How much difference can current policy make to professional contract researchers?

This article explores the role of the professional contract researcher in higher education. The factors which have led to the need for directed policy growth, the perceived consequences of these policies and the shortfalls of policy in practice. It begins by exploring the questions who are researchers, where do they work and what are their problems? It will then go on to describe the current policies targeting this cohort and highlight areas of policy which are expected to address some of the issues of concern. It will then identify areas where policy may continue to fall short in practice and address ways in which these gaps may be fille

Bacterial Pneumonia in Dogs and Cats: An Update.

Bacterial pneumonia is a common clinical diagnosis in dogs but seems to occur less often in cats. Underlying causes include viral infection, aspiration injury, foreign body inhalation, and defects in clearance of respiratory secretions. Identification of the specific organisms involved in disease, appropriate use of antibiotics and adjunct therapy, and control of risk factors for pneumonia improve management

Evaluation of thermal comfort conditions in a classroom equipped with radiant cooling systems and subjected to uniform convective environment

The aim of this work is to evaluate numerically the human thermal response that 24 students and 1 teacher feel in a classroom equipped with radiant cooling systems and subjected to uniform convective environments, in lightly warm conditions. The evolution of thermal comfort conditions, using the PMV index, is made by the multi-nodal human thermal comfort model. In this numerical model, that works in transient or steady-state conditions and simulates simultaneously a group of persons, the three-dimensional body is divided in 24 cylindrical and 1 spherical elements. Each element is divided in four parts (core, muscle, fat and skin), sub-divided in several layers, and protected by several clothing layers. This numerical model is divided in six parts: human body thermal system, clothing thermal system, integral equations resolution system, thermoregulatory system, heat exchange between the body and the environment and thermal comfort evaluation. Seven different radiant systems are combined to three convective environments. In the radiant systems (1) no radiant system without warmed curtain, (2) no radiant system with warmed curtain, (3) radiant floors cooling system with warmed curtain, (4) radiant panels cooling system with warmed curtain, (5) radiant ceiling cooling system with warmed curtain, (6) radiant floor and panels cooling system with warmed curtain and (7) radiant ceiling and panels cooling system with warmed curtain are analysed, while in the convective environments (1) without air velocity field and with uniform air velocity field of (2) 0.2 m/s and (3) 0.6 m/s are also analysed. The internal air temperature and internal surfaces temperature are 28 degrees C, the radiant cooling surfaces temperature are 19 degrees C and the warmed internal curtains surfaces temperatures, subjected to direct solar radiation, are 40 degrees C. The numerical model calculates the Mean Radiant Temperature field, the human bodies' temperatures field and the thermal comfort level, for the 25 occupants, for the 21 analysed situations. Without uniform air velocity field, when only one individual radiant cooling system is used, the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied people is lowest when the radiant floor cooling system is applied and is highest when the radiant panel cooling system is applied. When are combined the radiant ceiling or the floor cooling systems with the radiant panel cooling system the Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied people decreases. When the uniform air velocity increases the thermal comfort level, that the occupants are subjected, increases. When the radiant floor cooling system or the combination of radiant floor and panel cooling systems without uniform air velocity field is applied, the Category C is verified for some occupants. However, with a convective uniform air velocity field of 0.2 m/s the Category B is verified and with a convective uniform air velocity field of 0.6 m/s the Category A is verify for some occupants. In the last situation the Category C is verified, in general, for all occupants. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Quality of DNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded canine tissues.

Veterinary pathology tissue banks are valuable resources for genetic studies. However, limited data exist as to whether quality DNA can be extracted from these tissues for use in canine genotyping studies. We extracted DNA from 44 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks from dogs; 9 of these dogs had DNA available from whole blood samples that had been banked. We genotyped DNA from 30 of 44 tissue blocks and 9 whole blood samples on the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip; DNA quality was insufficient in 14 of 44 samples from tissue blocks. There was significant correlation between the 260/280 ratio and single-nucleotide variation (SNV) call rate (p = 0.0276; r2 = 0.162); 23 of 30 samples from FFPE were genotyped with > 65% call rates. Median pairwise identical-by-state (IBS) analysis was 0.99 in 8 pairs of dogs with call rates > 65%. Neither age of tissue block nor specific tissue types were associated with significant differences in DNA concentration, 260/280 ratio, or SNV call rate. DNA extracted from tissue blocks can have variable quality, although comparable levels of homozygosity suggest that extracts from FFPE with call rates > 65% might provide similar results to samples from whole blood when analyzed on the Illumina CanineHD BeadChip

X-ray CT analysis after blast of composite sandwich panels

Four composite sandwich panels with either single density or graded density foam cores and different face-sheet materials were subjected to full-scale underwater blast testing. The panels were subjected to 1kg PE4 charge at a stand-off distance of 1 m. The panel with graded density core and carbon fiber face-sheets had the lowest deflection. Post-blast damage assessment was carried out using X-ray CT scanning. The damage assessment revealed that there is a trade-off between reduced panel deflection and panel damage. This research has been performed as part of a program sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR)

PENGARUH KOMPENSASI DAN KEPUASAN KERJA TERHADAP KINERJA KARYAWAN PT. MANDIRI UTAMA TEKNIK

Kepuasan kerja akan memicu karyawan untuk terus meningkatkan kinerjanya, sehingga tujuan perusahaan maupun kebutuhan karyawan akan tercapai. Karyawan yang memperoleh kepuasan kerja dengan sendirinya mereka akan melakukan pekerjaan dengan baik. Kepuasan kerja adalah sikap seseorang secara keseluruhan terhadap pekerjaannya, ataudapat dikatakan bahwa kepuasan kerja merupakan perbedaan antara harapan dan kenyataan dari imbalan yang diterima dalam bekerja. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh kompensasi dan kepuasan kerja terhadap kinerja karyawan PT. Mandiri Utama Teknik. Populasi yang dipergunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah karyawan bagian produksi PT. Mandiri Utama Teknik. Sampel yang dipergunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah 100 karyawan bagian produksi PT. Mandiri Utama Teknik. Model yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah Partial Least Square (PLS). Hasil penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa kompensasi berpengaruh terhadap kepuasan kerja dan kepuasan kerja berpengaruh terhadap kinerja karyawan

The management of people at work: strategy, HRM, discourse

This thesis critically examines the concept of strategic human resource management (HRM). Existing 'critical' approaches identify prescriptive HRNI literature as 'rhetoric' that does not match 'reality'. Such an approach understands management initiatives as separate, individual, discrete, and ad hoc. However, this thesis develops an alternative perspcctivc, informed by a Foucauldian approach to 'discourse', that understands 'HRM' and 'strategy' as cultural constructs that are used by actors as they 'make sense' of discursively constructed organizational 'realities'. This perspective is then utilized to demonstrate that the existing 'critical' approaches are engaged in particular practices that define strategic HRM in a way that constructs the 'gap' between 'rhetoric' and 'reality' as HRM is simultaneously created as an academic subject. This alternative perspective provides a means of understanding and analysing prescriptive management literature and texts generated from interviews with managers in terms of two different discursively constructed 'rationalities'. Both 'rationalities' establish causal relationships between concepts of environment, organization and individual as organizational 'reality' is constructed. This perspective is utilized in the identification of the connections that are established between the managerial initiatives that are thought of as separate, individual, discrete, and ad hoc by the 'critical' literature. There are two parts to this thesis. The first part describes the development of HM4, outlines a Foucauldian conceptualization of 'discourse, and re-examines prescriptive and 'critical' HRM literature. The second part analyses texts generated from interviews with HRIpersonnel managers in a range of public and private sector organizations. This analysis demonstrates that, while there is great variety in the descriptions of organizational 'reality', connections between concepts of environment, organization and individual arc established as two key 'rationalities' are discursively constructed. It is argued that these 'rationalities' position people and practices within organizational 'reality'