Resiliencia organizacional y capital psicológico

Desde la noción universal sobre la empresa como un sistema de interacción con un entorno determinado para alcanzar un objetivo, de manera planificada y en función de satisfacer las demandas de un mercado mediante la actividad económica, su viabilidad, sostenibilidad y crecimiento dependerán, por supuesto, de una serie de estrategias adecuadas no solo para tales fines, sino también para enfrentar diversidad de agentes endógenos y exógenos que puedan afectar el normal desempeño de su gestión. Estamos hablando de la importancia de la resiliencia organizacional y del Capital Psicológico. En un escenario tan impredecible como el de la economía mundial, donde la constante son los cambios en su comportamiento —unos propios de su dinámica e interdependencia, naturales de fenómenos como la globalización, y otros derivados de eventos disruptivos— hoy más que nunca es necesario implementar el modelo de la empresa resiliente, que es aquella entidad capaz de adaptarse y recuperarse frente a una perturbación. Al mismo tiempo, más allá de su tamaño, naturaleza u objeto social, es indispensable reconocer básicamente que toda organización está constituida por personas, lo cual implica la trascendencia que para su funcionamiento tiene el factor humano-dependiente, y por lo tanto se crea la necesidad de promover el Capital Psicológico y la resiliencia a nivel de las organizaciones a través de una cultura empresarial.

Las adicciones a la luz del psicoanálisis, una revisión de literatura

El presente trabajo de grado es una revisión de la literatura que permite hacer un recorrido desde el psicoanálisis acerca de la compleja problemática de las adicciones. Para ello, se revisaron las bases de datos PepWeb, Ebsco, y Jstor, revisando las posiciones del psicoanálisis freudiano, lacaniano y otras corrientes psicoanalíticas respondiendo a las siguientes preguntas de investigación: (a) ¿Cómo se comprenden las adicciones desde un marco de referencia psicoanalítico? (b) ¿Cómo –desde la teoría freudiana y la teoría lacaniana - se aborda la comprensión de la adicción? (c) ¿Qué dice el psicoanálisis contemporáneo sobre ésta problemática? Se abordan temas como la concepción de una adicción desde la perspectiva de Freud y Lacan hasta psicoanalistas contemporáneos, el rol que juega el goce en la adicción y, finalmente, el complejo debate incipiente sobre la legalidad del tóxico. Se encontró que es un campo de constante publicación y es necesario que los clínicos y los psicoanalistas aborden este campo de estudio clínico permanentemente y sigan produciendo investigaciones sobre el fenómeno.

Risk and price in the bidding process of contractors

Formal and analytical risk models prescribe how risk should be incorporated in construction bids. However, the actual process of how contractors and their clients negotiate and agree on price is complex, and not clearly articulated in the literature. Using participant observation, the entire tender process was shadowed in two leading UK construction firms. This was compared to propositions in analytical models and significant differences were found. 670 hours of work observed in both firms revealed three stages of the bidding process. Bidding activities were categorized and their extent estimated as deskwork (32%), calculations (19%), meetings (14%), documents (13%), off-days (11%), conversations (7%), correspondence (3%) and travel (1%). Risk allowances of 1-2% were priced in some bids and three tiers of risk apportionment in bids were identified. However, priced risks may sometimes be excluded from the final bidding price to enhance competitiveness. Thus, although risk apportionment affects a contractor’s pricing strategy, other complex, microeconomic factors also affect price. Instead of pricing in contingencies, risk was priced mostly through contractual rather than price mechanisms, to reflect commercial imperatives. The findings explain why some assumptions underpinning analytical models may not be sustainable in practice and why what actually happens in practice is important for those who seek to model the pricing of construction bids.

Global trends and factors associated with the illegal killing of elephants: a hierarchical bayesian analysis of carcass encounter data

Elephant poaching and the ivory trade remain high on the agenda at meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Well-informed debates require robust estimates of trends, the spatial distribution of poaching, and drivers of poaching. We present an analysis of trends and drivers of an indicator of elephant poaching of all elephant species. The site-based monitoring system known as Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE), set up by the 10th Conference of the Parties of CITES in 1997, produces carcass encounter data reported mainly by anti-poaching patrols. Data analyzed were site by year totals of 6,337 carcasses from 66 sites in Africa and Asia from 2002–2009. Analysis of these observational data is a serious challenge to traditional statistical methods because of the opportunistic and non-random nature of patrols, and the heterogeneity across sites. Adopting a Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach, we used the proportion of carcasses that were illegally killed (PIKE) as a poaching index, to estimate the trend and the effects of site- and country-level factors associated with poaching. Important drivers of illegal killing that emerged at country level were poor governance and low levels of human development, and at site level, forest cover and area of the site in regions where human population density is low. After a drop from 2002, PIKE remained fairly constant from 2003 until 2006, after which it increased until 2008. The results for 2009 indicate a decline. Sites with PIKE ranging from the lowest to the highest were identified. The results of the analysis provide a sound information base for scientific evidence-based decision making in the CITES process.

A novel study of the polymerisation process involved in the formation of the network component of polymer-stabilised liquid crystals within electro-optic cells using high performance liquid chromatography

Polymer-stabilised liquid crystals are systems in which a small amount of monomer is dissolved within a liquid crystalline host, and then polymerised in situ to produce a network. The progress of the polymerisation, performed within electro-optic cells, was studied by establishing an analytical method novel to these systems. Samples were prepared by photopolymerisation of the monomer under well-defined reaction conditions; subsequent immersion in acetone caused the host and any unreacted monomer to dissolve. High performance liquid chromatography was used to separate and detect the various solutes in the resulting solutions, enabling the amount of unreacted monomer for a given set of conditions to be quantified. Longer irradiations cause a decrease in the proportion of unreacted monomer since more network is formed, while a more uniform LC director alignment (achieved by decreasing the sample thickness) or a higher level of order (achieved by decreasing the polymerisation temperature) promotes faster reactions.

Analytical and numerical solutions describing the inward solidification of a binary melt

We present a mathematical model describing the inward solidification of a slab, a circular cylinder and a sphere of binary melt kept below its equilibrium freezing temperature. The thermal and physical properties of the melt and solid are assumed to be identical. An asymptotic method, valid in the limit of large Stefan number is used to decompose the moving boundary problem for a pure substance into a hierarchy of fixed-domain diffusion problems. Approximate, analytical solutions are derived for the inward solidification of a slab and a sphere of a binary melt which are compared with numerical solutions of the unapproximated system. The solutions are found to agree within the appropriate asymptotic regime of large Stefan number and small time. Numerical solutions are used to demonstrate the dependence of the solidification process upon the level of impurity and other parameters. We conclude with a discussion of the solutions obtained, their stability and possible extensions and refinements of our study.

Hierarchical clustering based web service discovery

This paper presents a hierarchical clustering method for semantic Web service discovery. This method aims to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the traditional service discovery using vector space model. The Web service is converted into a standard vector format through the Web service description document. With the help of WordNet, a semantic analysis is conducted to reduce the dimension of the term vector and to make semantic expansion to meet the user’s service request. The process and algorithm of hierarchical clustering based semantic Web service discovery is discussed. Validation is carried out on the dataset.

Flow injection analysis of ethyl xanthate by gas diffusion and UV detection as CS(2) for process monitoring of sulfide ore flotation

A sensitive and robust analytical method for spectrophotometric determination of ethyl xanthate, CH(3)CH(2)OCS(2)(-) at trace concentrations in pulp solutions from froth flotation process is proposed. The analytical method is based on the decomposition of ethyl xanthate. EtX(-), with 2.0 mol L(-1) HCl generating ethanol and carbon disulfide. CS(2). A gas diffusion cell assures that only the volatile compounds diffuse through a PTFE membrane towards an acceptor stream of deionized water, thus avoiding the interferences of non-volatile compounds and suspended particles. The CS(2) is selectively detected by UV absorbance at 206 nm (epsilon = 65,000 L mol(-1) cm(-1)). The measured absorbance is directly proportional to EtX(-) concentration present in the sample solutions. The Beer`s law is obeyed in a 1 x 10(-6) to 2 x 10(-4) mol L(-1) concentration range of ethyl xanthate in the pulp with an excellent correlation coefficient (r = 0.999) and a detection limit of 3.1 x 10(-7) mol L(-1), corresponding to 38 mu g L. At flow rates of 200 mu L min(-1) of the donor stream and 100 mu L min(-1) of the acceptor channel a sampling rate of 15 injections per hour could be achieved with RSD < 2.3% (n = 10, 300 mu L injections of 1 x 10(-5) mol L(-1) EtX(-)). Two practical applications demonstrate the versatility of the FIA method: (i) evaluation the free EtX(-) concentration during a laboratory study of the EtX(-) adsorption capacity on pulverized sulfide ore (pyrite) and (ii) monitoring of EtX(-) at different stages (from starting load to washing effluents) of a flotation pilot plant processing a Cu-Zn sulfide ore. (C) 2010 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.

Approaches for multicopper oxidases in the design of electrochemical sensors for analytical applications

We report an effective approach for the construction of a biomimetic sensor of multicopper oxidases by immobilizing a cyclic-tetrameric copper(II) species, containing the ligand (4-imidazolyl)ethylene-2-amino-1-ethylpyridine (apyhist), in the Nafion (R) membrane on a vitreous carbon electrode surface. This complex provides a tetranuclear arrangement of copper ions that allows an effective reduction of oxygen to water, in a catalytic cycle involving four electrons. The electrochemical reduction of oxygen was studied at pH 9.0 buffer solution by using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, rotating disk electrode voltammetry and scanning electrochemical microscopy techniques. The mediator shows good electrocatalytic ability for the reduction of O(2) at pH 9.0, with reduction of overpotential (350 mV) and increased current response in comparison with results obtained with a bare glassy carbon electrode. The heterogeneous rate constant (k(ME)`) for the reduction of O(2) at the modified electrode was determined by using a Koutecky-Levich plot. In addition, the charge transport rate through the coating and the apparent diffusion coefficient of O(2) into the modifier film were also evaluated. The overall process was found to be governed by the charge transport through the coating, occurring at the interface or at a finite layer at the electrode/coating interface. The proposed study opens up the way for the development of bioelectronic devices based on molecular recognition and self-organization. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Use of Metals and Anion Species with Chemometrics Tools for Classification of Unprocessed and Processed Coconut Waters

Coconut water is a natural isotonic, nutritive, and low-caloric drink. Preservation process is necessary to increase its shelf life outside the fruit and to improve commercialization. However, the influence of the conservation processes, antioxidant addition, maturation time, and soil where coconut is cultivated on the chemical composition of coconut water has had few arguments and studies. For these reasons, an evaluation of coconut waters (unprocessed and processed) was carried out using Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Zn, chloride, sulfate, phosphate, malate, and ascorbate concentrations and chemometric tools. The quantitative determinations were performed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, and capillary electrophoresis. The results showed that Ca, K, and Zn concentrations did not present significant alterations between the samples. The ranges of Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, PO (4) (3-) , and SO (4) (2-) concentrations were as follows: Cu (3.1-120 A mu g L(-1)), Fe (60-330 A mu g L(-1)), Mg (48-123 mg L(-1)), Mn (0.4-4.0 mg L(-1)), PO (4) (3-) (55-212 mg L(-1)), and SO (4) (2-) (19-136 mg L(-1)). The principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied to differentiate unprocessed and processed samples. Multivariated analysis (PCA and HCA) were compared through one-way analysis of variance with Tukey-Kramer multiple comparisons test, and p values less than 0.05 were considered to be significant.

Development of an Analytical Methodology for Quantification of Strong Acid in Diesel Oil

Many factors can affect the quality of diesel oil, in particular the degradation processes that are directly related to some organosulfur compounds. During the degradation process, these compounds are oxidized into their corresponding sulfonic acids, generating a strong acid content during the process. p-Toluene sulfonic acid analysis was performed using the linear sweep voltammetry technique with a platinum ultramicroelectrode in aqueous solution containing 3 mol L(-1) potassium chloride. An extraction step was introduced prior to the voltammetric detection in order to avoid the adsorption of organic molecules, which inhibit the electrochemical response. The extraction step promoted the transference of sulfonic acid from the diesel oil to an aqueous phase. The method was accurate and reproducible, with detection and quantification limits of 5 ppm and 15 ppm, respectively. Recovery of sulfonic acid was around 90%.

A rapid and reliable bonding process for microchip electrophoresis fabricated in glass substrates

In this report, we describe a rapid and reliable process to bond channels fabricated in glass substrates. Glass channels were fabricated by photolithography and wet chemical etching. The resulting channels were bonded against another glass plate containing a 50-mu m thick PDMS layer. This same PDMS layer was also used to provide the electrical insulation of planar electrodes to carry out capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection. The analytical performance of the proposed device was shown by using both LIF and capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection systems. Efficiency around 47 000 plates/m was achieved with good chip-to-chip repeatability and satisfactory long-term stability of EOF. The RSD for the EOF measured in three different devices was ca. 7%. For a chip-to-chip comparison, the RSD values for migration time, electrophoretic current and peak area were below 10%. With the proposed approach, a single chip can be fabricated in less than 30 min including patterning, etching and sealing steps. This fabrication process is faster and easier than the thermal bonding process. Besides, the proposed method does not require high temperatures and provides excellent day-to-day and device-to-device repeatability.

Understanding Wax Printing: A Simple Micropatterning Process for Paper-Based Microfluidics

This technical note describes a detailed study on wax printing, a simple and inexpensive method for fabricating microfluidic devices in paper using a commercially available printer and hot plate. The printer prints patterns of solid wax on the surface of the paper, and the hot plate melts the wax so that it penetrates the full thickness of the paper. This process creates complete hydrophobic barriers in paper that define hydrophilic channels, fluid reservoirs, and reaction zones. The design of each device was based on a simple equation that accounts for the spreading of molten wax in paper.

Comparison of the analytical performance of electrophoresis microchannels fabricated in PDMS, glass, and polyester-toner

This paper compares the analytical performance of microchannels fabricated in PDMS, glass, and polyester-toner for electrophoretic separations. Glass and PDMS chips were fabricated using well-established photolithographic and replica-molding procedures, respectively. PDMS channels were sealed against three different types of materials: native PDMS, plasma-oxidized PDMS, and glass. Polyester-toner chips were micromachined by a direct-printing process using an office laser printer. All microchannels were fabricated with similar dimensions according to the limitations of the direct-printing process (width/depth 150 mu m/12 mu m). LIF was employed for detection to rule out any losses in separation efficiency due to the detector configuration. Two fluorescent dyes, coumarin and fluorescein, were used as model analytes. Devices were evaluated for the following parameters related to electrophoretic separations: EOF, heat dissipation, injection reproducibility, separation efficiency, and adsorption to channel wall.

Investigation of Iron (III) desferrioxamine B oxalate ligand exchange by UV-vis spectroscopy: the next step in developing a quantitative analytical method for measuring bioavailable iron in marine ecosystems

To date there are no analytical techniques designed to exclusively measure bioavailable iron in marine environments. The goal of this research is to develop such a technique by isolating the bioavailable iron using the terrestrial siderophore desferrioxamine B (DFB). This project contained many challenging aspects, but the specific goal of this study was to develop a robust analytical technique for quantification of Fe(III)-DFB complexes at nanomolar concentrations. Past work showed that oxalate (Ox) promotes photodissociation of Fe(III)-DFB to Fe(Il), and we are specifically interested in the mechanism of this process. A model was developed using known thermodynamic constants for Fe(III)-DFB and Fe(III) oxalato complexes and adjusting for ionic strength. The model was confirmed by monitoring the UV-VIS absorbance of the system at a variety of oxalate concentrations and pH. The model did not include ternary complexes. Next., the rate of Fe(1I) production during UV irradiation was examined. The results showed that the rate of Fe(II) production was based entirely on the [Fe(Ox)?]3- speciation, and that reoxidation of Fe(II) occurred via reactive oxygen intermediates. This reoxidation could be avoided by either decreasing the oxygen concentration or by adding a Fe(II) stabilizing reagent, such as ferrozine. Further studies need to be done to confirm that these results apply at sub nanomolar concentrations, and the issue of Fe(II) reoxidation at lower Fe concentrations needs to be addressed.