Change communication : the impact on satisfaction with alternative workplace strategies

Communication is fundamental to the Facilities Management (FM) role within organisations; especially when the FM department is implementing changes to the workplace. An evaluation of an instance is presented. A self- administered online questionnaire was used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. The research focused on responses to satisfaction with the communication methods rather than reviewing the merits of alternative workplace strategies. Findings included the impact of communication on staff satisfaction levels, the need to provide timely and relevant information and communication via a range of mediums and the need to ensure there was opportunity to participate in meaningful feedback. The key findings are substantiated with existing internal communication and change literature. Originality / value The research highlights the practical importance of the need to improve communication within the FM industry and especially in change circumstances.</p

Linking Theory and Practice through Mindfulness: Reflections of a Nurse Practitioner Student

Nurse practitioner (NP) students are called upon to reflect on and articulate their role as future NPs within the healthcare system. Watson’s Theory of Human Caring (2002) can help to shed light on the nursing principles and core values that underlie the NP role and that shape the professional identity. However, challenges in NP studies and practice can pose barriers to fully embodying an idealized way of being. The cultivation of mindfulness could offer the means for students and practicing NPs to enact better caring for themselves and, in turn, promote increased caring and healing in their relationships with others

For God’s Sake! Rethinking Secularism in Australia

This dissertation proposes a new way of thinking about Muslims, religion and politics in Australia. It critically engages those commentators, academics and politicians who in recent years have used the language of ‘secularism’ to denounce publicly what they see as a major social and political threat posed by Australia’s growing Muslim population. The worn-out nineteenth-century ideology of secularism they draw upon presupposes the irrational primitivism of religion and fails to recognise present-day counter-trends. It should be rejected. This dissertation calls for a radical rethinking of the appropriate relations between religion and politics in a democratic society like Australia. It suggests that the principle of ‘religious secularity’ might be the answer: a new twenty-first century secularism which has room for the public flourishing of religions at the level of society, but maintains the independence of the state from religion. The dissertation shows, contrary to common perceptions, and despite the resilience of their highly visible and public religiosity, that Australia’s large Muslim communities overwhelmingly support the autonomy of state institutions from religious influence, and that they are important protagonists of the new secularism

PTO performance and NOx emissions with D2, B20, and B100 fuels in a John Deere 3203 compact tractor

Tests were conducted in fall 2006 on a John Deere 3203 diesel tractor to determine differences in specific fuel consumption, power take-off (PTO) torque, PTO power, thermal efficiency, and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions between No. 2 diesel (D2), 20% biodiesel (B20), and 100% biodiesel (B100). Four 1-hour tests were conducted on each fuel. The results indicated no statistically significant differences (p≤.05) between D2 or B20 on any variable of interest. However, B100 resulted in significantly (p≤.05) increased, specific fuel consumption and thermal efficiency and decreased PTO torque and PTO power over both D2 and B20. These data suggest that farmers could switch from D2 to B20 without any performance losses, but a switch to B100 would result in the use of more fuel and a loss of power and torque

Sex Differences in the Relations Between Sex Guilt and Sexual Experience

The purpose of this study was to examine whether sex differences exist in the relations between sex guilt and sexual behavior. Past research has examined variables that affect sex guilt and found that sex guilt and sexual behavior are inversely related. This study specifically examined sex differences and how they affect this relation. The participants were 163 male and female undergraduate students at Eastern Illinois University. Mosher\u27s revised Sex guilt Inventory and Paulson and Sputa\u27s Sexual Behavior Frequency survey were administered along with a biographical data sheet. Bivariate correlation analyses revealed that sex guilt and sexual behavior were inversely related. An Analysis of Variance revealed that sex differences did not exist in this relation. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as possible limitations of the study

Depth perception not found in human observers for static or dynamic anti-correlated random dot stereograms

One of the greatest challenges in visual neuroscience is that of linking neural activity with perceptual experience. In the case of binocular depth perception, important insights have been achieved through comparing neural responses and the perception of depth, for carefully selected stimuli. One of the most important types of stimulus that has been used here is the anti-correlated random dot stereogram (ACRDS). In these stimuli, the contrast polarity of one half of a stereoscopic image is reversed. While neurons in cortical area V1 respond reliably to the binocular disparities in ACRDS, they do not create a sensation of depth. This discrepancy has been used to argue that depth perception must rely on neural activity elsewhere in the brain. Currently, the psychophysical results on which this argument rests are not clear-cut. While it is generally assumed that ACRDS do not support the perception of depth, some studies have reported that some people, some of the time, perceive depth in some types of these stimuli. Given the importance of these results for understanding the neural correlates of stereopsis, we studied depth perception in ACRDS using a large number of observers, in order to provide an unambiguous conclusion about the extent to which these stimuli support the perception of depth. We presented observers with random dot stereograms in which correlated dots were presented in a surrounding annulus and correlated or anti-correlated dots were presented in a central circular region. While observers could reliably report the depth of the central region for correlated stimuli, we found no evidence for depth perception in static or dynamic anti-correlated stimuli. Confidence ratings for stereoscopic perception were uniformly low for anti-correlated stimuli, but showed normal variation with disparity for correlated stimuli. These results establish that the inability of observers to perceive depth in ACRDS is a robust phenomenon

Design, optimisation and preliminary validation of a human specific loop-mediated amplification assay for the rapid detection of human DNA at forensic crime scenes

The identification of samples at a crime scene which require forensic DNA typing has been the focus of recent research interest. We propose a simple, but sensitive analysis system which can be deployed at a crime scene to identify crime scene stains as human or non-human. The proposed system uses the isothermal amplification of DNA in a rapid assay format, which returns results in as little as 30 min from sampling. The assay system runs on the Genie II device, a proven in-field detection system which could be deployed at a crime scene. The results presented here demonstrate that the system was sufficiently specific and sensitive and was able to detect the presence of human blood, semen and saliva on mock forensic samples

A heuristic for the distribution of point counts for random curves over a finite field

How many rational points are there on a random algebraic curve of large genus $g$ over a given finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$? We propose a heuristic for this question motivated by a (now proven) conjecture of Mumford on the cohomology of moduli spaces of curves; this heuristic suggests a Poisson distribution with mean $q+1+1/(q-1)$. We prove a weaker version of this statement in which $g$ and $q$ tend to infinity, with $q$ much larger than $g$.Comment: 16 pages; v2: refereed version, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 201