Chronic Disease Self-Management Challenges among Rural Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh, India: A Qualitative Study.

Rural women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHA) in India experience challenges self-managing HIV/AIDS in their rural communities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore factors influencing their care and antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence. Themes that emerged from the qualitative focus groups among WLHA (N = 24) in rural Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh, India, included: (1) coming to know about HIV and other health conditions, (2) experiences being on ART, (3) challenges maintaining a nutritious diet, (4) factors affecting health care access and quality, and (5) seeking support for a better future. Chronic disease self-management in rural locales is challenging, given the number of barriers which rural women experience on a daily basis. These findings suggest a need for individual- and structural-level supports that will aid in assisting rural WLHA to self-manage HIV/AIDS as a chronic illness

Explaining the human resource management preferences of employees: A study of Chinese workers

The forces of globalization, technology and the differences or similarities in institutional systems place substantial pressure on convergence and divergence in HRM practices. Moreover, local customs and the responses from employees also pose serious constraints on the degree of convergence or divergence (Rowley and Benson 2002). In other words, there is what might be termed an upward influence coming from the employees. Although companies may benchmark HRM ‘best practices’, the actual adoption and success of these practices depends, to a large extent, on perceptions and acceptance from employees. However, the opinions of non-managerial employees have been largely neglected in the studies of HRM (Cooke 2009; Legge 1995; Guest 2002; Edgar and Geare 2005; Qiao, Khilji and Wang 2009). Cooke (2009), after reviewing studies on HRM in China published between 1998 and 2007 in major business and management journals, reported that two-thirds of the studies had collected data from managers and most of them relied on managers as the sole source for information. Since the information has mainly been provided by managers, there is the potential for bias because feedback from the managers probably reflects the ideal or ‘best practices’ of HRM that those managers want to implement, rather than the actual HR policies or practices being used in the organization. Thus Cooke (2009, p.19) argued that ‘unless we can broaden our research catchment to include views from the widest range of stakeholders, particularly the employees, our understanding of HRM in China remains partial, from management’s lens’. This study explores the HR preferences of Chinese employees, both non-managerial and managerial ones, based on a sample of 2852 questionnaires from companies in China. A number of questions are explored. For example, what do they think of a ‘promotion-from-within’ policy? Do they prefer an individual-based bonus or a group-based bonus? Do they prefer a ‘downward performance appraisal method’ or a ‘multi-source performance appraisal method’? The research findings shows a strong ‘group orientation’ and a great emphasis on ‘soft factors’ such as seniority, loyalty and connections in many HRM areas. The debate on whether Chinese HRM will converge or diverge towards the Western models is still ongoing. Many argue that there could be further convergence towards the Western practices because globalization may place substantial pressure on firms to standardize practices and policies (see Chen, Lawler and Bae 2005). Others argue that HRM is highly context specific in which institutional and cultural forces have enduring influences (see Rowley and Cooke 2010), which indicates a divergent perspective. The third group supports a ‘cross-vergence’ view which argues that there will be signs of convergence in certain areas but Chinese HRM will keep its ‘Chinese characteristics’ (Cooke 2005, 2010; Yeung, Warner and Rowley 2008; Warner 2009a, b). This study supports the ‘cross-vergence’ perspective. It is argued that certain areas of Chinese HRM are converging to the Western model, but the influence of traditional Chinese personnel practices remains strong. A ‘group orientation’, a major emphasis on ‘soft factors’ and a trade union presence is likely to remain as the three main features of Chinese HRM in the long-term

Assembling and (Re)assembling critical infrastructure resilience in Khulna City, Bangladesh

Extreme Weather Events continue to cause shocking losses of life and long-term damage at scales, depths and complexities that elude robust and accountable calculation, expression and reparation. Cyclones and storm surges can wipe out entire towns, and overwhelm vulnerable built and lived environments. It was storm surges that was integral to the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina in the USA (2005), Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines (2013), as well as Cyclone Nargis (2008) and the 1970 Bhola Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. This paper report on work which concerns itself with the question of, given what we know already about such extreme weather events, and their associated critical infrastructure impacts and recovery trajectories, what scenarios, insights and tools might we develop to enable critical infrastructures which are resilient? With several of the world’s most climate vulnerable cities situated in well-peopled and rapidly growing urban areas near coasts, our case study of Khulna City speaks globally into a resilience discourse, through critical infrastructure, disaster risk reduction, through spatial data science and high visualisation. With a current population of 1.4 million estimated to rise to 2.9 million by 2030, dense historical Khulna City may well continue to perform a critical role in regional economic development and as well as a destination for environmental refugees. Working as part of the EU—CIRCLE consortium, we conduct a case study into cyclones and storm surges affecting the critical infrastructure then discuss salient developments of loss modelling. The research aims to contribute towards a practical framework that stimulates adaptive learning across multiple stakeholders and organisational genres

Numerical Investigation into the Effect of Splats and Pores on the Thermal Fracture of Air Plasma-Sprayed Thermal Barrier Coatings

The effect of splat interfaces on the fracture behavior of air plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coatings (APS-TBC) is analyzed using finite element modeling involving cohesive elements. A multiscale approach is adopted in which the explicitly resolved top coat microstructural features are embedded in a larger domain. Within the computational cell, splat interfaces are modeled as being located on a sinusoidal interface in combination with a random distribution of pores. Parametric studies are conducted for different splat interface waviness, spacing, pore volume fraction and fracture properties of the splat interface. The results are quantified in terms of crack nucleation temperature and total microcrack length. It is found that the amount of cracking in TBCs actually decreases with increased porosity up to a critical volume fraction. In contrast, the presence of splats is always detrimental to the TBC performance. This detrimental effect is reduced for the splat interfaces with high waviness and spacing compared to those with low waviness and spacing. The crack initiation temperature was found to be linearly dependent on the normal fracture properties of the splat interface. Insights derived from the numerical results aid in engineering the microstructure of practical TBC systems for improved resistance against thermal fracture

Ligand Rearrangement and Hemilability in R hodium(I) and Iridium(I) Complexes Bearing Terphenyl Phosphines

We describe the synthesis of a series of cationic rhodium(I) and iridium(I) compounds stabilized by sterically demanding phosphines that contain a terphenyl substituent, PMe 2 Ar’ (Ar’ = 2,6-diarylphenyl radical). Salt metathesis of metal precursors [MCl(COD)(PMe 2 Ar’)] (M = Rh, Ir; COD = cyclooctadiene) with NaBAr F (BAr F = B(3,5-C 6 H 3 (CF 3 ) 2 ) 4 ) results in a series of cationic complexes in which the loss of the chloride ligand is compensated by the appearance of relatively weak π-interactions with one of the flanking aryl rings of the terphenyl substituent. The same experiments carried out with carbonyl compounds [MCl(CO) 2 (PMe 2 Ar’)] led to the corresponding cationic carbonyl complexes, whose CO-induced rearrangement reactivity has been investigated, both experimentally and computationally. The differences in reactivity between rhodium and iridium complexes, and as a result of varying the sterics of terphenyl phosphines are discusse

An agent-based modelling approach to evaluate factors influencing bioenergy crop adoption in north-east Scotland

Acknowledgements This work was funded through a NERC-CASE studentship with the University of Aberdeen and the James Hutton Institute (JHI). The authors wish to thank those farmers who participated in the survey and provided data for the research, and BioSS (JHI – Aberdeen) for advising on statistical analysis.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Properties of textiles from PP fibres modified with multifunctional additives

Svrha istraživanja je priprema multifunkcionalnih koncentrata koji omogućuju postizanje sljedećih svojstva: smanjenje zapaljivosti (FR), povećanje postojanosti na UV zračenje (UV) i antimikrobno djelovanje (AMB). Ispitana su osnovna svojstva pripremljenih multifunkcionalnih koncentrata u obradi polipropilenskih vlakana, odnosno postizanja njihove otpornosti na gorenje, UV zračenje i na njihova antimikrobna svojstva. Uspoređuju se dobiveni rezultati promjene izabranih svojstava tekstila u odnosu na njihovu konstrukciju i mogućnosti praktične primjene. Dobiveni rezultati pokazali su pozitivan učinak razvijenog koncentrata (tip 28/1676) s FR komponentom na smanjenje zapaljivosti u usporedbi sa standardom (standardnim PP vlaknima). Dodatno je pod utjecajem UV zračenja smanjenje čvrstoće pletiva od modificiranog PP vlakna bilo samo 5 % dok je kod pletiva od nemodificiranih PP vlakna to smanjenje bilo 95 %. Ispitivanja antibakterijskog djelovanja potvrdila visoku učinkovitost, odnosno visok stupanj smanjenja broja bakterija (> 90%) na pletivima od modificiranog PP vlakna. Potvrđena je visoka djelotvornost multifunkcionalnog koncentrata tipa 28/1676 za PP vlakna.Goal of the research is preparation of multifunctional concentrates offering properties of: flammability reduction (FR), enhancement of UV resistance (UV) and antimicrobial finish (AMB). Basic characteristics of the prepared multifunctional concentrates used for treatment of polypropylene fibres are presented.and their effectiveness against flame, UV radiation and microbes were tested. Obtained results of change of selected performance characteristics of the textiles in relation to their construction and possibilities of practical application are compared in discussion. The achieved results revealed positive effect of the developed concentrate (28/1676 type) containing FR component on reduction of time of spontaneous flame burning of the knitted fabrics by 20 seconds in comparison with the standard. Besides, reduction of strength of the modified knitted fabric by the influence of UV radiation only by 5 % in comparison with 95 % after exposition on a standard knitted fabric was achieved. Tests for antibacterial activity confirmed high degree of bacterial reduction (> 90%) on knitted fabrics from the modified PP fibre. This way high efficiency of the multifunctional concentrate (FR and UV and AMB) 28/1676 type was confirmed