Effect of Organizational Evolution on the Stress Corrosion Cracking of the Cr-Co-Ni-Mo Series of Ultra-High Strength Stainless Steel

Different microstructures were obtained under various thermal conditions by adjusting the heat treatment parameters of the Cr-Co-Ni-Mo series of ultra-high strength stainless steel. The effect of organizational evolution on the stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of the Cr-Co-Ni-Mo series of ultra-high strength stainless steel was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and other test methods in combination with slow strain rate tensile tests (SSRTs). The results show that the Mo- and Cr-rich clusters and precipitation of the Laves phase reduce the corrosion resistance, while increasing the austenite content can improve the corrosion resistance. The Cr-Co-Ni-Mo series of ultra-high strength stainless steel has a high SCC resistance after quenching at 1080 °C and undergoing deep cooling (DC) treatment at −73 °C. With increasing holding time, the strength of the underaged and peak-aged specimens increases, but the passivation and SCC resistance decreases. At the overaged temperature, the specimen has good SCC resistance after a short holding time, which is attributed to its higher austenite content and lower dislocation density. As a stable hydrogen trap in steel, austenite effectively improves the SCC resistance of steel. However, under the coupled action of hydrogen and stress, martensitic transformation occurs due to the decrease in the lamination energy of austenite, and the weak martensitic interface becomes the preferred location for crack initiation and propagation.

The League of Matteo Salvini: Fostering and Exporting a Modern Mass-Party Grounded on “Phygital” Activism

The Lega Nord (LN) has undergone a profound process of transformation since 2013, by replacing its historical regionalist populism with a new state-wide populist radical right outlook. However, very little is known about how such transformation impacted its organizational model, particularly the mass-party features that characterized it under its founding leader, Umberto Bossi. This article explores the organizational evolution of the party under Matteo Salvini by means of a qualitative in-depth analysis of 41 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the LN from four regions (Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and Veneto) and primary documents. It underlines that the LN was turned into a disempowered and politically inactive “bad company,” charged with the task of paying the debts of the old party, while its structure, resources, and personnel were poured into a new state-wide organization called Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP). The LSP has not simply maintained the key features of the mass-party in the LN’s historical strongholds, but also pioneered a modern form of this organizational model grounded on the continuous interaction between digital and physical activism, i.e., “phygital activism,” which boosts the party’s ability to reach out to the electorate by delivering the image that the League is constantly on the ground. The LSP has sought to export this modern interpretation of the mass-party in the South; however, in that area its organizational development remains at an embryonic stage, and the party’s nationalization strategy has so far produced a “quasi-colonial” structure dominated by, and dependent on, the Northern elite.

Organizational Structure Differentiation and Evolution of International Corporations Based on Company-Atom Analogy in the Mobile Internet Era

It goes without saying that people play a critical and active role in economic activity, and humans are the fundamental unit of companies in the global economy, in which organizational changes have occurred in the emerging mobile Internet era. This paper aims to establish a theoretical model of analogy between companies and atoms to study the differentiation and evolution of the recent international expansion of corporations. It fulfills a comparative study of what leads to organizational change and how it is influenced by economic activity from an interdisciplinary perspective. An exploratory study was made to evaluate economic activity in relation to quantum mechanics theory, clarify the organizational structure according to the electron cloud model, elaborate on the evolution of the expanding organizational structure by referring to the periodic table, and develop an insight into sustainability for economic globalization. It reveals that sustainable economic globalization may rely on the global values of connecting and sharing with information systems in the mobile Internet era, along with organizational evolution. Global sustainability depends on economic development achieving a balance with resource constraints and population growth.

Flexible Use of Referents in the Construction of Organizational Identity: A Longitudinal Case Study

Rapid growth, acquisitions, and diversification are examples of major changes that often result in the need to redefine the distinctive characteristics of the organization in question thereafter. However, a sudden identity presentation that significantly differs from the past lacks credibility among both the organizational members and the organization’s external constituents. We contribute to previous research by showing the previously neglected potential that lies in the flexible selection, valuation, and spatio-temporal positioning of referents, and how this enables the construction of an identity that is simultaneously sufficiently congruent with the organization’s present activities and continuous with its previous identity. Moreover, we also reveal how this use of referents changes across the phases of organizational evolution. Empirically, our findings are grounded on an intensive case study of an organization over a 20-year time frame that evolved from a minor spin-off to a prominent and eventually to a major diversified company.

School Library Advocacy Literature in the United States

Despite evidence of school librarians’ impact on student achievement and multiple advocacy efforts, position eliminations and budget reductions continue across the United States. The researchers conducted a preliminary conceptual content analysis of the scholarly and practitioner literature about school library advocacy in the United States from 2001-2011 to determine methods of and rationales for advocacy. The most frequent advocacy method was distributing literature or information about school libraries. The most frequent reason cited in the literature for engaging in advocacy activities was in response to a potential funding or position reduction or elimination. Advocacy is highly contextualized and different situations may warrant different approaches. Viewing school library advocacy through an organizational evolution framework may frame the context. School library researchers should address the dearth of empirical and theoretical work on both the practice and impact of advocacy on the profession.

La transmodernidad y la matriz disciplinar como propiedades emergentes en la construcción de la identidad epistémica de los estudios organizacionales

Two conceptual categories are presented that support possibilities for the search for the epistemological identity of Organizational Studies: Transmodernity and the disciplinary matrix. The category of Transmodernity as a possibility of integration and at the same time of the disappearance of the borders between qualitative and quantitative research emanating from logical positivism and the term of Disciplinary Matrix. These two elements allow us to continue with the project called Epistemological Conciliation of Organizational Studies. Literature is presented that provides arguments for an emerging and significant paradigm shift inhuman and organizational evolution. Bourdieu and Luhmann are taken up again and in the second moment, theoretical bodies are presented, such as the paradigm of transmodernity proposed by Ghisi; the transmodern philosophy of political liberation proposed by Dussel; Magda's Hegelian dialectical triad of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, as well as Kuhn's Disciplinary Matrix and Lakatos's Scientific Research Programs. It is argued that the reason why the so-called Organizational Studies are not hearing more about the emerging sociocultural, economic, political and philosophical change described by these authors is an apparent cause: the absence of epistemic identity.

Gold mining in the Eastern Desert of Egypt, from the New Kingom to medieval times: new insight from the Samut district

Gold was plentiful in Egypt and had been used by the Pharaohs from earliest times as a means of asserting their power. But the history and archaeology of the mining and production of the Egyptian gold is a lot less known than the splendour of the country’s kings. Between 2013 and 2016, the French Eastern desert mission aimed to fill in these gaps in our knowledge through the excavation of the gold mining district of Samut, located between Edfu and Marsa Alam. It hosts one of the largest Ptolemaic mineral processing site of the region, Samut north. The excellent preservation of the remains made possible, for the first time, a comparison between archaeological remains and the well-known treatise of Agatharchides of Cnidus exposing the awful conditions of living in the gold mines of the Ptolemies. Besides, three other sites were explored: the impressive village of Samut el-Beda, dated to the New Kingdom, and two small villages of medieval times. In all the sites structures and artifacts related to the gold processing were unearthed, that held crucial data on the technological and organizational evolution of the gold exploitation over more than two millennia in the Eastern desert.

Why competitive productivity sometimes goes too far: a multilevel evolutionary model of “karoshi”

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to outline an innovative multilevel conceptual model capable of explaining “karoshi” (death from overwork) and its relationship to molecular-, micro-, meso- and macro-competitive productivity (CP).Design/methodology/approachA theoretical model, grounded in the evolutionary biological, psychological, organizational and sociological literatures, is provided.FindingsKaroshi is a function of molecular (genetic), micro (individual), meso (organizational) and macro (cultural) evolutionary forces. It is also demonstrated to be a function of time, geography, agri-climate and cultural and ethnic homogeneity.Research limitations/implicationsThe analysis is purely theoretical and its theoretically informed hypotheses are not tested empirically. As such, further data-driven research is indicated. Additional analyses are also needed to further unpack the recursive nature of the relationship between karoshi and CP and the subtle differences between genetic evolution and cultural and organizational evolution.Practical implicationsKaroshi-related deaths are a public health epidemic and increasingly a major obstacle to sustainable CP. As such, organizations can leverage these analyses to help them implement interventions aimed at reducing incidents of work-related deaths, not only in Japan, but across the world.Originality/valueThis multilevel conceptual framework makes a unique contribution to the cross-cultural and strategic management literatures. More specifically, it constitutes a new and innovative contribution to one’s current understanding of CP by uniquely integrating biology, psychology, organization studies and cultural studies into one overarching model.