bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Changes in the exploited demersal fish assemblages in the Southern Grand Banks (NAFO Divisions 3NO): 2002–2013
Authors: Nogueira Adriana , Paz Xabier , González-Troncoso Diana
Published: November 2014

The Newfoundland Shelf supported one of the world’s greatest fisheries until the main commercial species collapsed more than two decades ago. We calculated three ecological indices for individual populations and five for community from the data obtained in the research surveys conducted by Spain in NAFO Regulatory Area Divisions 3NO between 2002 and 2013. We use data for 24 species to study the dynamics of major demersal fish assemblages (38–300, 301–600, and 601–1460 m depth) and evaluated how they have responded to different levels of exploitation. Trends and changes for individual populations (abundance and biomass, intrinsic population rate of growth, and mean length) and for all the community (ABC curves, indices of faunal diversity, proportion of non-commercial species, mean length in community and size spectra) were used to test ecological trends. Indices showed no homogeneous status and responded to different exploitation patterns, management, and environmental regimes in each assemblage. Our results show an improvement in the shallower and deeper assemblages and that fishing effort does not explain differences among each assemblage.
Potential and limits of Raman spectroscopy for carotenoid detection in microorganisms: implications for astrobiology
Authors: Jehlička Jan , Edwards Howell G. M. , Osterrothová Kateřina , Novotná Julie , Nedbalová Linda , Kopecký Jiří , Němec Ivan , Oren Aharon
Published: November 2014

In this paper, it is demonstrated how Raman spectroscopy can be used to detect different carotenoids as possible biomarkers in various groups of microorganisms. The question which arose from previous studies concerns the level of unambiguity of discriminating carotenoids using common Raman microspectrometers. A series of laboratory-grown microorganisms of different taxonomic affiliation was investigated, such as halophilic heterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, the anoxygenic phototrophs, the non-halophilic heterotrophs as well as eukaryotes (Ochrophyta, Rhodophyta and Chlorophyta). The data presented show that Raman spectroscopy is a suitable tool to assess the presence of carotenoids of these organisms in cultures. Comparison is made with the high-performance liquid chromatography approach of analysing pigments in extracts. Direct measurements on cultures provide fast and reliable identification of the pigments. Some of the carotenoids studied are proposed as tracers for halophiles, in contrast with others which can be considered as biomarkers of other genera. The limits of application of Raman spectroscopy are discussed for a few cases where the current Raman spectroscopic approach does not allow discriminating structurally very similar carotenoids. The database reported can be used for applications in geobiology and exobiology for the detection of pigment signals in natural settings.
Conjugated polyenes as chemical probes of life signature: use of Raman spectroscopy to differentiate polyenic pigments
Authors: Maia Lenize F. , Fernandes Rafaella F. , Lobo-Hajdu Gisele , de Oliveira Luiz F. C.
Published: November 2014

Polyenes, which are represented by carotenes, carotenoids and conjugated polyenals, are some of the most important targets for astrobiology, because they can provide strong evidence of the presence of organic compounds in the most extreme environments, such as on Mars. Raman spectroscopy has been used as the main analytical tool in the identification of such compounds, for the greatest variety of living species, from microorganisms to animals and plants. However, using only the position of the characteristic Raman bands can lead to errors in tentatively identifying chemicals. In this work, we present a series of observations that can provide a more complete and robust way to analyse the Raman spectrum of a polyenal, in which the position, the intensity, the use of various laser lines for excitation, and the combination of more than one pigment can be considered in the complete analysis.
Genome-wide analysis of local chromatin packing in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Wang Congmao , Liu Chang , Roqueiro Damian , Grimm Dominik , Schwab Rebecca , Becker Claude , Lanz Christa , Weigel Detlef
Published: November 2014

The spatial arrangement of interphase chromosomes in the nucleus is important for gene expression and genome function in animals and in plants. The recently developed Hi-C technology is an efficacious method to investigate genome packing. Here we present a detailed Hi-C map of the three-dimensional genome organization of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We find that local chromatin packing differs from the patterns seen in animals, with kilobasepair-sized segments that have much higher intrachromosome interaction rates than neighboring regions, representing a dominant local structural feature of genome conformation in A. thaliana. These regions, which appear as positive strips on two-dimensional representations of chromatin interaction, are enriched in epigenetic marks H3K27me3, H3.1, and H3.3. We also identify more than 400 insulator-like regions. Furthermore, although topologically associating domains (TADs), which are prominent in animals, are not an obvious feature of A. thaliana genome packing, we found more than 1000 regions that have properties of TAD boundaries, and a similar number of regions analogous to the interior of TADs. The insulator-like, TAD-boundary-like, and TAD-interior-like regions are each enriched for distinct epigenetic marks and are each correlated with different gene expression levels. We conclude that epigenetic modifications, gene density, and transcriptional activity combine to shape the local packing of the A. thaliana nuclear genome.
Crystal structure of bis[(5-oxooxolan-3-yl)triphenylphosphanium] hexaiodidotellurate(IV)
Authors: Närhi Sari M. , Oilunkaniemi Raija , Laitinen Risto S.
Published: November 2014

The asymmetric unit of the title salt, [C22H20O2P]2+[TeI6]2−, consists of one triphenyl(5-oxooxolan-3-yl)phosphanium cation and one half of a hexaiodidotellurate(IV) dianion. The Te atom is located at an inversion centre and is octahedrally coordinated by six I atoms. The Te—I bond lengths range from 2.9255 (9) to 2.9439 (10) Å. The I—Te—I angles betweencis-iodide ligands are in the range 87.85 (3)–92.15 (3)°. In the crystal, the components are connected by C—H...I interactions. In the final refinement of the compound a void of 32 Å3was observed.
Relationship building with students and instructors of ESL
Authors: Martin Julia A. , Reaume Kathleen M. , Reeves Elaine M. , Wright Ryan D.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

ESL students often do not utilize the librarian for help or attend library orientation and instruction sessions. Academic librarians and ESL composition instructors need to bridge the gap in order to help guide international students during their academic career. This paper aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper will describe the benefits of relationship building between a librarian and two ESL instructors at the University of Toledo and the information literacy instruction sessions created for two ESL composition classrooms.

Findings

The paper finds that librarians and ESL instructors can bridge the gap for ESL students. Understanding the needs of the international/ESL community can help librarians approach ESL instructors or the international/ESL community in a way that allows the ESL student to feel comfortable and to seek out the librarian's assistance as new needs arise.

Practical implications

The collaboration at the University of Toledo indicates that closer relationships are needed between librarians and ESL instructors and that more than one library session is needed to help ESL students feel comfortable with librarians and libraries.

Social implications

Understanding the culture, values, beliefs, and practices that ESL students bring from their home countries and exhibit in the composition classroom can help librarians create programs that help define library services and help to bridge the gap between services provided by the librarian and the ESL composition instructor.

Originality/value

The very strong relationship built between the librarian and the ESL instructors had a very positive affect not only in the initial trial, but also in developing part of the curriculum for ESL composition students. This paper has great potential value for both librarians who are interested in embedding themselves in ESL programs and for ESL instructors.
“It's research made easier!” SMS and chat reference perceptions
Authors: Ruppel Margie , Vecchione Amy
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discover how college students perceive text messaging reference (SMS), chat reference, and face‐to‐face reference services.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors administered surveys about chat, text messaging (SMS), and face‐to‐face reference to students enrolled in a one‐credit library skills course. Survey results focus on users' willingness to return, their perceptions of chat and text messaging (SMS) reference, and the reasons they choose to utilize different communication mediums for reference service.

Findings

College students value the availability of high‐quality, quick, convenient, personalized reference assistance, regardless of medium used.

Practical implications

Academic libraries can personalize reference services, but also need to offer ways for patrons to ask questions anonymously.

Social implications

Robust communication contributes to the perceived usefulness and success of library reference services. Effective reference service provided at the point‐of‐need helps build positive student‐librarian relationships.

Originality/value

This study aims to contribute to reference services research by bringing new technology into consideration. It focuses on two technologies (chat and SMS reference) in light of another available method (in‐person reference desk). This study is based on a 2002 study about patron perceptions of chat reference (Ruppel and Fagan), which is compared to the current study's results.
Immigration in America: library services and information resources
Authors: Wang Hong
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to present an overview of information resources that have been collected, prepared, or organized by librarians in support of information, reference and research needs pertaining to immigration and immigrants in the USA. The overview seeks to shed light on how American libraries have responded to the tides of immigration along with other community services to newcomers.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper approaches the topic with a brief historical overview of immigration and library services. Through a comprehensive literature review the author intends to discover the degree to which American libraries have been involved in the provision of collections and services to immigrants.

Findings

The literature review indicates that the early decades of the twentieth century left a legacy of library services to immigrants with special patterns of collection development along with various organized programs. As time went by, these services have become more sophisticated and are today integrated into services of many public and academic libraries.

Originality/value

The paper provides perspectives on the social impact of immigration and immigrants – an issue which continues to challenge both public and academic libraries. The annotated bibliography contains items that are helpful to both reference personnel and researchers from academic fields and the general adult population.
An examination of best practices and benchmarking in corporate libraries
Authors: Simon Carol
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to discuss best practices in corporate libraries. It is limited to libraries within the USA and excludes medical, hospital, pharmaceutical and government libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

Definitions of a corporate library and best practices are presented from the literature. The absence of generally accepted best practices within corporate libraries is noted and an explanation for its absence is presented.

Findings

The literature review indicates that there is an absence of generally accepted best practices within the corporate library community. This lack of quantitative data further weakens the position of corporate libraries within their organization as they cannot compare their operations to other service units. Corporate library managers must use the language and analysis tools of upper management to align the corporate library with the larger mission of the corporation to ensure its survival.

Research limitations/implications

The absence of quantitative data focusing on corporate library services adversely impacts the future of corporate libraries. Until the professional association(s) representing the interests of corporate libraries develop, validate and administer a survey of corporate library services and costs, corporate librarians will remain at a competitive disadvantage when discussing the future of the corporate library.

Originality/value

The paper discusses best practices in corporate libraries.
Identifying the basis of collaboration performance in facility service business
Authors: Heimbürger Markku , Dietrich Perttu
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The focus in the facility service business has traditionally been on operative level outcomes such as customer satisfaction and technical quality. These measures do not support business relationship management and co‐creative development. The article aims to propose a comprehensive theoretical framework to evaluate, develop, monitor and manage the collaborative business relation from both customer and service provider perspectives to co‐create mutual value.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical framework for collaboration performance measurement is developed through empirical study of seven dyadic facility service procurement cases. Empirical study included 62 interviews of managers involved in relationship management on strategic, tactical and operative levels in both customer and service provider organizations.

Findings

The empirical study resulted following 13 measurement areas that indicate the collaboration performance in facility service procurement relation: customer benefits, supplier benefits, collaboration efficiency, operational fluency, conflicts recovery, flexibility and adaptability, execution capability, trust, actor incentive alignment, goal alignment and shared vision, strategic integrity, learning and development capability and uncertainty management. The article focuses on presenting the measurement areas of relational collaboration performance and discusses on their implications to performance measurement and management. Through this article the aim is to induce discussion on collaboration performance measurement and management, and challenge the colleague researchers and practitioners in the industry to comment and complement the proposed framework.

Research limitations/implications

The results of the study introduce a new concept of collaboration performance and provide valuable and novel insight on related elements. The theoretical framework derived in this study is based on empirical data from facility services business and its suitability to a wider organizational context is not tested empirically in this study.

Practical implications

The framework identified provides to both practitioners and researchers with an expanded viewpoint to measure and manage collaboration performance from both the service provider and customer sides.

Originality/value

The article proposes a new concept of collaboration performance and comprehensive theoretical framework for collaboration performance measurement and management.
Three theorems of interval fuzzy set
Authors: Wu Shunxiang , Fu Changhong
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper lies in the combination of fuzzy set and interval grey set, namely, considering the fuzzy set theory, rough set theory and grey system theory. The paper then presents a unified form (or symbol system) which can be more useful to describe a wide variety of theories.

Design/methodology/approach

Considering the lower bounds and upper bounds of interval grey set are classical set, this paper draws lessons from the classical set to fuzzy set transition mode which was advanced by Professor Zadeh. The paper puts forward the concept of interval fuzzy set, and then relaxes the constraints of the lower bound of interval fuzzy set to make it more widely used in actual uncertain problems.

Findings

For the examples which have been given in the paper, interval fuzzy set and its three theorems are proved practical and flexible.

Practical implications

The theorems proved in the paper can be used as a useful extension to the classical fuzzy set, which can also be applied to fuzzy clustering, fuzzy classification, fuzzy pattern recognition and so on.

Originality/value

The paper puts forward the concept of interval fuzzy set and the three theorems of interval fuzzy set and proves their practicability and flexibility. The theorems can be used for further study on interval fuzzy set.
Application of grey clustering evaluations in coal railway transportation
Authors: Li Size , Zhong Zhangdui , He Ruisi , Ai Bo
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to apply the theory of grey clustering evaluations in coal railway transportation on the “Datong‐Qinhuangdao” heavy haul railway line, to provide a reliable selection plan for heavy haul railway transportation.

Design/methodology/approach

Grey clustering evaluations are important contents of grey system. Starting from the investigation on the evaluations in coal railway transportation on the “Datong‐Qinhuangdao” line, the authors realize that the reasonable plan developed from the real equipment and wagon flow conditions for optimal organizing of trains to achieve minimum unloading time is becoming the goal of the organizing optimization. According to the theory of grey clustering evaluations, all the system parameters such as, transportation volume per year and cost of transportation, can be combined with each other through some methods. This allows the authors to apply the theory of grey clustering evaluations on the “Datong‐Qinhuangdao” heavy haul railway line, and provide a reliable selection plan for heavy haul railway transportation. The results of the statistical analysis can be used as the basic theory to serve the coal railway transportation, and are applicable to provide reliable transportation.

Findings

This paper presents the theory of grey clustering evaluations in coal railway transportation on “Datong‐Qinhuangdao” heavy haul railway line. The convincing results of the grey classes are reported, and can be used as the basic theory to provide reliable transportation.

Practical implications

The method exposed in the paper can be used at each company's level for providing a reliable selection plan for heavy haul railway transportation. The results can also be used as the basic theory to provide reliable transportation.

Originality/value

The paper succeeds in providing a reliable selection plan for heavy haul railway transportation by using one of the newest developed theories: grey systems theory.
Shared video media and blogging online
Authors: Olofsson Anders D. , Ola Lindberg J. , Stödberg Ulf
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of students' meaning‐making processes, as they are part of an e‐assessment practice via written blog posting upon their own, and their co‐students' performances, presented online through shared video media.

Design/methodology/approach

The research relies on qualitative data to provide an analysis of students' use of the educational technology tool called VoiceThread©. These data were provided by collecting Swedish higher education students' postings and comments in relation to two video clips published in VoiceThread. The formal learning sequence model by Selander together with theories on communication and reflection were used in the analysis.

Findings

The data and the analysis show that shared video media and blogging embrace a potential to facilitate communication and reflection among online higher education students. In addition, the design of the course seems to strengthen the use of formative e‐assessment.

Research limitations/implications

The research reported on in this paper should, preferably, be followed by additional research on educational technology, social software and e‐assessment; informed design of practices of formative e‐assessment; and the role of formative e‐assessment in the facilitating and enhancement of the students' learning and meaning‐making processes.

Practical implications

This paper provides researched‐based ideas of ways in which teachers in online higher education can design their courses, if they want to cultivate the students' communicative and reflective skills.

Originality/value

This paper provides an important insight into the use of shared video media and blogging in online higher education, especially, the way it can be designed for within a formative e‐assessment course approach.
What do undergraduates study in heterodox economics programs? An examination of the curricula structure at 36 self‐identified programs
Authors: Nesiba Reynold F.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to review the undergraduate curricular structure of 36 self‐identified heterodox economic programs in the USA, Australia, UK and Canada.

Design/methodology/approach

The author gathers, summarizes, compares and contrasts the structure of 36 undergraduate heterodox departments. Departments are classified into traditional, plausibly pluralistic, and demonstrably heterodox programs. Specific examples illustrate each classification.

Findings

With notable exceptions described here, most heterodox economics programs are structured as traditional mainstream departments with a few pluralist or political economy electives available. However, 20 departments exist that require at least one heterodox course; eight require two or more.

Practical implications

A few programs have created imitable curricular structures that one would expect to significantly influence the depth and breadth of heterodox perspectives presented in the undergraduate economics major.

Originality/value

This is the first published analysis of undergraduate heterodox economics curricula. It highlights the creative structures characterizing some of the English‐speaking world's best programs and demonstrates that the curricula in most programs lack required courses in heterodox economics. The paper also provides examples of intentionally heterodox programs that may serve as models for others to emulate.
Heterodoxy in the classroom: the case of community economic development
Authors: Rosenbaum Rene P.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The article seeks to identify and examine HPE concepts and ideas that help teach community economic development to college students.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper's discussion is situated within a descriptive account of the learning context, content and structure of a course on community economic development. Selected course readings are analyzed to identify heterodox concepts and to illustrate how they assist in helping students think critically about community economic development.

Findings

The course readings prove fruitful ground for the identification and examination of a range of heterodox concepts and ideas used to help students to think critically about community economic development issues.

Research limitations/implications

Although successful in examining the contributing roles of heterodoxy in teaching community economic development, the study relied on only one course syllabus.

Practical implications

The article offers a practical way to gauge the use of heterodoxy in the classroom. It provides a case study example of how courses could be adopted to teach heterodox economic concepts and ideas.

Originality/value

The article presents a case study of the use of heterodoxy to help students think creatively and critically, and as such, provides an exemplar for other professors to adopt a similar approach.
Heterodox economics bypassing market fundamentalism using SIFE
Authors: Schraner Ingrid , Mariyani‐Squire Edward
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to present the implications of discussing the economic concepts relevant to student projects within the international program Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and to discuss them as a teaching strategy that provides a simple but effective way to break the hegemony of market fundamentalism.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper proposes using opportunities provided by the SIFE program to start the teaching of economics from a novel perspective: start with whatever project the students propose to undertake and support the students in examining the relevant economic concepts, strictly following SIFE's own assessment criterion: “Considering the relevant economic, social and environmental factors, which SIFE team most effectively empowered people in need by applying business and economic concepts and an entrepreneurial approach to improve their quality of life and standard of living?”.

Findings

Asking which economic concepts are relevant to a particular project that effectively empowers people in need sidesteps the discussion of restrictive assumptions presented as principles of economics. Asking this question facilitates the introduction of those elements of heterodox traditions that are relevant to the projects in question.

Originality/value

The paper investigates implications of a radical shift in perspective to one grounded in a project of interest to students and one focusing on economic concepts that are relevant to the project. This shift allows students and their teachers to break the hegemony of economic principles in so far as the reality of the students' project is already beyond these restrictive assumptions.
Mutualism and antagonism within organisations of integrated health care
Authors: Ahgren Bengt
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concepts of Swedish integrated health care, their state of development and interdependence, and, furthermore, evaluate whether the theoretical framework used improves the comprehension of why integrated health care arrangements endure or cease.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is founded on descriptive data gathered from a literature search on integrated health care in Sweden. With inspiration from ecology theory, these data were analysed guided by a theoretical model based on a continuum of symbiotic effects, from antagonism to mutualism.

Findings

The era of Swedish integrated health care started in the 1990s, when a kind of clinical network called chains of care was launched. At the beginning the chain of care development was predominantly surrounded by non‐integrative conditions, which had a restraining effect on these efforts. Even so, it seems that chains of care are here to stay. This faith in chains of care can to some extent be explained by the crucial role they have as connectors in the emerging local health care systems. Thus, these systems need chains of care to evolve and chains of care seem to require the integrative framework of local health care to progress and endure. Integrated health care performance could be troublesome, unless such mutualistic conditions are in place. States of commensalism may also be promoted, but the advantages are unilateral and therefore there is a risk of disloyalty by the unaffected part, which, in turn, can create a breeding‐ground for an antagonistic liaison.

Originality/value

A theoretical approach founded on what may be called “Health Care System Ecology” appears to enhance the understanding of the complex logic of integrated health care.
HIV prevention for young women of Uganda must now address poverty and gender inequalities
Authors: Nicholas Rebecca
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This study seeks to explore the perspectives of young women in Uganda with the aim of better informing re HIV prevention.

Design/methodology/approach

Group discussions and interviews were used to explore issues relating to HIV prevention. An inductive content analysis identified emerging themes and patterns in the participants' conversations.

Findings

The study revealed that, although young women were informed and motivated to prevent HIV, poverty and inequality were significant barriers, limiting their power to protect themselves.

Originality/value

The research adds evidence to the current argument that failure to address the disempowering effects of poverty and gender inequality limits the effectiveness of current HIV prevention for young women. HIV prevention must now address poverty and gender vulnerabilities, promoting a protective environment, rather than focusing on influencing individual sexual behaviour.
Life experiences and expectations of young women in Uganda
Authors: Lovell Natasha
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This study aims to explore the life experiences and expectations of young women of Busoga in Eastern Uganda.

Design/methodology/approach

Using qualitative methods, a small group of young women drew, wrote stories and made videos together. The data which emerged from this exercise were analysed alongside the researcher's own observations.

Findings

Basoga society's main expectation of young women is that they will work in the home. Yet, young women describe very different ideas of what they want from their lives; this includes a desire for access to a good educational experience, and different expectations for family life than cultural norms. They find, however, that there are many barriers to meeting those expectations.

Originality/value

The study is important because it acknowledges and forefronts Ugandan young women's life expectations. Typically, development focuses on “outsider” considerations rather than “insider” views and desires. The desires of the marginalised, such as young women in Africa, are a particularly neglected subject. There is a need for continued efforts to explore and include young women's experiences and expectations countering gender inequality and as part of ongoing gender empowerment and sexual health strategies.
Something‐for‐something love: the motivations of young women in Uganda
Authors: Samara Suesanne
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the motivations of young women in Busoga, Uganda, engaging in “Something‐for‐something” love (SFSL) relationships. Something‐for‐something love is defined as engaging in sex in exchange for money, favours, gifts and goods. This paper examines whether these relationships affect young women's ability to negotiate safe sex.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative methods were used with a group of six young women including participatory video, drawing, stories and life histories. In addition, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with each participant and two key informants. Data were analysed using an inductive thematic approach.

Findings

Peer pressure, financial gain, school fees, basic needs and family pressure were key motivations for SFSL. Power dynamics embedded in Ugandan local culture were found to play a significant role in SFSL and family pressure is suggested to assume a greater role than previously perceived. Transaction was considered to be part of what was expected within a “natural romantic relationship”. Condom use was less likely in relationships where a great amount of gifts were exchanged, as men were more likely to negotiate sex on their terms, and this often led to unprotected sex.

Originality/value

The study contributes much‐needed insight into motivations behind young women participating in SFSL. Young women involved in such relationships are portrayed along a spectrum ranging from vulnerable to empowered. The study emphasises the role parents and other kin play in influencing their children's sexual and reproductive health choices. The study highlights to policy makers that interventions aimed at improving parent‐child communication are needed; as well as a more informed approach to HIV prevention, taking onboard the complexities of SFSL.
Modernising medical regulation: where are we now?
Authors: Waring Justin , Dixon‐Woods Mary , Yeung Karen
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to outline and comment on the changes to medical regulation in the UK that provide the background to a special issue of theJournal of Health Organization and Managementon regulating doctors.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes the form of a review.

Findings

Although the UK medical profession enjoyed a remarkably stable regulatory structure for most of the first 150 years of its existence, it has undergone a striking transformation in the last decade. Its regulatory form has mutated from one of state‐sanctioned collegial self‐regulation to one of state‐directed bureaucratic regulation. The erosion of medical self‐regulation can be attributed to: the pressures of market liberalisation and new public management reforms; changing ideologies and public attitudes towards expertise and risk; and high profile public failures involving doctors. The “new” UK medical regulation converts the General Medical Council into a modern regulator charged with implementing policy, and alters the mechanisms for controlling and directing the conduct and performance of doctors. It establishes a new set of relationships between the medical profession and the state (including its agencies), the public, and patients.

Originality/value

This paper adds to the literature by identifying the main features of the reforms affecting the medical profession and offering an analysis of why they have taken place.
The role of individual diligence in improving safety
Authors: Corbett Angus , Travaglia Jo , Braithwaite Jeffrey
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to be a theoretical examination of the role of individuals in sponsoring and facilitating effective, systemic change in organisations. Using reports of a number of high‐profile initiatives to improve patient safety, it seeks to analyse the role of individual health care professionals in developing and facilitating new systems of care that improve safety and quality.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses recent work in sociology that is concerned with the phenomenon of “sociological citizenship”. The authors test whether successful initiators of change in health care can be described as sociological citizens. This notion of sociological citizens is applied to a number of highly successful initiatives to improve safety and quality to extrapolate the factors associated with individual clinician leadership, which may have affected the success of such endeavours.

Findings

In each of the examples analysed the initiators of change can be characterised as sociological citizens. In reviewing the roles of these charismatic individuals it is evident that they see the relational interdependence between the individuals and organisations and that they use this information to achieve both professional and organisational objectives.

Research limitations/implications

The paper uses a case study method to investigate the usefulness of the role of sociological citizenship in interventions that aim to improve patient safety. The paper reviews the key concepts and uses of the concept of sociological citizenship to produce a framework against which the case studies were assessed.

Practical implications

The authors suggest that a goal of policy for improving patient safety should be directed to the problem of how hospitals and health care organisations can create the conditions for encouraging the individual diligence and care that is needed to support reliable, safe health care practices.

Social implications

Improving the safety and quality of health care is an important public health initiative. It has also proven to be difficult to achieve sustained reductions in the harm caused by the occurrence of adverse events in health care. The process of linking individual diligence with service outcomes may help to overcome one of the enduring struggles of health care systems around the world: the policy‐practice divide.

Originality/value

The paper directs attention towards the role of sociological citizenship in health care systems and organisations.
Inconsistency in health care professional work
Authors: Bishop Simon , Waring Justin
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of recent outsourcing and public‐private partnership (PPPs) arrangements on the consistency of professional employment in health care.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study methodology is applied.

Findings

The paper finds that multiple arrangements for employment within the ISTC creates numerous sources for inconsistency in employment: across the workplace, within professional groups and with national frameworks for health care employment. These are identified as having implications for organisational outcomes, threatening the stability of current partnerships, and partially stymieing intended behavioural change.

Research limitations/implications

The study is a single case study of an independent sector treatment centre. Future research is required to investigate wider trends of employment in heterogeneous outsourcing and PPP arrangements.

Practical implications

The paper informs both managers and clinical professionals of the unanticipated complexities and practical challenges that can arise in partnerships and outsourcing arrangements.

Originality/value

The paper presents a unique in‐depth investigation of employment within recently established ISTCs, and highlights important employment changes for the core health care workforce and high‐status professionals in the evolving health care organisational landscape.
Management of organisational changes in a case of de‐institutionalisation
Authors: Parlalis Stavros K.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper seeks to explore the development of a discharge programme in one learning disability hospital in Scotland. The study aims to concentrate on organisational developmental changes in that institution. The model of the management during the discharge programme was investigated. The aim of the study is to explore how the discharge programme developed, as seen under the lens of organisational change, in order to find out what kind of model of management is more suitable in similar programmes.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study was employed. Data were collected by means of interviews. The interviews followed a structured format. The sample of the study had to be a purposive sample and the method of snowball sampling was used; finally, 28 interviews were conducted. A grounded approach was adopted for the data analysis. The software program QSR “NUD*IST” (version “N6”) was used as a technical tool, in order to facilitate the data analysis.

Findings

The findings of this study show that various management models were adopted in the four phases of the discharge programme. These different models represent a “quest” by the institution's management regarding the most appropriate model for managing the discharge programme. This study shows that this goes on continuously in organisations under transition until they settle down to a more permanent state.

Originality/value

It was concluded that management models, which are composed of characteristics from the organic theory of organisational management, could apply in discharge programmes. The data gathered enabled the researcher to arrive at a model of management which is suitable for managing organisational changes in discharge programmes, the named “stakeholder management model”.
Barriers to implementing health sector administrative decentralisation in Ghana
Authors: Kojo Sakyi E. , Koku Awoonor‐Williams J. , Adzei Francis A.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This paper aims to examine empirically the ways in which workforce knowledge and organisational factors of an implementing agency affected the implementation of health sector administration decentralisation in Ghana with insights from the Nkwanta district health administration.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative study using data from individual and group interviews through purposive selection of health officials, who were directly involved in the work of actual implementation of the programme. Specifically, participants included senior management, middle management and junior workers, who had worked at least for the past three months in the district.

Findings

The study found that most of the interviewees involved in the implementation process are knowledgeable of the objectives of the decentralisation process. Also, major factors that are militating against effective decentralisation in the district include inadequate funds, lack of qualified personnel, inadequate logistics and equipment, poor interpersonal relationships, lack of transparency and a good operational system, lack of incentives to motivate the staff, political interference, poor infrastructure and high rate of illiteracy.

Originality/value

The findings of this study will help improve the implementation of decentralisation within the health sector in Ghana. The paper provides recommendations, which, if considered for implementation, will help improve the decentralisation process.
Surviving multiple obligations through stimulation, autonomy, and variation
Authors: Bergin Elsmari , Savage Carl
Published: November 2014

Purpose

Professionals in academic health centers (AMCs) face multiple obligations, such as those from research, teaching and clinical care. The purpose of this study is to explore and develop an understanding about how well findings generated from two previous studies about the influence of multiple obligations on health care personnel fit those within health care associated with academic institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 11 professionals engaged in teaching, research, and clinical work were interviewed. Data from the open‐ended interactive interviews were transcribed and compared with findings from the two previous studies, using modified analytic induction.

Findings

Work at an AMC can entail balancing three tasks: research, education, and clinical care. These tasks as well as the different employers associated with them can be a source of conflict. For a group of committed professionals, these conflicts were accepted and balanced as long as they experienced stimulus, autonomy, and variation.

Research limitations/implications

Modified analytic induction, an uncommon analysis method, is useful for comparing findings from previous studies in another context and with different subjects.

Practical implications

Stimulation, autonomy, and variation could play a vital role as driving factors in coping and dealing with the unavoidable presence of multiple obligations in today's health care systems.

Originality/value

Although AMCs combine clinical care, research, and teaching, the intersection of all three has in contrast not been investigated so thoroughly at the individual level.
Project delivery in HIV/AIDS and TB in Southern Africa
Authors: Claeyé Frederik , Jackson Terence
Published: November 2014

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a broad‐based study that initially investigated a possible gap in global inputs into the fight against HIV/AIDS and TB co‐infection, and outputs in terms of results achieved. It is proposed that such a gap may be hypothesized to be due, at least in part, to inappropriate management regimes within the global health governance structure. The research does not simply question the effectiveness of the management of programs and projects, but rather the inappropriateness resulting from the lack of addressing cross‐cultural issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The factors facilitating or hampering project service delivery were examined, by looking at 12 case studies in Botswana and South Africa. These data were complemented with seven semi‐structured interviews with donor organizations and NGOs, conducted in the North. Cultural interactions were investigated by using the concept of “interfaces”.

Findings

The results suggest that there is a disjuncture between the global and local level that affects project delivery. The main issues hampering project outcomes can be summarized as systemic, structural and cultural.

Originality/value

The article's main contributions are both theoretical, looking at global project delivery from a cross‐cultural management perspective, as well as to development praxis by highlighting the need to focus more critically on cross‐cultural management issues within the global health governance structure, and indeed within international development as a whole.
Health care policies and resisting consumers in a prototypical welfare state
Authors: Lykke Hindhede Anette
Published: November 2014

Purpose

It has been argued by researchers from the Anglo‐Saxon nations that the rationality of the market has increasingly infiltrated the medical field. This paper seeks to enquire via policy analysis to what extent these principles have affected the prototypical welfare state of Denmark in relation to Danish hearing health policies.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on qualitative methods comprising observations and interviews in two hearing clinics.

Findings

The paper shows that rather than a “withdrawal” of the state there has been a process of reform. The data suggest that a distinguishing mark of the consumer role on offer in Denmark is that, along with a free hearing aid, the Danish health consumer enjoys a range of rights and reciprocal responsibilities. The paper concludes that few of the hearing‐impaired patients were able to embrace the consumer ethos, and those who chose not to wear their prescribed hearing aids experienced the added burden of moral reproach.

Originality/value

It makes little sense to analyse abstracted rationalities without proceeding to analyse how they actually function in practice. This paper demonstrates empirically how and to what degree governmentality is embedded in social practice in two public hearing clinics in Denmark.
Optimizing the weld pool geometry in laser welding of AISI 904 L super austenitic stainless steel using multi‐input/multi‐output grey relational analysis
Authors: Sathiya P. , Abdul Jaleel M.Y. , Katherasan D.
Published: November 2014

Purpose

This study aims to determine the near optimal welding process parameters (beam power (BP), travel speed (TS) and focal position (FP)) using grey relational analysis by simultaneously considering multiple output parameters (depth of penetration and bead width). Further, the optimized parameters were evaluated through the microstructural characterization and hardness measurements across the weld zone.

Design/methodology/approach

It is appropriate to apply Taguchi's technique to a complex system like welding process. Therefore, this study is made to determine the near optimal welding process parameters (BP, TS and FP) using grey relational analysis by simultaneously considering multiple output parameters (depth of penetration and bead width).

Findings

Taguchi experimental design for determining welding parameters was successful. The hardness of the Argon shielded weld metal was comparatively lesser than the Helium shielded weld metal. The Helium shielded weld metal microstructure comprises of finer grains and higher amounts of equiaxed grains. Argon and Helium shielded weld metal microstructure was endowed with a higher amount of secondary interdendritic austenite phase.

Originality/value

The optimal welding conditions were identified in order to increase the productivity and minimize the total operating cost. The process input parameters effect was determined under the optimal welding combinations.