Sociology for industry?: a study of the diffusion and use of industrial sociology in industry

The thesis considers the argument that industrial sociologists have acted as "servants of power". In order to examine this, the diffusion and use of a specific idea - autonomous work groups - was investigated. On examining the origin and potentials of the concept, it was concluded that the idea of autonomous work groups was potentially radical for the organisation of work. Much attention was found to have been devoted to the autonomous work group in publications, but the notion tended to be de-radicalised. The ways in which this (and similar ideas) reach managers in industry were examined through the activities of 'linkers' - journalists, information-giving organisations, consultants (both academic and commercial), industrial training boards and authors. The mechanics and factors influencing the diffusion of ideas to industry were examined through the study of a specific industry: brewing. It was found that managers neither highly rated, nor actively sought, ideas emanating from industrial sociologists; indeed, they were often antagonistic. Academics were seldom found to have any obvious role in the diffusion of industrial sociology to those in industry. Industrial sociologists are not 'servants of power': the notion is both too simplistic and naive. It is in the nature of our society that the presentation of ideas enhances the existing social order

Analysis of cell allocation in GFP chimeric blastocysts by confocal microscopy

This study combined confocal microscopy with the use of a tau-GFP (green fluorescent protein) transgenic mouse strain to study cell fate in two main types of chimeric blastocysts. In each case one component of the chimera was known to contribute poorly to the fetal lineage at later stages. The experiments were designed to test whether this was due to non-random allocation to different tissues at the blastocyst stage.The initial part of this thesis involved the establishment of confocal microscopy techniques and the characterisation of two novel tau-GFP transgenic mouse strains. A method of culturing embryos on the confocal microscope was established for use in further studies. Two tau-GFP transgenic mouse lines, TgTP6.3 and TgTP6.4, were evaluated for their use in following chimera studies by assessing the timing of the onset of GFP expression during preimplantation development and the viability of heterozygote and homozygote mice.The remaining studies involved the use of tau-GFP chimeric embryos. Mouse tetraploid«-*diploid chimeras have previously been used as a model of confined placental mosaicism (CPM). Approximately 2% of human conceptuses investigated by chorionic villus sampling contain chromosomally abnormal cells that are confined to the placenta. This condition, known as human CPM, can lead to incorrect prenatal diagnosis. Animal models would be useful for investigating the mechanisms responsible for the exclusion of abnormal cells from the fetus. As spontaneous chromosomal mosaicism is rare in mouse embryos, mouse aggregation chimeras have been used as a model. Previous results have shown that tetraploid cells are excluded from the epiblast derivatives, including the fetus, of mid gestation tetraploid*-* diploid chimeras. Tetraploid cells have been shown to be preferentially allocated to the trophectoderm, in particular the mural trophectoderm, of mouse tetraploid-^diploid blastocysts. However, tetraploid cells are present within the inner cell mass region of the blastocyst. Therefore, the current study used tau-GFP tetraploid*-*diploid aggregation chimeras to determine if tetraploid cells are present within the epiblast and lost later or are excluded from the epiblast region by preferential allocation to the hypoblast. Tetraploid<-*diploid chimeras were produced using TgTP6.3 embryos. Analysis of these chimeras at E3.5 and E4.5 has confirmed that tetraploid cells are preferentially allocated to the mural trophectoderm. However, tetraploid cells were present within the region of the blastocyst that forms the epiblast. Analysis of expanded chimeric blastocysts at E5.5 and E7.5, produced by transferring them to delayed implantation females, also showed that tetraploid cells were present within the epiblast region. This suggests that tetraploid cells are initially present within the epiblast region but lost from the epiblast later by some mechanism of cell selection against tetraploid cells.Embryos from some inbred strains, such as BALB/c, also tend to contribute poorly to chimeras, so producing 'unbalanced chimeras'. Therefore unbalanced BALB/c chimeras could be a possible model of CPM. BALB/c^GFP aggregation chimeras were analysed using the established time-lapse technique. This was to determine if BALB/c cells are underrepresented in mid-gestation BALB/c chimeras by preferential allocation of BALB/c cells to the mural trophectoderm. These results showed that BALB/c cells were not preferentially allocated to the mural trophectoderm and indicate that a general cell selection mechanism takes place

The infection dynamics and phase change of the Entomophathogenic Bacterium Xenorhabdus bovienii and the associated Nematode Host Steinernema feltiae.

Injection infection of Galleria mellonella with the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema feltiae and its symbiotic bacterium Xenorhabdus bovienii resulted in a mixed population of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Xanthomonas axonopidis on NBTA agar plates. 16S rRNA expression from the general Eubacteriaceae population was shown to start 18 hours after infection and it was continued until 72 hours after infection. However, the same infection was shown to result inX. bovienii 16S rRNA expression from 2 hours until 48 hours. Natural infection of 100 and 1000 S. feltiae using the same infection model resulted in a mixed population of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and X. bovienii on NBTA agar plates. 16S rRNA expression of the Eubacteriaceae population was shown to occur between 36 and 72 hours after infection for both the 100 and 1000 S. feltiae infections. The 16S rRNA expression of the A! bovienii population began at 24 hours and 36 hours for the 100 and 1000 S. feltiae infections, respectively, and continued until 72 hours both the infection levels. The gene fragments partially encoding rpoS and FliC were isolated and cloned from X. bovienii, demonstrating that a distinction between Phase I and Phase IIX. bovienii can be attributed to the expression of the FliC gene and the rpoS gene. Isolation of a Xenorhabdus-like bacterium from the total RNA of G. mellonella indicated that an unspecified, potentially pathogenic, bacterium could be involved in the infection process in G. mellonella. Isolation of a putative Phase I specific 36.5kDa ABC transporter from Phase IX. bovienii using 2-Dimensional gel electrophoresis which could be a potential toxin transporter is a further indication of the distinction between Phase I and Phase IIX. bovienii

Capturing the 'authentic voice' : challenges and opportunities for voice and self-representation in two ABC storytelling projects

In recent years there has been a noticeable move by various public institutions, such as public service broadcasters and community media organisations, to capture and disseminate the voices and viewpoints of ‘ordinary people’ through inviting them to share stories about their lives. One of the foremost objectives of many such projects is to provide under-represented individuals and groups with an opportunity to express and represent themselves; as such, the capture and broadcast of ‘authentic voices’ is a central value. This paper discusses the notion of ‘authentic voice’, and questions the framing role of public media organisations in storytelling projects that aim to provide individuals with space for self-expression and self-representation. It considers the ways in which tensions arise on multiple levels when individuals are asked to express and represent themselves within projects and spaces that are managed by institutions. This paper begins by discussing the challenges and opportunities that arise within storytelling projects that are facilitated by public institutions and community media arts organisations, and that aim to amplify the voices of “ordinary people” (Thumim, 2009). It examines ways in which ‘voice’ is facilitated, curated, broadcast and distributed within such projects, particularly questioning the ways in which project facilitation and the curation of stories for public broadcast can both help and hinder the amplification of ‘authentic voice’. Furthermore, we seek to discuss how ‘authentic voice’ is defined, and what is involved in the process of amplification. The paper moves on to discuss a case study in order to demonstrate some of the tensions that are evident within a storytelling project that is managed by a public institution – Australia’s national broadcaster – and the ways these tensions impact upon the capture and broadcast of an ‘authentic voice’ for project participants. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) ‘Heywire’ project is a storytelling competition and website that aims to ‘give voice’ to 16-22 year olds who live in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia. Looking at tensions that exist on organisational, political and philosophical levels within the Heywire project reveals a number of conflicts of interest and objectives between the institution and project participants. This leads us to question whether institutionally-managed storytelling projects can effectively support individuals to have an ‘authentic voice’, and whether struggles of aims and objectives diminish the personal benefits that people may derive from expressing and representing themselves within such projects

Aging, Emotion, Attention, and Binding in the Taboo Stroop Task: Data and Theories.

How does aging impact relations between emotion, memory, and attention? To address this question, young and older adults named the font colors of taboo and neutral words, some of which recurred in the same font color or screen location throughout two color-naming experiments. The results indicated longer color-naming response times (RTs) for taboo than neutral base-words (taboo Stroop interference); better incidental recognition of colors and locations consistently associated with taboo versus neutral words (taboo context-memory enhancement); and greater speed-up in color-naming RTs with repetition of color-consistent than color-inconsistent taboo words, but no analogous speed-up with repetition of location-consistent or location-inconsistent taboo words (the consistency type by repetition interaction for taboo words). All three phenomena remained constant with aging, consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis and binding theory, where familiar emotional words trigger age-invariant reactions for prioritizing the binding of contextual features to the source of emotion. Binding theory also accurately predicted the interaction between consistency type and repetition for taboo words. However, one or more aspects of these phenomena failed to support the inhibition deficit hypothesis, resource capacity theory, or socio-emotional selectivity theory. We conclude that binding theory warrants further test in a range of paradigms, and that relations between aging and emotion, memory, and attention may depend on whether the task and stimuli trigger fast-reaction, involuntary binding processes, as in the taboo Stroop paradigm

Active vs Passive Social Media Use, Attendee Engagement, and Festival Loyalty

Active vs Passive Social Media Use, Attendee Engagement, and Festival Loyalty Abstract Higher intensity social media (SM) use by consumers can boost organizational reputation and engagement (Dijkmans et al., 2015). As a result, festivals are increasingly using SM as a customer relationship platform to interact with attendees to enhance engagement and build a loyal audience. Attendees’ SM use can range in degree of active versus passive utilization - from writing posts and posting pictures and comments to just following, reading, or viewing. This paper begins to explore the nature of SM interaction (active or passive) with a festival and its potential relationship(s) to attendees’ affective, cognitive, and normative engagement and loyalty. Survey respondents (N=354) at three music festivals provided the field settings for this study. Preliminary findings highlight patterns of similarity and difference in active and passive SM use before, during, and after the festival experience and suggest consistent passive SM use over time is important to fostering engagement and loyalty

Serum 1,3-βD-Glucan assay in the diagnosis of invasive fungal disease in neonates

Invasive fungal disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the neonate. The current study aims to assess the 1, 3-βD-Glucan (BG) assay in a prospective analysis in neonates with suspected fungaemia. A multicentre, prospective cohort study was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa. The study included 72 neonates with clinically suspected late onset sepsis who were at high risk of fungaemia. A BG assay was performed on each patient and correlated with a sepsis classification based on the full blood count, C-reactive protein and blood culture results as no fungaemia, possible fungaemia, probable fungaemia or definite fungaemia. Sensitivity and specificity of the BG assay at levels of 60 pg/mL are 73.2% and 71.0% respectively and at levels of 80 pg/mL are 70.7% and 77.4% respectively. Positive and negative predictive values at 60 pg/mL are 76.9% and 66.7% respectively and at 80 pg/mL are 80.6% and 66.7% respectively. The area under the receiver operating curve is 0.753. The BG assay is a useful adjunct to the diagnosis of invasive fungal disease in neonates. It does, however, need to be considered in the context of the clinical picture and supplementary laboratory investigations