Employee Resistance To Organizational Change

As change management becomes an essential ingredient of organizations’ performance, the body of literature describing successful and unsuccessful change management initiatives continues to expand. Numerous articles and studies provide an insight into the nature of change management and its most common pitfalls. The most recurring themes include resistance to change, readiness for change, leadership effectiveness, employee commitment and participation in change initiatives, and the roles and competencies needed to ensure the success of strategic change. The present article focuses on one of these themes: resistance to change. Understanding of resistance may enable managers to reduce conflict and increase collaboration. To meet these challenges, leaders must be trained and educated to overcome resistance to change. This article points out important types of resistance for organizations to address

Acceptance of Behavior Guidance Techniques Used in Pediatric Dentistry by Parents From Diverse Backgrounds

Objective. To investigate if parental background affects acceptance of behavior guidance techniques. Background. Behavior guidance techniques are used for the safe and effective treatment of pediatric patients. Acceptance of these techniques may vary by racial and ethnic background. Methods. A total of 142 parents were recruited and asked to rate videos showing: active restraint/protective stabilization (AR), general anesthesia (GA), nitrous oxide sedation (N2O), oral premedication/sedation (OP), passive restraint/protective stabilization (PR), tell-show-do (TSD), and voice control (VC) techniques. Results. Hispanic parents rated VC most acceptable, followed by TSD, PR, and pharmacologic techniques. Black and white parents rated TSD, followed by N2O, as most acceptable, and AR and PR as least favorable. Hispanics found GA significantly less acceptable than whites or blacks. Hispanics were less accepting of AR than blacks; but more accepting of PR than whites. TSD was highly rated among all 3 cohorts. Parental background affected acceptance of the techniques in this study

Endogenous retrovirus RNA expression differences between race, stage and HPV status offer improved prognostication among women with cervical cancer

Endogenous human retroviruses (ERVs) are remnants of exogenous retroviruses that have integrated into the human genome. Using publicly available RNA-seq data from 63 cervical cancer patients, we investigated the expression of ERVs in cervical cancers. Four aspects of cervical cancer were investigated: patient ancestral background, tumor HPV type, tumor stage and patient survival. Between the racial subgroups, 74 ERVs were significantly differentially expressed, with Black Americans having 30 upregulated and 44 downregulated (including MER21C, HERV9-int, and HERVH-int) ERVs when compared to White Americans. We found that 3313 ERVs were differentially expressed between HPV subgroups, including MER41A, HERVH-int and HERVK9. There were 28 downregulated (including MLT1D and HERVH-int) and 61 upregulated (including MER41A) ERVs in locally advanced-stage compared to early-stage samples. Tissue microarrays of cervical cancer patients were used to investigate the protein expression of ERVs with protein coding potential (i.e., HERVK and ERV3). Significant differences in protein expression of ERV3

A pragmatic study exploring the prevention of delirium among hospitalized older hip fracture patients: Applying evidence to routine clinical practice using clinical decision support

Delirium occurs in up to 65% of older hip fracture patients. Developing delirium in hospital has been associated with a variety of adverse outcomes. Trials have shown that multi-component preventive interventions can lower delirium rates. The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of an evidence-based electronic care pathway, which incorporates multi-component delirium strategies, among older hip fracture patients. We conducted a pragmatic study using an interrupted time series design in order to evaluate the use and impact of the intervention. The target population was all consenting patients aged 65 years or older admitted with an acute hip fracture to the orthopedic units at two Calgary, Alberta hospitals. The primary outcome was delirium rates. Secondary outcomes included length of hospital stay, in-hospital falls, in-hospital mortality, new discharges to long-term care, and readmissions. A Durbin Watson test was conducted to test for serial correlation and, because no correlation was found, Chi-square statistics, Wilcoxon test and logistic regression analyses were conducted as appropriate. At study completion, focus groups were conducted at each hospital to explore issues around the use of the order set. During the 40-week study period, 134 patients were enrolled. The intervention had no effect on the overall delirium rate (33% pre versus 31% post; p = 0.84). However, there was a significant interaction between study phase and hospital (p = 0.03). Although one hospital did not experience a decline in delirium rate, the delirium rate at the other hospital declined from 42% to 19% (p = 0.08). This difference by hospital was mirrored in focus group feedback. The hospital that experienced a decline in delirium rates was more supportive of the intervention. Overall, post-intervention there were no significant differences in mean length of stay (12 days post versus 14 days pre; p = 0.74), falls (6% post versus 10% pre; p = 0.43) or discharges to long-term care (6% post versus 13% pre; p = 0.20). Translation of evidence-based multi-component delirium prevention strategies into everyday clinical care, using the electronic medical record, was not found to be effective at decreasing delirium rates among hip facture patients

Investigating a Non-Mesh Mosquito Net Among Outdoor Sleeping Nomadic Communities in Kenya.

Rising reports of exophagic malaria vectors make even more pressing the need for alternatives to traditional, mesh, long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) designed for indoor sleeping and often inadequate in the protection of outdoor-sleeping populations. This study tests and evaluates the retention, utilization, and durability of novel, non-mesh nets designed for outdoor use. Longitudinal, cross-sectional surveys were conducted, the physical condition of nets was assessed, and bio-efficacy and insecticide content were tested. At 22 months, retention was 98.0%; 97.1% of nets fell within the World Health Organization (WHO) category of being in "good" condition; none were in the "torn" category. At 18 months post-distribution, 100% of nets had at least WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES)-acceptable levels of insecticide, this proportion was 66.7% at 22 months. This novel mosquito net has the potential to provide a durable and context-specific tool to prevent malaria among traditionally hard-to-protect and highly vulnerable populations

The Consolidation of the White Southern Congressional Vote

This article explores the initial desertion and continued realignment of about one-sixth of the white voters in the South who, until 1994, stood by Democratic congressional candidates even as they voted for Republican presidential nominees. Prior to 1994, a sizable share of the white electorate distinguished between Democratic congressional and presidential candidates; since 1994 that distinction has been swept away. In 1992, a majority of white southern voters was casting their ballot for the Democratic House nominee; by 1994, the situation was reversed and 64 percent cast their ballot for the Republican. Virtually all categories of voters increased their support of Republican congressional candidates in 1994 and the following elections further cement GOP congressional support in the South. Subsequent elections are largely exercises in partisanship, as the congressional votes mirror party preferences. Republicans pull nearly all GOP identifiers, most independents, and a sizeable minority of Democratic identifiers. Democrats running for Congress no longer convince voters that they are different from their party’s presidential standard bearers—a group that has consistently been judged unacceptable to overwhelming proportions of the southern white electorate.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

BioTIME: A database of biodiversity time series for the Anthropocene.

MotivationThe BioTIME database contains raw data on species identities and abundances in ecological assemblages through time. These data enable users to calculate temporal trends in biodiversity within and amongst assemblages using a broad range of metrics. BioTIME is being developed as a community-led open-source database of biodiversity time series. Our goal is to accelerate and facilitate quantitative analysis of temporal patterns of biodiversity in the Anthropocene.Main types of variables includedThe database contains 8,777,413 species abundance records, from assemblages consistently sampled for a minimum of 2 years, which need not necessarily be consecutive. In addition, the database contains metadata relating to sampling methodology and contextual information about each record.Spatial location and grainBioTIME is a global database of 547,161 unique sampling locations spanning the marine, freshwater and terrestrial realms. Grain size varies across datasets from 0.0000000158 km2 (158 cm2) to 100 km2 (1,000,000,000,000 cm2).Time period and grainBioTIME records span from 1874 to 2016. The minimal temporal grain across all datasets in BioTIME is a year.Major taxa and level of measurementBioTIME includes data from 44,440 species across the plant and animal kingdoms, ranging from plants, plankton and terrestrial invertebrates to small and large vertebrates.Software format.csv and .SQL

Precise Measurements of Self-absorbed Rising Reverse Shock Emission from Gamma-ray Burst 221009A

The deaths of massive stars are sometimes accompanied by the launch of highly relativistic and collimated jets. If the jet is pointed towards Earth, we observe a "prompt" gamma-ray burst due to internal shocks or magnetic reconnection events within the jet, followed by a long-lived broadband synchrotron afterglow as the jet interacts with the circum-burst material. While there is solid observational evidence that emission from multiple shocks contributes to the afterglow signature, detailed studies of the reverse shock, which travels back into the explosion ejecta, are hampered by a lack of early-time observations, particularly in the radio band. We present rapid follow-up radio observations of the exceptionally bright gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A which reveal an optically thick rising component from the reverse shock in unprecedented detail both temporally and in frequency space. From this, we are able to constrain the size, Lorentz factor, and internal energy of the outflow while providing accurate predictions for the location of the peak frequency of the reverse shock in the first few hours after the burst.Comment: 11 figures, 4 table