Eating your own dog food

As part of its project to develop a new research data management system the University of Lincoln is embracing development practices built around APIs - interfaces to the underlying data and functions of the system which are explicitly designed to make life easy for developers by being machine readable and programmatically accessible

Do Innovative Workplace Practices Foster Mutual Gains? Evidence From Croatia

New survey data for more than 470 employees (more than 80% of production workers) in a single Croatian manufacturing firm exhibits large variation in participation in innovative work practices (IWPs) notably online teams, offline teams, employee ownership, and incentive pay. Amongst IWPs, probit estimates reveal that membership in offline teams most often yields favorable outcomes for firms, notably enhanced provision of discretionary effort by employees and more likelihood of peer monitoring, as well as improved worker outcomes, including enhanced job satisfaction and higher employee involvement. Other IWPs usually are associated with similar favorable outcomes for firms and workers. Participation in sets of IWPs, that include offline teams and financial incentives, is found to yield benefits to both employees and firms. Our findings provide support for the proposition that IWPs will produce mutual gains and also help to identify key channels through which different IWPs work. Women also perceive that they are less empowered and report less willingness to engage in peer monitoring.innovative work practices; employee ownership; Croatia; econometric case study.

Scaling Success: Lessons from Adaptation Pilots in the Rainfed Regions of India

"Scaling Success" examines how agricultural communities are adapting to the challenges posed by climate change through the lens of India's rainfed agriculture regions. Rainfed agriculture currently occupies 58 percent of India's cultivated land and accounts for up to 40 percent of its total food production. However, these regions face potential production losses of more than $200 billion USD in rice, wheat, and maize by 2050 due to the effects of climate change. Unless action is taken soon at a large scale, farmers will see sharp decreases in revenue and yields.Rainfed regions across the globe have been an important focus for the first generation of adaptation projects, but to date, few have achieved a scale that can be truly transformational. Drawing on lessons learnt from 21 case studies of rainfed agriculture interventions, the report provides guidance on how to design, fund and support adaptation projects that can achieve scale

Corporate responsibility champions network: A 'how to' guide

This guide aims to show the what, why, and how of a CR champion and related networks. CR champions are emerging as a powerful tool available for embedding CR philosophy into an organisation, proving critical in the process of embedding CR.They play a strategic role, committed to causing change and to continuing the work in the long-term.A CR champion network takes time and effort to build but the use of champions, as one within a number of tactics to embed CR, has several clear advantages: by working directly with staff on initiatives champions can engage staff and become themselves more committed; champions connect divisions and regions, thus finding and propagating best CR practices and ideas; and they allow for a credible two-way interface between global and local in international companies

Human Resource Function Competencies in European Companies

This paper presents an overview of recent empirical research on human resource competencies in Europe. The data were collected in 2002 in the global Human Resource Competence Study, an initiative of the University of Michigan. The results suggest that personal credibility and HR delivery have a positive effect on the relative ranking of the HR function and its professionals. According to non-HRM respondents strategic contribution is the competency that will lead to financial competitiveness, while HR managers consider business knowledge to be crucial for added value of the HR function

Leading and managing collaborative practice: the research : ESRC Seminar 3 Proceedings

Publisher PD

Strigolactones and hormonal interaction in control of branching in Zantedeschia and other horticultural species : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Shoot branching that involves development of lateral buds into shoots is one of the important factors influencing crop productivity. Strigolactones have recently been found to be involved in the control of branching, but the actual bioactive compound/s that inhibits bud outgrowth is still unknown. A germination assay utilizing the seeds of a parasitic weed (Orobanche minor), detected strigolactones within the xylem exudates of different horticultural crop species; the strigolactone concentration negatively correlated with branching of cultivars or mutants. In Zantedeschia grown in vivo, the concentration of strigolactones was independent on the volume of guttation fluid (xylem exudates) suggesting the difference in concentration of strigolactones in high and low branched cultivars was due to the difference in potential of producing strigolactones between these cultivars and not due to differences in volume of guttation fluid. While identifying a bioactive compound using germination and branching assays in combination with liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, compounds containing „N? were detected in the low branched wild-type Petunia, but not in the highly branched mutant, suggesting the possibility of such compounds being SL-conjugates which may be associated with bud outgrowth inhibition. In Zantedeshia (in vitro) and pea stems, strigolactone reduced the axillary shoot number stimulated by the cytokinin suggesting an antagonistic interaction between these two hormones on bud release. However, as cytokinin may stimulate subsequent growth of released buds by increasing the auxin transport out of the bud, strigolactone may have reduced subsequent growth by reducing auxin transport. Since GA3 enhanced subsequent growth of buds in pea stems, but not the release, an antagonistic interaction between strigolactone and gibberellins on subsequent growth is possible. Interestingly, strigolactone successfully reduced adventitious bud formation in Zantedeschia grown in vitro, adding a new role for strigolactones in plant development. Despite correlation between strigolactone and branching inhibition in different horticultural crops such as apple, kiwifruit, Zantedeschia and Acer, further studies relating to strigolactone and its interaction with other hormones on branching of these crops could be performed using in vitro techniques for a clear understanding of strigolactones? role on branching inhibition. More importantly, quantification of strigolactones using the germination assay may have significant implications in horticultural crop breeding for obtaining desired shoot branching