'... the walls fell down but the blokes just coded ...' - Varieties of stability in software product development during organizational restructurings

Many Finnish IT companies have gone through numerous organizational changes over the past decades. This book draws attention to how stability may be central to software product development experts and IT workers more generally, who continuously have to cope with such change in their workplaces. It does so by analyzing and theorizing change and stability as intertwined and co-existent, thus throwing light on how it is possible that, for example, even if ‘the walls fall down the blokes just code’ and maintain a sense of stability in their daily work. Rather than reproducing the picture of software product development as exciting cutting edge activities and organizational change as dramatic episodes, the study takes the reader beyond the myths surrounding these phenomena to the mundane practices, routines and organizings in product development during organizational change. An analysis of these ordinary practices offers insights into how software product development experts actively engage in constructing stability during organizational change through a variety of practices, including solidarity, homosociality, close relations to products, instrumental or functional views on products, preoccupations with certain tasks and humble obedience. Consequently, the study shows that it may be more appropriate to talk about varieties of stability, characterized by a multitude of practices of stabilizing rather than states of stagnation. Looking at different practices of stability in depth shows the creation of software as an arena for micro-politics, power relations and increasing pressures for order and formalization. The thesis gives particular attention to power relations and processes of positioning following organizational change: how social actors come to understand themselves in the context of ongoing organizational change, how they comply with and/or contest dominant meanings, how they identify and dis-identify with formalization, and how power relations often are reproduced despite dis-identification. Related to processes of positioning, the reader is also given a glimpse into what being at work in a male-dominated and relatively homogeneous work environment looks like. It shows how the strong presence of men or “blokes” of a particular age and education seems to become invisible in workplace talk that appears ‘non-conscious’ of gender.

HNbWO6 and HTaWO6: Novel layered oxides related to the rutile structure. Synthesis and investigation of ion-exchange and intercalation behaviour

New protonated layered oxides, HMWO6·1.5H2O (M=Nb or Ta), have been synthesized by topotactic exchange of lithium in trirutile LiMWO6 with protons by treatment with dilute HNO3. The tetragonal cell constants are a=4.71 (2) and c=25.70 (8)Å for HNbWO6·1.5H2O and a=4.70 (2) and c=25.75 (9) Å for HTaWO6·1.5H2O. Partially hydrated compounds, HMWO6·0.5H2O and anhydrous compounds, HMWO6 retain the layered structure. The structure of these oxides consists of MWO6 sheets built up of M/W-oxygen octahedra with rutile type corner- and edge-sharing. Interlayer protons in HMWO6 are exchanged with Li+, Na+, K+ and Tl+. HMWO6 exhibit Brønsted acidity intercalating n-alkylamines and pyridine.

Dielectric behaviour and ferroelectricity in alums

Introduction The alum family of double salts with the general formula M1+M3+(RO4)2.12H2O where M1+ is a monovalent ion (M1+ = K, Rb, Cs, Tl, NH4, CH3NH3, NH3OH3 NH3NH2, etc.) and M3+ is a trivalent metal such as Al, Fe, Cr, V, In, Ga, etc. and R is S or Se, form an isomorphous series and their general features indicate a common cubic space group Pa3. Lipson1 showed subsequently that there exist three different structure types agr, β and γ and the structure of a particular alum is dependent on the radius of the monovalent atom. The agr structure is typical of medium sized ions, the β of the larger ones and the γ of the small Na atom.2 Ferroelectricity has been reported only in alums containing NH4, CH3NH3, NH3NH3 and NH3OH. Their hindered rotations as well as the influence of sulphate group disorder on the dielectric behaviour of alums is still not clear.3 No study of the temperature dependence of the low frequency dielectric constant of some of the alums, particularly those of Cs, Rb and Tl, have been made so The present investigation was undertaken to correlate their dielectric behaviour with their composition and structural differences. Under the same experimental conditions, methyl ammonium and ammonium alums also were studied and compared with the known data.

Struggles Over Legitimacy in Global Organizational Restructuring: A Rhetorical Perspective on Legitimation Strategies and Dynamics in a Shutdown Case

Critical organization scholars have focused increasing attention on industrial and organizational restructurings such as shutdown decisions. However, little is known about the rhetorical strategies used to legitimate or resist plant closures in organizational negotiations. In this article, we draw from New Rhetoric to analyze rhetorical struggles, strategies and dynamics in unfolding organizational negotiations. We focus on the shutdown of the bus body unit of the Sweden-based Volvo Bus Corporation in Finland. We distinguish five types of rhetorical legitimation strategies and dynamics. These include the three classical dynamics of logos (rational arguments), pathos (emotional moral arguments), and ethos (authority-based arguments), but also autopoiesis (autopoietic narratives), and cosmos (cosmological constructions). Our analysis contributes to previous studies on organizational restructuring by providing a more nuanced understanding of how contemporary industrial closures are legitimated and resisted in organizational negotiations. This study also increases theoretical understanding of the role of rhetoric in legitimation more generally.

The behaviour of excited plane jets

A plane subsonic jet can be excited to entrain more fluid from its surroundings by subjecting it to antisymmetric periodic disturbances. The essential feature in this phenomenon is the rolling-up motion of an initially flapping jet to form large vortices which are responsible for greater entrainment. Several methods developed to impart oscillations to the flow at the nozzle, such as the acoustic pressure oscillator, the vibration of a single vane in the potential core region, the reciprocating lip system and the twin vane exciter, are described in this article. A minimum threshold in amplitude is necessary for exciting the flow. However, the frequency of oscillation is much less than that predicted by stability considerations.

Effect of particle size on the dielectric behaviour of double propionates

Introduction Dicalcium strontium propionate (DCSP) undergoes a ferroelectric phase transition at about 28 1.5 K, with the spontaneous polarization occurring along the tetragonal C-axis.1 Takashige et al.2,3 have recently reported ferroelectricity in annealed samples of dicalcium lead propionate (DCLP) in the range 191 K to 331 K. The removal of the inner biasing field by annealing has been known in the case of DCLP3 and DCSP.4 Because of the possible dependence of the inner biasing field on the particle size, a study of the temperature dependence of the dielectric behaviour of the powdered samples of these compounds was undertaken.

Recent studies on the behaviour of interference fit pins in composite plates

Composites are finding increasing application in many advanced engineering fields like aerospace, marine engineering, hightech sports equipment, etc., due to their high specific strength and/or specific stiffness values. The use of composite components in complex situations like airplane wing root or locations of concentrated load transfer is limited due to the lack of complete understanding of their behaviour in the region of joints. Joints are unavoidable in the design and manufacture of complex structures. Pin joints are one of the most commonly used methods of connection. In regions of high stresses like airplane wing root joints interference fit pins are used to increase its fatigue life and thereby increase the reliability of the whole structure. The present contribution is a study on the behaviour of the interference fit pin in a composite plate subjected to both pull and push type of loads. The interference fit pin exhibits partial contact/separation under the loads and the contact region is a non-linear function of the load magnitude. This non-linear behaviour is studied by adopting the inverse technique and some new results are presented in this paper.

Electron field emission from sp (2)-induced insulating to metallic behaviour of amorphous carbon (a-C) films

The influence of concentration and size of sp (2) cluster on the transport properties and electron field emissions of amorphous carbon films have been investigated. The observed insulating to metallic behaviour from reduced activation energy derived from transport measurement and threshold field for electron emission of a-C films can be explained in terms of improvements in the connectivity between sp (2) clusters. The connectivity is resulted by the cluster concentration and size. The concentration and size of sp (2) content cluster is regulated by the coalescence of carbon globules into clusters, which evolves with deposition conditions.

Behaviour of power MOSFETs at cryogenic temperatures

In this paper an investigation is reported on Siemens-power-metal-oxide-semiconductor (SIPMOS) transistors of both p and n channel types, for their suitability for cryogenic applications. The drain characteristics, temperature dependence of Rds(on) and switching behaviour have been studied in the temperature range 4.2 – 300 K in BSS91 and BSS92 MOSFETs. The experiments reveal that these types of power transistors are well suited for operations down to ≈ 30 K. However, below 30 K the operating characteristics make them unsuitable for application. This arises because of carrier freeze-out in the n− region on the substrate, which forms a drain.

Effect of colostrum feeding method and presence of dam on the sleep, rest and sucking behaviour of newborn calves

"In rats, sucking milk reduces anxiety and promotes non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and in calves it induces resting but the effect on sleep is unknown. Here, we investigated how calves' sleep was affected by colostrum feeding methods. Forty-one calves were blocked by birth date and randomly allotted within blocks to the experimental treatments. Calves were housed for four days either with their dam (DAM) or individually with warm colostrum feeding (2 L four times a day) from either a teat bucket (TEAT) or an open bucket (BUCKET). DAM calves suckled their dam freely. Calves' sleeping and sucking behaviour was filmed continuously for 48 h at the ages of two and three days. Behavioural sleep (BS) was defined as calves resting at least 30 s with their head still and raised (non-rapid eye movement) or with their head against their body or the ground (rapid eye movement, REM). Latency from the end of colostrum feeding to the start of BS was recorded. We compared behaviour of TEAT calves with that of DAM and BUCKET calves using mixed models. Milk meal duration was significantly longer for TEAT calves than for BUCKET calves (mean +/- S.E.M.; 8.3 +/- 0.6 min vs. 5.2 +/- 0.6 min), but equal to that of DAM calves. We found no effect of feeding method on the duration of daily BS (12 h 59 min I h 38 min) but we found a tendency for the daily amount of NREM sleep; BUCKET calves had less NREM sleep per day than TEAT calves (6 h 18 min vs. 7 h 48 min, S.E.M. = 45 min) and also longer latencies from milk ingestion to BS (21.9 +/- 2.0 min vs. 16.2 +/- 2.0 min). DAM calves slept longer bouts than TEAT calves (10.8 +/- 1.0 min vs. 8.3 +/- 1.0 min) and less often (78 +/- 4 vs. 92 +/- 4). Sucking colostrum from a teat bucket compared with drinking from an open"

Comparative Analyses of Age- and Sex-Specific Patterns of Vocal Behaviour in Four Species of Old World Monkeys

Sound recordings and behavioural data were collected from four primate species of two genera (Macaca, Presbytis). Comparative analyses of structural and behavioural aspects of vocal communication revealed a high degree of intrageneric similarity but striking intergeneric differences. In the two macaque species (Macaca silenus, Macaca radiata), males and females shared the major part of the repertoire. In contrast, in the two langurs (Presbytis johnii, Presbytis entellus), many calls were exclusive to adult males. Striking differences between both species groups occurred with respect to age-specific patterns of vocal behaviour. The diversity of vocal behaviour was assessed from the number of different calls used and the proportion of each call in relation to total vocal output for a given age/sex class. In Macaca, diversity decreases with the age of the vocalizer, whereas in Presbytis the age of the vocalizer and the diversity of vocal behaviour are positively correlated. A comparison of the data of the two genera does not suggest any causal relationship between group composition (e.g. multi-male vs. one-male group) and communication system. Within each genus, interspecific differences in vocal behaviour can be explained by differences in social behaviour (e.g. group cohesion, intergroup relation, mating behaviour) and functional disparities. Possible factors responsible for the pronounced intergeneric differences in vocal behaviour between Macaca and Presbytis are discussed.

Novel coordination behaviour of gem-bis (pyrazolyl) cyclotriphosphazenes as tridentate NNN-donor ligands: The crystal structure of [Mo(CO)3{N3P3Ph4(3,5-Me2C3HN2)2}]

Reactions of group 6 metal carbonyls with bis(pyrazolyl) phosphazenes yield metal tricarbonyl complexes, [M(CO)3.L] [L = N3P3Ph4 (3, 5-Me2C3HN2)2 (1) or N3P3(MeNCH2CH2O)2 (3,5-Me2C3HN2)2(4)]. The structure of the complex [Mo(CO)3.1], determined by single-crystal X-ray analysis, shows that the (pyrazolyl) phosphazene acts as a tridentate ligand; the two pyridinic pyrazolyl nitrogen atoms and a phosphazene ring nitrogen atom are coordinated to the metal. A similar structure is proposed for the complexes [M(CO)3.4] (M = Mo or W] on the basis of their spectroscopic data.