Work Values and Perceptions of Entering Construction Professionals

The Construction Industry in the last decade is riddled with issues relating to employment, workers shortage and human capital management. Although strategic Human resource management (HRM) has been suggested by researchers, its practicality and its suit towards different organization has been one of the reasons for organizations to shy away from these strategic approaches in HRM. Adding to this condition is that Companies need to now manage a work force that is different from previous generations and has different expectations in their career. The motive of this research is to identify the expectations and perceptions of those professionals that are entering the construction industry. The sample selected is students from Clemson University that are enrolled in the Construction Science and Management program. Through this study, the work values of construction management students are identified and trend wise inference based on construction experience and year of study in college is attempted. The Following are ranked as top 5 work values by the students: Provide Job security Provide a feeling of accomplishment Provides an opportunity to earn a high income Encourage continued development of knowledge and skills Permit advancement to high administrative responsibilities The perception of the students with the help of the 21 job characteristics is observed. Trend wise inference based on construction experience and year of study in college is observed. The following are the top 5 job characteristics of the Construction Industry as perceived by the students: Require meeting and speaking with many other people Provide a feeling of accomplishment Encourage continued development of knowledge and skills Require me to supervise others Provide me the opportunity to earn a high income A comparison was drawn between work values and perception of the students to check if they differ significantly, the study found that there was a statistically significant difference between work values and perceptions for 14 of the job characteristics. The study also found that there was a statistically significant difference between Dr. Moore’s sample and this study’s sample. In this comparison job characteristics relative to status and independence were more favorable to differ compared to comfort and security, and competence and growth. Through this study few general trends about the population were witnessed and there were differences between the values the students hold and how they perceive the industry. This study also found differences in work values between the samples representing two different timeframe. HR leaders should know more about the demographics of the current workforce and understand the gap between what the current students expect and what they perceive about the industry

Speckle pattern analysis of security holograms and related foils for quality assessment and authentication.

A speckle pattern is produced by the mutual interference of a set of coherent wavefronts. Speckle patterns typically occur in diffuse reflections of monochromatic light such a laser light. When a rough surface is illuminated by a coherent light is imaged, a speckle pattern is observed in the image plane. This study involves the quality assessment and authentication of security holograms and its related foils by analyzing the speckle pattern generated from the specimen itself. Speckle pattern from various type of security holograms and foils are taken. By processing the image of the speckle pattern, the size of the speckles is analyzed using MATLAB software. By evaluating the size of the speckle generated, the feasibility of analyzing the quality and authenticity of the security hologram is assessed. The paper discusses about the experimental setup, image capturing, and processing method and the result obtained in detail

Phase 3, Randomized, 20-Month Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Bimatoprost Implant in Patients with Open-Angle Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension (ARTEMIS 2)

Objective- To evaluate the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering efficacy and safety of 10 and 15 µg bimatoprost implant in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT). Methods- This randomized, 20-month, multicenter, masked, parallel-group, phase 3 trial enrolled 528 patients with OAG or OHT and an open iridocorneal angle inferiorly in the study eye. Study eyes were administered 10 or 15 µg bimatoprost implant on day 1, week 16, and week 32, or twice-daily topical timolol maleate 0.5%. Primary endpoints were IOP and IOP change from baseline through week 12. Safety measures included treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) and corneal endothelial cell density (CECD). Results- Both 10 and 15 µg bimatoprost implant met the primary endpoint of noninferiority to timolol in IOP lowering through 12 weeks. Mean IOP reductions from baseline ranged from 6.2–7.4, 6.5–7.8, and 6.1–6.7 mmHg through week 12 in the 10 µg implant, 15 µg implant, and timolol groups, respectively. IOP lowering was similar after the second and third implant administrations. Probabilities of requiring no IOP-lowering treatment for 1 year after the third administration were 77.5% (10 µg implant) and 79.0% (15 µg implant). The most common TEAE was conjunctival hyperemia, typically temporally associated with the administration procedure. Corneal TEAEs of interest (primarily corneal endothelial cell loss, corneal edema, and corneal touch) were more frequent with the 15 than the 10 µg implant and generally were reported after repeated administrations. Loss in mean CECD from baseline to month 20 was ~ 5% in 10 µg implant-treated eyes and ~ 1% in topical timolol-treated eyes. Visual field progression (change in the mean deviation from baseline) was reduced in the 10 µg implant group compared with the timolol group. Conclusions- The results corroborated the previous phase 3 study of the bimatoprost implant. The bimatoprost implant met the primary endpoint and effectively lowered IOP. The majority of patients required no additional treatment for 12 months after the third administration. The benefit-risk assessment favored the 10 over the 15 µg implant. Studies evaluating other administration regimens with reduced risk of corneal events are ongoing. The bimatoprost implant has the potential to improve adherence and reduce treatment burden in glaucoma

Influence of Phase Transformations on the Residual Stress Evolution and Cracking Tendency in CM247LC Nickel-base Superalloy

Precipitation strengthened nickel base superalloys are widely used in the hot sections of turbine engines, where these alloys experience physical degradation in service. Cladding or welding processes offer a way to repair and reuse the components. However, this needs to overcome challenges posed by the propensity of the alloys to experience cracking in the heat affected zone.In this work, the influence of phase transformations on the cracking tendency in the heat affected zone of the directionally solidified (DS) and conventionally cast (CC) superalloy CM247LC is examined. Firstly, the influence of the phase transformations on the residual stress evolution is studied by developing a finite element model sensitive to phase transformations. This is used to investigate the importance of accounting for phase transformations in estimation of residual stresses through finite element analysis. The influence of phase transformations on creating ‘cracking susceptible’ microstructures is also analyzed through characterization of welds. Initially the constitutive mechanical properties of the alloy are measured as a function of the temperature history of the heat affected zone. An improved microstructure model based on the simultaneous transformation kinetics theory is developed and shown to be able to track the γ\u27 [gamma prime] size distribution through the thermal history. This model is used to correlate the thermal history to the constitutive properties, which are then used in a finite element model by mapping to the inbuilt phase transformation and constitutive property model within the software Sysweld. The results show a difference in the peak stress of nearly 500MPa, implying that consideration of the phase transformations is required. The experimental constitutive property testing also shows that the ‘strain to fracture’ is highly anisotropic depending on alloy version. Potential incipient melting at the grain boundary as well as constitutional liquation of the MC carbide particles is identified as a source of cracking. Thiscracking tendency is correlated to the crystallographic misorientation between adjacent grains. It is found that cracking only occurs at grain boundaries misoriented beyond 15 degrees

Traumatic expulsive aniridia after phacoemulsification

Blunt trauma is usually associated with severe ocular damage particularly in eyes following cataract surgery. Small, self-sealing incision cataract surgery is changing the pattern of presentation of such cases, with relatively favorable outcomes. We describe a case of blunt trauma following phacoemulsification leading to aniridia

Fibrolipomatous Hamartoma of the Median Nerve: An Outcome of Surgical Management in Six Consecutive Cases Avinash Prabhu,

Background: Lipoma is a nonneurogenic benign tumor. Neurolipoma and fibrolipomatous hamartoma are variants of this universal tumor. All these variants are grouped under lipomatosis of the nerve. Majority of these tumors are asymptomatic, which can be observed. Symptomatic patients require surgery, which is not standardized. As there are insufficient number of cases, no randomized controlled studies have been performed in the treatment of fibrolipomatous hamartoma. The aim of our study was to determine the pattern of presentation of fibrolipomatous hamartoma, surgical management offered, and the outcome in the form of recovery and complications. Materials and Methods: This retrospective descriptive study includes six patients diagnosed with fibrolipomatous hamartoma over a period of 12 years. Patient details were collected from the medical records. Patients diagnosed of fibrolipomatous hamartoma in the hand were included. Patients with other soft-tissue tumors were excluded from the study. Out of six patients, four required excision of nerve followed by reconstruction using sural nerve graft and two underwent microsurgical dissection of neural element. Patients were instructed to take care of the operated hand during the recovery phase. Institutional physiotherapy protocol was started during the 3rd postoperative week. Follow-up period was between 1 and 3 years. Results: All the six patients were free from symptoms postoperatively. Minimal complications were noted in two patients, which were managed conservatively. Conclusion: Surgical excision of fibrolipomatous hamartoma of median nerve below elbow, with nerve dissection or with nerve reconstruction using sural nerve graft, followed by proper postoperative care and physiotherapy has proven beneficial for the patients in our study

Intraoperative localization of vascular malformation of small bowel by selective intra-arterial dye injection

Angiomatous malformation is the most common vascular abnormality, accounting for 30-40% cases of obscure GI bleeding from small bowel. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice in severe or recurrent hemorrhage requiring multiple blood transfusions. However, the diffuse nature of the lesions poses a challenge to localize them accurately preoperatively, for exact resection. We present a case in which we have used selective mesenteric angiography with selective cannulation and exact localization of the lesion by injecting dye such as methylene blue, indigo carmine, and fluorescein, to localize the angiomatous malformation before surgical resection and also to determine the exact resection to be done