Applying trait and skills leadership approaches to determine leadership style of Shirin Ebadi, human rights activist and Nobel peace laureate

Dr. Shirin Ebadi was the first female Muslim judge to practice in Iran, is a human rights activist, and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize (Ebadi, 2003). At times called a “woman of steel,” Ebadi risks her life and freedom as she diligently promotes peace, democracy, and human rights particularly for women and children, through her voice in Iran and throughout the world,. Ebadi received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts related to protecting the rights of individuals and groups trapped in a system of power stemming from Islamic law (Davis & Selvidge, 2006; Ebadi & Moaveni, 2006; Stiehm, 2006). Ebadi is a female world leader as evidenced by her life\u27s work and being awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. To date, however, there is no scholarly literature focused on an in-depth comparative analysis of Ebadi’s leadership style, specifically in documented studies utilizing the theoretical framework of the Trait Approach and Skills Approach leadership styles (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Jacobs, & Fleishman, 2000a; Zaccaro, Kemp, & Bader, 2004). This dissertation was a qualitative case study to determine the leadership style of Ebadi through a comparative analysis of the Trait Approach and Skills Approach leadership styles (Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding et al., 2000, Zaccaro et al., 2004) as the theoretical framework. Publicly-available information was qualitatively analyzed using descriptive coding (Saldaña, 2013) to determine her leadership style. Based solely on the number of occurrences of characteristics alone, Ebadi’s leadership style falls under the Skills Approach, however, there was a significant number of leadership characteristics occurring under the Trait Approach that could not be overlooked in terms of importance. Therefore, it was determined Ebadi exhibited significant characteristics under both leadership styles, and her leadership style was found to be a hybrid of the Trait Approach and the Skills Approach. Much can be learned from studying Ebadi’s leadership style and related characteristics. First, findings could serve to benefit other female leaders attempting to advance social causes. Second, findings contributed to the overlooked area of documented research on Ebadi’s leadership style and complement existing literature on leadership in the areas of Trait Approach and Skills Approach styles. Third, as a practical application, organizations may use the findings of this study to implement trait and skills’ assessment practices in the workplace to determine characteristics important for employee leadership positions

In search of sustainable CAP: : Assessing the environmental impacts of agricultural policy

Paper presented at the European Environment Conference, September 1998, Leeds, UK.Agricultural policy can have a major influence on the environmental impacts of agriculture. As farming is a major land use in European Union (EU) these impacts can be significant and widespread. A scoring technique has been developed by the University of Hertfordshire to assess the significance of these impacts in relation to sustainability. This technique is presented in the context of a framework to assess the impacts of agricultural policy. Effect-damage functions, indicators and targets are used and the spatial scale is taken into account to produce a policy performance profile. This is accompanied by an indicator of the quality and confidence of the assessment. The method is able to determine where trade-offs exist between different environmental objectives (e.g. nitrate leaching vs. ammonia emissions) and takes into account local and regional environmental sensitivities. The method has potential to be a valuable tool in the development of a greener Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It may also have potential to support the targeting of agri-environment programmes which can be of both environmental and economic benefit.Non peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Environmental management for arable agriculture : An Eco-rating system for pesticide use

The University of Hertfordshire, funded by MAFF and in collaboration with ADAS and IACR-Rothamsted, is currently developing a computer-based decision support system to encourage and enhance best practice within arable agriculture such that environmental protection can be given a high priority without jeopardising profitability. A significant part of this system is focused towards the use and management of pesticides to ensure that protecting the crop does not conflict with protecting the environment. The software system aims to assess the farmer’s use of pesticides. Using a multi-criteria approach, field techniques, pesticide choice and management practices such as storage, waste management and machinery calibration are all assessed. Although the system concentrates on field applications for crop protection, it also examines non-crop pesticides such as biocides and rodenticides. The eco-rating is derived by comparing actual practices with rules and heuristics describing best practice. Simple ranking and scoring techniques are used to derive an indicator of environmental performance with respect to the farmers use of pesticides.Peer reviewe

Reactive Oxygen Species and Oxidative Stress in the Pathogenesis of MAFLD

The pathogenesis of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is complex and thought to be dependent on multiple parallel hits on a background of genetic susceptibility. The evidence suggests that MAFLD progression is a dynamic two-way process relating to repetitive bouts of metabolic stress and inflammation interspersed with endogenous anti-inflammatory reparative responses. In MAFLD, excessive hepatic lipid accumulation causes the production of lipotoxins that induce mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticular stress, and over production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Models of MAFLD show marked disruption of mitochondrial function and reduced oxidative capacitance with impact on cellular processes including mitophagy, oxidative phosphorylation, and mitochondrial biogenesis. In excess, ROS modify insulin and innate immune signaling and alter the expression and activity of essential enzymes involved in lipid homeostasis. ROS can also cause direct damage to intracellular structures causing hepatocyte injury and death. In select cases, the use of anti-oxidants and ROS scavengers have been shown to diminish the pro-apoptopic effects of fatty acids. Given this link, endogenous anti-oxidant pathways have been a target of interest, with Nrf2 activation showing a reduction in oxidative stress and inflammation in models of MAFLD. Thyroid hormone receptor β (THRβ) agonists and nuclear peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor (PPAR) family have also gained interest in reducing hepatic lipotoxicity and restoring hepatic function in models of MAFLD. Unfortunately, the true interplay between the clinical and molecular components of MAFLD progression remain only partly understood. Most recently, multiomics-based strategies are being adopted for hypothesis-free analysis of the molecular changes in MAFLD. Transcriptome profiling maps the unique genotype-phenotype associations in MAFLD and with various single-cell transcriptome-based projects underway, there is hope of novel physiological insights to MAFLD progression and uncover therapeutic targets

Determining the role for uric acid in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis development and the utility of urate metabolites in diagnosis:An opinion review

There has long been a recognised association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and the composite aspects of the metabolic syndrome. Part of this association highlighted the supposed co-existence of elevated uric acid levels in those with NAFLD. There is interest in exploitation of this as a putative diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in NAFLD. Given the increased economic and health burden associated with the NAFLD epidemic, improved methods of population-based, minimally-invasive methods and biomarkers are clearly highly sought and necessary. In this opinion review we review the proposed role of uric acid in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and its potential utilisation in the diagnosis and monitoring of the disease process

New Horizons in Hepatitis B and C in the Older Adult

Hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV), are blood-borne viruses that can cause acute hepatitis; but are clinically relevant because chronic infection is associated with development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Both these viruses are becoming more common in the older population, due to the ageing of generations exposed to the risk factors associated with infection; intravenous drug use, multiple sexual partners and men who have sex with men. This review will cover the natural history and epidemiology of these infections as well as the revolution in drug therapy that now allows cure of HCV infection and complete control of HBV infection.</p

Creating more than a directory : improving handover of information by renovating the induction app for University Hospital Wishaw

Starting in a new hospital can be an overwhelming experience for any grade of doctor. There is a vast amount of information that needs to be learnt immediately to function in the new environment. There is an annual changeover of doctors between hospitals in August nationwide and most junior doctors rotate specialties every 4–6 months. Evidence shows that doctors feel this transition has a negative impact on patient care and indicates that inpatient mortality rises during the August changeover. In our hospital, we noted problems with access to guidelines, referral information and investigations by junior doctors, especially at changeover. In an initial questionnaire, 100% of doctors had experienced difficulties with referring to a specialty and 96% felt time was wasted doing so. Furthermore, 87.5% of doctors had difficulties with ordering laboratory investigations and 100% of survey participates expressed difficulty accessing guidelines. To tackle this issue, we created guidelines on how to refer to different specialties, order investigations and general running of the hospital. We then used a free app platform called induction and uploaded the guidelines as well as formal hospital guidelines to the app. After use of the app, we assessed these problems via further questionnaires. Doctors reporting problems with finding how to refer to specialties reduced from 100% to 0% in the final survey. Problems finding how to request investigations fell from 100% to 14.3% after 1 month to 7.7% after 3 months. Finally, problems finding guidelines fell from 100% to 15.4%. Further, 100% of doctors felt the app saved time. Use of the induction app to access guidelines saves time and reduces problems accessing information needed to carry out tasks. This an easily replicated project with low running costs which proved to help with the universal problems around induction to a new hospital environment

Perspectives and experiences of collecting antenatal colostrum in women who have had diabetes during pregnancy: a North Queensland semi-structured interview study

Objectives: To explore and describe the experiences and perspectives of collecting and storing colostrum in the antenatal period in women who have had diabetes in pregnancy. Design: Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews analysed with purposive sampling and thematic analysis. Setting: A regional hospital in North Queensland with a high prevalence of diabetes in pregnancy. Participants: Six women with a previous pregnancy complicated by diabetes who were advised to collect and store colostrum in pregnancy. Results: Six themes were identified: wariness of medicalisation (adjusting to an ‘abnormal’ pregnancy, seeking continuity of care, determination to reduce formula, fear of invasive intervention); underlying altruism (providing the best for baby, preparing for complications, eager for milk donation); internal pressure to succeed (coping with confronting information, disheartened by failures, constant fear of insufficient supply, overwhelming guilt, concern for future breastfeeding success); self-management and ownership (adapting to awkwardness, developing strategies for success, actively seeking education, gaining confidence to request help, accepting personal limitations); frustrated by waste (encroaching on time, squandering a precious resource, ambiguous about necessity) and building fortitude for motherhood (physically preparing for breast feeding, symbolic of the imminent infant, establishing early relationships with supports, approaching challenges with realistic optimism). Conclusion: Women with diabetes in pregnancy experience guilt and stress about the added risk of hypoglycaemia to their babies and strive to provide the best for their babies by collecting and storing colostrum, even if this leads to distress to themselves. It is crucial that these women be provided accurate, realistic advice about the benefits and disadvantages of collecting colostrum in the antenatal period