Roles and Characteristics of the Project Manager in Achieving Success across the Project Life Cycle

Ever since Pinto and Slevin (1988) identified the project manager as having more than a moderating effect on project success, researchers have been trying to unveil the identity of successful project managers. Studies have focused on the leadership aspects of the project manager (Shenhar et al, 1997; Pinto, 1988; and Prabhakar, 2005), but researchers have theorized that effective project management is more than just project leadership (Kotter, 2001; and Jacques, Garger & Thomas, 2008). A theoretical framework for project success is presented that reflects organizational and project characteristics, including project life cycle phase, project manager roles, and the project manager profile. The framework is derived from Shenhar et al.\u27s (2007) Multi-Dimensionality Theory of project success, Adams and Barndt\u27s (1978) four-phase model of the project life cycle, and Mintzberg\u27s (1990) Role Typology. The purpose of this study was to explain the relationship between organizational characteristics, project characteristics, project manager roles, the project life cycle, project manager characteristics and project success. The proposed research strategy was to conduct a non-experimental, comparative (exploratory) and correlational (explanatory) online survey designed to address three research questions and to test five hypotheses. The web-based survey collected data from the entire target population of approximately 307,000 worldwide PMI project managers currently working on projects. Methods of data analysis include descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, measures of central tendency, and variability), exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability (coefficient alphas), Pearson\u27s r correlations, ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis using the stepwise (forward) method. In this study, project manager roles explained 18% of project success. The entrepreneur, monitor, resource allocator, and transformational leader roles are significant explanatory variables to project success. These roles address: allocating resources, managing change, filtering information, and maintaining/increasing team cohesiveness. Implications are that effective project managers need to be good managers, as well as good leaders. They need to be able to manage change (the entrepreneur role), plan and budget work (the resource allocator role), inspire and motivate the team to action (the transformational leader role), and constantly scan, filter, and disseminate information (the monitor role)

Coalescence driven self-organization of growing nanodroplets around a microcap

The coalescence between growing droplets is important for the surface coverage and spatial arrangements of droplets on surfaces. In this work, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy is utilized to in-situ investigate the formation of nanodroplets around the rim of a polymer microcap, with sub-micron spatial and millisecond temporal resolution. We observe that the coalescence among droplets occurs frequently during their growth by solvent exchange. Our experimental results show that the position of the droplet from two merged droplets is related to the size of the parent droplets. The position of the coalesced droplet and the ratio of parent droplet sizes obey a scaling law, reflecting a coalescence preference based on the size inequality. As a result of droplet coalescence, the angles between the centroids of two neighbouring droplets increase with time, obeying a nearly symmetrical arrangement of droplets at various time intervals. The evolution of the position and number from coalescence of growing droplets is modelled. The mechanism for coalescence driven self-organization of growing droplets is general, applicable to microcaps of different sizes and droplets of different liquids. The understanding from this work may be valuable for positioning nanodroplets by nucleation and growth without using templates.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

An engineered nanosugar enables rapid and sustained glucose-responsive insulin delivery in diabetic mice

Glucose-responsive insulin-delivery platforms that are sensitive to dynamic glucose concentration fluctuations and provide both rapid and prolonged insulin release have great potential to control hyperglycemia and avoid hypoglycemia diabetes. Here, biodegradable and charge-switchable phytoglycogen nanoparticles capable of glucose-stimulated insulin release are engineered. The nanoparticles are "nanosugars" bearing glucose-sensitive phenylboronic acid groups and amine moieties that allow effective complexation with insulin (approximate to 95% loading capacity) to form nanocomplexes. A single subcutaneous injection of nanocomplexes shows a rapid and efficient response to a glucose challenge in two distinct diabetic mouse models, resulting in optimal blood glucose levels (below 200 mg dL(-1)) for up to 13 h. The morphology of the nanocomplexes is found to be key to controlling rapid and extended glucose-regulated insulin delivery in vivo. These studies reveal that the injected nanocomplexes enabled efficient insulin release in the mouse, with optimal bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, and safety profiles. These results highlight a promising strategy for the development of a glucose-responsive insulin delivery system based on a natural and biodegradable nanosugar

The Melbourne epidemic thunderstorm asthma event 2016: an investigation of environmental triggers, effect on health services, and patient risk factors.

BACKGROUND: A multidisciplinary collaboration investigated the world's largest, most catastrophic epidemic thunderstorm asthma event that took place in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov 21, 2016, to inform mechanisms and preventive strategies. METHODS: Meteorological and airborne pollen data, satellite-derived vegetation index, ambulance callouts, emergency department presentations, and data on hospital admissions for Nov 21, 2016, as well as leading up to and following the event were collected between Nov 21, 2016, and March 31, 2017, and analysed. We contacted patients who presented during the epidemic thunderstorm asthma event at eight metropolitan health services (each including up to three hospitals) via telephone questionnaire to determine patient characteristics, and investigated outcomes of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. FINDINGS: Grass pollen concentrations on Nov 21, 2016, were extremely high (>100 grains/m3). At 1800 AEDT, a gust front crossed Melbourne, plunging temperatures 10°C, raising humidity above 70%, and concentrating particulate matter. Within 30 h, there were 3365 (672%) excess respiratory-related presentations to emergency departments, and 476 (992%) excess asthma-related admissions to hospital, especially individuals of Indian or Sri Lankan birth (10% vs 1%, p<0·0001) and south-east Asian birth (8% vs 1%, p<0·0001) compared with previous 3 years. Questionnaire data from 1435 (64%) of 2248 emergency department presentations showed a mean age of 32·0 years (SD 18·6), 56% of whom were male. Only 28% had current doctor-diagnosed asthma. 39% of the presentations were of Asian or Indian ethnicity (25% of the Melbourne population were of this ethnicity according to the 2016 census, relative risk [RR] 1·93, 95% CI 1·74-2·15, p <0·0001). Of ten individuals who died, six were Asian or Indian (RR 4·54, 95% CI 1·28-16·09; p=0·01). 35 individuals were admitted to an intensive care unit, all had asthma, 12 took inhaled preventers, and five died. INTERPRETATION: Convergent environmental factors triggered a thunderstorm asthma epidemic of unprecedented magnitude, tempo, and geographical range and severity on Nov 21, 2016, creating a new benchmark for emergency and health service escalation. Asian or Indian ethnicity and current doctor-diagnosed asthma portended life-threatening exacerbations such as those requiring admission to an ICU. Overall, the findings provide important public health lessons applicable to future event forecasting, health care response coordination, protection of at-risk populations, and medical management of epidemic thunderstorm asthma. FUNDING: None

Surface engineering for mechanically robust superhydrophobic films

© 2016 Dr. Brendan Paul DyettThe inherent surface roughness of superhydrophobic surfaces renders them mechanically fragile and limits their use in many applications from self-cleaning to anti-fouling. With the view of improving the mechanical durability of these films several steps have been taken to both identify and understand the underlying principles for the apparent dichotomy between superhydrophobicity and mechanical durability. Rough surface coatings with variable surface roughness have been developed and examined using atomic force and electron microscopy, contact angle goniometry nanoindentation as well as industry based mechanical testing. Prepared predominately by bottom up strategies such as sol-gel processing, a diverse variety of superhydrophobic surfaces were prepared exhibiting contact angles greater than 150° and sliding angles less than 10°. Subsequently, several synthetic protocols have been developed to overcome these difficulties. Within conventional sol-gel derived coatings, by normalizing against the surface topology, the enhancement in abrasion resistance can be correlated to crosslinked polymer material property ratios H/E and H3/E2, providing a rationale for polymer choice to wear improve wear behavior in future coatings. Understanding of geometric limitations led to the development of polymer spheres prepared through emulsion synthesis which were utilized as sacrificial templates within a siloxane matrix to yield films with crater-like surface roughness. Surface roughness was controlled through the template geometry and concentration. The intrinsic hydrophobicity of the MTMS matrix provides enhanced longevity towards wear. This was subsequently improved through the development of polyhedral silsequioxane chemistry. Further design of the crater-like surface was inspired by mimicking the fascinating assembly of particles in natural materials. Hierarchical assembly of anisotropic particles to achieve mutually exclusive properties inspired work toward the preparation of biomimetic, superhydrophobic coatings predominantly from the incorporation of silica and polyaniline fibers and rods into craterlike surfaces

Developing a Valid Screening Tool for Assessing Nutritional Adequacy and Osteoporosis Risk Among Vegans in the United States

The vegetarian lifestyle in the United States has increased significantly over recent decades. With this growth trend, it has become necessary to assess the pros and cons of vegetarian diet patterns, particularly with respect to nutrition adequacy and chronic disease concerns. The vegan diet engenders more concern than other common vegetarian lifestyles because it seeks to replace all nutrient-rich animal food products with only plant foods. Consequently, there are concerns of compromised protein, calcium. vitamin D, vitamin B12, n-3 fatty acid, zinc, and iron status. Moreover, because of typical vegan diet phenomena such as low BMI, low protein intake, low circulating estrogen, alongside potentially compromised calcium and vitamin D status, osteoporosis is the major chronic disease concern in vegan lifestyle practice. This study therefore proposed that a well-developed and validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), can be effectively used as an assessment tool to address the nutrition-related concerns pertaining to vegans. The study was an observational study, with a four-phase purpose: (a) Developing a quantitative vegan FFQ de novo, (b) Validating the FFQ against three 24- hr diet recalls, (c) Evaluating specific nutrient intake adequacy among vegans, according to standards of the US Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), (d) Determining possible diet-disease association by comparing the FFQ assessment with bone test values. Samples of 50, 100, and 30 vegans were used for the FFQ-development phase, the validation and nutrition assessment phases, and the the osteoporosis-risk phase, respectively. Based on Pearson’s correlation coefficients (r=0.38-0.61), the vegan FFQ was valid for 6 nutrients. Comparison of mean observed intakes with the US DRIs demonstrated intakes above the recommended for protein, iron, and n-3 fatty acid; but below the recommended for vitamin D. The EAR cut-point probability approach demonstrated higher than 80% adequacy for intakes of protein, n-3 fatty acids, and iron; and lower than 5% adequacy for intakes of vitamin D. Regression models showed no association between bone test values and the nutrients of interest. However, significant association was observed between bone test values and specific FFQ support questions; and descriptive data observations suggest that this sample of vegans may not be at high risk for osteoporosis

MISAME

Recording of Kim Dyett's Refraction for tape. The piece is composed from words that are twisted and transformed moving from meaning to sound images.. The work was inspired from poems by E. E. Cummings