The Organisational Evolution of Contemporary International Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
Denry Machin
Keyword(s):  
International Schools ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Structure Form ◽  
Organisational Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Iron Cage ◽  
Shape Structure ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
And Function ◽  
International Status

Whereas growth in international school numbers is widely reported, less attention has been given to how these schools have developed as organisations. Drawing on organisational life-cycle models (Greiner, 1972) and the work of DiMaggio and Powell (1983), this paper addresses that gap. As international schools grow individually, and as the field expands collectively, processes of institutionalism are affecting the legitimacy of claims to ‘international’ status and, this paper argues, are also normalising organisational shape, structure, form and function. Schools (and their leaders) face isomorphic pressures to mimic each other, are being coerced into similar form and are adopting field-wide normative practices. The paper concludes, however, by showing that culturalist perspectives and institutional entrepreneurship offer an alternative. Reproduction of organisational form may to some extent be inevitable, but that reproduction is moderated by diversity and can be manipulated and resisted by school leaders strong enough to escape the iron cage.

scholarly journals Beyond crystals: the dialectic of materials and information

2012 ◽  
Vol 370 (1969) ◽  
pp. 2807-2822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julyan H. E. Cartwright ◽  
Alan L. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Energy Landscape ◽  
Living System ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Structure Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Metastable Structures ◽  
Complex Topology ◽  
And Function

We argue for a convergence of crystallography, materials science and biology, that will come about through asking materials questions about biology and biological questions about materials, illuminated by considerations of information. The complex structures now being studied in biology and produced in nanotechnology have outstripped the framework of classical crystallography, and a variety of organizing concepts are now taking shape into a more modern and dynamic science of structure, form and function. Absolute stability and equilibrium are replaced by metastable structures existing in a flux of energy-carrying information and moving within an energy landscape of complex topology. Structures give place to processes and processes to systems. The fundamental level is that of atoms. As smaller and smaller groups of atoms are used for their physical properties, quantum effects become important; already we see quantum computation taking shape. Concepts move towards those in life with the emergence of specifically informational structures. We now see the possibility of the artificial construction of a synthetic living system, different from biological life, but having many or all of the same properties. Interactions are essentially nonlinear and collective. Structures begin to have an evolutionary history with episodes of symbiosis. Underlying all the structures are constraints of time and space. Through hierarchization, a more general principle than the periodicity of crystals, structures may be found within structures on different scales. We must integrate unifying concepts from dynamical systems and information theory to form a coherent language and science of shape and structure beyond crystals. To this end, we discuss the idea of categorizing structures based on information according to the algorithmic complexity of their assembly.

scholarly journals Molecules into Cells: Specifying Spatial Architecture

2005 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 544-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin M. Harold
Keyword(s):  
Structure Form ◽  
Stepping Stones ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Physical Forces ◽  
And Function ◽  
Spatial Architecture

SUMMARY A living cell is not an aggregate of molecules but an organized pattern, structured in space and in time. This article addresses some conceptual issues in the genesis of spatial architecture, including how molecules find their proper location in cell space, the origins of supramolecular order, the role of the genes, cell morphology, the continuity of cells, and the inheritance of order. The discussion is framed around a hierarchy of physiological processes that bridge the gap between nanometer-sized molecules and cells three to six orders of magnitude larger. Stepping stones include molecular self-organization, directional physiology, spatial markers, gradients, fields, and physical forces. The knowledge at hand leads to an unconventional interpretation of biological order. I have come to think of cells as self-organized systems composed of genetically specified elements plus heritable structures. The smallest self that can be fairly said to organize itself is the whole cell. If structure, form, and function are ever to be computed from data at a lower level, the starting point will be not the genome, but a spatially organized system of molecules. This conclusion invites us to reconsider our understanding of what genes do, what organisms are, and how living systems could have arisen on the early Earth.

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of DNA and RNA

1989 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 34-35
Author(s):  
Patricia G. Arscott ◽  
Gil Lee ◽  
Victor A. Bloomfield ◽  
D. Fennell Evans
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Resolving Power ◽  
Scanning Tunneling ◽  
Tunneling Microscopy ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Dna And Rna ◽  
Calf Thymus ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Relationship

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).

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