Application of Viable System Model in Diagnosis of Organizational Structure

Systemic Practice and Action Research - A well-designed organizational structure is a cornerstone of achieving an organization’s goals while suiting the environmental challenges. Structural...     

Evolution driven by differential dispersal within a wild bird population

Evolutionary theory predicts that local population divergence will depend on the balance between the diversifying effect of selection and the homogenizing effect of gene flow. However, spatial variation in the expression of genetic variation will also generate differential evolutionary responses. Furthermore, if dispersal is non-random it may actually reinforce, rather than counteract, evolutionary differentiation. Here we document the evolution of differences in body mass within a population of great tits, Parus major, inhabiting a single continuous woodland, over a 36-year period. We show that genetic variance for nestling body mass is spatially variable, that this generates different potential responses to selection, and that this diversifying effect is reinforced by non-random dispersal. Matching the patterns of variation, selection and evolution with population ecological data, we argue that the small-scale differentiation is driven by density-related differences in habitat quality affecting settlement decisions. Our data show that when gene flow is not homogeneous, evolutionary differentiation can be rapid and can occur over surprisingly small spatial scales. Our findings have important implications for questions of the scale of adaptation and speciation, and challenge the usual treatment of dispersal as a force opposing evolutionary differentiation.     

A Soft Systems Methodology Approach to Occupational Cancer Control Problem: a Case Study of the Ministry of Petroleum of Iran

Petroleum industries of Iran offer some of the best job opportunities within Iranian labor market. However, due to the attributes of the chemicals used in these industries, their staffs are exposed to various risk factors of several chronic diseases. Such exposures might lead to cancer incidence after a decade or two. The Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) runs an organization, namely Petroleum Industry Health Organization (PIHO), which is responsible for the health insurance of the personnel working in Petroleum industries. PIHO and Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) units play fundamental roles in providing the employees with health services during their professional life and retirement period. Yet, these organizations still do not have a system to specify occupational cancer control mechanisms at the MoP. The negative influences of cancer on patients suffering from it as well as its heavy costs of treatment have forced MoP to put measures of coping with this chronic disease in the first priority. This paper aims to define the structure and design a framework for MoP’s occupational cancer control problem as the first step for improving the described situation. Given the presence of various stakeholders and actors, and the wide range of complexities of this problematic situation, we have adopted Soft System Methodology (SSM). We have reached an agreement with the problem owners on a rich picture, CATWOE analysis, root definition and a conceptual model for the way this situation could improve within real world circumstances. The results were obtained through various sessions with practitioner from different departments of MoP, while the conflict of interests was common.     

First record of a non-pollinating fig wasp (Hymenoptera: Sycophaginae) from Dominican amber,with estimation of the size of its host figs

Fig trees and their pollinating fig wasps arose about 75 million years ago in the Cretaceous period. Several other groups of chalcid wasps also utilize figs for larval development, including sycophagines, the putative sister group to pollinating fig wasps. Whereas stone and amber fossil pollinators are known, no fossils representing non-pollinating fig wasp groups have been confirmed previously. Here, we describe the first Sycophaginae from the c.15–20 Ma Dominican amber, Idarnes thanatos sp. nov. Farache, Rasplus, Pereira and Compton, and discuss its relationships within the Idarnes carme species group. Additionally, we use linear regression to compare body size, ovipositor sheaths length, and host fig size data from extant Idarnes species to estimate the size of its host figs. Idarnes thanatos was most likely associated with small to medium sized figs (diameter ≤1.0 cm), that were likely to have been dispersed by birds and primates. The discovery of this close relative of extant non-pollinating fig wasps suggests that early Miocene and modern fig wasp communities may share similar ecological and functional features.     

小区停车场的优化设计以金华市丽泽为例

该文从金华市丽泽花园小区的停车场的现状抓起,总结了现有的金华市丽泽花园停车设施滞留问题.然后抓住这些滞留问题,本课题从车库、停车设计和停车管理的优化设计上解决了停车滞留等问题.也为以后物业管理小区停车场提供有力的帮助,也能为小区后序发展提供有力的优化方案.