Understanding the influences on employee motivation for lean : an individual-level analysis

It has been widely argued that employee motivation is critical for successful Lean implementation, yet scant research has investigated the individual-level influences on employee motivation for Lean. The primary purpose of the present research is to explore employee beliefs about adopting Lean behaviours (LBs) such as suggestion-making and problem-solving and the efficacy of a well-established psychological model of behaviour, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), to explain employees' intentions to adopt, and their future engagement in, LBs. The impact of a number of individual-level constructs external to the TPB is also considered, including job-related factors (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, Lean self-efficacy, past behaviour, union membership, organisational tenure, employee level) and person-related factors (personality, gender, age). Data (54 face-to-face structured interviews, 3 focus groups with 23 employees, 1030 questionnaires) was collected from employees in four organisations initiating Lean change. Employees generally held positive beliefs about adopting LBs and could see the benefits both for themselves and for their organisation. An average 57.4% of the variance in intentions was explained by attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control (PBC). PBC was a significant predictor of intentions with all four samples attitude and subjective norm were also significant predictors with the larger samples. Consistently, the non-TPB variables did not predict intentions independently of the TPB variables. Intentions and PBC explained on average 9.6% of the variance in behaviour. Past behaviour, employee level, Lean self-efficacy, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, union membership and neuroticism emerged as significant predictors of behaviour independently of the TPB variables with some of the samples. Personality did not moderate the intentions-behaviour relation and openness was consistently the only personality trait with a significant independent effect on Lean self-efficacy. The thesis discusses the practical implications of the findings for organisations implementing Lean in terms of designing work environments, communication, training and the use of personality inventories for recruitment. Limitations of the study and appropriate directions for future research are explored.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Understanding the influences on employee motivation for lean : an individual-level analysis

It has been widely argued that employee motivation is critical for successful Lean implementation, yet scant research has investigated the individual-level influences on employee motivation for Lean. The primary purpose of the present research is to explore employee beliefs about adopting Lean behaviours (LBs) such as suggestion-making and problem-solving and the efficacy of a well-established psychological model of behaviour, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB, Ajzen, 1991), to explain employees' intentions to adopt, and their future engagement in, LBs. The impact of a number of individual-level constructs external to the TPB is also considered, including job-related factors (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, Lean self-efficacy, past behaviour, union membership, organisational tenure, employee level) and person-related factors (personality, gender, age). Data (54 face-to-face structured interviews, 3 focus groups with 23 employees, 1030 questionnaires) was collected from employees in four organisations initiating Lean change. Employees generally held positive beliefs about adopting LBs and could see the benefits both for themselves and for their organisation. An average 57.4% of the variance in intentions was explained by attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control (PBC). PBC was a significant predictor of intentions with all four samples attitude and subjective norm were also significant predictors with the larger samples. Consistently, the non-TPB variables did not predict intentions independently of the TPB variables. Intentions and PBC explained on average 9.6% of the variance in behaviour. Past behaviour, employee level, Lean self-efficacy, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, union membership and neuroticism emerged as significant predictors of behaviour independently of the TPB variables with some of the samples. Personality did not moderate the intentions-behaviour relation and openness was consistently the only personality trait with a significant independent effect on Lean self-efficacy. The thesis discusses the practical implications of the findings for organisations implementing Lean in terms of designing work environments, communication, training and the use of personality inventories for recruitment. Limitations of the study and appropriate directions for future research are explored.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

National Indigenous Palliative Care Needs Study

This study involved extensive consultation with the community to identify the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in palliative care

Identifying the Implications of most Warming Foods: A Pilot Analysis

The new found popular interest in sustainable development is highly skewed towards areas that are politically visible, such as transport and in particular the evils of air travel. This situation is mirrored in the academic community with an explosion of articles on sustainable transport (an EBSCO web search yielded 552 academic references to Sustainable Transport while for example Sustainable Livestock only found less than 10% of that number1). Nonetheless, only 14% of GHG’s actually result from transport, with as little as 2% coming from aviation, against 32% resulting from agriculture and land use – a major part of which can be directly attributed to the food chain (Stern, 2006). Moreover within the food system, certain areas such as livestock production are particularly problematic with meat and dairy products contributing more than 50% of the total GHG’s emitted (Kramer et al, 1999). Another recent study in the UK shows that GHG emissions attributable to meat and dairy consumption are about 4 times more than the GHG emissions generated from fruit and vegetable consumption (Garnett, 2007).Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

SenseBelt:a belt-worn sensor to support cross-device interaction

Mobile interaction is shifting from a single device to simultaneous interaction with ensembles of devices such as phones, tablets, or watches. Spatially-aware cross-device interaction between mobile devices typically requires a fixed tracking infrastructure, which lim- its mobility. In this paper, we present SenseBelt – a sensing belt that enhances existing mobile interactions and enables low-cost, ad hoc sensing of cross-device gestures and interactions. SenseBelt enables proxemic interactions between people and their personal devices. SenseBelt also supports cross-device interaction be- tween personal devices and stationary devices, such as public displays. We discuss the design and implementation of SenseBelt together with possible applications. With an initial evaluation, we provide insights into the benefits and drawbacks of a belt-worn mediating sensor to support cross-device interactions

Digital Behaviour Change Interventions to Break and Form Habits

Digital behaviour change interventions, particularly those using pervasive computing technology, hold great promise in supporting users to change their behaviour. However, most interventions fail to take habitual behaviour into account, limiting their potential impact. This failure is partly driven by a plethora of overlapping behaviour change theories and related strategies that do not consider the role of habits. We critically review the main theories and models used in the research to analyse their application to designing effective habitual behaviour change interventions. We highlight the potential for Dual Process Theory, modern habit theory, and Goal Setting Theory, which together model how users form and break habits, to drive effective digital interventions. We synthesise these theories into an explanatory framework, the Habit Alteration Model, and use it to outline the state of the art. We identify the opportunities and challenges of habit-focused interventions.</jats:p

Symptom profiles and accuracy of clinical case definitions for COVID-19 in a community cohort: results from the Virus Watch study

Background: Understanding symptomatology and accuracy of clinical case definitions for community COVID-19 cases is important for Test, Trace and Isolate (TTI) and future targeting of early antiviral treatment. Methods: Community cohort participants prospectively recorded daily symptoms and swab results (mainly undertaken through the UK TTI system). We compared symptom frequency, severity, timing, and duration in test positive and negative illnesses. We compared the test performance of the current UK TTI case definition (cough, high temperature, or loss of or altered sense of smell or taste) with a wider definition adding muscle aches, chills, headache, or loss of appetite. Results: Among 9706 swabbed illnesses, including 973 SARS-CoV-2 positives, symptoms were more common, severe and longer lasting in swab positive than negative illnesses. Cough, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches were the most common symptoms in positive illnesses but also common in negative illnesses. Conversely, high temperature, loss or altered sense of smell or taste and loss of appetite were less frequent in positive illnesses, but comparatively even less frequent in negative illnesses. The current UK definition had 81% sensitivity and 47% specificity versus 93% and 27% respectively for the broader definition. 1.7-fold more illnesses met the broader case definition than the current definition. Conclusions: Symptoms alone cannot reliably distinguish COVID-19 from other respiratory illnesses. Adding additional symptoms to case definitions could identify more infections, but with a large increase in the number needing testing and the number of unwell individuals and contacts self-isolating whilst awaiting results

Fully copper-exchanged high-silica LTA zeolites as unrivaled hydrothermally stable NH3-SCR catalysts

We acknowledge financial support from the National Creative Research Initiative Program (2012R1A3A2048833) through the National Research Foundation of Korea and from Hyundai Motor Group. We also thank J. Y. Koo (POSTECH) for assistance with ESR measurements, K.-S. Lee and Y. H. Jung (8C and 9B, PAL, respectively) for help in X-ray absorption and diffraction data, S. P. Thompson (I11,DLS) for help in obtaining powder X-ray diffraction data, and PAL and DLS for beam time. PAL is supported by MSIP and POSTECH. We acknowledge financial support from the National Creative Research Initiative Program (2012R1A3A2048833) through the National Research Foundation of Korea and from Hyundai Motor Group. We also thank J. Y. Koo (POSTECH) for assistance with ESR measurements, K.-S. Lee and Y. H. Jung (8C and 9B, PAL, respectively) for help in X-ray absorption and diffraction data, S. P. Thompson (I11,DLS) for help in obtaining powder X-ray diffraction data, and PAL and DLS for beam time. PAL is supported by MSIP and POSTECH.Diesel engine technology is still the most effective solution to meet tighter CO2 regulations in the mobility and transport sector. In implementation of fuel-efficient diesel engines, the poor thermal durability of lean nitrogen oxides (NOx) aftertreatment systems remains as one major technical hurdle. Divalent copper ions when fully exchanged into high-silica LTA zeolites are demonstrated to exhibit excellent activity maintenance for NOx reduction with NH3 under vehicle simulated conditions even after hydrothermal aging at 900 °C, a critical temperature that the current commercial Cu-SSZ-13 catalyst cannot overcome owing to thermal deactivation. Detailed structural characterizations confirm the presence of Cu2+ ions only at the center of single 6-rings that act not only as a catalytically active center, but also as a dealumination suppressor. The overall results render the copper-exchanged LTA zeolite attractive as a viable substitute for Cu-SSZ-13.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe