Most Popular Books by Andrew Griffiths

This brief but comprehensive history looks at the emergence and development of a warrior elite in Japanese culture prior to the rule of the samurai. As the country moved from a hunter-gatherer society to a mainly agricultural one, fighting warrior bands formed to protect the new settlements and farmlands. As these grew over time, powerful clans would emerge and through political wrangling, open rebellion and outright war, the country would see numerous shifts of power. Local chieftains became subjects of an all-powerful Imperial Family, who in turn saw their influence gradually decline in favour of leading courtiers. Meanwhile, provincial warrior clans honed their skills on the battlefield and gradually increased their holdings until by the latter half of the twelfth century, the Minamoto Clan were able to seize control of the country for themselves and usher in the age of the samurai.

A teacher''s manual designed to help inject a sense of fun and excitement into routine classroom activities. Included are over 70 short stories, 140 creative writing exercises and a set of workshops on drafting, proofreading and desktop publication. Intended as a resource for primary school teachers. Illustrated throughout by Terry Denton.

It was hypothesized that employees'' perceptions of an organizational culture strong in human relations values and open systems values would be associated with heightened levels of readiness for change which, in turn, would be predictive of change implementation success. Similarly, it was predicted that reshaping capabilities would lead to change implementation success, via its effects on employees'' perceptions of readiness for change. Using a temporal research design, these propositions were tested for 67 employees working in a state government department who were about to undergo the implementation of a new end-user computing system in their workplace. Change implementation success was operationalized as user satisfaction and system usage. There was evidence to suggest that employees who perceived strong human relations values in their division at Time 1 reported higher levels of readiness for change at pre-implementation which, in turn, predicted system usage at Time 2. In addition, readiness for change mediated the relationship between reshaping capabilities and system usage. Analyses also revealed that pre-implementation levels of readiness for change exerted a positive main effect on employees'' satisfaction with the system''s accuracy, user friendliness, and formatting functions at post-implementation. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical contribution to the readiness for change literature, and in relation to the practical importance of developing positive change attitudes among employees if change initiatives are to be successful.

The characteristics of successful small wins approaches are understood; however, we know little about the causes and implications of small wins failure. We examine the causes and implications of failure and success of small wins approaches in six firms in the Australian meat processing industry as they sought to improve environmental management practices and address labor conflict. The approach failed in three cases and succeeded in three, and we use these case studies to develop a theoretical process model showing the inner workings of and explaining differences between failed and successful small wins approaches. Failing firms we studied challenge the assumption that small wins approaches are low risk, as “small flops” led to the ultimate demise of the program in each case, while successful firms we observed showed how, once mastered, a small wins approach can be leveraged to address other seemingly intractable issues.

A very inspirational and different outlook of autism, anxiety and depression through sketches. This book is a very visual journey through a depressive episode. Andrew is an adult recently diagnosed autistic (ASD) and has lived with anxiety, depression episodes throughout his life. This is an inspirational short book, a collection of drawings, paintings and commentary providing a fascinating insight. A positive sketchbook depicting the highs, lows and range of emotions experience by an adult.

Obligate micro-parasites must enter and compromise a living host cell in order to reproduce. Distinct from symbiosis and commensalism, parasitism results in host mortality or morbidity; the severity of which may be expressed in terms of virulence. Bacteriophage and viruses are ubiquitous in the environment, and localised co-existence of host with parasite is a priori evidence for mechanisms which act to mitigate virulence. When physical separation of host-parasite is not possible, molecular immunity to infection may be selected. The phage growth limitation (Pgl) system of soil bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor confers resistance to temperate phage [Phi]C31 and clear plaque (virulent) derivatives. A key component of the Pgl mechanism (pglX) is a putative methyltransferase, which resembles a type I restriction modification protein. Phase variable regulation represents an elegant mechanism for generating bi-directional genetic polymorphism; reversible phenotypic diversity. At ca. 10-3 - 10-4 DNA replications, translational phase variation of pglX results from slipped strand mispairing within a polyG-tract. Potential costs associated with the phage-resistant allele were considered. It was hypothesised that the Pgl phenotypes would be distinct in the absence of [Phi]C31. Growth differences were observed between phase variant S. coelicolor populations in the absence of [Phi]C31, indicative of Pgl-derived pleiotropy. Liquid infection studies were executed using virulent phage [Phi]C31c[Delta]25, designed to exert various degrees of selective pressure on independent cultures of each host phase variant. Under conditions designed to maximise phage-host encounter, the population and evolutionary dynamics of phage and host were interrogated. It was hypothesised that selection for the Pgl-positive allele would be rapid when host seeds were predominantly Pgl-negative. Shaken liquid microcosms were seeded with host, and exposed to [Phi]C31c[Delta]25 at various densities (MOI 10, 0.1, 0.001 and 0). Surviving host were purified of exogenous phage, processed, and progeny spores used to inoculate fresh microcosms. Phage selection was maintained at each respective MOI using ancestral (stock) [Phi]C31c[Delta]25. Phage adaptation was predictably constrained, however it was hypothesised that pglX phase variation would prevent ancestral [Phi]C31c[Delta]25 extinction at an intermediate MOI. At selected microcosm cycles, host populations were screened for phenotypic resistance to [Phi]C31c[Delta]25, and a novel adaptation of dHPLC (Transgenomic Inc) was used to resolve and make semi-quantitative the N+/-1 sized pglX alleles within a mixed PCR product. Using host total community DNA, the contribution of Pgl to supporting free [Phi]C31c[Delta]25 in addition to host phage-resistance was ascertained. [Phi]C31c[Delta]25 mutants bearing lysogenic characteristics emerged during the first infection cycle; a phenomenon reproduced in soil microcosms. While temperance often gives rise to lytic phage mutants in vitro, the converse was most unexpected, particularly during experimental regimes designed to direct evolution in favour of the host. Mutant [Phi]C31c[Delta]25 microcosm isolates produced turbid plaques when assayed using S. lividans TK24, and subsequent S. lividans lysogenic spores were superimmune to infection when screened on [Phi]C31c[Delta]25-impregnated agar.