Capturing and managing email knowledge.

In many successful organisations today, significant resources are invested in training and development efforts exploring group dynamics and effective team building. The challenge from a knowledge management perspective is to explore how technology could facilitate knowledge sharing (both tacit and explicit) in a group context. The paper highlights the benefits of developing such Knowledge Management tools to make better use of the information contained within email messages, and shows how organisations could become more effective by adopting such an application

Effects of Attentional and Motivational Priming on Athletic Performance

The effect of motivational and attentional primes on athletic performance was assessed. Thirty-four male, recreational basketball players shot 10 free throws after completing a word scrambled sentence task that primed either autonomous motivation, fluency, or nothing (control). Results revealed that neither prime significantly increased free throw scores more than the control, but fluency primed participants scored significantly more free throws than autonomous motivation primed participants. Results provide support that athletes should try to relax during high pressure situations that require precision. Focusing on the task at hand will hinder performance, while naturally going through the motions will enhance performance. Results also provided support that there is an optimal level of arousal for performing one’s best. Too low or too high of arousal actually hinders an athlete’s performance

The emergence of resistance to the benzimidazole anthlemintics in parasitic nematodes of livestock is characterised by multiple independent hard and soft selective sweeps

Anthelmintic resistance is a major problem for the control of parasitic nematodes of livestock and of growing concern for human parasite control. However, there is little understanding of how resistance arises and spreads or of the “genetic signature” of selection for this group of important pathogens. We have investigated these questions in the system for which anthelmintic resistance is most advanced; benzimidazole resistance in the sheep parasites Haemonchus contortus and Teladorsagia circumcincta. Population genetic analysis with neutral microsatellite markers reveals that T. circumcincta has higher genetic diversity but lower genetic differentiation between farms than H. contortus in the UK. We propose that this is due to epidemiological differences between the two parasites resulting in greater seasonal bottlenecking of H. contortus. There is a remarkably high level of resistance haplotype diversity in both parasites compared with drug resistance studies in other eukaryotic systems. Our analysis suggests a minimum of four independent origins of resistance mutations on just seven farms for H. contortus, and even more for T. circumincta. Both hard and soft selective sweeps have occurred with striking differences between individual farms. The sweeps are generally softer for T. circumcincta than H. contortus, consistent with its higher level of genetic diversity and consequent greater availability of new mutations. We propose a model in which multiple independent resistance mutations recurrently arise and spread by migration to explain the widespread occurrence of resistance in these parasites. Finally, in spite of the complex haplotypic diversity, we show that selection can be detected at the target locus using simple measures of genetic diversity and departures from neutrality. This work has important implications for the application of genome-wide approaches to identify new anthelmintic resistance loci and the likelihood of anthelmintic resistance emerging as selection pressure is increased in human soil-transmitted nematodes by community wide treatment programs

Exploratory Study of Grouping a Beginning Clothing Construction Class by Results of a Clothing Construction Ability Pretest and Finger Dexterity Questionnaire

Home Economics Educatio

The effectiveness of training in reducing email defects

Previous research has shown that there are many defects associated with email use within the workplace. This paper describes the effectiveness of email training in enabling employees to write better emails. Employees were asked to evaluate the emails they received from specified senders before and after the senders had received training. These emails were marked against a set of ten criteria that covered different aspects of email, including whether the email had a suitable subject line, whether it was relevant and if it was easy to read. By comparing the results before and after the training it is possible to see how effective the training has been and which areas of email use benefited the most from the training. The results show that some of the email defects are more receptive to training than others. The data also shows the relationships between the evaluation criteria used. This is important because it shows how some of the problems with email are related; similarly it shows how an improvement in one area is likely to lead to an improvement in another. This paper highlights some of the problem areas often associated with email and shows the effect of training in reducing these email defects

Community Engagement: Using Feedback Loops to Empower Residents and Influence Systemic Change in Culturally Diverse Communities

A multi-faceted approach to community engagement includes the need to involve the community members in the design, implementation and feedback of any program, services, or supports provided. Intentional participatory engagement of residents also requires shared responsibility for workload, shared recognition of achievement, thoughtful communication, engagement in robust discussions taking care not to internalize conversations as personal affronts and holding close the rules of effective decision making (Toms & Burgess, 2014). Implementing a feedback loop process can be used as a tool to foster intentional resident engagement. The findings presented in this article are from a case study of a neighborhood that implemented a feedback loop process. Analysis of data indicate that while transportation, housing, and places for people to safely be outside are real community concerns, acts of nature and choices made by city government also directly impact the quality of life of the residents in this community. The need for purposeful channels of communication to be established among residents, between neighborhood action groups, and city government is evident. Leveraging relationships with community partners to establish trust and organizational understanding of culture within community socio-economic context, along with the multiple layers of community engagement is discussed

Email training significantly reduces email defects

Organisations are now becoming aware of the problems associated with email use and are keen to reduce these defects. These email defects relate to the ineffective way that email is used within organisations, and are not only limited to the volume of email that is sent and received, but also the quality of the email content. Email defects lead to inefficiencies within the workplace as employees spend more time dealing with email rather than doing other aspects of their job. This paper firstly examines how email is used within a large organisation and highlights the defects associated with email. The initial results show that these defects affect some groups of employees more than others. The paper also reports on the effectiveness of email training in reducing the defects associated with email use. The results show that some of these defects are related and that training can significantly reduce some of the email defects and improve the way people write emails

Community Engagement: Using Feedback Loops to Empower Residents and Influence Systemic Change in Culturally Diverse Communities

A multi-faceted approach to community engagement includes the need to involve the community members in the design, implementation and feedback of any program, services, or supports provided. Intentional participatory engagement of residents also requires shared responsibility for workload, shared recognition of achievement, thoughtful communication, engagement in robust discussions taking care not to internalize conversations as personal affronts and holding close the rules of effective decision making (Toms & Burgess, 2014). Implementing a feedback loop process can be used as a tool to foster intentional resident engagement. The findings presented in this article are from a case study of a neighborhood that implemented a feedback loop process. Analysis of data indicate that while transportation, housing, and places for people to safely be outside are real community concerns, acts of nature and choices made by city government also directly impact the quality of life of the residents in this community. The need for purposeful channels of communication to be established among residents, between neighborhood action groups, and city government is evident. Leveraging relationships with community partners to establish trust and organizational understanding of culture within community socio-economic context, along with the multiple layers of community engagement is discussed

In a dry season

By day, the swamp is birds: birds that fish the dark channels, hunt the tangles, crow or sing in the tree tops. Wild canaries flit like green and yellow gnats among the vines, hell-divers and coots squabble and splash in the shallows, herons stalk solemnly through the reeds, egrets perch and preen on their junk-heap nests, woodpeckers rattle busily in the trees, scrub jays scream and limpkins moan. Always, overhead, sometimes nearly out of sight, turkey-buzzards soar. There are a pair of bald eagles, too, that nest in a dead cypress tree deep in the swamp and four or five families of fish-hawks. Song birds carol in the jungle and other birds scream or whistle or hoot. There's one that makes a clattering noise like a cracked bell

Measuring electronic communication defects and their impact at 3M

Although email is frequently often thought of as a quick and efficient form of communication, often little thought is given to how email affects the employee. This paper has made steps towards gaining a better understanding of email communication and how it can be used more effectively in an organisation. The results obtained from this study can also provide the basis for communication usage policies and training, which could then reduce wasted time and improve employee productivity. It has also shown both the value of obtaining metrics and the difficulties involved. The paper highlights some of the problems, and some of the issues that need to be addressed with email communication within a large organisation