The influence of organisational identification on employee attitudes and behaviours in multinational higher education institutions

In order to operate effectively and efficiently, most higher education institutions depend on employees performing extra-role behaviours and being committed to staying with the organisation. This study assesses the extent to which organisational identification and employee satisfaction are antecedents of these two important behaviours. Key objectives of the research were to identify possible antecedents of organisational identification and to discover whether the consequences of organisational identification vary among the employees of multinational universities at home and foreign campuses. We developed a model that was tested using structural equation modelling, which assesses the influences of organisational identification on employee satisfaction, extra-role behaviours and turnover intentions. All of the paths in our model were significant, but employee identification, satisfaction and extra-role behaviours were lower at foreign branches than at the home campuses of universities, and turnover intentions were higher. These results suggest that higher education institutions need to implement different human resource strategies at home and foreign branches, with a focus on improving organisational identification at the foreign subsidiaries.     

Microbial control of diamondback moth,Plutella xylostella L. (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae) using bacteria (Xenorhabdus nematophila) and its metabolites from the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae

Cells and cell-free solutions of the culture filtrate of the bacterial symbiont, Xenorhabdus nematophila taken from the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae in aqueous broth suspensions were lethal to larvae of the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella. Their application on leaves of Chinese cabbage indicated that the cells can penetrate into the insects in the absence of the nematode vector. Cell-free solutions containing metabolites were also proved as effective as bacterial cells suspension. The application of aqueous suspensions of cells of X. nematophila or solutions containing its toxic metabolites to the leaves represents a possible new strategy for controlling insect pests on foliage.     

Effects of metacognitive instruction on mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of low mathematics achievers

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of metacognitive instruction on mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of low mathematics achievers at a middle school in the North‐West Province of South Africa. Forty standard (std) 7 pupils were identified whose non‐verbal general ability and previous mathematics achievements were significantly lower than those of other std 7 pupils. These subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. Metacognitive strategies in solving mathematical problems related to four mathematics topics were individually taught to the members of the experimental group, while the pupils in the control group were taught the four mathematics topics through the conventional method of teaching mathematics. The comparisons of pretest and posttest measures of general ability, metacognitive awareness, attitude towards mathematics, and mathematics achievement revealed that the posttest scores of all the four variables for the experimental group were significantly higher than those for the control group.     

School Leadership in Pakistan: Exploring the Headteacher’s Role

There is a good deal of consensus in the literature about the key role of leadership – especially that of the headteacher – in facilitating school improvement. Yet much of the research in this area has taken place in Western industrialised countries. This article explores the issue of headship in the context of schools in a specific developing country context, that of Pakistan. Drawing on 2 studies of the experience of headteachers in Karachi, the article identifies and explores the key variables that may contribute to a sense of personal efficacy for these heads, namely the expectations generated by the national or community culture, the powers and accountabilities generated by the school system in which they work, and their own individual personalities and histories.     

香草醛缩色氨酸与稀土镧、钕、钐、铈配合物的合成及表征

合成了香草醛缩色氨酸席夫碱(简写为L)及其稀土La(III)、Nd(III)、Sm(III)、Ce(III)配合物,通过元素分析、摩尔电导、差热-热重分析、红外光谱、紫外光谱等手段.确定配合物为KRe(H2O)(NO3)·2H2O(Re=La,Nd,Sm,Ce).     

Generalized filtering of one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems under measurement delays

This paper addresses the filtering problem for the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems under measurement delays and disturbances using a generalized observer. A generalized architecture for filtering of the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems with output delays is explored, which exhibits diverging manifolds, namely, the conventional static-gain filter and the dynamical filter, and can be employed to render robust stability of the filtering error dynamics. A matrix inequality based framework is obtained by employing a Lyapunov?Krasovskii (LK) functional, whose derivative is exploited through Jensen's inequality, one-sided Lipschitz condition, quadratic inner-boundedness inequality and range of the measurement delay, resulting into L₂ stability for the filtering error system. Generalized filter design for the Lipschitz nonlinear systems with delayed outputs and specific results for the delay-dependent and delay-rate-independent filtering schemes for the one-sided Lipschitz nonlinear systems are deduced from the proposed approach. Convex optimization techniques are employed to achieve a solution for the nonlinear constraints through linear matrix inequalities by employing cone complementary linearization approach. Illustrative numerical examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed method are provided.     

Facilitating enterprise application integration adoption: An empirical analysis of UK local government authorities

local government authorities (LGAs) are organised around operational structures with business processes spanning within departments and across other government organisations. In such an organisational setting, the harmonisation of Information Technology (IT) operations, integration of cross-departmental processes and the underlying Information Systems (IS) signifies a challenge in delivering integrated services. This paper attempts to explore enterprise application integration (EAI) adoption in the UK local government authorities (LGAs). Despite the hype of EAI adoption in private domain, its application in LGAs is inadequate as there is a lack of adoption models/frameworks that can be used by the public sector. The context of the study is to consider the transformation of IT infrastructure management and operations with EAI technologies. The empirical findings, generated through a detailed case analysis, manifestly exemplify that EAI predominantly acts as a ‘back-office’ technology that facilitates operations by developing a flexible and maintainable integrated IT infrastructure. Our proposed framework is believed to be imperative and unique as it provides a more systematic way to examine the adoption of integration technologies, extends the established norms for EAI adoption by utilising a prioritisation technique to classify the importance of factors. The contribution of the research extends the literature on EAI and identifies theoretical and practical opportunities that facilitate LGAs in their decision-making process to produce more robust proposals for EAI adoption.