Showing papers by "Lancaster University published in 1989"

Soft Systems Methodology

Abstract: Soft systems methodology (SSM) is an approach for tackling problematical, messy situations of all kinds. It is an action-oriented process of inquiry into problematic situations in which users learn their way from finding out about the situation, to taking action to improve it. The learning emerges via an organised process in which the situation is explored using a set of models of purposeful action (each built to encapsulate a single worldview) as intellectual devices, or tools, to inform and structure discussion about a situation and how it might be improved. This paper, written by the original developer Peter Checkland and practitioner John Poulter, gives a clear and concise account of the approach that covers SSM’s specific techniques, the learning cycle process of the methodology and the craft skills which practitioners develop. This concise but theoretically robust account nevertheless includes the fundamental concepts, techniques, core tenets described through a wide range of settings.

Statistical Modelling in GLIM

Abstract: Part 1 Introducing GLIM 3: getting started in GLIM 3. Part 2 Statistical modelling and statistical inference: the Bernoulli distribution for binary data types of variables definition of a statistical model model criticism likelihood-based confidence intervals. Part 3 Normal regression and analysis of variance: the normal distribution and the Box-Cox transformation family link functions and transformations regression models for prediction the use of regression models for calibration fatorial designs midding data. Part 4 Binomial response data: binary responses transformations and link functions contingency table construction from binary data multidimensional contingency tables with a binary response. Part 5: multinomial and Poisson response data. Part 6 Survival data: probability plotting with censored data - the Kaplan-Meier estimator the Weibull distribution the Cox proportional hazards model and the piecewise exponential distribution the logistic and log logistic distributions time-dependent explanatory variables. Appendices: discussion GLIM directives system defined structures in GLIM datasets and macros.

The Learning Company

Abstract: The learning company is an organisation which facilitates the learning of all of its members and continuously transforms itself in order to meet its strategic goals. The paper introduces the concept of the learning company and examines its relevance in modern industrial society. A study of Director‐level personnel in eight large public and private sector organisations in the United Kingdom provides support for the concept. Following a discussion of the learning company as an organisational transformation, guidelines for designing learning companies are proposed.

Abscisic acid produced in dehydrating roots may enable the plant to measure the water status of the soil

Abstract: . Maize plants were grown in 1-m-long tubes of John Innes No. 2 potting compost. From the start of the experimental period, half of the plants were unwatered. Stomatal conductance of these plants was restricted 6 d after last watering and continued to decline thereafter. This was despite the fact that as a result of solute accumulation, unwatered plants showed consistently higher leaf turgors than well-watered plants. Leaf water potentials of unwatered plants were not significantly lower than those of plants that were watered well. Main seminal and nodal roots showed solute regulation in drying soil and continued to grow even in the driest soil, and plants growing in drying soil showed consistently higher root dry weights than did well-watered plants, water potentials and turgors of the tips of fine roots in the upper part of the column decreased as the soil dried. Soil drying below a water content of around 0–25 g cm−3 (a bulk soil water potential of between -0.2 and -0.3 MPa) resulted in a substantial increase in the ABA content of roots. As soil columns dried progressively from the top, ABA content increased in roots deeper and deeper in the soil. These responses suggest that ABA produced by dehydrating roots and which was subsequently transported to the shoots provided a sensitive indication of the degree of soil drying.

Modernism, Post Modernism and Organizational Analysis 3: The Contribution of Jacques Derrida:

Abstract: This paper, the third in a series on the relevance of the modernist-post modernist debate to organizational analysis (Cooper and Burrell 1988, Burrell 1988), examines the work of Jacques Derrida. Specifically, Derrida's work is viewed as a contribution to the analysis of process (as opposed to structure) in social systems. In this context, three interrelated themes of his work - deconstruction, writing, 'difference' — are described in some detail and their implications explored for social and organizational analysis. Derrida's account of the logic of writing shows it to be fundamental to the division of labour and therefore to significant dimensions (complexity, formalization) of formal organization. Since 'organization theuries' are themselves products of writing and the division of labour, their essential function is to explain and justify the structures they represent, they are therefore more concerned with maintaining their own consistency and the stability of the organized world they describe rather ...

Towards the Learning Company

Abstract: INTRODUCTION The concept of the Learning Company is beginning to attract those concerned with the development of people in organisations. Having been stirred up by the prescriptions of In Search of Excellence in terms of how to organise for action and innovation (Peters and Waterman, 1982), this theme is the one most likely to preoccupy managers in the next few years. Even before the notion has been thoroughly defined and explored it has entered the mainstream. For example, Item 6 in the new Charter Group Initiative’s ’Code of Practice’ uses the term ’Learning Organisation’ (FME/CBI/BIM, 1987, p. 5) as does a recent survey report from Ashridge to designate the coming phase of training and development in organisations (Barham et al., 1988, p. 49, et seq.). The Learning Company is the new frontier and the scouts are busy bringing back reports. However, while many people are talking about it no-one has, as yet, claimed to be able to offer a working model of what a Learning Company is. There is both excitement about the possibilities and a lack of clarity about what it looks like. In short we are now standing at the ’vision’ end of the vision-to-reality sequence in bringing the idea into being. In October 1987, we began a 6-month pilot project entitled ’Developing The Learning Company’ with funding from the Manpower Services Commission. The aim was to define and test the feasibility of the idea as

Working memory for movements

Abstract: Movement to spatial targets that can, in principle, be carried out by more than one effector can be distinguished from movements that involve specific configurations of body parts. The experiments reported here investigate memory span for a series of hand configurations and memory span for a series of hand movements to spatial locations. Spans were produced normally, or in conditions in which a suppression task was carried out on the right or the left hand while the movements to be remembered were presented. All movements were recalled using the right hand. There were two suppression tasks. One involved repeatedly squeezing a tube and so changing the configuration of the hand, and the other involved tapping a repeated series of spatial targets. The spatial tapping task interfered with span for spatial locations when it was presented on either the right or the left hand but did not affect span for movement pattern. The movement suppression task interfered with memory for movement pattern when it was presen...

Fast and precise algorithm for computer simulation of stochastic differential equations.

Abstract: We present and discuss an algorithm for integrating a set of stochastic differential equations driven by colored noise. The algorithm, being fully implicit for the stochastic differential equation governing the noise, is stable upon changing \ensuremath{\tau} (the noise correlation time) to any desired value. In particular, the limit of vanishingly small \ensuremath{\tau} can be safely taken, and the algorithm yields the corresponding white-noise quantities in a natural way.

Sequential response of whole plant water relations to prolonged soil drying and the involvement of xylem sap ABA in the regulation of stomatal behaviour of sunflower plants

Abstract: SUMMARY Sunflower plants (Helianihus animus cv. Tall Single Yellow} were grown in the greenhouse in drain pipes (100 mm inside diameter and 1 m long) rilled with John Innes No. 2 compost. When the fifth leaf had emerged, half of the plants were left unwatered for 6 days, rewatered for 2 days and then not watered for another 12 days. Measurements of water relations and abaxial stomatal conductance were made at each leaf position at regular intervals during the experimental period. Estimates were also made of soil water potentials along the soil profile and of ABA concentrations in xylem sap and leaves. Soil drying led to some reduction in stomatal conductance alter only 3 days but leaf turgors were not reduced until day 13 (6 days after rewatering). When the water relations of leaves did change, older leases became substantially dehydrated while high turgors were recorded in younger leaves. Leaf ABA content measured on the third youngest leaf hardly changed over the first 13 days of the experiment, despite substantial soil drying, while xylem ABA concentrations changed very significantly and dynamically as soil water status varied, even when there was no effect of soil drying on leaf water relations. We argue that the highest ABA concentrations in the xylem, found as a result of substantial soil drying, arise from synthesis in both the roots and the older leaves, and act to delay the development of water deficit in younger leases. In other experiments ABA solutions were watered on to the root systems of sunflower plants to increase ABA concentrations in xylem sap. The stomatal response to applied ABA was quantitatively very similar to that to ABA generated as a result of soil drying. There was a log-linear relationship between the reduction of leaf conductance and the increase of ABA concentration m xylem sap.

Tools for reading and browsing hypertext

Abstract: A drawback of browsing through nonlinear electronic documents is the accompanying sense of disorientation often reported by users. It is difficult to ascertain the layout of the document network so people often lose their place or forget to follow up on tasks they meant to complete, while wondering if they are missing anything relevant to their interests. This article critiques existing approaches to computerized support for browsing and describes four new types of browsers, which have been implemented in the Xerox NoteCards hypertext system. These browsers support the process of pursuing and returning from digressions and facilitate the integration of diverse sets of materials that have been browsed.

Analysis of count data using poisson regression

Abstract: In geographical research the data of interest are often in the form of counts. Standard regression analysis is inappropriate for such data, but if certain assumptions are met, a form of regression based on the Poisson distribution can be used. This paper illustrates the use of Poisson regression in the computer package GLIM with an example from historical geography. Apprentice migration to Edinburgh is regressed on a combination of categorical, count, and continuous explanatory variables.

Testing for random dropouts in repeated measurement data.

Abstract: Diggle (1989, Biometrics 45, 1255-1258) proposes a test for random dropouts in repeated measurement data when the experiment has a completely randomized design. It is argued here that logistic regression is a comparable but more flexible technique for studying the occurrence of dropouts.

The Effects of Partially Drying Part of the Root System of Helianthus annuus on the Abscisic Acid Content of the Roots, Xylem Sap and Leaves

Abstract: Mesure du contenu en ABA de la seve xylemique de plants de tournesol dont une partie du systeme racinaire est deshydratee. Les variations de teneur en ABA dans le xyleme sont comparees avec les variations au niveau des racines et des feuilles

Diffusion and location of hydrochloric acid in ice: Implications for polar stratospheric clouds and ozone depletion

Abstract: We have carried out experiments to study the incorporation and movement of HCl within the structure of ice. These involved freezing HCl solutions, and observing them in a scanning electron microscope fitted with an X-ray microanalysis system. We are able to show that HCl is not easily incorporated into ice crystals, but is strongly partitioned towards the grain boundaries. Furthermore, the diffusion of HCl through ice crystals is slow. These results contradict the interpretation of earlier experiments. They mean that if HCl is to be available for reaction on polar stratospheric cloud particles, as required by current theories of Antarctic ozone depletion, then it must be present in some form other than a solid solution.

Beyond the two-fluid model: Transition from linear behavior to a velocity-independent force on a moving object in 3He-B.

Abstract: Using a simple one-dimensional model, we show that the existence of the energy gap for excitations in an isotropic BCS superfluid leads to strongly nonlinear mechanical behavior of the liquid in the ballistic quasiparticle limit. The nonlinear damping of a vibrating wire in $^{3}\mathit{B}$ below 200 \ensuremath{\mu}K is explained, both in its velocity dependence and magnitude. At modest velocities (\ensuremath{\upsilon}gkT/${\mathrm{p}}_{\mathrm{F}}$), the damping force on an object moving through the superfluid becomes independent of velocity, an unexpected result with several interesting implications.