Managing People to Promote Innovation

There is growing evidence available to suggest that Human Resource Management (HRM) practice is an important predictor of organizational performance. Drawing upon organizational learning perspectives, we argue that HRM systems also have the potential to promote organizational innovation. We present longitudinal data from thirty‐five UK manufacturing organizations to suggest that effective HRM systems – incorporating sophisticated approaches to recruitment and selection, induction, appraisal and training – predict organizational innovation in products and production technology. We further show that organizational innovation is enhanced where there is a supportive learning climate, and inhibited (for innovation in production processes) where there is a link between appraisal and remuneration.     

INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND SOLVENT ON THE PRECIPITATION OF ASPHALTENES

Asphaltenes has been precipitated from a Kuwait flash residue using different n-alkanes (n-C5 to n-C8) at various temperatures ranging from 4^°C to reflux temperatures of the used precipitants. Structures in the asphaltene fractions has been revealed using U.V. fluorescence spectroscopy, elemental analysis and to some extent 1H-nmr. These analysis shows that asphaltenes precipitated in the same amount but at different temperature and with different solvents have merely the same composition. For all n-alkanes the curves of precipitated amount versus temperature show maxima at about 25^°C, implying a shift in the solubility of the asphaltenes.The impact of alkane chain length on the aggregation of asphaltenes through hydrogen bonds is discussed using the alkane-alcohol system as a model. The asphaltene solubility is discussed with the help of the Scatchard-Hildebrand equation.     

Role of macrophages in defective cell mediated immunity in lepromatous leprosy. I. Factor(s) from macrophages affecting protein synthesis and lymphocyte transformation

Macrophages from lepromatous leprosy patients specifically show reduced protein synthesis in the presence of M. leprae. They also produce, as a result of interaction with M. leprae, factor(s) that reduce protein synthesis in normal macrophages as well as block lymphocyte transformation in normal leukocyte cultures in the presence of M. leprae as the antigen. These observations implicate a defective macrophage system in lepromatous leprosy patients.     

Innovation Labs: An Examination into the Use of Physical Spaces to Enhance Organizational Creativity

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of innovation labs, purpose‐built physical facilities designed to enhance and support creativity and innovation in organizations. This rising phenomenon may be driven by the increasing emphasis placed on innovation as the key to the survival of modern day organizations. Innovation labs are attracting greater attention from organizations, yet little is known about their effectiveness. Using a mixed‐method approach this paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a major UK‐based facility in enhancing creativity and to explore users' attitudes towards this rising organizational phenomenon. The findings have implications for the management of existing innovation labs and those in the planning.     

Age differences in reactions to errors in computer-based work

The present study examined the reactions of older and younger workers to the situation of encountering an error during computer-based work. It was expected that older workers would have a stronger negative emotional reaction to such an error due to a combination of age-related factors. In both a questionnaire and an observational study among 134 office workers this was found to be the case. This age relationship remained after controlling for differences in computer experience, attitudes to new technology, education and the number of errors made by participants during a typical computer-based work session. More detailed analyses showed that in response to an error situation, older workers compared to younger ones stated they were significantly less likely to try and solve the problem entirely on their own; this was also partly supported by the observational data. In terms of the available options for helping rectify errors, older workers reported that they were more often likely to use written documentation and rely less on asking other workers. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of interventions to ameliorate the impact of errors in computer-based work on an older workforce.     

Seasonal onset of systemic-onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

1. To examine the effects of sustained resistive loading on the relationship between inspiratory effort sensation and respiratory drive (P0.1) and to determine if the change in CO2 responsiveness after sustained loading is accompanied by altered effort perception, hypercapnic responses were measured before, immediately after and 15 min after sustained resistive loading in seven subjects (six men, one woman). Sustained resistive loading was set to exceed a diaphragm tension-time index of 0.2. 2. Mean time to task failure during sustained loading was 17.7 min (range 12.5-22.5 min). The mean inspiratory effort sensation score rose from 3.4 (SEM 0.8) to 8.1 (0.8), whereas P0.1 fell from 29.5 (3.6) to 18.1 (3.6) cmH2O. 3. Immediately after loading the slopes of the ventilatory and sensory responses to CO2 fell (ventilatory response: before loading 16.7 (2.4) lmin-1kPa-1, immediately after loading 7.88 (2.18)lmin-1kPa-1; sensory response: before loading 1.95 (0.38) units/kPa; immediately after loading 1.12 (0.38) units/kPa; P < 0.05. Changes reverted to preloading levels by 15 min. 4. Sustained loading can lead to a dissociation between respiratory drive, as reflected by P0.1, and inspiratory effort sensation, and this disturbance can persist once the load is removed. Impaired sensory perception may be the primary determinant of the change in CO2 responsiveness seen after sustained resistive loading.     

Warm blood cardioplegia

Many sequence analysis problems involve consideration of a multiple sequence alignment where the 3-dimensional structure of one (or more) of the aligned sequences is known. In such cases, it is useful to map the sequence variability onto the atomic co-ordinates of known structure. If the structure also includes a bound ligand (or the location of the active site is known), each column position in the multiple sequence alignment may be annotated with its 'distance' from the binding site. These annotations, together with a measure of sequence variability, provide additional insights into drug specificity, for example among viral mutants. This paper describes several useful programs that automate this analysis.     

Correlates and perceived outcomes of 4 types of employee development activity.

Participation in 4 different types of development activity was studied in a sample of manufacturing employees (N?=?1,798). It was found that similar sets of variables were linked to greater participation in 3 activities: required training courses in work time, work-based development activity in work time, and career planning activity in work time or an individual's own time. Three kinds of reported benefits were studied, and the occurrence of these benefits was found to vary between different types of development activity. Overall job satisfaction and organizational commitment were significantly associated with prior participation in required training courses and work-based development activity. However, voluntary learning in one's own time was completely unrelated to these work attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)