Leadership: Why gender and culture matter.

For decades, understanding of leadership has been largely based on the results of studies carried out on White men in the United States. We review major theories and models of leadership as they pertain to either gender or culture. We focus on 3 approaches to leadership: trait (including leadership categorization or implicit leadership theory), behavioral (including the two-factor, transformational–transactional leadership, and leader–member exchange models), and contingency (i.e., contingency model of leadership effectiveness and normative decision making). We discuss how dynamics related to either culture or gender (e.g., stereotypes and schemas, ingroup–outgroup interaction, role expectations, power and status differentials) can have an important impact on many aspects of leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adhesion Characteristics of PDMS Surfaces During Repeated Pull‐Off Force Measurements

To mimic the adhesive effects of gecko toes, artificial surfaces have been manufactured recently using polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS). However, the effects of repeated contacts on the adhesive properties remain largely unexplored. In this paper we report on the effect of repeated pull‐off force measurements on the adhesion behavior of PDMS (polymer kit Sylgard 184, Dow Corning) tested with a borosilicate glass probe. A decrease in pull‐off force with increase in number of test cycles is found until a plateau is reached. The initial value and the rate of change in pull‐off force strongly depend on the sample preparation procedure, including curing time and cross‐linking. It is proposed that the behavior is due to steady coverage of the probe with free oligomers. The results are crucial for developing reusable, durable, and residue‐free bioinspired adhesives.     

A simple soft lithographic nanopatterning of gold on gallium arsenide via galvanic displacement

Nanoscale patterning of gold layers on GaAs substrate is demonstrated using a combination of soft lithographic molding and galvanic displacement deposition. First, an electroless deposition method has been developed to plate gold on GaAs with ease and cost-effectiveness. The electroless metallization process is performed by dipping the GaAs substrates into a gold salt solution without any reducing agents or additives. The deposition proceeds via galvanic displacement in which gold ions in the aqueous solution are reduced by electrons arising from the GaAs substrate itself. The deposition rate, surface morphology and adhesion property can be modulated by the plating parameters such as the choice of acids and the immersion time. Second, soft lithographic patterning of nanodots, nanorings, and nanolines are demonstrated on GaAs substrates with hard-polydimethylsiloxane (h-PDMS) mold and plasma etching. This method can be easily applied to the metallization and nanopatterning of gold on GaAs surfaces.     

Community’s evaluation of organizational legitimacy: Formation and reconsideration

With the aim of delving into the legitimacy formation mechanisms used by communities to make judgements about project organizations, this research studied the local community and surrounding environment of four oil extraction projects located in three developing countries. The results of the cross-case analysis suggest that communities' negative perceptions from government and media can influence their judgement of organizational behaviour. Additionally, this research proposes that local communities' anticipation of the consequences of protesting against the organization can make them decide not to take any action. According to institutional theory, when community individuals arrive at a legitimacy verdict about an organization, their future perceptions will mainly be influenced by this decision rather than conscious consideration of the conditions. Accordingly, this research recommends that organizations aiming to recover their reputation need to adopt compensation activities with a substantial influence on the improvement of conditions. It is only in such conditions that communities will consciously evaluate organizational legitimacy. Trivial changes in organizational behaviour will only result in adding new evidences in support of the illegitimacy of organizations.     

Turkish diasporic responses to the Taksim Square protests: Legacy media and social media uses in Belgium,the Netherlands and Germany

Based on an offline and online survey of 967 people of Turkish origin living in these countries, we test how legacy and social media have influenced the participation of the members of the Turkish diaspora in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands in the mid-2013 protests in Turkey’s social movement referred to as Gezi Park. This study also investigates how living in Europe can influence the behavior and attitudes of the sampled individuals from the Turkish Diaspora of Germany, Belgium and Netherlands during the period when the Gezi Park demonstration took place. Our results make it clear that social media were used by those who supported the protest movement, while those who opposed the protest movement primarily used or followed traditional sources of media, including Turkish and European television. Furthermore, supporters amongst the diaspora for the Gezi-protests were primarily active in accruing social capital through bonding and social networking among those who belong to the Turkish diaspora under the guise of the Gezi Park protests. Finally, a significant number of the supporters of the protests in the three countries took part in several different means of supporting the movement, including: disseminating awareness about the Gezi protests through social media, engaging in meetings, and in some cases, even severing contact with friends and acquaintances who did not share their support for the protest movement.     

Incorporating supplier selection and order allocation into the vehicle routing and multi-cross-dock scheduling problem

In the vehicle routing problem with cross-docking (VRPCD), it is assumed that the selected suppliers and the quantity of the products purchased from each supplier are known. This paper presents an MILP model which incorporates supplier selection and order allocation into the VRPCD in a multi-cross-dock system minimising the total costs, including purchasing, transportation, cross-docking, inventory and early/tardy delivery penalty costs. The sensitivity of the model on the key parameters of the objective function is analysed and the supply decisions are evaluated when the coefficients of the distribution cost are changed. A two-stage solution algorithm (TSSA) is proposed and the results of the TSSA for small-sized instances are compared with the exact solutions. Finally, a large-sized real case of an urban freight transport is solved using the TSSA.