Employee work and health behaviors : the role of leadership support for health promotion and organizational health climate.

Worksite wellness programs have historically focused on the modification of individual employee behavior (e.g., Shepard, 1981). Scholars have recently engaged in a discussion about the role the workplace environment plays in employee health behavior (e.g., Golaszewski, Allen, & Edington, 2008). The present correlational study contributes to this conversation by defining the relationship between employees’ perceptions of leadership support for health promotion and employees’ perceptions of organizational health climate and its impact on employee health and work behaviors and attitudes; and by examining the extent to which variance in work and health behaviors may be accounted for by employees’ perceptions of leadership support for health promotion and by employees’ perceptions of organizational health climate. Online and paper-based surveys were used to collect data from the employees (n = 621) at four organizations in the southeast United States. Study findings indicated that employees’ perceptions of leadership support for health promotion were predictive of employee participation in wellness program activities. The study also found that employees’ perceptions of organizational health climate were predictive of job satisfaction, job stress, and employee engagement. Overall, the results of this study confirm the importance of leadership support for health promotion and organizational health climate in the strategic development, management and continuation of workplace wellness. These findings have important implications for practice as employees’ perceptions of leadership support for health promotion and employees’ perceptions of organizational health climate were found to be key leverage points for employee participation in wellness activities and for employee health behavior change. Future research can extend these findings by continuing to bridge the organizational behavior, management, and human resource development research with the public health research on workplace wellness

Automated Guided Vehicles for Material Handling Applications

ORBIS Corporation is a plastics manufacturer located in Monticello, Iowa. They have constructed a new 100,000 sq. ft warehouse and distribution center connected to the main plant. ORBIS wants to conduct an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) study to understand the benefit versus the cost of implementing this technology instead of using their current personnel on forklifts. The AGVs would travel from the stretch wrapper to the double-depth warehouse racking. Another task is to retrieve materials from storage and place it in the proper truck staging area. This newer technology is being looked at by many companies as an option to reallocate manual labor to more complex tasks instead of material transport. When a completed return on investment report is completed, this can be applied to other businesses and their desires to implement this technology. Our proposed solution aims to provide ORBIS with a clear list of the costs versus benefits of implementing this AGV technology with an estimated Return on Investment (ROI) for multiple vendors. This return on investment shows ORBIS how the initial investment of the Automated Forklifts is absorbed by cost savings over a time period

Use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) for Material Handling Applications

• Conduct AGV (man-less forklift) research to understand the benefit versus the cost of implementing this technology with the intent to implement into warehouse • The AGVs will travel from the stretch wrapper to the warehouse racking or truck staging are

A biomaterial with a channel-like pore architecture induces endochondral healing of bone defects

Biomaterials developed to treat bone defects have classically focused on bone healing via direct, intramembranous ossification. In contrast, most bones in our body develop from a cartilage template via a second pathway called endochondral ossification. The unsolved clinical challenge to regenerate large bone defects has brought endochondral ossification into discussion as an alternative approach for bone healing. However, a biomaterial strategy for the regeneration of large bone defects via endochondral ossification is missing. Here we report on a biomaterial with a channel-like pore architecture to control cell recruitment and tissue patterning in the early phase of healing. In consequence of extracellular matrix alignment, CD146+ progenitor cell accumulation and restrained vascularization, a highly organized endochondral ossification process is induced in rats. Our findings demonstrate that a pure biomaterial approach has the potential to recapitulate a developmental bone growth process for bone healing. This might motivate future strategies for biomaterial-based tissue regeneration

Three-Dimensional imaging of the developing vasculature within stem cell-seeded scaffolds cultured in ovo

Successful tissue engineering requires functional vascularization of the three-dimensional constructs with the aim to serve as implants for tissue replacement and regeneration. The survival of the implant is only possible if the supply of oxygen and nutrients by developing capillaries from the host is established. The chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay is a valuable tool to study the ingrowth and distribution of vessels into scaffolds composed by appropriate biomaterials and stem cell populations that are used in cell-based regenerative approaches. The developing vasculature of chicken embryos within cell-seeded scaffolds can be visualized with microcomputed tomography after intravenous injection of MicroFil®, which is a radiopaque contrast agent. Here, we provide a step-by-step protocol for the seeding of stem cells into silk fibroin scaffolds, the CAM culture conditions, the procedure of MicroFil® perfusion, and finally the microcomputed tomography scanning. Three-dimensional imaging of the vascularized tissue engineered constructs provides an important analytical tool for studying the potential of cell seeded scaffolds to attract vessels and form vascular networks, as well as for analyzing the number, density, length, branching, and diameter of vessels. This in ovo method can greatly help to screen implants that will be used for tissue regeneration purposes before their in vivo testing, thereby reducing the amount of animals needed for pre-clinical studies

Deconstruction 3.0 : A study of a guerrilla attack from within the postmodern fashion system by the post-Soviet collective of Vetements

The aim of this thesis “Deconstruction 3.0” is to show how the third wave of deconstruction in fashion is deconstructing the second [postmodern] French luxury fashion system. The deconstructionists of the post-Soviet collective – Demna and Guram Gvasalia, Gosha Rubchinskiy, and Lotta Volkova – question and deconstruct the established apparatus of the postmodern fashion system and its business model. With their business strategies and with help of demand by post-postmodern consumer culture proposed and predicted by Douglas B. Holt (2002), the post-Soviet collective constructs new business models and thus we are entering a post-postmodern fashion system. I have used a twofold methodology from the disciplines of business administration and humanities. In the literature review, I have aimed to close gaps between different scholars and made a concluding section of the postmodern fashion system and its business model, a synthesis that lies in parallel with Peter Drucker’s (1957) thoughts on postmodern organisational theory. Through the empirics and analysis with help of Jacques Derrida’s (1972) concept of deconstruction, I propose, in the end, a dialectic model between the established postmodern apparatus and the new and diametrically opposed post-postmodern apparatus operated by the post-Soviet collective

Assessment of College Students\u27 Perceptions and Knowledge of Alcohol Before and After Risk-Reducing Drinking Presentation.

College binge drinking has contributed to an increasing health concern (Kypri & Langley, 2003). This study examines whether or not college students overestimate their peers drinking behaviors and whether or not the students retain the information provided in a Health PRC\u27s presentation aimed for educating students\u27 about alcohol. Professors at Minnesota State University-Mankato sent in a request for a Health PRC\u27s presentation in the classroom. Students enrolled in class are presented with a survey before a Health PRC\u27s presentation and then approximately one week later complete a post-survey. Previous research has found that college students who believe their peers consume more alcohol are more likely to follow those perceived drinking norms (Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986). It is predicted that college students\u27 misperceptions of college drinking behavior will become more accurate after the Health PRC\u27s presentation focusing on reducing risky behaviors related to alcohol

Deconstruction 3.0 : A study of a guerrilla attack from within the postmodern fashion system by the post-Soviet collective of Vetements

The aim of this thesis “Deconstruction 3.0” is to show how the third wave of deconstruction in fashion is deconstructing the second [postmodern] French luxury fashion system. The deconstructionists of the post-Soviet collective – Demna and Guram Gvasalia, Gosha Rubchinskiy, and Lotta Volkova – question and deconstruct the established apparatus of the postmodern fashion system and its business model. With their business strategies and with help of demand by post-postmodern consumer culture proposed and predicted by Douglas B. Holt (2002), the post-Soviet collective constructs new business models and thus we are entering a post-postmodern fashion system. I have used a twofold methodology from the disciplines of business administration and humanities. In the literature review, I have aimed to close gaps between different scholars and made a concluding section of the postmodern fashion system and its business model, a synthesis that lies in parallel with Peter Drucker’s (1957) thoughts on postmodern organisational theory. Through the empirics and analysis with help of Jacques Derrida’s (1972) concept of deconstruction, I propose, in the end, a dialectic model between the established postmodern apparatus and the new and diametrically opposed post-postmodern apparatus operated by the post-Soviet collective

Yields of grain and straw, their content and ionic proportions of macroelements in maize fertilized with ash from municipal sewage sludge combustion

In 2011-2013, research was conducted on the fertilizer value of ash from municipal waste combustion used as an alternative source of phosphorus. A field experiment was set up on light soil. The design included 5 fertilization variants of maize, which was cultivated for grain and fertilized with mineral fertilizers and ash (P1, P2, P3): NK, NPK, NK+P1 (P1−21.80 kg P ha-1), NK+P2 (P2−43.60 kg P ha-1), NK+P3 (P3−65.40 kg P ha-1). Nitrogen (80 kg N ha-1) was applied in the form of ammonium sulphate and ammonium nitrate, phosphorus (21.80 kg P ha-1) as enriched superphosphate and potassium (91.30 kg K ha-1) as potassium salt. Ash, which was a substitute for phosphorus fertilizer, was obtained from the Pomorzany Sewage Treatment Plant in Szczecin in 2011-2013. It included 9.61%, and in 2013 – 7.11% of total P dissolvable in strong mineral acids. Maize harvest was done in the phase of full ripeness, afterwards the mass of grain and straw was determined as well as the total content of N, P, K, Ca, Mg and S in both yield components. The years with favourable weather conditions fostered high maize grain yield (average 10.75 Mg d.m. ha-1) and maize straw (average 10.06 Mg d.m. ha-1). Ash from sewage sludge combustion did not cause any significant differences in the crop volume in the particular years of research, in comparison with crop from NK and NPK treatments. The weighted average total content of macroelements in maize grain and straw from particular fertilization treatments did not vary widely, and only the highest dose of ash (P3) increased the average content of phosphorus in maize grain and straw as well as calcium in maize grain when compared to NPK. Regardless of the fertilization variant, and in relation to the feed value, an optimal N:S and ionic ratio was found in maize grain, while the ionic proportions between K:Mg and K:(Ca+Mg) were close to optimal ones. Independently of a fertilization variant, the balance of elements was negative for nitrogen and phosphorus and positive for sulphur