No abstract

Two hundred and forty-nine subjects, averaging thirty-five to a group, participated in two sessions consisting of two different four minute stimulus conditions. The subjects completed an inventory, the Phenomenology of Consciousness Questionnaire, immediately afterwards in reference to each of these conditions. The questionnaire assessed the phenomenological state associated with each condition in terms of nine different dimensions of consciousness. The results indicated that the phenomenological parameters that define a state of consciousness are stable under several different conditions. Baseline, identity, and altered states of consciousness that are associated with specific stimulus conditions can be defined and differentiated in terms of intensity variations within, and pattern effects among, the dimensions of conscious experience.

Decisions regarding research and development (R&D) activities of an organization greatly affect the fiscal and market outcomes of technologically oriented firms. Yet, the resource allocation choices between these two activities are tied strongly to an organization's technology knowledge. Technological knowledge is itself a resource that the firm can manage to achieve strategic and competitive advantage. In this paper, the authors present a system dynamics view of the decomposition of R&D efforts into explorative and exploitive activities and the resultant knowledge-specific and performance outcomes from the decision to focus on one type of activity or another. Four factors are shown to affect the relative value of innovative knowledge to the organization: resource availability, exogenous competition, aging of knowledge bases, and adaptive capacity, a firm's ability to adapt to its environment. A variety of long-and short-term strategic issues are discussed in relation to these forces.

Community psychologists have a long history of interest in understanding social systems and how to bring about enduring positive change in these systems. However, the methods that community psychologists use to anticipate and evaluate the changes that result from system change efforts are less well developed. In the current paper, we introduce readers to system dynamics modeling, an action research approach to studying complex systems and the consequences of system change. We illustrate this approach by describing a system dynamics model of educational reform. We provide readers with an introduction to system dynamics modeling, as well as describe the strengths and limitations of the approach for application to community psychology.

No abstract