A component-based method for stakeholder analysis

Stakeholders can facilitate or hinder an organisation’s performance significantly. The identification and management of the stakeholder is one of the key business activities for organisations. Although stakeholder identification is the first step of stakeholder analysis, there is little attention paid to the methodologies for stakeholder identification. This paper uses a system view point and proposes a component-based method for stakeholder identification and analysis, which focuses on the artefacts as linkage between different sub-systems of an organisation. Stakeholders, identified through components, include the processors who produce, use, communicate and control the component making process. The identified stakeholders can then be mapped into a stakeholder relationship map according to the components that are being used to identify the stakeholders. This method provides a novel approach to identify stakeholders through artefacts and define stakeholder relationship, through the a rtefacts they are involved in. Hence, it provides a comprehensive and better understanding of stakeholder management

Mutual dependency grid for stakeholder mapping: a component-based approach to supply chain participant analysis

Stakeholder analysis plays a critical role in business analysis. However, the majority of the stakeholder identification and analysis methods focus on the activities and processes and ignore the artefacts being processed by human beings. By focusing on the outputs of the organisation, an artefact-centric view helps create a network of artefacts, and a component-based structure of the organisation and its supply chain participants. Since the relationship is based on the components, i.e. after the stakeholders are identified, the interdependency between stakeholders and the focal organisation can be measured. Each stakeholder is associated with two types of dependency, namely the stakeholder’s dependency on the focal organisation and the focal organisation’s dependency on the stakeholder. We identify three factors for each type of dependency and propose the equations that calculate the dependency indexes. Once both types of the dependency indexes are calculated, each stakeholder can be placed and categorised into one of the four groups, namely critical stakeholder, mutual benefits stakeholder, replaceable stakeholder, and easy care stakeholder. The mutual dependency grid and the dependency gap analysis, which further investigates the priority of each stakeholder by calculating the weighted dependency gap between the focal organisation and the stakeholder, subsequently help the focal organisation to better understand its stakeholders and manage its stakeholder relationships

Desiccation and cracking behaviour of clay layer from slurry state under wetting-drying cycles

International audienceLaboratory tests were conducted to investigate the effect of wetting-drying (W-D) cycles on the initiation and evolution of cracks in clay layer. Four identical slurry specimens were prepared and subjected to five subsequent W-D cycles. The water evaporation, surface cracks evolution and structure evolution during the W-D cycles were monitored. The effect of W-D cycles on the geometric characteristics of crack patterns was analyzed by image processing. The results show that the desiccation and cracking behaviour was significantly affected by the applied W-D cycles: the measured cracking water content c, surface crack ratio Rsc and final thickness hf of the specimen increased significantly in the first three W-D cycles and then tended to reach equilibrium; the formed crack patterns after the second W-D cycle were more irregular than that after the first W-D cycle; the increase of surface cracks was accompanied by the decrease of pore volume shrinkage during drying. In addition, it was found that the applied W-D cycles resulted in significant rearrangement of specimen structure: the initially homogeneous and non-aggregated structure was converted to a clear aggregated-structure with obvious inter-aggregate pores after the second W-D cycle; the specimen volume generally increased with increasing cycles due to the aggregation and increased porosity. The image analysis results show that the geometric characteristics of crack pattern were significantly influenced by the W-D cycles, but this influence was reduced after the third cycle. This is consistent with the observations over the experiment, and indicates that the image processing can be used for quantitatively analyzing the W-D cycle dependence of clay desiccation cracking behaviour

Cluster spin-glass ground state in quasi-one-dimensional KCr3_{3}As3_{3}

We report structural and physical properties of a new quasi-one-dimensional Cr-based compound, KCr$_{3}$As$_{3}$, which is prepared by potassium deintercalation from the superconductive K$_{2}$Cr$_{3}$As$_{3}$. KCr$_{3}$As$_{3}$ adopts the TlFe$_{3}$Te$_{3}$-type structure with space group $P6_{3}$/$m$ (No. 176). The high-temperature magnetic susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law with an effective magnetic moment of 0.68 $\mu_{\mathrm{B}}$/Cr. Below 56 K the susceptibility deviates from the high-temperature Curie-Weiss behavior, coinciding with the rapid increase in resistivity, which suggests formation of spin clusters. The short-range spin correlations are also supported by the specific-heat data. The title material does not exhibit bulk superconductivity; instead, it shows a cluster spin-glass state below $\sim$ 5 K.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Factors Predicting Emotional Cue-Responding Behaviors of Nurses in Taiwan: An Observational Study

Objective Responding to emotional cues is an essential element of therapeutic communication. The purpose of this study is to examine nurses' competence of responding to emotional cues (CRE) and related factors while interacting with standardized patients with cancer. Methods This is an exploratory and predictive correlational study. A convenience sample of registered nurses who have passed the probationary period in southern Taiwan was recruited to participate in 15-minute videotaped interviews with standardized patients. The Medical Interview Aural Rating Scale was used to describe standardized patients' emotional cues and to measure nurses' CRE. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to evaluate nurses' anxiety level before the conversation. We used descriptive statistics to describe the data and stepwise regression to examine the predictors of nurses' CRE. Results A total of 110 nurses participated in the study. Regardless of the emotional cue level, participants predominately responded to cues with inappropriate distancing strategies. Prior formal communication training, practice unit, length of nursing practice, and educational level together explain 36.3% variances of the nurses' CRE. Conclusions This study is the first to explore factors related to Taiwanese nurses' CRE. Compared to nurses in other countries, Taiwanese nurses tended to respond to patients' emotional cues with more inappropriate strategies. We also identified significant predictors of CRE that show the importance of communication training. Future research and education programs are needed to enhance nurses' CRE and to advocate for emotion-focused communication

A predator-prey interaction between a marine Pseudoalteromonas sp. and Gram-positive bacteria

Predator-prey interactions play important roles in the cycling of marine organic matter. Here we show that a Gram-negative bacterium isolated from marine sediments (Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain CF6-2) can kill Gram-positive bacteria of diverse peptidoglycan (PG) chemotypes by secreting the metalloprotease pseudoalterin. Secretion of the enzyme requires a Type II secretion system. Pseudoalterin binds to the glycan strands of Gram positive bacterial PG and degrades the PG peptide chains, leading to cell death. The released nutrients, including PG-derived D-amino acids, can then be utilized by strain CF6-2 for growth. Pseudoalterin synthesis is induced by PG degradation products such as glycine and glycine-rich oligopeptides. Genes encoding putative pseudoalterin-like proteins are found in many other marine bacteria. This study reveals a new microbial interaction in the ocean

Rapid and sensitive insulated isothermal PCR for point-of-need feline leukaemia virus detection

Objectives: Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV), a gamma retrovirus, causes diseases of the feline haematopoietic system that are invariably fatal. Rapid and accurate testing at the point-of-need (PON) supports prevention of virus spread and management of clinical disease. This study evaluated the performance of an insulated isothermal PCR (iiPCR) that detects proviral DNA, and a reverse transcription (RT)-iiPCR that detects both viral RNA and proviral DNA, for FeLV detection at the PON. Methods: Mycoplasma haemofelis, feline coronavirus, feline herpesvirus, feline calicivirus and feline immunodeficiency virus were used to test analytical specificity. In vitro transcribed RNA, artificial plasmid, FeLV strain American Type Culture Collection VR-719 and a clinical FeLV isolate were used in the analytical sensitivity assays. A retrospective study including 116 clinical plasma and serum samples that had been tested with virus isolation, real-time PCR and ELISA, and a prospective study including 150 clinical plasma and serum samples were implemented to evaluate the clinical performances of the iiPCR-based methods for FeLV detection. Results: Ninety-five percent assay limit of detection was calculated to be 16 RNA and five DNA copies for the RT-iiPCR, and six DNA copies for the iiPCR. Both reactions had analytical sensitivity comparable to a reference real-time PCR (qPCR) and did not detect five non-target feline pathogens. The clinical performance of the RT-iiPCR and iiPCR had 98.82% agreement (kappa[κ] = 0.97) and 100% agreement (κ = 1.0), respectively, with the qPCR (n = 85). The agreement between an automatic nucleic extraction/RT-iiPCR system and virus isolation to detect FeLV in plasma or serum was 95.69% (κ = 0.95) and 98.67% (κ = 0.85) in a retrospective (n = 116) and a prospective (n = 150) study, respectively. Conclusions and relevance: These results suggested that both RT-iiPCR and iiPCR assays can serve as reliable tools for PON FeLV detection