Chaotic dynamics and team effectiveness: evidence from professional basketball

Considering teams as complex adaptive systems (CAS) this study deals with changes in team effectiveness over time in a specific context: professional basketball. The sample comprised 23 basketball teams whose outcomes were analysed over a 12-year period according to two objective measures. The results reveal that all the teams showed chaotic dynamics, one of the key characteristics of CAS. A relationship was also found between teams showing low-dimensional chaotic dynamics and better outcomes, supporting the idea of healthy variability in organizational behaviour. The stability of the squad was likewise found to influence team outcomes, although it was not associated with the chaotic dynamics in team effectiveness. It is concluded that studying teams as CAS enables fluctuations in team effectiveness to be explained, and that the techniques derived from nonlinear dynamical systems, developed specifically for the study of CAS, are useful for this purpose.

Major variables influencing correct antibiotic prescription by primary care physicians in acute pharyngitis: a cross-sectional study

Objectives:To analyse which are the main variables that influence primary care professionals, in the prescription of antibiotics in patients with acute pharyngitis.To analyse which is the diagnosis pattern used by primary care professionals towards cutepharyngitis. To recognize the clinical and analytical criteria that primary care professionals use, to determine antibiotic treatment in acute pharyngitis.To identify the main clinical variables related with the prescription of antibiotics by primary care professionals, in acute pharyngitis treatment. Design: Cross-­‐sectional study Participants:165 primary care professionals from the Sanitary Region of Girona not attending paediatric patients and randomly selected from 29 ABS managed by two of the main health care providers: Insitut Català de la Salut (ICS) and Institut d’Assistència Sanitària (IAS) Main outcome measures: Each participant will fill out a questionnaire with personal and workplace questions, as well as about knowledge and attitude in front of the acute pharyngitis caused by group A streptococci. They will also answer 4 clinical questions about correct treatment and diagnosis of acute pharyngitis caused by group A streptococci

EURECCA colorectal: multidisciplinary mission statement on better care for patients with colon and rectal cancer in Europe

Background: Care for patients with colon and rectal cancer has improved in the last twenty years however still considerable variation exists in cancer management and outcome between European countries. Therefore, EURECCA, which is the acronym of European Registration of cancer care, is aiming at defining core treatment strategies and developing a European audit structure in order to improve the quality of care for all patients with colon and rectal cancer. In December 2012 the first multidisciplinary consensus conference about colon and rectum was held looking for multidisciplinary consensus. The expert panel consisted of representatives of European scientific organisations involved in cancer care of patients with colon and rectal cancer and representatives of national colorectal registries. Methods: The expert panel had delegates of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO), European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO), European Society of Pathology (ESP), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), European Society of Radiology (ESR), European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP), European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) and the European Colorectal Cancer Patient Organisation (EuropaColon), as well as delegates from national registries or audits. Experts commented and voted on the two web-based online voting rounds before the meeting (between 4th and 25th October and between the 20th November and 3rd December 2012) as well as one online round after the meeting (4th20th March 2013) and were invited to lecture on the subjects during the meeting (13th15th December 2012). The sentences in the consensus document were available during the meeting and a televoting round during the conference by all participants was performed. All sentences that were voted on are available on the EURECCA website www.canceraudit.eu. The consensus document was divided in sections describing evidence based algorithms of diagnostics, pathology, surgery, medical oncology, radiotherapy, and follow-up where applicable for treatment of colon cancer, rectal cancer and stage IV separately. Consensus was achieved using the Delphi method. Results: The total number of the voted sentences was 465. All chapters were voted on by at least 75% of the experts. Of the 465 sentences, 84% achieved large consensus, 6% achieved moderate consensus, and 7% resulted in minimum consensus. Only 3% was disagreed by more than 50% of the members. Conclusions: It is feasible to achieve European Consensus on key diagnostic and treatment issues using the Delphi method. This consensus embodies the expertise of professionals from all disciplines involved in the care for patients with colon and rectal cancer. Diagnostic and treatment algorithms were developed to implement the current evidence and to define core treatment guidance for multidisciplinary team management of colon and rectal cancer throughout Europe.

Engaging students in an e-learning experience : how to manage information resources through wikis and web blogs

The purpose of this paper is to describe the collaboration between librarians and scholars, from a virtual university, in order to facilitate collaborative learning on how to manage information resources. The personal information behaviour of e-learning students when managing information resources for academic, professional and daily life purposes was studied from 24 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The results of the content analysis of the interview' transcriptions, highlighted that in the workplace and daily life contexts, competent information behaviour is always linked to a proactive attitude, that is to say, that participants seek for information without some extrinsic reward or avoiding punishment. In the academic context, it was observed a low level of information literacy and it seems to be related with a prevalent uninvolved attitude.

De què vas, tio?

My study is based on an ethnography of two groups of young people from working-class neighbourhoods in Barcelona. I was interested in researching the impact of Catalan language policies on the identities of young people of Spanish-speaking immigrant families. I sought to go beyond the constraints of traditional structuralist approaches in Sociolinguistics in order to make my analysis relevant to people working for gender equality, the promotion of the Catalan language, or other social causes. I combine ideas from Bakhtin, Bourdieu, Fairclough, Foucault and Goffman to build a dialectical, historical, process-centred perspective that conceptualises practices in terms of social and political struggles.I analyse young people's peer-group activities in terms of their significance for the construction of gender identities. I propose a variety of forms of masculinity and femininity according to the various ways in which members organised their gender displays in face-to-face interaction.I also show how their use of argot and dialectal Spanish was part of the processes whereby members defined their relationships, constructed particular subject positions in interaction and struggled to legitimate their own values.I explore the meanings constructed through Catalan and Spanish by looking into the code-switching practices of my participants. I analysed their talk in terms of narratives that present particular sequential dramatisations of events for conversational audiences. These narratives follow the expressive intention of the author, and are populated with multiple voices of animated characters. I argue that, in the groups I studied, Catalan was generally not used to animate the voices that were central to the identities of the peer-group, and particularly to masculine identities.In order to contextualise these practices within the wider society, I also look into the processes of language choice in face-to-face encounters. I argue that existing conventions made it difficult for people to find opportunities to speak Catalan. I also pointed to the difficulties that my participants had to find employment, which were particularly acute amongst the more politically aware individuals. I conclude that these young working-class people had little possibilities of investing in more egalitarian forms of identity given their lack of resources and opportunities to develop their identities in other social spaces, such as the workplace.

EURECCA colorectal: multidisciplinary mission statement on better care for patients with colon and rectal cancer in Europe

Background: Care for patients with colon and rectal cancer has improved in the last twenty years however still considerable variation exists in cancer management and outcome between European countries. Therefore, EURECCA, which is the acronym of European Registration of cancer care, is aiming at defining core treatment strategies and developing a European audit structure in order to improve the quality of care for all patients with colon and rectal cancer. In December 2012 the first multidisciplinary consensus conference about colon and rectum was held looking for multidisciplinary consensus. The expert panel consisted of representatives of European scientific organisations involved in cancer care of patients with colon and rectal cancer and representatives of national colorectal registries. Methods: The expert panel had delegates of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO), European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO), European Society of Pathology (ESP), European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), European Society of Radiology (ESR), European Society of Coloproctology (ESCP), European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS) and the European Colorectal Cancer Patient Organisation (EuropaColon), as well as delegates from national registries or audits. Experts commented and voted on the two web-based online voting rounds before the meeting (between 4th and 25th October and between the 20th November and 3rd December 2012) as well as one online round after the meeting (4th-20th March 2013) and were invited to lecture on the subjects during the meeting (13th-15th December 2012). The sentences in the consensus document were available during the meeting and a televoting round during the conference by all participants was performed. All sentences that were voted on are available on the EURECCA website www.canceraudit.eu. The consensus document was divided in sections describing evidence based algorithms of diagnostics, pathology, surgery, medical oncology, radiotherapy, and follow-up where applicable for treatment of colon cancer, rectal cancer and stage IV separately. Consensus was achieved using the Delphi method. Results: The total number of the voted sentences was 465. All chapters were voted on by at least 75% of the experts. Of the 465 sentences, 84% achieved large consensus, 6% achieved moderate consensus, and 7% resulted in minimum consensus. Only 3% was disagreed by more than 50% of the members. Conclusions: It is feasible to achieve European Consensus on key diagnostic and treatment issues using the Delphi method. This consensus embodies the expertise of professionals from all disciplines involved in the care for patients with colon and rectal cancer. Diagnostic and treatment algorithms were developed to implement the current evidence and to define core treatment guidance for multidisciplinary team management of colon and rectal cancer throughout Europe.

La discriminación laboral y la gestión de la diversidad de los recursos humanos

[spa] Este estudio se basa en dos cuestiones de actualidad, por una parte: 'La discriminación en el ámbito del trabajo' en la que se estudia la normativa y la doctrina tanto Comunitaria como española, la defensa de la 'no discriminación' y el 'Principio de igualdad', así como las modalidades discriminatorias que se dan en las relaciones laborales. Por otra parte 'La gestión de la diversidad en los recursos humanos' donde se trata de los valores corporativos, el código ético, planes de igualdad y ventajas en la gestión de la diversidad. Cuestiones que la empresa del S. XXI, tendrá que abordar de acuerdo con los nuevos tiempos.

Que lo urgente no relegue lo importante: absentismo vs. productividad

[spa] El debate sobre la productividad de los empleados públicos se mezcla a menudo con alusiones al grado de absentismo de estos. Existe la percepción de que la productividad es baja y el absentismo es muy preocupante y principal causa de la primera. Sin embargo, esta presumida relación causa-efecto es, en muchos casos, cuestionable. Por ello quisimos conocer la opinión de quienes tienen responsabilidad política, directiva o de gestión sobre la ocupación pública. Para ello realizamos una encuesta entre personas con dicho perfil en las Administraciones catalanas (142 encuestados). Un primer análisis nos permite aventurar que el absentismo no es tan apabullante; sin embargo, sí que preocupa la dudosa veracidad de las motivaciones de muchas de las bajas de corta duración. También destaca que la gran mayoría de los entrevistados crea que se debe incidir menos en la presencia efectiva del empleado y más en la fórmula de flexibilidad horaria y de logro de objetivos. Estas y otras observaciones nos llevan a cuestionarnos si la urgencia por combatir un nivel de absentismo que ni los datos ni la percepción entre gestores públicos le confieren el atributo de alarmante nos aleja de lo que sí es importante: la productividad.

Desarrollo de la materia Proyectos. Grado de Comunicación Audiovisual. Universitat de Barcelona

El objetivo del presente trabajo es presentar la propuesta de desarrollo de la materia Proyectos del Grado de Comunicación Audiovisual de la Universidad de Barcelona, que incluye las asignaturas Proyectos I y Proyectos II. Ambas asignaturas son especialmente idóneas para trabajar las competencias transversales del grado, dado que el objetivo de la materia a la que pertenecen es integrar las competencias adquiridas en el conjunto de asignaturas cursadas por los alumnos hasta este momento, poniendo en relación los diferente lenguajes (escrito, oral, audiovisual y multimedia). Todo esto permite que el estudiante adquiera una visión integral y transversal. El presente trabajo reflexiona sobre los mecanismos que permitan al profesorado diseñar de forma colaborativa pautas y estrategias de enseñanza-aprendizaje; los modos de evaluación de las competencias de estas asignaturas, y todos aquellos aspectos claves que deben recoger los planes docentes. Materias como la de Proyectos suponen un reto en la actividad docente, al requerir del trabajo interdisciplinar e integrador de las áreas de conocimiento implicadas y de los docentes vinculados, al tiempo que facilitan la generación de puentes entre el ámbito académico y profesional.

Estudi quantitatiu dels assalariats d'una empresa des de la perspectiva de gènere

L’objectiu d’aquest treball és visualitzar el paper de la dona en el mercat de treball, així com també l’estudi dels assalariats d’una empresa des de la perspectiva de gènere. La part teòrica consta d’una explicació de l’evolució del paper de la dona en el món laboral, com també el seu paper dins l’empresa i els diferents sectors on s’ha desenvolupat laboralment. L’estudi realitzat a la part pràctica, tracta d’una anàlisi estadística descriptiva de diverses variables d’una base de dades dels treballadors d’una empresa, per tal de poder veure les possibles diferències salarials entre homes i dones, així com també altres aspectes importants que s’han pogut destacar. D’aquesta manera s’han pogut extreure unes conclusions de l’estudi i s’ha pogut relacionar amb el marc teòric que hem presentat.

Noves funcionalitats per desenvolupar el treball en grup a dins de l'ACME

La plataforma ACME (Avaluació Continuada i Millora de l’Ensenyament) va ser creada l’any 1998 per un grup de professors del departament d’Informàtica i Matemàtica Aplicada. L’ACME es va concebre com una plataforma d’e-learning, és a dir, un sistema que mitjançant l’ús d’Internet afavorís l’aprenentatge, permeten la interactivitat entre l’alumne i el professor. La creació de la plataforma ACME tenia com a objectiu reduir el fracàs dels alumnes en les assignatures de matemàtiques, però degut a l’èxit que va suposar en aquestes, es va decidir incorporar la metodologia de treball ACME a altres disciplines com la programació, les bases de dades, la química, l’economia, etc. de manera que actualment es poden desenvolupar activitats ACME en moltes disciplines. Actualment l’ACME s’utilitza com a complement a les classes presencials, on el professor exposa de manera magistral els conceptes i resol algun exercici a mode d’exemple, per a que després l’alumne, utilitzant la plataforma ACME, intenti resoldre els exercicis proposats pel professor.L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és desenvolupar l’anàlisi, disseny i implementació de les modificacions necessàries a incorporar a la plataforma ACME per tal de millorar el gestor de grups, els exercicis Excel i finalment permetre el treball en grup. El projecte consta de tres parts: millorar les interfícies del professor i de l’alumne, la millora del exercicis Excel i la resolució d’exercicis en grup

Adaptation and validation of the Spanish Version of the 'Survey Work-Home Interaction-NijmeGen' (SWING) to Spanish speaking countries

The purpose of this study is the adaptation and validation of the"Survey Work-Home Interaction NijmeGen" (SWING) developed by Geurts and colleagues to Spanish speaking countries (SWING-SSC). In order to analyze the questionnaire"s psychometric properties, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out with a sample of 203 employees from various Spanish-speaking countries. Criterion related validity was tested by examining correlations between the SWING-SSC, and the theoretically relevant variables: health, role conflict, role clarity and supervisor support. Finally, reliability was tested analyzing the internal consistency of the scales. The analyses carried out indicate that SWING-SSC has good psychometric properties. In addition, the present results support the relation of the construct with health, role conflict, role clarity, and supervisor support. This study offers evidence for a sound work-life balance measure that contributes to the encouragement adequate conditions in the workplace, to reduce the conflict between the two spheres of professional and personal life, and to enhance positive relationships.

Evaluación y plan de actuación en materia de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales del Hotel Tanit (Benidorm)

El presente documento es un proyecto de intervención en el marco de la prevención de riesgos laborales en un hotel de tres estrellas de la localidad turística de Benidorm. A partir de un análisis exhaustivo de las necesidades de la organización, sus características intrínsecas, su modelo de gestión de la prevención de riesgos laborales, y una evaluación específica de cuatro puestos de trabajo, se pretende comprobar el funcionamiento de la gestión de la prevención, con el objetivo de proponer aquellas actuaciones que puedan mejorarlo. Para llevar a cabo dicha labor, se empleará una metodología analítica extraída de las guías técnicas del Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el trabajo (INSHT en adelante), que contemplan modelos y metodologías de evaluación ampliamente contrastados como el modelo de demanda-control-apoyo social de Robert Karasek, desarrollado por la metodología ISTAS21 de la NTP 604 del INSHT, o la Guía Técnica de pantallas de visualización de datos (PVD) del INSHT desarrolladora del RD 488/1997.El proyecto pretende de esta manera alcanzar unas conclusiones acordes a la fiabilidad de la metodología empleada, y de esta forma proponer actuaciones preventivas correctoras para los factores de riesgo hallados durante la evaluación de los puestos de trabajo, y que se ajusten en todo momento a los requerimientos legales vigentes en materia de prevención de riesgos laborales.Finalmente, el proyecto propondrá a modo de conclusiones la actualización del Plan preventivo con el que cuenta la empresa, en base a los descubrimientos hallados durante la investigación, así como una serie de acciones dirigidas a la satisfactoria integración de la actividad preventiva dentro del modelo de gestión de la empresa.

Manipulador robótico con visión artificial

En los tiempos que corren la robótica forma uno de los pilares más importantes en la industria y una gran noticia para los ingenieros es la referente a las ventas de estos, ya que en 2013, unos 179.000 robots industriales se vendieron en todo el mundo, de nuevo un máximo histórico y un 12% más que en 2012 según datos de la IFR (International Federation of Robotics). Junto a esta noticia, la robótica colaborativa entra en juego en el momento que los robots y los seres humanos deben compartir el lugar de trabajo sin que nos veamos excluidos por las maquinas, por lo tanto lo que se intenta es que los robots mejoren la calidad del trabajo al hacerse cargo de los trabajos peligrosos, tediosos y sucios que no son posibles o seguros para los seres humanos. Otro concepto muy importante y directamente relacionado con lo anterior que está muy en boga y se escucha desde hace relativamente poco tiempo es el de la fabrica del futuro o “Factory Of The Future” la cual intenta que los operarios y los robots encuentren la sintonía en el entorno laboral y que los robots se consideren como maquinaria colaborativa y no como sustitutiva, considerándose como uno de los grandes nichos productivos en plena expansión. Dejando a un lado estos conceptos técnicos que nunca debemos olvidar si nuestra carrera profesional va enfocada en este ámbito industrial, el tema central de este proyecto está basado, como no podía ser de otro modo, en la robótica, que junto con la visión artificial, el resultado de esta fusión, ha dado un manipulador robótico al que se le ha dotado de cierta “inteligencia”. Se ha planteado un sencillo pero posible proceso de producción el cual es capaz de almacenar piezas de diferente forma y color de una forma autónoma solamente guiado por la imagen capturada con una webcam integrada en el equipo. El sistema consiste en una estructura soporte delimitada por una zona de trabajo en la cual se superponen unas piezas diseñadas al efecto las cuales deben ser almacenadas en su lugar correspondiente por el manipulador robótico. Dicho manipulador de cinemática paralela está basado en la tecnología de cables, comandado por cuatro motores que le dan tres grados de libertad (±X, ±Y, ±Z) donde el efector se encuentra suspendido sobre la zona de trabajo moviéndose de forma que es capaz de identificar las características de las piezas en situación, color y forma para ser almacenadas de una forma ordenada según unas premisas iníciales.

Inventario de Violencia y Acoso Psicológico en el Trabajo (IVAPT-E-R)

Peer-reviewed