An Assessment of the Singerian Inquiring Organizational Model: Cases from Academia and the Utility Industry

The Singerian model of inquiring organizations is reviewed (Proceedings of the Americas Conference on Information Systems, Phoenix, Arizona Aug. 16–18,1996:443–445; Australian Journal of Information Systems, 1998;6(1):3–15, reprinted in Foundations of Information Systems: Towards a Philosophy of Informative Technology, http://www.cba.uh.edu/~parks/fis/fisart.htm.) and two cases of organizations representing the Singerian approach are analyzed. The Singerian organization, based on Churchman's (The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of Systems and Organizations, New York, NY: Basic Books Inc., 1971.) Singerian inquiring system, has ethical purposes, treats employees, customers and other stakeholders with trust and respect, and pursues socially responsible goals, including a respect for the environment. Decision making in Singerian organizations is holistic and systemic, and includes diverse stakeholders, thus requiring an open, cooperative culture, wherein debate is encouraged. Authority is diffuse. Measurement is fundamental. A system of measures is continuously monitored, refined, compared and revised to assess progress. Cooperation and communication are supported with various types of groupware, including e-mail, electronic meeting systems, group support systems, negotiation support systems, discussion forums, knowledge bases, knowledge management systems and the like. The Internet and World Wide Web may serve as resource and dissemination agents for exoteric knowledge created by the organization. Two organizations, an Energy Service Company and an academic Center for the Management of Information Systems, are analyzed for their conformance to and success with the Singerian approach. The organizations tended to prosper when the model was followed, but ran into difficulties when it was not.     

An electron paramagnetic resonance study of defects in PECVD silicon oxides

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) has been used to determine how the type and population of paramagnetic defects are altered firstly by changes to the composition of oxides grown on silicon by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and secondly by subsequent anneal treatments of the various oxide films. Silicon oxide films with refractive index, n, of 1.464, 1.487, 1.508 and 1.536 and thickness of 1 m to 3 m were studied; those of higher index have a higher silicon content. Only E centers are detected in films with n=1.464 and 1.487. Raising n to 1.508 leads to the introduction of other types of paramagnetic centers and a large increase in the average total spin concentration. Increasing n further to 1.536 produces a further small increase in average spin concentration. Identities are proposed for the additional types of defect and the dependence of their population on anneal temperature is also reported.     

SymROP: ROP protein with identical helices redesigned by all-atom contact analysis and molecular dynamics

Experience has shown that protein redesigns (using the backbone from a known protein structure) are far more likely to produce well-ordered, native-like structures than are true de novo designs. Therefore, to design a four-helix bundle made of identical short helices, we here proceed by an extensive redesign of the ROP protein. A fully symmetrical SymROP sequence derived from ROP was chosen by modeling ideal-geometry side chains, including hydrogens, while maintaining the "goodness-of-fit" of side-chain packing by calculating all-atom contact surfaces with the Reduce and Probe programs. To estimate the probable extent of backbone movement and side-chain mobility, restrained molecular dynamics simulations were compared for candidate sequences and controls, including substitution of Abu for all or half the core Ala residues. The resulting 17-residue designed sequence is 41% identical to the relevant regions in ROP. SymROP is intended for construction by the Template Assembled Synthetic Proteins approach, to control the bundle topology, to use short helices, and to allow blocked termini and unnatural amino acids. ROP protein has been a valuable system for studying helical protein structure because of its simplicity and regularity within a structure large enough to have a real hydrophobic core. The SymROP design carries that simplicity and regularity even further.     

On the Nonlinear Companding Transform for Reduction in PAPR of MCM Signals

In this paper, we provide the design criteria of the nonlinear companding transforms for reduction in peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of multi-carrier modulation (MCM) signals, which can enable the original MCM signals to be transformed into the desirable distribution. As examples, some novel nonlinear companding transforms have been proposed to transform the amplitude or power of the original MCM signals into uniform distribution, which can effectively reduce the PAPR for different modulation formats and subcarrier sizes without any complexity increase and bandwidth expansion. It has been shown by computer simulations that the proposed schemes can significantly improve the performance of MCM systems including bit-error-rate and PAPR reduction.     

The mysterious case of the missing paradigm: a review of critical information systems research 1991–2001

Abstract.  In this journal, Chen and Hirschheim have provided a historical analysis of positivist and interpretivist research paradigms and methodologies in the 10 years following the much cited work of Orlikowski and Baroudi. In this paper, we investigate the mysterious case of the missing paradigm – that of the critical approach to information systems (IS) research. We take Chen and Hirschheim's survey as our starting point and aim to fill the gap left by the absence of the critical paradigm in their analysis and make some criticisms of their method. Recent years have seen the growth of IS research that consciously adopts a critical perspective. This paper charts the development of critical IS research over the period of 1991–2001, adding some comments on more recent developments. We conclude by critically reflecting on the current development of critical research in the field of IS.     

Langmiur–Blodgett studies of silicon(IV) phthalocyanine bis(trihexylsilyoxide) and its optical properties

Although much solution-based research has been carried out on silicon phthalacyanines, little work has been done on Si Pc LB films. In order to attempt studies on thin films, ultrathin Langmuir–Blodgett films of silicon(IV) phthalocyanine bis(trihexylsilyoxide), C₆₈H₉₄N₈O₂Si₃ have been studied and characterised. Whilst silicon(IV) phthalocyanine bis(trihexylsilyoxide) is not a traditional LB film forming material, it can be made conducive to deposition by mixing with ideal film forming materials such as calixarenes. Surface pressure–area isotherms revealed an area per molecule of around 7.5 Å² which indicates that the silicon(IV) phthalocyanine bis(trihexylsilyoxide) forms multi-lamella stacks. Thermal optical polarised spectroscopy revealed the formation of brightly coloured mesophases in films. DSC showed the presence of an irreversible A phase and a reversible T phase.     

Nerve growth factor and proprotein convertases furin and PC7 in transected sciatic nerves and in nerve segments cultured in conditioned media: their presence in Schwann cells, macrophages, and smooth muscle cells

Synthesis of proteins such as nerve growth factor (NGF) is induced after nerve lesion. The NGF precursor (pro-NGF) requires a posttranslational processing by proprotein convertases to become active. In this report, we re-examine the localization of NGF protein and mRNA in injured nerve and show that the candidate pro-NGF convertases furin and PC 7 colocalize with NGF in non-neuronal cells in nerve. By Northern blot analysis, 1.5-kb and 1.3-kb NGF mRNAs were shown to be increased in distal and immediately proximal nerve segments on days 1, 4, and 14 after lesion; by Western blot analysis, NGF proteins of high molecular weight were detected after injury. In vivo, two phases of NGF immunopositivity were observed, in macrophages and perivascular cells shortly after lesion and in endoneurial cells on day 1 and 4. To identify the cells containing NGF, nerve segments were incubated in serum-containing medium with or without conditioning by white blood cells isolated from the circulation. Both hybridization and immunoreactivity signals for NGF were elevated after incubation of nerve segments for 4 hours in conditioned media, so that cells with NGF immunoreactivity could be identified by antibodies to specific cell markers. In these nerve fragments, Schwann cells, perivascular smooth muscle cells, and macrophages contained NGF immunoreactivity. The concentration of furin and PC7 mRNA also increased in lesioned nerves. By immunocytochemical investigation of nerve explants, furin and PC7 were detected in endoneurial cells, macrophages and perivascular cells and were colocalized with NGF. These in vitro and in vivo findings suggest that both furin and PC7 are associated with NGF in several cell types of the sciatic nerve and, hence, may be implicated in intracellular processing of pro-NGF.     

Rotary injection reaction injection molding (RI-RIM). Part II: Interfacial segregation of release systems

This paper describes the shear imposed interfacial segregation of release systems for the facilitated attenuation of polyurethane (PU) adhesion to metal coun-terfaces using a RI-RIM system. It is shown that the migration rate of the dispersed release additives due to a shear imposed stress in the resin fluid is much greater than that arising from Fickian diffusion, thereby removing a vital constraint from conventional practice. The novel rotary injection RIM system is presented to simulate the on-line injection and shear induced interfacial segregation in model PU/abherent systems. A wide range of recipes comprising single (liquids or solids) and multicomponent (liquid-liquid and solid-liquid) release materials were injected into the polymerizing resin mixture to provide cohesively weak and friable “particle” boundary layer assemblies at the PU/metal interface. An instrumented Blister Test was employed to evaluate the quality of the molded interfaces in terms of adhesion and the concentration distribution of the injected species in the final cured moldings was determined through high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). A comparison of the results on the shear modified and the compounded interfaces confirm an accentuated lateral migration of the additives to the interface resulting in an appreciable diminution in the adhesion of the system. Finally, transport models are suggested to account for the observed augmented transport.