Extending processual practice-based organizational creativity : a case from theatre

This thesis addresses the conceptualisation of creativity within organisation studies. It contributes to practice-based processual approaches to organisational creativity (OC), a recent stream of literature that emphasises the temporal progression of activities as the basis of understanding the creative phenomenon from a practice-based perspective. To this end, the thesis explores professional practices in a theatre; an exciting field where the materiality of human and non-human bodies matter, and meanings and contents are negotiated in a complex creation process based on specific professional practices. The thesis contributes to practice-based processual OC by mobilising the epistemology of practice as a theoretical framework for reconfiguring organisational creativity in practice. The epistemology of practice provides a frame for considering the processual, collective and material dimensions of OC. I show how creativity is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon where knowledge, power, performance and sociomaterial dimensions intersect in practice, to stimulate and produce creative emergence. To deepen the analysis of the creative practices, I enrich the epistemology of practice with analytical concepts from the perspective of distributed cognition and Actor-Network Theory. In conversation with the epistemology of practice, these traditions deepen the distributed and sociomaterial dimensions of organisational creativity, offering additional tools for a more nuanced analysis of the phenomenon. This suggests going beyond the conceptualisation of creativity as the solving of a problem, and interpreting it instead as variant composition practices where relationships are tested, and chains of mediations are produced that generate innovative outcomes. This dissertation is organised by way of an introduction and three publications that considered the same empirical case about the production of a theatre show for children, entitled “Ruote Rosa”. The production was written and directed by myself, and the empirical investigations were undertaken as a collaborative ethnography by myself and my co-author for the resultant publications. Research findings demonstrate how the epistemology of practice, with distributed cognition and creativity, and ANT, expand the knowledge of practice-based processual OC, explaining it as a complex multidimensional phenomenon, where different elements meet in practice and give birth to creative emergence. The practical, tacit, sensible professional knowledge of the participants, the power dimension, the sociomateriality and the common orientation of the practice (object of practice), play together and intersect in the creative flow, stimulating and orienting the creative emergence. The thesis documents, and explains, how the dimensions follow each other in a chain of relations that move the process toward something shared and stable; the production of an artifact that, in this case, was a theatre show

BACTERIAL-MEDIATED PHOTOCATALYTIC ORGANIC OXIDATION

Bacteria, though well-known and widespread in scientific application, have plenty more opportunity to grow in the field of organic synthesis. The primary objective of this project was to apply the use of bioluminescent bacteria in an organic photoredox reaction intending to use the bacteria as a renewable source of light. This sustainable method, as opposed to high wattage bulbs, paves a green pathway for organic photocatalytic reactions. Using bioluminescent E. coli, the focus was on performing organic oxidation reactions with a recyclable photocatalyst. When using bacteria in conjunction with chemicals like nitromethane, it was an obstacle to keep the E. coli alive. By employing toxicology studies, we could determine minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values for each chemical that were to be tested. Setting up control experiments and reproducibility studies was necessary in order to confirm the possibility of such reactions. With these constraints and variables under control, we were able to perform our photoredox reactions successfully using bioluminescent E. coli as our light source and a graphitic carbon nitride polymer as our photocatalyst. The reactions targeted in this study gave way to a high yield product, confirming that bioluminescent bacteria can be used as a light source in solution with organic solvents

A program and project management approach for collaborative university-industry R&D funded contracts

This paper presents a new program and project management (PPM) approach especially devoted to support collaborative university-industry R&D funded contracts. While the literature provides some advice on how to embark on designing such PPM approach, university-industry collaboration contexts require specific guidance. The research described in this paper aims to make some contribution to theory as well as to practice by discussing the PPM approach adoption in a case study collaborative university-industry R&D funded contract between the University of Minho and Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal S. A., named - HMIExcel. The results show that emphasis should be given to structured objective setting, good progress monitoring and effective communication. The research study is ongoing through the use of a questionnaire and focus groups, in order to improve the presented PPM approach conceptualization.This research is sponsored by the Portugal Incentive System for Research and Technological Development. Project in co-promotion nº36265/2013 (Project HMIExcel - 2013-2015).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Risk management reconceived: reconciling economic rationality with behavioural tendencies

Risk management practices as described in many leading texts feel counterintuitive to many practitioners and are frequently ignored, despite their being evidently logical and potentially valuable. Such practices are often conceived as a remedial post-planning, audit activity. This paper proposes an approach for dealing with project uncertainty and risk, grounded in economics and taking into account behavioural biases and heuristics. The proposed approach is argued to be an enhancement to conventional risk management practices and one that can serve organisations better while also aligning to experienced practitioners’ intuitive approaches. In particular, we argue: that the focus should be on adding economic value rather than reducing risk per se; that opportunity gain/loss is a superior metric for gauging potential impacts of risky events; and that creation of real options should be emphasised as part of the repertoire of generic response actions to risk. The approach also supports the integration and handling of uncertainty and risk as part of holistic project planning and control

Energy Driven Process Planning and Machine Tool Dynamic Behavior Assessment

AbstractThe current work outlines an approach to close the loop between process planning and machine tool dynamic modeling by addressing the problem of energy efficiency across the process design and realization chains, from the process settings and pallet configuration to the machine tool design and usage phases. The proposed closed loop approach consists of an off-line and on-line component enabling the process and equipment dynamic and energy assessment over time. The benefits of the approach have been evaluated against an industrial case study related to the automotive industry

CONTRIBUTO AL PROGETTO OMS DI ERADICAZIONE DELLA POLIOMIELITE: RISULTATI DELLE ATTIVITÀ DI SORVEGLIANZA IN LOMBARDIA.

A contribution to the WHO global polio eradication initiative: the results of surveillance activities in Lombardy (Northern Italy), 2012-2015. Although in 2015 poliovirus (PV) transmission has been reported at the lowest levels ever recorded, the virus is still endemic in two countries \u2013 Afghanistan and Pakistan. Until PV transmission is interrupted in these countries, all countries remain at risk of virus importation - especially vulnerable countries with weak public health and immunization services and travel or trade links to endemic countries. The high levels of immigration flows across the Mediterranean Sea jeopardize Italy for PV reintroduction. The \u201cWHO Strategic Plan of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative\u201d indicates the nationwide surveillance of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) as the gold standard for detecting cases of poliomyelitis. In addition, systematic Environmental Surveillance (ES), seeking the presence of PV in sewage, is recognized as a powerful tool to confirm PV circulation in absence of AFP cases, especially in polio-free countries. In Italy, nationwide AFP surveillance has been set up in 1997, and ES has been established since 2005 in Milan and other five Italian cities (Bolzano, Parma, Sassari, Napoli and Palermo). This PhD project aimed at evaluating these two public health surveillance systems ongoing in Lombardy (Northern Italy) in the period spanning from 2012 to 2015, in order to improve their quality and efficiency, and to achieve the WHO criteria. The results of surveillance activities were described and the assessment of system attributes (including data quality, sensitivity and timeliness) were discussed. Additionally, in the framework of the ES, the circulation and characterization of non-polio Enterovirus (NPEV) was evaluated in the study population. The surveillance activities were carried out according to WHO guidelines from January 2012 to October 2015. For AFP surveillance, all children <15 years who met the WHO definition of AFP case were enrolled, and the collection of stool and serum samples from each case was requested. For ES, wastewater samples were collected twice a month at the intel of 3 wastewater treatment plants located in Milan. Stool specimens collected from AFP cases and wastewater samples were analyzed to detect PV and NPEVs by virus isolation in RD (human rhabdomyosarcoma) and L20B (murine transgenic L cells) cell cultures, and by PCR assay specific for the 5\u2032 noncoding region [5\u2032NCR] (nucleotide [nt]: 179-575). The identified viruses were genotyped by sequence analysis of the VP1 gene (nt. 2602-2977). In order to define the serological status/immunity against PV, serum samples collected from AFP cases were analyzed by microneutralization assay against PV1, PV2, and PV3. According to WHO, an antibody titre >1:8 was considered protective. From January 2012 to October 2015, 52 AFP cases were reported in Lombardy with an incidence rate of 1.04/100\u2019000 children <15 years of age. The median age of AFP cases was 5.8 years [inter-quartile range (IQR): 10.0 years]; no gender difference was observed. The annual incidence rates were 0.8/100\u2019000 in 2012, 1.5/100\u2019000 in 2013, 1.1/100\u2019000 in 2014, and 0.6/100\u2019000 in 2015 (preliminary data up to October). According to the WHO, the sensitivity of the AFP surveillance system is considered adequate when at least one case of AFP is detected annually per 100\u2019000 children aged less than 15 years. As in 2012 the sensitivity of the surveillance system did not met this criterion, several interventions were implemented to raise awareness among the parts involved in the surveillance. On purpose, reports on the AFP notified weekly by sentinel hospitals were sent out quarterly to all physicians involved in the surveillance system along with epidemiological alerts and bulletins on PV circulation and polio endgame. Phone and e-mail contacts were kept with physicians who reported AFP cases to guarantee the adequacy of notification. Moreover, a workshop on PV and its surveillance system was arranged in collaboration with regional and national (ISS) public health authorities. These actions allowed the sensitivity of the AFP surveillance system to meet the WHO criterion from 2013 onwards. The WHO recommends completing the case investigation by virological analysis of stool samples in at least 80% of AFP cases: during our study, this rate was achieved in 2014 and 2015 (85.7%), whereas in 2012 and 2013 the analysis was completed in 63.6% and 60% of stool samples, respectively. The improvement of virological investigation completeness of AFP cases since 2014 was probably due to the raised awareness of physicians involved in the surveillance. About 40% (21/52) of AFP cases were diagnosed as Guillain-Barr\ue9 syndrome, 23.1% (12/52) and 19.2% (10/52) were ascribed to genetic disease and myelitis, respectively. Most (35/52; 67%) of AFP cases were reported by pediatric wards during summer and winter. According to virological results, no AFP case was caused by a PV infection, even though one AFP case (that occurred in 2014 in a 6-month boy affected by Bruton disease who received the first dose of oral polio vaccine in Albania) was characterized as a vaccine associated paralytic paralysis (VAPP). NPEVs were detected in 6 AFP cases (10.5%): 2 were Echovirus-11, 1 was Echovirus-6, and the remaining 3 were not genotyped. Serological investigation was carried out in 48 (48/52: 92.3%) AFP cases and a protective antibody titre (neutralising antibodies titre 651:8) was detected in 94% (45/48) of individuals. In the framework of the ES, 273 wastewater samples were collected and no PVs were isolated. In contrast, NPEVs were detected in 65.2% (172/273) of tested samples. The proportion of NPEVs detected in sewage by year was 70% (42/60) in 2012, 56.9% (41/72) in 2013, 66.7% (48/72) in 2014 and 68.3% (41/60) in 2015 (up to October). In 2013 the rate of NPEVs detected was significantly lower (p< .05) than those recorded in the other years of study. The WHO declares that at least 30% of samples collected in the ES setting have to be positive for NPEV, thus our results demonstrated the good performance of the ongoing surveillance system in the whole study period. All NPEVs were characterized as EV belonging to species B: Echovirus-11 and Echovirus-6 were the most frequently detected viruses, being the 29.1% (41/141) and 20.6% (29/141) of genotyped NPEVs, respectively. No difference among the NPEV genotypes circulating in the three wastewater treatment plants was identified. It is important to strengthen surveillance of AFP cases at regional and national level in order to detect rapidly any virus importation or emergence and enable a prompt public health response. Although AFP surveillance remains the gold standard, systematic ES is a powerful tool to detect PV in the absence of polio cases, especially in polio-free countries. During our study, AFP surveillance met the WHO criteria for sensitivity from 2013 onwards and the level of completeness of case investigation improved significantly from 2014. Physicians involved in the activities have proved to give special attention to AFP surveillance thanks to several initiatives implemented since 2013, such as the sharing of surveillance reports, epidemiological alerts and updates on polio eradication progress. Epidemiological features of AFP cases were similar to those reported in the current scientific literature and our data confirm adequate levels of immunization in population as well as the absence of wild PV infections. ES was suitable to investigate EV circulation in the population and the high rate of NPEV detected underlines a massive virus circulation. No silent PV reintroduction was noted during ES. As long as in the current polio endgame PV outbreaks reflect serious gaps in immunity to PV due to the weakness of routine immunization coverage in otherwise polio-free countries, all countries should maintain uniformly high immunization coverage at the district level to minimize the consequences of any virus introduction. Keeping strong and encouraging both AFP surveillance and ES all over the world is crucial to ensure the PV will not return unnoticed and, finally, to achieve the global eradication goal

Socio-psychological components in the identity construction process of adult learners of English at EOI: between motivation and anxiety. Drama as a tool to help overcome anxiety and enhance motivation

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Departamento de Lingüística General, Lenguas Modernas, Lógica y Filosofía de la Ciencia, Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada. Fecha de lectura: 28-6-2017El objetivo principal de esta tesis doctoral ha sido investigar los conceptos de Motivación y Ansiedad en Lenguas Extranjeras (o FLA4) como parte de la construcción de la identidad de alumnos de Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (EOI). En efecto, el proceso de aprendizaje resulta potencialmente perturbador para el ego en edad adulta, por lo que sentimientos y pensamientos negativos pueden interferir en el desarrollo de una imagen positiva de un usuario de L25. Para fomentar la motivación y controlar la FLA se han diseñado y sometido a ensayo empírico unas actividades teatrales. Se ha recabado y analizado tanto datos cuantitativos como cualitativos en una muestra de 94 alumnos adultos de EOI. Los resultados indican que el género y la edad son aspectos significativos de la identidad, ya que son las participantes de sexo femenino y los de edad mayor quienes admitieron más la FLA. La motivación intrínseca resultó predominante, aunque se ha registrado también una motivación extrínseca al alza debido al contexto económico actual español. El esfuerzo por alcanzar un ser ideal6 se ha revelado un potente motor de motivación, pero al mismo tiempo algo que puede generar FLA, cuyos efectos negativos se han comprobado también a nivel de comprensión oral, hecho que no se había investigado anteriormente. Además, se ha descubierto que la auto-eficacia7 es la variable que más repercute en la FLA de una forma aún más poderosa o perjudicial que el propio nivel de conocimientos del alumno. Los alumnos de nivel básico parecen tener menos consciencia de la FLA y no utilizar las mismas estrategias contra sus efectos que los de nivel avanzado. Para este fin, las técnicas teatrales se han demostrado eficaces para aumentar la confianza a través de un proceso de identificación con un rol. De hecho, se ha apreciado una transformación en los alumnos gracias a dichas técnicas. En particular, si se utilizan de manera constante, pueden tener un efecto aún más duradero a largo plazo como terapia contra la FLA. En definitiva, esta tesis contribuye a la investigación en el campo de la FLA con un nuevo constructo, la Ansiedad en la Comprensión Oral, además de profundizar en los conceptos expuestos gracias a datos cualitativos y brindando una propuesta pedagógica basada en técnicas teatrales.The main objective of this doctoral dissertation was to deal with the constructs Motivation and Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) as part of the identity construction of adult learners at Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (EOI). In fact, the learning process may be experienced as potentially ego-threatening at an adult age, and thus negative feelings and thoughts may interfere in the development of a positive image as L2 users1. In order to enhance motivation and tackle FLA, some drama activities have been designed and empirically tested. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed on a sample of 94 adult EOI learners. Results indicate that gender and age are significant identity-related aspects, with female and older respondents admitting more to FLA. Intrinsic motivation turned out to be overwhelming, even though an increasing extrinsic one was also registered, due to the changing economic situation in Spain. The struggle to attain an ideal self2 has been found as a powerful motivation drive, but also as a generator of FLA, whose detrimental effects were proven also in terms of listening comprehension, an area previously not tested. Moreover, self-efficacy3 was discovered as the best predictor of FLA, even more powerful or detrimental than a learner’s actual proficiency level. Elementary students seemed to be less aware of FLA and not to deploy the same strategies as the advanced students to tackle its effects. To this purpose, drama techniques have proven successful in order to enhance confidence through a process of role identification with an L2 persona. Indeed, a transformation appeared to be brought about thanks to drama. In particular, if used consistently, learning an L2 through drama might have a more consistent effect as a therapy against FLA in the long run. In sum, this thesis contributes a new construct, Listening Anxiety, to FLA research; in addition, it provides more insights into FLA and motivation thanks to qualitative data, as well as a pedagogical proposal based on drama techniques

La “Description de l’Égypte” e le sue fonti

Poco più di duecento anni fa l’esercito francese si accingeva ad abbandonare mestamente la terra dei Faraoni, dopo una permanenza durata tre anni e due mesi, dal 2 luglio 1798 al 2 settembre 1801. Quella che è universalmente conosciuta come la spedizione d’Egitto ha inaugurato nell’Ottocento una nuova epoca di interesse e curiosità, di viaggi con finalità scientifiche e archeologiche, di missioni e spedizioni ufficialmente organizzate e patrocinate dai governi europei, anelanti a riportare in..

Appendectomy during the third trimester of pregnancy in a 27-year old patient: case report of a "near miss" complication

The management of acute appendicitis during pregnancy is not fully established, especially regarding the choice between open and laparoscopic surgery during the third trimester. We report herein the case of a major uterine variecele hemorrhage during a laparoscopic appendectomy in a 27-year old pregnant patient at 33 weeks of amenorrhea. After conversion to a Pfannenstiel incision, the baby was delivered, the bleeding stopped and the appendectomy completed. While both mother and child fully recovered, this «near miss» complication underlines the challenges linked to the management of acute appendicitis during pregnancy. Based on a literature review, we propose an algorithm favoring the laparoscopic approach during the first and second trimesters, and the open approach during the third trimester (especially after the 26th week of amenorrhea). In case of unclear pre-operative diagnosis, a laparoscopy should be conducted even during the third trimester with a Mc Burney conversion when the diagnosis of appendicitis is confirmed