Managing the five tensions of IT-enabled decision support in turbulent and high-velocity environments

This chapter examines issues concerned with supporting managers and organizations with information and communication technologies as they decide and act in turbulent and high-velocity environments. In particular, the chapter identifies five key tensions in this context: (1) the tension between the need for quick decisions and the need for analytical decision processes; (2) the tension involving managerial need for action and the need for the safest execution of decisions that may be bold and risky; (3) the tension around empowering middle managers and management teams at various organizational levels in the midst of powerful and impatient top executives; (4) the tension between programmed, quick-action learning loops and the increased requirement for emergence and improvisation; and (5) the tension between expending effort to eliminate the digital divide with other organizations versus finding expedient ways to communicate through heterogeneous digital infrastructures. Each of the tensions, and how it can be managed, is illustrated through a case example. The chapter ends by suggesting that the management of these critical tensions needs to be fused into the day-to-day fabric of management practices for decision support processes. This article is part of the “Handbook on Decision Support Systems” edited by Frada Burstein and Clyde W. Holsapple (2008) Springer.     

Do infants segment words or recurring contiguous patterns?

Eight experiments tested the hypothesis that infants' word segmentation abilities are reducible to familiar sound-pattern parsing regardless of actual word boundaries. This hypothesis was disconfirmed. in experiments using the headturn preference procedure: 8.5-month-olds did not mis-segment a consonantvowel- consonant (CVQ word (e.g., dice) from passages containing the corresponding phonemic pattern across a word boundary (C#VC#; "cold ice"), but they segmented it when the word was really present ("roll dice"). However, they did not segment the real vowel-consonant (VC) word (ice in "cold ice") until 16 months. Yet, at that age, they still did not false alarm on the straddling CVC word. Thus, infants do not simply respond to recurring phonemic patterns. Instead, they are sensitive to both acoustic and allophonic cues to word boundaries. Moreover, there is a sizable developmental gap between consonant and vowel-initial word segmentation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of the long time oxidation protection of fluorine implanted technical TiAl-alloys using ion beam methods

In the present work the oxidation resistance of fluorine treated technical TiAl-alloys was investigated. Single and double fluorine beam line implantation was found to improve the high temperature oxidation resistance of this class of materials with Al-contents higher than 40 at.%. Calculated and measured fluorine depth profiles were compared. It was shown that the alloying elements do not modify significantly the fluorine profile and do not disturb the halogen effect. After single and double fluorine implantation and for different oxidation stages (isothermal/thermocyclic conditions) the maximum of the fluorine profile was measured by PIGE (Proton Induced Gamma Emission). The fluorine maximum was found to be located at the metal/oxide interface. The time dependence of the fluorine profile was determined as well. Double implantation led to a slower growing alumina layer. In this case a F-reservoir is obtained and improves the long term oxidation resistance of TiAl-based alloys.     

Principles of engineering safety: Risk and uncertainty reduction

This article provides a systematised account of safety engineering practices that clarifies their relation to the goal of safety engineering, namely to increase safety. We list 24 principles referred to in the literature of safety engineering, dividing them into four major categories: Inherently safe design, Safety reserves, Safe fail and Procedural safeguards. It emerges from this systematisation that important aspects of these methods can be better understood with the help of the distinction between risk and uncertainty.     

Development of a hot‐rolled Nb‐bearing Si‐TRIP steel with excellent fatigue behaviour for automotive applications

A hot‐rolled TRIP steel with a tensile strength level above 800 MPa and an excellent fatigue behaviour has been developed with the purpose of satisfying the increasing demands of the automotive industry. Nb was added to the steel to guarantee a stable process and to make the production of the steel possible in a conventional rolling mill. The formation of red scale and the surface quality problems that arise from it have been studied. Additionally, hot torsion tests have been performed in order to validate a new route that could avoid the formation of this red scale allowing the application of the steel for exposed parts (e.g. wheel sector).     

Counting with rational generating functions

We examine two different ways of encoding a counting function: as a rational generating function and explicitly as a function (defined piecewise using the greatest integer function). We prove that, if the degree and number of input variables of the (quasi-polynomial) function are fixed, there is a polynomial time algorithm which converts between the two representations. Examples of such counting functions include Ehrhart quasi-polynomials, vector partition functions, integer points in parametric polytopes, and projections of the integer points in parametric polytopes. For this last example, this algorithm provides the first known way to compute the explicit function in polynomial time. We rely heavily on results by Barvinok and Pommersheim [Barvinok, A., Pommersheim, J., 1999. An algorithmic theory of lattice points in polyhedra. In: New Perspectives in Algebraic Combinatorics (Berkeley, CA, 1996–97). In: Math. Sci. Res. Inst. Publ., vol. 38. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 91–147], and also by Verdoolaege et al. [Verdoolaege, S., Seghir, R., Beyls, K., Loechner, V., Bruynooghe, M., 2007. Counting integer points in parametric polytopes using Barvinok’s rational functions, Algorithmica 48 (1), 37–66].     

Effect of grass vs. concentrate feeding on the fatty acid profile of different fat depots in lambs

The aim of this study was to produce high‐quality meat from lambs under different feeding conditions, as measured by the accumulation of n‐3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) in muscle and subcutaneous fat. In total, 13 male crossbred lambs (Black Head×Gotland), each at 24 kg live weight, were divided into two feeding groups. Lambs were kept either on pasture (pasture grazing, n = 6) or in the stable (concentrate feeding, n = 7). The linolenic acid (C18:3n‐3) contained in the grass was absorbed and deposited into the different lipid classes of muscle and subcutaneous fat. The proportion of total n‐3 fatty acids in the different lipids of grazing lambs was significantly (p = 0.05) higher compared to that in concentrate‐fed lambs. The n‐6/n‐3 ratio (mean ± SEM) in muscle of grazing lambs was 1.2 ± 0.09 in contrast to 2.3 ± 0.09 (p = 0.05) of the animals kept in the stable. In subcutaneous fat, this ratio was 0.9 ± 0.2 in lambs kept on pasture versus 3.5 ± 0.2 (p = 0.05) after indoor keeping. The relative concentration of C18:1trans‐11 in total muscle lipids, phospholipids, triacylglycerols and subcutaneous fat was significantly increased by grass feeding compared to concentrate feeding. Significant influences of feeding were shown for saturated fatty acids. In concentrate‐fed lambs, a lower content of saturated fatty acids was detected. The proportion of CLAcis‐9,trans‐11 (1.9 ± 0.2% vs. 1.1 ± 0.1% in muscle, 2.5 ± 0.2% vs. 1.4 ± 0.2% in subcutaneous fat, 0.7 ± 0.04% vs. 0.4 ± 0.04% in phospholipids) in lambs was significantly (p = 0.05) higher after grazing than after concentrate feeding, respectively.