61 research outputs found
âWe canât share things with our teachersâ : Narratives of mistrust and disconnect between South African female learners and their teachers
publishedVersionPeer reviewe
Prevalence and risk factors of Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) in cattle on farms of Limpopo province, South Africa
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.Q fever in animals and humans and its economic and public health significance
has been widely reported worldwide but in South Africa. There are few studies
on the prevalence of this zoonosis and its associated risk factors in South African
livestock. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the
seroprevalence, molecular prevalence, and risk factors associated with C. burnetii
in cattle on farms in South Africaâs Limpopo province. Out of 383 cattle tested for
antibodies, the overall seroprevalence was 24.28%. Herd size of >150 (OR: 9.88;
95%CI: 3.92â24.89; p < 0.01) remained associated with C. burnetii seropositivity
in cattle. For PCR detection, targeting IS1111 fragment, cattle with no abortion
history (OR: 0.37; 95%CI: 0.18â0.77; p 150 (OR: 3.52;
95%CI: 1.34â9.24; p < 0.01) remained associated with C. burnetii positivity. The
molecular prevalence in sheath scrapings and vaginal swabs by IS1111 PCR was
15.67%. Cohenâs kappa agreement test revealed a fair agreement between the PCR
and ELISA results (k = 0.40). Sequence analysis revealed that the amplicons had
similarities to the C. burnetii transposase gene fragment, confirming the presence
of the pathogen. The higher seroprevalence than molecular prevalence indicated
a past C. burnetii infection, no bacterial shedding through vaginal mucus in cows,
or preputial discharge in bulls. Similarly, the detection of C. burnetii by PCR in the
absence of antibodies could be partly explained by recent infections in which
antibodies have not yet been produced against the bacteria, or the level of these
antibodies was below the detectability threshold. The presence of the pathogen
in cattle and the evidence of exposure, as shown by both PCR and ELISA suggests
an active circulation of the pathogen. This study demonstrated that C. burnetii
is widespread in the study area and that a herd size of >150 is associated with C.
burnetii seroprevalence and molecular prevalence.The Red Meat Research and Development in South Africa (RMRD-SA) and the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (DTIC), South Africa â THRIP.frontiersin.orghttps://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science#am2024Production Animal StudiesSDG-02:Zero Hunge
We All Know How, Donât We? On the Role of Scrum in IT-Offshoring
Part 2: Creating Value through Software DevelopmentInternational audienceOffshoring in the IT-industry involves dual interactions between a mother company and an external supplier, often viewed with an implicit perspective from the mother company. This article review general off shoring and IT offshoring literature, focusing on the proliferation of a globally available set of routines; Scrum and Agile. Two cases are studied; a small company and short process and a large mother company with a long process. The interactions of the set ups shows that global concepts like Scrum and Agile are far from a common platform. The âwell knownâ concepts are locally shaped and the enterprises have mixed experiences
Crowdsourcing Controls: A Review and Research Agenda for Crowdsourcing Controls Used for Macro-tasks
Crowdsourcingâthe employment of ad hoc online labor to perform various tasksâhas become a popular outsourcing vehicle. Our current approach to crowdsourcingâfocusing on micro-tasksâfails to leverage the potential of crowds to tackle more complex problems. To leverage crowds to tackle more complex macro tasks requires a better comprehension of crowdsourcing controls. Crowdsourcing controls are mechanisms used to align crowd workersâ actions with predefined standards to achieve a set of goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we know very little about the topic of crowdsourcing controls directed at accomplishing complex macro tasks. To address issues associated with crowdsourcing controls formacro-tasks, this chapter has several objectives. First, it presents and discusses the literature on control theory. Second, this chapter presents a scoping literature review of crowdsourcing controls. Finally, the chapter identifies gaps and puts forth a research agenda to address these shortcomings. The research agenda focuses on understanding how to employ the controls needed to perform macro-tasking in crowds and the implications for crowdsourcing system designers.National Science Foundation grant CHS-1617820Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/150493/1/Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdfDescription of Robert 2019 Preprint Chapter 3.pdf : PrePrint Versio
Sink or swim:empowering leadership and overload in teams' ability to deal with the unexpected
The notion of improvisation has recently emerged in managerial studies as a viable solution to
flexibly dealing with unexpected occurrences in work environments. However, past research on team
improvisation has overlooked the contingencies which allow teams to effectively improvise. Drawing upon
demand-control theory, we investigate how empowering leadership and overload affect the improvisationperformance
relationship in the context of 48 work teams. Our results suggest that empowering leadership
positively moderates the relationship between improvisation and performance, while overload attenuates
the same relationship. Moreover, we found a joint effect of overload and empowering leadership
influencing the improvisation-performance link, such that improvisation is most positively related to
performance when empowering leadership is high and overload is low. Conversely, we found that
empowering leadership is particularly detrimental to the improvisation-performance relationship when
team members perceive high degrees of overload. Our findings make important contributions to the extant
team literature as well as to the emerging literature on team improvisation. We outline several significant
insights for HR managers and team leaders who are responsible for supporting teams that face
unexpected events in the work environment
Whatâs the weather like: the role of team climate infacilitating individualâs technology exploration and use
Given the pervasive use of teams in organizations coupled with high levels
of investment in collaboration technology, there is increasing interest in identifying
factors that affect the exploration and use of a broader scope of system features so that
firms can benefit from the use of such technology. Prior research has called for a deeper
understanding of how managers can encourage greater innovation with technology in
the workplace. Drawing on the team climate and technology use literatures, we identify
team learning climate and team empowerment climate as key factors that affect
employeesâ propensity to explore a new systemâs features
the effect of team climate and individual attributes on individual intention to explore a technology
The paper illustrates how the effect of gender and age affect individual usage scope of a new technology. Results show the moderating effect of gender and age
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