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Important Shift (important + shift)
Selected AbstractsConcurrent and disconnected change programmes: strategies in support of servitization and the implementation of business partneringHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010Jawwad Z. Raja For many leading engineering companies, the integration of services into product offerings is seen to comprise an important shift in the underlying business model. This movement has been termed the ,servitization of business'. Within this debate, however, scant attention has been given to the human resource (HR) implications of servitization. An exploratory case study illustrates the HR challenges associated with servitization and the way in which these interact with a concurrent change programme concerned with the implementation of ,business partnering'. The findings highlight the emergent complexities resulting from these two change programmes being rolled out simultaneously. Although contested across different divisions, the shift to servitization continuously disrupts the implementation of business partnering with little alignment between the two espoused initiatives. Furthermore, the rate of strategic change within the company in response to changing markets continuously acts to erode the coherence of the acclaimed move to business partnering. In consequence, the HR policies and practices struggle to maintain contact with the company's strategic direction. [source] Client-Situated Architectural Practice: Implications for Architectural EducationJOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION, Issue 1 2001Brian Schermer The rising proportion of architects who work as in-house employees of large client organizations represents an important shift in the pattern of architectural employment. Client-situated practice presents new challenges for architects that they do not otherwise face in more traditional work settings. This research attempts to provide, through a case study of one group of in-house architects, a fuller understanding of the nature of this form of work. The study uses a community of practice perspective to shed light on how the architects fit within the client's organizational structure and hierarchy, the practical actions and strategies of the architects and others who are involved in building design, and the material and social context in which the architectural work is situated. After comparison with traditional practice, this article offers suggestions for preparing students for this growing form of architectural employment. [source] Future integrated learning environments with multimediaJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 1 2001T. Okamoto Abstract, Recent progress in information technology hardware and the spread of the Internet have opened a variety of new ways for many fields. Although slower than the business field to catch up with these new developments, the educational field has gradually migrated towards the World-wide web, mostly under the slogan of free, accessible education, to and from anyplace, at anytime. This development triggered an important shift from the teaching paradigm to the learning paradigm. However, slow network speed hindered the first learning environments from being more than simple, electronic text-books. The latest trends making use of increased bandwidths and integrating various media to enhance learning. Moreover, for obtaining learner-oriented, customised learning environ-ments, intelligent tutoring techniques are being adapted and developed for the web. This paper presents these trends on one hand, but on the other hand, also addresses the dangers and pitfalls that such an avalanche of change can bring and stresses the task of ensuring that the real goal of enhancing and improving learning is not overlooked. [source] Understanding consumption within a care home: an interpretation of George's experiences of life and deathJOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2009Tim Stone We are witnessing perhaps the most important shift in the history of mankind , the rapid ageing of the earth's population. This trend raises such issues as elderly care giving and living arrangements in old age. By virtue, the author suggests that managing service provision for elderly consumers within care homes is going to become an increasingly important issue as more consumers live longer and require care. Moreover, given the paucity of literature related to elderly consumers' understandings of such institutions this research aims to illuminate and distil this issue. Based on interpretive methods the author reveals that elderly consumers such as George actively consume life and death related experiences in order to create a meaningful existence within the context of a care home. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The Obama Victory, Asset-Based Development and the Re-Politicization of Community OrganizingNORTH AMERICAN DIALOGUE (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2008Susan B. Hyatt Abstract: In this commentary, I argue that Obama's victory in the recent Democratic primary was largely a consequence of his early experiences as an Alinsky-style community organizer in Chicago. I compare the nature of the broad-based organizing that Obama was trained in to a newer model of "community building" called Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). ABCD promotes the belief that communities suffering the effects of economic restructuring, such as abandoned housing, crime, and deindustrialization among others, can "heal themselves" by looking within for resources,or "assets",rather than by making demands on the state, a stance its proponents stigmatize as evidence of a "client" mentality. I argue that however chimerical its promises of redemption are, ABCD illustrates an important shift in contemporary understandings of citizenship, away from the possibilities for collective action that characterize Alinsky-style organizing and toward a view that is both radically neoliberal and potentially totalitarian in its homogenizing notions of its two key concepts,"community" and "assets." I suggest that the grassroots nature of the Obama campaign may have the potential to reanimate an interest in broad-based organizing toward the end of creating a more just distribution of resources. [source] Use of a new natural clay to produce poly(methyl methacrylate)-based nanocompositesPOLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2010Djahida Lerari Abstract Nanocomposites of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) filled with 3 wt% of modified natural Algerian clay (AC; montmorillonite type) were prepared by either in situ polymerization of methyl methacrylate initiated by 2,2,-azobisisobutyronitrile or a melt-mixing process with preformed PMMA via twin-screw extrusion. The organo-modification of the AC montmorillonite was achieved by ion exchange of Na+ with octadecyldimethylhydroxyethylammonium bromide. Up to now, this AC montmorillonite has found applications only in the petroleum industry as a rheological additive for drilling muds and in water purification processes; its use as reinforcement in polymer matrices has not been reported yet. The modified clay was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), which showed an important shift of the interlayer spacing after organo-modification. The degree of dispersion of the clay in the polymer matrix and the resulting morphology of nanocomposites were evaluated using XRD and transmission electron microscopy. The resulting intercalated PMMA nanocomposites were analysed using thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The glass transition temperature of the nanocomposites was not significantly influenced by the presence of the modified clay while the thermal stability was considerably improved compared to unfilled PMMA. This Algerian natural montmorillonite can serve as reinforcing nanofiller for polymer matrices and is of real interest for the fabrication of nanocomposite materials with improved properties. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source] A tale of two analyses: estimating the consequences of shifts in hexapod diversificationBIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, Issue 1 2003PETER J. MAYHEW I present a novel descriptive (non-statistical) method to help identify the location and importance of shifts in diversification across a phylogeny. The method first estimates radiation rates across terminal higher taxa and then subjects these rates to a parsimony analysis across the phylogeny. The reconstructions define the magnitude, direction and influence of past shifts in realized diversification rates across nodes. I apply the method to data on the extant hexapod orders. The results indicate that the Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies) have contributed large upward shifts in diversification tendency, without which, under the model employed, global species richness would be reduced by 20% and 6%, respectively. The origin of Neoptera (insects with wing flexion), identified elsewhere as a significant radiation, may represent a large positive, a large negative or zero influence on current species richness, depending on the assumed phylogeny and parsimony method. The most influential radiations are attributable to the origin of the Eumetabola (insects with complete metamorphosis plus bugs and their relatives) and Pterygota (winged insects), but there is presently only weak evidence that they represent significant shifts in underlying diversification tendency. These analyses support some but not all results of previous phylogenetic analyses and the identity of the most important shift therefore remains elusive. New methodology involving comparisons across multiple taxa is likely to be necessary. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 80, 23,36. [source] EVOLUTIONARY CONSTRAINT AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCESEVOLUTION, Issue 7 2010Douglas J. Futuyma One of the most important shifts in evolutionary biology in the past 50 years is an increased recognition of sluggish evolution and failures to adapt, which seem paradoxical in view of abundant genetic variation and many instances of rapid local adaptation. I review hypotheses of evolutionary constraint (or restraint), and suggest that although constraints on individual characters or character complexes may often reside in the structure or paucity of genetic variation, organism-wide stasis, as described by paleontologists, might better be explained by a hypothesis of ephemeral divergence, according to which the spatial or temporal divergence of populations is often short-lived because of interbreeding with nondivergent populations. Among the many consequences of acknowledging evolutionary constraints, community ecology is being transformed as it takes into account phylogenetic niche conservatism and the strong imprint of deep history. [source] Christa Wolf's Kassandra and Medea: Continuity and ChangeGERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 1 2004Helen Bridge When Christa Wolf's Medea: Stimmen appeared in 1996, some critics accused the work of being little more than a pale repetition of the earlier Kassandra project. This paper argues that, while broad continuities in Wolf's concerns are obvious, the shift from monologue in Kassandra to a polyphony of voices in Medea is symptomatic of subtle, yet important shifts in her approach to myth and her understanding of history. Although Wolf's archaeological understanding of myth and the problems this raises remain unchanged, the focus has shifted from the effects myth has on the individual to the human needs which give rise to it. The more psychological exploration of myth in Medea reveals interesting shifts in Wolf's understanding of the individual's role in history. In Kassandra, just as we assume that individuals exercise sovereign control over the myths they circulate, so we have the impression that history results from human agency in accordance with the will of those in power. In Medea, Wolf seems more doubtful about the ability of individuals to control events, even those they have caused. The idea of a coherent historical development, albeit a negative one, which is central to the Kassandra project, is absent from the later work. [source] Evidence for a combination of pre-adapted traits and rapid adaptive change in the invasive plant Centaurea stoebeJOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2010Martin L. Henery Summary 1. Introduced plants have the potential to rapidly evolve traits of ecological importance that may add to their innate potential to become invasive. During invasions, selection may favour genotypes that are already pre-adapted to conditions in the new habitat and, over time, alter the characteristics of subsequent generations. 2. Spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe) occurs in two predominantly spatially separated cytotypes in its native range (Europe,Western Asia), but currently only the tetraploid form has been confirmed in the introduced range (North America), where it is invasive. We used several common garden experiments to examine, across multiple populations, whether tetraploids and diploids from the native range differ in life cycle, leaf traits and reproductive capacity and if such differences would explain the predominance of tetraploids and their advance into new habitats in the introduced range. We also compared the same traits in tetraploids from the native and introduced range to determine whether any rapid adaptive changes had occurred since introduction that may have enhanced invasive potential of the species in North America. 3. We found tetraploids had lower specific leaf area, less lamina dissection and fewer, narrower leaves than diploids. Diploids exhibited a monocarpic life cycle and produced few if any accessory rosettes. Diploids produced significantly more seeds per capitulum and had more capitula per plant than tetraploids. In contrast, the vast majority of European tetraploids continued to flower in both seasons by regenerating from multiple secondary rosettes, demonstrating a predominantly polycarpic life cycle. 4. During early growth tetraploids from North America achieved greater biomass than both tetraploids and diploids from the native range but this did not manifest as larger above-ground biomass at maturity. In North American tetraploids there was also evidence of a shift towards a more strictly polycarpic life cycle, less leaf dissection, greater carbon investment per leaf, and greater seed production per capitulum. 5.,Synthesis. Our results suggest that the characteristics of tetraploid C. stoebe pre-adapted them (compared to diploid conspecifics) for spread and persistence of the species into habitats in North America characterized by a more continental climate. After the species' introduction, small but potentially important shifts in tetraploid biology have occurred that may have contributed significantly to successful invasion. [source] | ||||||||||||||||