Intra-organizational Networks and Performance: A Review

Intra-organizational network research had its first heyday during the empirical revolution in social sciences before World War II when it discovered the informal group within the formal organization. These studies comment on the classic sociological idea of bureaucracy being the optimal organization. Later relational interest within organizational studies gave way to comparative studies on the quantifiable formal features of organizations. There has been a resurgence in intra-organizational networks studies recently as the conviction grows that they are critical to organizational and individual performance. Along with methodological improvements, the theoretical emphasis has shifted from networks as a constraining force to a conceptualization that sees them as providing opportunities and finally, as social capital. Because of this shift it has become necessary not only to explain the differences between networks but also their outcomes, that is, their performance. It also implies that internal and external networks should no longer be treated separately.Research on differences between intra-organizational networks centers on the influence of the formal organization, organizational demography, technology and environment. Studies on outcomes deal with diffusion and adaptation of innovation; the utilization of human capital; recruitment, absenteeism and turnover; work stress and job satisfaction; equity; power; information efficiency; collective decision making; mobilization for and outcomes of conflicts; social control; profit and survival of firms and individual performance.Of all the difficulties that are associated with intra-organizational network research, problems of access to organizations and incomparability of research findings seem to be the most serious. Nevertheless, future research should concentrate on mechanisms that make networks productive, while taking into account the difficulties of measuring performance within organizations, such as the performance paradox and the halo-effect.     

The power of line-narrowing techniques: Applications to photosynthetic chromoprotein complexes and autofluorescent proteins

Laser spectroscopic techniques at low temperature, such as fluorescence line-narrowing and hole burning, enable an increase of spectral resolution by a factor of 10³–10⁵ compared to conventional spectroscopy at room temperature. With these methods, it is possible to retrieve a fingerprint of the species involved and to measure the rates of dynamic processes that normally remain hidden in the broad absorption bands. A few applications carried out in our laboratory will be discussed: (1) the determination of energy transfer rates in the peripheral LH2 complex of purple bacteria; (2) the study of spectral diffusion and its implications in three types of systems: (a) the B820 and B777 subunits of the LH1 complex of purple bacteria, (b) the photosystem II reaction center (PSII RC) and CP47 antenna complex of green plants, and (c) an organic glass doped with bacteriochlorophyll a; (3) the unraveling of 0-0 transitions and the pathways of photoconversion between a number of conformations of the green fluorescent protein mutant S65T; (4) the measuring of electron-phonon coupling strengths in PSII RC and the red fluorescent protein DsRed; and (5) the determination and comparison of the homogeneous linewidths and optical dephasing in photosynthetic chromoprotein complexes and autofluorescent proteins.     

On the embedding of some linear spaces in finite projective planes

The problem of embedding of linear spaces in finite projective planes has been examined by several authors ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). In particular, it has been proved in [1] that a linear space which is the complement of a projective or affine subplane of order m is embeddable in a unique way in a projective plane of order n. In this article, we give a generalization of this result by embedding linear spaces in a finite projective plane of order n, which are complements of certain regularA-affine linear spaces with respect to a finite projective plane.     

Structure–reactivity relationships of alkyl α‐hydroxymethacrylate derivatives

A series of alkyl α‐hydroxymethacrylate derivatives with various secondary functionalities (ether, ester, carbonate, and carbamate) and terminal groups (alkyl, cyano, oxetane, cyclic carbonate, phenyl and morpholine) were synthesized to investigate the effect of intermolecular interactions, H‐bonding, π–π interactions, and dipole moment on monomer reactivity. All of the monomers except one ester and one ether derivative are novel. The polymerization rates, determined by using photo‐DSC, showed the average trend (aromatic carbamate > hydroxyl > ester > carbonate ～ aliphatic carbamate ～ ether), with several exceptions due to the differences in terminal groups. There is a correlation between the chemical shift differences of the double bond carbons, the calculated dipole moments, and the reactivities only for nonhydrogen bonded monomers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

On Tauberian theorems for (<Emphasis Type="Italic">A,k</Emphasis>) summability method

Let (u _n ) be a sequence of real numbers. In this paper we introduce some Tauberian conditions in terms of regularly generated sequences for (A, k) summability method.     

Synthesis,crystal structure and catalytic activity for H2O2 disproportionation of the manganese(II) coordination polymer {[Mn(O2C(CF2)8CO2)(phen)2]H2O}n (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline)

The title polymeric complex {[Mn(O₂C(CF₂)₈CO₂)(phen)₂]H₂O}_n was synthesized through the reaction of 1,10-phenanthroline, perfluorosebacic acid and MnCO₃ · H₂O. The molecular structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, thermal gravimetry, IR and UV–Vis spectroscopy and its catalytic activity has been studied. X-ray structure analysis shows that each Mn(II) ion is octahedrally coordinated by two bidentate phenanthroline ligands and the carboxylate oxygen atoms from two symmetry related perfluorosebacate ligands, which are coordinated in cisoid positions. The structure consists of polymeric chains, with the perfluorosebacato ligand bridging the Mn(II) ions in a monodentate fashion. Crystallographic characterization shows a supramolecular structure involving hydrogen bonds, π–π and π-ring interactions. The catalytic results indicated that the complex has reasonably good activity towards the disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide into water and dioxygen in methanol and it does not exhibit saturation kinetics with the substrate. The initial reaction rates and their temperature and base dependencies were investigated by monitoring the dioxygen evolution. Kinetic studies revealed a first-order dependence on the catalyst concentration. Activation parameters have been calculated at 301 K.     

Backtracking and exchange of information: Methods to enhance a beam search algorithm for assembly line scheduling

Beam search (BS) is used as a heuristic to solve various combinatorial optimization problems, ranging from scheduling to assembly line balancing. In this paper, we develop a backtracking and an exchange-of-information (EOI) procedure to enhance the traditional beam search method. The backtracking enables us to return to previous solution states in the search process with the expectation of obtaining better solutions. The EOI is used to transfer information accumulated in a beam to other beams to yield improved solutions.     

A novel ditopic ring-expanded N-heterocyclic carbene ligand-assisted Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction in aqueous media

A series of seven-membered ditopic ring-expanded N-heterocyclic carbene (dre-NHC) precursors, bearing sterically demanding and electron-rich aryl groups, were synthesised in moderate yields via the reaction of 1,2,4,5-tetrakis(bromomethyl)benzene with the corresponding N,N′-diarylformamidines in the presence of K₂CO₃ in acetonitrile under an air atmosphere. All new compounds were characterised by HRMS, NMR spectroscopy, and microanalysis, as well as X-ray crystallography for compound 1c. The development of an efficient catalytic system for the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction of aryl chlorides with various boronic acids was also investigated using the in situ generated dre-NHC ligands.     

Investigation of the structural properties of annealed CdIn2Te4/CdS thin film solar cells produced by the electron-beam evaporation (e-beam) technique

Thin film CdIn₂Te₄/CdS solar cells were deposited onto the ITO-coated glass substrate by electron beam evaporation (e-beam) technique, and the the effect of annealing on their structural properties is studied. The annealing was performed under nitrogen atmosphere for 1 h. The manufactured solar cells were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis. Crystallite size (D), inter-planer distance (d) and lattice constant (a) values were calculated for the thin film solar cell from XRD data. Annealed samples display well defined XRD patterns with three diffraction peaks. We observed increased peak intensity in the annealed films. EDAX analysis showed that only CdIn₂Te₄ is present in absorber layer and CdS is found in the window layer, but no impurity atoms are present the structure. It is observed that surface roughness of the annealed films incresed, according to SEM images. The I–V characteristics show that the current is increased for annealed thin films solar cells.

     

Oxalic acid removal from wastewater using multi-walled carbon nanotubes: Kinetic and equilibrium analysis

Oxalic acid adsorption from aqueous solution is studied in this work. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were used as an adsorbent. The investigated adsorption variables are equilibrium time, initial acid concentration, and temperature. The experimental results were presented using equilibrium isotherm and kinetic models. The used equilibrium models are Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin adsorption isotherms. And the kinetic models are Elovich, Lagergren pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models. The thermodynamics studies were carried out at three different temperatures: 278, 298, and 318 K. Langmuir isotherm was the best fitted equilibrium model for the experimental data. The all applied kinetic models fitted the data suitably.