Change management? Organisational change strategies and managers' and workers' responses : a case study of a commercial vehicle manufacturing plant in southern India

This thesis examines the conception, implementation and outcomes of corporate management change strategies through an ethnographic study of a commercial vehicle manufacturing plant in Southern India with a history of labour-management conflict. Participant observation and interviews were carried out mainly within one manufacturing facility between July 2008 and June 2009, with a further visit in 2011. Towards the end of my fieldwork I also interviewed trade union conveners, activists and a cross-section of workers. The change management programme at the case study firm sought to implement the precepts of lean manufacturing by removing systemic inefficiencies in inventory management and production processes and installing a new organisational culture that promoted greater participation and self-initiative among workers and managers. Investigating the reasons for this programme’s very partial success made it possible to understand better the contradictory pressures faced by corporate management, the challenges encountered by senior plant managers and the factors shaping the reception of management policies by middle managers and workers. The thesis furthers our understanding of the limits of managerial agency by integrating two largely independent strands of enquiry: the rich ethnographic studies of the labour process, by Delbridge [1998], Milkman [1997], Durand and Hatzfeld [2003] and others, that consider the implementation and denouement of Japanese modes of work organisation such as lean manufacturing, and the granular focus on managerial subjectivities that shape managerial activity and condition managerial agency, represented by the work of Watson [1994], Jackall [1988] and Dalton [1950]. In addition, it documents the importance of broader political-economic contexts in determining the outcomes of management initiatives

A Survey On Cloud Computing Security Issues

While cloud computing is picking up prevalence, assorted security and protection issues are rising that block the quick reception of this new computing worldview. Furthermore, the improvement of cautious arrangements is lingering behind. To guarantee a safe and reliable cloud environment it is fundamental to distinguish the impediments of existing arrangements and imagine headings for future research. In this paper, we have reviewed basic security and protection challenges in cloud computing, arranged different existing arrangements, looked at their qualities and constraints, and imagined future research headings

Emmanuel Levinas and Harry Frankfurt: Subjectivity and the Reasons of Love

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis among Elderly in Old Age Homes, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

INTRODUCTION : Old age neither be healed nor be prevented much can be done by health workers in helping the old age people to lead a normal life, which helps them to perform their activities of daily living (ADL) without difficulty. Joint-pain to decreased mobility are the commonest problem of old people to meet their ADL. Due to highest health problem of osteoarthritis among elderly population needs strengthening of geriatric health care services in community and hospital based health care settings. The programme needs to be developed in geriatric health care with the facilities of early diagnosis, counseling, healthy diet, weight control, regular exercise and physiotherapy along with the treatment. The researcher has undertaken this study to improve their self-care activities by giving information regarding the self-help techniques of osteoarthritis thus improving the quality of living to lead a healthy life. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY : 1. To identify the clients affected with Osteoarthritis among elderly. 2. To assess the self-care among elderly with Osteoarthritis. 3. To implement the Video Teaching Programme to clients with osteoarthritis on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis 4. To assess the effectiveness of Video Teaching Programme on Self-Help Techniques of Osteoarthritis. 5. To associate the self-care knowledge and practice with demographic variables of clients with osteoarthritis. 6. To compare the self-care practice in relation to knowledge of the osteoarthritis clients with osteoarthritis. METHODS : Quasi experimental time series design was adopted for this study. The sample size was 272 osteoarthritis clients from old age homes, Coimbatore. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in this study. Clients more than 50 years of age and of both the sexes were included for the study. The tool used for data collection were osteoarthritis identification tool, modified WOMAC Index tool to assess the severity of osteoarthritis, structured interview schedule in tamil to assess the self-care knowledge on osteoarthritis, observational checklist to assess the self-care abilities and video teaching programme on self-help techniques of Osteoarthritis. Then implemented the video teaching programme on self-help techniques of Osteoarthritis for 25 minutes. After 15 days of interval the post-test was conducted by using same instruments. Severity of Osteoarthritis was assessed for 3 times with every 15 days of intervals by using modified WOMAC index. By using descriptive and inferential statistics the collected data were arranged, tabulated and analyzed. MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY : • Highest percentage (31%) of clients aged between 66-70 years and majorities (54%) of them were female. • Highest percentage (27%) of clients had secondary education and majority (39%) of them were semi manual workers. • 67 percentage of clients were non vegetarians and highest percentage (45%) of clients under the BMI classification of obesity (BMI 30kg/m2 & above). • 56 percentages of clients were not had any chronic illness. 78 percentages of clients had history of joint pain more than 5 years and only 13 percentages of clients were adopted the assistive devices for mobilization. • Area-wise distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their level of knowledge regarding self-care shows that, overall highest percentage (37%) of clients had poor knowledge in pre-test and 62 percentage of clients had excellent knowledge in post-test. • Area-wise mean, SD and mean percentage of pre and post-test knowledge Osteoarthritis clients shows that, in pre-test out of 34 maximum obtainable scores the mean score was 15.785±4.594 which is around 52.502 percentage of the total score revealing, clients had average knowledge on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. Whereas the mean score in post-test was 28.281±3.822, which is around 87.129 percentage of the total score revealing clients had excellent knowledge on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Area-wise distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their level of practice regarding self-care of osteoarthritis shows that, overall highest percentage (62%) of clients had partially adoptive practice in pre-test. Where as in post-test, 97 percentage of clients had fully adoptive practice it reveals that the video teaching programme was effective on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Area-wise mean, SD and mean percentage of pre and post-test practice of Osteoarthritis clients shows that in pre-test, out of 64 maximum obtainable scores the mean score was 27.08±4.607 which is around 44.368 percentage of the total score, revealing clients had partially adoptive practice on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. Whereas the mean score in post-test was 54.519±5.031, which is around 85.019 percentage of the total score, revealing clients had fully adoptive practice on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis. • Distribution of osteoarthritis clients according to their severity level of osteoarthritis shows that, in pre-test, 97 percentage of clients had severe level of osteoarthritis and only 3 percentage had moderate level. Where as in post test 74 percentage of clients (202 nos.) came to mild level of severity through fully adaptation of self-help technique and only 5 percentage of clients were still in severe level of osteoarthritis. • Significant association formed between the knowledge and practice of OA clients when compared to the demographic variables of age, sex, educational status, type of previous occupation, body mass index, history of chronic illness and usage of any assistive devices. • Calculated the Paired‘t’ test to assess the significant difference between the pre and post-test knowledge and practice of self-help techniques of osteoarthritis shows highly significant difference. Hence it can be concluded that intervention on self-help techniques of osteoarthritis is highly effective. • Karl Pearson’s co-relation co-efficient analysis between knowledge and practice score of the post-test shows significant positive relationship between knowledge and practice (r= 0.882). • Paired‘t’ test was calculated to analyze the severity of osteoarthritis, shows that in pre and post-test there was a significant difference in WOMAC index. Hence it can be concluded that there is a highly significant difference between the pre and post severity of osteoarthritis and the hypothesis is accepted. It reveals that the practice of self-help technique reduced the severity of osteoarthritis gradually and significantly. • Difference in severity of osteoarthritis in pre and post assessment by using one way repeated measures ANOVA shows the there was a significant improvement in the observation of reduction in severity of osteoarthritis. CONCLUSION : Osteoarthritis is a common disorder in all population and overall prevalence is same in men and women. Osteoarthritis cannot be cured but it can be controlled. The primary responsibility of nurse is to create awareness and explain about self-care management of disease, which will develop positive attitude and learn to practice according to the standard level. In this study majority of the clients had inadequate level of knowledge about the self-care management of osteoarthritis in pre-test. After implementation of video teaching programme on self-help technique of osteoarthritis majority of the clients had excellent knowledge and fully adoptive practice of selfcare management as well as reduced the severity of osteoarthritis gradually and significantl

The Love For Learning

In this thesis I answer two closely related questions: answering each of them gives us insight into the other. They are 1) How do we help someone to come to “love” learning? And 2) What characterises those who love learning? To begin with, I establish that an approach to learning that prioritises cognitive control is the “best” kind of learning for facilitating love for learning. Then, I show that pleasure is an important aspect in fostering love for learning and that lovers of learning find learning pleasurable. Following that I argue that lovers of learning are vulnerable and “open” to learning. Finally, I show that a lover of learning is someone who is wholehearted about learning

Predictive Biomarkers for Monoclonal Antibody Therapies Targeting EGFR (Cetuximab, Panitumumab) in the Treatment of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

The treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer has progressively improved over the past few decades with the development of more effective anti-cancer drugs and multi-disciplinary management approaches that combine sequential lines of non-cross-resistant drugs and increased use of potentially curative surgery for metastases of the liver and lung. In this setting, the introduction of monoclonal antibody therapies that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (cetuximab and panitumumab) has made an important contribution to improved patient outcomes. However, the efficacy of therapies is generally limited to a small proportion of patients and associated with toxicity and high cost. There is an urgent clinical need for robust predictive biomarkers to guide the effective use of therapy options. In this chapter we review clinical and molecular predictive markers of primary therapy response for metastatic colorectal cancer, focusing on anti-EGFR antibody therapies, discussing both currently approved and emerging biomarkers

Predictors of depression among caregivers of disabled children in community based rehabilitation centres in Selangor

Background: Disabled children caregivers face challenges in their daily life as being a caregiver is not an easy task especially towards activities of daily living of dependent children. This study was carried out to determine predictors of depression among caregivers of disabled children. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among caregivers of disabled children attending Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) centres in four randomly selected districts in Selangor. Data were obtained using self-administered questionnaire. Depression was screened using DASS-21 questionnaire. All collected data were analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21, involving descriptive and multivariate analysis. Results: Response rate was 81% with a total of 348 respondents. Prevalence of depression was 21% in this study. Predictors for depression were caregivers level of education (AOR = 3.64, 95%CI=1.42-9.30), disabled child attainment of other education (AOR = 2.16, 95%CI= 1.06 - 4.42), financial assistance received (AOR =0.39, 95%CI= 0.29-0.93) and maladaptive coping strategy (AOR = 1.22, 95%CI= 1.13-1.31). Conclusion: This study showed that caregivers education level, coping strategy and financial support play an important role in developing depression. Thus these caregivers need a supportive circle for them to prevent depression in their life which could affect quality of care of their disabled children

Novel sequential ChIP and simplified basic ChIP protocols for promoter co-occupancy and target gene identification in human embryonic stem cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The investigation of molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional regulation, particularly in embryonic stem cells, has received increasing attention and involves the systematic identification of target genes and the analysis of promoter co-occupancy. High-throughput approaches based on chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) have been widely used for this purpose. However, these approaches remain time-consuming, expensive, labor-intensive, involve multiple steps, and require complex statistical analysis. Advances in this field will greatly benefit from the development and use of simple, fast, sensitive and straightforward ChIP assay and analysis methodologies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We initially developed a simplified, basic ChIP protocol that combines simplicity, speed and sensitivity. ChIP analysis by real-time PCR was compared to analysis by densitometry with the ImageJ software. This protocol allowed the rapid identification of known target genes for SOX2, NANOG, OCT3/4, SOX17, KLF4, RUNX2, OLIG2, SMAD2/3, BMI-1, and c-MYC in a human embryonic stem cell line. We then developed a novel Sequential ChIP protocol to investigate <it>in vivo </it>promoter co-occupancy, which is basically characterized by the absence of antibody-antigen disruption during the assay. It combines centrifugation of agarose beads and magnetic separation. Using this Sequential ChIP protocol we found that c-MYC associates with the SOX2/NANOG/OCT3/4 complex and identified a novel RUNX2/BMI-1/SMAD2/3 complex in BG01V cells. These two TF complexes associate with two distinct sets of target genes. The RUNX2/BMI-1/SMAD2/3 complex is associated predominantly with genes not expressed in undifferentiated BG01V cells, consistent with the reported role of those TFs as transcriptional repressors.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These simplified basic ChIP and novel Sequential ChIP protocols were successfully tested with a variety of antibodies with human embryonic stem cells, generated a number of novel observations for future studies and might be useful for high-throughput ChIP-based assays.</p

The concept of district health management in Malaysia

Background: In Malaysia, public health services sector are administered by the Ministry of Health through its central headquarters to the state and district offices. The District Health Offices particularly manage and coordinate the delivery of an effective, efficient and affordable health services in the districts throughout Malaysia. Materials and Methods: The information and statistics used in this article are based on the data collected from reports, articles, and publications by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and journals published pertaining to the District Health Management in Malaysia. Result: A District Health Office is entrusted with two major roles; to deliver public health services and to manage resources within a district. Led by a Public Health Physician, it acts as a body to oversee the execution of the national health policies and strategies at the ground level and serves to enforce existing health related legislation. It is also responsible in disease monitoring and surveillance and also the achievement of specific health indicators for each activity. There are six major services provided by the District Health Office, namely the Family Health, Disease Control, Occupational Health, Food Quality Control, Health Education, as well as Environmental Health and Water Supply Services. Conclusion: A District Health Office functions as the basic operational level in Malaysia healthcare system. Being the backbone in government healthcare system, it is essential to provide a well organised and integrated health service in delivering quality healthcare services to the population