Are you growing systems thinking managers? Use a systems model to teach and practice organizational analysis and planning,management policy,and organizational development

This paper discusses the use of the Kast and Rosenzweig systems and contingency model for teaching and practice in organizational analysis and planning, management policy, and organizational development. The need for an organizational model for graduate students and field-based managers and executives is identified. The model is presented beginning with the Kast and Rosenzweig work, with integration of research by Daft, Schein, Trist, Deal and Kennedy, Ackoff, Delbecq, and Mintzberg. The teaching and practice uses of the model in four areas are presented, including organizational analysis and planning, management policy making, and organizational development. In each area case examples of the use of the model in teaching and practice are presented. Needs for future research and implications for the use of the model are discussed.     

Algorithmic compression of empirical data: reply to Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe

This discussion note responds to objections by Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe to my earlier claim that empirical data sets are algorithmically incompressible. Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe hold that many empirical data sets are compressible by Minimum Message Length technique and offer this as evidence that these data sets are algorithmically compressible. I reply that the compression achieved by Minimum Message Length technique is different from algorithmic compression. I conclude that Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe fail to establish that empirical data sets are algorithmically compressible.     

土壤微生物群落及其活性与植被的关系

植被通过影响土壤环境,从而影响到土壤微生物群落的结构和多样性．受植被影响的土壤环境中土壤微生物群落的多样性比不受植被影响或者没有植被的土壤环境中的微生物群落的多样性要高很多,不受植被影响的表面以下土壤环境中的微生物群落具有显著的优势ＯＴＵ种群,而表层土壤环境中没有显著的优势ＯＴＵ种群．植被对微生物的影响同时也表现在对生命物质ＤＮＡ的影响,即有植被的土壤环境中的微生物ＤＮＡ具有更高的活性,其基因在克隆过程中更容易被转移,获得更多的克隆细胞和种群．     

Studies on muscle fibre splitting in skeletal muscle

Summary Autoradiographic, stereological and histological studies have been carried out to determine the origin of muscle fibre splitting which supposedly occurs during muscle hypertrophy. The results obtained clearly indicate that the supposedly split fibres are a transient response probably derived from satellite cells and are not derived from pre-existing fibres by true splitting. Similarly, increases in muscle fibre size are not achieved by recruitment of satellite structures as indicated by lack of myonuclear recruitment.Acknowledgment. This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Medical Research Council of Great Britain. The authors are grateful for the excellent technical assistance of Miss H. Caulton, M.J. Wild and M. Fenner.     

Structure,biosynthesis and functions of glycoprotein glycans

Since the pioneering work on structure and function of heteroglycans compiled in the classical books edited by A. Gottschalk in 1972¹, there have been several promising developments in glycoconjugate research, as reviewed in this article.In Part 1, contributed by A. Kobata, current knowledge on heteroglycan structures is presented and representative examples taken from higher organisms are given. Part 2, written by J. F. G. Vliegenthart and J. P. Kamerling, covers the most important achievements in methodology: procedures to obtain pure glycans and to analyze their structures. Part 3, contributed by J. Paulson, is devoted to biosynthesis of glycans now describable as pathways since several of the glycosyltransferases have been isolated and analyzed for specificity. In Part 4, contributed by E. Buddecke, current knowledge on functional roles of glycans is presented. It will become apparent that the prerequisite for valid work either in biosynthetic or functional context depends on solid structural information. This is particularly true whenever glycosyltransferase reaction products are being analyzed, or glycans involved in biological functions are investigated. Although in past years, a great deal of important knowledge has been gathered by use of crude glycosidase or glycosyltransferase activities (a notable example is found in reference 2), one may now postulate that glycans implicated in biological reactions should be thoroughly analyzed.This review may familiarize newcomers with the field of glycoconjugate research with special emphasis on glycoprotein glycans. Glycolipids are not included in this article as they have recently been reviewed by S. I. Hakomori³. The reader is also referred to several excellent monographs^4,5 and the Proceedings of the Glycoconjugate Symposia held biannually^6–8.     

Flow and heat transfer behaviour of nanofluids in microchannels

Flow and heat transfer of aqueous based silica and alumina nanofluids in microchannels were experimentally investigated. The measured friction factors were higher than conventional model predictions at low Reynolds numbers particularly with high nanoparticle concentrations. A decrease in the friction factor was observed with increasing Reynolds number, possibly due to the augmentation of nanoparticle aggregate shape arising from fluid shear and alteration of local nanoparticle concentration and nanofluid viscosity. Augmentation of the silica nanoparticle morphology by fluid shear may also have affected the friction factor due to possible formation of a core/shell structure of the particles. Measured thermal conductivities of the silica nanofluids were in approximate agreement with the Maxwell-Crosser model, whereas the alumina nanofluids only showed slight enhancements. Enhanced convective heat transfer was observed for both nanofluids, relative to their base fluids (water), at low particle concentrations. Heat transfer enhancement increased with increasing Reynolds number and microchannel hydraulic diameter. However, the majority of experiments showed a larger increase in pumping power requirements relative to heat transfer enhancements, which may hinder the industrial uptake of the nanofluids, particularly in confined environments, such as Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS).     

Babylonian solar theory on the Antikythera mechanism

This article analyzes the angular spacing of the degree marks on the zodiac scale of the Antikythera mechanism and demonstrates that over the entire preserved 88° of the zodiac, the marks are systematically placed too close together to be consistent with a uniform distribution over 360°. Thus, in some other part of the zodiac scale (not preserved), the degree marks have been spaced farther apart. By contrast, the day marks on the Egyptian calendar scale are spaced uniformly, apart from minor errors. A solar equation of center is apparent which rises by nearly 2.7° over the preserved portion of the zodiac. The placement of the degree marks indicates that, in the preserved portion of the zodiac, the Sun was considered to run at a uniform pace of about 30° per synodic month, which is consistent with the Sun’s speed in the fast zone of the Babylonian solar theory of System A.