bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Employee voice initiatives in the public sector: views from the workplace
Authors: Bennett Tony 
Published: July 2010

PurposeThe paper seeks to report on the results of a regional survey of public sector HR and union representatives' views and experiences of employee voice techniques in the workplace.Design/methodology/approachThe research was based on a descriptive survey and subsequent statistical analysis of significant difference between HR and union representatives in terms of their views on the aims and efficacy of various forms of employee voice initiatives.FindingsA broad range of employee voice mechanisms, both direct and indirect, was identified, many running concurrently, across the sample organisations. The European Union was identified as a significant influence in encouraging voice initiatives in the workplace.Research limitations/implicationsThe research, whilst engaging with the views and experiences of representatives from a larger group of organisations, will require subsequent case study research to investigate some of the findings in greater depth.Practical implicationsThere are clear implications for management in terms of the potential effect of EU regulations around involvement and participation. There is also evidence that the unions are not being marginalized by more individually‐focused voice initiatives but, conversely, some union representatives' lack of knowledge of the regulations could hamper union long‐term voice strategies.Originality/valueThe paper applies existing employee voice case study theory to a broader range of organisations through a survey approach, whilst demonstrating the practical application of those concepts and models to increase one's knowledge of employee voice techniques currently in use in the public sector.
Fabric‐skin friction property measurement system
Authors: Wang Xu , Liu Ping , Wang Fumei 
Published: July 2010

PurposeUnderstanding the friction property between fabric and skin is an important issue in both product design and comfort evaluation. The purpose of this paper is to present a new type of tester to evaluate the friction between skin and clothing.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed fabric‐skin friction tester consists of test host, friction equipment, control box, and computer processing system. The suitable testing conditions (tension, friction velocity, and sample width) are recommended by comparing the parameters and actual test circumstance.FindingsAs the stress history characteristic of skin, the friction test should be repeated since the second time for each fabric and skin friction pair. The fluctuation of single friction curve and dispersion degree of several friction curves in repeated trials are both smallest under the recommended test conditions (200 cN tension, 500 mm/min friction velocity and 10 cm wide sample) for woven fabric.Originality/valueThe proposed fabric‐skin friction tester is adapted to measure the dynamical friction properties between human skin and clothing. This is original in comparison to the conventional research method usually found in the literature.
Medical‐workforce planning: an art or science?
Authors: Parsons Donna 
Published: July 2010

PurposeIllustrates how the NHS workforce‐review team looks at the area of medical workforce planning and some of the problems that planners face.Design/methodology/approachDescribes a structure for workforce planning and examines some of the challenges workforce planners and those working in the human‐resources field face.FindingsArgues that workforce planning is more than simply number crunching; it requires the application of both art and science skills.Practical applicationsDemonstrates how the workforce is calculated in terms of the need, demand and supply for the future.Social implicationsHighlights the important advantages, for individual organizations as well as for society as a whole, which can result from successful workforce planning.Originality/valueFills a gap in the literature about whether workforce planning is an art or science.
Disciplining professional vision in architectural work
Authors: Styhre Alexander 
Published: July 2010

PurposeProfessional communities are capable of maintaining their social status and role in society on the basis of a blend of technical and formal expertise, know‐how, and an understanding of the non‐professional's demands and expectations. In architectural work, professional expertise largely centres on the visual capacities of the architect, his or her ability to extract useful information and communicate objectives and ideas on the basis of visual artifacts. However, this professional vision must always be double in terms of alternating between professional and non‐professional ways of seeing. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe research was based on a case study of a Scandinavian firm of architects, Blue Architects (a pseudonym).FindingsThe findings suggest that practising architects are highly aware of the societal role of their profession and the fact that there are a number of routines and mechanisms instituted by the firm which help the architect, newcomers as well as the more seasoned members of that community, to bridge and combine these two elements of their professional vision.Originality/valueThe study suggests that professional vision is a key term when examining visually‐oriented professions. However, this capacity to “see as an architect” does need to be a kind of split vision; both seeing as and seeing beyond the visual artifact produced. The study thus contributes toward understanding visually‐oriented professions and their relationship with lay knowledge.
Principles in knowledge management maturity: a South African perspective
Authors: Kruger Cornelius Johannes , Johnson Roy D. 
Published: July 2010

PurposeThe institutionalization of knowledge management (KM) principles, policies and strategies could be summarized as being diverse, problematic and located across the spectrum of views. Studies suggest that very little is reported on how these principles are institutionalized in organizations. This paper seeks to examine the role these principles play in the establishment of KM and report on an empirical study conducted in 86 South African‐based organizations.Design/methodology/approachFrom a large urban South African University engaged in numerous collaboration programs with industry, the authors gained insight into KM maturity in industry groupings over a five‐year period. The authors applied an inventory developed by Kruger and Snyman to a set of 86 organizations distributed over nine economic sectors in South Africa. In total 434 employees were interviewed over three managerial levels (operational, middle, and senior). This was achieved by having 178 senior practitioners to each interview three subjects (one in each group level).FindingsFindings indicate that there is a definite trend towards the establishment of KM principles and the successful implementation of KM across South African industries. Industries achieving higher than average scores in the establishment of KM principles also achieved higher than average scores in the implementation of KM. Findings strongly support the argument that elements such as the formulation of strategy, measurement, policy, content, process, technology and culture enable or influence KM ability to manage knowledge.Originality/valueThe paper is of relevance to KM practitioners interested in gaining insight into KM maturity that occurred in the extremely diversified environment of South Africa.
Learning expert thinking processes: using KM to structure the development of expertise
Authors: van Winkelen Christine , McDermott Richard 
Published: July 2010

PurposeThis paper seeks to develop understanding of how competent practitioners develop into experts through learning expert thinking processes and how knowledge management initiatives can be used to structure this development.Design/methodology/approachA literature review‐derived research model underpinned the semi‐structured interviews with 21 acknowledged experts from a wide variety of disciplines and sectors. A qualitative exploratory research design was used to study how the experts go about developing other professionals in the field through showing them how they learn themselves and making visible their own thinking processes. The implications for KM programs were developed in conjunction with KM practitioners.FindingsThe experts used various methods to make their thinking visible through demonstration of practice and direction of structured learning activities. KM's contribution to this form of expertise development lies in structuring approaches to making work in progress more visible (through technology and process) and through introducing a coaching framework that enables and supports reflection on practice.Research limitations/implicationsThe specific context of expertise development that has been studied is those situations where generalized principles and explicit knowledge cannot be readily captured in artifacts. Further research is needed to show how this can be combined with other approaches to developing and retaining expertise. Confirmatory research is also needed to refine and further validate the proposed recommendations for KM practice.Practical implicationsThe paper prepares the ground for integrating an important aspect of expertise development within KM programs.Originality/valueThe paper extends KM's contribution to expertise retention and development to include structured support for the development of expert thinking processes.
Change readiness: an alternative conceptualization and an exploratory investigation
Authors: Timmor Yaron , Zif Jehiel 
Published: July 2010

PurposeChange readiness (CR) is viewed as a multidimensional behavior that reflects the firm's competencies to do three things in response to environmental opportunities and threats in its industry: trigger identification; gearing up to take action (preparation); and the action's degree of novelty. The main purpose of this study is to propose and test an alternative conceptualization for CR.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 217 organizations in 14 countries. All respondents were in charge of, or involved with, their firms' strategic decisions and implementations thereof and filled out a structured questionnaire.FindingsIt was found that CR is influenced by both internal and external variables, including management orientation (entrepreneurial, centralization), environmental barriers, and technology and innovation roles in firms' business strategies. In addition, a higher degree of CR was correlated with better performance and with higher management evaluation of success in coping with environmental triggers.Research limitations/implicationsThe size and selection of the sample may pose limits in generalizing the study findings. Future studies may increase the number of interviews per firm, use objective assessments of performance and provide more specific information about threats and opportunities, as well as the type of industry.Originality/valueThe proposed CR concept is based on specific behavior rather than on attitude. CR is perceived as a strategy‐oriented construct that demonstrates the capacity of an organization to respond effectively to new developments in its environment.
Infrastructure: a new dimension of real estate? An asset allocation analysis
Authors: Finkenzeller Konrad , Dechant Tobias , Schäfers Wolfgang 
Published: July 2010

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide conclusive evidence that infrastructure constitutes a separate asset class and cannot be classified as real estate from an investment point‐of‐view. Furthermore, optimal allocations are determined for direct and indirect infrastructure within a multi‐asset portfolio.Design/methodology/approachPortfolio allocations are optimized by using an algorithm, which accounts for downside risk, rather than variance. This approach is more in accordance with the actual investor behaviour and might meet their investment objectives more effectively. An Australian dataset comprising stocks, bonds, direct real estate, direct infrastructure and indirect infrastructure is applied for portfolio construction.FindingsAlthough infrastructure and real estate have common characteristics, the conclusion is that that they constitute two different asset classes. Furthermore, the diversification benefits of direct and indirect infrastructure within multi‐asset portfolios are highlighted and determine efficient allocations up to 78 percent for target rates of 0.0 percent, 1.5 percent and 3.0 percent quarterly.Practical implicationsThe results will help investors and portfolio managers to efficiently allocate funds to various asset classes. Most institutional investors are not familiar with investments in infrastructure. The study facilitates a better understanding of the asset class infrastructure and yields some important implications for the optimal allocation of infrastructure within institutional investment portfolios.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine the role of direct and indirect infrastructure within a multi‐asset portfolio by applying a downside‐risk approach.
Usefulness of oral cytopathology in the diagnosis of infectious diseases
Authors: Braz‐Silva P. H. , Magalhães M. H. C. G. , Hofman V. , Ortega K. L. , Ilie M. I. , Odin G. , Vielh P. , Hofman P. 
Published: July 2010

P. H. Braz‐Silva, M. H. C. G. Magalhães, V. Hofman, K. L. Ortega, M. I. Ilie, G. Odin, P. Vielh and P. HofmanUsefulness of oral cytopathology in the diagnosis of infectious diseasesIn recent years, the incidence of oral opportunistic infections has increased, partly due to the widespread implementation of organ and bone marrow transplantation and the increase in the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Cytology can be used as a rapid, inexpensive and simple routine procedure in diagnosing infectious diseases of the mouth. Moreover, ancillary methods can be applied to cytological samples, increasing the specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. This review describes the cytopathological features of the main viral, fungal, bacterial and parasitic infections of the mouth. Cytological techniques of specimen collection, identification of infectious agents by cytomorphological approaches and ancillary methods, and diagnostic pitfalls will be discussed.
APPLIED ISSUES: Effects of habitat rehabilitation on brown trout (Salmo trutta) in boreal forest streams
Authors: VEHANEN T. , HUUSKO A. , MÄKI‐PETÄYS A. , LOUHI P. , MYKRÄ H. , MUOTKA T. 
Published: July 2010

Summary1. Degradation of stream habitat because of anthropogenic activities (e.g. channelisation) has had a dramatic impact on fluvial environments and their biota, and as a consequence, increasing effort has been directed towards the restoration of degraded rivers. However, a major problem is that the success (or failure) of restoration has been rarely tested using a well‐designed monitoring programme to allow reliable detection of an impact, if any exists. We used a spatially and temporally replicated, balanced Before‐After‐Control‐Impact design to assess the impact of stream habitat rehabilitation on the densities and growth of brown trout of three age‐classes in North Finnish forest streams.2. Three separate sections in each of six streams were selected for the study. After 3 years of pre‐rehabilitation monitoring, two randomly selected sections in each stream were restored; one using large woody debris and boulders and the other using only boulders. A third section remained as an unmodified control. Monitoring of fish densities continued for 3 years after rehabilitation.3. Rehabilitation clearly increased streambed complexity, but did not have detectable effects on brown trout stocks in either of the rehabilitation schemes (LWD or stones), except for age‐2+ and older fish which decreased in abundance compared to control reaches. A severe drought after rehabilitation in late summer 2002 reduced densities of trout to a low level in all streams, overriding any local effects of rehabilitation. Rehabilitation structures seemed to provide some safeguard against drought for age‐2 and older, but not for the younger age‐classes.4. Our results add to the growing body of literature suggesting that large‐scale regional factors may overwhelm local management efforts. To be successful in the future, stream rehabilitation schemes must include drought refuge areas for fish and other stream biota.
A freshwater conservation assessment of the Upper Mississippi River basin using a coarse‐ and fine‐filter approach
Authors: KHOURY MARY , HIGGINS JONATHAN , WEITZELL ROY 
Published: July 2010

Summary1. We identified priority sites for freshwater conservation in the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) basin using a coarse‐ and fine‐filter approach to defining biodiversity elements as building blocks. Fine‐filter species included federally listed threatened and endangered, imperilled, declining, endemic, disjunct and wide‐ranging species. We had species data for over 1300 individual occurrences of species and communities identified as fine‐filter elements. The coarse‐filter elements are ecosystems (‘Aquatic Ecological Systems’) defined using physical attributes of streams and lakes, and stratified to represent key zoogeographical and physiographical gradients.2. We used relative ecosystem integrity, species population viability and expert opinion to generate an initial ‘portfolio’ of 600 freshwater areas of biodiversity significance representing the best examples of the species and ecosystem elements. Representation targets were met for all ecosystem types and for an average of 45% for species groups.3. The application of a coarse‐ and fine‐filter approach to identify biodiversity conservation priorities in the UMR demonstrates the contribution of each component – even in an area with relatively rich fine‐filter data. For a large assessment area, data, even if plentiful, will be uneven, and community‐level diversity is not catalogued. Thus, the coarse filter allows for greater confidence that a broad suite of species and key environmental gradients are captured in a conservation portfolio, while fine‐filter data provide greater confidence that species of conservation and management interest are addressed adequately.
High rates of net primary production and turnover of floating grasses on the Amazon floodplain: implications for aquatic respiration and regional CO2 flux
Authors: ENGLE DIANA L. , MELACK JOHN M. , DOYLE ROBERT D. , FISHER THOMAS R. 
Published: July 2010

AbstractWe investigated whether rates of net primary production (NPP) and biomass turnover of floating grasses in a central Amazon floodplain lake (Lake Calado) are consistent with published evidence that CO2 emissions from Amazon rivers and floodplains are largely supplied by carbon from C4 plants. Ground‐based measurements of species composition, plant growth rates, plant densities, and areal biomass were combined with low altitude videography to estimate community NPP and compare expected versus observed biomass at monthly intervals during the aquatic growth phase (January–August). Principal species at the site were Oryza perennis (a C3 grass), Echinochloa polystachya, and Paspalum repens (both C4 grasses). Monthly mean daily NPP of the mixed species community varied from 50 to 96 g dry mass m−2 day−1, with a seasonal average (±1SD) of 64±12 g dry mass m−2 day−1. Mean daily NPP (±1SE) for P. repens and E. polystachya was 77±3 and 34±2 g dry mass m−2 day−1, respectively. Monthly loss rates of combined above‐ and below‐water biomass ranged from 31% to 75%, and averaged 49%. Organic carbon losses from aquatic grasses ranged from 30 to 34 g C m−2 day−1 from February to August. A regional extrapolation indicated that respiration of this carbon potentially accounts for about half (46%) of annual CO2 emissions from surface waters in the central Amazon, or about 44% of gaseous carbon emissions, if methane flux is included.
Impacts of elevated nitrogen inputs on oak reproductive and seed ecology
Authors: CALLAHAN HILARY S. , DEL FIERRO KATRINA , PATTERSON ANGELICA E. , ZAFAR HINA 
Published: July 2010

AbstractThe effects of increased anthropogenic inputs of reactive nitrogen (N) have been studied at the Harvard Forest Chronic N Experiment, where NH4NO3 has been applied experimentally since 1988 to increase atmospheric deposition rates ∼6‐ and ∼18‐fold above ambient. This paper asks whether conditions favorable to primary production also resulted in plastic increases to flower, fruit, and seedling traits, and focuses primarily on the oaks that dominate the hardwood stands of the Harvard Forest experiment. Litterfall samples collected between 1996 and 2001 revealed that flowers and fruits were significantly more abundant in N‐treated plots, and an analysis of oak tree abundance found significant variation both among and within plots. Acorn samples collected during 2003 and 2004 (a mast and a postmast year) were therefore analyzed using ancova models that included an estimate of oak tree abundance. This tree abundance estimate was the only significant driver of increased acorn production during the mast year, and in both years it was a significant factor on plots receiving the highest levels of N. In the postmast year, acorn production was increased in direct response to N‐related factors other than tree abundance. Our comparisons of control and N‐treated plots for acorn quality traits (e.g. rates of acorn damage, germination percentage, seedling growth) revealed negligible or only transient differences. Shifts in overall acorn abundance – particularly disproportionate N‐mediated increases during nonmast years – could have a wide range of ecological consequences beyond the more frequently examined impacts of N deposition on primary production and carbon sequestration.