Participative leadership: A study of faculty and administrators in a Lutheran liberal arts college

Despite the numerous reference to and importance of the term participative leadership in various leadership and organizational theories and practices, the term itself remains ambiguous. While it is often used synonymously with terms such as collaborative, autonomy, influence, participative decision making, collegiality, and team, many people questioned whether these terms are truly synonymous. Moreover, because those who advocate this approach to leadership have many purposes in mind, the practice of participative leadership manifests itself in different forms. Hence, a need exists to clarify as to what practices are actually participative. This study examines the meaning of the concept in theory and practice. The focus is on clarifying the concept in higher education by eliciting faculty and administrators\u27 understandings of the concept, their rationales for accepting it, and the conditions and ways they desire to see this approach practiced in their organization. This examination involves an intensive review of the literature, an analysis of institutional documents, and a series of in-depth interviews with six faculty and seven administrators at a Lutheran liberal arts college. The literature review indicated that the complexities of the terms leadership and participation contributed to the different understandings of the concepts. The work of different scholars, based on different paradigms, and different leadership and organizational theories, along with an emphasis of different issues revealed that in certain cases certain characteristics of participation are concealed, while in other instances other characteristics are emphasized. By studying participative leadership from the different participants\u27 perspectives a more holistic understanding emerged of the concept and its implications for administrators, faculty, and the college. Although gender, status, position, and the type of issues raised determine how participants understand and intend to apply the concept, every participant gave different labels, rationales, metaphors, and ways of interpreting and evaluating the concept. The findings, in general, confirm that many individuals and groups can have many labels, definitions, rationales, and ideals of participative leadership. The factors such as institutional history, mission, and structure and individual differences with respect to gender, position, status, background, interest, beliefs, and values determine the interpretation and implementation of participative leadership. Theorists and practitioners must consider these factors when they study and attempt to implement participative leadership

A study on antimicrobial susceptibility pattern in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus in Eritrea

Background:Staphylococcus aureus is a major pathogen in skin and soft tissue infections. Methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) is prevalent in most of the countries wherever it is sought for. MRSA is one of the important pathogens implicated in hospital acquired infection. The main objectives of this study was to find out the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of S.aureus isolates, the prevalence of methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA) and nasal carriage rate in healthy hospital staff. Methods:A total of 278 S.aureus strains isolated from clinical specimens were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and 30 anterior nares swabs from healthy hospital staff were screened for S.aureus organisms using standard methods. Results:High resistance was observed against ampicillin, penicillin and tetracycline. High sensitivity was recorded against amikasin, amoxicillin-c and ciprofloxacin. Of the 278 isolates 26 (9%) isolates were methicillin resistant S.aureus (MRSA). 17 % of the hospital staff were positive for nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion:Our study emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring of the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of S.aureus isolates including MRSA for the selection of appropriate therapy. In Eritrea, from the present findings it appears that the spread of MRSA in community and hospital settings is limited

Determination of arsenic in seaweed kelp tablets by hydride generation: inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP- AES)

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004No abstract available

Bioremoval of arsenic in purpose designed laboratory-scale bioreactors

Laboratory scale bioreactors were used to investigate the treatment of arsenic species deliberately contaminated groundwater. A mixed culture of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) with molasses as carbon source was immobilised on a polystyrene support matrix. The artificial groundwater contained either As(III) or As(V) at concentrations of 20, 10, 5, 1 or 0.1 mg/l as well as 0.1 mg/l of a mixture with As(III) accounting for a total of 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80%. More than 90 and 60% of the As(V) and As(III), respectively, were removed by the end of a 14-day experiment. Total arsenic had been reduced to below the WHO acceptable level of 10 μg/l when the proportion of As(III) was 20 and 30%, while at 40% As(III), this level was reached only after 21 days treatment. The efficiency of As(III) removal was increased by first oxidising it to As(V) using MnO2.Keywords: Arsenite, arsenate, bioreactor, polystyrene, sulphate-reducing bacteriaAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3260-327

Bioremediation of arsenic contaminated groundwater.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.Sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) mediate the reduction of metals/metalloids directly or indirectly. Bioremediation of arsenic contaminated water could be a cost-effective process provided a cheap carbon source is used. To this end, molasses was tested as a possible source of carbon for the growth of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Its chemical composition and the tolerance of SRB toward different arsenic species [As (III) and As (V)] were also investigated. Batch culture studies were carried out to assess 1, 2.5 and 5 g l-1 molasses as suitable concentrations for SRB growth. The results indicate that molasses does support SRB growth, the level of response being dependent on the concentration; however, growth on molasses was not as good as that obtained when lactate, the usual carbon source for SRB, was used. The molasses used in this study contained several metals including Al, As, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in concentrations ranging from 0.54-19.7 ìg g-1, but these levels were not toxic to the SRB. Arsenic tolerance, growth response and sulphate-reducing activity of the SRB were investigated using arsenite and arsenate solutions at final concentrations of 1, 5 and 20 mg l-1 for each species. The results revealed that very little SRB growth occurred at concentrations of 20 mg l-1 As (III) or As (V). At lower concentrations, the SRB grew better in As (V) than in As (III). Batch cultures of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) in flasks containing pine bark, sand and polystyrene as support matrices and Postgate medium B were used to study formation of biofilms. The effects of the support matrices on the growth of the organisms were evaluated on the basis of pH and redox potential change and the levels of sulphide production and sulphate reduction. Characterisation of the matrix surfaces was done by means of environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). A consortium of SRB growing on polystyrene caused a 49% of original sulphate reduction whereas on sand a 36% reduction occurred. Polystyrene was further examined for its durability as a long-term support material for the growing of SRB in the presence of As(III) and/or As(V) at concentrations of 1, 5 and 20 mg l-1. Both sulphate reduction and sulphide production were greater in this immobilised system than in the matrix-free control cultures. With pine bark as support matrix no significant sulphate reduction was observed. The kinetics of sulphate reduction by the immobilised cells were compared with those of planktonic SRB and found to be superior. The leaching of organic compounds, particularly phenolic substances, from the pine bark had a detrimental effect on the growth of the SRB. Different proportions of pine bark extract were used to prepare media to investigate this problem. Growth of SRB was totally inhibited when 100% pine bark extract was used. Analysis of these extracts showed the concentration of phenolics increased from 0.33 mg l-1 to 7.36 mg l-1 over the extraction interval of 15 min to 5 days. Digested samples of pine bark also showed the presence of heavy metals. The effects of nitrate, iron and sulphate and combinations thereof were investigated on the growth of a mixed culture of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). The addition of 30 mg l-1 nitrate does not inhibit the production of sulphide by SRB when either 50 or 150 mg l-1 sulphate was present. The redox potential was decreased from 204 to -239 mV at the end of the 14 day batch experiment in the presence of 150 mg l-1 sulphate and 30 mg l-1 nitrate. The sulphate reduction activity of the SRB in the presence of 30 mg l-1 nitrate and 100 mg l-1 iron was about 42% of original sulphate, while if no iron was added, the reduction was only 34%. In the presence of 20 mg l-1 either As(III) or As(V), but particularly the former, growth of the SRB was inhibited when the cells were cultured in modified Postgate medium in the presence of 30 mg l-1 nitrate. The bioremoval of arsenic species [As(III) or As(V)] in the presence of mixed cultures of sulphate-reducing bacteria was investigated. During growth of a mixed SRB culture adapted to 0.1 mg l-1 arsenic species through repeated sub-culturing, 1 mg l-1 of either As(III) or As(V) was reduced to 0.3 and 0.13 mg l-1, respectively. Sorption experiments on the precipitate produced by batch cultured sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB-PP) indicated a removal of about 77% and 55% of As(V) and As(III) respectively under the following conditions: pH 6.9; biomass (2 g l-1); 24 h contact time; initial arsenic concentration,1 mg l-1 of either species. These results were compared with synthetic iron sulphide as adsorbent. The adsorption data were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. Energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analysis showed the SRB-PP contained elements such as sulphur, iron, calcium and phosphorus. Biosorption studies indicated that SRB cell pellets removed about 6.6% of the As(III) and 10.5% of the As(V) from water containing an initial concentration of 1 mg l-1 of either arsenic species after 24 h contact. Arsenic species were precipitated out of synthetic arsenic-contaminated groundwater by reacting it with the gaseous biogenic hydrogen sulphide generated during the growth of SRB. The percentage removal of arsenic species was dependent on the initial arsenic concentration present. Lastly, laboratory scale bioreactors were used to investigate the treatment of arsenic species contaminated synthetic groundwater. A mixed culture of SRB with molasses as a carbon source was immobilised on a polystyrene support matrix. The synthetic groundwater contained either As(III) or As(V) at concentrations of 20, 10, 5, 1 or 0.1 mg l-1 as well as 0.1 mg l-1 of a mixture with As(III) accounting for 20, 30, 40, 60 and 80% of the total. More that 90% and 60% of the As(V) and As(III) respectively were removed by the end of the 14-day experiment. At an initial concentration of 0.1 mg l-1 total arsenic had been reduced to below the WHO acceptable level of 10 ìg l-1 when the proportion of As(III) was 20 and 30%, while at 40% As(III) this level was reached only when the treatment time was increased to 21 days. The efficiency of As(III) removal was increased by first oxidising it to As(V) using MnO2

Laboratoriumsapparate

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African Linguistics in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the Nordic Countries

Non peer reviewe

Le rôle du milieu académique dans le développement international

L'objectif de notre intervention est de montrer en quoi et comment le monde académique peut apporter une réelle plus-value dans la coopération au développement entre deux pays, dans le cas présent, la Roumanie et la République de Moldavie. Notre argument principal est que la recherche universitaire permet aux acteurs de terrain d'avoir un regard critique sur les conséquences inattendues/moins visibles de tout projet de développement