Ability assessment and job structure measures in occupational mobility

Recent and potential changes in technology have resulted in the anticipation of increases in the frequency of job changes. This has led manpower policy makers to investigate the feasibility of incorporating the employment skills of job groups in the general prediction of future job learning and performance with a view to the establishment of "job families" within which transfer might be considered reciprocally high. A structured job analysis instrument (the Position Analysis Questionnaire) is evaluated in terms of two distinct sets of scores; job dimensions and synthetically established attribute/trait profiles. Studies demonstrate that estimates of a job's structure/dimensions and requisite human attributes can be reliably established. Three alternative techniques of statistically assembling profiles of the requisite human attributes for jobs are found to have differential levels of reliability and differential degrees of validity in their estimation of the "actual" ability requirements of jobs. The utility of these two sets of job descriptors to serve as representations of the cognitive structure similarity of job groups is investigated in a study which simulates a job transfer situation. The central role of the index of similarity used to assess the relationship between "target" and "present" job is demonstrated. The relative extents to which job structure similarity and job attribute similariity are associated with positive transfer are investigated. The studies demonstrate that the dimensions of jobs, and more fruitfully their requisite human attributes can serve as bases to predict job transfer learning and performance. The nature of the index of similarity used to optimally formulate predictions of transfer is such that networks of jobs might be establishable to which current job incumbents could be expected to transfer positively. The derivation of "job families" with anticipated reciprocal transfer consequences is considered to be less appropriate.

Production and action of local mediators in the rat gastric mucosa

This study concerns the production and action of the local mediators nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the rat gastric mucosa. The major objectives were: (i) to determine which mucosal cell type(s) contained NO synthase activity, (ii) to establish the functional role(s) of NO in the gastric mucosa and (iii) to investigate regulation of gastric PGE2 production. Gastric mucosal cells were isolated by pronase digestion coupled with intermittent calcium chelation and were separated by either density-gradient centrifugation or by counterflow elutriation. The distribution of Ca2+ -dependent NO synthase activity, measured via the conversion of [14C]-L-arginine to [14C]-L- citrulline, paralleled the distribution of mucous cells in elutriated fractions. Pre-treatment of rats with lipopolysaccharide caused the induction of Ca2+ -independent NO synthase in the elutriator fractions enriched with mucous cells. Incubation of isolated cells with the NO donor isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) produced a concentration-dependent increase in the guanosine 3',-5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) content which was accompanied by a concentration-dependent increase in release of immunoreactive mucin. Intragastric administration of ISDN of dibutyryl cGMP in vivo increased the thickness of the mucus layer overlying the gastric mucosa. The NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP) produced a concentration-dependent inhibition (IC50 247 μM) of histamine-stimulated aminopyrine accumulation, a measure of secretory activity, in cell suspensions containing > 80% parietal cells. SNAP increased the cGMP content of the suspension but did not decrease cellular viability, glucose oxidation or adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate content. The inhibitory effect of SNAP was observed in permeabilised cells stimulated with ATP and was stereospecifically blocked by preincubation with Rp-8-bromoguanosine 3'-5'-monophosphorothioate, which inhibits activation of cGMP-dependent protein kinase. Stimulation of PGE2 release by bradykinin in a low density cell fraction, enriched with parietal cells and devoid of vascular endothelial cells and macrophages, involved a bradykinin B1 receptor. In summary, NO synthase activity is probably present in gastric mucous epithelial cells. NO may promote mucus secretion by elevation of cGMP. NO donors inhibit acid secretion at a specific site and their action may involve cGMP. The bradykinin B1 receptor is involved with PGE2 production in the gastric mucosa.

Behavioural and neuroimaging investigations of the relationship between visual attention, affordance and action

In this thesis the relationship between visual attention, affordance and action was investigated using a combination of neuroimaging and behavioural studies. Neuronal activity and movement construction were assessed when individuals passively viewed or produced action towards stimuli varying in their affordance and/or attentional attributes. The main findings were: (i) the passive perception of both object and abstract visual patterns was associated with decreased alpha and/or beta activity in sensori-motor cortex, occipito-temporal cortex and cerebellum. These are brain regions associated with the planning and production of visually guided action; (ii) for object patterns, decreased alpha and beta activity was also observed in regions of superior parietal and premotor cortex. These regions contain neurons argued to be essential for matching hand kinematics with manipulate objects; and (iii) in both control participants and a deafferented individual, studies of planned and unplanned pointing manoeuvres revealed that the attentional bias of a stimulus was critical for fast, efficient action production whereas the affordance bias was critical in determining end-point accuracy. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that affordance is not a necessary prerequisite for the potential of motor codes. Rather, affordance enables the construction of motor responses that reflect object functionality and/or manipulability. They further demonstrate that visual attention is associated with the potentiation of motor codes. Indeed, directed visual attention would appear critical for speeded responses. These findings provide new insights into the roles of directed visual attention and affordance upon action.

Knowledge engineering for mental-health risk assessment and decision support

Mental-health risk assessment practice in the UK is mainly paper-based, with little standardisation in the tools that are used across the Services. The tools that are available tend to rely on minimal sets of items and unsophisticated scoring methods to identify at-risk individuals. This means the reasoning by which an outcome has been determined remains uncertain. Consequently, there is little provision for: including the patient as an active party in the assessment process, identifying underlying causes of risk, and eecting shared decision-making. This thesis develops a tool-chain for the formulation and deployment of a computerised clinical decision support system for mental-health risk assessment. The resultant tool, GRiST, will be based on consensual domain expert knowledge that will be validated as part of the research, and will incorporate a proven psychological model of classication for risk computation. GRiST will have an ambitious remit of being a platform that can be used over the Internet, by both the clinician and the layperson, in multiple settings, and in the assessment of patients with varying demographics. Flexibility will therefore be a guiding principle in the development of the platform, to the extent that GRiST will present an assessment environment that is tailored to the circumstances in which it nds itself. XML and XSLT will be the key technologies that help deliver this exibility.

Measuring the assessment and counselling provided with the supply of non-prescription asthma reliever medication: a simulated patient study

BACKGROUND: Over one quarter of asthma reliever medications are provided without prescription by community pharmacies in Australia. Evidence that community pharmacies provide these medications with sufficient patient assessment and medication counseling to ensure compliance with the government's Quality Use of Medicines principles is currently lacking. OBJECTIVE: To assess current practice when asthma reliever medication is provided in the community pharmacy setting and to identify factors that correlate with assessment of asthma control. METHODS: Researchers posing as patients visited a sample of Perth metropolitan community pharmacies in May 2007. During the visit, the simulated patient enacted a standardized scenario of someone with moderately controlled asthma who wished to purchase a salbutamol (albuterol) inhaler without prescription. Results of the encounter were recorded immediately after the visit. Regression analysis was performed, with medication use frequency (a marker of asthma control) as the dependent variable. RESULTS: One hundred sixty community pharmacies in the Perth metropolitan area were visited in May 2007. Pharmacists and/or pharmacy assistants provided some form of assessment in 84% of the visits. Counseling was provided to the simulated patients in 24% of the visits. Only 4 pharmacy staff members asked whether the simulated patient knew how to use the inhaler. Significant correlation was found between assessment and/or counseling of reliever use frequency and 3 independent variables: visit length (p < 0.001), number of assessment questions asked (p < 0.001), and the simulated patient who conducted the visit (p < 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Both patient assessment and medication counseling were suboptimal compared with recommended practice when nonprescription asthma reliever medication was supplied in the community pharmacy setting. Pharmacy and pharmacist demographic variables do not appear to affect assessment of asthma control. This research indicates the need for substantial improvements in practice in order to provide reliever medication in line with Quality Use of Medication principles of ensuring safe and effective use of medication.

Enhancing student learning experience through a novel electronic coursework assessment and feedback management system

Recent National Student Surveys revealed that many U.K. university students are dissatisfied with the timeliness and usefulness of the feedback received from their tutors. Ensuring timeliness in marking often results in a reduction in the quality of feedback. In Computer Science where learning relies on practising and learning from mistakes, feedback that pin-points errors and explains means of improvement is important to achieve a good student learning experience. Though suitable use of Information and Communication Technology should alleviate this problem, existing Virtual Learning Environments and e-Assessment applications such as Blackboard/WebCT, BOSS, MarkTool and GradeMark are inadequate to support a coursework assessment process that promotes timeliness and usefulness of feedback while maintaining consistency in marking involving multiple tutors. We have developed a novel Internet application, called eCAF, for facilitating an efficient and transparent coursework assessment and feedback process. The eCAF system supports detailed marking scheme editing and enables tutors to use such schemes to pin-point errors in students' work so as to provide helpful feedback efficiently. Tutors can also highlight areas in a submitted work and associate helpful feedback that clearly links to the identified mistakes and the respective marking criteria. In light of the results obtained from a recent trial of eCAF, we discuss how the key features of eCAF may facilitate an effective and efficient coursework assessment and feedback process.

Techno-economic assessment and uncertainty analysis of thermochemical processes for second generation biofuels

Biomass-To-Liquid (BTL) is one of the most promising low carbon processes available to support the expanding transportation sector. This multi-step process produces hydrocarbon fuels from biomass, the so-called “second generation biofuels” that, unlike first generation biofuels, have the ability to make use of a wider range of biomass feedstock than just plant oils and sugar/starch components. A BTL process based on gasification has yet to be commercialized. This work focuses on the techno-economic feasibility of nine BTL plants. The scope was limited to hydrocarbon products as these can be readily incorporated and integrated into conventional markets and supply chains. The evaluated BTL systems were based on pressurised oxygen gasification of wood biomass or bio-oil and they were characterised by different fuel synthesis processes including: Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, the Methanol to Gasoline (MTG) process and the Topsoe Integrated Gasoline (TIGAS) synthesis. This was the first time that these three fuel synthesis technologies were compared in a single, consistent evaluation. The selected process concepts were modelled using the process simulation software IPSEpro to determine mass balances, energy balances and product distributions. For each BTL concept, a cost model was developed in MS Excel to estimate capital, operating and production costs. An uncertainty analysis based on the Monte Carlo statistical method, was also carried out to examine how the uncertainty in the input parameters of the cost model could affect the output (i.e. production cost) of the model. This was the first time that an uncertainty analysis was included in a published techno-economic assessment study of BTL systems. It was found that bio-oil gasification cannot currently compete with solid biomass gasification due to the lower efficiencies and higher costs associated with the additional thermal conversion step of fast pyrolysis. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was the most promising fuel synthesis technology for commercial production of liquid hydrocarbon fuels since it achieved higher efficiencies and lower costs than TIGAS and MTG. None of the BTL systems were competitive with conventional fossil fuel plants. However, if government tax take was reduced by approximately 33% or a subsidy of £55/t dry biomass was available, transport biofuels could be competitive with conventional fuels. Large scale biofuel production may be possible in the long term through subsidies, fuels price rises and legislation.

Direct cavity assessment and mode optimisation technique for DFB fibre laser

A technique for direct real-time assessment of a distributed feedback fibre laser cavity conditions during operation is demonstrated and used to provide a cavity mode conditioning feedback mechanism to optimise output performance. Negligible wavelength drift is demonstrated over a 52 mW pump power range.

Examining the relationship between risk assessment and risk management in mental health

Risk assessment is crucial for developing risk management plans to prevent or minimize mental health patients' risks that will impede their recovery. Risk assessments and risk management plans should be closely linked. Their content and the extent to which they are linked within one Trust is explored. There is a great deal of variability in the amount and detail of risk information collected by nurses and how this is used to develop risk management plans. Keeping risk assessment information in one place rather than scattered throughout patient records is important for ensuring it can be accessed easily and linked properly to risk management plans. Strengthening the link between risk assessment and management will help ensure interventions and care is tailored to the specific needs of individual patients, thus promoting their safety and well-being. Thorough risk assessment helps in developing risk management plans that minimize risks that can impede mental health patients' recovery. Department of Health policy states that risk assessments and risk management plans should be inextricably linked. This paper examines their content and linkage within one Trust. Four inpatient wards for working age adults (18-65 years) in a large mental health Trust in England were included in the study. Completed risk assessment forms, for all patients in each inpatient ward were examined (n= 43), followed by an examination of notes for the same patients. Semi-structured interviews took place with ward nurses (n= 17). Findings show much variability in the amount and detail of risk information collected by nurses, which may be distributed in several places. Gaps in the risk assessment and risk management process are evident, and a disassociation between risk information and risk management plans is often present. Risk information should have a single location so that it can be easily found and updated. Overall, a more integrated approach to risk assessment and management is required, to help patients receive timely and appropriate interventions that can reduce risks such as suicide or harm to others. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing.

Direct real-time cavity mode assessment and optimization technique for fiber lasers

A simple technique for direct real-time assessment of a fiber laser cavity-mode condition during operation is demonstrated. Mode stabilization and optimization with this cavity-mode monitoring and conditioning feedback scheme shows significant improvements to the output performance.

The 3 per cent Barcelona Target: A Critical Appraisal of the Failure of the Lisbon Strategy’s Knowledgebased Economy and Society Project

Ten years after the unanimous approval of the Lisbon Strategy at a special meeting of the European Council on 23-24 March 2000 in Lisbon, it will be inevitable for the European Council, the European Commission and the majority of the EU member states to face with its fi asco and to account for the reasons of their fundamental policy, governance and economic failures in 2010. The recent turbulence of the global economy offers some excuses for the underperformance of the main objectives of the Lisbon Strategy in the essential social and economic domains, like job creation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. Negative growth rates, macroeconomic and fi nancial instability, the contraction of the internal and external markets of the European economy, drop in demand for capital investment, goods and services, sinking corporate revenues, depreciation of corporate assets, increasing private and public indebtedness, falling rate of employment, weakening social cohesion, widening social inequality, and so forth not only deprive the majority of the EU member states of fulfi lling the main objectives of the Lisbon Strategy but also drive them into worse social and economic conditions in many policy domains than they were in 2000.

Water resources assessment and geographic information system (GIS)-based stormwater runoff estimates for artificial recharge of freshwater aquifers in New Providence, Bahamas

The Bahamas is a small island nation that is dealing with the problem of freshwater shortage. All of the country’s freshwater is contained in shallow lens aquifers that are recharged solely by rainfall. The country has been struggling to meet the water demands by employing a combination of over-pumping of aquifers, transport of water by barge between islands, and desalination of sea water. In recent decades, new development on New Providence, where the capital city of Nassau is located, has created a large area of impervious surfaces and thereby a substantial amount of runoff with the result that several of the aquifers are not being recharged. A geodatabase was assembled to assess and estimate the quantity of runoff from these impervious surfaces and potential recharge locations were identified using a combination of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing. This study showed that runoff from impervious surfaces in New Providence represents a large freshwater resource that could potentially be used to recharge the lens aquifers on New Providence.