Hazardous substances in frequently used professional cleaning products.

A growing number of studies have identified cleaners as a group at risk for adverse health effects of the skin and the respiratory tract. Chemical substances present in cleaning products could be responsible for these effects. Currently, only limited information is available about irritant and health hazardous chemical substances found in cleaning products. We hypothesized that chemical substances present in cleaning products are known health hazardous substances that might be involved in adverse health effects of the skin and the respiratory tract. We performed a systematic review of cleaning products used in the Swiss cleaning sector. We surveyed Swiss professional cleaning companies (n = 1476) to identify the most used products (n = 105) for inclusion. Safety data sheets (SDSs) were reviewed and hazardous substances present in cleaning products were tabulated with current European and global harmonized system hazard labels. Professional cleaning products are mixtures of substances (arithmetic mean 3.5 +/- 2.8), and more than 132 different chemical substances were identified in 105 products. The main groups of chemicals were fragrances, glycol ethers, surfactants, solvents; and to a lesser extent, phosphates, salts, detergents, pH-stabilizers, acids, and bases. Up to 75% of products contained irritant (Xi), 64% harmful (Xn) and 28% corrosive (C) labeled substances. Hazards for eyes (59%) and skin (50%), and hazards by ingestion (60%) were the most reported. Cleaning products potentially give rise to simultaneous exposures to different chemical substances. As professional cleaners represent a large workforce, and cleaning products are widely used, it is a major public health issue to better understand these exposures. The list of substances provided in this study contains important information for future occupational exposure assessment studies.

Els àmbits de pràctica professional en els estudis de psicologia: present i futur

Els alumnes de Psicologia, quan inicien els seus estudis universitaris, sovint tenen una imatge parcial i esbiaixada de l’ampli ventall de possibilitats professionals de què disposa el psicòleg en l’àmbit aplicat. Seria desitjable que aquestes representacions inicials anessin modificant-se al llarg dels estudis per anar-se apropant als perfils existents en la pràctica professional.Els plans d’estudi anteriors a la reforma del Espai Europeu d’Educació Superior difícilment assolien aquest objectiu en l’àmbit de la Psicologia: una llicenciatura estructurada en àrees de coneixement, no sempre directament vinculades a perfils professionals, i poques hores de pràctica en centres aplicats, hi contribuïen clarament. Però les múltiples reformes que planteja la convergència europea a nivell d’estudis superiors, introdueixen un seguit de modificacions importants al respecte que poden resultar avantatjoses: l’increment de les hores de pràctiques tutelades en centres aplicats, tant en els estudis de Grau i com de Màster, així com la clara correspondència entre, d’una banda, els perfils professionals de la Psicologia i, per una altra, els quatre Màsters que s’ofereixen a Espanya, en són alguns exemples. El present article analitza, no només el curs de la reforma de la titulació de Psicologia en l’estat espanyol en relació als àmbits de pràctica professional, si no que també recull els que es contemplen en el marc universitari de la convergència europea, partint de la directrius de l’interessant projecte EuroPsy (European Diploma of Psychology).Finalment, es reflexiona sobre les àrees de pràctica professional envers les àrees d’especialització en Psicologia, així com de les òptimes perspectives de creixement que presenta la professió en un futur immediat

Geografia i experiència professional: entrevista a deu joves geògrafs i geògrafes

En aquest article es presenta el relat de les històries personals de deu joves geògrafs i geògrafes centrades en la seva formació acadèmica i en les respectives experiències i trajectòries en el món laboral. No pretén ser una mostra representativa de l’actual panorama professional al nostre país, sinó, tan sols, fer arribar al lector deu trajectòries individuals que tenen com a fil conductor l’intent d’assolir l’exercici professional i estable de la geografia

Group mentoring for women starting a PhD: a "duty free zone" to build professional identity

Despite increasing numbers of women attaining higher level academic degrees, gender disparities remain among higher education and among university faculties. Some have posited that this may stem from inadequate academic identity development of women at the doctoral level. While existing gender differences may stem from multiple and variable origins, mentoring has been proposed as a viable means to promote academic identity development and address these gender gaps. This study used a qualitative, narrative case study design to evaluate "StartingDoc" a structured mentoring program launched among Swiss Universities aimed at promoting networking and academic identity development among female doctoral students. Herein we describe the 9 emergent themes which arose from the small-group mentoring program and suggest that such an approach is both feasible and beneficial for young female academics. Further work is needed to elucidate the most effective strategies for developing and retaining women in academia.

Department of Commerce, Professional Li censure FY2007

These Facts sheets have been developed to provide a multitude of information about executive branch agencies/departments on a single sheet of paper. The Facts provides general information, contact information, workforce data, leave & benefits information, and affirmative action data. This is the most recent update of information for the fiscal year 2007.

Web professional de serveis informàtics, basat en software de codi obert

El PFC tracte de la implementació d'un web de serveis informàtics basat en software de codi obert i per tal de emprendre-ho i tirar endavant com a negoci, s'ha dut a terme un estudi de les tecnologies i un pla d'empresa, mirant de treu-re la màxima rendibilitat al web.Els serveis escollits com a model de negoci són bàsicament quatre: el disseny web, el disseny de webs e-commerce o tendes virtuals, la implementació de gestors de recursos d'empresa coneguts com ERP (de l'anglès Enterprise Resources Planning), i la implementació de gestors de relacions amb els clients coneguts com CRM (de l'anglès Customer Relationship Management).El primer capítol es una introducció, el segon capítol tracta de el software lliure, que és, quins models de negoci aporta i els tipus de llicència existents, el tercer capítol es un pla d'empresa on es detalla els serveis que oferirem i com ho gestionarem, el quart capítol tracta de les tecnologies utilitzades i el per que, i finalment unes conclusions.La web, netsolucion.com, que s'ha dissenyat amb Wordpress, implica no tan sols el haver d'estudiar i d'aprendre aquesta plataforma sinó també totes les que s'ofereixen com a serveis, que son:Gestor de Bases de Dades MySQL i PHP per al disseny web, Prestashop per al disseny de tendes virtuals, OpenERP per a la implementació dels gestors de recursos de empresa (ERP's) i els gestors de relacions amb els clients (CRM's).

Informe sobre l'XI Congrés d'Arxivística de Catalunya: "Innovació i desenvolupament professional" (la Seu d'Urgell, 10, 11 i 12 de maig de 2007)

Els dies 10, 11 i 12 de maig de 2007 l'Associació d'Arxivers de Catalunya (AAC) ha celebrat a la Seu d'Urgell les jornades dels arxivers catalans. Enguany, però, no han estat les "onzenes jornades" sinó que l'organització les ha convertides en "congrés", l'onzè, tot i ser el primer que rep aquesta denominació. Amb el títol "Innovació i desenvolupament professional", l'organització ha plantejat la reunió professional amb un extens objectiu: "conèixer, debatre i intercanviar experiències i continguts entorn de: la implantació de les ISO, la formació professional de l'arxiu, el desenvolupament professional davant de les tecnologies de la informació, els estàndards internacionals per intercanviar informació i el paper del servei d'arxiu com a centre per a la difusió i recuperació de la memòria del país".

Addressing elementary school teachers' professional stressors: Practical suggestions for schools and adminstrators

Purpose: Given the preponderance of education reform since the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), reform efforts have shaped the nature of the work and culture in schools. The emphasis on standardized testing to determine schools' status and student performance, among other factors, has generated stress, particularly for teachers. Therefore, district and school administrators are encouraged to consider the contextual factors that contribute to teacher stress to address them and to retain high-performing teachers. Research Methods/Approach: Participants were recruited from two types of schools in order to test hypotheses related to directional responding as a function of working in a more challenging (high-priority) or less challenging (non-high-priority) school environment. We employed content analysis to analyze 64 suburban elementary school teachers' free-responses to a prompt regarding their stress as teachers. We cross-analyzed our findings through external auditing to bolster trustworthiness in the data and in the procedure. Findings: Teachers reported personal and contextual stressors. Herein, we reported concrete examples of the five categories of contextual stressors teachers identified: political and educational structures, instructional factors, student factors, parent and family factors, and school climate. We found directional qualities and overlapping relationships in the data, partially confirming our hypotheses. Implications for Research and Practice: We offer specific recommendations for practical ways in which school administrators might systemically address teacher stress based on the five categories of stressors reported by participants. We also suggest means of conducting action research to measure the effects of implemented suggestions.

Computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals; effects on professional practice and health care outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice does not always reflect best practice and evidence, partly because of unconscious acts of omission, information overload, or inaccessible information. Reminders may help clinicians overcome these problems by prompting the doctor to recall information that they already know or would be expected to know and by providing information or guidance in a more accessible and relevant format, at a particularly appropriate time. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effects of reminders automatically generated through a computerized system and delivered on paper to healthcare professionals on processes of care (related to healthcare professionals' practice) and outcomes of care (related to patients' health condition). SEARCH METHODS: For this update the EPOC Trials Search Co-ordinator searched the following databases between June 11-19, 2012: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) and Cochrane Library (Economics, Methods, and Health Technology Assessment sections), Issue 6, 2012; MEDLINE, OVID (1946- ), Daily Update, and In-process; EMBASE, Ovid (1947- ); CINAHL, EbscoHost (1980- ); EPOC Specialised Register, Reference Manager, and INSPEC, Engineering Village. The authors reviewed reference lists of related reviews and studies.  SELECTION CRITERIA: We included individual or cluster-randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs) that evaluated the impact of computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals on processes and/or outcomes of care. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Review authors working in pairs independently screened studies for eligibility and abstracted data. We contacted authors to obtain important missing information for studies that were published within the last 10 years. For each study, we extracted the primary outcome when it was defined or calculated the median effect size across all reported outcomes. We then calculated the median absolute improvement and interquartile range (IQR) in process adherence across included studies using the primary outcome or median outcome as representative outcome. MAIN RESULTS: In the 32 included studies, computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals achieved moderate improvement in professional practices, with a median improvement of processes of care of 7.0% (IQR: 3.9% to 16.4%). Implementing reminders alone improved care by 11.2% (IQR 6.5% to 19.6%) compared with usual care, while implementing reminders in addition to another intervention improved care by 4.0% only (IQR 3.0% to 6.0%) compared with the other intervention. The quality of evidence for these comparisons was rated as moderate according to the GRADE approach. Two reminder features were associated with larger effect sizes: providing space on the reminder for provider to enter a response (median 13.7% versus 4.3% for no response, P value = 0.01) and providing an explanation of the content or advice on the reminder (median 12.0% versus 4.2% for no explanation, P value = 0.02). Median improvement in processes of care also differed according to the behaviour the reminder targeted: for instance, reminders to vaccinate improved processes of care by 13.1% (IQR 12.2% to 20.7%) compared with other targeted behaviours. In the only study that had sufficient power to detect a clinically significant effect on outcomes of care, reminders were not associated with significant improvements. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is moderate quality evidence that computer-generated reminders delivered on paper to healthcare professionals achieve moderate improvement in process of care. Two characteristics emerged as significant predictors of improvement: providing space on the reminder for a response from the clinician and providing an explanation of the reminder's content or advice. The heterogeneity of the reminder interventions included in this review also suggests that reminders can improve care in various settings under various conditions.