The Role of Collaboration in Defining and Maintaining a Safety Culture: Australian Perspectives in the Construction Sector

The nature of the Australian construction industry, with strict time and work demands, serves to challenge construction organisations in how they can develop and maintain a positive site safety culture. Much research has examined the role management has in influencing culture, however more is needed to specifically elucidate the attributes required by leaders within organisations (Cox, Tomas, Cheyne, & Oliver 1998; Glendon & Stanton 2000; Williamson, Feyer, Cairns & Biancotti 1997). To answer this question, focus groups were held with eleven of the twelve largest construction companies across Australia. Discussion centred around safety culture and the attributes required by those who hold ‘safety critical roles’ i.e. key safety positions. Data was analysed qualitatively to identify key themes. The results indicated the strong role that leadership style, communication and workplace collaboration had in influencing the ability of organisations to develop and maintain a positive safety culture. Specifically, the participants indicated that leadership and communication styles that served to reduce conflict and work demands, and sought to involve workers in decision making and problem solving appeared to increase personalisation, which in turn increased safety awareness and safety performance

Defining latent EBV load in B lymphocytes: Application to multiple sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease affecting more than 1 in 1000 people. The disease is characterized by T and B lymphocytes attacking the central nervous system, leading to demyelination. This can lead to symptoms affecting the motor function and can result in permanent disability. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been implicated in MS with universal presence and elevated EBV antibody titres in MS patients. The role of B lymphocytes has become of major interest with beneficial effects of B lymphocyte-depleting agents and studies demonstrating increased autoreactive memory-B lymphocytes in MS patients. While EBV is known to reside in B lymphocytes, due to the low EBV copy number during latency it is unknown in which B lymphocyte subset EBV is residing in and if the quantity of EBV infected lymphocytes differs between B lymphocyte subsets in MS patients and healthy controls. The use of a specific and sensitive method to quantitate EBV latency in B lymphocyte subsets is yet to be determined and is the focus of this research study. Three independent methods were compared: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), digital droplet polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) and flow cytometry coupled with fluorescent in situ hybridization (Flow-FISH) targeting EBV Nuclear Antigen-1 (EBNA-1) and EBER (small viral RNAs), respectively. We have successfully quantified EBNA-1 and EBER in healthy control samples with the techniques qPCR and flow-FISH, respectively. However, as a result of the sequence homology between EBNA-1 and genomic DNA, ddPCR was determined to be too non-specific as it did not quantify target EBNA-1. Phenotyping latently EBV infected lymphocytes could be used in the future as a biomarker for MS diagnosis and to target B lymphocyte depletion therapy more specifically to EBV infected or reactive lymphocytes, limiting side effects and improving patient quality of life

Passive Acoustic Emissions Monitoring of Fluidized Bed Pellet Coating

Passive acoustic emissions were assessed for their potential as a non-invasive monitoring tool for the coating of pellets in a fluidized bed. Pharmaceutical pellets are small spherical particles that contain an active ingredient. They are film coated for the purpose of modified drug release and packed into capsules as a multiple unit dosage form. A more reliable monitoring and control method is desired to ensure the appropriate drug release profile is achieved by minimizing variations within and between coated pellets. Microphones attached to the exterior of a conical top spray fluidized bed measured acoustic emissions produced from the coating process. Statistical analysis of the signals was shown to provide information on fluidization quality and nozzle performance, while the amplitude of the acoustic emissions was shown to correspond to an increase in pellet film coat thickness. Overall, passive acoustic emissions reflected changes in process dynamics and particle interactions, indicating the ability to monitor fluidized bed pellet coating and potentially for the determination of a desired coating end-point

Risk reduction and diversification in UK commercial property portfolios

The issue of diversification in direct real estate investment portfolios has been one of the most widely studied topics in academic and practitioner literature. Most work, however, has been done using mean returns and risks for broad market segments as inputs to asset allocation models, or in a few cases using data from small sets of individual properties. This paper reports results from a comprehensive testing of asset allocation modelling drawing on records of 10,000+ UK properties tracked by Investment Property Databank. It provides for the first time robust estimates of the diversification gains attainable given return, risk and cross-correlations across individual properties actually available to fund managers. The discussion of results covers implications for the number of assets and amount of money needed to construct “balanced” portfolios by direct investment, or via indirect specialist vehicles.Publisher PD

Transplantation of the small intestine: the pathologist's perspective.

Small-bowel transplantation is now ready for clinical trials. The surgical techniques and methods for immunosuppression and monitoring bowel status have been developed in animal models over the past 30 years. Several attempts at small-bowel transplantation in humans have already been reported. In the course of future trials, pathologists will be involved in the monitoring of the posttransplant course by mucosal biopsies and functional studies, including maltose and xylose absorption tests. The morphology of rejection has been studied in canine and rat models. Activated lymphocytes and plasma cells infiltrate the lamina propria and invade crypt epithelium, causing "cryptitis." Villous blunting ensues, resulting eventually in necrosis. Graft survival without immunosuppression is about 10 days. Under Cyclosporine immunosuppression, a lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate has been noted around nerves and vessels in the submucosa. The overlying mucosa may be relatively normal. End-stage bowel is characterized by a contracted, scarred mass. Due to the large amount of lymphoid tissue in the allograft, graft-versus-host disease is a significant problem in small-bowel transplantation

Developing and Empirically Testing a Sales Pipeline Execution Process Framework

Every customer-facing organisation must have some means of developing customer interest in their offerings (Monat, 2011). Growing sales and finding new qualified customers (Sohnchen & Albers, 2010) is the lifeblood of any company (Monat, 2010; Hummel, 2011; Blake, 2013; D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013; Moncrief, Bedford, & Bedford, 2017). For start-up companies and established firms looking to open up new markets, salespeople play a major role in acquiring these new customers (Harmon, Hammond,Widing, & Brown, 2002). The sales process is an essential tool to clarify the steps required to win sales. However, there is little emphasis on the front-end of this process – the steps needed to get a customer. Dubinsky, 1981 and Moncrief & Marshall (2005) highlighted the traditional seven steps of selling at a macrolevel. There are significant streams of literature on issues such as key account management (KAM) (Guenzi, Georges, & Pardo, 2009), sales and marketing integration (Le MeunierFitzhugh & Massey, 2019), CRM (Agnihotri, Trainor, Itani, & Rodriguez, 2017), social media (Itani, Agnihotri, & Dingus, 2017), and the role of information technology (Harrison & Hair, 2017) that give insight but need to be integrated. At the front-end of the sales process the focus is on identifying prospects - a process called lead generation (Jobber, Lancester, & Le MeunierFitzhugh, 2019). Despite the criticality in acquiring new customers and building a sales pipeline (Wilding, 2014), this is an area where a significant gap in the literature has emerged, and has been considered the ‘neglected dark side of selling’ (Virtanen, Parvinen, & Rollins, 2015). This thesis focuses on the early stages of the front end of the sales process in B2B by creating a framework, informed by theory and a two stage research methodology, which provides firms with opportunities for early relationship building (Borg & Young, 2014) and helping to build a sales pipeline, complementing and enhancing the seven steps approach (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005). Phase one was a set of nine interviews with individual small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This led to a set of challenges for these firms around the front-end of the sales process culminating in a Prospecting Implementation Process (PIP). Following on from this, semi-structured interviews took place with 17 participants from six SME case companies: three located in the UK and three in Ireland. This research resulted in a Sales Pipeline Execution Process (SPEP) which contributes towards the closing of the literature gap around the front-end of the sales process. This SPEP has shed light on each stage of the front-end of the sales process. This research has also identified antecedents which are a key part of the overall SPEP that should enable the further enhancement of the SPEP, resulting in moving the sales cycle for organisations that adopt it nearer to closing the sale

Sabbatical Leave Final Report

My plan for sabbatical leave is to renew my commitment to personal counseling by: 1) Reacquainting myself with the current manual used to diagnose psychiatric disorders - DSM-IV-TR, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision; 2) Reading the latest professional journals and texts; 3) Attending several professional workshops, either live, on line, or through audio recordings; and 4) Immersing myself in the study, diagnosis, and treatment of students with Asperger\u27s Syndrome, an autistic spectrum disorder