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Are the effects of school size transmitted in measurable quantities to the personalities of pupils? Having argued that the learning environments of small and large schools could differ in predictable ways, the authors examined the effects of these differences on the personality development of pupils. Multiple regression analysis revealed the effects of school size to be reflected in only two of eight personality outcomes — sense of cohesion and concern for persons. Two variables — attitude towards school and fear of failure — are regarded as “not proven” and four variables — functional identity, sense of internal control over events, breadth of role constructs, and cognitive complexity showed no evidence of the effects of school size.

The studies of school size undertaken by the Midwest Psychological Field Station at the University of Kansas indicated that while students in large schools were exposed to a larger number of school activities and the best of them achieved standards in many activities that were unequalled by students in the small schools, students in the small schools participated in more activities, their versatility and performance scores were consistently higher, they reported more and “better” satisfactions and displayed stronger motivation in all areas of school activity. Although there has long been evidence from industrial psychology that the larger and more bureaucratically efficient the organization the greater the degradation of the individual, this knowledge has had little influence upon schools, and the widespread concern for the organization man has not been accompanied by a similar concern for the organization child.

The organizational culture and climate of General Dynamics, Electronics Division was examined in relation to several change efforts implemented between the years of 1983 and 1992. An attempt was made to identify those elements of the organization's culture that contributed to resistance to planned change. The relative merits of climate analysis and cultural analysis are discussed Two conflicting subcultural structures were identified which represented substantial difficulties for change implementation. The study concluded that using organizational climate analysis may not be sufficient to provide change agents with the means to affect change, and that analysis of cultural assumptions is needed to reveal the most substantial barriers to change.

Discusses a new manufacturing philosophy, Schedule‐based Manufacturing and compares it to the widely used Manufacturing Resource Planning [MRPII]. Looks at the history of the various manufacturing philosophies and how they have developed. Describes how SBM grew from interactive real‐time shop floor scheduling and outlines its benefits.

The stimulus of the successful semiconductor device miniaturisation programmes coupled to recent progress in synthetic chemistry and molecular engineering has led to the emergence of a new inter‐disciplinary activity—molecular electronics—which holds long‐term promise for a new range of electronic materials and devices. From very speculative origins the field has begun to generate important applications based on photoresists, Langmuir‐Blodgett films, electroactive polymers and photochromic materials. A selection of topics ranging from molecular switches, memories, sensors, and the biological interface to prospects for a molecular computer are discussed with special emphasis on features such as stability, self‐organisation and self‐assembly which are unique to molecular systems.

Manufacturing organizations are now being exposed to world class value‐adding standards; therefore restructuring frameworks are required that identify weakness and guide investment. A time‐based functional model has been developed which is capable of analysing the supply chain and all internal value‐adding operations concerned with total input/output conversion. This model can guide investment and restructuring actions to reduce total throughput time and thus total manufacturing costs. Application in a just‐in‐time environment in the electrical switchgear industry in the UK is currently underway to develop the framework further. Discusses details of reductions in throughput time and stock holding.

This is the second part of a study on high school consolidation undertaken by Professor W. J. Campbell when he was a Visiting Professor of Psychology at the University of Kansas. The first part, which concerns the effects of consolidation upon school experiences, is published in Big School—Small School, edited by R. G. Barker and P. Gump (Stanford University Press, 1964).

Family business firms (FBFs) constantly struggle with the challenge of successfully reaching and surviving beyond the third generation. Narrative or storytelling is frequently used in business to transmit knowledge, achieve goals, create and maintain a connection with stakeholders, and achieve sustained growth. Most FBFs consciously or unconsciously use narrative and possess their own discourse, which is unique to every family and family business and which may aid FBFs in achieving continuity. FBFs must have an adequate atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation so that group members can transform acquired tacit knowledge through storytelling into explicit action. FBFs should be prepared to help collaborators and other stakeholders build competencies since tacit knowledge transfer, through narrative, can aid in the solving of problems, enhance innovativeness, and improve strategic decision-making. Therefore, narrative may well aid FBFs in fulfilling their ultimate goal of continuity. The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate the potential influence of narrative on FBFs’ continuity and prevention of their precipitous expiration. This chapter contributes to previous literature that sheds light on the narrative implications of FBFs, and depicts FBFs’ narratives and the dynamics of their business objectives, as well as touches on the heterogeneous nature of each family business’ storyline. There are various advantages to FBFs’ storytelling; perhaps the most noteworthy is the achievement of sustained business growth and continuity.

In this paper, it is shown that the so‐called in‐situ electrical measurement technique is a valuable tool for understanding failure mechanisms in thick film dielectrics. The technique makes it possible to measure important electrical characteristics of thick film dielectric systems in the temperature range from room temperature up to 900°C. This information is essential to understand failure mechanisms and to optimise the system with respect to quality and reliability. Mainly two electrical properties have been investigated: (i) the electrical resistance of the dielectric as a function of temperature and (ii) the spontaneous electromotive force occurring at higher temperatures between two metal layers with the dielectric in between. A significant result of the work is the observation of a close correlation between the leakage current measured through the dielectric at elevated temperatures, and the ability of the dielectric to resist shorting and blistering effects during the preparation of circuits. Secondly, from in‐situ voltage measurements, it was confirmed that the mixed metallurgy system Au(bottom)‐dielectric‐Ag(top) acts at 850°C as a spontaneous battery, and the battery voltage (i.e., the spontaneous electromotive force) was measured. Depending on the type of dielectric, a battery voltage up to 200 mV between the two metal layers was observed. As a result of this spontaneous electromotive force, blistering occurs. The battery voltage was shown to be much smaller in unmixed metallurgy systems with Ag(bottom)‐dielectric‐Ag(top) or Au(bottom)‐dielectric‐Au(top). However, if an external voltage of 300 mV is applied to such a system during a temperature profile up to 850°C, blisters can also be induced. This shows unambiguously that blistering is a voltage driven effect.

Examines the effects of directional variations in woven fabric properties on the behaviour of fabrics as they are plied and sewn together to form a seam. This is an important practical consideration, since garment manufacturing frequently involves the sewing of two fabric plies of completely different and constantly changing bias angles — none of which is along the grain line. Examines the variations in the properties of five woven materials, all lightweight and commonly used in women's summer apparel. The Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) was used to measure the mechanical and surface properties of strips, cut at different angles, from the test materials. To investigate the effect of orientation on seam quality, two plies cut from the same fabric but at different angles were sewn together under selected conditions. The resulting seams were characterized for seam quality using AATCC standards.