Business Academy Aarhus

This study investigates the potential functions of rituals in organizational and leadership settings, demonstrating that purposefully designed group rituals can foster feelings of togetherness, joy, and energy. However, the implementation of such rituals may encounter challenges, including feelings of awkwardness, which can hinder acceptance and diminish their positive effects. While rituals have likely played an important role in human survival and development, empirical research on their role in workplace settings is still in its early stages, often limited to laboratory experiments. This study employs a combination of qualitative questionnaires and group interviews and is guided by the hypothesis that workplace rituals significantly influence organizational culture and individual well-being, with potential positive and negative ethical implications for employee experience and organizational outcomes. In this article, rituals are examined longitudinally through a four-month-long experiment involving two groups of experienced leaders in a leadership program. The study found that a simple, predefined group ritual enhanced feelings of inner peace, readiness, and togetherness, whereas higher-arousal feelings of joy and energy were associated with a self-created ritual. The success of these rituals was contingent on the involvement of a “master of the ritual” and the avoidance of perceived awkwardness in the early stages. Finally, this study suggests that the effects of ritual-like activities may be comparable to those of rituals.

Three spatiotemporal data sets of drinking water hardness in Denmark (version 1) are presented here: (1) annual drinking water hardness at public waterworks (1905–2023); (2) annual drinking water hardness at their water supply areas (1978–2023) and (3) the latest drinking water hardness at the water supply areas (1980–2023). Raw data were extracted from the Jupiter database for groundwater and drinking water data in Denmark, and were quality-assured. Hardness was calculated after semi-automatic outlier exclusion based on Ca and Mg, or if not available, the reported total hardness. Data were further aggregated at the waterworks level by the annual mean and at the supply area level by the weighted mean (weighted to waterworks annual abstraction volumes). Temporal and spatial gaps were filled prior to these aggregations. Various stakeholders could benefit from these open access data. They provide a societal service in response to increased public interest in drinking water hardness. The research community could use the data in environmental, exposure or epidemiological assessments. Finally, the water supplies and the public sector could benefit from these data as they provide a nationwide overview of current and past drinking water hardness in Denmark and highlight the geographic areas that lack recent data, most probably due to de-regulation.

Expected backgrounds in the final accelerator-to-target region of the European Spallation Source, to be built in Lund, Sweden, have been calculated using the MCNPX program. We consider the effects of losses from the beam, both along the full length and localised at the bending magnets, and also backsplash from the target. The prompt background is calculated, and also the residual dose, as a function of time, arising from activation of the beam components. Activation of the air is also determined. The model includes the focussing and rasterising magnets, and shows the effects of the concrete walls of the tunnel. We give the implications for the design and operation of the accelerator.

\n Trinta dias após a indução do diabetes, em aortas com endotélio (E+) de ratas diabéticas (DB), a Rmáx ao cloreto de potássio (KCl) foi reduzida e a resposta à noradrenalina (NA) foi semelhante as controles (CT). A retirada do endotélio (E-) potencializou a resposta ao KCl e NA, porém essa potencialização foi de menor magnitude em DB. A Rmáx à NA em aortas E+: não foi alterada após o seqüestro de ânion superóxido ou inibição da síntese de óxido nítrico (NO) em DB, nas CT esta resposta foi reduzida e aumentada, respectivamente, e foi reduzida apenas nas DB após o bloqueio dos receptores para endotelina (ET). A mobilização de cálcio (Ca2+) em resposta à NA foi reduzida em aorta E+ e E- de DB. Em aortas de ratas diabéticas, as alterações no aparato contrátil, como por exemplo. A redução da mobilização de Ca2+, podem ser responsáveis pela redução da resposta contrátil e a redução da modulação do NO sobre a resposta à NA ou o aumento da liberação de ET pelo endotélio podem ser os responsáveis pela manutenção da resposta à NA.\n