Executive coaching : investigating effects of leader-empowering behaviours and psychological empowerment

Executive coaching is a rapidly expanding approach to leadership development which has grown at a rate that warrants extensive examination of its effects (Wasylyshyn, 2003). This thesis has therefore examined both behavioural and psychological effects based on a nine month executive coaching intervention within a large not-for-profit organisation. The intervention was a part of a larger ongoing integrated organisational strategy to create an organisational coaching culture. In order to examine the effectiveness of the nine month executive coaching intervention two studies were conducted. A quantitative study used a pre and post questionnaire to examine leaders and their team members‘ responses before and after the coaching intervention. The research examined leader-empowering behaviours, psychological empowerment, job satisfaction and affective commitment. Significant results were demonstrated from leaders‘ self-reports on leader-empowering behaviours and their team members‘ self-reports revealed a significant flow on effect of psychological empowerment. The second part of the investigation involved a qualitative study which explored the developmental nature of psychological empowerment through executive coaching. The examination dissected psychological empowerment into its widely accepted four facets of meaning, impact, competency and self-determination and investigated, through semi-structured interviews, leaders‘ perspectives of the effect of executive coaching upon them (Spreitzer, 1992). It was discovered that a number of the common practices within executive coaching, including goal-setting, accountability and action-reflection, contributed to the production of outcomes that developed higher levels of psychological empowerment. Careful attention was also given to organisational context and its influence upon the outcomes.

Mean and variance of estimates of the bispectrum of a harmonic random process-an analysis including leakage effects

Analytical expressions are derived for the mean and variance, of estimates of the bispectrum of a real-time series assuming a cosinusoidal model. The effects of spectral leakage, inherent in discrete Fourier transform operation when the modes present in the signal have a nonintegral number of wavelengths in the record, are included in the analysis. A single phase-coupled triad of modes can cause the bispectrum to have a nonzero mean value over the entire region of computation owing to leakage. The variance of bispectral estimates in the presence of leakage has contributions from individual modes and from triads of phase-coupled modes. Time-domain windowing reduces the leakage. The theoretical expressions for the mean and variance of bispectral estimates are derived in terms of a function dependent on an arbitrary symmetric time-domain window applied to the record. the number of data, and the statistics of the phase coupling among triads of modes. The theoretical results are verified by numerical simulations for simple test cases and applied to laboratory data to examine phase coupling in a hypothesis testing framework

Evaluating effects of eco-driving at traffic intersections based on traffic micro-simulation

Eco-driving is an initiative driving behavior which aims to reduce fuel consumption and emissions from automobiles. Recently, it has attracted increasing interests and has been adopted by many drivers in Australia. Although many of the studies have revealed considerable benefits in terms of fuel consumption and emissions after utilising eco-driving, most of the literature investigated eco-driving effects on individual driver but not traffic flow. The driving behavior of eco-drivers will potentially affect other drivers and thereby affects the entire traffic flow. To comprehensively assess and understand how effectively eco-driving can perform, therefore, measurement on traffic flow is necessary. In this paper, we proposed and demonstrated an evaluation method based on a microscopic traffic simulator (Aimsun). We focus on one particular eco-driving style which involves moderate and smooth acceleration. We evaluated both traffic performance (travel time) and environmental performance (fuel consumption and CO2 emission) at traffic intersection level in a simple simulation model. The before-and-after comparisons indicated potentially negative impacts when using eco-driving, which highlighted the necessity to carefully evaluate and improve eco-driving before wide promotion and implementation.

An economic evaluation of the Safe Motherhood programme in Guangxi, China

Maternal and infant mortality is a global health issue with a significant social and economic impact. Each year, over half a million women worldwide die due to complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, four million infants die in the first 28 days of life, and eight million infants die in the first year. Ninety-nine percent of maternal and infant deaths are in developing countries. Reducing maternal and infant mortality is among the key international development goals. In China, the national maternal mortality ratio and infant mortality rate were reduced greatly in the past two decades, yet a large discrepancy remains between urban and rural areas. To address this problem, a large-scale Safe Motherhood Programme was initiated in 2000. The programme was implemented in Guangxi in 2003. Interventions in the programme included both demand-side and supply side-interventions focusing on increasing health service use and improving birth outcomes. Little is known about the effects and economic outcomes of the Safe Motherhood Programme in Guangxi, although it has been implemented for seven years. The aim of this research is to estimate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the interventions in the Safe Motherhood Programme in Guangxi, China. The objectives of this research include: 1. To evaluate whether the changes of health service use and birth outcomes are associated with the interventions in the Safe Motherhood Programme. 2. To estimate the cost-effectiveness of the interventions in the Safe Motherhood Programme and quantify the uncertainty surrounding the decision. 3. To assess the expected value of perfect information associated with both the whole decision and individual parameters, and interpret the findings to inform priority setting in further research and policy making in this area. A quasi-experimental study design was used in this research to assess the effectiveness of the programme in increasing health service use and improving birth outcomes. The study subjects were 51 intervention counties and 30 control counties. Data on the health service use, birth outcomes and socio-economic factors from 2001 to 2007 were collected from the programme database and statistical yearbooks. Based on the profile plots of the data, general linear mixed models were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme while controlling for the effects of baseline levels of the response variables, change of socio-economic factors over time and correlations among repeated measurements from the same county. Redundant multicollinear variables were deleted from the mixed model using the results of the multicollinearity diagnoses. For each response variable, the best covariance structure was selected from 15 alternatives according to the fit statistics including Akaike information criterion, Finite-population corrected Akaike information criterion, and Schwarz.s Bayesian information criterion. Residual diagnostics were used to validate the model assumptions. Statistical inferences were made to show the effect of the programme on health service use and birth outcomes. A decision analytic model was developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the programme, quantify the decision uncertainty, and estimate the expected value of perfect information associated with the decision. The model was used to describe the transitions between health states for women and infants and reflect the change of both costs and health benefits associated with implementing the programme. Result gained from the mixed models and other relevant evidence identified were synthesised appropriately to inform the input parameters of the model. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of the programme were calculated for the two groups of intervention counties over time. Uncertainty surrounding the parameters was dealt with using probabilistic sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty relating to model assumptions was handled using scenario analysis. Finally the expected value of perfect information for both the whole model and individual parameters in the model were estimated to inform priority setting in further research in this area.The annual change rates of the antenatal care rate and the institutionalised delivery rate were improved significantly in the intervention counties after the programme was implemented. Significant improvements were also found in the annual change rates of the maternal mortality ratio, the infant mortality rate, the incidence rate of neonatal tetanus and the mortality rate of neonatal tetanus in the intervention counties after the implementation of the programme. The annual change rate of the neonatal mortality rate was also improved, although the improvement was only close to statistical significance. The influences of the socio-economic factors on the health service use indicators and birth outcomes were identified. The rural income per capita had a significant positive impact on the health service use indicators, and a significant negative impact on the birth outcomes. The number of beds in healthcare institutions per 1,000 population and the number of rural telephone subscribers per 1,000 were found to be positively significantly related to the institutionalised delivery rate. The length of highway per square kilometre negatively influenced the maternal mortality ratio. The percentage of employed persons in the primary industry had a significant negative impact on the institutionalised delivery rate, and a significant positive impact on the infant mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate. The incremental costs of implementing the programme over the existing practice were US $11.1 million from the societal perspective, and US $13.8 million from the perspective of the Ministry of Health. Overall, 28,711 life years were generated by the programme, producing an overall incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of US $386 from the societal perspective, and US $480 from the perspective of the Ministry of Health, both of which were below the threshold willingness-to-pay ratio of US $675. The expected net monetary benefit generated by the programme was US $8.3 million from the societal perspective, and US $5.5 million from the perspective of the Ministry of Health. The overall probability that the programme was cost-effective was 0.93 and 0.89 from the two perspectives, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of the programme was insensitive to the different estimates of the three parameters relating to the model assumptions. Further research could be conducted to reduce the uncertainty surrounding the decision, in which the upper limit of investment was US $0.6 million from the societal perspective, and US $1.3 million from the perspective of the Ministry of Health. It is also worthwhile to get a more precise estimate of the improvement of infant mortality rate. The population expected value of perfect information for individual parameters associated with this parameter was US $0.99 million from the societal perspective, and US $1.14 million from the perspective of the Ministry of Health. The findings from this study have shown that the interventions in the Safe Motherhood Programme were both effective and cost-effective in increasing health service use and improving birth outcomes in rural areas of Guangxi, China. Therefore, the programme represents a good public health investment and should be adopted and further expanded to an even broader area if possible. This research provides economic evidence to inform efficient decision making in improving maternal and infant health in developing countries.

Size effects on tensile and fatigue behaviour of polycrystalline metal foils at the micrometer scale

Tensile and fatigue properties of as-rolled and annealed polycrystalline Cu foils with different thicknesses at the micrometer scale were investigated. Uniaxial tensile testing results showed that with decreasing foil thickness the uniform elongation decreases for both as-rolled and annealed foils, whereas the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increase for as-rolled foils, but decrease for the annealed foils. For both the as-rolled or annealed foils, bending fatigue resistance decreases with decreasing the foil thickness. Deformation and fatigue damage behaviour of the free-standing foils were characterised as a function of foil thickness. In addition, the fatigue strength of various small-scale Cu foils was compared to understand they physical mechanisms of size effects on mechanical properties of the metallic material at micrometer scales.

Optical waveguide and cavity effects on whispering-gallery mode resonances in a ZnO nanonail

Spatially resolved cathodoluminescence (CL) study of a ZnO nanonail, having thin shank, tapered neck, and hexagonal head sections, is reported. Monochromatic imaging and line scan profiling indicate that the wave guiding and leaking from growth imperfections in addition to the oxygen deficiency variation determine the spatial contrast of CL emissions. Occurrence of resonance peaks at identical wavelengths regardless of CL-excitation spots is inconsistent with the whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonances of a two-dimensional cavity in the finite difference time domain simulation. However, three dimensioanl cavity simulation produced WGM peaks that are consistent with the experimental spectra, including transverse-electric resonances that are comparable to transverse-magnetic ones.

Order of instruction effects - do they make a difference when teaching senior chemistry with computer based visualizations?

This study investigated whether conceptual development is greater if students learning senior chemistry hear teacher explanations and other traditional teaching approaches first then see computer based visualizations or vice versa. Five Canadian chemistry classes, taught by three different teachers, studied the topics of Le Chatelier’s Principle and dynamic chemical equilibria using scientific visualizations with the explanation and visualizations in different orders. Conceptual development was measured using a 12 item test based on the Chemistry Concepts Inventory. Data was obtained about the students’ abilities, learning styles (auditory, visual or kinesthetic) and sex, and the relationships between these factors and conceptual development due to the teaching sequences were investigated. It was found that teaching sequence is not important in terms of students’ conceptual learning gains, across the whole cohort or for any of the three subgroups.

A Cochrane review on the effects of end-of-life care pathways : do they improve patient outcomes?

Clinical pathways for end-of-life care management are used widely around the world and have been regarded as the gold standard. The aim of this review was to assess the effects of end-of-life care pathways (EOLCP), compared with usual care (no pathway) or with care guided by a different end-of-life care pathway, across all healthcare settings (e.g. hospitals, residential aged care facilities, community). We searched the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Pain, Palliative and Supportive Care Review group specialised register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, review articles and reference lists of relevant articles. The search was carried out in September 2009. All randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised trials or high quality controlled before and after studies comparing use versus non-use of an EOLCP in caring for the dying were considered for inclusion. The search identified 920 potentially relevant titles, but no studies met criteria for inclusion in the review. Without further available evidence, recommendations for the use of end-of-life pathways in caring for the dying cannot be made. There are now recent concerns regarding the big scale roll-out of EOLCP despite the lack of evidence, nurses should report any safety concerns or adverse effects associated with such pathways.

The effects of the 2009 dust storm on emergency admissions to a hospital in Brisbane, Australia

In September 2009 an enormous dust storm swept across eastern Australia. Dust is potentially hazardous to health as it interferes with breathing, and previous dust storms have been linked to increased risks of asthma and even death. We examined whether the 2009 Australian dust storm changed the volume or characteristics of emergency admissions to hospital. We used an observational study design, using time series analyses to examine changes in the number of admissions, and case-only analyses to examine changes in the characteristics of admissions. The admission data were from the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, between 1 January 2009 and 31 October 2009. There was a 39% increase in emergency admissions associated with the storm (95% confidence interval: 5, 81%), which lasted for just one day. The health effects of the storm could not be detected using particulate matter levels. We found no significant change in the characteristics of admissions during the storm, specifically there was no increase in respiratory admissions. The dust storm had a short-lived impact on emergency hospital admissions. This may be because the public took effective avoidance measures, or because the dust was simply not toxic, being mainly composed of soil. Emergency departments should be prepared for a short-term increase in admissions during dust storms.

Effects of varied ionic calcium and phosphate on the proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of human periodontal ligament cells in vitro

Background and Objective: A number of bone filling materials containing calcium (Ca++) and phosphate (P) ions have been used in the repair of periodontal bone defects; however, the effect that local release of Ca++ and P ions have on biological reactions is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of various levels of Ca++ and P ions on the proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs). Materials and Methods: hPDLCs were obtained using an explant culture method. Defined concentrations and ratios of ionic Ca++ to inorganic P were added to standard culture and osteogenic induction media. The ability of hPDLCs to proliferate in these growth media was assayed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). Cell apoptosis was evaluated by FITC-Annexin V/PI double staining method. Osteogenic differentiation and mineralization were investigated by morphological observations, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and Alizarin red S/von Kossa staining. The mRNA expression of osteogenic related markers was analyzed using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: Within the ranges of Ca++ and P ions concentrations tested, we observed that increased concentrations of Ca++ and P ions enhanced cell proliferation and formation of mineralized matrix nodules; whereas ALP activity was reduced. The RT-PCR results showed that elevated concentrations of Ca++ and P ions led to a general increase of Runx2 mRNA expression and decreased ALP mRNA expression, but gave no clear trend on OCN mRNA levels. Conclusion: The concentrations and ratios of Ca++ and P ions could significantly influence proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of hPDLCs. Within the range of concentrations tested, we found that the combination of 9.0 mM Ca++ ions and 4.5 mM P ions were the optimum concentrations for proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization in hPDLCs.