Organizational Culture and Stakeholder Success Criteria in Construction Projects

This paper presents the findings of a theoretical investigation into the association between organizational culture and stakeholder management. With an aspect focused on international construction projects, the study explores the relationship between the cultural origin of key stakeholders and the cultural context in which projects are realized. Emphasis is placed on the examination of project outcomes and the factors that influence cultural domain. Secondary data suggests stakeholder management and corporate culture are critical areas that decide an organization’s success. The importance of these areas will inevitably grow in the future as projects continue to be procured in a global economy. Identifiable theoretical associations between the constructs have been found that provide early evidence that stakeholders and culture influence project life-cycles. Stakeholders—organizations and their representatives—must be informed of the distinct types of cultures and success criteria to ensure they manage them efficiently alongside traditional and long-accepted project variables

Risk Factors Associated with Breast Cancer among Women in Warri and lbadan, Nigeria

Ojectives Breast cancer is a common cause of death among Nigerian women. Identifying some of the risk factors is vital to strategic intervention in breast cancer control. This study was carried out to  determine risk factors associated with breast cancer among women in two referral hospitals in Nigeria.Methods A case control study was carried out among 266 women aged 20-80 years. The participants with breast cancer and the comparison group (controls) were matched in the ratio of 1:3 respectively for  age and duration of stay in the area of residence. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic characteristics, family history of breast cancer, dietary pattern, nutritional status, physical activity and environmental factors.ResultsThe mean age of the respondents was 48. 7±11.8 years. Family history of breast cancer was reported by 6.2% of the cases and 5.0% of control group. Dietary pattern revealed that the cases (69.2%) significantly had high risk consumption pattern for high calorie containing foods than the controls (54. 7%).  Significantly more of the controls than cases had engaged in good physical exercise (17.9% versus 6.2%). The odds of developing breast cancer was four times higher among women who reported daily exposure to fumes from automobiles and electricity generating plants than those who were rarely exposed (0R=4.40, C/=1.25-15.57) and seven times higher among women who reported occasional  exposure to wastes from operating industries than those who were rarely exposed (0R=6.91, C/=2.87- 16.66).Conclusion Major risk factors for breast cancer among  women in this study were lack of  exercise,high calorie intake, and environmental pollutants. Health education to improve knowledge of self-protection against pollutants and healthy dietary habits may reduce risk of breast cancer.Keywords: Breast cancer; Risk factors; Environmental pollutants; Dietary pattern; Nigeria

A Study of the Attitudes of Nigerian Civil Servants towards Ageing

The human population is continuously ageing and previous studies suggest that one’s attitude towards ageing predicts ageing outcome. While several factors have been shown to influence attitude towards ageing, the current study investigated the influence of self-esteem and gender on attitude towards ageing. The study adopted a cross sectional design and a total of two hundred and five (205) civil servants were randomly selected from state Civil Service Secretariats and Local Government headquarters in Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states respectively. Self-report measures including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and a Self-Developed Attitude towards Ageing Scale were used for data collection. A Two-Way Analysis of Variance was used for the data analysis. The findings revealed that our first proposition that self-esteem as a psychological mechanism will significantly predict attitude towards ageing was not supported meaning that self-esteem whether high or low does not matter in how individuals respond to ageing consciousness. Whereas, the second proposition that gender will greatly influence attitude towards ageing was confirmed. In other word, the result further confirmed that female show more positive attitude about ageing than the male. The findings are discussed

Study of the Corrosion Inhibition Reaction of Admixed Plant Distillates on Mild Steel

The corrosion inhibition reaction of plant distillates and their synergistic combination effect was studied. Atlas cedarwood distillate (ACW), and admixture of sage and Jojoba distillates (SJA), and admixture of jojoba and lavender distillates (JLD) were evaluated at minimal concentrations to for their corrosion inhibition effect on mild steel in 1 M H2SO4 solution. Results showed ACW reacted poorly at 1% and 2% inhibitor concentration. However, from 3% - 6% ACW concentration the final corrosion rate of 94.73%, 94.77% and 95.61% was attained at 240 h signifying effective inhibition performance. SJA inhibitor compound exhibited optimal performance at all concentrations (1% - 6% SJA) with maximum inhibition value of 98.44% at 5% SJA concentration. JLD exhibited optimal performance at all concentrations studied after 2% JLD with maximum inhibition value of 91.07% at 3% JLD concentration and 240 h exposure time. The mean values for ACW and JLD inhibition efficiency appreciated with increase in inhibitor concentration while the value for SJA compound was generally constant. Results shows the extent of variation from mean values (standard deviation) for ACW and JLD was significantly high compared to the values obtained for SJA compound where the deviation from mean value is below 2. The Margin of error values for ACW and JLD compound shows that 65% and 60% of inhibition efficiency data have values above 70% inhibition efficiency compared to SJA where 100% of its inhibition efficiency data have values above 70% inhibition at +12.07%, +13.58% and +0% and +13.58%. Statistical analysis ANOVA only inhibitor concentration of the compounds significantly influenced their inhibition performance with values of 66.61%, 70.29% and 93.07% (ACW, SJA and JLD compound) compared to exposure time which had no influence. However, confirmation comparison of the mean square ratio of the compounds with the theoretical statistical tables shows the inhibitor concentration for JLD only is statistically relevant

Automatic Modulation Recognition Using Minimum-Phase Reconstruction Coefficients and Feed-Forward Neural Network

Identification of signal waveforms is highly critical in 5G communications and other state-of-the-art radio technologies such as cognitive radios. For instance, to achieve efficient demodulation and spectrum sensing, cognitive radios need to implement automatic modulation recognition (AMR) of detected signals. Although many works have been reported in the literature on the subject, most of them have mainly focused on the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. However, addressing the AWGN channel, only, does not sufficiently emulate real-time wireless communications. In this paper, we created datasets of six modulation schemes in GNU Radio. Wireless signal impairment issues such as center frequency offset, sample rate offset, AWGN, and multipath fading effects were applied for the dataset creation. Afterward, we developed AMR models by training different artificial neural network (ANN) architectures using real cepstrum coefficients (RCC), and minimum-phase reconstruction coefficients (MPRC) extracted from the created signals. Between these two features, MPRC features have the best performance, and the ANN architecture with Levenberg-Marquardt learning algorithm, as well as logsig and purelin activation functions in the hidden and output layers, respectively, gave the best performance of 98.7% accuracy, 100% sensitivity, and 99.33% specificity when compared with other algorithms. This model can be leveraged in cognitive radio for spectrum sensing and automatic selection of signal demodulators

The Use of Technology to Support Precision Health in Nursing Science

PurposeThis article outlines how current nursing research can utilize technology to advance symptom and self‐management science for precision health and provides a roadmap for the development and use of technologies designed for this purpose.ApproachAt the 2018 annual conference of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) Research Centers, nursing and interdisciplinary scientists discussed the use of technology to support precision health in nursing research projects and programs of study. Key themes derived from the presentations and discussion were summarized to create a proposed roadmap for advancement of technologies to support health and well‐being.ConclusionsTechnology to support precision health must be centered on the user and designed to be desirable, feasible, and viable. The proposed roadmap is composed of five iterative steps for the development, testing, and implementation of technology‐based/enhanced self‐management interventions. These steps are (a) contextual inquiry, focused on the relationships among humans, and the tools and equipment used in day‐to‐day life; (b) value specification, translating end‐user values into end‐user requirements; (c) design, verifying that the technology/device can be created and developing the prototype(s); (d) operationalization, testing the intervention in a real‐world setting; and (e) summative evaluation, collecting and analyzing viability metrics, including process data, to evaluate whether the technology and the intervention have the desired effect.Clinical RelevanceInterventions using technology are increasingly popular in precision health. Use of a standard multistep process for the development and testing of technology is essential.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151985/1/jnu12518.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151985/2/jnu12518_am.pd

Computational approaches for network-based integrative multi-omics analysis

Advances in omics technologies allow for holistic studies into biological systems. These studies rely on integrative data analysis techniques to obtain a comprehensive view of the dynamics of cellular processes, and molecular mechanisms. Network-based integrative approaches have revolutionized multi-omics analysis by providing the framework to represent interactions between multiple different omics-layers in a graph, which may faithfully reflect the molecular wiring in a cell. Here we review network-based multi-omics/multi-modal integrative analytical approaches. We classify these approaches according to the type of omics data supported, the methods and/or algorithms implemented, their node and/or edge weighting components, and their ability to identify key nodes and subnetworks. We show how these approaches can be used to identify biomarkers, disease subtypes, crosstalk, causality, and molecular drivers of physiological and pathological mechanisms. We provide insight into the most appropriate methods and tools for research questions as showcased around the aetiology and treatment of COVID-19 that can be informed by multi-omics data integration. We conclude with an overview of challenges associated with multi-omics network-based analysis, such as reproducibility, heterogeneity, (biological) interpretability of the results, and we highlight some future directions for network-based integration

Integration of priority population, health and nutrition interventions into health systems: systematic review

Objective of the study was to assess the effects of strategies to integrate targeted priority population, health and nutrition interventions into health systems on patient health outcomes and health system effectiveness and thus to compare integrated and non-integrated health programmes. Systematic review using Cochrane methodology of analysing randomised trials, controlled before-and-after and interrupted time series studies. We defined specific strategies to search PubMed, CENTRAL and the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group register, considered studies published from January 1998 until September 2008, and tracked references and citations. Two reviewers independently agreed on eligibility, with an additional arbiter as needed, and extracted information on outcomes: primary (improved health, financial protection, and user satisfaction) and secondary (improved population coverage, access to health services, efficiency, and quality) using standardised, pre-piloted forms. Two reviewers in the final stage of selection jointly assessed quality of all selected studies using the GRADE criteria. Of 8,274 citations identified 12 studies met inclusion criteria. Four studies compared the benefits of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses in Tanzania and Bangladesh, showing improved care management and higher utilisation of health facilities at no additional cost. Eight studies focused on integrated delivery of mental health and substance abuse services in the United Kingdom and United States of America. Integrated service delivery resulted in better clinical outcomes and greater reduction of substance abuse in specific sub-groups of patients, with no significant difference found overall. Quality of care, patient satisfaction, and treatment engagement were higher in integrated delivery models. Targeted priority population health interventions we identified led to improved health outcomes, quality of care, patient satisfaction and access to care. Limited evidence with inconsistent findings across varied interventions in different settings means no general conclusions can be drawn on the benefits or disadvantages of integrated service delivery