Chasing the honey bee: enhancing leadership for sustainability

This paper explores the ways in which different conceptions of leadership can contribute to the sustainability of economic productivity, social equity and, of course, the natural systems and resources upon which all social and economic development depend. It begins by briefly defining leadership and outlining the major approaches to leadership studies in terms of trait and social theories of leadership. In particular, the paper argues that transformational leadership and what Western (2013) calls “eco-leadership” are most consistent with the systemic, ethical and learning dimensions of sustainability. This involves contrasting what Avery and Bergsteiner (2011, 2013) call the “honey bee” and the “locust” approaches to leadership. With these authors, the chapter argues that the “honey bee” approach of critical, transformational leadership is most consistent with sustainability. The paper concludes with an example of how capacities for “honey bee” leadership and eco-leadership can be developed and enhanced through a university programme

Sustainability in higher education : benefits and career prospects with an interdisciplinary higher education degree

This is a study about sustainability in higher education, its benefits and employment potentials for sustainability graduates, as well as, contributions to sustainability through professions. The aim was to identify sustainability in higher education and the importance of interdisciplinarity on it through theory and a study sample of five master programs and find out benefits of such programs, career opportunities and potential contributions to sustainability via professions based on Lund University’s International Master Program in Environment and Sustainability (LUMES) alumni opinions. The last one was carried out through in depth interviews of 15 graduates of the LUMES program and the conducted data analysis was theoretic for sustainability in higher education, descriptive and comparative for the master programs and thematic for the graduates’ perspectives. The results indicated that sustainability in higher education is a vague but feasible concept and interdisciplinarity plays an important role on it. Universities have a wide range of different sustainability master programs that can be either more practical or more theoretical and the first ones offer more career opportunities to sustainability graduates. Moreover, master graduates gain valuable knowledge, develop their skills during their sustainability studies and they will possibly become project managers or sustainability – environmental consultants. The contributions to sustainability through related job positions vary from informing colleagues and co- employees on sustainability to obliging companies on adopting sustainability patterns. The principal conclusion was that interdisciplinarity is a matter of vital importance both on promoting sustainability in higher education and linking the differences between isolated specialization of the job market and the required holistic approach for sustainability

Business process modeling and simulation

The textbook provides the essentials of the Business Process (BP) Modeling and Simulation (M&S) from the verbal BP description to the formulation of the mathematical scheme of the model and the simulation program. Both the analytical modeling and the simulation approaches to BP M&S are considered. Special attention is given to the theoretical and practical aspects of the BP M&S. The text covers the following topics: fundamentals of the BP M&S, conceptual modeling using IDEF3 standard, cost metrics and the activity based costing, analytical modeling (queuing networks, linear and dynamic programming), simulation with GPSS, timed Petri Nets, and Crystal Ball toolkits. Case studies include BP simulations with BPwin and GPSS. The intended readers are senior graduate students and junior postgraduate students of computer science and industrial management

Differences in Perceived and Experienced Stigma Between Problematic Gamblers and Non-gamblers in a General Population Survey

We consider a sample of about 700 people, interviewed on the streets, who are sorted into two groups by a self-report, screening questionnaire: namely, non-problematic gamblers/non-gamblers and problematic gamblers. Within each group, we compare both social (perceived) stigma and self-perceived (experienced) stigma, measured by means of other two self-report questionnaires, and we seek for relations between stigma and socio-demographic variables that can help targeting possible interventions to reduce gambling-related stigma. We, then, compare stigma between the two groups of non-(problematic) gamblers and problematic ones, and we also check the hypothesis that higher social stigma is related to higher self-perceived stigma, as well as higher stigma is related to lesser help-seeking. The latter hypothesis is of utmost importance, given that stigma is recognised to be one of the major causes for hindering help-seeking by problematic gamblers. The research is carried out in Italy, one of the first countries in the world for the money spent per capita in gambling activity every year

The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skills and Perceived Self-Efficacy in Associate Degree Nursing Students

The purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to determine if a relationship exists between critical thinking skills and self-efficacy in Associate Degree nursing students. A convenience sample of 30 nursing students in their second year of an Associate Degree RN program was used. The framework for this study utilized Bandura\u27s social cognitive theory and Benner\u27s nursing theory of skill acquisition and development. Critical thinking skills were measured by the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Self-efficacy was measured by the Generalized Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale. Demographic data of age, gender, marital status, number of dependents, employment status, and income were obtained to determine if there were any relationships or differences related to critical thinking or selfefficacy. A positive correlation was found between critical thinking skills and perceived self-efficacy (r =.40, p = .03). A replication of this study with a larger sample would be recommended. A longitudinal study might indicate changes that occur as the student progresses in the learning process with regard to critical thinking skills and self-efficacy

Zero-gravity movement studies

The use of computer graphics to simulate the movement of articulated animals and mechanisms has a number of uses ranging over many fields. Human motion simulation systems can be useful in education, medicine, anatomy, physiology, and dance. In biomechanics, computer displays help to understand and analyze performance. Simulations can be used to help understand the effect of external or internal forces. Similarly, zero-gravity simulation systems should provide a means of designing and exploring the capabilities of hypothetical zero-gravity situations before actually carrying out such actions. The advantage of using a simulation of the motion is that one can experiment with variations of a maneuver before attempting to teach it to an individual. The zero-gravity motion simulation problem can be divided into two broad areas: human movement and behavior in zero-gravity, and simulation of articulated mechanisms

Factor mixture modelling of the Giessen prostatitic symptom score and its relationships with psychosexual covariates

The main goals of the present study were to explore the factor structure of a new tool in Estonia which is used to measure prostate disease symptoms (the Giessen Prostatitic Symptom Score). Subsequently, to reveal subtypes of prostate diseases and their respective relationships to psychosexual variables. A cross-sectional survey of 360 men with a mean age of 50.5 (SD=10.8) was conducted to investigate prostate-related diseases and pscychosexual factors. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the Giessen Prostatitic Symptom Score which revealed five factors: urinary problems, general fatigue, pain in lower body, erectile difficulties and prostate inflammation. Latent profile analysis was done based on these factor scores, revealing 4 subtypes of prostate-related symptom patterns. Relationships between these subtypes and sexual variables were then explored, indicating a large set (80% of the sample) of men with relatively little symptoms or obstruction from prostate disease symptoms, a group of younger men (10%) with relatively little obstruction in spite of prevalent symptomatology, and two smaller groups (7% and 2 %, respectively) of men with prevalent symptoms and obstructions in sexual life. The research supports and extends current theory on the occurence of prostate diseases and provides new insight into the relationships between prostate diseases and sexuality. A better understanding of the impact of prostate diseases on sexual behaviour helps clinicians to better assess and treat ailments co-occurring with said diseases.http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2656695~S1*es

Technology transfer from NASA to targeted industries, volume 2

This volume contains the following materials to support Volume 1: (1) Survey of Metal Fabrication Industry in Alabama; (2) Survey of Electronics Manufacturing/Assembly Industry in Alabama; (3) Apparel Modular Manufacturing Simulators; (4) Synopsis of a Stereolithography Project; (5) Transferring Modular Manufacturing Technology to an Apparel Firm; (6) Letters of Support; (7) Fact Sheets; (8) Publications; and (9) One Stop Access to NASA Technology Brochure

Resilient communities through safer schools

Access to education is a basic human right. It is the 4th of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and education is strongly associated with poverty reduction. Providing facilities to educate children requires construction of school buildings and rapid expansion of curricula. However, in the rush to fulfil the right to education, are children being put at risk? What attention is being given to structural safety during the construction of new school facilities? The growing consensus among stakeholders is that public school infrastructure in developing countries worldwide is particularly susceptible to natural hazards. This highlights a compelling need for developing and implementing effective, integrated, and ‘ground-real’ strategies for assessing and radically improving the safety and resilience of schools across those countries. To this aim, the paper explores two main issues: effectiveness at scale and the relevance of multiple hazard effects on the resilience of school infrastructure. Specifically, the paper first discusses the challenges associated with the World Bank Global Program for Safer School (GPSS) and the development of its Global Library of School Infrastructure (GLOSI), highlighting the issues associated with producing a tool which can be effective at scale and support nationwide risk models for school infrastructure across the world, so that fairness and relevance of investment can be achieved. This is followed by the illustration of a number of specific tools developed by the authors to expand the risk prioritization procedures used for seismic hazard, to other hazards such as flood and windstorm and to quantify the reduction in seismic fragility obtained by implementing specific strengthening strategies. Rapid visual survey forms, a mobile app, a multi-hazard risk prioritization ranking, and numerical fragility relationships are presented and their application discussed in relation to a case study in the Philippines. The proposed tools represent a first step toward a detailed multi-hazard risk and resilience assessment framework of school infrastructure. The aim is to allow stakeholders and decision-makers to quickly identify the most vulnerable structures among the surveyed stock, to guide more detailed data collection campaigns and structural assessment procedures, such as analytical vulnerability approaches, and ultimately to plan further retrofitting/strengthening measures or, if necessary, school replacement/relocation