Essays on the organizational socialization of new recruits in the public sector

This article-based dissertation explores how public organizations and managers together socialize new recruits into the civil service. In three papers, I synthesize the state of our knowledge on practices by which organizations socialize recruits in both the academic literature and practice, develop a theory of task-based socialization of recruits by their managers, and empirically test this theory. In Paper 1, I synthesize the state of our knowledge on practices by which organizations socialize recruits (such as orientation and training) by a novel combination of a systematic review of the literature and a review of practice in the public sector. I first review the extant literature on organizational practices with respect to recruit socialization in public administration and allied fields using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Along with findings from the systematic review, I also provide a narrative review of the literature, highlighting its main findings and outstanding gaps. Next, I supplement this systematic review of the literature with a review of practice in the public sector using secondary survey data and country case-studies by OCED’s Directorate for Public Governance. I find that organizational practices with respect to recruit socialization are under-studied in public administration in contrast to a substantial body of evidence on how private firms socialize recruits in allied fields such as organizational behavior. In practice, recruit socialization is a minor concern of civil services preoccupied with the continuous upgrading of competencies, leadership for change management, and technological adaptation. Finally, whereas the academic literature approaches recruit socialization from the perspective of socialization practices, i.e., its antecedents and explores recruits’ intra-organizational learning and the role of organizational insiders in socialization process, civil services approach it from the perspective of competencies, i.e., outcomes and prioritize recruits’ learning of technical skills and external stakeholders while largely neglecting the role of organizational insiders in socialization process. Hence, Paper 2 and 3 explore this last point - specifically, how direct supervisors socialize recruits into the civil service. In Paper 2, I explore how direct supervisors socialize recruits in teams by taking an inductive, qualitative approach using grounded theory and interviews with public officials from Nigeria’s and Ghana’s civil services. I conducted 80 in-person, individual interviews with new recruits, their supervisors, and HR personnel across nine organizations under Nigeria’s and Ghana’s core civil services following grounded theory recommendations. In contrast to the extant literature which focuses on the direct communication of organizational values, I find that supervisors rely more on task assignments, guidance, and feedback in socializing recruits than directly communicating values. This task-based socialization by supervisors reportedly influences recruits’ learning, identities, work attitudes, performance, early career advancements, and acculturation. I therefore propose a theory of task-based socialization. In Paper 3, I test the theory of task-based socialization proposed in Paper 2 using two original, large-N surveys with 371 new recruits into Nigeria’s and Ghana’s civil services. The survey includes a battery of innovative measures for supervisory socialization practices and an embedded vignette experiment. First, I find variation in both how supervisors assign tasks and give guidance and feedback, i.e., what I refer to as task-based socialization and how supervisors directly communicate organizational mission, objectives and goals, and performance expectations, i.e., what I refer to as values-based socialization. In contrast to the literature’s focus on direct values communication, I find that overall supervisors rely more heavily on task-based socialization than values-based socialization of recruits. Next, using observational data, I show that task-based socialization by supervisors in recruits’ first years is positively correlated with the key measures of recruits’ outcomes such as work attitudes and early career advancements, whereas values-based socialization is inconsistently correlated with these outcomes across different measures. Finally, improving upon these correlational findings and teasing out causality in them, I demonstrate that task-based socialization by supervisors is again positively associated with the key measures of recruits’ outcomes using data from a vignette experiment. In contrast, values-based socialization alone does not matter to recruits unless task-based socialization is also provided in tandem. Together, these three articles contribute to the public administration literature on the socialization of new recruits into public organizations. Paper 1 contributes to the literature by providing the first synthesis of the state of our knowledge on organizational practices with respect to recruit socialization in both the academic literature and practice. Paper 2 contributes to its theoretical advancement by proposing a theory of task-based socialization. Paper 3 contributes to its evidence base by demonstrating task-based socialization as a primary channel of socializing recruits into the civil service

Clinical Profile of Intermediate Syndrome in Organophosphate Poisoning

Organophosphate (OP) poisoning is a major global health problem, causing over 200,000 deaths annually especially in developing countries. In Poison Treatment Center, New Yangon General Hospital, Myanmar, OP poisoning accounts for 14% of total poison admission in 2013, 17% in 2014 and 10.3% in 2015 respectively

Singapore and Denmark

Burden of bacteraemia is rising due to increased average life expectancy in developed countries. This study aimed to compare the epidemiology and outcomes of bacteraemia in two similarly ageing populations with different ethnicities in Singapore and Denmark. Historical cohorts from the second largest acute-care hospital in Singapore and in the hospitals of two Danish regions included patients aged 15 and above who were admitted from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 with at least 1 day of hospital stay and a pathogenic organism identified. Among 13 144 and 39 073 bacteraemia patients from Singapore and Denmark, similar 30-day mortality rates (16.5%; 20.3%), length of hospital stay (median 14 (IQR: 9-28) days; 11 (6-21)), and admission rate to ICU (15.5%; 15.6%) were observed, respectively. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Staphylococcus aureus ranked among the top four in both countries. However, Singaporeans had a higher proportion of patients with diabetes (46.8%) and renal disease (29.5%) than the Danes (28.0% and 13.7%, respectively), whilst the Danes had a higher proportion of patients with chronic pulmonary disease (18.0%) and malignancy (35.3%) than Singaporeans (9.7% and 16.2%, respectively). Our study showed that top four causative organisms and clinical outcomes were similar between the two cohorts despite pre-existing comorbidities differed.publishersversionpublishe

Evaluation on dry forage yields and nutritional characteristics of introduced herbaceous legumes in Myanmar

The study was carried out to evaluate the forage yields, nutritive values and in vitro fermentation parameters of herbaceous legumes. Five varieties of introduced herbaceous legumes; Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Ubon stylo, Macrotyloma axillare cv. Archer, Centrosema brasilianum cv. Ooloo, Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Stylo 184 and Macroptilum bracteatum cv. Cadarga were evaluated at the research farm, University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, Myanmar. No fertilizer and no irrigation were applied for cultivation to test drought resistance. Dry forage yield, nutritive values and gas production at four harvesting times were measured with 4×5 factorial arrangement (5 legumes and 4 harvesting time) in randomized complete block design. There was no interaction between legumes and harvesting time on forage yield, nutritive values and fermentation parameters but they were affected by the main effects of legume types and harvesting time. Among the legume forages, the highest dry forage yields were found in Ooloo, Ubon stylo, and Stylo 184, and followed by the DM yield of Archer and Cadarga. The DM yield of the second harvest was significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the first, third and fourth harvest which were not significantly different from each other. As a chemical composition, the DM content of Archer was lower (p<0.05) than those of other varieties. Among the legumes forages, the lower CP content was found in Cadarga. The higher NDF was observed in Ooloo. Ooloo, Ubon stylo and Cadarga showed higher ADF in comparison with the other two varieties. Among the harvesting time, the lowest DM content was found at the first harvest. The highest CP content was found at third harvest. The NDF content was not significantly different. The lowest ADF content was found in fourth harvest. According to the dry forage yield, Ubon stylo and Ooloo had the highest dry forage yield and in term of nutritive values, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher nutritive values. As the main effect of forages, Stylo 184 and Archer had higher gas production in comparison with the other varieties. As the main effect of harvesting time, the fourth harvest had the highest gas production in comparison with other harvesting time. It could be better for cultivation by application of fertilizer and irrigation to get more forage yield and quality. &nbsp

Mass drug administration for the acceleration of malaria elimination in a region of Myanmar with artemisinin-resistant falciparum malaria: a cluster-randomised trial

Background: To contain multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum, malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong subregion needs to be accelerated while current antimalarials remain effective. We evaluated the safety, effectiveness, and potential resistance selection of dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine mass drug administration (MDA) in a region with artemisinin resistance in Myanmar. Methods: We did a cluster-randomised controlled trial in rural community clusters in Kayin (Karen) state in southeast Myanmar. Malaria prevalence was assessed using ultrasensitive quantitative PCR (uPCR) in villages that were operationally suitable for MDA (villages with community willingness, no other malaria control campaigns, and a population of 50–1200). Villages were eligible to participate if the prevalence of malaria (all species) in adults was greater than 30% or P falciparum prevalence was greater than 10% (or both). Contiguous villages were combined into clusters. Eligible clusters were paired based on P falciparum prevalence (estimates within 10%) and proximity. Community health workers provided routine malaria case management and distributed long-lasting insecticidal bed-nets (LLINs) in all clusters. Randomisation of clusters (1:1) to the MDA intervention group or control group was by public coin-flip. Group allocations were not concealed. Three MDA rounds (3 days of supervised dihydroartemisinin–piperaquine [target total dose 7 mg/kg dihydroartemisinin and 55 mg/kg piperaquine] and single low-dose primaquine [target dose 0·25 mg base per kg]) were delivered to intervention clusters. Parasitaemia prevalence was assessed at 3, 5, 10, 15, 21, 27, and 33 months. The primary outcomes were P falciparum prevalence at months 3 and 10. All clusters were included in the primary analysis. Adverse events were monitored from the first MDA dose until 1 month after the final dose, or until resolution of any adverse event occurring during follow-up. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01872702. Findings: Baseline uPCR malaria surveys were done in January, 2015, in 43 villages that were operationally suitable for MDA (2671 individuals). 18 villages met the eligibility criteria. Three villages in close proximity were combined into one cluster because a border between them could not be defined. This gave a total of 16 clusters in eight pairs. In the intervention clusters, MDA was delivered from March 4 to March 17, from March 30 to April 10, and from April 27 to May 10, 2015. The weighted mean absolute difference in P falciparum prevalence in the MDA group relative to the control group was −10·6% (95% CI −15·1 to −6·1; p=0·0008) at month 3 and −4·5% (−10·9 to 1·9; p=0·14) at month 10. At month 3, the weighted P falciparum prevalence was 1·4% (0·6 to 3·6; 12 of 747) in the MDA group and 10·6% (7·0 to 15·6; 56 of 485) in the control group. Corresponding prevalences at month 10 were 3·2% (1·5 to 6·8; 34 of 1013) and 5·8% (2·5 to 12·9; 33 of 515). Adverse events were reported for 151 (3·6%) of 4173 treated individuals. The most common adverse events were dizziness (n=109) and rash or itching (n=20). No treatment-related deaths occurred. Interpretation: In this low-transmission setting, the substantial reduction in P falciparum prevalence resulting from support of community case management was accelerated by MDA. In addition to supporting community health worker case management and LLIN distribution, malaria elimination programmes should consider using MDA to reduce P falciparum prevalence rapidly in foci of higher transmission. Funding: The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Statistical Analysis and Degradation Pathway Modeling of Photovoltaic Minimodules with Varied Packaging Strategies

Degradation pathway models constructed using network structural equation modeling (netSEM) are used to study degradation modes and pathways active in photovoltaic (PV) system variants in exposure conditions of high humidity and temperature. This data-driven modeling technique enables the exploration of simultaneous pairwise and multiple regression relationships between variables in which several degradation modes are active in specific variants and exposure conditions. Durable and degrading variants are identified from the netSEM degradation mechanisms and pathways, along with potential ways to mitigate these pathways. A combination of domain knowledge and netSEM modeling shows that corrosion is the primary cause of the power loss in these glass/backsheet PV minimodules. We show successful implementation of netSEM to elucidate the relationships between variables in PV systems and predict a specific service lifetime. The results from pairwise relationships and multiple regression show consistency. This work presents a greater opportunity to be expanded to other materials systems

A Field Study Exploring Plant Genetic Resources in Kachin State and Chin State, Myanmar in 2017

Here, we report a Myanmar-Japan cooperative field study exploring plant genetic resources (PGRs) mainly in northern Kachin State and southern Chin State, Myanmar in November 2017. The field study was conducted in the above-mentioned areas where small exploration missions were dispatched, even though crop diversity was expected. Crop diversity has previously been observed in hilly and mountainous areas in Sagaing Region, which border Kachin State and Chin State. There were four objectives of this field study. First, we planned to survey cultivated and useful plants by visiting villages and marketplaces in Putao district of Kachin State. We visited a large basin and the surrounding hills at altitudes of 370 ? 530 m. The major crop in the basin was rice and various legumes, cereals, spices, herbs, medicinal plants, and vegetables were grown in cultivated fields, backyard garden, and in local marketplaces. Second, we intended to visit local villages at higher altitudes of 900 ? 1,540 m crossing higher passes in Mindat district of the southern Chin State and vicinity for survey. Although rice was also an important crop in those regions, its cultivation was limited to terraces in the valleys or small basins where irrigation water was available. There were small sloping cultivation fields near farmers’ houses where various crops were grown, as observed in Putao district. Cultivation of elephant foot yam was recently introduced as a cash crop, which might have led to the loss of traditionally grown crops, such as foxtail millet and finger millet. The third objective was to collect PGRs for food and agriculture. We collected 245 plant samples in Putao district of Kachin State (147 samples), Mindat district of Chin State (89) and neighboring Magway Region (8), and Yangon Region (1) of Myanmar, which included legumes (46), cereals (75), spices, herbs and medicinal plants (28), various vegetables (92), and others (4). The fourth objective was to collect the vernacular names and confirm the utilization methods of the crops and useful plants from an ethnobotanical perspective. Shan, Rawang, Jinghpaw, and Lisu people often used similar crop names within their respective languages in Putao district of Kachin State. Although they live close to other people in the district, they have maintained their own vernacular names for a variety of cultivated crops. Conversely, Chin people use various words for each crop among villages in Mindat district of Chin State. Consequently, we observed a diversity of cultivated and useful plants in Putao district of Kachin State and Mindat district of Chin State. These were collected as potential PGRs to be conserved at DAR Seed Bank in Myanmar and at the Genetic Resources Center (GRC) of the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), which implements the NARO Genebank Project (NARO GBP) in Japan. We observed the recent introduction of some cash crops, such as elephant foot yam and coffee trees, into the mountainous areas of Chin State, which might have led to the loss of traditionally grown crops, such as foxtail millet and finger millet. Further studies are needed on several wild and/or semi-domesticated Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae plants used by local people both in Kachin State and Chin State for accurate taxonomic identification and analysis of diversity. It is important to consider introducing cash crops and the possible utilization of traditional cultivated and useful plants in order to develop agriculture in hilly and mountainous peripheral areas of Myanmar such as Putao and Mindat districts.本報告は，2017年11月にミャンマーのカチン北部およびチン州南部で日本とミャンマーが共同で実施した植物遺伝資源に関するフィールド研究の報告である．本フィールド研究は隣接するザガイン地方域における先行研究による知見に基づいて，作物の多様性が期待されるが探索があまりなされていない上記の地域を対象に計画，実行された．4つの目的があった．第一に，カチン州のプタオ県（district）の村や市場を訪れ，栽培された有用植物を調査する．私たちは標高370 ~ 530 mの広い盆地と周辺の丘陵部を訪れ，主要な作物は盆地のイネであるが，畑，バックヤードガーデン，地元の市場などでさまざまなマメ類，穀類，スパイス，ハーブ，薬草や野菜を確認した．第二に，私たちはチン州南部のミンダッ県及びその近傍の900 ~ 1,540 mのより高い標高の村々をさらに高い峠を越えながら訪問し調査することを計画した．イネはここでも重要な作物であったが，その栽培は灌漑用水が利用できる谷または小さな盆地のテラスに限られていた．プタオ県と同様に様々な作物が農家の近くの小さな傾斜畑に栽培されていた．近年，新しい換金作物であるコンニャク等の栽培がチン州に導入されアワやシコクビエなど伝統的作物が失われているようある．第三の目的は農業食糧遺伝資源を収集することであった．ミャンマーのカチン州プタオ県で147点，チン州ミンダッ地区で89点，近接するマグエ地方域で8点，ヤンゴン地方域で1点の計245点を収集した．それにはマメ科植物（46点），穀類（75点），スパイス・ハーブ・薬草（28点），野菜（92点），その他（4点）が含まれていた．四番目の目的は，民族植物学的視点から，作物や有用植物の方名（現地語での呼称）と利用方法を収集することであった．作物の名前に関しては，カチン州プタオ県のシャン人，ラワン人，ジンポー人，リス人は異なる村でもそれぞれの言語内では共通性のある作物名を使用する．彼らは地区内で互いに近くに住んでいるにもかかわらず，様々な栽培作物の呼称は独自の方名を維持している．一方，チン人は，チン州のミンダッ地区の調査で各作物について村ごとにある程度異なる呼称を使用している．本研究の結果，私たちはカチン州プタオ県とチン州ミンダット県に多様な栽培植物や有用植物を観察し，それらをミャンマーの農業研究局のシードバンクとわが国の農業生物資源ジーンバンクに保存される植物遺伝資源として収集した．近年チン州の山岳地帯にコンニャクやコーヒーノキなどの換金作物の導入を確認した．これによって伝統的に栽培されていたアワやシコクビエのような伝統作物が失われた可能性がある．カチン州とチン州の地元住民が利用している野生ないしは半栽培のウリ科植物やナス科植物は，専門家による正確な分類学的同定や多様性分析などさらに研究が必要である．プタオ県やミンダッ県のようなミャンマー周縁部の丘陵・山間地域の農業を発展させるためには，現金作物の導入だけでなく，伝統的な栽培された有用植物の活用の検討も重要と思われる

Are C-Reactive Protein Associated Genetic Variants Associated with Serum Levels and Retinal Markers of Microvascular Pathology in Asian Populations from Singapore?

Introduction:C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and systemic inflammation. We assessed whether CRP-associated loci were associated with serum CRP and retinal markers of microvascular disease, in Asian populations.Methods:Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) for serum CRP was performed in East-Asian Chinese (N = 2,434) and Malays (N = 2,542) and South-Asian Indians (N = 2,538) from Singapore. Leveraging on GWAS data, we assessed, in silico, association levels among the Singaporean datasets for 22 recently identified CRP-associated loci. At loci where directional inconsistencies were observed, quantification of inter-ethnic linkage disequilibrium (LD) difference was determined. Next, we assessed association for a variant at CRP and retinal vessel traits [central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE) and central retinal vein equivalent (CRVE)] in a total of 24,132 subjects of East-Asian, South-Asian and European ancestry.Results:Serum CRP was associated with SNPs in/near APOE, CRP, HNF1A and LEPR (p-values ≤4.7×10-8) after meta-analysis of Singaporean populations. Using a candidate-SNP approach, we further replicated SNPs at 4 additional loci that had been recently identified to be associated with serum CRP (IL6R, GCKR, IL6 and IL1F10) (p-values ≤0.009), in the Singaporean datasets. SNPs from these 8 loci explained 4.05% of variance in serum CRP. Two SNPs (rs2847281 and rs6901250) were detected to be significant (p-value ≤0.036) but with opposite effect directions in the Singaporean populations as compared to original European studies. At these loci we did not detect significant inter-population LD differences. We further did not observe a significant association between CRP variant and CRVE or CRAE levels after meta-analysis of all Singaporean and European datasets (p-value >0.058).Conclusions:Common variants associated with serum CRP, first detected in primarily European studies, are also associated with CRP levels in East-Asian and South-Asian populations. We did not find a causal link between CRP and retinal measures of microvascular disease

The CydDC family of transporters

The CydDC family of ABC transporters export the low molecular weight thiols glutathione and cysteine to the periplasm of a variety of bacterial species. The CydDC complex has previously been shown to be important for disulfide folding, motility, respiration, and tolerance to nitric oxide and antibiotics. In addition, CydDC is thus far unique amongst ABC transporters in that it binds a haem cofactor that appears to modulate ATPase activity. CydDC has a diverse impact upon bacterial metabolism, growth, and virulence, and is of interest to those working on membrane transport mechanisms, redox biology, aerobic respiration, and stress sensing/tolerance during infection