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Organizational innovation involves reconciling many contradictions or paradoxes. Dividing the process of innovation into phases ranging from Activation to Validation and examining each phase in terms of the six Ps of creativity offers a framework for making sense of these contradictions. The Innovation Phase Assessment Instrument (IPAI) was designed to assess organizations according to such an approach. The scale was administered to 454 student volunteers and an analysis of their responses indicated that the IPAI is highly reliable and has substantial construct validity. At a practical level, it can be used for assessing the strengths/weaknesses of organizations in a differentiated way and for making recommendations for improving their capacity for innovation. It is also a source of research questions for examining creativity and innovation in an organizational context.

Ozone is one of the six "criteria" pollutants identified by the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendment of 1970 as particularly harmful to human health. Concentrations have decreased markedly across the United States over the past 50 years in response to regulatory efforts, but continuing research on its deleterious effects have spurred further reductions in the legal threshold. The South Coast and San Joaquin Valley Air Basins of California remain the only two "extreme" ozone nonattainment areas in the United States. Further reductions of ozone in the West are complicated by significant background concentrations whose relative importance increases as domestic anthropogenic contributions decline and the national standards continue to be lowered. These background concentrations derive largely from uncontrollable sources including stratospheric intrusions, wildfires, and intercontinental transport. Taken together the exogenous sources complicate regulatory strategies and necessitate a much more precise understanding of the timing and magnitude of their contributions to regional air pollution. The California Baseline Ozone Transport Study was a field campaign coordinated across Northern and Central California during spring and summer 2016 aimed at observing daily variations in the ozone columns crossing the North American coastline, as well as the modification of the ozone layering downwind across the mountainous topography of California to better understand the impacts of background ozone on surface air quality in complex terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adopting a year-round education schedule can be a traumatic experience in many school communities. A three-part process can help districts implement year-round education: (1) involve as many participants as possible; (2) identify the pros and cons of each factor; and (3) develop a survey instrument to weigh all of the issues. (MLF)

The summertime California Current System (CCS) is characterized by energetic mesoscale eddies, whose sea surface temperature (SST) and surface current can significantly modify the wind stress and Ekman pumping. Relative importance of the eddy-wind interactions via SST and surface current in the CCS is examined using a high-resolution (7 km) regional coupled model with a novel coupling approach to isolate the small-scale air-sea coupling by SST and surface current. Results show that when the eddy-induced surface current is allowed to modify the wind stress, the spatially averaged surface eddy kinetic energy (EKE) is reduced by 42%, and this is primarily due to enhanced surface eddy drag and reduced wind energy transfer. In contrast, the eddy-induced SST-wind coupling has no significant impact on the EKE. Furthermore, eddy-induced SST and surface current modify the Ekman pumping via their crosswind SST gradient and surface vorticity gradient, respectively. The resultant magnitudes of the Ekman pumping velocity are comparable, but the implied feedback effects on the eddy statistics are different. The surface current-induced Ekman pumping mainly attenuates the amplitude of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies, acting to reduce the eddy activity, while the SST-induced Ekman pumping primarily affects the propagation. Time mean-rectified change in SST is determined by the altered offshore temperature advection by the mean and eddy currents, but the magnitude of the mean SST change is greater with the eddy-induced current effect. The demonstrated remarkably strong dynamical response in the CCS system to the eddy-induced current-wind coupling indicates that eddy-induced current should play an important role in the regional coupled ocean-atmosphere system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synetocephalus penrosei sp. nov. from Monterey County, California, U.S.A., is described and illustrated. Comparisons are made with the two most similar species, S. bivittatus (LeConte 1859) and S. diegensis (Blake 1942). Adults of S. penrosei are associated with Adenostoma fasciculatum Hook & Arn. (Rosaceae) during the spring months when plants are in bloom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high biological production of the California Current System (CCS) results from the seasonal development of equatorward alongshore winds that drive coastal upwelling. While several climatic fluctuation patterns influence the dynamics and biological productivity of the CCS, including the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index (PDO) and the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation (NPGO), the mechanisms of interaction between climatic oscillations and the CCS upwelling dynamics have remained obscure. Here, we use Singular Spectral Analysis (SSA) to reveal, for the first time, low-frequency concordance between the time series of climatic indices and upwelling intensity along the coast of western North America. Based on energy distributions in annual, semiannual and low-frequency signals, we can divide the coast into three distinct regions. While the annual upwelling signal dominates the energy spectrum elsewhere, low-frequency variability is maximal in the regions south of 33°N. Non-structured variability associated with storms and turbulent mixing is enhanced at northerly locations. We found that the low-frequency signal is significantly correlated with different climatic indices such as PDO, NPGO and ENSO with the correlation patterns being latitude-dependent. We also analyzed the correlations between this upwelling variability and sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) throughout the North Pacific to visualize and interpret the large-scale teleconnection dynamics in the atmosphere that drive the low-frequency coastal winds. These results provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms connecting climatic patterns with upwelling dynamics, which could enhance our prediction and forecast capabilities of the effects of future oceanographic and climatic variability in the CCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term changes in the observed temperature and salinity along the southern California coast are studied using a four-dimensional space–time analysis of the 52-yr (1949–2000) California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) hydrography combined with a sensitivity analysis of an eddy-permitting primitive equation ocean model under various forcing scenarios. An overall warming trend of 1.3°C in the ocean surface, a deepening in the depth of the mean thermocline (18 m), and increased stratification between 1950 and 1999 are found to be primarily forced by large-scale decadal fluctuations in surface heat fluxes combined with horizontal advection by the mean currents. After 1998 the surface heat fluxes suggest the beginning of a period of cooling, consistent with colder observed ocean temperatures. Salinity changes are decoupled from temperature and appear to be controlled locally in the coastal ocean by horizontal advection by anomalous currents. A cooling trend of –0.5°C in SST is driven in the ocean model by the 50-yr NCEP wind reanalysis, which contains a positive trend in upwelling-favorable winds along the southern California coast. A net warming trend of +1°C in SST occurs, however, when the effects of observed surface heat fluxes are included as forcing functions in the model. Within 50–100 km of the coast, the ocean model simulations show that increased stratification/deepening of the thermocline associated with the warming reduces the efficiency of coastal upwelling in advecting subsurface waters to the ocean surface, counteracting any effects of the increased strength of the upwelling winds. Such a reduction in upwelling efficiency leads in the model to a freshening of surface coastal waters. Because salinity and nutrients at the coast have similar distributions this must reflect a reduction of the nutrient supply at the coast, which is manifestly important in explaining the observed decline in zooplankton concentration. The increased winds also drive an intensification of the mean currents of the southern California Current System (SCCS). Model mesoscale eddy variance significantly increases in recent decades in response to both the stronger upwelling winds and the warmer upper-ocean temperatures, suggesting that the stability properties of the SCCS have also changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study examined whether body mass index (BMI) or change in BMI raises the risk of disability in adulthood. Methods. The relation between BMI and upper- and lower-body disability was examined among adult subjects from a national longitudinal survey (n = 6833). Tobit regression models were used to examine the effect of BMI on disability 10 and 20 years later. Results. Obesity (BMI ≥ 30) at baseline or becoming obese during the study was associated with higher levels of upper- and, especially, lower-body disability. In persons who began the study with a BMI of 30 or more and became normal weight, disability was not reduced. Underweight persons (BMI < 18.5) also manifested higher disability in most instances. Conclusions. Disability risk was higher for obese persons, but overweight was not consistently associated with higher disability. (Am J Public Health. 2002;92:834-840) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Some smokers may never quit, Depending on how many of these "hard-core" smokers exist, tobacco control efforts could reach the limits of a minimum achievable smoking prevalence. We defined the hard-core as heavy smokers with weak quitting histories who expect never to quit smoking. We compared them with other smokers and analyzed whether they represent a meaningful barrier to further reducing smoking prevalence. Methods. We used data from the 1996 California Tobacco Surveys (18616 adults; response rate = 72.9%). Results. In 1996, 5.2% of California smokers 26 years and older (1,3% of the California population) were hard-core smokers. Compared with other smokers, hard-core smokers were more likely to be retired non-Hispanic White males, with 12 years or less of education and incomes below $30 000 a year, who live alone. They began smoking at younger ages and attributed fewer negative health consequences to smoking than other smokers. Conclusions. Current tobacco control efforts have a long way to go before they "hit the wall." Nonetheless, the group of hard-core smokers represents a challenge because they appear to be largely unaffected by the messages of tobacco control. (Am J Public Health. 2000:90:387-394) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the importance of home smoking restrictions in protecting non-smokers from secondhand tobacco smoke in California. Health consequences of secondhand tobacco smoking; Characteristics of smokers with home smoking restriction; Influence of smoke-free home on smoking behavior.

Measures voter turnout in school board elections when elections were scheduled in even-numbered years rather than odd-numbered. Study of voter participation in school districts in Riverside, California; Voting patterns in school districts that scheduled school board elections in even years rather than odd years.

Presents the results of a study on school superintendents in California school districts during the 1990-1991 school year. Profile on the participating districts; Personal characteristics; Factors considered important in receiving the appointment as superintendent; Superintendents' contracts and salaries; Major problems and challenges in the job.

Prospective data from the California Tobacco Surveys (n=2066) were used to perform a critical test of the Prochaska et al. (1991) stages of change model. When the stages of change model was used as a stand alone predictor, smokers in preparation at baseline were more likely to be in cessation at follow-up than smokers in pre-contemplation at baseline (OR adj=1.9) When stage membership was combined with baseline measures of addiction including smoking behaviors and quitting history, it was not a significant predictor of future cessation. A prediction equation that combined daily vs. occasional smoking, cigarettes per day smoked, life-time quits of at least a year, and quits of more than 5 days in the previous year discriminated smokers in cessation at follow-up of 1 to 2 years better than did the stages of change model. The area under the ROC curve for the equation based on addiction measures was 69.3% vs. 55.1% for the stages of change. Cessation rates ranged from 7.7% to 35.7% for the four-category addiction equation compared with 15.1% to 24.9% for stages of change model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative importance adolescents place on preventive health behaviors. Methods. Data were from a survey of California adolescents (n = 5040). Respondents were asked how important it was to their peers to avoid drugs, marijuana, cigarettes, heavy drinking, and drinking and driving and to maintain seat belt use, fitness, weight control, and healthy eating habits. Results were com- pared with data from a. similar national survey (n = 6126). Results. California teenagers perceived that their peers gave top priority to weight control: 85% of California teenagers believed that weight control was of high concern to girls in their age group. Avoiding drugs, not drinking and driving, and maintaining fitness ranked in the top five behaviors. The lowest ranked health behaviors were seat belt Use, heavy drinking, and, last, eating healthily. In the national survey, healthy eating also ranked last. Although not identical in rank, teenage priorities for other health behaviors were consistent with the California results. Conclusion. Efforts are needed to bring adolescent health norms more into line with the objective risks of theft health choices during this critical period of socialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study to examine trends in smoking behavior before, during, and after the California Tobacco Control Program. Design; Main outcome measures; Results; Conclusions.

The article reports on the compulsory health insurance in California in 1934-1935. According to health surveys in the 1920s and 1930s, poverty and ill health were closely associated. There is an estimated forty percent of the American people who were not receiving adequate medical care as well as medical physicians who were experiencing financial difficulty. Adoption of health insurance was urged by other groups saying that without some method of spreading the risk of medical costs, the diagnostic and therapeutic value of modern medicine would remain beyond the reach of those who needed care the most.

Reports on an initiative to use the linear accelerator at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory in Stanford, California, to drive a linac coherent light source (LCLS), a laser operating at hard x-ray wavelengths. Characteristics of the LCLS; Scientific applications; Collaborative approach to the LCLS project.

Information about the topics discussed at the Eight Scientific Meeting of the Association of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics held on February 9-11, 2007 in San Diego, California is presented. Filippo Drago of the University of Catanta in Italy stresses about a research concerning the multiple effects of nitric oxide in the eye. Keynote lecturer, Rafat Ansari has described the effects of space travel as being similar to accelerated aging.