Accommodative amplitude required for sustained near work

Purpose: Many practitioners base the prescription of near vision additions on the assertion that only one half or two-thirds of an individual’s amplitude of accommodation is sustainable for a prolonged period. To better understand how much eye focus needs to be restored for presbyopic corrections to be adequate, this study investigated the robustness of the pre-presbyopic human accommodative system during a sustained and intensive near vision task. Methods: Twenty-one pre-presbyopic volunteers (aged 26.1 ± 4.7 years) participated in the study. Binocular subjective amplitude of accommodation was measured before and after a prolonged reading exercise, using the RAF rule. During the 30 min reading task, the subject’s closest comfortable eye-to-text distance and pupil size was monitored. Accommodative accuracy to 0.2, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 D stimuli was determined objectively using a validated binocular open-view autorefractor immediately before, and after the reading task. Results: Amplitude of accommodation (p = 0.09) and accommodative accuracy (p > 0.05) were statistically unchanged following the intensive near task. The mean proportion of accommodation exerted throughout the near exercise was 80.6% (range 45.3 ± 3.7 to 96.6 ± 4.3%), which increased as the task progressed (F = 2.24, p = 0.02). The mean percentage of accommodation utilised increased with subject age (r = 0.517, p = 0.016). Conclusion: The pre-presbyopic human accommodative system is robust to fatigue during intense and prolonged near work. A greater proportion of one’s amplitude of accommodation may be continuously exerted than previously suggested.

Entrepreneurship and innovation through experience:student and employer perspectives of the value of work-based learning in promoting entrepreneurialism

The 'internationalisation' of Business and Management education, reflective of EU enlargement and the unprecedented globalisation of education, has resulted in growing numbers of overseas students adding a diversity and richness to the learning environment within many contemporary European Higher Educational Institutions (Green, 2006, Sliwa & Grandy, 2006). However, cross-national studies analyzing the impact that the internationalisation of business education has on the employability of business and management graduates are rare. Furthermore, there exists a notable gap in research aimed at identifying and conceptualising the generic business skills and competencies required by European employers of business and management graduates. By proposing a conceptual framework based upon a working model of business graduate employability, this goes some way to addressing this gap.

Doing which work? A practice approach to institutional pluralism

This chapter takes a social theory of practice approach to examining institutional work; that is, how institutions are created, maintained, and disrupted through the actions, interactions, and negotiations of multiple actors. We examine alternative approaches that organizations use to deal with institutional pluralism based on a longitudinal real-time case study of a utility company grappling with opposing market and regulatory logics over time. These two logics required the firm to both mitigate its significant market power and also maintain its commercially competitive focus and responsiveness to shareholders. Institutional theorists have long acknowledged that institutions have a central logic (Friedland & Alford, 1991) or rationality (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Scott, 1995/2001; Townley, 2002), comprising a set of material and symbolic practices and organizing principles that provide logics of action for organizations and individuals, who then reproduce the institutions through their actions (Glynn & Lounsbury, 2005; Suddaby & Greenwood, 2005). Despite a monolithic feel to much institutional theory, in which a dominant institutional logic appears to prevail, institutional theorists also acknowledge the plurality of institutions (e.g. Friedland & Alford, 1991; Kraatz & Block, 2008; Lounsbury, 2007; Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Whittington, 1992). While these pluralistic institutions may be interdependent, they are not considered to coexist in harmony; “There is no question but that many competing and inconsistent logics exist in modern society” (Scott, 1995: 130).

Spiral mechanisms are required to account for summation of complex motion components

Stimuli from one family of complex motions are defined by their spiral pitch, where cardinal axes represent signed expansion and rotation. Intermediate spirals are represented by intermediate pitches. It is well established that vision contains mechanisms that sum over space and direction to detect these stimuli (Morrone et al., Nature 376 (1995) 507) and one possibility is that four cardinal mechanisms encode the entire family. We extended earlier work (Meese & Harris, Vision Research 41 (2001) 1901) using subthreshold summation of random dot kinematograms and a two-interval forced choice technique to investigate this possibility. In our main experiments, the spiral pitch of one component was fixed and that of another was varied in steps of 15° relative to the first. Regardless of whether the fixed component was aligned with cardinal axes or an intermediate spiral, summation to-coherence-threshold between the two components declined as a function of their difference in spiral pitch. Similar experiments showed that none of the following were critical design features or stimulus parameters for our results: superposition of signal dots, limited life-time dots, the presence of speed gradients, stimulus size or the number of dots. A simplex algorithm was used to fit models containing mechanisms spaced at a pitch of either 90° (cardinal model) or 45° (cardinal+model) and combined using a fourth-root summation rule. For both models, direction half-bandwidth was equated for all mechanisms and was the only free parameter. Only the cardinal+model could account for the full set of results. We conclude that the detection of complex motion in human vision requires both cardinal and spiral mechanisms with a half-bandwidth of approximately 46°. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of the undergraduate work placement in developing employment competences:results from a 5 year study of employers

There is increasing research interest into the nature of competences required to secure a graduate job. This paper examines the role of the undergraduate work placement in developing such employment competences. In order to do this we draw upon a framework of generic competences developed in a previous project by one of the authors, together with data on how these competences are valued by graduates and employers. We also draw upon a survey of employers and students who have participated in an Aston Business School work placement. The work placement year is an integral feature of Aston’s undergraduate business programme and gives up to 600 students a year the experience of working with well known companies. For the past five years we have conducted a survey of these companies to assess their experience of employing our undergraduates on work placements and to examine the skills and competencies developed by students in the learning process. In this paper we compare data from both pieces of research to examine how competences developed during the undergraduate work placement contribute to the enhancement of graduate employment.

The work situation and class position of Brazilian engineers

This thesis analyses the work situation and class position of Brazilian engineers through a Marxist perspective. The research is based on two case studies, one focused on a large German steel company based in Brazil and the other on a large Brazilian energy corporation. The fieldwork involved 114 interviews, with engineers from different hierarchical positions in these two companies. Data was also gathered through interviews with representatives from the companies, the Council of Engineering, the Engineering Education System and the Engineers Trade Unions. The findings show that the engineering profession in Brazil has shifted from its initial condition as a liberal profession to an organizational profession, with the country's industrial deployment. Both companies consider all salaried workers as employees, including managers. Hence they are subject to the company's general personnel policies. The multinational company controls labour more rigidly than the national company, as well as reserving its top positions for its home country's executives. Although no deskilling process was found, engineers of both companies performed simple work, which required less engineering knowledge than they had learned from school. Engineers have little autonomy, authority and participation in decision making and are subject to direct supervision, performance evaluation, time control, overtime work, productivity and to poor working conditions in the multinational company. The majority of the engineers supervised other workers without being in a managerial position. They found that to move into management, was a good way to improve their autonomy, authority, prestige, salary, status, power and professional pride. Despite ideological divisions between capital and labour, most of the engineers were unionised and saw unions as the right way to deal with the employer.

Before and after modelling:risk knowledge management is required

Risk and knowledge are two concepts and components of business management which have so far been studied almost independently. This is especially true where risk management is conceived mainly in financial terms, as, for example, in the banking sector. The banking sector has sophisticated methodologies for managing risk, such as mathematical risk modeling. However. the methodologies for analyzing risk do not explicitly include knowledge management for risk knowledge creation and risk knowledge transfer. Banks are affected by internal and external changes with the consequent accommodation to new business models new regulations and the competition of big players around the world. Thus, banks have different levels of risk appetite and policies in risk management. This paper takes into consideration that business models are changing and that management is looking across the organization to identify the influence of strategic planning, information systems theory, risk management and knowledge management. These disciplines can handle the risks affecting banking that arise from different areas, but only if they work together. This creates a need to view them in an integrated way. This article sees enterprise risk management as a specific application of knowledge in order to control deviation from strategic objectives, shareholders' values and stakeholders' relationships. Before and after a modeling process it necessary to find insights into how the application of knowledge management processes can improve the understanding of risk and the implementation of enterprise risk management. The article presents a propose methodology to contribute to providing a guide for developing risk modeling knowledge and a reduction of knowledge silos, in order to improve the quality and quantity of solutions related to risk inquiries across the organization.

Work-based HE pathways for the electrical power engineering industry

Aston University has been working closely with key companies from within the electricity industry for several years, initially in the development and delivery of an employer-led foundation degree programme in electrical power engineering, and more recently, in the development of a progression pathway for foundation degree graduates to achieve a Bachelors-level qualification. The Electrical Power Engineering foundation degree was developed in close consultation with the industry such that the programme is essentially owned by the sector. Programme delivery has required significant shifts away from traditional HE teaching patterns whilst maintaining the quality requirement and without compromise of the academic degree standard. Block teaching (2-week slots), partnership delivery, off-site student support and work-based learning have all presented challenges as we have sought to maximise the student learning experience and to ensure that the graduates are fit-for purpose and "hit the ground running" within a defined career structure for sponsoring companies. This paper will outline the skills challenges facing the sector; describe programme developments and delivery challenges; before articulating some observations and conclusions around programme effectiveness, impact of foundation degree graduates in the workplace and the significance of the close working relationship with key sponsoring companies. Copyright © 2012, September.