This article focuses on work published by British travelers to Chile and Rio de la Plata who inspected mining association holdings in the region in the wake of the financial crisis of 1825–26. The ...travelers sought to determine whether it proved prudent to continue to direct British men, money, know-how, and equipment to the mines. They drew on the work of political economists to help establish the credibility of their observations and accounts, particularly with respect to the relationship between the lack of the division of labor and population in La Plata and Chile and prospects for future speculative investments in the mines. However, while political economists blamed the financial crisis on the uncertainty generated by the actions of the Bank of England and private banks, the commercial travelers focused on other sources of observational and representational error: principal-agent problems in the joint-stock mining associations, and the travelers' ignorance and prejudices about the region.
Social media such as Twitter and Facebook have become some of the most powerful communication tools both inside and outside of the workplace. While much of the focus has been on the potential ...negative and destructive ('dark') consequences of social media at work, less attention has been given to the harnessing of social media in a constructive ('smart') way to enhance human resource management (HRM). In the context of this special issue on technology and HRM, this paper takes an exploratory approach to examine the relationships between social media use and job satisfaction using data from the Australian Electronic Workplace Survey. We find that the level of job satisfaction is a factor in the desire to use social media to voice concerns related to work, but this effect is only found for Generation Y employees. However, we find social media is not commonly used to voice concerns related to work and this suggests that it is an untapped resource which could provide management with an immediate or 'real'-time understanding of workplace issues.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a mediation explanation of the relationship between HRM and nurse work engagement. The study contributes to understanding how high involvement work practices ...(HIWPs) relate to nurse work engagement by analysing the mediating role played by job crafting. The study also considers the importance of supervisor support as a moderator in the mediated relationship. The study was based on an anonymous online survey of 2,984 nurses employed in Australia. Analysis confirms the hypothesised relationships in that job crafting was found to mediate the positive relationship between HIWPs and work engagement. Further, supervisor support moderated the indirect relationship between HIWPs and work engagement through job crafting, such that the indirect effect was stronger under increasing levels of supervisor support. The results have implications for the importance of HIWPs on job crafting for nurses who carry out many professional roles simultaneously. Furthermore, the research highlights the role that supervisors play in encouraging and managing nurses who take advantage of HIWP opportunities to shape, mould and redefine their jobs.
Extant research has suggested that there are four key barriers to women undertaking international assignments: corporate resistance; foreigner prejudice; women's own disinterest; and lack of family ...and other support mechanisms. While there has been substantive research investigating the existence of barriers to women undertaking international assignments, the vast majority of research has focused on Western women and Western multinational corporations (MNCs). This study sought to examine the disposition which Arab Middle Eastern women have towards undertaking international assignments. This research is significant because of the growing international strategic political and economic importance of many Arab Middle Eastern nations and that many Arab Middle Eastern women are highly educated and would prove a valuable human resource for international organizations. This paper reports the findings of a survey of 97 middle- and senior-level female managers in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the UAE, seeking to elucidate the factors which Arab Middle Eastern view as barriers to, or facilitators of, international management opportunities. The study is significant in: a) extending research on women and international work to an Arab Middle Eastern context; b) expands understanding of what is international work by highlighting that the majority of Arab Middle Eastern women's managerial, international employment, and skills development opportunities come via non-government organizations and women's organizations. This makes their opportunities for international engagement very different from those of Western women who overwhelmingly receive international experience via MNCs; and c) extends understanding of international work barriers to include an assessment of national cultural and institutional issues.
Metabolomics has a critical need for better tools for mass spectral identification. Common metabolites may be identified by searching libraries of tandem mass spectra, which offers important ...advantages over other approaches to identification. But tandem libraries are not nearly complete enough to represent the full molecular diversity present in complex biological samples. We present a novel hybrid search method that can help identify metabolites not in the library by similarity to compounds that are. We call it "hybrid" searching because it combines conventional, direct peak matching with the logical equivalent of neutral-loss matching. A successful hybrid search requires the library to contain "cognates" of the unknown: similar compounds with a structural difference confined to a single region of the molecule, that does not substantially alter its fragmentation behavior. We demonstrate that the hybrid search is highly likely to find similar compounds under such circumstances.
Introduction
Regarding the efficacy of intra-articular injections of platelet-rich plasma, hyaluronic acid and corticosteroids, current evidence is controversial. The superiority of one technique ...over another is questioned and debates are ongoing. The purpose of the present study was to compare and investigate the efficacy of these intra-articular infiltrations in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). A Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) was conducted comparing patient outcomes at 3, 6 and 12-months of follow-up.
Materials and methods
This Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted according to the PRISMA extension statement for reporting systematic reviews incorporating network meta-analyses of health care interventions. All the RCTs comparing the outcomes of two or more intra-articular infiltrations of interest for knee OA were considered for inclusion. The outcomes of interest were the WOMAC and VAS scores. The network meta-analyses were performed using the STATA routine for Bayesian hierarchical random-effects models.
Results
Data from 30 RCTs (3463 patients) were collected. At 3-months follow-up, PRP showed the best WOMAC scores, followed by the Placebo, CCS and HA. At 6-months follow-up, PRP showed the best WOMAC scores, followed by HA, CCS and Placebo. At 12-months follow-up, PRP showed the best WOMAC scores, followed by the Placebo, HA and CCS. At 3-months follow-up, the PRP showed the best VAS scores, followed by CCS, HA and Placebo. At 6-months follow-up, PRP showed the best VAS scores, followed by CCS, Placebo and HA. At 12-months follow-up, the PRP showed the best VAS scores, followed by CCS, Placebo and HA.
Conclusion
Intra-articular injections of PRP demonstrated the best overall outcome compared to steroids, hyaluronic acid and placebo for patients with knee osteoarthrosis at 3, 6 and 12-months follow-up. Among CCS, hyaluronic acid and placebo, no discrepancies were detected.
Level of evidence
I, Bayesian network meta-analysis of RCTs.
Purpose
To examine the relative impact of work‐related stressors and the personal resource of mindfulness on employees’ mental and physical health.
Design
A cross‐sectional survey design with nursing ...and healthcare workers in Victoria, Australia.
Methods
Data were collected from 702 respondents. Mean scores for work‐related stressors and employee mental and physical health were compared with population norms. We used hierarchical linear regressions to examine the relative impact of demographics, work‐related stressors, and mindfulness on employee mental and physical health.
Findings
Employees in this sample reported higher levels of work‐related stress and poorer mental health compared to available norms, while their levels of physical health were within the normal range. Regression analyses showed that work‐related stressors were important predictors of employee mental health, but mindfulness was the stronger predictor. There was a slightly stronger relationship between employee physical health and work‐related stress compared to mindfulness. Furthermore, being younger and employed in a non‐nursing role were associated with better physical health.
Clinical Relevance
Encouraging mindfulness as a health behavior practice among nurses and other healthcare workers could improve employee well‐being and potentially enable them to more effectively fulfill the requirements of their demanding roles.
This study investigates the unique and complementary effects of manufacturing technologies and lean practices on operational performance of manufacturing firms. Despite the importance of ...understanding how various resources are interrelated within firms, there have been few studies focusing on this area. Using data collected from 186 manufacturing plants in Thailand, we found that both manufacturing technologies and lean practices have unique effects on a range of operational performance dimensions, including quality, lead-time, flexibility, and cost. More importantly, however, we also found that both organizational resources have complementary (or synergistic) effects on those operational performance dimensions. Based on the research findings, we offer theoretical and practical insights which support the importance of building strong manufacturing technologies and lean practices that maximize operational performance.
This article examines the fit between employee perceptions of espoused and enacted organizational values and their relationship with affective commitment. Drawing upon a survey of 343 employees in ...Australian organizations, our findings demonstrate that sensitivity to the distinction between espoused and enacted organizational values provides a more comprehensive account of the values construct and a better understanding of the relationship between values and organizational commitment. Polynomial regression modelling and response surface methodology revealed that affective commitment is higher when espoused and enacted organizational values are congruent. These findings suggest that when employees perceive organizational integrity is maintained, commitment to the organization is enhanced.
Abstract
Aims
Acute myocardial infarction (MI) causes inflammation, collagen deposition, and reparative fibrosis in response to myocyte death and, subsequently, a pathological myocardial remodelling ...process characterized by excessive interstitial fibrosis, driving heart failure (HF). Nonetheless, how or when to limit excessive fibrosis for therapeutic purposes remains uncertain. Galectin-3, a major mediator of organ fibrosis, promotes cardiac fibrosis and remodelling. We performed a preclinical assessment of a protein inhibitor of galectin-3 (its C-terminal domain, Gal-3C) to limit excessive fibrosis resulting from MI and prevent ventricular enlargement and HF.
Methods and results
Gal-3C was produced by enzymatic cleavage of full-length galectin-3 or by direct expression of the truncated form in Escherichia coli. Gal-3C was intravenously administered for 7 days in acute MI models of young and aged rats, starting either pre-MI or 4 days post-MI. Echocardiography, haemodynamics, histology, and molecular and cellular analyses were performed to assess post-MI cardiac functionality and pathological fibrotic progression. Gal-3C profoundly benefitted left ventricular ejection fraction, end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes, haemodynamic parameters, infarct scar size, and interstitial fibrosis, with better therapeutic efficacy than losartan and spironolactone monotherapies over the 56-day study. Gal-3C therapy in post-MI aged rats substantially improved pump function and attenuated ventricular dilation, preventing progressive HF. Gal-3C in vitro treatment of M2-polarized macrophage-like cells reduced their M2-phenotypic expression of arginase-1 and interleukin-10. Gal-3C inhibited M2 polarization of cardiac macrophages during reparative response post-MI. Gal-3C impeded progressive fibrosis post-MI by down-regulating galectin-3-mediated profibrotic signalling cascades including a reduction in endogenous arginase-1 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS).
Conclusion
Gal-3C treatment improved long-term cardiac function post-MI by reduction in the wound-healing response, and inhibition of inflammatory fibrogenic signalling to avert an augmentation of fibrosis in the periinfarct region. Thus, Gal-3C treatment prevented the infarcted heart from extensive fibrosis that accelerates the development of HF, providing a potential targeted therapy.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Galectin-3-mediated pathways driving fibrosis in the infarcted myocardium. MI triggers the increased secretion of galectin-3 by inflammatory cells that contribute to myofibroblast activation via the TGF-β pathway, the increased expression of arginase-1 via the M2-macrophage alternative pathway that activates a galectin-3 positive feedback loop, and the galectin-3 mediated up-regulation of iNOS via the IKKβ/NF-κB pathway. The inhibition of galectin-3 by Gal-3C regulates these post-MI inflammatory profibrotic signalling cascades, resulting in therapeutic benefits in acute MI models of young and aged hearts.
PDF
