Hybridity and power in the microfoundations of professional work

In this chapter the authors focus on the role of power associated with microfoundations of organizational hybridity. They develop a framework that illuminates how key sources of power based on Buchanan and Badham (2008) and French and Raven (1959) manifest at the level of everyday work practices. Using this framework, they draw on existing studies concerning hybridity in professional organizations to illustrate how different forms of power come into play when actors guided by different logics engage in day-to-day professional work. Overall, the authors suggest that more attention to how micro-level actors use different forms of power to support, hamper, or alter different mechanisms to manage tensions among competing logics in everyday work is critical to improving our understanding about the microfoundations of institutionalism

Temperature Stabilisation in Fischer-Tropsch Reactors Using Phase Change Material (PCM)

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.The Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction is a highly exothermic reaction. The high exothermicity combined with a high sensitivity of product selectivity to temperature, constitute the main challenges in the design of FT reactors. The use of micro-encapsulated- Phase Change Material (PCM) in conjunction with the supervisory temperature control mechanism has been suggested as an effective way of mitigating these challenges. A 2-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous, steady-state model, with the dissipation of the enthalpy of reaction into an isothermal PCM sink, in a fixed bed reactor is presented. Effective temperature control with the PCM shows a shift in thermodynamic equilibrium favouring the selectivity of C5 to the disadvantage of CH4 selectivity - a much desired outcome in the hydrocarbon Gas-to-Liquid industry

Phase Transitions in a Dusty Plasma with Two Distinct Particle Sizes

In semiconductor manufacturing, contamination due to particulates significantly decreases the yield and quality of device fabrication, therefore increasing the cost of production. Dust particle clouds can be found in almost all plasma processing environments including both plasma etching devices and in plasma deposition processes. Dust particles suspended within such plasmas will acquire an electric charge from collisions with free electrons in the plasma. If the ratio of inter-particle potential energy to the average kinetic energy is sufficient, the particles will form either a liquid structure with short range ordering or a crystalline structure with long range ordering. Otherwise, the dust particle system will remain in a gaseous state. Many experiments have been conducted over the past decade on such colloidal plasmas to discover the character of the systems formed, but more work is needed to fully understand these structures. The preponderance of previous experiments used monodisperse spheres to form complex plasma systems

Towards a Mech-Organic Perspective for Knowledge Sharing Networks in Organizations

We suggest that the development and sustainability of Knowledge Sharing (KS) networks requires an understanding of the interplay between Organizational structure (OS), communications network and KS practices in organizations. We suggest that the application of a fundamental social theory (e.g., The Elementary Theory of Social Structure) is a useful paradigm for understanding the development and management of KS networks from both a theoretical and an applied perspective. We argue that organizations need to design and manage legitimate network (i.e., formal) structure so that it can promote both the development and sustainability of shadow network (i.e., informal and “tacit”) structure. A Mech-Organic Perspective (MOP) based on an understanding of the mechanical (i.e., theoretical and/or applied) and organic (i.e., conceptual and/or subjective) components of communications network is introduced. Implications of MOP for the study, design, and management of learning organizations are discussed

Dusty Plasma Correlation Function Experiment

Dust particles immersed within a plasma environment, such as those in protostellar clouds, planetary rings or cometary environments, will acquire an electric charge. If the ratio of the inter-particle potential energy to the average kinetic energy is high enough the particles will form either a "liquid" structure with short-range ordering or a crystalline structure with long range ordering. Many experiments have been conducted over the past several years on such colloidal plasmas to discover the nature of the crystals formed, but more work is needed to fully understand these complex colloidal systems. Most previous experiments have employed monodisperse spheres to form Coulomb crystals. However, in nature (as well as in most plasma processing environments) the distribution of particle sizes is more randomized and disperse. This paper reports experiments which were carried out in a GEC rf reference cell modified for use as a dusty plasma system, using varying sizes of particles to determine the manner in which the correlation function depends upon the overall dust grain size distribution. (The correlation function determines the overall crystalline structure of the lattice.) Two dimensional plasma crystals were formed of assorted glass spheres with specific size distributions in an argon plasma. Using various optical techniques, the pair correlation function was determined and compared to those calculated numerically.Comment: 6 pages, Presented at COSPAR '0