Coventry University

About: Coventry University is a education organization based out in Coventry, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Higher education. The organization has 4964 authors who have published 12700 publications receiving 255898 citations. The organization is also known as: Lanchester Polytechnic & Coventry Polytechnic.

Late-Holocene North Atlantic climate ‘seesaws’, storminess changes and Greenland ice sheet (GISP2) palaeoclimates

Abstract: The oxygen-isotope record of palaeotemperature from Greenland ice cores has for many years been the kingpin of climate reconstructions for the North Atlantic region and northern Europe. An air temperature ‘seesaw’ between Greenland and northern Europe, first described in AD 1765, is also well known and is related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Whereas the NAO index series is based on instrumental records of air pressure, the North Atlantic climate ‘seesaw’ has conventionally been based on air-temperature records. Here we describe relationships between this ‘seesaw’ mechanism and the Greenland (GISP2) oxygen-isotope chronology of air-temperature variations, as well as relationships between GISP2 Na+ (sea-salt) variations and instrumental records of North Atlantic storminess. The GISP2 proxy air-temperature record is calibrated for the last 130 years with instrumental weather records for West Greenland, while the Na+ series is compared with instrumental records of North Atlantic storminess change. Reconstruction of an annual series of these climate parameters for the last 1000 years shows that during the ‘Mediaeval Warm Period’ there were no years characterized by high Na+ extremes (high North Atlantic storminess) but there were many years when there were extremes of temperature. Remarkably, there were no years of exceptionally low air temperature and high Na+ precipitation at GISP2 between AD 1650 and 1710, a period of time that in northern Europe incorporates the period of maximum ‘Little Ice Age’ cooling. It would appear also that for the last thousand years the most extreme ‘seesaw’ winters when GISP2 temperatures were very low and Na+ concentrations were high occurred in discrete clusters and pairs of years.

Effect of a Behavioral Intervention Strategy on Sustained Change in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: The IDES_2 Randomized Clinical Trial.

Abstract: Importance There is no definitive evidence that changes in physical activity/sedentary behavior can be maintained long term in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Objective To investigate whether a behavioral intervention strategy can produce a sustained increase in physical activity and reduction in sedentary time among individuals with type 2 diabetes. Design, Setting, and Participants The Italian Diabetes and Exercise Study 2 was an open-label, assessor-blinded, randomized clinical superiority trial, with recruitment from October 2012 to February 2014 and follow-up until February 2017. In 3 outpatient diabetes clinics in Rome, 300 physically inactive and sedentary patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized 1:1 (stratified by center, age, and diabetes treatment) to receive a behavioral intervention or standard care for 3 years. Interventions All participants received usual care targeted to meet American Diabetes Association guideline recommendations. Participants in the behavioral intervention group (n = 150) received 1 individual theoretical counseling session and 8 individual biweekly theoretical and practical counseling sessions each year. Participants in the standard care group (n = 150) received only general physician recommendations. Main Outcomes and Measures Co-primary end points were sustained change in physical activity volume, time spent in light-intensity and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity, and sedentary time, measured by an accelerometer. Results Of the 300 randomized participants (mean [SD] age, 61.6 [8.5] years; 116 women [38.7%]), 267 completed the study (133 in the behavioral intervention group and 134 in the standard care group). Median follow-up was 3.0 years. Participants in the behavioral intervention and standard care groups accumulated, respectively, 13.8 vs 10.5 metabolic equivalent-h/wk of physical activity volume (difference, 3.3 [95% CI, 2.2-4.4];P Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with type 2 diabetes at 3 diabetes clinics in Rome who were followed up for 3 years, a behavioral intervention strategy compared with standard care resulted in a sustained increase in physical activity and decrease in sedentary time. Further research is needed to assess the generalizability of these findings. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT01600937

The role of organizational control systems in employees’ organizational trust and performance outcomes

Abstract: This study examined how organizational control is related to employees’ organizational trust. We specifically focus on how different forms of control (process, outcome, and normative) relate to employees’ trust in their employing organizations and examine whether such trust in turn relates positively to employee job performance (task performance and organizational citizenship behavior). In addition, and in response to the recommendations of past research, we examined these relationships in a high control and compliance-based cultural context. Using data from 105 employee–supervisor dyads from professional services firms in Singapore, we find support for our hypothesized model. The implications of the results for theory and practice, and directions for future research, are discussed.