Social intrapreneurship: exploring tensions and paradoxes of embedded agency.

Unmet societal needs require social innovation from various actors and agents. Social intrapreneurs, the corporate sibling of social entrepreneurs, are relatively understudied in management and organisational academic literature. Contemporary empirical studies of social intrapreneurship have focused on the enterprise (context) and the nature and results (outcome) of the social intrapreneurial activity. The academic literature contains fewer descriptions of social intrapreneurs at an individual level. The research is often heterogeneous and fluid in definition, and sometimes contradictory. This discourse utilises social innovation studies, organisational studies and theories of innovation, paradox and embedded agency (neo-institutional theory) to augment the limited social intrapreneurship literature. Research questions are formed based on limited extant literature on mechanisms describing social intrapreneurs as individual actors. This research provides empirical insight into the challenges and mitigations, experienced and enacted, from the perspective of a social intrapreneur within for-profit multinational organisations. A social constructivist stance is utilised in developing an exploratory understanding from semi- structured interviews with 62 social intrapreneurs in MNCs. To address the primary research question, “what tensions do social intrapreneurs experience?” This research contributes to organisation studies by proposing empirically derived frameworks of tensions experienced and navigations enacted by social intrapreneurs, as described by social intrapreneurs. Complementary to these frameworks, this research contributes an exploratory perspective on the interplay between tensions and navigations with role formalisation of social intrapreneurs with respect to social action and innovation. In practice, social intrapreneurs and organisations may gain insights into frameworks of enablers and disablers of social innovation.PhD in Leadership and Managemen

Interrelationships between depressive symptoms and positive and negative symptoms of recent onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders:A network analytical approach

Objective: There is a need to better understand the interrelationships between positive and negative symptoms of recent-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and co-occurring depressive symptoms. Aims were to determine: (1) whether depressive symptoms are best conceptualised as distinct from, or intrinsic to, positive and negative symptoms; and (2) bridging symptoms. Methods: Network analysis was applied to data from 198 individuals with depressive and psychotic symptoms in SSD from the Psychosis Recent Onset GRoningen Survey (PROGR-S). Measures were: Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Results: Positive symptoms were just as likely to be associated with depressive and negative symptoms, and had more strong associations with depressive than negative symptoms. Negative symptoms were more likely to be associated with depressive than positive symptoms, and had more strong associations with depressive than positive symptoms. Suspiciousness and stereotyped thinking bridged between positive and depressive symptoms, and apparent sadness and lassitude between negative and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Depressive symptoms might be best conceptualised as intrinsic to positive and negative symptoms pertaining to deficits in motivation and interest in the psychotic phase of SSD. Treatments targeting bridges between depressive and positive symptoms, and depressive and such negative symptoms, might prevent or improve co-occurring depressive symptoms, or vice-versa, in the psychotic phase of SSD

Self reporting RNA probes as an alternative to cleavable small molecule mass tags

The large size of biological molecules such as proteins and oligonucleotides makes them inherently problematic to analyse and quantify directly by mass spectrometry. For these molecules, electrospray ionisation produces multiply charged species and associated alkali metal adducts which can reduce sensitivity and complicate quantification. Whereas time-of-flight mass analysers, often coupled to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation, can have insufficient mass resolution to resolve these large molecules in the higher m/z range. This has led to the development of cleavable small molecule mass tag approaches for the indirect analysis of biomolecules such as proteins and oligonucleotides. Existing methodologies require the design and synthesis of a cleavable linker to join the biomolecule and the mass tag. Here, an alternative approach to small molecule mass tags is presented, which exploits the properties of the RNA molecule to afford self-reporting probes which can be easily synthesised using automated phosphoramidite chemistry. The sugar-phosphate backbone of RNA was used as a built-in enzyme cleavable linker and through the use of RNase digestion of bromine labelled oligonucleotides the observation of a range of small molecule mass tags by mass spectrometry is demonstrated. This study provides a proof-of-concept that RNase digestion can be used to produce labelled small molecule mass tags from oligonucleotide probes, thus eliminating the need for custom design and synthesis of a cleavable linker

Acylthioureas as anion transporters: the effect of intramolecular hydrogen bonding

Small molecule synthetic anion transporters may have potential application as therapeutic agents for the treatment of diseases including cystic fibrosis and cancer. Understanding the factors that can dictate the anion transport activity of such transporters is a crucial step towards their application in biological systems. In this study a series of acylthiourea anion transporters were synthesised and their anion binding and transport properties in POPC bilayers have been investigated. The transport activity of these receptors is dominated by their lipophilicity, which is in turn dependent on both substituent effects and the formation and strength of an intramolecular hydrogen bond as inferred from DFT calculations. This is in contrast to simpler thiourea systems, in which the lipophilicity depends predominantly on substituent effects alone

Network analysis of inflammation and symptoms in recent onset schizophrenia and the influence of minocycline during a clinical trial

Abstract Attempts to delineate an immune subtype of schizophrenia have not yet led to the clear identification of potential treatment targets. An unbiased informatic approach at the level of individual immune cytokines and symptoms may reveal organisational structures underlying heterogeneity in schizophrenia, and potential for future therapies. The aim was to determine the network and relative influence of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines on depressive, positive, and negative symptoms. We further aimed to determine the effect of exposure to minocycline or placebo for 6 months on cytokine-symptom network connectivity and structure. Network analysis was applied to baseline and 6-month data from the large multi-center BeneMin trial of minocycline (N = 207) in schizophrenia. Pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ had the greatest influence in the inflammatory network and were associated with depressive symptoms and suspiciousness at baseline. At 6 months, the placebo group network connectivity was 57% stronger than the minocycline group, due to significantly greater influence of TNF-α, early wakening, and pathological guilt. IL-6 and its downstream impact on TNF-α, and IFN-γ, could offer novel targets for treatment if offered at the relevant phenotypic profile including those with depression. Future targeted experimental studies of immune-based therapies are now needed

Alfred Dunn

Deposited with permission of the author. © 1968 John R. HernimanBecause Alfred Dunn’s practising life was of such short duration it has been deemed best to treat each year of his work as a separate chapter, dealing with his undertakings in chronological order, and discussing style, and any changes, as these occurred. His biography, as such, while being touched on lightly, necessarily has been given second place except in so far as personal happenings which related to his career

Applications and implementation of modern ultrahigh-performance supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Chromatography and mass spectrometry (MS) are powerful analytical techniques that have seen significant technological advancements over the last 20 years. These have facilitated and enhanced their use as routine tools in many scientific laboratories. Since their introduction, the techniques have been mainly used in isolation with experts specialising in one field only. Recent developments in hyphenating (or coupling) the techniques mean that analysts need to be experts on both sides of the hyphen. i.e., be competent in the fundamental properties of chromatographic separation and all aspects of mass spectrometry. Modern technological advances in the field of ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography (UHPSFC) mean that modern instrumentation is robust enough to be coupled to atmospheric pressure ionisation mass spectrometers. There is increased control of the pressure of the supercritical fluid and since it exhibits the properties of both a liquid and a gas, the optimum separation properties of both are utilised for chromatography. Sometimes referred to as convergence chromatography, the technology converges between liquid and gas chromatography. UHPSFC-MS is often considered as a replacement for normal phase chromatography as the mobile phase is non-polar, but by combining this solvent with a more polar co-solvent a larger range of compounds can be explored. This also means that SFC has the advantage of using the conventional reversed phase (RP) stationary phases such as the C18 to expand the range of compounds analysed. UHPSFC-MS has proved to be a powerful technique in the following application areas: • As a robust tool to be used in an open access environment to fill the analytical gap between RP UHPLC-MS and GC-MS for those unretained, or solvent incompatible samples • To identify and quantify small organic acids and purines in sweat as early markers for the detection of bedsores • As a rapid quality control screening and quantitation protocol for the active ingredients in home-made facemask testing solutions. Additional application areas include the fuel industry where it has been used as an alternative approach to analyse Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAMEs) in Aviation turbine fuel and to detect and quantify a new fuel marker (ACCUTRACE™ S10) in diesel fuel to combat fuel laundering. A further quantitation method was developed to analyse elemental sulfur in mineral oil to help understand sulfur-related power transformer failures