The phenomenology of minority-majority status:effects on innovation in argument generation

In three experiments, we manipulated participants' perceived numerical status and compared the originality and creativity of arguments generated by members of numerical minorities and majorities. Independent judges, blind to experimental conditions, rated participants' written arguments. In Studies 1 and 2, we found that participants assigned to a numerical minority generated more original arguments when advocating their own position than did numerical majorities. In Study 3, an equal-factions control group was included in the design, and all participants were instructed to argue for a counter-attitudinal position. Those in the numerical minority generated more creative arguments than those in both the majority and equal-factions conditions, but not stronger arguments. We propose cognitive and social processes that may underlie our obtained effects and discuss implications for minority influence research.

Organisational learning - a critical systems thinking discipline

Original Paper European Journal of Information Systems (2001) 10, 135–146; doi:10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000394 Organisational learning—a critical systems thinking discipline P Panagiotidis1,3 and J S Edwards2,4 1Deloitte and Touche, Athens, Greece 2Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK Correspondence: Dr J S Edwards, Aston Business School, Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. E-mail: j.s.edwards@aston.ac.uk 3Petros Panagiotidis is Manager responsible for the Process and Systems Integrity Services of Deloitte and Touche in Athens, Greece. He has a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc in Management Information Systems from Western International University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA; an MSc in Business Systems Analysis and Design from City University, London, UK; and a PhD degree from Aston University, Birmingham, UK. His doctorate was in Business Systems Analysis and Design. His principal interests now are in the ERP/DSS field, where he serves as project leader and project risk managment leader in the implementation of SAP and JD Edwards/Cognos in various major clients in the telecommunications and manufacturing sectors. In addition, he is responsible for the development and application of knowledge management systems and activity-based costing systems. 4John S Edwards is Senior Lecturer in Operational Research and Systems at Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK. He holds MA and PhD degrees (in mathematics and operational research respectively) from Cambridge University. His principal research interests are in knowledge management and decision support, especially methods and processes for system development. He has written more than 30 research papers on these topics, and two books, Building Knowledge-based Systems and Decision Making with Computers, both published by Pitman. Current research work includes the effect of scale of operations on knowledge management, interfacing expert systems with simulation models, process modelling in law and legal services, and a study of the use of artifical intelligence techniques in management accounting. Top of pageAbstract This paper deals with the application of critical systems thinking in the domain of organisational learning and knowledge management. Its viewpoint is that deep organisational learning only takes place when the business systems' stakeholders reflect on their actions and thus inquire about their purpose(s) in relation to the business system and the other stakeholders they perceive to exist. This is done by reflecting both on the sources of motivation and/or deception that are contained in their purpose, and also on the sources of collective motivation and/or deception that are contained in the business system's purpose. The development of an organisational information system that captures, manages and institutionalises meaningful information—a knowledge management system—cannot be separated from organisational learning practices, since it should be the result of these very practices. Although Senge's five disciplines provide a useful starting-point in looking at organisational learning, we argue for a critical systems approach, instead of an uncritical Systems Dynamics one that concentrates only on the organisational learning practices. We proceed to outline a methodology called Business Systems Purpose Analysis (BSPA) that offers a participatory structure for team and organisational learning, upon which the stakeholders can take legitimate action that is based on the force of the better argument. In addition, the organisational learning process in BSPA leads to the development of an intrinsically motivated information organisational system that allows for the institutionalisation of the learning process itself in the form of an organisational knowledge management system. This could be a specific application, or something as wide-ranging as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation. Examples of the use of BSPA in two ERP implementations are presented.

Bending and orientational characteristics of long period gratings written in D-shaped optical fiber

Long period gratings (LPGs) were written into a D-shaped single-mode fiber. These LPGs were subjected to a range of curvatures, and it was found that as curvature increased, there was increasingly strong coupling to certain higher order cladding modes without the usual splitting of the LPGs stopbands. A bend-induced stopband yielded a spectral sensitivity of 12.55 nm·m for curvature and 2.2×10-2 nm°C-1 for temperature. It was also found that the wavelength separation between adjacent bend-induced stopbands varied linearly as a function of curvature. Blue and red wavelength shifts of the stopbands were observed as the sensor was rotated around a fixed axis for a given curvature; thus, in principle, this sensor could be used to obtain bending and orientational information. The behavior of the stopbands was successfully modeled using a finite element approach.

Bend sensors with direction recognition based on long-period gratings written in D-shaped fibre

The curvature- or bend-sensing response of long-period gratings (LPGs) UV inscribed in D-shaped fiber has been investigated experimentally. Strong fiber-orientation dependence of the spectral response when such LPGs are subjected to bending at different directions has been observed and is shown to form the basis for a new class of single-device sensor with vector-sensing capability. Potential applications utilizing the linear response and unique bend-orientation characteristics of the devices are discussed.

A comparison of the sensing characteristics of long period gratings written in three different types of fiber

This paper compares the environmental sensing behaviour of long period gratings written in three fibers with different refractive index profiles: step, W and a progressive three layered fiber. The measurands considered are temperature, refractive index, axial strain and bending, and the spectral behaviour of individual attenuation bands were observed and, where possible, compared to theoretical predictions. Significant differences in the behaviour of the three fiber types were found.

Surface roughness reduction and diffraction efficiency optimisation for e-beam written phase masks

We report the control of surface relief grating parameters and roughness for phase masks produced using e-beam lithography (EBL) and reactive ion etching (RIE). The relationships between processing conditions, grating parameters, surface roughness and the diffraction efficiency of the zeroth and the two first order transmitted beams are discussed.

Pearl-chain waveguides written at megahertz repetition rate

Waveguides in the form of connected pearls, written with sub-30 fs pulses centered at 800 nm at a repetition rate of 10 MHz, show high changes of the refractive index and, as a consequence, simple in-coupling. The value of the refractive index modification of these waveguides is as high as 10-2, optical losses are 6 dB/cm (at 1.55 µm) and the mode field diameter is 8 µm at 670 nm.

Structure of fiber gratings directly written by infrared femtosecond laser

Structural modification m gratings inscribed point-by-point by a femtosecond laser is investigated using quantitative phase microscopy. The gratings present a central region with a depressed refractive index surrounded by an outer corona with increased index. © 2006 Optical Society of America.

Long period gratings written into a photonic crystal fibre by a femtosecond laser as directional bend sensors

A series of symmetric and asymmetric LPGs were inscribed in photonic crystal fibre by a low repetition rate femtosecond laser system. The asymmetric LPGs were found to be spectrally sensitive to bend orientation, with some of the attenuation bands producing both red and blue wavelength shifts, whilst the symmetric devices produced only a unidirectional wavelength shift. Both sets of devices displayed strong polarisation dependence.

Investigation of ultrafast laser-photonic material interactions: Challenges for directly written glass photonics

Currently, direct-write waveguide fabrication is probably the most widely studied application of femtosecond laser micromachining in transparent dielectrics. Devices such as buried waveguides, power splitters, couplers, gratings, and optical amplifiers have all been demonstrated. Waveguide properties depend critically on the sample material properties and writing laser characteristics. In this paper, we discuss the challenges facing researchers using the femtosecond laser direct-write technique with specific emphasis being placed on the suitability of fused silica and phosphate glass as device hosts for different applications.

A regional analysis of contraction rate in written Standard American English

The goal of this study is to determine if various measures of contraction rate are regionally patterned in written Standard American English. In order to answer this question, this study employs a corpus-based approach to data collection and a statistical approach to data analysis. Based on a spatial autocorrelation analysis of the values of eleven measures of contraction across a 25 million word corpus of letters to the editor representing the language of 200 cities from across the contiguous United States, two primary regional patterns were identified: easterners tend to produce relatively few standard contractions (not contraction, verb contraction) compared to westerners, and northeasterners tend to produce relatively few non-standard contractions (to contraction, non-standard not contraction) compared to southeasterners. These findings demonstrate that regional linguistic variation exists in written Standard American English and that regional linguistic variation is more common than is generally assumed.

A descriptive structural approach to the teaching of written English to foreign students.

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