Restructuring – an over-used lever for change in New Zealand’s state sector?

Is restructuring the hammer of organisational change in New Zealand’s state sector? A State Services Commission (SSC) survey of state sector employees in 2010 identified that 65 per cent of the 4,600 staff sampled had been involved in a merger or restructure during the previous two years, a sharp contrast with a similar survey of the federal government of the United States, which found that only 18 per cent were affected. These statistics raise questions which form the basis of this paper: why, how and to what effect are state sector organisations restructured in New Zealand? Our research started with a review of empirical data on restructuring and of perspectives from the literature on restructuring in the public and private sectors. We then explored these perspectives in three separate focus groups in May 2011, with chief executives, human resource managers and Public Service Association (PSA) delegates and organisers. Not surprisingly, chief executives (CEs) who initiate restructuring have a considerably more optimistic view about its role and impact than those who are affected by it. Annex One is a reflection piece written by one of the most experienced New Zealand public service chief executives, Christopher Blake, Chief Executive of the Department of Labour, (and Chief Executive of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra from 2012), provides a balance to the more sceptical argument presented in this paper. We conclude that restructuring has indeed become the ‘hammer’ of organisational change in New Zealand, a result of the ‘freedom to manage’ formula adopted in the late 1980s to break up a unified and ‘career for life’ bureaucracy that was seen to respond to slowly to the economic crises of the 1980s. Restructuring has become almost an addiction, reinforced by short, fixed term contracts for chief executives and a belief by those chief executives that their employer, the State Services Commission, expects them to be seen to be ‘taking charge’. Restructuring is a symbol and sometimes and substitute for action. It treats organisations as though they are mechanical objects with interchangeable parts rather than as living systems of people who have choices about the extent to which they will commit to their work. Organisational change receives considerably less scrutiny than funding proposals for major capital works. We advocate that restructuring should be subject to such scrutiny and chief executives need to act more like stewards of their organisations and less like owners

NCC Simulation Model: Simulating the operations of the network control center, phase 2

The simulation of the network control center (NCC) is in the second phase of development. This phase seeks to further develop the work performed in phase one. Phase one concentrated on the computer systems and interconnecting network. The focus of phase two will be the implementation of the network message dialogues and the resources controlled by the NCC. These resources are requested, initiated, monitored and analyzed via network messages. In the NCC network messages are presented in the form of packets that are routed across the network. These packets are generated, encoded, decoded and processed by the network host processors that generate and service the message traffic on the network that connects these hosts. As a result, the message traffic is used to characterize the work done by the NCC and the connected network. Phase one of the model development represented the NCC as a network of bi-directional single server queues and message generating sources. The generators represented the external segment processors. The served based queues represented the host processors. The NCC model consists of the internal and external processors which generate message traffic on the network that links these hosts. To fully realize the objective of phase two it is necessary to identify and model the processes in each internal processor. These processes live in the operating system of the internal host computers and handle tasks such as high speed message exchanging, ISN and NFE interface, event monitoring, network monitoring, and message logging. Inter process communication is achieved through the operating system facilities. The overall performance of the host is determined by its ability to service messages generated by both internal and external processors

Systematic review of SGLT2 receptor inhibitors in dual or triple therapy in type 2 diabetes

Background Despite the number of medications for type 2 diabetes, many people with the condition do not achieve good glycaemic control. Some existing glucose-lowering agents have adverse effects such as weight gain or hypoglycaemia. Type 2 diabetes tends to be a progressive disease, and most patients require treatment with combinations of glucose-lowering agents. The sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) receptor inhibitors are a new class of glucose-lowering agents. Objective To assess the clinical effectiveness and safety of the SGLT2 receptor inhibitors in dual or triple therapy in type 2 diabetes. Data sources MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library (all sections); Science Citation Index; trial registries; conference abstracts; drug regulatory authorities; bibliographies of retrieved papers. Inclusion criteria Randomised controlled trials of SGLT2 receptor inhibitors compared with placebo or active comparator in type 2 diabetes in dual or combination therapy. Methods Systematic review. Quality assessment used the Cochrane risk of bias score. Results Seven trials, published in full, assessed dapagliflozin and one assessed canagliflozin. Trial quality appeared good. Dapagliflozin 10 mg reduced HbA1c by −0.54% (weighted mean differences (WMD), 95% CI −0.67 to −0.40) compared to placebo, but there was no difference compared to glipizide. Canagliflozin reduced HbA1c slightly more than sitagliptin (up to −0.21% vs sitagliptin). Both dapagliflozin and canagliflozin led to weight loss (dapagliflozin WMD −1.81 kg (95% CI −2.04 to −1.57), canagliflozin up to −2.3 kg compared to placebo). Limitations Long-term trial extensions suggested that effects were maintained over time. Data on canagliflozin are currently available from only one paper. Costs of the drugs are not known so cost-effectiveness cannot be assessed. More data on safety are needed, with the Food and Drug Administration having concerns about breast and bladder cancers. Conclusions Dapagliflozin appears effective in reducing HbA1c and weight in type 2 diabetes, although more safety data are needed

NCC simulation model. Phase 2: Simulating the operations of the Network Control Center and NCC message manual

The network control center (NCC) provides scheduling, monitoring, and control of services to the NASA space network. The space network provides tracking and data acquisition services to many low-earth orbiting spacecraft. This report describes the second phase in the development of simulation models for the FCC. Phase one concentrated on the computer systems and interconnecting network.Phase two focuses on the implementation of the network message dialogs and the resources controlled by the NCC. Performance measures were developed along with selected indicators of the NCC's operational effectiveness.The NCC performance indicators were defined in terms of the following: (1) transfer rate, (2) network delay, (3) channel establishment time, (4) line turn around time, (5) availability, (6) reliability, (7) accuracy, (8) maintainability, and (9) security. An NCC internal and external message manual is appended to this report

Peer-group and price influence students drinking along with planned behaviour

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2008 The Authors.Aims: To examine the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), as a framework for explaining binge drinking among young adults. Methods: One hundred and seventy-eight students in a cross-sectional design study completed self-report questionnaires examining attitudes to drinking, intention to drink and drinking behaviour in university. Binge drinking was defined for females (and males) as consuming ‘four (males—five) or more pints of beer/glasses of wine/measures of spirits’ in a single session. Results: Drinking alcohol was common; 39.6% of males and 35.9% of females reported binge drinking. The TPB explained 7% of the variance in intention to drink. Overall, 43% of the variance in intention, 83% of the variance in total weekly consumption and 44% of the variance in binge drinking was explained. The frequency of drinking and the drinking behaviour of friends significantly predicted intention to drink and binge drinking, respectively. Binge drinkers were influenced by peers and social-situational factors. Pressure to drink was greater for males; undergraduates were influenced by the size of the drinking group, ‘special offer’ prices, and the availability of alcohol. Conclusions: The TPB appeared to be a weak predictor of student drinking but this may be a result of how constructs were measured. With friends’ drinking behaviour emerging as a significant predictor of alcohol consumption, interventions seeking to reduce excessive drinking should target the role of peers and the university environment in which drinking occurs

Spatial and temporal variation in population trends in a long-distance migratory bird

Over the past three decades, evidence has been growing that many Afro-Palaearctic migratory bird populations have suffered sustained and severe declines. As causes of these declines exist across both the breeding and non-breeding season, identifying potential drivers of population change is complex. In order to explore the roles of changes in regional and local environmental conditions on population change, we examine spatial and temporal variation in population trajectories of one of Europe’s most abundant Afro-Palaearctic summer migrants, the willow warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus. Britain and Ireland. We use national survey data from Britain and Ireland (BBS: BTO/RSPB/JNCC Breeding Bird Survey and CBS: BWI/NPWS/Heritage Council Countryside Breeding Survey) from 1994 to 2006 to model the spatial and temporal variation in willow warbler population trends. Across Britain and Ireland, population trends follow a gradient from sharp declines in the south and east of England to shallow declines and/or slight increases in parts of north and west England, across Scotland and Ireland. Decreasing the spatial scale of analysis reveals variation in both the rate and spatial extent of population change within central England and the majority of Scotland. The rates of population change also vary temporally; declines in the south of England are shallower now than at the start of the time series, whereas populations further north in Britain have undergone periods of increase and decline. These patterns suggest that regional-scale drivers, such as changing climatic conditions, and local-scale processes, such as habitat change, are interacting to produce spatially variable population trends. We discuss the potential mechanisms underlying these interactions and the challenges in addressing such changes at scales relevant to migratory species

Balloon dilatation of the eustachian tube for obstructive eustachian tube dysfunction in adults

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To evaluate the effects of balloon dilatation of the Eustachian tube in adults with obstructive Eustachian tube dysfunction