Well-structured teams and the buffering of hospital employees from stress

Membership in well-structured teams, which show clarity in team and individual goals, meet regularly, and recognize diverse skills of their members, is known to reduce stress. This study examined how membership of well-structured teams was associated with lower levels of strain, when testing a work stressors-to-strains relationship model across the three levels of team structure, namely well-structured, poorly structured (do not fulfill all the criteria of well-structured teams) and no team. The work stressors tested, were quantitative overload and hostile environment, whereas strains were measured through job satisfaction and intention to leave job. This investigation was carried out on a random sample of 65,142 respondents in acute/specialist National Health Service hospitals across the UK. Using multivariate analysis of variance, statistically significant differences between means across the three groups of team structure, with mostly moderate effect sizes, were found for the study variables. Those in well-structured teams have the highest levels of job satisfaction and the least intention to leave job. Multigroup structural equation modelling confirmed the model's robustness across the three groups of team structure. Work stressors explained 45%, 50% and 65% of the variance of strains for well-structured, poorly structured and no team membership, respectively. An increase of one standard deviation in work stressors, resulted in an increase in 0.67, 0.70 and 0.81 standard deviations in strains for well-structured, poorly structured and no team membership, respectively. This investigation is an eye-opener for hospitals to work towards achieving well-structured teams, as this study shows weaker stressor-to-strain relationships for members of these teams.

The application of expert systems techniques in the design of durable concrete

This thesis describes work done exploring the application of expert system techniques to the domain of designing durable concrete. The nature of concrete durability design is described and some problems from the domain are discussed. Some related work on expert systems in concrete durability are described. Various implementation languages are considered - PROLOG and OPS5, and rejected in favour of a shell - CRYSTAL3 (later CRYSTAL4). Criteria for useful expert system shells in the domain are discussed. CRYSTAL4 is evaluated in the light of these criteria. Modules in various sub-domains (mix-design, sulphate attack, steel-corrosion and alkali aggregate reaction) are developed and organised under a BLACKBOARD system (called DEX). Extensions to the CRYSTAL4 modules are considered for different knowledge representations. These include LOTUS123 spreadsheets implementing models incorporating some of the mathematical knowledge in the domain. Design databases are used to represent tabular design knowledge. Hypertext representations of the original building standards texts are proposed as a tool for providing a well structured and extensive justification/help facility. A standardised approach to module development is proposed using hypertext development as a structured basis for expert systems development. Some areas of deficient domain knowledge are highlighted particularly in the use of data from mathematical models and in gaps and inconsistencies in the original knowledge source Digests.

[Fe(μ-btzmp)2(btzmp)2](ClO4)2:a doubly-bridged 1D spin-transition bistetrazole-based polymer showing thermal hysteresis behaviour

The reaction of btzmp (1,2-bis(tetrazol-1-yl)-2-methylpropane) with Fe(ClO4)2 generates a 1D polymeric species, [Fe(μ-btzmp)2(btzmp)2](ClO4)2, showing a steep spin transition (T½↑ = 136 K and T ½↓ = 133 K) with a 3 K thermal hysteresis. The crystal structure at 100 and 200 K reveals that, in contrast to other bistetrazole based spin-transition systems such as [Fe(endi)3](BF4)2 and [Fe(btzp)3](ClO4)2, the present compound has only two ligands bridging the metallic centres, while the other two coordination positions are occupied by two mono-coordinated (non-bridging) btzmp ligands. This peculiarity confers an unprecedented crystal packing in the series of 1D bistetrazole based polymers. The change in spin state is accompanied by an order/disorder transition of the ClO4- counterion. A careful examination of the structural changes occurring upon the spin transition indicates that this order/disorder is most likely affected by the modification of the [tetrazole-centroid]-ND-Fe angle (which is typical of bistetrazole spin-transition materials). Apart from X-ray analysis, also magnetic susceptibility, Mössbauer and UV-vis spectroscopies have been used to characterise the HS and the LS states of [Fe(µ-btzmp)2(btzmp)2](ClO4)2. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Performance management of event processing systems

This thesis is a study of performance management of Complex Event Processing (CEP) systems. Since CEP systems have distinct characteristics from other well-studied computer systems such as batch and online transaction processing systems and database-centric applications, these characteristics introduce new challenges and opportunities to the performance management for CEP systems. Methodologies used in benchmarking CEP systems in many performance studies focus on scaling the load injection, but not considering the impact of the functional capabilities of CEP systems. This thesis proposes the approach of evaluating the performance of CEP engines’ functional behaviours on events and develops a benchmark platform for CEP systems: CEPBen. The CEPBen benchmark platform is developed to explore the fundamental functional performance of event processing systems: filtering, transformation and event pattern detection. It is also designed to provide a flexible environment for exploring new metrics and influential factors for CEP systems and evaluating the performance of CEP systems. Studies on factors and new metrics are carried out using the CEPBen benchmark platform on Esper. Different measurement points of response time in performance management of CEP systems are discussed and response time of targeted event is proposed to be used as a metric for quality of service evaluation combining with the traditional response time in CEP systems. Maximum query load as a capacity indicator regarding to the complexity of queries and number of live objects in memory as a performance indicator regarding to the memory management are proposed in performance management of CEP systems. Query depth is studied as a performance factor that influences CEP system performance.

Casebook on contract law

Jill Poole's best-selling Casebook on Contract Law provides a clear and well-structured explanation of the principles and rules of contract law through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. The coverage in this new edition has been revised to incorporate all recent significant decisions and judgments made by the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal. Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the court and how legal principles are developed, thus enabling cases to be analysed and discussed independently while, taken as a whole, the chapters provide a sound understanding of the modern law of contract. Succinct author commentary focuses the reader on the key elements within the extracts, while thought-provoking questions are posed throughout to develop a more in-depth appreciation of the subject. Online resource centre Student resources - Updates - Guidance on answering questions - Guidance on reading cases - Questions and answers.

Casebook on contract law

The law of contract can be a complex and technical subject, rvt the new edition of Jill Poole's Casebook on Contract provides a clear and well-structured exposition of the principles and rules through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. Opening with a chapter of valuable advice and guidance on how to successfully develop and improve the essential skills of case-reading, featuring two worked examples, the coverage in this sixth edition expands to incorporate all recent significant decisions and judgments made by the House of Lords and Court of Appeal such as, Director General of Fair Trading v First National Bank plc, Farley v Skinner, Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge and UCB Corporate Services v Williams. Interesting recent decisions in relation to battle of forms, terms, exemption clauses and misrepresentation are also included. Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the court, why decisions are made and how legal principles are developed - enabling cases to be analysed and discussed independently while, taken as a whole, the chapters provide a sound understanding of the modern law of contract. The section on damages for breach of contract has been expanded to reassess Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth in the light of Farley v Skinner, the future of Addis v Gramophone Co Ltd is considered in the light of Johnson v Unisys Ltd and Attorney General v Blake is examined in the light of the decision in Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Niad Ltd. Succinct author comment focuses the reader on the key elements within the extracts, while thought-provoking questions are posed throughout to develop more in-depth analysis. The logical and clear organization of topics has been further improved to more accurately echo the order adopted within the author's popular textbook and closer crossreferencing to this text has been incorporated to highlight where more detailed discussion of issues arising from the caselaw can be explored. As a result, this new edition can be used both as a traditional casebook and as a companion volume to Poole's Textbook on Contract. This edition is also supported by a new companion web site that offers the benefits of essential updating of key materials, sample questions, lists for key further reading sources and relevant web links, additional relevant cases and materials and guidance on successful exam technique. As with previous editions, Casebook on Contract is an invaluable primary source and an essential study aid for all those following elements of contract law as part of the LLB and CPE, as well as for students from related disciplines such as Accounting and Business.

Casebook on contract law

Jill Poole's best-selling "Casebook on Contract Law" provides a clear and well-structured exposition of the principles and rules through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the court, why decisions are made and how legal principles are developed - enabling cases to be analyzed and discussed independently while, taken as a whole, the chapters provide a sound understanding of the modern law of contract. Succinct author commentary focuses the reader on the key elements within the extracts, while thought-provoking questions are posed throughout to develop more in-depth analysis. This book is accompanied by a specifically designed companion web site which provides: Questions in contract law; Guidance on answering questions; Guidance on reading cases; Questions and answers; and Updates.

Casebook on contract law

Jill Poole's best-selling Casebook on Contract Law provides a clear and well-structured explanation of contractual principles through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. The coverage in this new edition has been revised to incorporate all recent significant decisions and judgments made by the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal. The extracts have been selected from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases and illustrate the reasoning processes of the court, the grounds justifying the decisions, and how legal principles are developed. Readers can discuss and analyse individual cases while, taken as a whole, the chapters provide a sound appreciation of the modern law of contract. Succinct author commentary focuses the reader on the key elements within the extracts, while thought-provoking questions are posed throughout to develop more in-depth analysis. Online Resource Centre Student resources - Updates - Guidance on answering questions - Guidance on reading cases - Questions and answers.

Textbook on contract law

This is a new edition of the established Textbook on Contract Law by Professor Jill Poole. Designed specifically for undergraduates new to the subject, this title offers a well-structured and straightforward account of the modern law of contract. The text opens with an overview of the key theories and issues surrounding contract contract law which places the subject in its wider context, then goes on to a detailed treatment of all key topics, offering succinct explanations of complex ideas. Other features of the book include chapter summaries that draw key themes and issues together, selected further reading lists, and useful web links to guide students towards the most relevant and up-to-date resources available. Online Resource Centre Lecturer resources - Testbank Student resources - Guidance on answering questions in contract law - Questions and answers - Student questions - Updates - Web links.

Individual differences in cognitive style and their effects on task and social orientations of self-managed work teams

When assembling self-managing work teams, the personalities of team members are often overlooked. One personality variable known to be critical for effective decision making in teams is cognitive style. This study sought to examine how differences and similarities in analytic/intuitive cognitive styles affected the behavior of team members on the task/emotionally expressive dimension identified by Bales. As hypothesized, intuitive individuals and homogeneous intuitive teams were found to initiate more social-emotional acts. Contrary to expectations, intuitive rather than analytic individuals and homogeneous intuitive rather than analytic teams engaged in more task-oriented behaviors. Teams also tended to select intuitive individuals as leaders. The possibility that different combinations of styles may be important for overall team effectiveness was subsequently discussed, and it was suggested that this may depend on whether the nature of the work environment is relatively well structured and mechanistic or relatively unstructured and organic.

Marketing strategy and new product development in the UK credit card industry

The development of new products in today's marketing environment is generally accepted as a requirement for the continual growth and prosperity of organisations. The literature is consequently rich with information on the development of various aspects of good products. In the case of service industries, it can be argued that new service product development is of as least equal importance as it is to organisations that produce tangible goods products. Unlike the new goods product literature, the literature on service marketing practices, and in particular, new service product development, is relatively sparse. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine a number of aspects of new service product development practice with respect to financial services and specifically, credit card financial services. The empirical investigation utilises both a case study and a survey approach, to examine aspects of new service product development industry practice relating specifically to gaps and deficiencies in the literature with respect to the financial service industry. The findings of the empirical work are subsequently examined in the context in which they provide guidance and support for a new normative new service product development model. The study examines the UK credit card financial service product sector as an industry case study and perspective. The findings of the field work reveal that the new service product development process is still evolving, and that in the case of credit card financial services can be seen as a well-structured and well-documented process. New product development can also be seen as an incremental, complex, interactive and continuous process which has been applied in a variety of ways. A number of inferences are subsequently presented.

Manufacturing sourcing practices and relationships

Product-sourcing practices can impact the competitiveness of an organization's products and services. Many sourcing practices exist and the challenge is to find the right practice, for the right product, at the right time. This paper describes a survey of 3,500 of UK companies, and reports on current and intended manufacturing sourcing practices; the associated decision-making processes; and, the principal motives behind sourcing decisions. Key findings demonstrate a strong and ambitious trend towards open, integrated relationships between manufacturers and their principal suppliers; sourcing decisions increasingly based on well-structured analysis of business needs and capabilities; and, the chief motivators being financial and market factors.

Do stressful times call for team-based working? A study of psychiatric nurses in UK mental healthcase

Background: Team-based working is now an inherent part of effective health care delivery. Previous research has identified that team working is associated with positive mental health and well-being outcomes for individuals operating in an effective team environment. This is a particularly important topic in the health services context, although little empirical attention has been paid to mental-health services. Psychiatric nurses work on a day-to-day basis with a particularly stressful and demanding client group in an environment which is characterised by high demands, uncertainty, and limited resources. This paper specifically focuses on psychiatric nurses working in National Health Service (NHS) and casts some light on the ways in which effective team-based working can help to alleviate a number of occupational stressors and strains. Method: A questionnaire method (2005 NHS Staff Survey) was employed to collect data from 6655 psychiatric nurses from 64 different NHS Trusts. The hypotheses were concerned with four overall measures from the survey; effective team working, occupational stress, work pressure and social support. Hypothesis 1 stated that effective team working will have a significant negative relationship with occupational stress and work pressure. Further, Hypothesis 2 stated that social support from supervisors and co-workers will moderate this relationship. Findings: Data was treated with a series of regression analyses. For Hypothesis 1, working in a real team did have main effects on work pressure and accounted for 1.6 per cent of the variance. Using the Nagelkerke R square value, working in a real team also had main effects on occupational stress an accounted for approximately 2.8 per cent of the variance. Further, the Exp (B) value of 0.662 suggests that the odds of suffering from occupational stress are cut by 33.8 per cent when a psychiatric nurse works in a real team. Results failed to provide support for Hypothesis 2. The analysis then went on to adopt a unique approach for assessing the extent of real team-based working, distinguishing between real teams, and a number of pseudo team typologies, as well as the absence of teamwork all together. As was hypothesised, results demonstrated that psychiatric nurses working in real teams (ones with clear objectives, where-by team members work closely with one another to achieve team objectives and meet regularly to discuss team effectiveness and how it can be improved) experienced the lowest levels of stress and work pressure of the sample. However, contrary to prediction, results indicated that psychiatric nurses working in any type of pseudo team actually experienced significantly higher levels of stress and work pressure than those who did not report as working in a team at all. Discussion: These findings have serious implications for NHS Mental Health Trusts, which may not be implementing, structuring and managing their nursing teams adequately. Indeed, results suggest that poorly-structured team work may actually facilitate stress and pressure in the workplace. Conversely, well-structured real teams serve to reduce stress and work pressure, which in turn not only enhances the working lives and well-being of psychiatric nurses, but also greatly improves the service that the NHS provides to its users.

Stressful times call for team-based measures:psychiatric nursing in the UK National Health Service

Background: Team-based working is now an inherent part of effective health care delivery. Previous research has identified that team working is associated with positive mental health and well-being outcomes for individuals operating in an effective team environment. This is a particularly important topic in the health services context, although little empirical attention has been paid to mental-health services. Psychiatric nurses work on a day-to-day basis with a particularly stressful and demanding client group in an environment which is characterised by high demands, uncertainty, and limited resources. This paper specifically focuses on psychiatric nurses working in National Health Service (NHS) and casts some light on the ways in which effective team-based working can help to alleviate a number of occupational stressors and strains. Method: A questionnaire method (2005 NHS Staff Survey) was employed to collect data from 6655 psychiatric nurses from 64 different NHS Trusts. The hypotheses were concerned with four overall measures from the survey; effective team working, occupational stress, work pressure and social support. Hypothesis 1 stated that effective team working will have a significant negative relationship with occupational stress and work pressure. Further, Hypothesis 2 stated that social support from supervisors and co-workers will moderate this relationship. Findings: Data was treated with a series of regression analyses. For Hypothesis 1, working in a real team did have main effects on work pressure and accounted for 1.6 per cent of the variance. Using the Nagelkerke R square value, working in a real team also had main effects on occupational stress an accounted for approximately 2.8 per cent of the variance. Further, the Exp (B) value of 0.662 suggests that the odds of suffering from occupational stress are cut by 33.8 per cent when a psychiatric nurse works in a real team. Results failed to provide support for Hypothesis 2. The analysis then went on to adopt a unique approach for assessing the extent of real team-based working, distinguishing between real teams, and a number of pseudo team typologies, as well as the absence of teamwork all together. As was hypothesised, results demonstrated that psychiatric nurses working in real teams (ones with clear objectives, where-by team members work closely with one another to achieve team objectives and meet regularly to discuss team effectiveness and how it can be improved) experienced the lowest levels of stress and work pressure of the sample. However, contrary to prediction, results indicated that psychiatric nurses working in any type of pseudo team actually experienced significantly higher levels of stress and work pressure than those who did not report as working in a team at all. Discussion: These findings have serious implications for NHS Mental Health Trusts, which may not be implementing, structuring and managing their nursing teams adequately. Indeed, results suggest that poorly-structured team work may actually facilitate stress and pressure in the workplace. Conversely, well-structured real teams serve to reduce stress and work pressure, which in turn not only enhances the working lives and well-being of psychiatric nurses, but also greatly improves the service that the NHS provides to its users.

Casebook on contract law

Jill Poole's best-selling Casebook on Contract Law provides a clear and well-structured explanation of the principles and rules of contract law through a comprehensive selection of case law, addressing all aspects encountered on undergraduate courses. The coverage in this new edition has been revised to incorporate all recent significant decisions and judgments made by the House of Lords and the Court of Appeal. Extracts have been chosen from a wide range of historical and contemporary cases to illustrate the reasoning processes of the court and how legal principles are developed, thus enabling cases to be analysed and discussed independently while, taken as a whole, the chapters provide a sound understanding of the modern law of contract. Succinct author commentary focuses the reader on the key elements within the extracts, while thought-provoking questions are posed throughout to develop a more in-depth appreciation of the subject. Online resource centre Student resources - Updates - Guidance on answering problem-style questions - Exercises and guidance on reading cases - Self test questions and answers - 'Ask the author' section