Who was J. Robert Oppenheimer? Charisma and Complex Organization

Charismatic authority flourishes in places where some social scientists evidently do not expect to find it - in late modernity and in highly complex and instrumentally orientated technoscientific organizations. This paper documents and interprets participants' testimony about the workings of wartime Los Alamos in relation to the charisma of its Scientific Director. J. Robert Oppenheimer. We treat charisma as an interactional accomplishment, and examine its role in technoscientific organizations. Los Alamos was a hybrid place, positioned at the intersection of military, industrial and academic forms. Everyday life there was marked by a high degree of normative uncertainty. Structures of authority, communication and the division of labour were contested and unclear. The interactional constitution of Oppenheimer as charismatic enabled him to articulate, vouch for and, finally, come to embody a conception of legitimate organizational order as collegial, egalitarian and communicatively open. We offer concluding speculations about the continuing importance of charismatic authority in contemporary technoscientific organizations. Just as normative uncertainty is endemic in late modernity, so too, we argue, is charisma.History of Scienc

Managing ponds and lakes for aquaculture and fisheries in Missouri : pond dynamics and water quality considerations (2014)

More than 300,000 privately owned ponds have been constructed across Missouri to serve a variety of purposes. When properly managed, they can add value to a property (Figure 1). However, ponds are complex ecosystems that require the owner's commitment to ensure they remain productive. Knowledge of a few basic ecological concepts is important whether you are managing a pond for aquaculture enterprise or for recreational activities such as sport fishing.New 6/14/Web

Risk Perception Differentials of Construction Professional

Risk perception is an essential and integral part of most strategic and executive decision-making. This is because such decisions typically reflect the medium to longterm future success of the organisations to which they apply. Risk perception reflects the subjective awareness and judgement of risk by individual executives. The effectiveness of any risk decision exercised by these professionals is affected by how they perceive that risk. Within the construction sector, such decisions involve large capital expenditures that can result in adverse financial outcomes if the risk component is not perceived and judged right. Earlier work done in the field of psychology indicates that individual perception of any risk situation differs based on their circumstance. The circumstances of construction professionals could be accounted for by their discipline, career, educational attainment, as well as their personal attributes. Establishing how the circumstances of professionals create a difference in their perception can be valuable for enhancing risk management practice. The important question posed here relates to the degree of explanation in risk perception that can be associated with such differential factors. The paper presents a review of extant literature to establish the key concepts and essential theories on developments in risk perception. The review conducted culminated in a conceptual model for investigating the nature and degree of differentials in risk perception of construction professionals. The conceptual model shows the relationship between the risk perception and its determinants. A quantitative approach would be adopted, using a survey to capture information that can be used to measure the variables from three different groups of professionals in the road section working in public sector consultancy. The consideration of the influence of individual risk perception presents a radical departure from the conventional approach to risk management. It forms part of a broader study that explores the potential for applying the radical approach of perception differentials that embraces the practitioner as key to achieving improvement in risk management efforts

Critical factors influencing the choice of frame type at early design

Abstract : The design process, as defined by Pahl and Beitz (1988), is the intellectual attempt to meet certain demands in the best possible way. Early design phase is a critical part of a building project and decisions made through this phase lay the foundations for the construction phase. These involve the evaluation of alternative frame types fulfilling key constraints in order to come up with the optimum structural solution. Although the choice of frame is heavily influenced by the factors specific to that project, there are a number of issues that are commonly considered by project participants. These issues were addressed by means of literature review, semi-structured interviews and a workshop, to identify the most important factors in influencing structural frame selection. This paper reports on research which analysed postal questionnaires sent to cost consultants, project managers, and clients and established a ranking of ten issues for each stage of early design. The data collected were tested, using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) through frequency and Spearman’s rho (ρ) analyses. Ten issues proved to be significant to the structural frame selection process; the statistical tests have established the agreement between cost consultants, clients and project managers in the rankings of these issues. Therefore, the paper concludes that these issues could be adopted as fundamental criteria for assessing and selecting the structural frame type for a building project during the early design phase

An Assessment of the Model of Concentration Addition for Predicting the Estrogenic Activity of Chemical Mixtures in Wastewater Treatment Works Effluents

The effects of simple mixtures of chemicals, with similar mechanisms of action, can be predicted using the concentration addition model (CA). The ability of this model to predict the estrogenic effects of more complex mixtures such as effluent discharges, however, has yet to be established. Effluents from 43 U.K. wastewater treatment works were analyzed for the presence of the principal estrogenic chemical contaminants, estradiol, estrone, ethinylestradiol, and nonylphenol. The measured concentrations were used to predict the estrogenic activity of each effluent, employing the model of CA, based on the relative potencies of the individual chemicals in an in vitro recombinant yeast estrogen screen (rYES) and a short-term (14-day) in vivo rainbow trout vitellogenin induction assay. Based on the measured concentrations of the four chemicals in the effluents and their relative potencies in each assay, the calculated in vitro and in vivo responses compared well and ranged between 3.5 and 87 ng/L of estradiol equivalents (E2 EQ) for the different effluents. In the rYES, however, the measured E2 EQ concentrations in the effluents ranged between 0.65 and 43 ng E2 EQ/L, and they varied against those predicted by the CA model. Deviations in the estimation of the estrogenic potency of the effluents by the CA model, compared with the measured responses in the rYES, are likely to have resulted from inaccuracies associated with the measurement of the chemicals in the extracts derived from the complex effluents. Such deviations could also result as a consequence of interactions between chemicals present in the extracts that disrupted the activation of the estrogen response elements in the rYES. E2 EQ concentrations derived from the vitellogenic response in fathead minnows exposed to a series of effluent dilutions were highly comparable with the E2 EQ concentrations derived from assessments of the estrogenic potency of these dilutions in the rYES. Together these data support the use of bioassays for determining the estrogenic potency of WwTW effluents, and they highlight the associated problems for modeling approaches that are reliant on measured concentrations of estrogenic chemicals

The Cost-Effectiveness of New York City’s Safe Routes to School Program

Objective. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness of a package of roadway modifications in New York City funded under the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. Methods. We used a Markov model to estimate long-term impacts of SRTS on injury reduction and the associated savings in medical costs, lifelong disability, and death. Model inputs included societal costs (in 2013 US dollars) and observed spatiotemporal changes in injury rates associated with New York City’s implementation of SRTS relative to control intersections. Structural changes to roadways were assumed to last 50 years before further investment is required. Therefore, costs were discounted over 50 consecutive cohorts of modified roadway users under SRTS. Results. SRTS was associated with an overall net societal benefit of $230 million and 2055 quality-adjusted life years gained in New York City. Conclusions. SRTS reduces injuries and saves money over the long run