Information for more effective strategic planning

This paper illustrates how an entity—called a ‘strategic data base’ (SDB)—can be developed to provide important information in a form which makes it directly useful in various phases of a strategic planning process. The strategic data bases are concise statements of the organizational and environmental situations which define the organization's most salient problems, opportunities, and constraints. These SDBs may be developed through a participative process involving tasks forces which are made up of managers representing the diverse interests of the organization. The strategic data bases thereby become important informational inputs to planning which can directly serve to enhance the quality of planning decisions. Moreover, the process of developing SDBs can be an important learning device for those middle managers who can become involved in such a process at a much earlier point in their career than that at which they might normally engage substantively in the organization's overall strategic choice process.     

Correlates of satisfaction with performance appraisal feedback

The relative lack of research on employees’ reactions to performance appraisal feedback is the primary impetus for this study which advances this important, but neglected, research area by investigating potential predictors and consequences of satisfaction with appraisal feedback. Survey responses from 112 employees were matched with their performance ratings from two different appraisal periods to test specific hypotheses. Results indicate that satisfaction with rater and previous performance ratings influence employees’ satisfaction with appraisal feedback. Satisfaction with appraisal feedback was positively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment and negatively related to turnover intentions. Supervisory status moderated the relationship between satisfaction with appraisal feedback and subsequent performance such that the relationship existed only for supervisory employees who, in addition to receiving feedback about their own performance, also provided feedback to their subordinates. Implications of results for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

Jackknifing the Mantel–Haenszel Estimator in Sparse Contingency Tables

This article investigates the performance of two jackknife techniques under an asymptotic model in which the number of 2 × 2 tables increases but the possible marginal configurations remain fixed. These approaches are applied to the Mantel–Haenszel estimator, or transformed versions of this estimator, respectively. The resulting jackknife estimators are shown to be consistent for the common odds ratio. Their asymptotic distributions are derived; they can be used for constructing appropriate sparse-data confidence intervals.     

Reflections on a 30-Year Career of Research on Work and Personality by Melvin Kohn and Colleagues

Sociological Forum -     

Common Coding of Observation and Execution of Action in 9‐Month‐Old Infants

Do 9‐month‐old infants motorically simulate actions they perceive others perform? Two experiments tested whether action observation, like overt reaching, is sufficient to elicit the Piagetian A‐not‐B error. Infants recovered a toy hidden at location A or observed an experimenter recover the toy. After the toy was hidden at location B, infants in both conditions perseverated in reaching to A, demonstrating that active search by the infant is not necessary for the A‐not‐B error. Consistent with prior research, infants displayed an ipsilateral bias when reaching, the so‐called mysterious midline barrier. A similar ipsilateral bias was also observed depending on the manner in which the experimenter reached; infants perseverated following observation of ipsi‐ but not contralateral reaches by the experimenter. Thus, infants perseverated only following observation of actions they themselves were able to perform, suggesting that they coded others' actions in terms of motor simulation.     

Housing policy in Nigeria: towards enablement of private housing development

One of the continuing challenges posed by unprecedented urbanization in the developing countries is the provision of adequate housing. Over the last three decades, Nigeria, like several developing countries, has emphasised public housing schemes, but with little success. This coincides with global paradigm shift from direct public provision of housing to the enablement of private shelter initiatives and housing production. The paper discusses private housing development features and dynamics and the factors affecting the sector in the country. It argues for the creation of an enabling environment, including support of housing initiatives and investments by householders, small-scale providers, and entrepreneurial private firms. The paper identifies the implications of enabling strategy for housing finance, access to land, residential infrastructure, institutional regulations and building materials and related industry particularly in the light of the need for the private sector to play greater roles in housing. It draws from aspects of empirical study by the authors and some review of housing policy-related issues.     

Modeling and in vitro and in vivo characterization of a tissue engineered pancreatic substitute

In designing appropriate devices for the development of a functional pancreatic substitute, computational models capable of accurately predicting cellular behavior constitute a critical aspect. This study investigated the model-based design, fabrication and in vitro and in vivo experimental characterization of a pancreatic substitute consisting of mouse insulinoma cells encapsulated in agarose in a disk-shaped construct. Two construct prototypes were examined: (i) a single disk construct comprised of agarose and βTC3 cells; and (ii) a buffered disk construct, consisting of agarose and βTC3 cells, coated with an additional layer of pure agarose. Diffusional studies of glucose and insulin were performed to characterize the transport properties of the material. Three dimensional oxygen diffusion-reaction models were used to predict the appropriate cell loadings for the two construct prototypes under varying external oxygen tensions. In vitro and in vivo experiments found the overall viable cell number for each construct prototype plateaued to the same value, regardless of the initial cell seeding number, when constructs were placed under identical environmental conditions. Furthermore, mathematical model calculations correlated well with experimental in vitro and in vivo results of cell viability, indicating oxygen tension to be the dominating factor in establishing total viable cell number in these constructs. These results indicate that the development of a computational model capable of accurately predicting overall cell viability is useful for the development of tissue engineered constructs, when permissive matrices and continuous cell lines are used. The applicability of this modeling and experimental methodology in the development of agarose-based constructs for use as a bioartificial pancreas is discussed. The authors would like to dedicate this paper to the memory of the colleague, friend, and mentor Professor Ioannis (Yanni) Constantinidis, who died suddenly and untimely on April 16, 2006.     

自我的凝视:白居易的写真诗与对镜诗

文章探讨的是作者书写"看见自我"的视觉经验及其反思。在唐代诗人中,题咏自己的肖像画、书写揽镜自照心情者,以白居易(772～846)的作品最多,至少有十五首。文章即以白居易观看自己的肖像画以及照镜题材的诗作为例,分析诗人从凝视自我的视觉体验中感知的自我意识。诗人透过画像再现或镜面反射,得知三重层次的"自我形象"——真实自我的幻影、他人眼中的"我"以及理想之"我"的期许。