HRM and innovation:looking across levels

Studies are starting to explore the role of HRM in fostering organizational innovation but empirical evidence remains contradictory and theory fragmented. This is partly because extant literature by and large adopts a unitary level of analysis, rather than reflecting on the multi-level demands that innovation presents. Building on an emergent literature focused on HRM’s role in shaping innovation, we shed light on the question of whether, and how, HRM might influence employees’ innovative behaviours in the direction of strategically important goals. Drawing upon institutional theory, our contributions are three-fold: to bring out the effect of two discrete HRM configurations- one underpinned by a control and the other by an entrepreneurial ethos, on attitudes and behaviours at the individual level; to reflect the way in which employee innovative behaviours arising from these HRM configurations coalesce to shape higher-level phenomena, such as organizational-level innovation; and to bring out two distinct patterns of bottom-up emergence, one driven primarily by composition and the other by both composition and compilation.

Investigating automated chemical evolution of oil-in-water droplets

One of the main unresolved questions in science is how non-living matter became alive in a process known as abiognesis, which aims to explain how from a primordial soup scenario containing simple molecules, by following a ``bottom up'' approach, complex biomolecules emerged forming the first living system, known as a protocell. A protocell is defined by the interplay of three sub-systems which are considered requirements for life: information molecules, metabolism, and compartmentalization. This thesis investigates the role of compartmentalization during the emergence of life, and how simple membrane aggregates could evolve into entities that were able to develop ``life-like'' behaviours, and in particular how such evolution could happen without the presence of information molecules. Our ultimate objective is to create an autonomous evolvable system, and in order tp do so we will try to engineer life following a ``top-down'' approach, where an initial platform capable of evolving chemistry will be constructed, but the chemistry being dependent on the robotic adjunct, and how then this platform can be de-constructed in iterative operations until it is fully disconnected from the evolvable system, the system then being inherently autonomous. The first project of this thesis describes how the initial platform was designed and built. The platform was based on the model of a standard liquid handling robot, with the main difference with respect to other similar robots being that we used a 3D-printer in order to prototype the robot and build its main equipment, like a liquid dispensing system, tool movement mechanism, and washing procedures. The robot was able to mix different components and create populations of droplets in a Petri dish filled with aqueous phase. The Petri dish was then observed by a camera, which analysed the behaviours described by the droplets and fed this information back to the robot. Using this loop, the robot was then able to implement an evolutionary algorithm, where populations of droplets were evolved towards defined life-like behaviours. The second project of this thesis aimed to remove as many mechanical parts as possible from the robot while keeping the evolvable chemistry intact. In order to do so, we encapsulated the functionalities of the previous liquid handling robot into a single monolithic 3D-printed device. This device was able to mix different components, generate populations of droplets in an aqueous phase, and was also equipped with a camera in order to analyse the experiments. Moreover, because the full fabrication process of the devices happened in a 3D-printer, we were also able to alter its experimental arena by adding different obstacles where to evolve the droplets, enabling us to study how environmental changes can shape evolution. By doing so, we were able to embody evolutionary characteristics into our device, removing constraints from the physical platform, and taking one step forward to a possible autonomous evolvable system.

Deindustrialisation and industrial communities: the Lanarkshire coalfields c.1947-1983

This thesis examines deindustrialisation, the declining contribution of industrial activities to economic output and employment, in Lanarkshire, Scotland’s largest coalfield between the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth century. It focuses on contraction between the National Coal Board’s (NCB) vesting in 1947 and the closure of Lanarkshire’s last colliery, Cardowan, in 1983. Deindustrialisation was not the natural outcome of either market forces or geological exhaustion. Colliery closures and falling coal employment were the result of policy-makers’ decisions. The thesis consists of four thematic chapters: political economy, moral economy, class and community, and generation and gender. The analysis is based on archival sources including Scottish Office reports and correspondence relating to regional policy, and NCB records. These are supported by National Union of Mineworkers Scottish Area and STUC meeting minutes, and oral history testimonies from over 30 men and women with Lanarkshire coalfield backgrounds, as well as two focus groups. The first two chapters analyse the process of deindustrialisation, with the first offering a top-down perspective and the second a bottom-up viewpoint. In chapter one deindustrialisation is analysed through changes in political economy. Shifts in labour market structure are examined through the development of regional policy and its administration by the Scottish Office. The analysis centres upon a policy network of Scottish business elites and civil servants who shaped a vision of modernisation via industrial diversification through attracting inward investment. In chapter two the perspective shifts to community and workforce. It analyses responses to coalfield contraction through a moral economy of customary rights to colliery employment. A detailed investigation of Lanarkshire colliery closures between the 1940s and 1980s emphasises the protracted nature of deindustrialisation. Chapters three and four consider the social and cultural structures which shaped the moral economy but were heavily altered by deindustrialisation. Chapter three focuses on the dense networks that linked occupation, community, and class consciousness. Increasing coalfield centralisation and remote control of pits from NCB headquarters in London, and mounting hostility to coal closures, contributed to an accentuated sense of Scottish-ness. Chapter four illuminates gender and generational dimensions. The differing experiences of cohorts of men who faced either early retirement, redundancy or transfer to alternative sectors, or those who never attained anticipated industrial employment due to final closures, are analysed in terms of constructions of masculinity and the endurance of cultural as well as material losses. This is counterpoised to women who gained industrial work in assembly plants and the perceived gradual attainment of an improved economic and social position whilst continuing to navigate structures of patriarchy.

Restoring degraded land.

2015

Hierarchically organized chitin-based matrices

Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth and the most diffused across the known species, being present in more than 70 % of them. It is present in a huge variety of different structures and morphologies being a massive pool of information for new material science approach. This thesis aims to study chitin at different level of organization using diverse approaches. Three main topics are discussed in this manuscript. The first is the use of a bottom-up approach to study chitin nanofibrils self-assembly in water triggering the assembly by pH increment. Successively, the assembly was studied in presence of another pH responsive biomacromolecule, the collagen, to get new composite materials and study how the assembly and the chitin/collagen ratio influence fibroblast’s viability. The second topic focuses on biogenic organized chitin-based matrices, in both Ariolimax californicus and Loligo vulgaris. This study aims to understand the features that give raise to the properties of those matrices. Finally, in the last section a top-up approach was used to exploit natural hierarchically organized chitinous matrices to obtain organized functional materials introducing a catechol on the free amino group of deacetylated chitin (DA 77 %). In conclusion, this study of chitin at different level of organization emphasized different novelties depending on the organization level studied. Moreover, this thesis gives many possibilities for future bioinspired routes to get highly organized materials, or for highly organized functional materials based on natural chitin-based matrices.

Understanding, defining and assessing food systems’ social and economic sustainability indicators: implementation of mixed methodologies for policy insights

Sustainability encompasses the presence of three dimensions that must coexist simultaneously, namely the environmental, social, and economic ones. The economic and social dimensions are gaining the spotlight in recent years, especially within food systems. To assess social and economic impacts, indicators and tools play a fundamental role in contributing to the achievements of sustainability targets, although few of them have deepen the focus on social and economic impacts. Moreover, in a framework of citizen science and bottom-up approach for improving food systems, citizen play a key role in defying their priorities in terms of social and economic interventions. This research expands the knowledge of social and economic sustainability indicators within the food systems for robust policy insights and interventions. This work accomplishes the following objectives: 1) to define social and economic indicators within the supply chain with a stakeholder perspective, 2) to test social and economic sustainability indicators for future food systems engaging young generations. The first objective was accomplished through the development of a systematic literature review of 34 social sustainability tools, based on five food supply chain stages, namely production, processing, wholesale, retail, and consumer considering farmers, workers, consumers, and society as stakeholders. The second objective was achieved by defining and testing new food systems social and economic sustainability indicators through youth engagement for informed and robust policy insights, to provide policymakers suggestions that would incorporate young generations ones. Future food systems scenarios were evaluated by youth through focus groups, whose results were analyzed through NVivo and then through a survey with a wider platform. Conclusion addressed the main areas of policy interventions in terms of social and economic aspects of sustainable food systems youth pointed out as in need of interventions, spanning from food labelling reporting sustainable origins to better access to online food services.

Validation of an intermediate-complexity flood risk model for climate change adaptation

In questo lavoro di tesi viene presentato e validato un modello di rischio di alluvione a complessità intermedia per scenari climatici futuri. Questo modello appartiene a quella categoria di strumenti che mirano a soddisfare le esigenze identificate dal World Climate Research Program (WRCP) per affrontare gli effetti del cambiamento climatico. L'obiettivo perseguito è quello di sviluppare, seguendo un approccio ``bottom-up" al rischio climatico regionale, strumenti che possano aiutare i decisori a realizzare l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici. Il modello qui presentato è interamente basato su dati open-source forniti dai servizi Copernicus. Il contributo di questo lavoro di tesi riguarda lo sviluppo di un modello, formulato da (Ruggieri et al.), per stimare i danni di eventi alluvionali fluviali per specifici i livelli di riscaldamento globale (GWL). Il modello è stato testato su tre bacini idrografici di medie dimensioni in Emilia-Romagna, Panaro, Reno e Secchia. In questo lavoro, il modello viene sottoposto a test di sensibilità rispetto a un'ipotesi enunciata nella formulazione del modello, poi vengono effettuate analisi relative all'ensemble multi-modello utilizzato per le proiezioni. Il modello viene quindi validato, confrontando i danni stimati nel clima attuale per i tre fiumi con i danni osservati e confrontando le portate simulate con quelle osservate. Infine, vengono stimati i danni associati agli eventi alluvionali in tre scenari climatici futuri caratterizzati da GWL di 1.5° C, 2.0° C e 3.0°C.

The residual effects of cooperative-learning experiences: A two-year follow-up

The author investigated how training in small-group and interpersonal behaviors affected children's behavior and interactions as they worked in small groups 2 years later. The authors assigned 52 fifth graders, who had been trained 2 years previously in cooperative group behaviors, to the trained condition and 36 fifth graders, who had not previously been trained, to the untrained condition. Both were reconstituted from the pool of students who had participated previously in group activities. The results showed a residual training effect, with the children in the trained groups being more cooperative and helpful than their untrained peers.

SMEs engaging at the bottom of the pyramid: Exploring drivers of business strategies

This research paper investigates how the market conditions at the base of the pyramid (BOP) influences South African small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to take certain business decisions in the townships and rural areas. It takes a qualitative approach to explore how SMEs with social objectives develops mitigating strategies to successfully engage with and in poor communities. The research suggests that prevailing BOP strategies are lacking certain aspects to successfully realize them on the ground. It advices firms to take a more practical hands-on approach to identify a sustainable business model by testing, experimenting, learning and adjusting, eventually being eligible for up-scaling.

Learning analytics in practice: setting up a laboratory for action research at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Since its inception in 1994 as a purely online university, the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya(UOC) has been able to position itself among the main universities of the Catalan and Spanish university systems. Most of the students at the UOC (currently more than 60,000) are adults who have a profile that could hardly fit into the traditional university system, thus finding in the UOC an opportunity to start or continue their higher education grades, in a very innovative environment. The intensive use of ICT for both theteaching/learning processes and management allowsresearchers and practitioners to obtain data aboutwhat takes place in the UOC Virtual Campus, which is continuously being improved according to suchfindings.

Reinforcement Learning Solution for Unit Commitment Problem Considering Minimum Start Up and Shut Down Times

Unit Commitment Problem (UCP) in power system refers to the problem of determining the on/ off status of generating units that minimize the operating cost during a given time horizon. Since various system and generation constraints are to be satisfied while finding the optimum schedule, UCP turns to be a constrained optimization problem in power system scheduling. Numerical solutions developed are limited for small systems and heuristic methodologies find difficulty in handling stochastic cost functions associated with practical systems. This paper models Unit Commitment as a multi stage decision making task and an efficient Reinforcement Learning solution is formulated considering minimum up time /down time constraints. The correctness and efficiency of the developed solutions are verified for standard test systems

Giving up on modern foreign languages? Students' perceptions of learning French

This article reports on the findings of an investigation into the attitudes of English students aged 16 to 19 years towards French and how they view the reasons behind their level of achievement. Those students who attributed success to effort, high ability, and effective learning strategies had higher levels of achievement, and students intending to continue French after age 16 were more likely than noncontinuers to attribute success to these factors. Low ability and task difficulty were the main reasons cited for lack of achievement in French, whereas the possible role of learning strategies tended to be overlooked by students. It is argued that learners' self-concept and motivation might be enhanced through approaches that encourage learners to explore the causal links between the strategies they employ and their academic performance, thereby changing the attributions they make for success or failure.