Organizational Development as Generative Entrenchment

A critical task for organizations is how to best structure themselves to efficiently allocate information and resources to individuals tasked with solving sub-components of the organization’s central problems. Despite this criticality, the processes by which organizational structures form remain largely opaque within organizational theory, with most approaches focused on how structure is influenced by individual managerial heuristics, normative cultural perceptions, and trial-and-error. Here, we propose that a broad understanding of organizational formation can be aided by appealing to generative entrenchment, a theory from developmental biology that helps explain why phylogenetically diverse animals appear similar as embryos. Drawing inferences from generative entrenchment and applying it to organizational differentiation, we argue that the reason many organizations appear structurally similar is due to core informational restraints on individual actors beginning at the top and descending to the bottom of these informational hierarchies, which reinforces these structures via feedback between separate levels. We further argue that such processes can lead to the emergence of a variety of group-level traits, an important but undertheorized class of phenomena in cultural evolution.     

A comparison of methods for the determination of the dating-nuclides210Pb and226Ra

Lead-210 is often used to date recent (100 y) environmental samples. Three different methods for its determination are compared:²¹⁰Pb -counting with a low level proportional counter,²¹⁰Pb -spectroscopy and²¹⁰Po -spectroscopy. Agreement within analytical errors was found for the three methods in two sediment cores from Lake Zurich, Switzerland and in IAEA SD-A-1 deep sea reference material. For²¹⁰Po -spectroscopy, the detection and determination limit is an order of magnitude lower than these for the other methods. Methods for the determination of²²⁶Ra are also discussed. Measurements on low level proportional counters are difficult to interpret and not suitable for routine work. A better way to measure²²⁶Ra is -spectroscopy of colloidal Ba(Ra)SO₄.     

The homologous series of 1,1'-ferrocenylenebisdihalophosphanes (C5H4PX2)2Fe (X = F, Cl, Br, I): precursors for the first metallocene bridged bisphosphaalkene

A facile synthetic access to the homologous series of 1,1'-ferrocenylene bisdihalophosphanes Fc'(PX2)2 (X = F, Cl, Br, I; Fc' = 1,1'-ferrocenediyl = ferrocenylene = -C5H4FeC5H4-) is reported. The 31P NMR spectroscopic data of this series suggest a similar electronic interaction of the -PX(2) unit with the ferrocene system as in monofunctional ferrocenyldihalophosphanes. Crystal structures for Fc'(PCl2)2 and Fc'(PBr2)2 reveal that the nature of the halogen atom within the phosphane unit strongly influences the twist angle of the ferrocene system, while leaving the other structural parameters mostly unaffected. Based on these bisdihalophosphanes, a synthetic access to the first metallocene bridged bisphosphaalkene ((C5H4P=C(t-Bu)OTMS)2Fe) is reported in which the tert-butyl substituents provide sufficient steric pressure to control the E/Z isomeric ratio which leads to the almost exclusive formation of the most stable Z,Z isomer out of the three possible isomers.     

Positron annihilation lifetime measurements in collagen biopolymer

Lifetime measurement in Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS) is applied to the study of free-volume collagen characteristics as a function of concentration. The lifetimes of positrons were measured by a conventional fast-fast coincidence system. All lifetime data are fitted in three components by using the computer program POSITRON-FIT and resolved. For each concentration, lifetime distributions were analyzed in order to obtain the different components, thus we have observed three components of which one long component τ₃. This long lived component can be associated with a pick-off annihilation of ortho-positronium (o-Ps) trapped in free volumes of amorphous region. This investigation shows the potential of positron annihilation spectroscopy in the study of biopolymer microstructures.     

A Reformulation of the Biharmonic Map Equation

The known Euler–Lagrange equation for (intrinsic) biharmonic maps is unsuitable for the study of some of the critical points of the corresponding functional, as it requires too much regularity. We derive and discuss a variant of the equation that does not have this shortcoming.     

Re‐determination of the pseudobinary system Li2O – MoO3

The quasi‐binary phase diagram lithium oxide – molybdenum(VI) oxide was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and X‐ray diffraction. The four intermediate phases Li₄MoO₅, Li₂MoO₄, Li₄Mo₅O₁₇, and Li₂Mo₄O₁₃ show incongruent melting. The system has one eutectic point at 50.5 mol% MoO₃ and 49.5 mol% LiO_0.5 with a eutectic temperature of 524.6°C. At this point the melt is in equilibrium with Li₂MoO₄ and Li₄Mo₅O₁₇. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)