Management control systems in enabling university research performance

The purpose of this study is to investigate how management control systems (MCS) are used to enable university research performance at the operating level. At the sector level, institutionally framed research within New Public Management literature has observed the more uniform use of managerialist and programmed approaches to university research management. However, empirical contingent studies within a private sector R&D setting have evidenced how such approaches are ineffective in enabling operating level research performance. Drawing on both literatures, as well as wider MCS package research, the research uses an exploratory case study to examine two high performing faculties with contrasting research characteristics. From these micro-level accounts, the paper develops a conceptual model demonstrating how a combination of institutional and technical factors contributes to the use of MCS. More specifically, while a similar complementary package of socio-ideological, administrative and incentive controls is used to satisfy the diverging managerial and collegial institutional interests, within each operating unit managers tailor the use of these categories of controls to suit their respective research cultures and contexts in order to enable university research performance

Playing With Power: How Connections To Hecate Strengthen Subversive Women

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Thomas Middleton’s The Witch are two English plays that consider the demonization of the domestic woman in early modern society, using the figure of the witch as a representation of these vilified figures. I argue that Hecate’s addition to these plays offers new insights into early modern English thoughts on the threat of ambiguous figures and states of being, this ambiguity fighting against the patriarchal timeline in a way that threatens to break the social codes supporting and propagating the patriarchy. In my research, I found that the domestic woman was feared for reasons that overlap with that of the witch: the image of the woman as mother particularly carries with it connotations of power that may be threatening to the function of the husband in the home, in turn questioning the reign of the man at the head of the community, all the way up through the hierarchies of society. I specifically discuss Lady Macbeth and the Weird Sisters from Macbeth as well as Francisca, Isabella, the Duchess, and Hecate from Middleton’s tragicomedy as characters who emphasize specific cultural fears about the domestic woman not aligning with patriarchal standards or with patriarchal categorizations. The liminality of their natures connects them with the threshold and witchcraft goddess Hecate, held in the early modern cultural imaginary as a figure specifically concerned with people caught in the in-between of one evolutionary category to the next

Construction Of A [delta]vpsL[delta]potB Mutant And The Effects On Biofilm Formation In Vibrio cholerae

Vibrio cholerae is a Gam-negative, pathogenic bacterium known as the causative agent of the intestinal disease cholera. Infection is linked to ingestion of contaminated water. Four hundred million people worldwide are without safe or up to standard drinking water, making them more prone to experience fatalities and symptoms associated with the disease. V. cholerae utilizes its ability to form biofilms, aggregations of microorganisms, to survive environmental stressors. These biofilms enable the bacterium further resistance and survival abilities and is thought to be the form the bacterium is ingestion in. While cholera can be treated through adequate rehydration, these rehydration practices are generally linked to the contamination sources themselves. V. cholerae continues to adapt new variant strains that allow it to survive further stressors and immunity efforts. Construction of a ?vpsL?potB mutant allowed further manipulation of the numerous genes that constitute the bacterium’s ability to form biofilms. The bacterium is composed of numerous aspects that lead to its ability to form these mature structures, with some being able to compensate for the loss of others. Therefore, understanding these aspects in full would allow for better and more targeting treatment plans

Effect Of Moringa Oleifera On Bone Density In Post-Menopausal Women

Consuming foods that are rich in bone building vitamins and minerals may help provide important bone protection from this estrogen loss. Moringa Oleifera is a tropical plant that contains multiple important nutrients for bone health. The study objective was to determine the effects of M. Oleifera on the structure and function of bone in post-menopausal women ingesting 1g of M. Oleifera daily for 12 weeks. No significant interaction of the M. Oleifera on bone density was found with no difference in total body BMD between the two groups. Significant differences were found between pre and post total body BMD with the average for the entire subject group dropping from a BMD of 1.046 g/cm² to 1.034 g/cm² (p=.030); which is a -1.11% drop. No relationship between consuming M. Oleifera and an increase in bone density was found. The -1.11% decrease is extremely high but could be explained by seasonal changes, medications taken, menopause age, and higher starting bone density. Future studies should look to continue this study for a longer period of time, take blood samples to measure hormone level changes, add exercise to examine its effect, and increase M. Oleifera dosage

The Effect Of Moringa Oleifera On The Oncolytic Activity Of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus In Cervical Cancer Cells

Traditional treatment methods for cervical cancer are often not cancer-specific and are associated with adverse side effects. Our lab focuses on developing vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) as an oncolytic agent due to the natural ability of this virus to target susceptible cancer cells. We are interested in augmenting the oncolytic activity of VSV by treating resistant cancer cells with natural compounds. We hypothesize that Moringa oleifera, which has previously demonstrated anticancer and anti-inflammatory properties, will promote killing of resistant cervical cancer cells by VSV by activating immune cells and promoting anti-tumor immunity. Of the five extracts of M. oleifera examined (aqueous, butanolic, ethanolic, hydroethanolic, and methanolic), the ethanolic extract promoted C4-II and HeLa cell killing alone and in combination with a wild-type strain (rwt) of VSV by decreasing activation of pro-survival pathways. The methanolic extract promoted killing of SiHa cervical cancer cells by the rM51R-M VSV strain. Furthermore, STAT1 levels decreased in VSV-infected cells, suggesting M. oleifera may inhibit induction of an antiviral response. M. oleifera stimulated maturation of dendritic cell (DC) subsets and pro-inflammatory cytokines following infection by VSV, indicating the pretreatment with M. oleifera has the potential to promote clearance of virus infected cervical cancer cells

Communication Functions Used By Learning Disabled Students With Normal Language And Non-Learning Disabled Students With Normal Language

The purpose of this study was to compare the use of communication functions by learning disabled students with normal language and non-learning disabled students with normal language on the Let's Talk Inventorv for Adolescents (Let's Talk). More specifically, answers to the following questions were sought: a) Is there a significant difference in the use of ritualizing, informing, controlling, or feeling communication functions in peer and adult contexts between learning disabled and the non-learning disabled students? b) Is there a significant difference in the mean length of utterance of ritualizing, informing, controlling, or feeling communication functions in peer and adult contexts between learning disabled and the non-learning disabled students? *NOTE: Page 47 missing

A Study Of Camping And Its Educational Values

This study was an attempt to provide an extensive view of the history of organized camping, its nature, its contributions to the participants, its role in the school program, and to assemble this information in a form that would have significant meaning and value to such persons as camp directors, school administrators, teachers, or other persons responsible for developing and organizing camps. The writer has selected material and information from different state, county, and city system programs that should be of interest to his own county school board for its camping program

Oak Regeneration Patterns and Stand Dynamics in Burned and Unburned Forest Stands in Shawnee State Forest, Ohio, USA

The primary goal of this thesis was to compare oak (Quercus spp. L.) regeneration, canopy class distributions, and forest stand dynamics following a glaze ice storm to Quercus spp. regeneration, canopy class distributions, and forest stand dynamics following a severe wildfire in a second-growth oak-hickory forest in southern Ohio. Additionally, tree ring research was used to examine forest disturbance history of the study site from 1930-2001 and to analyze the growth-climate relationship of Quercus spp. Quercus spp. regeneration was higher in the burned stands than in the unburned stands. The dominant canopy trees of both stands were Quercus spp., but the suppressed and intermediate trees were mostly red maple (Acer rubrum L.), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.), and black gum (Nyssa sylvatica Marshall). Age-diameter data revealed that Quercus spp. has not been able to successfully recruit to an intermediate canopy class since the 1940’s. Growth-climate relationships revealed a temporal decline in the correlation values. This indicated that disturbances and micro-site alterations associated with forest development likely altered the growth-climate relationship