AC self-bearing motors with a bridge configured winding

Magnetic levitation bearings eliminate friction, wear and the need for lubrication and so have high speed capability and potential for vibration control. One noteworthy development in the realm of magnetic levitation is the self-bearing or bearingless motor - an electromagnetic machine that supports its own rotor by way of magnetic forces generated by windings on its stator. Accordingly, various winding schemes have been proposed to accomplish the task of force production. This thesis proposes a novel concept of winding based on a bridge connection for polyphase self-bearing rotating electrical machines with the following advantages: • the connection uses a single set of windings and thus power loss is relatively low when compared with self-bearing motors with conventional dual set of windings. • the motor and levitation controls are segregated such that only one motor inverter is required for the normal torque production and levitation forces are produced by using auxiliary power supplies of relatively low current and voltage rating. The usual way of controlling the motor is retained. • there are many variant winding schemes to meet special needs. • independent power supplies for levitation control offer redundancy for fault tolerance. This thesis dwells specifically on the conceptual design and implementation of the proposed single set of windings scheme. The new connection has been verified to exhibit characteristics of a self-bearing motor via coupled-field finite element analysis: results are crosschecked analytically. Power loss and other aspects such as cost, design implementation are compared to support the newly proposed connection as a potential alternative to present designs.

Management development within the construction industry:building on success?

This article explores the notion that the workplace is a learning environment, and that the line manager is a key player determining its effectiveness. The work discusses how performance management systems may be used to clarify expectations made of line managers with regard to employee development. The work, in addition, suggests that line manager people management expertise may be a factor inhibiting workplace development for subordinates, and makes a number of suggestions about how to prepare the line manager for effective employee development. Key issues are illustrated by reference to a case study example. The case demonstrates that a high profile management development programme within a major international organisation failed to meet all objectives because of the unwillingness of the line management team to participate in the development of subordinates back in the workplace.

Development of a prescribing indicator for objective quantification of antibiotic usage in secondary care

Objectives: To compare the recognized defined daily dose per 100 bed-days (DDD/100 bed-days) measure with the defined daily dose per finished consultant episode (DDD/FCE) in a group of hospitals with a variety of medicines management strategies. To compare antibiotic usage using the above indicators in hospitals with and without electronic prescribing systems. Methods: Twelve hospitals were used in the study. Nine hospitals were selected and split into three cohorts (three high-scoring, three medium-scoring and three low-scoring) by their 2001 medicines management self-assessment scores (MMAS). An additional cohort of three electronic prescribing hospitals was included for comparison. MMAS were compared to antibiotic management scores (AMS) developed from a questionnaire relating specifically to control of antibiotics. FCEs and occupied bed-days were obtained from published statistics and statistical analyses of the DDD/100 bed-days and DDD/FCE were carried out using SPSS. Results: The DDD/100 bed-days varied from 81.33 to 189.37 whilst the DDD/FCE varied from 2.88 to 7.43. The two indicators showed a high degree of correlation with r = 0.74. MMAS were from 9 to 22 (possible range 0-23) and the AMS from 2 to 13 (possible range 0-22). The two scores showed a high degree of correlation with r = 0.74. No correlation was established between either indicator and either score. Conclusions: The WHO indicator for medicines utilization, DDD/100 bed-days, exhibited the same level of conformity as that exhibited from the use of the DDD/FCE indicating that the DDD/FCE is a useful additional indicator for identifying hospitals which require further study. The MMAS can be assumed to be an accurate guide to antibiotic medicines management controls. No relationship has been found between a high degree of medicines management control and the quantity of antibiotic prescribed. © The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy; 2004 all rights reserved.

An evaluation of quinolone prescribing in a group of acute hospitals:Development of an objective measure of usage

Objectives: To develop an objective measure to enable hospital Trusts to compare their use of antibiotics. Design: Self-completion, postal questionnaire with telephone follow up. Sample: 4 hospital trusts in the English Midlands. Results: The survey showed that it was possible to collect data concerning the number of Defined Daily Doses (DDD's) of quinolone antibiotic dispensed per Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) in each Trust.. In the 4 trusts studied the mean DDD/FCE was 0.197 (range 0.117 to 0.258). This indicates that based on a typical course length of 5 days, 3.9% of patient episodes resulted in the prescription of a quinolone antibiotic. Antibiotic prescribing control measures in each Trust were found to be comparable. Conclusion: The measure will enable Trusts to objectively compare their usage of quinolone antibiotics and use this information to carry out clinical audit should differences be recorded. This is likely to be applicable to other groups of antibiotics.

Leadership development: the role of developmental readiness, personality dispositions, and individual values

Increased awareness of the crucial role of leadership as a competitive advantage for organisations (McCall, 1998; Petrick, Scherer, Brodzinski, Quinn, & Ainina, 1999) has led to billions spent on leadership development programmes and training (Avolio & Hannah, 2008). However, research reports confusing and contradictory evidence regarding return on investment and developmental outcomes, and a lot of variance has been observed across studies (Avolio, Reichard, Hannah, Walumbwa, & Chan, 2009). The purpose of this thesis is to understand the mechanisms underlying this variability in leadership development. Of the many factors at play in the process, such as programme design and delivery, organisational support, and perceptions of relevance (Mabey, 2002; Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009), individual differences and characteristics stand out. One way in which individuals differ is in their Developmental Readiness (DR), a concept recently introduced in the literature that may well explain this variance and which has been proposed to accelerate development (Avolio & Hannah, 2008, 2009). Building on previous work, DR is introduced and conceptualised somewhat differently. In this study, DR is construed of self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-motivation, proposed by Day (2000) to be the backbones of leadership development. DR is suggested to moderate the developmental process. Furthermore, personality dispositions and individual values are proposed to be precursors of DR. The empirical research conducted uses a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design. Before conducting the study, though, both a measure of Developmental Readiness and a competency profiling measure are tested in two pilot studies. Results do not find evidence of a direct effect of leadership development programmes on development, but do support an interactive effect between DR and leadership development programmes. Personality dispositions Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience and value orientations Conservation, Open, and Closed Orientation are found to significantly predict DR. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Combining data driven programming with component based software development:with applications in geovisualisation and dynamic data driven application systems

Software development methodologies are becoming increasingly abstract, progressing from low level assembly and implementation languages such as C and Ada, to component based approaches that can be used to assemble applications using technologies such as JavaBeans and the .NET framework. Meanwhile, model driven approaches emphasise the role of higher level models and notations, and embody a process of automatically deriving lower level representations and concrete software implementations. The relationship between data and software is also evolving. Modern data formats are becoming increasingly standardised, open and empowered in order to support a growing need to share data in both academia and industry. Many contemporary data formats, most notably those based on XML, are self-describing, able to specify valid data structure and content, and can also describe data manipulations and transformations. Furthermore, while applications of the past have made extensive use of data, the runtime behaviour of future applications may be driven by data, as demonstrated by the field of dynamic data driven application systems. The combination of empowered data formats and high level software development methodologies forms the basis of modern game development technologies, which drive software capabilities and runtime behaviour using empowered data formats describing game content. While low level libraries provide optimised runtime execution, content data is used to drive a wide variety of interactive and immersive experiences. This thesis describes the Fluid project, which combines component based software development and game development technologies in order to define novel component technologies for the description of data driven component based applications. The thesis makes explicit contributions to the fields of component based software development and visualisation of spatiotemporal scenes, and also describes potential implications for game development technologies. The thesis also proposes a number of developments in dynamic data driven application systems in order to further empower the role of data in this field.

Empowerment effects across cultures

It is evident that empowerment is in widespread use as a management tool in international organisations. A comprehensive literature review identified that empowerment exists as two distinct constructs: relational empowerment and psychological empowerment. Building on this delineation, existing literature was used to develop a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences of the two empowerment constructs. Furthermore, the impact of national culture was considered, resulting in a set of testable hypotheses concerning the cross-cultural differences in the relationships between empowerment and its antecedents and consequences. A quantitative study was undertaken to test the hypothesised conceptual model. Data were collected from India and the UK, via drop-off self-administered surveys from front-line employees of both an indigenous and multinational bank in the two cultures, achieving a total of 626 fully usable responses across the four samples. Rigorous scale development for all samples was undertaken and measurement invariance examined. Following this, the conceptual model was tested using latent variable path analysis. The results for the model were both encouraging and surprising. Similar results regarding the effects of relational empowerment and psychological empowerment were found across the two cultures. However, an examination of the antecedents to relational empowerment produced significantly different results across the cultures. Relational empowerment was found to have higher practical value as it had a significant positive effect on employee job satisfaction levels across both cultures.

Development and validaton of an indicator to compare antibiotic usage in secondary care in England

The use of antibiotics was investigated in twelve acute hospitals in England. Data was collected electronically and by questionnaire for the financial years 2001/2, 2002/3 and 2003/4. Hospitals were selected on the basis of their Medicines Management Self-Assessment Scores (MMAS) and included a cohort of three hospitals with integrated electronic prescribing systems. The total sample size was 6.65% of English NHS activity for 2001/2 based on Finished Consultant Episode (FCE) numbers. Data collected included all antibiotics dispensed (ATC category J01), hospital activity FCE's and beddays, Medicines Management Self-assessment scores, Antibiotic Medicines Management scores (AMS), Primary Care Trust (PCT) of origin of referral populations, PCT antibiotic prescribing rates, Index of Multiple Deprivation for each PCT. The DDD/FCE (Defined Daily Dose/FCE) was found to correlate with the DDD 100beddays (r = 0.74 p

A prediction of outcomes: a psychological investigation into cognitive and affective development within the framework of adult literacy provision

This investigation seeks to explore the hypothesis, derived from observation and practice, that there is a strong relationship between the development of literacy skills and the growth of confidence in adult literacy students. Implicit in the developmental approach is the notion of progression towards some cognitive goal. Such a goal necessitates the establishment of a base line of existing attainment, together with subsequent assessment so that progress and development can be measured. The study includes an evaluation of existing formal and informal methods of initial and subsequent assessment and diagnosis available at the time for Adult Literacy Scheme Co-ordinators. Underlying the funding by Cheshire County Council for the project is the assumption that the results will be available for all practitioners and that the tools of measurement may be used by other Adult Literacy Co-ordinators in the County. It is intended, therefore, that this research should result in practical outcomes in which methods of assessment will involve active participation by students as well as by tutors, becoming part of the learning process. It is hypothesised that this kind of co-operation could lead ultimately to self-directed learning and student-independence. For the purposes of this research, a balance is attempted in the use of assessment tools, between standardised tests and informal methods. The study provides facts about students! reading habits; as well as their reading levels, their spelling levels, their handwriting, their writing skills and their writing habits. The study seeks to show the students' feelings towards education, their educational attainments and the type of school which they attended. The study also attempts to come to some measurement of those aspects of student personality which relate to confidence, by means of tests and questionnaires. The study concludes with an examination of the link between cognitive and affective progress.

Teacher logs and interactive decision-making:a case study of contingencies in an EFL organizational culture and the implications for teacher development for part-time teachers

This is a case study of a program of native speaker part-time EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers in a junior college in Japan. It has grown out of a curiosity to ascertain how the teachers have formed and continue to maintain a coordinated program in what would seem to be a disadvantageous national context where as part-time foreign teachers they are expected to do little more than just teach a few classes of mainly oral English. This study investigates the organizational culture the teachers have formed for themselves within their staffroom, and looks at the implications of this for part-time teachers in such an environment. More specifically, the study highlights that central to the program is an interactive decision-making function engaged in by all the teachers which has not only created but also continually enables an identifiable staffroom culture. This organizational culture is contingent on college and staffroom conditions, program affordances such as shared class logs and curriculum sharing, and on the interactive decision-making itself. It is postulated that the contingencies formed in this created and continually creating shared world not only offer the teachers a proficient way to work in their severely time-constricted environment, but also provide them with fertile ground for the self-regulation of a thus created zone of covert staffroom ‘on-the-job’ teacher development.

Self-regulation of health and safety in a Local Authority with particular reference to safety representatives, supervisors and safety committees

The Report of the Robens Committee (1972), the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations (1977) provide the framework within which this study of certain aspects of health and safety is carried out. The philosophy of self-regulation is considered and its development is set within an historical and an industrial relations perspective. The research uses a case study approach to examine the effectiveness of self-regulation in health and safety in a public sector organisation. Within this approach, methodological triangulation employs the techniques of interviews, questionnaires, observation and documentary analysis. The work is based in four departments of a Scottish Local Authority and particular attention is given to three of the main 'agents' of self-regulation - safety representatives, supervisors and safety committees and their interactions, strategies and effectiveness. A behavioural approach is taken in considering the attitudes, values, motives and interactions of safety representatives and management. Major internal and external factors, which interact and which influence the effectiveness of joint self-regulation of health and safety, are identified. It is emphasised that an organisation cannot be studied without consideration of the context within which it operates both locally and in the wider environment. One of these factors, organisational structure, is described as bureaucratic and the model of a Representative Bureaucracy described by Gouldner (1954) is compared with findings from the present study. An attempt is made to ascertain how closely the Local Authority fits Gouldner's model. This research contributes both to knowledge and to theory in the subject area by providing an in-depth study of self-regulation in a public sector organisation, which when compared with such studies as those of Beaumont (1980, 1981, 1982) highlights some of the differences between the public and private sectors. Both empirical data and hypothetical models are used to provide description and explanation of the operation of the health and safety system in the Local Authority. As data were collected during a dynamic period in economic, political and social terms, the research discusses some of the effects of the current economic recession upon safety organisation.

Development and deployment of an autonomous micro-drilling system for cochleostomy

This thesis describes the design and development of an autonomous micro-drilling system capable of accurately controlling the penetration of complaint tissues and its application to the drilling of the cochleostomy; a key stage in the cochlea implant procedure. The drilling of the cochleostomy is a precision micro-surgical task in which the control of the burr penetration through the outer bone tissue of the cochlea is vital to prevent damage to the structures within and requires a high degree of skill to perform successfully. The micro-drilling system demonstrates that the penetration of the cochlea can be achieved consistently and accurately. Breakthrough can be detected and controlled to within 20µm of the distal surface and the hole completed without perforation of the underlying endosteal membrane, leaving the membranous cochlea intact. This device is the first autonomous surgical tool successfully deployed in the operating theatre. The system is unique due to the way in which it uses real-time data from the cutting tool to derive the state of the tool-tissue interaction. Being a smart tool it uses this state information to actively control the way in which the drilling process progresses. This sensor guided strategy enables the tool to self-reference to the deforming tissue and navigate without the need for pre-operative scan data. It is this capability that enables the system to operate in circumstances where the tissue properties and boundary conditions are unknown, without the need to restrain the patient.

The role of line managers in employee career management:an attachment theory perspective

Line managers increasingly play a key role in organizational career development systems, yet few studies have examined the nature of this role or its implications for employee career attitudes and behaviors. In two studies, we used attachment theory to explore this issue. In Study 1, in-depth interviews (N = 20) showed that employees viewed career management as a relational process in which line managers are expected to act as ‘caregiver’ to support individualized career development. Study 2 was a large-scale international survey (N = 891). Participants scoring higher on attachment avoidance in their line manager relationships reported more negative perceptions of career growth opportunities, lower participation in organizational career development activities and higher turnover intentions. Trust in the organization partially mediated the relationship. Theoretical and practical implications for HRM are discussed.

Delegation and employee work outcome:an examination of the cultural context of mediating processes in China

We used cultural self-representation theory to develop a model of the processes linking delegation to work outcomes. We tested this model with data from a sample of 171 subordinate-supervisor dyads from the People's Republic of China. Regression results revealed that organization-based self-esteem and perceived insider status fully mediated the influence of delegation on affective organizational commitment, task performance, and innovative behavior and partially mediated delegation's influence on job satisfaction. Furthermore, traditionality moderated the relationships between delegation and the mediators in such a way that the relationships were stronger for individuals lower rather than higher in traditionality. © Academy of Management Journal.

Achieving continuous improvement through self-assessment

In 2007 the UK Office of Government Commerce was mandated to carry out Procurement Capability Reviews (PCR) across the 16 top spending UK Government Departments. Since then, this programme has evolved into a self assessment based approach which is markedly different from the original approach. Will the move from a centre-led strategic review of procurement capability to a department-led model based on self assessment continue to strengthen and improve procurement capability across Central Civil Government? OGC is currently working with UK Government Departments to carry out their PCRs using a self-assessment tool which incorporates qualitative and quantitative measures. Results are generated based on a capability maturity model. The results are assured independently. OGC expectations are that tangible and measurable capability improvements will be realised when departments embed the self-assessment model and implement the findings as part of a continuous improvement regime. This paper is a case study, using some relevant literature to reflect on past and possible future development of the PCR self assessment scheme.