Organisational semiotics methods to assess organisational readiness for internal use of social media

The paper presents organisational semiotics (OS) as an approach for identifying organisational readiness factors for internal use of social media within information intensive organisations (IIO). The paper examines OS methods, such as organisational morphology, containment analysis and collateral analysis to reveal factors of readiness within an organisation. These models also help to identify the essential patterns of activities needed for social media use within an organisation, which can provide a basis for future analysis. The findings confirmed many of the factors, previously identified in literature, while also revealing new factors using OS methods. The factors for organisational readiness for internal use of social media include resources, organisational climate, processes, motivational readiness, benefit and organisational control factors. Organisational control factors revealed are security/privacy, policies, communication procedures, accountability and fallback.

On the connection between dissipation enhancement in the ocean surface layer and Langmuir circulations

A mechanism for the enhancement of the viscous dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the oceanic boundary layer (OBL) is proposed, based on insights gained from rapid-distortion theory (RDT). In this mechanism, which complements mechanisms purely based on wave breaking, preexisting TKE is amplified and subsequently dissipated by the joint action of a mean Eulerian wind-induced shear current and the Stokes drift of surface waves, the same elements thought to be responsible for the generation of Langmuir circulations. Assuming that the TKE dissipation rate epsilon saturates to its equilibrium value over a time of the order one eddy turnover time of the turbulence, a new scaling expression, dependent on the turbulent Langmuir number, is derived for epsilon. For reasonable values of the input parameters, the new expression predicts an increase of the dissipation rate near the surface by orders of magnitude compared with usual surface-layer scaling estimates, consistent with available OBL data. These results establish on firmer grounds a suspected connection between two central OBL phenomena: dissipation enhancement and Langmuir circulations.

Resonant gravity-wave drag enhancement in linear stratified flow over mountains

High-drag states produced in stratified flow over a 2D ridge and an axisymmetric mountain are investigated using a linear, hydrostatic, analytical model. A wind profile is assumed where the background velocity is constant up to a height z1 and then decreases linearly, and the internal gravity-wave solutions are calculated exactly. In flow over a 2D ridge, the normalized surface drag is given by a closed-form analytical expression, while in flow over an axisymmetric mountain it is given by an expression involving a simple 1D integral. The drag is found to depend on two dimensionless parameters: a dimensionless height formed with z_1, and the Richardson number, Ri, in the shear layer. The drag oscillates as z_1 increases, with a period of half the hydrostatic vertical wavelength of the gravity waves. The amplitude of this modulation increases as Ri decreases. This behaviour is due to wave reflection at z_1. Drag maxima correspond to constructive interference of the upward- and downward-propagating waves in the region z < z_1, while drag minima correspond to destructive interference. The reflection coefficient at the interface z = z_1 increases as Ri decreases. The critical level, z_c, plays no role in the drag amplification. A preliminary numerical treatment of nonlinear effects is presented, where z_c appears to become more relevant, and flow over a 2D ridge qualitatively changes its character. But these effects, and their connection with linear theory, still need to be better understood.

Arctic Oscillation and Antarctic Oscillation in internal atmospheric variability

n this study, we investigated the features of Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), that is, the annular modes in the extratropics, in the internal atmospheric variability attained through an ensemble of integrations by an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) forced with the global observed SSTs. We focused on the interannual variability of AO/AAO, which is dominated by internal atmospheric variability. In comparison with previous observed results, the AO/AAO in internal atmospheric variability bear some similar characteristics, but exhibit a much clearer spatial structure: significant correlation between the North Pacific and North Atlantic centers of action, much stronger and more significant associated precipitation anomalies, and the meridional displacement of upper-tropospheric westerly jet streams in the Northern/Southern Hemisphere. In addition, we examined the relationship between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)/AO and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). It has been shown that in the internal atmospheric variability, the EAWM variation is significantly related to the NAO through upper-tropospheric atmospheric teleconnection patterns.

Brussels French une fois: Transfer-induced innovation or system-internal development?

In language contact studies, specific features of the contact languages are often seen to be the result of transfer (interference), but it remains difficult to disentangle the role of intra-systemic and inter-systemic factors. We propose to unravel these factors in the analysis of a feature of Brussels French which many researchers attribute to transfer from (Brussels) Dutch: the adverbial use of une fois. We compare the use of this particle in Brussels French with its occurrence in corpora of other varieties of French, including several that have not been influenced by a Germanic substrate or adstrate. A detailed analysis of the frequency of occurrence, the functions and the distribution of the particle over different syntactic positions shows that some uses of une fois can be traced back to sixteenth-century French, but that there is also ample evidence for overt and covert transfer (Mougeon and Beniak, 1991) from Brussels Dutch.

Recent Glacier Retreat Exceeds Internal Variability

Glacier fluctuations exclusively due to internal variations in the climate system are simulated using downscaled integrations of the ECHAM4/OPYC coupled general circulation model (GCM). A process-based modeling approach using a mass balance model of intermediate complexity and a dynamic ice flow model considering simple shearing flow and sliding are applied. Multimillennia records of glacier length fluctuations for Nigardsbreen (Norway) and Rhonegletscher (Switzerland) are simulated using autoregressive processes determined by statistically downscaled GCM experiments. Return periods and probabilities of specific glacier length changes using GCM integrations excluding external forcings such as solar irradiation changes, volcanic, or anthropogenic effects are analyzed and compared to historical glacier length records. Preindustrial fluctuations of the glaciers as far as observed or reconstructed, including their advance during the “Little Ice Age,” can be explained by internal variability in the climate system as represented by a GCM. However, fluctuations comparable to the present-day glacier retreat exceed any variation simulated by the GCM control experiments and must be caused by external forcing, with anthropogenic forcing being a likely candidate.

On the connection between the 1984 Atlantic warm event and the 1982-1983 ENSO

The warm event which spread in the tropical Atlantic during Spring-Summer 1984 is assumed to be partially initiated by atmospheric disturbances, themselves related to the major 1982–1983 El-Niño which occurred 1 year earlier in the Pacific. This paper tests such an hypothesis. For that purpose, an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) is forced by different conditions of climatic and observed sea surface temperature and an Atlantic ocean general circulation model (OGCM) is subsequently forced by the outputs of the AGCM. It is firstly shown that both the AGCM and the OGCM correctly behave when globally observed SST are used: the strengthening of the trades over the tropical Atlantic during 1983 and their subsequent weakening at the beginning of 1984 are well captured by the AGCM, and so is the Spring 1984 deepening of the thermocline in the eastern equatorial Atlantic, simulated by the OGCM. As assumed, the SST anomalies located in the El-Niño Pacific area are partly responsible for wind signal anomaly in the tropical Atlantic. Though this remotely forced atmospheric signal has a small amplitude, it can generate, in the OGCM run, an anomalous sub-surface signal leading to a flattening of the thermocline in the equatorial Atlantic. This forced oceanic experiment cannot explain the amplitude and phase of the observed sub-surface oceanic anomaly: part of the Atlantic ocean response, due to local interaction between ocean and atmosphere, requires a coupled approach. Nevertheless this experiment showed that anomalous conditions in the Pacific during 82–83 created favorable conditions for anomaly development in the Atlantic.

Northern winter stratospheric temperature and ozone responses to ENSO inferred from an ensemble of Chemistry Climate Models

The connection between the El Ni˜no Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Northern polar stratosphere has been established from observations and atmospheric modeling. Here a systematic inter-comparison of the sensitivity of the modeled stratosphere to ENSO in Chemistry Climate Models (CCMs) is reported. This work uses results from a number of the CCMs included in the 2006 ozone assessment. In the lower stratosphere, the mean of all model simulations reports a warming of the polar vortex during strong ENSO events in February–March, consistent with but smaller than the estimate from satellite observations and ERA40 reanalysis. The anomalous warming is associated with an anomalous dynamical increase of column ozone north of 70� N that is accompanied by coherent column ozone decrease in the Tropics, in agreement with that deduced from the NIWA column ozone database, implying an increased residual circulation in the mean of all model simulations during ENSO. The spread in the model responses is partly due to the large internal stratospheric variability and it is shown that it crucially depends on the representation of the tropospheric ENSO teleconnection in the models.

Ice internal friction: Standard theoretical perspectives on friction codified, adapted for the unusual rheology of ice, and unified

Sea ice contains flaws including frictional contacts. We aim to describe quantitatively the mechanics of those contacts, providing local physics for geophysical models. With a focus on the internal friction of ice, we review standard micro-mechanical models of friction. The solid's deformation under normal load may be ductile or elastic. The shear failure of the contact may be by ductile flow, brittle fracture, or melting and hydrodynamic lubrication. Combinations of these give a total of six rheological models. When the material under study is ice, several of the rheological parameters in the standard models are not constant, but depend on the temperature of the bulk, on the normal stress under which samples are pressed together, or on the sliding velocity and acceleration. This has the effect of making the shear stress required for sliding dependent on sliding velocity, acceleration, and temperature. In some cases, it also perturbs the exponent in the normal-stress dependence of that shear stress away from the value that applies to most materials. We unify the models by a principle of maximum displacement for normal deformation, and of minimum stress for shear failure, reducing the controversy over the mechanism of internal friction in ice to the choice of values of four parameters in a single model. The four parameters represent, for a typical asperity contact, the sliding distance required to expel melt-water, the sliding distance required to break contact, the normal strain in the asperity, and the thickness of any ductile shear zone.

Deficits in agency in schizophrenia, and additional deficits in body image, body schema, and internal timing, in passivity symptoms

Individuals with schizophrenia, particularly those with passivity symptoms, may not feel in control of their actions, believing them to be controlled by external agents. Cognitive operations that contribute to these symptoms may include abnormal processing in agency as well as body representations that deal with body schema and body image. However, these operations in schizophrenia are not fully understood, and the questions of general versus specific deficits in individuals with different symptom profiles remain unanswered. Using the projected-hand illusion (a digital video version of the rubber-hand illusion) with synchronous and asynchronous stroking (500 ms delay), and a hand laterality judgment task, we assessed sense of agency, body image, and body schema in 53 people with clinically stable schizophrenia (with a current, past, and no history of passivity symptoms) and 48 healthy controls. The results revealed a stable trait in schizophrenia with no difference between clinical subgroups (sense of agency) and some quantitative (specific) differences depending on the passivity symptom profile (body image and body schema). Specifically, a reduced sense of self-agency was a common feature of all clinical subgroups. However, subgroup comparisons showed that individuals with passivity symptoms (both current and past) had significantly greater deficits on tasks assessing body image and body schema, relative to the other groups. In addition, patients with current passivity symptoms failed to demonstrate the normal reduction in body illusion typically seen with a 500 ms delay in visual feedback (asynchronous condition), suggesting internal timing problems. Altogether, the results underscore self-abnormalities in schizophrenia, provide evidence for both trait abnormalities and state changes specific to passivity symptoms, and point to a role for internal timing deficits as a mechanistic explanation for external cues becoming a possible source of self-body input.

The history curriculum and its personal connection to students from minority ethnic backgrounds

Whereas history is seen by some as crucial in developing a sense of identity and fostering social cohesion, it is however, often based around narrowly nationalistic views of the past, and yet little is known about how students relate to the past they are taught. Thus, this paper focuses on the history curriculum and the ways in which students aged 12-14, from different ethnic backgrounds, relate to it. Moreover, the small-scale study which enabled this paper, focused, in particular, on whether students enjoyed and valued history and whether they felt any sense of personal connection to the topics studied. Drawing on survey data collected from 102 students and focus group discussions with 42 students, from two high schools, the findings indicate that although many students enjoy history, they fail to fully understand its value. Additionally most students, especially those from minority ethnic backgrounds, feel a lack of personal connection to the past, as they do not see themselves in the history they are taught.

Privatisation and cross-border electricity trade: from internal market to European Supergrid?

he perspective European Supergrid would consist of an integrated power system network, where electricity demands from one country could be met by generation from another country. This paper makes use of a bi-linear fixed-effects model to analyse the determinants for trading electricity across borders among 34 countries connected by the European Supergrid. The key question that this paper aims to address is the extent to which the privatisation of European electricity markets has brought about higher cross-border trade of electricity. The analysis makes use of distance, price ratios, gate closure times, size of peaks and aggregate demand as standard determinants. Controlling for other standard determinants, it is concluded that privatisation in most cases led to higher power exchange and that the benefits are more significant where privatisation measures have been in place for a longer period.

Internal equity financing and the performance of multinational subsidiaries in emerging economies

We examine the internal equity financing of the multinational subsidiary which retains and reinvests its own earnings. Internal equity financing is a type of firm-specific advantage (FSA) along with other traditional FSAs in innovation, research and development, brands and management skills. It also reflects subsidiary-level financial management decision-making. Here we test the contributions of internal equity financing and subsidiary-level financial management decision-making to subsidiary performance, using original survey data from British multinational subsidiaries in six emerging countries in the South East Asia region. Our first finding is that internal equity financing acts as an FSA to improve subsidiary performance. Our second finding is that over 90% of financing sources (including capital investment by the parent firms) in the British subsidiaries come from internal funding. Our third finding is that subsidiary-level financial management decision-making has a statistically significant positive impact on subsidiary performance. Our findings advance the theoretical, empirical and managerial analysis of subsidiary performance in emerging economies.