 and to most of Apollo 12 soils. The uniform abundances in 14230 core tube soils and three other Apollo 14 soils indicate that the regolith is uniform to at least 22 cm depth and within approximately 200 m from the lunar module. Two Luna 16 breccias are similar in composition to Luna 16 soils. Four Apollo 15 soils (LM, STA 4, 9, and 9a) have variable compositions. Interelement correlations between MnO-FeO, Sc-FeO, V-Cr2O3 and K2O-Hf negate the hypothesis that howardite achondrites may be primitive lunar matter, argue against the fission hypothesis for the origin of the moon, and precludes any selective large scale volatilization of alkalies during lunar magmatic events

Validity of the Brunet-Derrida formula for the speed of pulled fronts with a cutoff

We establish rigorous upper and lower bounds for the speed of pulled fronts with a cutoff. We show that the Brunet-Derrida formula corresponds to the leading order expansion in the cut-off parameter of both the upper and lower bounds. For sufficiently large cut-off parameter the Brunet-Derrida formula lies outside the allowed band determined from the bounds. If nonlinearities are neglected the upper and lower bounds coincide and are the exact linear speed for all values of the cut-off parameter.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Relaxation times for Hamiltonian systems

Usually, the relaxation times of a gas are estimated in the frame of the Boltzmann equation. In this paper, instead, we deal with the relaxation problem in the frame of the dynamical theory of Hamiltonian systems, in which the definition itself of a relaxation time is an open question. We introduce a lower bound for the relaxation time, and give a general theorem for estimating it. Then we give an application to a concrete model of an interacting gas, in which the lower bound turns out to be of the order of magnitude of the relaxation times observed in dilute gases.Comment: 26 page

On a Conjecture of Goriely for the Speed of Fronts of the Reaction--Diffusion Equation

In a recent paper Goriely considers the one--dimensional scalar reaction--diffusion equation $u_t = u_{xx} + f(u)$ with a polynomial reaction term $f(u)$ and conjectures the existence of a relation between a global resonance of the hamiltonian system $u_{xx} + f(u) = 0$ and the asymptotic speed of propagation of fronts of the reaction diffusion equation. Based on this conjecture an explicit expression for the speed of the front is given. We give a counterexample to this conjecture and conclude that additional restrictions should be placed on the reaction terms for which it may hold.Comment: 9 pages Revtex plus 4 postcript figure