Are age-related variations in breeding performance greatest when food availability is limited?

Age-related improvements in reproductive performance in seabirds have been well documented, and may be explained by improvements in foraging efficiency or increased experience and reproductive effort with age. The interactive effects of parental age and food supply on reproductive performance, however, remain poorly understood. A widespread mass mortality of pilchards Sardinops sagax in southern Australian waters in 1998 provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of a sudden reduction in the availability of amajor prey species on Australasian gannets Morus serrator, an important local marine predator. Age-related differences in the breeding performance of gannets were evident in 1 year of reduced pilchard availability; when food was not limited, both young and experienced parents were equally capable of rearing chicks and had similar levels of breeding success. These data clearly demonstrate the interactive effects of parental age and food supply on breeding performance and suggest that such differences only become apparent when conditions become more stressful.

A measure of 'high commitment organisation' performance values in sport management professionals and sport organisations

Many organizations have realized the growing importance of adopting a 'High Commitment Organization' (HCO) approach with a focus on shared values to assist them in meeting their competitive challenges. A survey questionnaire based on the McDonald and Gandz (1992) list of values, employing confirmatory and principal components analyses was used to create scales to (a) explore the importance the sport management professional placed on those values, (b) explore the individual's perception of the importance placed on those values by their employing organization, (c) to compare these hierarchies with the values of the HCO, and (d) to measure the extent of value congruence. Three clear sets of values emerged: Development / Adhocracy (D/A) Values, Humanistic / Clan (H/C) Values and Conformity / Hierarchy (C/H) Values. Findings indicate significant differences between sport management professionals' values and those of their organizations. Employees placed higher importance on (D/A) and (H/C) Values than their organizations, while Sport organizations placed higher importance on (C/H) Values than their employees. There is stronger support by individuals than organizations for the values underpinning the HCO approach. These levels of individual - organizational value incongruence have implications for individual job satisfaction, motivation and organizational effectiveness.

Simulation-based support tool for operator performance in batch manufacturing

In industry, the workload and utilization of shop floor operators is often misunderstood. In this paper, we will present several real case studies, using Discrete Event Simulation (DES) models, which allow us to better understand operators in a batch manufacturing environment. The first study investigates labour in a machining plant consisting of multiple identical CNC machines that batch produce parts. The second study investigates labour in an eight station, gravity die casting rotary table. The results from these studies have shown that there can be potential improvements made by the production planners in the current labour configuration. In the first case study, a matrix is produced that estimates what the operator's utilization levels will be for various configurations. From this, the preferred operator to machine ratio over a range of cycle times is presented. In the second study, the results have shown that by reducing the casting cycle time, the operator would be overloaded. A discrete event simulation of these two cases highlighted areas that were misunderstood by plant management, and provided them with a useful decision support tool for production planning.

An exploration of high performance practices through individual and organisational values

This study examines the extent to which the values consistent with the new organizational paradigm of High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) are perceived to be important to a range of professionals and the extent to which they are perceived to be important to organizations. Findings reveal there are contrasts between the hierarchies of individual and organisational values. There is stronger support by individuals than their organisations for the values underpinning the HPWS paradigm. These levels of individual - organisational value incongruence have implications for individual job satisfaction and motivation and for organizational effectiveness and in bridging the gap between the rhetoric of espoused values and reality of values in action.

Carbon dioxide levels and ventilation strategies in 'green' office buildings

Energy efficient office buildings are intended to provide a comfortable and healthy environment for their occupants as well as reducing the energy consumption of the building. They are often designed as "showcase" buildings illustrating the potential for savings through some innovative design technology. But do such buildings actually deliver the desired energy savings and satisfactory comfort conditions for occupants? Measurements of a "green" University campus building in Victoria, Australia, designed with an innovative fabric energy storage system, demonstrate that the ventilation system is not providing acceptable indoor air quality conditions. The design strategies used to reduce energy consumption have had negative consequences on the air quality of the building. Insufficient fresh air is being drawn into the building leading to an excessive build up of carbon dioxide. It is recommended that monitoring systems need to use a wider range of measurements than temperature alone to guarantee good quality indoor air and working conditions and that commissioning of buildings should include adequate monitoring of the operational performance of the building. Designers need to be made aware of the potential consequences of their decisions when attempting innovative energy-efficient designs.

Views from the executive suite : lessons from the introduction of performance management

Performance management introduced to the senior health executive levels in the New South Wales public health care system included the senior executive service in 1989 and, as a key element of that service, performance agreements in 1990. This is the first qualitative study examining senior health executives' personal experiences of these changes. In consideration of what has been learnt from the most relevant literature and this study, this paper concludes that the introduction and implementation performance management is a continuous process. This process includes the key steps of planning, measuring, monitoring and evaluating. It can be used as a means to achieve overall effective organisation performance by bringing in a two way management process for the organisation and its senior health executives.

Comparing Australias genuine progress to its economic growth performance

Australia has recorded consistently strong levels of economic growth in recent times. Under conventional considerations, the well-being experienced by Australians would also be considered to have increased in equal terms over this period. This is because aggregate standard national accounts have from their inception been assigned as proxy measures of well-being both within the economic literature and public debate. However, this approach fails to consider a number of important economic costs and non-welfaristic impacts on well-being associated with a growing economy. As a result, figures such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita over-estimate well-being. It is possible to adjust these estimates to overcome these limitations. Within this paper, the sustainable well-being of Australia will be reviewed by estimating a Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) for the period 1986–2003. Policy implications following from this new analysis will also be discussed.

The role of marketing employees in marketing performance : an empirical investigation

The role of marketing employees in contributing to marketing performance (individual and organisational), has, in general, been under-researched. Most research in marketing has focused on the activities of marketing employees and the outputs of those activities, rather than the inputs, i.e., the abilities, skills, or knowledge of the marketing employees themselves. This study represents a unique insight into the marketing capabilities and marketing performance of employees within a multinational organisation, as reported by the employees themselves. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), strong support was found for a systems model of marketing competency marketing performance, suggesting that such relationships are complex and are not studied readily in isolation from external factors. Organisations that are able to conceptualise, operationalise, measure, monitor, and address marketing employee competency, intentions, and perceptions, as well as maintain the appropriate levels of management control, should have a greater likelihood of creating high performing employees, than those organisations that are unable to focus on these core aspects of people's performance. In addition, those same employees are likely to be more satisfied, motivated, and committed, require less assistance and time to complete tasks, and have greater productivity and be less likely to leave the orga.'1isation.

The glue that binds : workplace climate, human resource systems and performance

There is now a substantial body of research examining the relationship between human resources (HR) and organisational performance. During the last decade, this research has focused on the impacts of ‘bundles’ of HR practices. While researchers have consistently found a significant relationship between HR systems and performance, the mechanisms that give rise to this relationship remain poorly conceptualised. Building on the work of Barney (1998), Ferris et al. (1998) and Bowen and Ostroff (2004) we suggest the social context in which such practices are implemented provide the basis for specifying these transmission mechanisms. Workplace climate provides a key social context that induces high levels of effort and dynamic efficiency. Using a large sample we find workplace climate significantly influences the relationship between HR systems and performance.

Reflexive and critical views of leadership performance in corporate accomplishment : framework and illustration

Purpose – This paper intends to shed some light on the relationship between leadership performance and corporate accomplishment through the aid of complexity sciences. The objective is to describe leadership performance in corporate accomplishment using different teleological approaches.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the underlying criteria of the relationship between leadership performance and corporate accomplishment. Case illustration and narrative analogy are also provided.

Findings – The authors believe that the discussion highlights a potential downside of leadership performance in corporate accomplishment and its precision rarely highlighted in practice and literature.

Research limitations/implications – There is a reigning assumption in management practice that is based on the belief that a top-down approach of leadership performance in management and business practices is superior to the bottom-up approach. It proffers the assumed importance of strategic management issues, but neglects the knowledge, experience, competence and awareness inherent among employees at tactical and operational levels of business practices. It also proffers a mechanical view of employee performance and ignores the worth of the generation of ideas from subordinates in management and business practices that contribute to corporate achievements. Furthermore, it neglects the fact that it is not possible to know the future nor it is predictable.

Practical implications – The paper contends that the importance of top management tends to be inflated in respect to corporate achievements in the management/leadership literature. It also contends that it should be questioned as to whether the top management of corporations are largely responsible for the corporate results on which they attempt to justify their salaries and other benefits. Furthermore, the paper contends that it also should be questioned as to what extent corporate accomplishment may be derived from the performance of the top management in organizations.

Originality/value – The paper strives to contribute to the ongoing discussion of leadership performance in corporate accomplishment in various ways. The principal contributions are: a set of teleological sub-processes of leadership performance and a case illustration and narrative analogies of teleological leadership performance patterns, in respect to corporate accomplishment in management and business practices. These contributions provide theoretical and managerial ideas and insights to anticipate and avoid deficient or erroneous grounds of leadership performance evaluation in corporate accomplishment.

The reliability of performance of healthy adults on three visual perception tests

Problems with visual perceptual skills have been shown to have a negative impact on the daily living skills of individuals and are, therefore, commonly assessed by occupational therapists. The purpose of this study was to examine two types of reliability (internal consistency and test-retest reliability) of three newly revised or developed adult visual perception tests. The participants were 50 healthy adults, aged 18 to 55 years, from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The participants completed the Developmental Test of Visual Perception - Adolescent and Adult (DTVP-A), the Motor-Free Visual Perception Test - Third Edition (MVPT-3) and the Test of Visual Perceptual Skills (non-motor) - Third Edition (TVPS-3). Internal consistency was examined using Cronbach's alpha calculations and test-retest reliability was analysed using Spearman rho non-parametric correlation coefficients.

The results indicated that the DTVP-A, the MVPT-3 and the TVPS-3 had total scale internal consistency correlation scores of 0.60 or higher (0.60, 0.69 and 0.63 respectively). The majority of the subscales of each test had lower correlation coefficients than the overall scores (ranging from 0.22 to 0.49). For the DTVP-A, MVPT-3 and TVPS-3 total scale scores, the test-retest reliability correlation coefficients were statistically significant (rho = 0.46, p<0.05; rho = 0.62, p<0.01; and rho = 0.59, p<0.01, respectively). Overall, the three visual perceptual tests exhibited low to moderate levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability.

The use of scoring rubrics to determine clinical performance in the operating suite

Summary : This research evolved out of the need to examine the validity and inter-rater reliability of a set of performance-based scoring rubrics designed to measure competencies within the operating suite.

Method : Both holistic and analytical rubrics were developed aligned to the ACORN Standard [Australian College of Operating Room Nurses Standard NR4, 2004. ACORN Competency Standards for Perioperative Nurses: Standard NR4: The Instrument Nurse in the Perioperative Environment. Australian College of Operating Room Nurses Ltd, Adelaide] and underpinned by the Dreyfus model (1981). Three video clips that captured varying performance of nurses performing as instrument nurses in the operating suite were recorded and used as prompts by expert raters, who judged the performance using the rubrics.

Results : The study found that the holistic rubrics led to more consistent judgments than the analytical rubrics, yet the latter provided more diagnostic information for intervention purposes. Despite less consistency, the Analytical Observation Form had sufficient construct validity to satisfy the requirements of criterion referencing as determined by the Item Separation Index (Rasch, 1960), including high internal consistency and greater inter-rater reliability when average ratings were used.

Conclusion : The study was an empirical investigation of the use of concomitant Analytical and Holistic Rubrics to determine various levels of performance in the operating suite including inter-rater reliability. The methodology chosen was theoretically sound and sufficiently flexible to be used to develop other competencies within the operating suite.

Short-term changes in endogenous estrogen levels and consumption of soy isoflavones affect working and verbal memory in young adult females

Estrogen is known to modulate certain cognitive functions, most notably improving working memory and verbal memory. Soy foods contain isoflavones, phytoestrogens structurally similar to estrogen that weakly bind to estrogen receptors.We investigated the effects of natural variations in estrogen levels and short-term dietary supplementation with soy isoflavones on cognitive function in 28 young women. Performance was examined across a range of cognitive tasks on three occasions during separate menstrual cycles: during a menses phase (low estrogen), during a luteal phase (highest estrogen), and once during a menses phase after a 3-day phytoestrogen-rich dietary intervention. Soy supplementation during menses led to an improvement in working memory and verbal memory. The menstrual cycle effects were mixed, with high estrogen improving performance on a verbal memory task but not on working memory. Our results suggest that soy phytoestrogens may improve working memory through estrogen-independent mechanisms.

Testosterone effects on avian basal metabolic rate and aerobic performance : facts and artefacts

We examined the effects of cage size and testosterone (T) levels on basal and peak metabolic rates (BMR and PMR, respectively) and on pectoral and leg muscle masses of male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Birds were housed either in small birdcages or in flight aviaries for at least 2 weeks prior to the initial metabolic evaluations. They were then implanted with either empty or T-filled silastic capsules and remeasured 5–6 weeks later. Birds treated with single T implants achieved breeding levels (4–6 ng/mL) and one group given double implants reached 10 ng/mL. There was no effect of T on BMR or PMR in any group studied, but there was an effect of caging. Caged birds showed significant reductions in PMR over the course of captivity, whereas PMR in aviary-housed birds were indistinguishable from their free-living counterparts. Testosterone treatment significantly increased leg muscle mass in caged birds, but had no effect on muscle mass in aviary-housed sparrows. We conclude that testosterone has no direct effect on sparrow metabolic rate or muscle mass, but may interact with cage conditions to produce indirect changes to these variables.

Method design and validation for the determination of uranium levels in human urine using high-resolution alpha spectrometry

Quantification of uranium in human urine is a valuable technique for assessing occupational and public exposure to uranium. A reliable method has been developed and validated in the ARPANSA Radiochemistry Laboratory by means of standard radiochemical separation and purification techniques and measurement using high-resolution alpha spectrometry. This method can be used to evaluate the levels of naturally occurring ²³⁴U, ²³⁵U and ²³⁸U in urine. Method design and validation is the process of defining an analytical requirement, and then confirming that the method under consideration has performance capabilities consistent with what the application requires. The method was designed to measure levels down to 2 mBq/day of total uranium, corresponding to approximately 1/100th of the annual committed effective dose of 20 mSv. Validation tests were developed to assess selectivity, accuracy, recovery and quantification of uncertainty. The radiochemical recovery of this method was measured using ²³²U tracer. The typical minimum detectable concentration for total uranium for 24-h urine samples is approximately 0.6 mBq/day or 0.019 μg/day.