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The model Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) presents a novel way of parameterising internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. IDEMIX is based on the spectral energy balance of the wave field and has previously been successfully developed as a model for diapycnal diffusivity, induced by internal gravity wave breaking in oceans. Applied here for the first time to atmospheric gravity waves, integration of the energy balance equation for a continuous wave field of a given spectrum, results in prognostic equations for the energy density of eastward and westward gravity waves. It includes their interaction with the mean flow, allowing for an evolving and local description of momentum flux and gravity wave drag. A saturation mechanism maintains the wave field within convective stability limits, and a closure for critical layer effects controls how much wave flux propagates from the troposphere into the middle atmosphere. Offline comparisons to a traditional parameterisation reveal increases in the wave momentum flux in the middle atmosphere due to the mean flow interaction, resulting in a greater gravity wave drag at lower altitudes. Preliminary validation against observational data show good agreement with momentum fluxes.

The model Internal Wave Dissipation, Energy and Mixing (IDEMIX) presents a novel way of parameterising internal gravity waves in the atmosphere. IDEMIX is based on the spectral energy balance of the wave field and has previously been successfully developed as a model for diapycnal diffusivity, induced by internal gravity wave breaking in oceans. Applied here for the first time to atmospheric gravity waves, integration of the energy balance equation for a continuous wave field of a given spectrum, results in prognostic equations for the energy density of eastward and westward gravity waves. It includes their interaction with the mean flow, allowing for an evolving and local description of momentum flux and gravity wave drag. A saturation mechanism maintains the wave field within convective stability limits, and a closure for critical layer effects controls how much wave flux propagates from the troposphere into the middle atmosphere. Offline comparisons to a traditional parameterisation reveal increases in the wave momentum flux in the middle atmosphere due to the mean flow interaction, resulting in a greater gravity wave drag at lower altitudes. Preliminary validation against observational data show good agreement with momentum fluxes.

The purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, although there have been many articles and books describing the nature of Action Research there are few examples of doing it in practice. We describe how a Research Oriented Action Research programme unfolded over many years focussing on the operationalisation of theory alongside the development of a soft-OR methodology. An outcome of this programme was the refinement of an Action Research method. Secondly, we present the development of an understanding of emergent strategy – a ‘theory’ that attracted both the researchers and managers in a number of organisations as one that could enhance the development of a soft-OR method and aid the process of strategy making. In doing so we demonstrate how research can be both rigorous and relevant. We also developed our understanding of emergent strategy in a manner that enables it to be used in practice. And thirdly, we show how the soft-OR method of Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA) methodology gradually became a strategy making methodology (Journey Making). Although much has been written describing the background to these soft-OR methodologies, this paper shows how and why they developed. We illustrate how relevant theory from a range of disciplines can inform practice, and how the process of implementing theory into method develops theory.

The IDEMIX concept is an energetically consistent framework to describe wave effects in ocean circulation models. It is based on the radiative transfer equation for a gravity wave field in physical and wavenumber space. For IDEMIX the radiative transfer equation is integrated in the wavenumber and frequency domain, leading to conservation equations for integral energy compartments in physical space. These equations can be closed with a few simple but reasonable parameterizations. IDEMIX describes the generation, interaction, propagation and dissipation of the internal gravity wave field and can be used in ocean general circulation models to account for vertical mixing and wave drag in the interior of the ocean. We review the physical ingredients of the current IDEMIX versions and demonstrate their performance for ocean applications.

The IDEMIX concept is an energetically consistent framework to describe wave effects in ocean circulation models. It is based on the radiative transfer equation for a gravity wave field in physical and wavenumber space. For IDEMIX the radiative transfer equation is integrated in the wavenumber and frequency domain, leading to conservation equations for integral energy compartments in physical space. These equations can be closed with a few simple but reasonable parameterizations. IDEMIX describes the generation, interaction, propagation and dissipation of the internal gravity wave field and can be used in ocean general circulation models to account for vertical mixing and wave drag in the interior of the ocean. We review the physical ingredients of the current IDEMIX versions and demonstrate their performance for ocean applications.

The IDEMIX concept is an energetically consistent framework to describe wave effects in ocean circulation models. It is based on the radiative transfer equation for a gravity wave field in physical and wavenumber space. For IDEMIX the radiative transfer equation is integrated in the wavenumber and frequency domain, leading to conservation equations for integral energy compartments in physical space. These equations can be closed with a few simple but reasonable parameterizations. IDEMIX describes the generation, interaction, propagation and dissipation of the internal gravity wave field and can be used in ocean general circulation models to account for vertical mixing and wave drag in the interior of the ocean. We review the physical ingredients of the current IDEMIX versions and demonstrate their performance for ocean applications.

The development of new therapies has lagged behind for rare cancers without defined therapeutic targets. Adrenocortical cancer is no exception. Mitotane, an older agent considered "adrenolytic," is used both to control symptoms in advanced disease and as adjuvant therapy after surgical resection. Molecular characterization of adrenocortical cancer has deepened our understanding of this genetically complex disease while identifying subgroups whose importance remains to be determined. Unfortunately, such studies have yet to demonstrate a therapeutic target for drug development, and to date, no targeted therapy has achieved meaningful outcomes. Consequently, first-line therapy for metastatic disease remains a combination regimen of etoposide, doxorubicin, and cisplatinum established in a randomized clinical trial. In addition to evaluating recent studies in adrenocortical cancer, we raise one critical clinical issue-the risk of peritoneal dissemination following laparoscopic resection of adrenocortical cancer. In a retrospective case series of 267 patients referred to the NCI for the treatment of recurrent or advanced adrenocortical cancer, we found extensive peritoneal dissemination in 25 of the 45 patients (55.6%) who had undergone laparoscopic resection, compared with only 7 of the 222 patients (3%) who had undergone an open resection (P < 0.0001). Although this has been debated in the literature, our data argue for an end to laparoscopic resection of adrenocortical cancers to avoid peritoneal dissemination, a complication of laparoscopy that is uniformly fatal.

Collaboration can make sense when there is some sort of “collaborative advantage” to be gained, meaning organizations can achieve something together that they cannot easily achieve by themselves. However, the literature is essentially silent on how to identify collaborative advantage. This article addresses this shortcoming in the theory of collaborative advantage for public purposes by proposing a set of goal categories that may be used to help articulate collaborative advantage and introducing the use of visual strategy mapping as part of a facilitated group process to figure out what the collaborative advantage might be. Collaborative advantage, as it is normally understood, consists of shared core goals. Collaborative advantage for public purposes should take into account public values beyond shared core goals.

In this paper, we discuss two situations where two organizations with different aims recognized the dysfunctionality of their relationship. In each of these cases, which were long running (6–8 months), the organizations had worked hard to resolve this dysfunctionality, and conflict, by organizing off-site meetings designed to resolve the conflict. These 1-day meetings failed. Subsequently Group Support System workshops were used for 1 day workshops and in each case the conflict was essentially resolved within 55 min. The research reported in this paper seeks to answer the question: what happened in these cases that led to a resolution of the conflict in such a short time period, given other attempts had failed? Specifically the paper explores the impact of the GSS used to facilitate two organizations seeking to resolve a conflictual situation.

Lagrangian isopycnal diffusivities quantify the along-isopycnal mixing of any tracer with mean gradients along isopycnal surfaces. They are studied in the Southern Ocean of the 1/10° Parallel Ocean Program (POP) model using more than 50 000 float trajectories. Concurrent Eulerian isopycnal diffusivities are estimated directly from the eddy fluxes and mean tracer gradients. Consistency, spatial variation, and relation to mean jets are evaluated. The diffusivities are calculated in bins large enough to reduce contributions from the rotational components that do not lead to net tracer mixing. Because the mean jets are nonzonal and nonparallel, meridional dispersion includes standing eddies and is significantly different from cross-stream dispersion. With the subtraction of the local Eulerianmean, the full Lagrangian diffusivity tensor can be estimated. Along-stream diffusivities are about 6 times larger than cross-stream diffusivities. Along-streamline averages of Eulerian and Lagrangian isopycnal diffusivities are similar in that they are larger north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and smaller in the ACC in the upper 500 m. Eulerian diffusivities are often twice as large as the Lagrangian diffusivities below 500 m. There is large longitudinal variability in the diffusivities and in their relation to the mean flow. In bins with one prominent jet, diffusivities are reduced at the surface in the jet and increased to the north and south of the jet. There is a local maximum at depths of 500-1000m. In other bins where mean jets merge and diverge because of topography, there is no consistent relation of the diffusivities with the mean flow. Eulerian fluxes are upgradient in about 15% of the bins. © 2014 American Meteorological Society.

© The Author 2014.Background: The iPrEx study demonstrated that combination oral emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) as preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) protects against HIV acquisition in men who have sex with men and transgender women

© The Author 2014.Background: The iPrEx study demonstrated that combination oral emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (FTC/TDF) as preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) protects against HIV acquisition in men who have sex with men and transgender women

Lagrangian isopycnal diffusivities quantify the along-isopycnal mixing of any tracer with mean gradients along isopycnal surfaces. They are studied in the Southern Ocean of the 1/10° Parallel Ocean Program (POP) model using more than 50 000 float trajectories. Concurrent Eulerian isopycnal diffusivities are estimated directly from the eddy fluxes and mean tracer gradients. Consistency, spatial variation, and relation to mean jets are evaluated. The diffusivities are calculated in bins large enough to reduce contributions from the rotational components that do not lead to net tracer mixing. Because the mean jets are nonzonal and nonparallel, meridional dispersion includes standing eddies and is significantly different from cross-stream dispersion. With the subtraction of the local Eulerianmean, the full Lagrangian diffusivity tensor can be estimated. Along-stream diffusivities are about 6 times larger than cross-stream diffusivities. Along-streamline averages of Eulerian and Lagrangian isopycnal diffusivities are similar in that they are larger north of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and smaller in the ACC in the upper 500 m. Eulerian diffusivities are often twice as large as the Lagrangian diffusivities below 500 m. There is large longitudinal variability in the diffusivities and in their relation to the mean flow. In bins with one prominent jet, diffusivities are reduced at the surface in the jet and increased to the north and south of the jet. There is a local maximum at depths of 500-1000m. In other bins where mean jets merge and diverge because of topography, there is no consistent relation of the diffusivities with the mean flow. Eulerian fluxes are upgradient in about 15% of the bins. © 2014 American Meteorological Society.

In this paper, we raise issues about discovering and modelling purpose that, in our view, can often be missed within operational research practice. We suggest that, in problem solving, there is a danger of taking too little account of: the differences between espoused goals and goals-in-use; the potentially misleading nature of published goals; goals that express the need to avoid outcomes—‘negative goals’; the meaning of goals in an action context rather than the semantics of goal statements; the dynamics and clarity implied by goal relationships; the potential that derives from multi-organisational settings where goals that express an outcome that can only be achieved collaboratively; stakeholder responses to expressed goals—that good solutions can be sabotaged by others; the fact that some goals are contextually important but not a focus for problem solving because they are ‘not-our-core-goals’; and the need to design ambiguity of purpose in expressing goals systems. These issues are illustrated through a number of real case examples drawn from engineering, Police, NHS, a Research Institute, and a Utility company/Regulator setting.

Creating public value is problematic in a world of austerity. Joint private and public, and public-public, projects are now an established way of creating public value. Establishing joint goals within a context of different ‘own goals’ is important and difficult. A particular issue facing many organisations in seeking to negotiate joint goals in a collaborative project is that of getting all the key managers from both organisations together over enough of a sequence of meetings for agreements to be meaningful and owned by those who will deliver the project. The development of such goals can be significantly enhanced by (1) using a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) and (2) using a powerful conceptualisation of a goals framework comprising: a goals system; ‘core goals’; ‘meta-goals’; ‘negative’ goals; and ‘above and beyond’ goals. In the case of negotiating joint goals the use of a GDSS has increased productivity to such an extent that powerful negotiated agreements can be achieved with all key managers in the room in as little as one meeting. The combination of high productivity, anonymity, and the structuring of the data has also facilitated the uncovering of ‘negative goals’, and the development of ‘meta-goals’ and ‘above and beyond’ goals. This paper uses three real cases to illustrate the significance of a Group Support System’s contribution and to illustrate the different types of goals. In doing so the paper suggests that facilitating such outcomes requires a carefully designed strategic conversation necessarily supported by a GDSS to enable group decision and negotiation in practice. Two of the cases are from public-public collaboration in the health field, and the other from a private-public setting.

A quasi-geostrophic model of Southern Hemisphere’s wintertime atmospheric circulation with horizontal resolution T21 has been coupled to a global ocean circulation model with a resolution of 2� ×2� and simplified physics. This simplified coupled model reproduces qualitatively some features of the first and the second EOF of atmospheric 833 hPa geopotential height in accordance with NCEP data. The variability patterns of the simplified coupled model have been compared with variability patterns simulated by four complex state-of-the-art coupled CMIP5 models. The first EOF of the simplified model is too zonal and does not reproduce the right position of the centre of action over the Pacific Ocean and its extension to the tropics. The agreement in the second EOF between the simplified and the CMIP5 models is better. The total variance of the simplified model is weaker than the observational variance and those of the CMIP5 models. The transport properties of the Southern Ocean circulation are in qualitative accord with observations. The simplified model exhibits skill in reproducing essential features of decadal and multi-decadal climate variability in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere. Notably, 800 yr long coupled model simulations reveal sea surface temperature fluctuations on the timescale of several decades in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current region.

This article explores how top management teams can increase the robustness of their strategies by attending to important concepts emerging from the stakeholder literature. Analysis of three themes emanating from this literature leads to the development of a method composed of three techniques which elaborates how stakeholder management concepts can be applied in practice. The research, which spanned a 15 year time period, was based on working with 16 top management teams while they were developing their strategies, so that the method e which developed incrementally in response to the teams’ reactions to its utility e was grounded in both theory and practice.

This paper reports on the use of a Group Support System (GSS) to explore at a micro level some of the processes manifested when a group is negotiating strategy - processes of social and psychological negotiation. It is based on data from a series of interventions with senior management teams of three operating companies comprising a multi-national organization, and with a joint meeting subsequentlyinvolving all of the previous participants. The meetings were concerned with negotiating a new strategy for the global organization. The research involved the analysis of detailed time series data logs that exist as a result of using a GSS that is a reflection of cognitive theory.

This paper reports on the development and structure of a framework – ScriptsMap – intended to facilitate the design of mixed method policy-making workshops. The ScriptsMap framework aims to provide a means of articulating and combining activities (which a script specifies) from two or more methods so that a facilitator or group facilitation team can construct, with the framework’s aid, a thoughtful and careful design for a workshop. To provide an example of the framework, the combination of system dynamics group model building and group problem structuring incorporating causal mapping with the use of a Group Support System is used. The paper will illustrate ScriptsMap’s structure through an example of the use of the framework in practice.

Leading strategy making that is both analytically sound and also politically feasible is difficult but essential if the strategy is to stand a chance of being implemented effectively. This paper discusses the contribution of attending to social and psychological processes in making strategy. The paper explores a number of considerations for avoiding crafting a strategy that has no commitment to implementation. Specifically the paper discusses: balancing cohesion with divergence; recognizing the role of identity, networks, and institutionalization; ensuring engagement, fairness and commitment; and using facilitated group support to lead the negotiation of strategy. The paper sets out the key concepts to provide consultant-facilitators guidance for effective strategy making that attends the social context of groups.

This note intends to contribute to the practice of group model building by presenting group model-building scripts that can (1) create a preliminary problem boundary using less than one hour of group time, (2) convene discussions with the group that explicitly link dynamic structure with system behaviour, and (3) allow participants to “zoom” between a micro and a macro view of system structure. These scripts may be used during early phases of problem structuring. They build on an extended program of inquiry dating back to the Stirling System Dynamics Conference of 1994, and they utilize a well-established group decision support system to facilitate group discussion, negotiation, and decision.

In order to elaborate the concept of resources (a key component of the well-established resource-based theory of the firm) this paper concentrates on exploring and elaborating the associated concept of competences, in particular distinctive and core competences. This exploration includes an examination of the extant literature, alongside and in parallel with, an extensive body of action research undertaken over 15 years and with 44 top management teams engaged in strategy making. As such the concepts are scrutinized both in terms of their theoretical underpinnings as well as their impact on practice. The research reinforces the view that distinctiveness emerges most powerfully from the identification (or creation) of unique bundles or combinations of competences and that effective and meaningful core competences can be identified from understanding and refining the links between competences and organizational goals. The resultant conceptualization of the systemic competence/ goals structure emerges from the interaction of theory and practice.

There is a need to bring methods to bear on public problems that are inclusive, analytic, and quick. This paper describes the efforts of three pairs of academics working from three different though complementary theoretical foundations and intervention backgrounds (ie ways of working) who set out together to meet this challenge. Each of the three pairs had conducted dozens of interventions that had been regarded as successful or very successful by the client groups in dealing with complex policy and strategic problems. One approach focused on leadership issues and stakeholders, another on negotiating competitive strategic intent with attention to stakeholder responses, and the third on analysis of feedback ramifications in developing policies. This paper describes the 10-year longitudinal research project designed to address the above challenge. The important outcomes are reported: the requisite elements of a general integrated approach and the enduring puzzles and tensions that arose from seeking to design a wide-ranging multi-method approach.