Search during decision making

Nearly four hundred non-routine organizational decisions were investigated to discover search approaches––determining the frequency of use and success of each search approach uncovered. A “search approach” is made up of a direction and a means to uncover solution ideas. Direction indicates desired results and it can be either implicit or explicit, with an explicit direction offering either a problem or a goal-like target. Solutions can be uncovered by opportunity, bargaining, and chance as well as by rational approaches. Defining a search approach as a direction coupled with a means of search, search approaches were linked with indicators of success, measured by the decision's adoption, value and timeliness, noting frequency. A rational, goal-directed, search approach was more apt to produce successful outcomes. Bargaining with stakeholders to uncover solutions was always combined some of the search approaches in this study, and this merger improved the prospects of success. Searches with an opportunistic or chance (emergent opportunity) features and rational searches with a problem target were more apt to produce unsuccessful outcomes. The means used to come up with a solution had less bearing on success than did the type of direction, with goal-directed searches leading to the best outcomes. Each search approach is discussed to reveal best practices and to offer suggestions to improve practice.     

tert‐Butyl (6S)‐4‐hydroxy‐6‐isobutyl‐2‐oxo‐1,2,5,6‐tetra­hydropyridine‐1‐carboxyl­ate and tert‐butyl (4R,6S)‐4‐hydroxy‐6‐iso­butyl‐2‐oxopiperidine‐1‐carboxyl­ate

X‐ray studies reveal that tert‐butyl (6S)‐6‐iso­butyl‐2,4‐dioxo­piperidine‐1‐carboxyl­ate occurs in the 4‐enol form, viz. tert‐butyl (6S)‐4‐hydroxy‐6‐iso­butyl‐2‐oxo‐1,2,5,6‐tetra­hydropyri­dine‐1‐carboxyl­ate, C₁₄H₂₃NO₄, when crystals are grown from a mixture of di­chloro­methane and pentane, and has an axial orientation of the iso­butyl side chain at the 6‐position of the piperidine ring. Reduction of the keto functionality leads predominantly to the corresponding β‐hydroxy­lated δ‐lactam, tert‐butyl (4R,6S)‐4‐hydroxy‐6‐iso­butyl‐2‐oxo­piperidine‐1‐car­boxyl­ate, C₁₄H₂₅NO₄, with a cis configuration of the 4‐hydroxy and 6‐iso­butyl groups. The two compounds show similar molecular packing driven by strong O—H⋯O=C hydrogen bonds, leading to infinite chains in the crystal structure.     

The Orevkov invariant of an affine plane curve

We show that although the fundamental group of the complement of an algebraic affine plane curve is not easy to compute, it possesses a more accessible quotient, which we call the Orevkov invariant.

     

On the spectral picture of an irreducible subnormal operator II

In this paper we show that the spectral picture of an irreducible subnormal operator may be arbitrarily prescribed subject only to certain natural necessary conditions. This completes work begun by the second author.

     

Influence of mass moment of inertia on the normal modes of a preloaded solar array mast

Earth-orbiting spacecraft often contain solar arrays or antennas supported by a preloaded mast. Due to weight and cost considerations, the supporting structures of the spacecraft appendages are made extremely light and flexible. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the influence of all physical and structural parameters on the dynamic behavior of the overall structure. The governing equation of motion and its general solution for the preloaded mast are developed. Furthermore, the mass moment of inertia of the mast subjected to bending vibrations is included in the governing equation of motion to investigate its influence on determining the circular frequencies. To verify the developed formulations, a finite element technique was implemented. The accuracy and limitation of the technique on calculating the circular frequencies are discussed. Although the study described in this paper primarily focuses on the mast for the space station solar arrays, the developed formulations and techniques can be applied to any large and flexible beam in zero gravity.     

How to Exhibit Toroidal Maps in Space

Steinitz's theorem states that a graph is the 1-skeleton of a convex polyhedron if and only if it is 3-connected and planar. The polyhedron is called a geometric realization of the embedded graph. Its faces are bounded by convex polygons whose points are coplanar. A map on the torus does not necessarily have such a geometric realization. In this paper we relax the condition that faces are the convex hull of coplanar points. We require instead that the convex hull of the points on a face can be projected onto a plane so that the boundary of the convex hull of the projected points is the image of the boundary of the face. We also require that the interiors of the convex hulls of different faces do not intersect. Call this an exhibition of the map. A map is polyhedral if the intersection of any two closed faces is simply connected. Our main result is that every polyhedral toroidal map can be exhibited. As a corollary, every toroidal triangulation has a geometric realization.