Informal mentorship of new engineers in the workplace

Despite the long history of apprenticeship in engineering (Wilson, 1965), little is understood about the transition from school to work in the modern engineering workforce. How do new engineers gain experience and knowledge while also gaining trust and establishing themselves with more senior engineers and their company? In this work we draw on a large ethnographic study of new engineers in their first year on the job to characterize the role and nature of apprenticeship-like training in the modern engineering workforce. In our analysis, apprenticeship on the job appears to be mostly ad hoc and fleeting with rare instances of direct intentional instruction (as opposed to in-the-moment correction or feedback). Furthermore, learning arrangements between new and more senior engineers are constrained by several factors, including the rigidity of organizational hierarchy, the thoroughness of division of labor, and the senior engineers willingness to actively mentor. For example, we see how new engineers attempt to gain knowledge and experiences from more senior engineers, but are often rebuked due to corporate structure and hierarchy. Yet, at the same time, we see examples of new engineers successfully finding senior co-workers who recognize the importance of training them to navigate these restrictive structures and hierarchies for the benefit of not only the new engineer, but also the senior engineer and the company itself. We find a variety of learning arrangements, including isolated new engineers struggling to find a place in their new work, while also learning new skills, and fully collaborative work between new and senior engineers. We use these findings to suggest ways that engineering schools and companies can help support and enrich the learning of new engineers in the workforce

Mechanisms regulating cAMP-mediated growth of bovine neonatal pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells

Neonatal pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) exhibit enhanced growth capacity and increased growth responses to mitogenic stimuli compared with adult PASMCs. Because intracellular signals mediating enhanced growth responses in neonatal PASMCs are incompletely understood, we questioned whether 1) Gq agonists increase cAMP content and 2) increased cAMP is proproliferative. Endothelin-1 and angiotensin II increased both cAMP content and proliferation in neonatal but not in adult PASMCs. Inhibition of protein kinase C and protein kinase A activity nearly eliminated the endothelin-1- and angiotensin II-induced growth of neonatal PASMCs. Moreover, cAMP increased proliferation in neonatal but not in adult cells. Protein kinase C-stimulated adenylyl cyclase was expressed in both cell types, suggesting that insensitivity to stimulation of cAMP in adult cells was not due to decreased enzyme expression. Our data collectively indicate that protein kinase C stimulation of cAMP is a critical signal mediating proliferation of neonatal PASMCs that is absent in adult PASMCs and therefore may contribute to the unique proproliferative phenotype of these neonatal cells

Making art matter : narrating the collaborative creative process

This dissertation positions art production as a form of social activism by investigating how participation within artistic collaborations constructs "mattering maps" where individual transformation and political change are linked by collective processes of making meaning. The three sites examined--Oujé-Bougoumou, The Bread and Puppet Theater, and Le Centre Artisanal des Femmes--all facilitate creative production as an apparatus for political action. In analyzing each, the dissertation highlights the affect of art making as a way of theorizing the becoming of subjectivity necessary for social activists. Invoking a locational feminism, this project contends that a situational conception of identity subverts modernist appeals to an essential humanistic subject, while maintaining the possibility of individual agency. The creative processes enacted at each site necessitate the construction of a new model for art history that narrates collaborative production. Therefore, rather than describing the examples in terms of art objects, finite events, or hypothesizing their effects upon viewers, this dissertation creates particular meaning by shaping the discourse around the production of communities; the performance of collaboration; the transformative pedagogy of "organic intellectuals;" and the creation of cultural democracy. In doing so the specificity of each of the activist interventions can be documented, while attendantly theorizing the impact of participation within creative production as a process of making art matter as social activism

ReefKIM: An integrated geodatabase for sustainable management of the Kimberley Reefs, North West Australia

Coral reefs of the Kimberley Bioregion are seldom studied due to limited accessibility and extreme water conditions, which make management of these vital ecosystems a challenging task. Managing reef resources requires a considerable amount of credible, consistent and continual information. We identified the geographic information system (GIS) approach to be useful in developing an integrated geodatabase by acquiring information from different sources relating to the Kimberley reefs. Based on this approach, the study aimed to create a foundation for the first comprehensive geodatabase of the Kimberley reefs, called ReefKIM. The work included compiling existing spatial and non-spatial data, as well as collecting new data to complete information gaps. The study demonstrates how new technologies can be harnessed to crowdsource data from a wide range of people though a web-based platform. ReefKIM will provide a practical tool for scientists and managers to facilitate better monitoring and sustainable management of these vital natural resources. Moreover, it will support further studies in various disciplines leading to a more detailed understanding of the Kimberley Bioregion reefs

Beyond The Four Walls: Why Community Is Critical to Workforce Health

This report calls for increased cross-sector collaboration to address community-level drivers of workforce health. It demonstrates the relationship between workforce and community health and reveals that certain industries are more likely to be concentrated in counties with poor health, and outlines strategies these industries can use to improve community and workforce health. The report also includes guidelines to implement effective cross-sector partnerships and overcome common barriers faced by employers and community groups.Case studies featured in the report demonstrate how:Employers are leveraging three strategies to make quality investments in community health, which benefit the business and population healthCommunity groups are leveraging these three strategies to engage businesses in local health promotio

Geomorphic patterns, internal architecture and reef growth in a macrotidal, high-turbidity setting of coral reefs from the Kimberley bioregion

The coral reefs of the Kimberley bioregion are situated in an area that is considered a significant ‘biodiversity hotspot’ and are poorly known and of recognised international significance. This paper is a review of ongoing research as part of one of the first geoscientific reef studies of the Kimberley Biozone. Remote sensing, sub-bottom profiling and associated sedimentological work have been employed to produce a regional geodatabase of coral reefs and determine the Holocene internal architecture and growth history of the coral reefs. Satellite image analysis has revealed that fringing reefs in the Kimberley bioregion grow very well and differ geomorphologically from planar reefs both inshore and offshore. The acoustic profiles have depicted multiple reef build-ups, demonstrating the reefs’ long-term resilience. This research has provided a better understanding of the Kimberley reefs and demonstrated their capacity to succeed in challenging environments and generate habitats characterised by high complexity and species diversity

Data Security: Protecting the Privacy of Phone Records

This report discusses recent legislative and regulatory efforts to protect the privacy of customer telephone records, and efforts to prevent the unauthorized use, disclosure, or sale of such records by data brokers. In addition, it provides a brief overview of the confidentiality protections for customer information established by the Communications Act of 1934

Data Security: Protecting the Privacy of Phone Records

This report discusses recent legislative and regulatory efforts to protect the privacy of customer telephone records, and efforts to prevent the unauthorized use, disclosure, or sale of such records by data brokers. In addition, it provides a brief overview of the confidentiality protections for customer information established by the Communications Act of 1934