The senior female international managerial career move: a qualitative study in a European context

Research investigating the position of women in management has, largely, been confined within national boundaries. Over the last fifteen years, empirical studies of women in international management have been undertaken, predominantly in North America. In this research field, many questions remain unanswered or have been only partially addressed. The particular focus of this study is on the senior female international managerial career move in Europe — a relatively unexplored area. Fifty senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The study, for the first time, assesses an exclusively senior sample of female managers who have made at least one international career move. This study of senior females in international management makes a theoretical contribution, not only to the analysis of gender and international human resource management, but also to wider debates within the contemporary women in management and career theory literatures. The aims of the study were to develop an understanding of the senior female international career move in a European context in order to more fully understand both the covert and overt barriers that may limit women’s international career opportunities. The results of the study show that the senior international career move has largely been developed along a linear male model of career progression, a development which, taken together with gender disparity both in organisations and family responsibilities, frequently prevents women employees from reaching senior managerial positions. The study proposes a model of the senior female international managerial career move, thereby contributing primarily to the international human resource management literature. The implications of the study for research literatures in women in management and career theory are also explored and a future research agenda developed.

Optimisation of the food dairy coop supply chain

In the European Union under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) milk production was restricted by milk quotas since 1984. However, due to recent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), milk quotas will be abolished by 2015. Therefore, the European dairy sector will soon face an opportunity, for the first time in a generation, to expand. Numerous studies have shown that milk production in Ireland will increase significantly post quotas (Laepple and Hennessy (2010), Donnellan and Hennessy (2007) and Lips and Reider (2005)). The research in this thesis explored milk transport and dairy product processing in the Irish dairy processing sector in the context of milk quota removal and expansion by 2020. In this study a national milk transport model was developed for the Irish dairy industry, the model was used to examine different efficiency factors in milk transport and to estimate milk transport costs post milk quota abolition. Secondly, the impact of different milk supply profiles on milk transport costs was investigated using the milk transport model. Current processing capacity in Ireland was compared against future supply, it was concluded that additional milk processing capacity would not be sufficient to process the additional milk. Thirdly, the milk transport model was used to identify the least cost locations (based on transport costs) to process the additional milk supply in 2020. Finally, an optimisation model was developed to identify the optimum configuration for the Irish dairy processing sector in 2020 taking cognisance of increasing transport costs and decreasing processing costs.

Aging African American Women and the Impact of Positive Psychological Factors on Quality of Life

Aging African-American women are disproportionately affected by negative health outcomes and mortality. Life stress has strong associations with these health outcomes. The purpose of this research was to understand how aging African American women manage stress. Specifically, the effects of coping, optimism, resilience, and religiousness as it relates to quality of life were examined. This cross-sectional exploratory study used a self-administered questionnaire and examined quality of life in 182 African-American women who were 65 years of age or older living in senior residential centers in Baltimore using convenience sampling. The age range for these women was 65 to 94 years with a mean of 71.8 years (SD = 5.6). The majority (53.1%) of participants completed high school, with 23 percent (N = 42) obtaining college degrees and 19 percent (N = 35) holding advanced degrees. Nearly 58 percent of participants were widowed and 81 percent were retired. In addition to demographics, the questionnaire included the following reliable and valid survey instruments: The Brief Cope Scale (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989), Optimism Questionnaire (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994), Resilience Survey (Wagnild & Young, 1987), Religiousness Assessment (Koenig, 1997), and Quality of Life Questionnaire (Cummins, 1996). Results revealed that the positive psychological factors examined were positively associated with and significant predictors of quality of life. The bivariate correlations indicated that of the six coping dimensions measured in this study, planning (r=.68) was the most positively associated with quality of life. Optimism (r=.33), resilience (=.48), and religiousness (r=.30) were also significantly correlated with quality of life. In the linear regression model, again the coping dimension of planning was the best predictor of quality of life (beta = .75, p <.001). Optimism (beta = .31, p <.001), resilience (beta = .34, p, .001) and religiousness (beta = .17, p <.01) were also significant predictors of quality of life. It appears as if positive psychology plays an important role in improving quality of life among aging African-American women.

Antisense Gene Silencing and Bacteriophages as Novel Disinfection Processes for Engineered Systems

The growth and proliferation of invasive bacteria in engineered systems is an ongoing problem. While there are a variety of physical and chemical processes to remove and inactivate bacterial pathogens, there are many situations in which these tools are no longer effective or appropriate for the treatment of a microbial target. For example, certain strains of bacteria are becoming resistant to commonly used disinfectants, such as chlorine and UV. Additionally, the overuse of antibiotics has contributed to the spread of antibiotic resistance, and there is concern that wastewater treatment processes are contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Due to the continually evolving nature of bacteria, it is difficult to develop methods for universal bacterial control in a wide range of engineered systems, as many of our treatment processes are static in nature. Still, invasive bacteria are present in many natural and engineered systems, where the application of broad acting disinfectants is impractical, because their use may inhibit the original desired bioprocesses. Therefore, to better control the growth of treatment resistant bacteria and to address limitations with the current disinfection processes, novel tools that are both specific and adaptable need to be developed and characterized.

In this dissertation, two possible biological disinfection processes were investigated for use in controlling invasive bacteria in engineered systems. First, antisense gene silencing, which is the specific use of oligonucleotides to silence gene expression, was investigated. This work was followed by the investigation of bacteriophages (phages), which are viruses that are specific to bacteria, in engineered systems.


For the antisense gene silencing work, a computational approach was used to quantify the number of off-targets and to determine the effects of off-targets in prokaryotic organisms. For the organisms of Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv the mean number of off-targets was found to be 15.0 + 13.2 and 38.2 + 61.4, respectively, which results in a reduction of greater than 90% of the effective oligonucleotide concentration. It was also demonstrated that there was a high variability in the number of off-targets over the length of a gene, but that on average, there was no general gene location that could be targeted to reduce off-targets. Therefore, this analysis needs to be performed for each gene in question. It was also demonstrated that the thermodynamic binding energy between the oligonucleotide and the mRNA accounted for 83% of the variation in the silencing efficiency, compared to the number of off-targets, which explained 43% of the variance of the silencing efficiency. This suggests that optimizing thermodynamic parameters must be prioritized over minimizing the number of off-targets. In conclusion for the antisense work, these results suggest that off-target hybrids can account for a greater than 90% reduction in the concentration of the silencing oligonucleotides, and that the effective concentration can be increased through the rational design of silencing targets by minimizing off-target hybrids.

Regarding the work with phages, the disinfection rates of bacteria in the presence of phages was determined. The disinfection rates of E. coli K12 MG1655 in the presence of coliphage Ec2 ranged up to 2 h-1, and were dependent on both the initial phage and bacterial concentrations. Increasing initial phage concentrations resulted in increasing disinfection rates, and generally, increasing initial bacterial concentrations resulted in increasing disinfection rates. However, disinfection rates were found to plateau at higher bacterial and phage concentrations. A multiple linear regression model was used to predict the disinfection rates as a function of the initial phage and bacterial concentrations, and this model was able to explain 93% of the variance in the disinfection rates. The disinfection rates were also modeled with a particle aggregation model. The results from these model simulations suggested that at lower phage and bacterial concentrations there are not enough collisions to support active disinfection rates, which therefore, limits the conditions and systems where phage based bacterial disinfection is possible. Additionally, the particle aggregation model over predicted the disinfection rates at higher phage and bacterial concentrations of 108 PFU/mL and 108 CFU/mL, suggesting other interactions were occurring at these higher concentrations. Overall, this work highlights the need for the development of alternative models to more accurately describe the dynamics of this system at a variety of phage and bacterial concentrations. Finally, the minimum required hydraulic residence time was calculated for a continuous stirred-tank reactor and a plug flow reactor (PFR) as a function of both the initial phage and bacterial concentrations, which suggested that phage treatment in a PFR is theoretically possible.

In addition to determining disinfection rates, the long-term bacterial growth inhibition potential was determined for a variety of phages with both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. It was determined, that on average, phages can be used to inhibit bacterial growth for up to 24 h, and that this effect was concentration dependent for various phages at specific time points. Additionally, it was found that a phage cocktail was no more effective at inhibiting bacterial growth over the long-term than the best performing phage in isolation.

Finally, for an industrial application, the use of phages to inhibit invasive Lactobacilli in ethanol fermentations was investigated. It was demonstrated that phage 8014-B2 can achieve a greater than 3-log inactivation of Lactobacillus plantarum during a 48 h fermentation. Additionally, it was shown that phages can be used to protect final product yields and maintain yeast viability. Through modeling the fermentation system with differential equations it was determined that there was a 10 h window in the beginning of the fermentation run, where the addition of phages can be used to protect final product yields, and after 20 h no additional benefit of the phage addition was observed.

In conclusion, this dissertation improved the current methods for designing antisense gene silencing targets for prokaryotic organisms, and characterized phages from an engineering perspective. First, the current design strategy for antisense targets in prokaryotic organisms was improved through the development of an algorithm that minimized the number of off-targets. For the phage work, a framework was developed to predict the disinfection rates in terms of the initial phage and bacterial concentrations. In addition, the long-term bacterial growth inhibition potential of multiple phages was determined for several bacteria. In regard to the phage application, phages were shown to protect both final product yields and yeast concentrations during fermentation. Taken together, this work suggests that the rational design of phage treatment is possible and further work is needed to expand on this foundation.

Polymorphisms in the kinesin-like factor 1 B gene and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer in Eastern Chinese women.

The kinesin-like factor 1 B (KIF1B) gene plays an important role in the process of apoptosis and the transformation and progression of malignant cells. Genetic variations in KIF1B may contribute to risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). In this study of 1,324 EOC patients and 1,386 cancer-free female controls, we investigated associations between two potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphisms in KIF1B and EOC risk by the conditional logistic regression analysis. General linear regression model was used to evaluate the correlation between the number of variant alleles and KIF1B mRNA expression levels. We found that the rs17401966 variant AG/GG genotypes were significantly associated with a decreased risk of EOC (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.81, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 0.68-0.97), compared with the AA genotype, but no associations were observed for rs1002076. Women who carried both rs17401966 AG/GG and rs1002076 AG/AA genotypes of KIF1B had a 0.82-fold decreased risk (adjusted 95 % CI = 0.69-0.97), compared with others. Additionally, there was no evidence of possible interactions between about-mentioned co-variants. Further genotype-phenotype correlation analysis indicated that the number of rs17401966 variant G allele was significantly associated with KIF1B mRNA expression levels (P for GLM = 0.003 and 0.001 in all and Chinese subjects, respectively), with GG carriers having the lowest level of KIF1B mRNA expression. Taken together, the rs17401966 polymorphism likely regulates KIF1B mRNA expression and thus may be associated with EOC risk in Eastern Chinese women. Larger, independent studies are warranted to validate our findings.

A Note On Tidal Asymmetry In The Severn Estuary

A one-dimensional, non-linear numerical model is used to investigate the tidally averaged frictional stress and set-up of water level due to tidal asymmetry in the Severn Estuary; these quantities depend on the overtides in the region. A linearized model of the overtides is applied to calculations of the M4 currents in order to delineate the mechanisms responsible for their generation. The relative importance of individual non-linear mechanisms to the tidally averaged stress and set-up is determined; these mechanisms are interactions between tidal flow and changes in depth or breadth over a cross-section, frictional interaction between the tidal flow and Stokes drift, interaction between the tidal fluctuations in water depth and frictional retardation and non-linear advection.

Recruitment of lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus in relation to density dependence and zooplankton composition

Recent recruitment failure of lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus, a key prey fish in the North Sea, followed by several years of low spawning stock biomass, prompted us to investigate factors influencing the recruitment of this species. We tested 2 hypotheses that relate to ecological mechanisms of recruitment regulation in lesser sandeel: (1) a positive spawning stock–recruitment relationship is decoupled in years associated with high abundances of age-1 sandeels and (2) the survival success of early larvae depends specifically on the abundance of Calanus finmarchicus and not C. helgolandicus. The findings of the present study supported both hypotheses and resulted in a multiple linear recruitment model with pronounced predictive capabilities. The model includes interactions between age-1 abundance and spawning stock biomass, plus the effect of C. finmarchicus abundance, and it explained around 65% of the inter-annual variation in recruitment in contrast to only 12% by a traditional Ricker curve. We argue that early egg production in C. finmarchicus supports the survival of larvae, and that climate-generated shifts in the Calanus species composition lead to a mismatch in timing between food availability and the early life history of lesser sandeels.

Fault Diagnosis in Internal Combustion Engines Using Nonlinear Multivariate Statistics

This paper presents a statistical-based fault diagnosis scheme for application to internal combustion engines. The scheme relies on an identified model that describes the relationships between a set of recorded engine variables using principal component analysis (PCA). Since combustion cycles are complex in nature and produce nonlinear relationships between the recorded engine variables, the paper proposes the use of nonlinear PCA (NLPCA). The paper further justifies the use of NLPCA by comparing the model accuracy of the NLPCA model with that of a linear PCA model. A new nonlinear variable reconstruction algorithm and bivariate scatter plots are proposed for fault isolation, following the application of NLPCA. The proposed technique allows the diagnosis of different fault types under steady-state operating conditions. More precisely, nonlinear variable reconstruction can remove the fault signature from the recorded engine data, which allows the identification and isolation of the root cause of abnormal engine behaviour. The paper shows that this can lead to (i) an enhanced identification of potential root causes of abnormal events and (ii) the masking of faulty sensor readings. The effectiveness of the enhanced NLPCA based monitoring scheme is illustrated by its application to a sensor fault and a process fault. The sensor fault relates to a drift in the fuel flow reading, whilst the process fault relates to a partial blockage of the intercooler. These faults are introduced to a Volkswagen TDI 1.9 Litre diesel engine mounted on an experimental engine test bench facility.

Modelling and Prediction of NOx Emission in a Coal-Fired Power Generation Plant

In this paper NOx emissions modelling for real-time operation and control of a 200 MWe coal-fired power generation plant is studied. Three model types are compared. For the first model the fundamentals governing the NOx formation mechanisms and a system identification technique are used to develop a grey-box model. Then a linear AutoRegressive model with eXogenous inputs (ARX) model and a non-linear ARX model (NARX) are built. Operation plant data is used for modelling and validation. Model cross-validation tests show that the developed grey-box model is able to consistently produce better overall long-term prediction performance than the other two models.

Adsorption isotherm models for basic dye adsorption by peat in single and binary component systems

Coloured effluents from textile industries are a problem in many rivers and waterways. Prediction of adsorption capacities of dyes by adsorbents is important in design considerations. The sorption of three basic dyes, namely Basic Blue 3, Basic Yellow 21 and Basic Red 22, onto peat is reported. Equilibrium sorption isotherms have been measured for the three single component systems. Equilibrium was achieved after twenty-one days. The experimental isotherm data were analysed using Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Temkin and Toth isotherm equations. A detailed error analysis has been undertaken to investigate the effect of using different error criteria for the determination of the single component isotherm parameters and hence obtain the best isotherm and isotherm parameters which describe the adsorption process. The linear transform model provided the highest R2 regression coefficient with the Redlich-Peterson model. The Redlich-Peterson model also yielded the best fit to experimental data for all three dyes using the non-linear error functions. An extended Langmuir model has been used to predict the isotherm data for the binary systems using the single component data. The correlation between theoretical and experimental data had only limited success due to competitive and interactive effects between the dyes and the dye-surface interactions.

The (in)visible scar. Representation of the body in blogs by women with breast cancer

In this paper we analyze the representation of the body in blogs by women with breast cancer. Taking into account both texts and images, we study the representation of the body on the basis of the body problems proposed by Frank (1995): control, body-relatedness, other-relatedness and desire. In the blogs studied we find a desiring and dyadic body, which is understood as part of a network of affection and care. The diagnosis of cancer can generate both dissociation, when the body is experienced as a threat, and association, a wish to be connected to it. In relation to control, a clear will of predictability is observed but traces of assumption of contingency also appear.

Is shyness context specific? Relation between shyness and online self-disclosure with and without a live webcam in young adults

The Internet provides a new tool to investigate old questions in experimental social psychology regarding Person x Context interaction. We examined the interaction of self-reported shyness and context on computer-mediated communication measures. Sixty female undergraduates unfamiliar were paired in dyads and engaged in a 10 min free chat conversation on the Internet with and without a live webcam. Free chat conversations were archived, transcripts were objectively coded for communication variables, and a linear mixed model used for data analysis of dyadic interaction was performed on each communication measure. As predicted, increases in self-reported shyness were significantly related to decreases in the number of prompted self-disclosures (after controlling for the number of opportunities to self-disclose) only in the webcam condition. Self-reported shyness was not related to the number of prompted self-disclosures in the no webcam condition, suggesting that shyness was context dependent. The present study appears to be the first to objectively code measures of Internet behaviour in relation to the study of personality in general and shyness in particular. Theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the contextual nature of shyness are discussed. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Out-of-field cell survival following exposure to intensity-modulated radiation fields

PURPOSE:
To determine the in-field and out-of-field cell survival of cells irradiated with either primary field or scattered radiation in the presence and absence of intercellular communication.
METHODS AND MATERIALS:
Cell survival was determined by clonogenic assay in human prostate cancer (DU145) and primary fibroblast (AGO1552) cells following exposure to different field configurations delivered using a 6-MV photon beam produced with a Varian linear accelerator.
RESULTS:
Nonuniform dose distributions were delivered using a multileaf collimator (MLC) in which half of the cell population was shielded. Clonogenic survival in the shielded region was significantly lower than that predicted from the linear quadratic model. In both cell lines, the out-of-field responses appeared to saturate at 40%-50% survival at a scattered dose of 0.70 Gy in DU-145 cells and 0.24 Gy in AGO1522 cells. There was an approximately eightfold difference in the initial slopes of the out-of-field response compared with the a-component of the uniform field response. In contrast, cells in the exposed part of the field showed increased survival. These observations were abrogated by direct physical inhibition of cellular communication and by the addition of the inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor aminoguanidine known to inhibit intercellular bystander effects. Additional studies showed the proportion of cells irradiated and dose delivered to the shielded and exposed regions of the field to impact on response.
CONCLUSIONS:
These data demonstrate out-of-field effects as important determinants of cell survival following exposure to modulated irradiation fields with cellular communication between differentially irradiated cell populations playing an important role. Validation of these observations in additional cell models may facilitate the refinement of existing radiobiological models and the observations considered important determinants of cell survival.

Cell survival responses after exposure to modulated radiation fields.

In the present study survival responses were determined in cells with differing radiosensitivity, specifically primary fibroblast (AG0-1522B), human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), human prostate cancer (DU-145) and human glioma (T98G) cells, after exposure to modulated radiation fields delivered by shielding 50% of the tissue culture flask. A significant decrease (P < 0.05) in cell survival was observed in the shielded area, outside the primary treatment field (out-of-field), that was lower than predicted when compared to uniform exposures fitted to the linear-quadratic model. Cellular radiosensitivity was demonstrated to be an important factor in the level of response for both the in- and out-of-field regions. These responses were shown to be dependent on secretion-mediated intercellular communication, because inhibition of cellular secreted factors between the in- and out-of-field regions abrogated the response. Out-of-field cell survival was shown to increase after pretreatment of cells with agents known to inhibit factors involved in mediating radiation-induced bystander signaling (aminoguanidine, DMSO or cPTIO). These data illustrate a significant decrease in survival out-of-field, dependent upon intercellular communication, in several cell lines with varying radiosensitivity after exposure to a modulated radiation field. This study provides further evidence for the importance of intercellular signaling in modulated exposures, where dose gradients are present, and may inform the refinement of established radiobiological models to facilitate the optimization of advanced radiotherapy treatment plans.

Evaluating periocidities in peat-based climate proxy records.

Proxy records derived from ombrotrophic peatlands provide important insights into climate change over decadal to millennial timescales. We present mid- to late- Holocene humification data and testate amoebae-derived water table records from two peatlands in Northern Ireland. We examine the repli- cation of periodicities in these proxy climate records, which have been precisely linked through teph- rochronology. Age-depth models are constructed using a Bayesian piece-wise linear accumulation model and chronological errors are calculated for each profile. A Lomb-Scargle Fourier transform-based spectral analysis is used to test for statistically significant periodicities in the data. Periodicities of c. 130, 180, 260, 540 and 1160 years are present in at least one proxy record at each site. The replication of these peri- odicities provides persuasive evidence that they are a product of allogenic climate controls, rather than internal peatland dynamics. A technique to estimate the possible level of red-noise in the data is applied and demonstrates that the observed periodicities cannot be explained by a first-order autoregressive model. We review the periodicities in the light of those reported previously from other marine and terrestrial climate proxy archives to consider climate forcing parameters. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.