An Investigation into the Effects of Organisational Change on Occupational Stress in Further Education Lecturers

The aim of this study is to investigate the stress experienced by full-time
maingrade lecturers as a result of changes in college organisation and factors that relate to stress. A questionnaire was constructed to identify possible sources of stress at work and the amount of stress experienced. Two psychometric measures were included—the General Health Questionnaire and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The former looked at the physiological and psychological effects of stress and the latter, the emotive, cognitive and
behavioural effects, together referred to as 'burnout'. The study sought to investigate stress responses between lecturers employed in colleges that have undergone organisational change compared to those that have not. Two hundred questionnaires and psychometric measures were distributed, by opportunity, to 100 lecturers employed in FE colleges in the north of England and 100 employed in colleges in Northern Ireland. Colleges in the former region had undergone changes in college organisation as a result of incorporation. Colleges in the
latter had not. Incorporation referred to the process whereby colleges became independent of local government control. This led to a series of changes, some of which affected lecturers' terms and conditions. Overall, the indices of reported stress were comparable or markedly greater than earlier research findings, and the trend was for lecturers who had experienced organisational change to report higher measures of stress. GHQ measures showed a significant difference between samples, with the majority of the English sample (69.49%, compared to 40.91%) categorised as 'at risk' of developing symptoms associated with a
transient stress-related disorder, and whilst measures of 'burnout' were more pronounced in the English sample there were no significant differences between samples. In relation to a number of factors, the experience of stress and burnout was more pronounced in the Northern Ireland sample and explanations were offered, such as the influence of cultural variables and the increasing presence of stress-related features in these colleges as they move to incorporation.

Positive aspects and challenges associated with caring for a dying relative at home

Research has consistently shown that family caregivers have a variety of unmet needs, despite comprehensive professional support for caregivers being a central aim of palliative care. This sub-study of a larger randomized controlled trial sought feedback from 47 primary family caregivers of advanced cancer patients who had recently commenced home palliative care. During semi-structured interviews in their homes, family caregivers were asked to comment on the key challenges associated with their role and whether they could identify challenges. These were associated with their own ill health, family circumstances, insufficient skills to manage patient symptoms, limited time for themselves and inadequate support from health professionals. Despite these challenges, 60% of family caregivers were readily able to identify positive aspects of the role. Previous research has tended to focus on the negative impact of caregiving. The extent to which the positive aspects buffer the negative aspects of the role warrants further exploration, as does the long-term impact of the caregiver role on those who are unable to recognize positive elements.

Aesthetics and emotion in an organisational ethnography

In this paper, I argue that an aesthetic approach can help us to better understand workplace ethnography. Ethnography is sensory by nature; it can incorporate a feeling of rightness and beauty in the experience of 'being-with' the organisation being studied. The process is inherently aesthetic. I explore this argument with an in-depth account of a researcher's experiences at a non-profit organisation. I identify the aesthetic of belonging that developed over time. This study shows how an aesthetic perspective helps us to understand the day to day experience of ethnography, and how the it can be emotionally ambivalent and somewhat dark. © 2008, Inderscience Publishers.

Safe eye surgery: non-technical aspects

The traditional training of surgeons focused exclusively on developing knowledge, clinical expertise, and technical (surgical) skills. However, analyses of the reasons for adverse events in surgery have revealed that many underlying causes originate from behavioural or non-technical aspects of performance (eg, poor communication among members of the surgical team) rather than from a lack of surgical (ie, technical) skills. Therefore, technical skills appear to be necessary but not sufficient to ensure patient safety. Paying attention to non-technical skills, such as team working, leadership, situation awareness, decision making, and communication, will increase the likelihood of maintaining high levels of error-free performance. Identification and training of non-technical skills has been developed for high-risk careers, such as civil aviation and nuclear power. Only recently, training in non-technical skills has been adopted by the surgical world and anaesthetists. Non-technical skills need to be tailored to the environment where they are used, and eye surgery has some substantial differences compared with other surgical areas, for example, high volume of surgery, use of local anaesthetics, and very sophisticated equipment. This review highlights the need for identification of the non-technical skills relevant to eye surgeons and promotion of their use in the training of eye surgeons.

Catalytic conversion of sodium lignosulphonate to vanillin –engineering aspects. Part 1 Effect of processing conditionson vanillin yield and selectivity

The commercial production of vanillin from sodium lignosulfonate under highly alkaline conditions, catalyzed by Cu2+ at elevated temperature and pressures up to 10 bar, has been simulated in a 3-L stirred reactor. Initially, the process was operated in the presence of nitrogen in dead-end mode, and it was shown that vanillin and vanillic acid were formed by hydrolysis at temperatures of 120, 140, and 160 °C. At the two higher temperatures, the amount of vanillin produced was the same. Subsequently, experiments were conducted at the same elevated pressures and temperatures with addition of air or oxygen-enriched air once the temperature in the reactor had reached temperatures similar to those used when only hydrolysis occurred. In this case, the concentration of vanillin at 140 and 160 °C was equal to that due to hydrolysis, and the subsequent 2-fold increase was due to oxidation. In addition, both vanillic acid and acetovanillone (which has rarely been reported) were produced, as was hydrogen. Thus, for the first time, it has been shown that the production of vanillin (and other compounds) from sodium lignosulfonate at elevated temperatures involves hydrolysis and oxidation, with hydrolysis starting at just above 100 °C, that is, much lower than has previously been reported. Approximately 50% is produced by each mechanism. In addition, the orders of the reactions of the different steps were estimated, and the reaction mechanisms are discussed.

Environmental Aspects of Underground Construction and Exploration of Underground Structure – State of the Art

An underground work (such as a tunnel or a cavern) has many, well known, environmental qualities such as: no physical barriers crossing the land, less maintenance costs than an analogous surface structure, less expenses for heating and conditioning; a localized emission of noise, gas, dust during operation and, finally, a better protection against seismic actions.
It cannot be forgotten, anyway, that some negative environmental features are present such as, for example, : perturbation, pollution and drainage of the groundwater; settlements; disposal of waste rock.
In the paper the above mentioned concepts are discussed and analysed to give a global overview of all this aspects.

Group work in elementary science:Towards organisational principles for supporting pupil learning

Group work has been promoted in many countries as a key component of elementary science. However, little guidance is given as to how group work should be organised, and because previous research has seldom been conducted in authentic classrooms, its message is merely indicative. A study is reported, which attempts to address these limitations. Twenty-four classes of 10-12-year-old pupils engaged in programmes of teaching on evaporation and condensation, and force and motion. Both programmes were delivered by classroom teachers, and made extensive use of group work. Pupil understanding progressed from pre-tests prior to the programmes to post-tests afterwards, and results suggest that group work played a critical role. Organisational principles are extrapolated from the findings, which could be readily adopted in classrooms. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.