Engineering compliance and worker resistance in UK further education: The creation of the Stepford lecturer

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore control and resistance in the UK further education (FE) sector by examining senior college managers’ attempts to engineer culture change and analysing lecturers’ resistance to such measures.Design/methodology/approachData were derived from interviews with managers and lecturers in two English FE colleges and the analysis of college documents. Interview data were analysed thematically using NVIVO software.FindingsIt was found that college managers sought to build consent to change among lecturers based on values derived from “business‐like” views. Culture change initiatives were framed within the language of empowerment but lecturers’ experiences of change led them to feel disempowered and cynical as managers imposed their view of what lecturers should be doing and how they should behave. This attempt to gain control of the lecturers’ labour process invoked the “Stepford” lecturer metaphor used in the paper. Paradoxically, as managers sought to create lecturers who were less resistant to change, individualised resistance intensified as managers’ attempts to win hearts and minds conspicuously failed.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper draws on data from two case study colleges and this limits the generalisability of its findings.Practical implicationsThe paper provides a critical perspective on the received wisdom of investing in stylised change programmes that promise to win staff over to change but which may alienate those they purport to empower and ultimately lead to degenerative workplace relations.Originality/valueThe paper offers new insights into culture change from the juxtaposed, polarised views of senior managers and lecturers, while highlighting the negative consequences of imposing change initiatives from above.</jats:sec

Patients' perspectives of long-term follow-up for localised cutaneous melanoma

Background Little is known about the value of long-term follow-up for localised cutaneous melanoma from the patients' perspective. This study aimed to explore the benefits and potential downsides of follow-up; feelings about changes to frequency of follow-up, and patient-centred recommendations for improving follow-up care. Methods Qualitative analysis of 29 in-depth interviews conducted with Australian patients undergoing long-term follow-up after surgical treatment of stage I/II melanoma. Results Patient-perceived benefits of follow-up included reassurance, early detection of new melanomas and non-melanoma skin cancers, education about skin self-examination, the opportunity to ask questions, and reinforcement of ‘sunsafe’ behaviours. Downsides included anxiety leading up to and during follow-up visits; inconvenience of travel to attend visits; and lost work time. Patients varied in their engagement with skin self-examination, and their views on multiple skin excisions, but highly valued access to specialists for unscheduled visits. Most patients felt their follow-up intervals could be extended to 12 months if recommended by their clinician. Conclusion The benefits and potential downsides of follow-up should be discussed with patients when deciding on a melanoma follow-up plan to achieve a balance between inducing additional patient anxiety and providing reassurance. Follow-up intervals of 12 months appear to be acceptable to patients

Effects of diet forage source and neutral detergent fiber content on milk production of dairy cattle and methane emissions determined using GreenFeed and respiration chamber techniques

Strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from dairy cattle are unlikely to be adopted if production or profitability is reduced. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of high maize silage (MS) vs. high grass silage (GS) diets, without or with added neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) on milk production and methane emission of dairy cattle, using GreenFeed (GF) or respiration chamber (RC) techniques for methane emission measurements. Experiment 1 was 12-wks in duration with a randomized block continuous design and 40 Holstein cows (74 d in milk; DIM) in free-stall housing, assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments (n = 10 per treatment), according to calving date, parity and milk yield. Milk production and dry matter intake (DMI) were measured daily, and milk composition measured weekly, with methane yield (g/kg DMI) estimated using a GF unit (wks 10 to 12). Experiment 2 was a 4 × 4 Latin Square Design with 5-wk periods and 4 dairy cows (114 DIM) fed the same 4 dietary treatments as in experiment 1. Measurements of DMI, milk production and composition occurred in wk 4, and DMI, milk production and methane yield were measured for 2 d in RC during wk 5. Dietary treatments for both experiments were fed as TMRs offered ad libitum and containing 500 g silage/kg DM comprised of either 75:25 MS:GS (MS) or 25:75 MS:GS (GS), without or with added NDF from chopped straw and soy hulls (+47 g NDF/kg DM; MSNDF and GSNDF). In both experiments, compared to high GS, cows fed high MS had a higher (P = 0.01) DMI, greater (P = 0.01) milk production, and lower (P = 0.02) methane yield (24% lower in experiment 1 using GF and 8% lower in experiment 2 using RC). Added NDF increased (or tended to increase) methane yield for high MS, but not high GS diets (P = 0.02 for experiment 1 and P = 0.10 for experiment 2, forage type × NDF interaction). In the separate experiments the GF and RC methods detected similar dietary treatment effects on methane emission (expressed as g/d and g/kg DMI), although the magnitude of the difference varied between experiments for dietary treatments Overall methane emission and yield were 448 g/d and 20.9 g/kg DMI using GF for experiment 1 using GF and 458 g/d and 23.8 g/kg DMI for experiment 2 using RC, respectively

Effects of Standard Labor-Wear on Swimming and Treading Water

We tested the hypothesis that occupational clothing would impair performance during swimming. The sub questions included: (1) Will the standard work wear of a railway worker or laborer impede swimming ability? (2) Will this clothing impact the individual’s ability to tread water? We addressed the research questions with three hypotheses. Analysis showed statistically significant p-values and all three null hypotheses were rejected in favor of the three research hypotheses, showing strong evidence that standard labor wear had adverse effects on 11.43 meter/12.5 yard swim time, water treading time and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) during water treading. The mean swim time more than doubled when the subjects wore standard labor-wear and their average rate of perceived exertion increased from 11.6 in standard swim wear to 17.1 in standard laborwear. It may be beneficial for those workers who work near water to be exposed to educational programs that allow in-water experiences so they develop an understanding of their abilities in, and respect for, the water

The biological effect of 2.45 GHz microwaves on the viability and permeability of bacterial and yeast cells

Microwaves are a form of non-ionizing radiation composed of electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields and are absorbed by biological tissues with a high water content. Our study investigated the effect of the E field, H field, and a combination of both (E + H) field’s exposure of structurally diverse micro-organisms, at a frequency of 2.45 GHz. We observed that the exposure to a microwave E field of an amplitude of 9.3 kV/m had no significant effect on cell viability; however, it did increase membrane permeability of Mycobacterium smegmatis to propidium iodide and to a range of different sized dextran particles in Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and M. smegmatis. The permeability of propidium iodide was observed in microwave treated cells (M. smegmatis) but not in heat-treated cells. Permeability of 3 kDa sized fluorescently labeled dextrans was observed across all cell types; however, this was found not to be the case for larger 70 kDa dextran particles. In terms of efflux, DNA was detected following E field exposure of M. smegmatis. In contrast, H field exposure had no effect on cell viability and did not contribute to increase cell’s membrane to dextran particles. In conclusion, this study shows that microwave generated E fields can temporarily disrupt membrane integrity without detrimentally impacting on cell viability. This approach has the potential to be developed as a high efficiency electropermeabilization method and as a means of releasing host DNA to support diagnostic applications

Binomial Sampling of Western Flower Thrips Infesting Flowering Greenhouse Crops Using Incidence-Mean Models

Accurate assessments of thrips density are important for effective thrips management programs. Complicating the development of sampling plans for western flower thrips (WFT) Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) in greenhouse crops are the facts that they are small, difficult to detect, and attack a variety of crops, which may be grown concurrently within the same greenhouse. Binomial sampling was evaluated as an alternative to sampling plans based on complete enumeration. This work included comparison of incidence-mean models across diverse plant species (impatiens, cucumber, and marigold) to determine the possibility of using a generic model for sampling WFT in mixed crops. Data from laboratory-processed flower samples revealed that infestation rates calculated using a tally threshold of three thrips per flower provided the best estimates of thrips population densities in each tested crop and in the combined crops (composite data set). Distributions of thrips populations were similar across the three plant species, indicating potential for development of a generic sampling plan for mixed floral crops. Practical sampling methods for simple and complex flowers tested in the greenhouse (in situ) were evaluated via construction of binomial count operating characteristic functions. In the case of simple flowers (impatiens), visual inspections provided adequate estimates of thrips infestation rates at a low tally threshold, which ultimately enabled accurate estimation of thrips densities. However, visual inspection and tap-sampling of complex flowers (marigold) provided unreliable results. These findings indicate that use of binomial sampling methods in mixed floral crops will require development of more accurate sampling technique