Kyrgyzstan's 'manas' epos millennium celebrations : post-colonial resurgence of Turkic culture and the strategic marketing of cultural tourism

The paper addresses the symbolic nature of the Manas epos and its influence on both the unification of Kyrgyzstan and the enhancement of the country's national and Turkic identity. The case of the Manas epos millennium celebrations event is then used to illustrate the relationship between the uses of the Manas 'legend' in the construction of a national identity and in the positioning of the cultural tourism product. The paper subsequently assess the potential usefulness of the Manas epos in the creation of a destination image for Kyrgyzstan and in the positioning of Kyrgyzstan in the global tourism marketplace

Investigating talent attraction: percieved attractiveness of non-financial reward elements by means of an experimental design

Includes bibliographical references.The changing nature of work and an increased global need for organisations to remain competitive in the war for scarce skills and talent has influenced the manner in which organisations manage their talent. Organisations are altering their strategic imperatives to include more effective and highly attractive reward packages that attract top talented employees. As a result this could increase their competitive advantage in the market. Lately however, financial rewards and money is no longer enough to attract, motivate or retain employees. These changes have led organisations to seek out non-financial attraction rewards that are most effective in harnessing top talent. The main objective of this study was to establish which non-financial rewards and what combinations of these rewards were perceived to be most attractive to employees when considering a job offering. A secondary objective was to establish which non-financial rewards were most attractive to various demographic groups namely: gender, race, and age

Protein binding contrast agents for potential use in MRI

Heptadentate ligands form lanthanide (III) complexes, which allow an increased hydration state about the metal centre, resulting in an improvement in the relaxivity of the contrast agents administered. A series of analogues based upon the compound (2) was pursued, incorporating aromatic functionalised groups, consequently increasing the hydrophobicity of the complexes. The aryl moiety significantly enhances the binding to human serum albumin (HSA), consequently improving the observed relaxivity. Relaxivity enhancements were seen for each of the carboxylate complexes in the presence of increasing serum protein concentrations. (DIAGRAM-Chemical structure of the ligand aD03A) (2)The phosphonate analogue of the aD03A ligand (2) was identified as a target and synthesised as a key ligand whose lanthanide (III) complex possesses a higher peripheral negative charge, repelling the attraction towards anions, potentially maintaining higher relaxivity values in serum solutions. A trifluoromethanesulphonamide moiety was introduced into the aD03A moiety that exhibited a high binding affinity to human serum albumin resulting in high values for the observed relaxivity. The solution structures of the diastereoisomers for the model albumin binding complex (S)-[Eu-(EOB)-(DTPA)](^2-) were analysed by (^1)Ή NMR, CD and CPL spectroscopy. The major species observed were found to possess similar (^1)Ή NMR paramagnetic shifts and emission spectra, consistent with a 9-coordinate structure involving one bound water molecule

Business excellence: lessons for the construction industry

The construction industry has been accused of being, at its worst, wasteful, inefficient and ineffective, wasting over £1 billion in 1999 due to errors and rework (Nicholson, 1999). Competitive pressures from within industry, as well as external political, economic and other considerations are forcing the industry to re-examine and improve its modus operandi (Anumba et al, 2000). The message is that to survive and prosper, the industry must change its management and practice. Nevertheless it took the publication of both the Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) Reports, both advocating the use of performance measurement, for the industry to recognise that it needed to modernise in order to tackle the severe problems facing it. However, in order for it to improve, the Construction Industry is faced with a bewildering range of business improvement models and approaches, all with their unique features, to use on their quality journey, all proclaiming to improve organisational capability and results. Hence, the aim of this research is to provide guidance on how these business improvement models and approaches can be used to support and improve bottom-line results to achieve business excellence. The scope of this research is to focus on three industry sectors and companies: Construction (Morgan Est Pic), automotive (Lear, a first tier supplier) and aerospace (Rolls Royce), as proof of concepts. An analysis of the overlap between the business improvement models and approaches, conducted in the literature review, confirms the need for this research. The initial concept adopted in this research is to pursue and evaluate the most popular business improvement models; ISO 9001; the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model and the American Baldrige Model and the business improvement approaches such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Improvement Review (BPIR), Six Sigma and other "tools" that help Managers understand the business, such as Balanced Scorecards and the Process Classification Framework (PCR). Accordingly, a theoretical evaluation model was developed to demonstrate where the approaches support the business improvement models. The model was subjected to the empirical feedback of expert interviews and case studies and to confirm its suitability for use within the construction industry. The now developed evaluation model demonstrated that these models and approaches are "TQM" with ISO 9001 providing the support and consistency between them all. Furthermore, the results of a questionnaire survey revealed that ISO 9001 can be the starting point for the journey towards world-class performance. It provides the platform for taking the organisation forward by achieving control over leadership, customer focus and continual improvement. However, it needs to be implemented with a view to excellence rather than compliance. The main finding from this research is that the construction sector still needs to provide major investment in improvement models and approaches to deliver bottom-line results and achieve business excellence

DNA repair in cancer: emerging targets for personalized therapy

Genomic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is under constant threat from endogenous and exogenous DNA damaging agents. Mammalian cells have evolved highly conserved DNA repair machinery to process DNA damage and maintain genomic integrity. Impaired DNA repair is a major driver for carcinogenesis and could promote aggressive cancer biology. Interestingly, in established tumors, DNA repair activity is required to counteract oxidative DNA damage that is prevalent in the tumor microenvironment. Emerging clinical data provide compelling evidence that overexpression of DNA repair factors may have prognostic and predictive significance in patients. More recently, DNA repair inhibition has emerged as a promising target for anticancer therapy. Synthetic lethality exploits intergene relationships where the loss of function of either of two related genes is nonlethal, but loss of both causes cell death. Exploiting this approach by targeting DNA repair has emerged as a promising strategy for personalized cancer therapy. In the current review, we focus on recent advances with a particular focus on synthetic lethality targeting in cancer

Feature-based characterisation of laser powder bed fusion surfaces

A novel algorithmic pipeline for the automated identification and dimensional/geometric characterisation of topographic formations of interest (surface features) is proposed, specifically aimed at the investigation of signature features left by laser powder bed fusion of metallic surfaces. Unmelted and partially-melted particles, as well as spatter formations and weld tracks, are automatically identified and extracted from topography datasets obtained via state-of-the-art areal topography measurement instruments, and then characterised in terms of their size and shape properties. Feature -based characterisation approaches, such as the one proposed in this work, allow for development of new solutions for the study of advanced manufacturing processes through the investigation of their surface fingerprint

Attractiveness of non-financial rewards for prospective knowledge workers : an experimental investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if the presence of non-financial rewards (specifically work-life balance, learning, and career advancement) were able to influence the perceived attractiveness of a job offering. A secondary objective was to establish if there were demographic differences, specifically, gender, race, and age differences in the manner in which these non-financial rewards influenced the perceived attractiveness of a job offer. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative research approach was followed and a 23 full-factorial experimental design utilised. Data were collected with two questionnaires via convenience (non-probability) sampling. The first job attraction questionnaire assessed the perceived level of attractiveness to one of eight randomly assigned experimental conditions (stimuli) that were expressed as eight fictitious job advertisements. Employees who responded were from various industries (n=180). The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and a full-factorial ANOVA. A second questionnaire was used to assess the perceived attractiveness of various elements of a typical total rewards package. The validity and reliability of the second questionnaire was assessed using Exploratory Factor Analysis utilising the Principal Axis Factoring extraction method, employing a Direct Oblimin (i.e. Oblique) rotation, and calculating Cronbach α coefficients, respectively. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the composite factors or reward elements. Findings – The non-financial reward elements (work-life balance, learning, and career advancement) were found to have statistically significant main effects on employees’ perceived attractiveness of a job offering. Gender was further found to also have a significant main effect, indicating that the presence of non-financial rewards was more attractive in job offerings for women than for men. Research limitations/implications – The sample group was obtained by means of convenience sampling and may not have been adequately representative of the target population. Practical implications – Organisations may benefit from these results by implementing and/or emphasising non-financial rewards as part of a total rewards package when they attempt to attract or recruit potential employees. Organisations that seek to attract a higher number of female employees may benefit from the results by incorporating or further emphasising non-financial rewards as part of a targeted job offer. Originality/value – Substantial research exists that has identified reward elements that are effective in attraction strategies, but the authors are unaware of any literature where use was made of an experimental design to empirically show that non-financial rewards effect/influence perceived job attractiveness. The current study succeeded in identifying that the presence of non-financial rewards, as part of a job advertisement led to significantly higher levels of job attractiveness in prospective employees. Also, that there are gender differences in the extent to which the presence of non-financial rewards effect perceived attractiveness of a job offer

Business excellence : lessons for the construction industry

The construction industry has been accused of being, at its worst, wasteful, inefficient and ineffective, wasting over £1 billion in 1999 due to errors and rework (Nicholson, 1999). Competitive pressures from within industry, as well as external political, economic and other considerations are forcing the industry to re-examine and improve its modus operandi (Anumba et al, 2000). The message is that to survive and prosper, the industry must change its management and practice. Nevertheless it took the publication of both the Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) Reports, both advocating the use of performance measurement, for the industry to recognise that it needed to modernise in order to tackle the severe problems facing it. However, in order for it to improve, the Construction Industry is faced with a bewildering range of business improvement models and approaches, all with their unique features, to use on their quality journey, all proclaiming to improve organisational capability and results. Hence, the aim of this research is to provide guidance on how these business improvement models and approaches can be used to support and improve bottom-line results to achieve business excellence. The scope of this research is to focus on three industry sectors and companies: Construction (Morgan Est Pic), automotive (Lear, a first tier supplier) and aerospace (Rolls Royce), as proof of concepts. An analysis of the overlap between the business improvement models and approaches, conducted in the literature review, confirms the need for this research. The initial concept adopted in this research is to pursue and evaluate the most popular business improvement models; ISO 9001; the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model and the American Baldrige Model and the business improvement approaches such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Business Improvement Review (BPIR), Six Sigma and other "tools" that help Managers understand the business, such as Balanced Scorecards and the Process Classification Framework (PCR). Accordingly, a theoretical evaluation model was developed to demonstrate where the approaches support the business improvement models. The model was subjected to the empirical feedback of expert interviews and case studies and to confirm its suitability for use within the construction industry. The now developed evaluation model demonstrated that these models and approaches are "TQM" with ISO 9001 providing the support and consistency between them all. Furthermore, the results of a questionnaire survey revealed that ISO 9001 can be the starting point for the journey towards world-class performance. It provides the platform for taking the organisation forward by achieving control over leadership, customer focus and continual improvement. However, it needs to be implemented with a view to excellence rather than compliance. The main finding from this research is that the construction sector still needs to provide major investment in improvement models and approaches to deliver bottom-line results and achieve business excellence.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo