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Selected AbstractsThe Unfolding Trends and Consequences of Expanding Higher Education in Ethiopia: Massive Universities, Massive ChallengesHIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2009Kedir Assefa Tessema Abstract There have been significant increases in the number of universities and student enrollments in the last fifteen years in Ethiopia. The numerical gains have brought about improved access to higher education for students. The expansion has also diversified fields of study and opened opportunities to pursue higher degrees to a significant number of students. Furthermore, the opportunity created for the university staff includes increased university job security, positions in the university leadership and scholarships for PhD degrees. On the other hand, the downside effects of the massification have worsened the conditions of university teaching staff. Among others, it has resulted in increasing work load and extended work schedules for academic staff. A managerialist culture has evolved that measures teaching against instrumental outcomes. There is a sense of deprofessionalisation and deskilling among staff manifested in practices that are disconnections from professional knowledge, skills and attitudes. As staff are increasingly over-engaged, by taking more weekly class hours and managerial responsibilities, less ,down time' is available to keeping with developments in their fields of specialisation and practice [source] Unfairness at work as a predictor of absenteeismJOURNAL OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR, Issue 2 2002Elpine M. de Boer This study among 514 security guards examines the relationship between perceptions of unfairness at work and absenteeism during a one-year follow-up. On the basis of previous theoretical work and fragmented empirical evidence, it was hypothesized that distributive unfairness causes absence behavior in a direct or indirect way (through health complaints). Procedural unfairness was hypothesized to cause absence behavior through affective commitment or through health complaints. Results of a series of structural equation modelling analyses offer support for the mediating role of health complaints in the relationship between (distributive and procedural) unfairness at work and absenteeism. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that perceived unfairness contributes to explaining T2-absenteeism over and above the impact of T1-absenteeism and traditional work-related stressors (i.e., work load and low job control). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] AAIR Versus DDDR Pacing in the Bradycardia Tachycardia Syndrome: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind, Crossover TrialPACING AND CLINICAL ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, Issue 11 2001BERNHARD SCHWAAB SCHWABB, B., et al.: AAIR Versus DDDR Pacing in the Bradycardia Tachycardia Syndrome: A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blind, Crossover Trial. In 19 patients paced and medicated for bradycardia tachycardia syndrome (BTS), AAIR and DDDR pacing were compared with regard to quality of life (QoL), atrial tachyarrhythmia (AFib), exercise tolerance, and left ventricular (LV) function. Patients had a PQ interval , 240 ms during sinus rhythm, no second or third degree AV block, no bundle branch block, or bifascicular block. In DDDR mode, AV delay was optimized using the aortic time velocity integral. After 3 months, QoL was assessed by questionnaires, patients were investigated by 24-hour Holter, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) was performed, and LV function was determined by echocardiography. QoL was similar in all dimensions, except dizziness, showing a significantly lower prevalence in AAIR mode. The incidence of AFib was 12 episodes in 2 patients with AAIR versus 22 episodes in 7 patients with DDDR pacing (P = 0.072). In AAIR mode, 164 events of second and third degree AV block were detected in 7 patients (37%) with pauses between 1 and 4 seconds. During CPX, exercise duration and work load were higher in AAIR than in DDDR mode (423 ± 127 vs 402 ± 102 s and 103 ± 31 vs 96 ± 27 Watt, P < 0.05). Oxygen consumption (VO2), was similar in both modes. During echocardiography, only deceleration of early diastolic flow velocity and early diastolic closure rate of the anterior mitral valve leaflet were higher in DDD than in AAI pacing (5.16 ± 1.35 vs 3.56 ± 0.95 m/s2 and 69.2 ± 23 vs 54.1 ± 26 mm/s, P < 0.05). As preferred pacing mode, 11 patients chose DDDR, 8 patients chose AAIR. Hence, AAIR and DDDR pacing seem to be equally effective in BTS patients. In view of a considerable rate of high degree AV block during AAIR pacing, DDDR mode should be preferred for safety reasons. [source] Airway limitation and exercise intolerance in well-regulated myasthenia gravis patientsACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2010A. Elsais Elsais A, Johansen B, Kerty E. Airway limitation and exercise intolerance in well-regulated myasthenia gravis patients. Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 122 (Suppl. 190): 12,17. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives,,, Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease of neuromuscular synapses, characterized by muscular weakness and reduced endurance. Remission can be obtained in many patients. However, some of these patients complain of fatigue. The aim of this study was to assess exercise capacity and lung function in well-regulated MG patients. Patients and methods,,, Ten otherwise healthy MG patients and 10 matched controls underwent dynamic spirometry, and a ramped symptom-limited bicycle exercise test. Spirometric variables included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV). Exercise variables included maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), anaerobic threshold (VO2 AT) maximum work load (W), maximum ventilation (VE max), and limiting symptom. Results,,, Myasthenia gravis patients had significantly lower FEV1/FVC ratio than controls. This was more marked in patients on acetylcholine esterase inhibitors. On the contrary, patients not using acetylcholine esterase inhibitors had a significantly lower exercise endurance time. Conclusion,,, Well-regulated MG patients, especially those using pyridostigmine, tend to have an airway obstruction. The modest airway limitation might be a contributing factor to their fatigue. Patients who are not using acetylcholinesterase inhibitor seem to have diminished exercise endurance in spite of their clinically complete remission. [source] Negotiation of parental care when the stakes are high: experimental handicapping of one partner during incubation leads to short-term generosityJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Karen L. Wiebe Summary 1. Most game theoretical models of biparental care predict that a reduction in care by one partner should not be fully compensated by increased work of its mate but this may not be true for incubating birds because a reduction in care could cause the entire brood to fail. 2. I performed the first handicapping experiment of both males and females during incubation, by placing small lead weights on the tails of male and female northern flickers Colaptes auratus, a woodpecker in which males do most of the incubation. 3. Females responded to the acute stressor (handling and handicapping) by tending to abandon more readily than males and staying away from the nest longer in the first incubation bout. Among pairs that persisted, both males and females compensated fully for a handicapped partner, keeping the eggs covered nearly 100% of the time. 4. Partners did not retaliate by forcing their handicapped mate to sit on the eggs with a long incubation bout length subsequent to having a long bout length themselves. Instead, during the 24 h immediately after handicapping, males behaved generously by relieving handicapped females early. 5. Such generosity was probably not energetically sustainable as these male partners took on less incubation in the 72 h following handicapping compared to female partners of handicapped males. Males and females are probably generous in the short-term because of the high cost of nest failure during incubation but maintaining increased work loads in the longer term is probably limited by body condition and abandonment thresholds consistent with game theory models. [source] | ||||||||||