The organisational and human resource challenges facing primary care trusts : protocol of a multiple case study

BACKGROUND: The study is designed to assess the organisational and human resource challenges faced by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). Its objectives are to: specify the organisational and human resources challenges faced by PCTs in fulfilling the roles envisaged in government and local policy; examine how PCTs are addressing these challenges, in particular, to describe the organisational forms they have adopted, and the OD/HR strategies and initiatives they have planned or in place; assess how effective these structures, strategies and initiatives have been in enabling the PCTs to meet the organisational and human resources challenges they face; identify the factors, both internal to the PCT and in the wider health community, which have contributed to the success or failure of different structures, strategies and initiatives. METHODS: The study will be undertaken in three stages. In Stage 1 the key literature on public sector and NHS organisational development and human resources management will be reviewed, and discussions will be held with key researchers and policy makers working in this area. Stage 2 will focus on detailed case studies in six PCTs designed to examine the organisational and human resources challenges they face. Data will be collected using semi-structured interviews, group discussion, site visits, observation of key meetings and examination of local documentation. The findings from the case study PCTs will be cross checked with a Reference Group of up to 20 other PCG/Ts, and key officers working in organisational development or primary care at local, regional and national level. In Stage 3 analysis of findings from the preparatory work, the case studies and the feedback from the Reference Group will be used to identify practical lessons for PCTs, key messages for policy makers, and contributions to further theoretical development

A simple inverse method for the interpretation of pumped flowing fluid electrical conductivity logs

Pumped flowing fluid electrical conductivity (FFEC) logs, also known as pumped borehole dilution testing, is an experimentally easy‐to‐perform approach to evaluating vertical variations in the hydraulic conductivity of an aquifer. In contrast to the simplicity of the logging equipment, analysis of the data is complex and laborious. Current methods typically require repeated solution of the advection‐dispersion equation (ADE) for describing the flow in the borehole and comparison with the experimental results. In this paper, we describe a direct solution for determining borehole fluid velocity that bypasses the need for complex numerical computation and repetitive optimization. The method rests on the observation that, while solving the ADE for concentration profile in the borehole (as required for modeling and combined methods) is computationally challenging, the solution for flow distribution along the length of the borehole given concentration data is straightforward. The method can accommodate varying borehole diameters, and uses the fact that multiple profiles are taken in the standard logging approach to reduce the impact of noise. Data from both a simulated borehole and from a field test are successfully analyzed. The method is implemented in a spreadsheet, which is available as supporting information material to this paper

Do institutional arrangements make a difference to transport policy and implementation? Lessons for Britain

This paper describes local government decision-making in transport in three areas of the UK, London, West Yorkshire and Edinburgh, in which major changes in local government decision-making structures have taken place over the last decade, and between which arrangements are now very different. The research discusses whether institutional change has had a beneficial or adverse effect, and whether any of the current structures provides a more effective framework for policy development and implementation. The results show that although the sites share a broadly common set of objectives there are differences in devolved responsibilities and in the extent to which various policy options are within the control of the bodies charged with transport policy delivery. The existence of several tiers of government, coupled with the many interactions required between these public sector bodies and the predominantly private sector public transport operators appears to create extra transactional barriers and impedes the implementation of the most effective measures for cutting congestion. There is, however, a compelling argument for the presence of an overarching tier of government to organise travel over a spatial scale compatible with that of major commuter patterns. The extent to which such arrangements currently appear to work is a function of the range of powers and the funding levels afforded to the co-ordinating organisation

Radio-Excess IRAS Galaxies: PMN/FSC Sample Selection

A sample of 178 extragalactic objects is defined by correlating the 60 micron IRAS FSC with the 5 GHz PMN catalog. Of these, 98 objects lie above the radio/far-infrared relation for radio-quiet objects. These radio-excess galaxies and quasars have a uniform distribution of radio excesses and appear to be a new population of active galaxies not present in previous radio/far-infrared samples. The radio-excess objects extend over the full range of far-infrared luminosities seen in extragalactic objects. Objects with small radio excesses are more likely to have far-infrared colors similar to starbursts, while objects with large radio excesses have far-infrared colors typical of pure AGN. Some of the most far-infrared luminous radio-excess objects have the highest far-infrared optical depths. These are good candidates to search for hidden broad line regions in polarized light or via near-infrared spectroscopy. Some low far-infrared luminosity radio-excess objects appear to derive a dominant fraction of their far-infrared emission from star formation, despite the dominance of the AGN at radio wavelengths. Many of the radio-excess objects have sizes likely to be smaller than the optical host, but show optically thin radio emission. We draw parallels between these objects and high radio luminosity Compact Steep-Spectrum (CSS) and GigaHertz Peaked-Spectrum (GPS) objects. Radio sources with these characteristics may be young AGN in which the radio activity has begun only recently. Alternatively, high central densities in the host galaxies may be confining the radio sources to compact sizes. We discuss future observations required to distinguish between these possibilities and determine the nature of radio-excess objects.Comment: Submitted to AJ. 44 pages, 11 figures. A version of the paper with higher quality figures is available from http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~cdrake/PMNFSC/paperI

Experiencing uncertainty – on the potential of groups and a group analytic approach for making management education more critical.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Management Learning, November 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507617697868. Published by SAGE Publishing. All rights reserved.This article points to the potential of methods derived from group analytic practice for making management education more critical. It draws on the experience of running a professional doctorate for more experienced managers in a university in the UK over a 16 year period. Group analysis is informed by the highly social theories of S.H. Foulkes and draws heavily on psychoanalytic theory as well as sociology. First and foremost, though, it places our interdependence at the heart of the process of inquiry, and suggests that the most potent place for learning about groups, where we spend most of our lives, is in a group. The article prioritises three areas of management practice for which group analytic methods, as adapted for research environment, are most helpful: coping with uncertainty and the feelings of anxiety which this often arouses; thinking about leadership as a relational and negotiated activity, and encouraging reflexivity in managers. The article also points to some of the differences between the idea of the learning community and psychodynamic perspectives more generally and the limitations of group analytic methods in particular, which may pathologise resistance in the workplace.Peer reviewe

Root exudates of the hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens do not enhance metal mobilization

To examine whether root exudates of the Zn/Cd hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens play a role in metal hyperaccumulation, we compared the metal mobilization capacity of root exudates collected from two ecotypes of T. caerulescens, and from the nonaccumulators wheat (Triticum aestivum) and canola (Brassica napus). Plants were grown hydroponically and three treatments (control, -Fe and -Zn) were later imposed for 2 wk before collection of root exudates. On a basis of root d. wt, the total soluble organic C in the root exudates of T. caerulescens was similar to that of wheat, and significantly higher than that of canola. In all treatment, the root exudates of T. caerulescens and canola mobilized little Cu and Zn from Cu- or Zn-loaded resins, and little Zn, Cd, Cu or Fe from a contaminated calcareous soil. By contrast, the root exudates of wheat generally mobilized more metals from both resin and soil. In particular, the -Fe treatment, and to a lesser extent the -Zn treatment, elicited large increases in the metal mobilization capacity of the root exudates from wheat. We conclude that root exudates from T. caerulescens do not significantly enhance mobilization of Zn and Cd, and therefore are not involved in Zn and Cd hyperaccumulation. (C) New Phytologist (2001)

Radio Properties of Infrared Selected Galaxies in the IRAS 2 Jy Sample

The radio counterparts to the IRAS Redshift Survey galaxies are identified in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) catalog. Our new catalog of the infrared flux-limited (S60 >= 2 Jy) complete sample of 1809 galaxies lists accurate radio positions, redshifts, and 1.4 GHz radio and IRAS fluxes. This sample is six times larger in size and five times deeper in redshift coverage (to z ~ 0.15) compared with those used in earlier studies of the radio and far-infrared (FIR) properties of galaxies in the local volume. The well known radio-FIR correlation is obeyed by the overwhelming majority (>98%) of the infrared-selected galaxies, and the radio AGNs identified by their excess radio emission constitute only about 1% of the sample, independent of the IR luminosity. These FIR-selected galaxies can account for the entire population of late-type field galaxies in the local volume, and their radio continuum may be used directly to infer the extinction-free star formation rate in most cases. Both the 1.4 GHz radio and 60 micron infrared luminosity functions are reasonably well described by linear sums of two Schechter functions, one representing normal, late-type field galaxies and the second representing starbursts and other luminous infrared galaxies. The integrated FIR luminosity density for the local volume is 4.8+/-0.5 x 10^7 L(sun) per Mpc^3, less than 10% of which is contributed by the luminous infrared galaxies with L(FIR) > 10^{11} L(sun) . The inferred extinction-free star formation density for the local volume is 0.015 +/- 0.005 solar mass per year per Mpc^3.Comment: 34 pages with 15 embedded figures and 7 tables. Latex using aastex and psfig.sty. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal (2001) (typos corrected and Fig. 13 replaced in v2.

Identification of highly brominated analogues of Q1 in marine mammals

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2005. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Pollution 144 (2006): 336-344, doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2005.10.052.Three novel halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) have been identified in the blubber of marine mammals from coastal New England with the molecular formulae C9H3N2Br6Cl, C9H3N2Br7, and C9H4N2Br5Cl. They were identified using high and low resolution electron ionization (EI) and electron capture negative ionization (ECNI) gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and appear to be highly brominated analogues of Q1, a heptachlorinated HOC that has been suspected to be naturally-produced. These new compounds were found in Atlantic white sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus), bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), harp seal (Phoca groenlandica) and a potential food source (Loligo pealei) with concentrations as high as 2.7 μg/g (lipid weight). The regiospecificity of C9H3N2Br6Cl is suggestive of a biogenic origin. Debromination of C9H3N2Br6Cl may be significant in the formation of C9H4N2Br5Cl.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (OCE-0221181), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Life Institute, the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at WHOI (with funding from The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, Inc. and The J. Seward Johnson Fund) (ELT) and The Island Foundation, Inc (BEP)

Solid intentions:an archival ethnography of corporate architecture and organizational remembering

Research on organizational spaces has not considered the importance of collective memory for the process of investing meaning in corporate architecture. Employing an archival ethnography approach, practices of organizational remembering emerge as a way to shape the meanings associated with architectural designs. While the role of monuments and museums are well established in studies of collective memory, this research extends the concept of spatiality to the practices of organizational remembering that focus on a wider selection of corporate architecture. By analyzing the historical shift from colonial to modernist architecture for banks and retailers in Ghana and Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s on the basis of documents and photographs from three different companies, this article shows how archival sources can be used to untangle the ways in which companies seek to ascribe meaning to their architectural output. Buildings allude to the past and the future in a range of complex ways that can be interpreted more fully by reference to the archival sources and the historical context of their creation. Social remembering has the potential to explain why and how buildings have meaning, while archival ethnography offers a new research approach to investigate changing organizational practices