Why and how do project management offices change? A structural analysis approach

The growing popularity of Project Management Offices (PMOs) as organizational structures is grounded in the assumption they support more efficient and effective project management for better strategy implementation. However, research emphasizes they fail to deliver expected value: their unstable nature precludes the delivery of long-term benefits. This is compounded by the absence of a theory of PMO change and adaptation. Recent research, taking a co-evolution lens rooted in evolutionary theory, suggests that PMOs should be studied in relation to the broader organizational context, in order to better capture the dynamic interplay and fit between them. In this study, taking a routine perspective as micro-foundation and unit of analysis, we focus on the co-evolution between PMO and Project Portfolio Management (PfM) as organizational capability for six case studies. A structural analysis of the relational routines' system between PMO, PfM and the Organizational context allow us to unveil dynamics at stake, i.e. why and how changes occur, as well as eigen behaviors and the changing states of various routines elements (influential, mediating, dependent or not-influential). This study makes five contributions. We show that: 1) PMO and PfM can be conceptualized as collections of routines, 2) PMO and PfM co-evolve over time to adapt to organizational context influence, 3) the co-evolution of a routines' system, abstracted as a non-trivial machine, exhibits an eigen behavior, 4) applying a structural analysis approach allows to simulate the dynamics of a routines' system and to unveil the role of key routine elements and 5) eigen values of routines' systems allow to characterize their eigen behavior.     

Impact of Business Practices on Individual Energy Consumption

Changing behaviours and attitudes towards more sustainable individual energy consumption is a difficult topic to address. After identifying the most recurrent factors influencing the bad energy consumption, society's environmental short-sightedness, a lack of individual responsibility and a tendency to put responsibility upon firms, institutions, and governments, the authors evaluated the effect that business practices can have on individual behaviour. By qualifying as highly credible sources of information, positioning themselves as examples to follow, and providing its employees with the necessary smart and innovative technology, business communities can have a major impact on changing individual behaviours towards more sustainable energy consumption.     

Noise Feedback Coding Revisited： Refurbished Legacy Codecs and New Coding Models

Noise feedback coding(NFC) has attracted renewed interest with the recent standardization of backward-compatible enhancements for ITU-T G.711 and G.722.It has also been revisited with the emergence of proprietary speech codecs,such as BV16,BV32,and SILK,that have structures different from CELP coding.In this article,we review NFC and describe a novel coding technique that optimally shapes coding noise in embedded pulse-code modulation(PCM) and embedded adaptive differential PCM(ADPCM).We describe how this new technique was incorporated into the recent ITU-T G.711.1,G.711 App.III,and G.722 Annex B(G.722B) speech-coding standards.     

Social influences related to college students’ use of Macintosh computers on an all-PC campus

In the present qualitative research study, 35 Mac users were interviewed in a university campus that exclusively supports PC machines. We particularly explored the Mac-users’ social influences, saving technological and other influences for future reports. Results showed Mac users to possess significant connections with other Mac users on the university campus. The Mac users in our study indicated that positive, past exposure, including Apple’s advertising of Macs, had sharp influences on their decisions to become and remain Mac users.     

Mayonnaise production in batch and continuous process exploiting magnetohydrodynamic force

Mayonnaise currently is produced using high shear stirrers. Here we present a new production method using a magnetic emulsification device. According to the new method a stable oil-in-water emulsion is formed by pumping the two immiscible liquids through a magnetohydrodynamic dispersion device consisting of a Venturi provided with an orthogonal permanent magnetic field. As a proof of concept, magnetically emulsified highly viscous mayonnaise was produced in a batch process and in a continuous process. The viscosity of the mayonnaise was significantly enhanced by applying the magnetic field. The oil droplet size distribution of mayonnaise produced using the magnetic emulsification method was similar to mayonnaise produced with conventional high shear mixers. In contrast to conventional processes no fast moving mixers were needed in this new mayonnaise production scheme.     

Assessment of bottom-up sectoral and regional mitigation potentials

The greenhouse gas mitigation potential of different economic sectors in three world regions are estimated using a bottom-up approach. These estimates provide updates of the numbers reported in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR4). This study is part of a larger project aimed at comparing greenhouse gas mitigation potentials from bottom-up and top-down approaches. The sectors included in the analysis are energy supply, transport, industry and the residential and service sector. The mitigation potentials range from 11 to 15 GtCO₂eq. This is 26–38% of the baseline in 2030 and 47–68% relative to the year 2000. Potential savings are estimated for different cost levels. The total potential at negative costs is estimated at 5–8% relative to the baseline, with the largest share in the residential and service sector and the highest reduction percentage for the transport and industry sectors. These (negative) costs include investment, operation and maintenance and fuel costs and revenues at moderate discount rates of 3–10%. At costs below 100 US$/tCO₂, the largest potential reductions in absolute terms are estimated in the energy supply sector, while the transport sector has the lowest reduction potential.     

Prevalence and predictors of posttraumatic stress in women undergoing an ovarian cancer investigation.

This study assessed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women being investigated for an ovarian cancer diagnosis to determine prevalence and factors predicting PTSD in these patients. Participants (N = 75) were recruited from the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, after their initial clinic appointment and given a prediagnostic assessment that included measures of PTSD, depression, stress and pain. One month later, patients received an identical postdiagnostic assessment. No cases of clinical PTSD were detected, although 13.6% of participants were identified with subsyndromal PTSD. Multiple regression analyses showed that those participants reporting significant baseline depressive symptoms, definitively diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and with shorter treatment wait times were more likely to have a significant increase in PTSD symptoms. Supportive interventions aimed at reducing PTSD symptoms, launched prior to an ovarian cancer diagnosis, might optimally be directed at patients with baseline depressive symptoms and those with shorter treatment wait times. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hydroxytelechelic hydrocarbon copolymers with high aging resistance for elastomeric materials

Dihydroxytelechelic copolyalkenamers were prepared via metathetical polymerization of cyclic olefins (cyclooctadiene, cyclooctene and cyclododecene) in presence of first generation Grubbs catalyst and butene diacetate as functionalizing chain transfer agent in order to study their aging resistance. The influence of compositions and molar masses of the copolyalkenamers were investigated in terms of thermo‐mechanical properties. Increasing chains length or the proportion of polycyclooctadiene allow to get non‐cristalline polymers. Low T_g materials (between ?78°C and ?108°C) were prepared. The resistance towards oxidation of the different copolyalkenamers was carried out using a viscosity measurement method. A critical time, corresponding to a brutal increase of the apparent viscosity, was related to degradation of the polymers and was shown to be dependent on the Csp² proportion in the structure. The absence of vinylic units and the decrease of the double bonds content within the copolymers were proved to enhance the stability of the copolyalkenamers towards aging resistance. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Yttria stabilized zirconia synthesis in supercritical CO2: Understanding of particle formation mechanisms in CO2/co-solvent systems

The increasing interest of supercritical (SC) fluids for inorganic materials synthesis recently stimulated the development of innovative synthesis processes and strategies. The supercritical CO₂ aided sol–gel process, developed for preparing various ceramic oxide powders with attractive applications in cosmetics, chromatography, catalysis or solid oxide fuel cells, usually suffer from both reproducibility problems and poor knowledge of the key parameters defining the final powder characteristics. In the present work a specific effort has been put on the understanding of reaction mechanisms and process parameters like co-solvent polarity and ageing time of the starting solution, which appeared to play a crucial role for the control of powder characteristics. Two different reaction mechanisms have been proposed to explain the formation of tetragonal yttria-doped zirconia powders by a batch process in either CO₂/pentane or CO₂/isopropanol mixtures. The first mechanism corresponds to a CO₂ anti-solvent precipitation process while the other one is based on a condensation reaction as in the conventional sol–gel process. This improved understanding in particle formation allows better control of powder characteristics and reproducibility.