Dressage,control, and enterprise systems: the case of NASA's Full Cost initiative

In 2004, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) implemented Full Cost, an activity-based accounting program through an agency-wide enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation. We apply Foucault’s notion of ‘dressage’ to highlight aspects of demonstrative control associated with this implementation effort and to outline the different dimensions along which control was distributed. We suggest that some elements of Full Cost and the ERP system were geared toward satisfying disciplinary requirements without necessarily contributing to productive activity. We term these elements dressage-as-control. Our findings indicate that dressage-as-control breeds dressage-as-response: employees’ responses to control imperatives that are intended merely to satisfy the demand for control by exhibiting public compliance, but make no direct contribution to the execution of work. Accordingly, we propose that the ideal of complete enterprise control remains unattainable, as aspects of demonstrative control are inevitably implicated within broader enterprise-wide control systems within contemporary organizations. We conclude with implications for research and practice.     

Simultaneous degradation of atrazine and simazine by a binary culture of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Arthrobacter sp. in a two‐stage biofilm reactor

BACKGROUND: The impact of mixtures of chloro‐triazinic herbicides, such as atrazine and simazine, on aquatic ecosystems is of environmental concern. To study their biodegradation under various operational conditions, a binary community comprising Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Arthrobacter sp. attached to the porous support of a packed bed reactor, was evaluated. RESULTS: The genetic analysis of the two atrazine‐degrading strains revealed that genes atzA, atzB, atzC are present in both bacteria, but only S. maltophilia possess atzD. Thus, by cultivating Arthrobacter sp. on these herbicides, cyanuric acid accumulation was observed. When the binary community was cultivated in the biofilm reactor, at all the loading rates probed, both herbicides were entirely removed. However, complete biodegradation of cyanuric acid was not achieved. CONCLUSIONS: Even with a two‐stage reactor, cyanuric acid was only partially removed. This fact could be attributed to the absence, in the second stage, of an easily degradable energy source, required by S. maltophilia for the uptake and cometabolic degradation of the recalcitrant heterocyclic ring. Responding to differences in nutritional conditions prevailing at each reactor stage, local differences in species' predominance were clearly detected by microbiological and molecular biology methods. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effect of nano-sized metal compounds on the flame-proof properties of plasticized polyvinyl chloride

Based on data from thermogravimetric analysis and the oxygen index, a PVC composite containing nanosized particles of zinc oxide and amino-tris-methylenephosphonic acid has the best fireproofing indexes. The OI of this composite was 27.5%.     

Convenient approach of nanohydroxyapatite polymeric matrix composites

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used to prepare polymeric matrix composites of nanohydroxyapatite (HAV and HAP), respectively, by using a biomimetic approach under 100 °C. A comparison with synthetic nanohydroxyapatite prepared by precipitation (SHA) was evaluated. Characterization of the prepared powders by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was achieved, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) with elemental analysis by (EDS) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer were used. DTA and TG showed the weight loss in the 400–1200 °C was almost attributed to carbonate decomposition which appeared apparently in the polymer associated samples due to the decomposition of polymer matrix. X-ray diffraction confirmed mainly the formation of hydroxyapatite. Specific surface area (BET) and scanning electron microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the range of nanosized of the prepared HA samples. The polymer matrix prefers orientation of the particles to rod-like shape. Elemental analysis showed mainly, Ca, P, C and O ions besides Na and Cl. Inductively coupled plasma showed the composition and the Ca/P atomic ratio of all samples ranging between 1.72 and 1.85.     

A study of mechanisms for improving robotic group performance

Many collaborative multi-robot application domains have limited areas of operation that cause spatial conflicts between robotic teammates. These spatial conflicts can cause the team's productivity to drop with the addition of robots. This phenomenon is impacted by the coordination methods used by the team-members, as different coordination methods yield radically different productivity results. However, selecting the best coordination method to be used by teammates is a formidable task. This paper presents techniques for creating adaptive coordination methods to address this challenge. We first present a combined coordination cost measure, CCC, to quantify the cost of group interactions. Our measure is useful for facilitating comparison between coordination methods, even when multiple cost factors are considered. We consistently find that as CCC values grow, group productivity falls. Using the CCC, we create adaptive coordination techniques that are able to dynamically adjust the efforts spent on coordination to match the number of perceived coordination conflicts in a group. We present two adaptation heuristics that are completely distributed and require no communication between robots. Using these heuristics, robots independently estimate their combined coordination cost (CCC), adjust their coordination methods to minimize it, and increase group productivity. We use simulated robots to perform thousands of experiment trials to demonstrate the efficacy of our approach. We show that using adaptive coordination methods create a statistically significant improvement in productivity over static methods, regardless of the group size.     

Estimation of the Viscosity Properties of Solutions of Aromatic Copolyamides

The viscosity properties of dilute solutions of two modifications of Armalon (MD and X) with properties of other rigid-chain aromatic copolyamides are compared. The best affinity of 96% sulfuric acid for PPTA and Armalon-MD and the worst affinity for Armalon-X are demonstrated.__________Translated from Khimicheskie Volokna, No. 1, pp. 24–26, January–February, 2005.     

Synthesis and structure of charge transfer salts of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and tetramethyl-TTF with 2,4,7-trinitro and 2,4,5,7-tetranitro-9-fluorenone

Charge transfer salts of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and tetramethyltetrathiafulvalene (TMTTF) with the organic acceptors 2,4,7-trinitro-9-fluorenone and 2,4,5,7-tetranitro-9-fluorenone have been prepared and characterized. The compounds (TTF)[TENF] (1), (TTF)₃[TRNF]₂ (2) and (TMTTF)[TRNF] (3) contain mixed stacks of alternating TTF and nitrofluorenone units. Surprisingly, the degree of charge transfer that occurs in these salts is not controlled solely by the redox potentials of the building blocks, but apparently also by the most effective intermolecular interactions in the solid, as determined from the crystal structures obtained. These three compounds exhibit poor electron delocalization and therefore they behave as diamagnetic insulators.