The Network Company in Catalonia : ICT, Productivity, Competitiveness, Salaries and Performance in Catalonia's Companies. Research report (synthesis document)

Resum en anglès del projecte de recerca L'empresa xarxa a Catalunya. TIC, productivitat, competitivitat, salaris i beneficis a l'empresa catalana té com a objectiu principal constatar que la consolidació d'un nou model estratègic, organitzatiu i d'activitat empresarial, vinculat amb la inversió i l'ús de les TIC (o empresa xarxa), modifica substancialment els patrons de comportament dels resultats empresarials, en especial la productivitat, la competitivitat, les retribucions dels treballadors i el benefici. La contrastació empírica de les hipòtesis de treball l'hem feta per mitjà de les dades d'una enquesta a una mostra representativa de 2.038 empreses catalanes. Amb la perspectiva de l'impacte de la inversió i l'ús de les TIC no s'aprecia una relació directa entre els processos d'innovació digital i els resultats de l'activitat de l'empresa catalana. En aquest sentit, hem hagut de segmentar el teixit productiu català per a buscar les organitzacions en què el procés de coinnovació tecnològica digital i organitzativa és més present i en què la intensitat de l'ús del coneixement és un recurs molt freqüent per a poder copsar impactes rellevants en els principals resultats empresarials. Això és així perquè l'economia catalana, avui, presenta una estructura productiva dual.

Developing an Effective Construction Training Program for American Supervisors with Hispanic Craft Workers, 2005

In the construction industry, Hispanics have the highest rate of fatal work injuries among the racial/ethnic groups, and productivity in the field is limited by the language barrier between Hispanic workers and their supervisors and the level of education of many Hispanic craft workers. This research developed a training program designed to facilitate the integration process between American supervisors and Hispanic craft workers in a practical and cost-effective way, thus improving productivity and lowering fatality rates. The Iowa State University research team conducted a survey of 38 American supervisors, representing 14 Iowa construction companies. Survey results confirm that communication is the main problem experienced by American supervisors in the job site. Many American supervisors also use or depend on a link-person (an individual who interprets tasks to the rest of the Hispanic crew) to communicate to the Hispanic crew members. Research findings show that language differences affect productivity and workplace safety in the construction industry. Additionally, the educational levels of Hispanic workers indicate that they may not have the literacy skills necessary to understand training materials. This research developed two training courses designed to expand the Spanish communication skills of American supervisors. The research team modified the English-as-a-second-language course developed in Phase I into the Spanish as a Second Language (SSL) Survival Course. A series of technical training courses were also developed, titled Concrete Pavement Construction Basics (CPCB), that cover general practices in concrete pavement construction. They are much shorter and more specialized than the SSL course. The CPCB courses provide American supervisors simple and practical communication tools on a variety of topics to choose from according to their specific needs.

Educational achievement in Swiss childhood cancer survivors compared with the general population.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to describe educational achievements of childhood cancer survivors in Switzerland compared with the general population. In particular, the authors investigated educational problems during childhood, final educational achievement in adulthood, and its predictors. METHODS: Childhood cancer survivors who were aged <16 years at diagnosis from 1976 to 2003 who had survived for ≥5 years and were currently ages 20 to 40 years received a postal questionnaire during 2007 to 2009. Controls were respondents of the Swiss Health Survey ages 20 to 40 years. Educational achievement included compulsory schooling, vocational training, upper secondary schooling, and university degree. The analysis was weighted to optimize comparability of the populations. The authors analyzed the association between demographic and clinical predictors and educational achievement using multivariable logistic regression. Subgroup analyses focused on survivors aged ≥27 years. RESULTS: One-third of survivors encountered educational problems during schooling (30% repeated 1 year, and 35% received supportive tutoring). In the total sample, more survivors than controls achieved compulsory schooling only (8.7% vs 5.2%) and fewer acquired a university degree (7.3% vs 11%), but more survivors than controls achieved an upper secondary education (36.1 vs 24.1%). In those aged ≥27 years, differences in compulsory schooling and university education largely disappeared. In survivors and controls, sex, nationality, language region, and migration background were strong predictors of achievement. Survivors of central nervous system tumors or those who had a relapse had poorer outcomes (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Childhood cancer survivors encountered problems during schooling and completed professional education with some delay. However, with the exception of patients who had central nervous system tumors and those who experienced a relapse, the final educational achievement in survivors of child cancer was comparable to that of the general population.

Educational Opportunity through The Advocate

This communication tool comes from the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman to long-term care facilities administrators and directors. The Office's objective is to share information regarding various topics of long term care.

Learning in the working place: the educational potential of a multihead microscope in pathology postgraduate training.

Training future pathologists is an important mission of many hospital anatomic pathology departments. Apprenticeship-a process in which learning and teaching tightly intertwine with daily work, is one of the main educational methods in use in postgraduate medical training. However, patient care, including pathological diagnosis, often comes first, diagnostic priorities prevailing over educational ones. Recognition of the unique educational opportunities is a prerequisite for enhancing the postgraduate learning experience. The aim of this paper is to draw attention of senior pathologists with a role as supervisor in postgraduate training on the potential educational value of a multihead microscope, a common setting in pathology departments. After reporting on an informal observation of senior and junior pathologists' meetings around the multihead microscope in our department, we review the literature on current theories of learning to provide support to the high potential educational value of these meetings for postgraduate training in pathology. We also draw from the literature on learner-centered teaching some recommendations to better support learning in this particular context. Finally, we propose clues for further studies and effective instruction during meetings around a multihead microscope.

Historical logging, productivity, and structural characteristics of boreal coniferous forests in Norway

Abstract

Improvement of productivity and polysaccharide-protein complex in Agaricus blazei

The objective of this work was to assess the productivity and polysaccharide-protein complex content of Agaricus blazei on rice straw medium, in comparison to conventional sawdust, using four casing soils. The A. blazei strain used was BCRC36814T, purchased from the Food Industry Research and Development Institute, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. The two media were evaluated as to A. blazei productivity, harvesting time, and production costs. The experimental design used was a randomized complete block, with four replicates. Three local casing soils - Typic Paleudult (CCe), Typic Udorthent (Tq) and Oxyaquic Paleudult (TSp) - were compared to imported peat soil (PS, Saprists, Histosols), used as the control. The productivity of A. blazei using Tq and TSp soil was significantly higher. The TSp casing treatment resulted in earlier harvest by at least 14 to 27 days, when compared to the other treatments. The polysaccharide content in CCe (13.2%) and Tq soils (13.2%) did not differ significantly from the PS (13.4%) and TSp (10.6%) treatments. Local casing soils decreased the production costs of A. blazei cultivation. Composted rice straw can substitute sawdust as the culture medium for A. blazei production with increased yield.

Approche éducationnelle des patients à risque cardiovasculaire [Educational approach to patients with cardiovascular risk factors]

In the outpatient setting, the long-term management of cardiovascular risk factors is essential to prevent recurrent cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have shown an additional benefit of beginning cardiovascular secondary prevention during the hospital stay. Early, in-hospital initiation of proven beneficial medications, such as aspirin or blood lipid lowering drugs and therapeutic lifestyle change counseling, improves patients' long-term outcome, as long as there is continuity of care in the outpatient setting. A recent hospitalization may be a teachable moment, when patients are more likely to modify their health behaviors. The continuity of care between in-hospital medicine and the outpatient setting helps patients in the long-term management of their cardiovascular disease.

Gas exchange rates, plant height, yield components, and productivity of upland rice as affected by plant regulators

The objective of this work was to evaluate gas exchange rates, plant height, yield components, and productivity of upland rice, as affected by type and application time of plant growth regulators. A randomized block design, in a 4x2 factorial arrangement, with four replicates was used. Treatments consisted of three growth regulators (mepiquat chloride, trinexapac-ethyl, and paclobutrazol), besides a control treatment applied at two different phenological stages: early tillering or panicle primordial differentiation. The experiment was performed under sprinkler-irrigated field conditions. Net CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, plant transpiration, and water-use efficiency were measured four times in Primavera upland rice cultivar, between booting and milky grain phenophases. Gas exchange rates were neither influenced by growth regulators nor by application time. There was, however, interaction between these factors on the other variables. Application of trinexapac-ethyl at both tillering and differentiation stages reduced plant height and negatively affected yield components and rice productivity. However, paclobutrazol and mepiquat chloride applied at tillering, reduced plant height without affecting rice yield. Mepiquat chloride acted as a growth stimulator when applied at the differentiation stage, and significantly increased plant height, panicle number, and grain yield of upland rice.

Reproductive biology traits affecting productivity of sour cherry

The objective of this work was to evaluate variability in reproductive biology traits and the correlation between them in genotypes of 'Oblačinska' sour cherry (Prunus cerasus). High genetic diversity was found in the 41 evaluated genotypes, and significant differences were observed among them for all studied traits: flowering time, pollen germination, number of fruiting branches, production of flower and fruit, number of flowers per bud, fruit set, and limb yield efficiency. The number of fruiting branches significantly influenced the number of flower and fruit, fruit set, and yield efficiency. In addition to number of fruiting branches, yield efficiency was positively correlated with fruit set and production of flower and fruit. Results from principal component analysis suggested a reduction of the reproductive biology factors affecting yield to four main characters: number and structure of fruiting branches, flowering time, and pollen germination. Knowledge of the reproductive biology of the 'Oblačinska' genotypes can be used to select the appropriate ones to be grown or used as parents in breeding programs. In this sense, genotypes II/2, III/9, III/13, and III/14 have very good flower production and satisfactory pollen germination.

Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage

Peer-reviewed

Open Educational Resources: an opportunity for virtual learning institutions

The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC, Open University of Catalonia) is involved inseveral research projects and educational activities related to the use of Open Educational Resources (OER). Some of the discussed issues in the concept of OER are research issues which are being tackled in two EC projects (OLCOS and SELF). Besides the research part, the UOC aims at developing a virtual centre for analysing and promoting the concept of OERin Europe in the sector of Higher and Further Education. The objectives are to makeinformation and learning services available to provide university management staff,eLearning support centres, faculty and learners with practical information required to create, share and re-use such interoperable digital content, tools and licensing schemes. In the realisation of these objectives, the main activities are the following: to provide organisationaland individual e-learning end-users with orientation; to develop perspectives and useful recommendations in the form of a medium-term Roadmap 2010 for OER in Higher and Further Education in Europe; to offer practical information and support services about how to create, share and re-use open educational content by means of tutorials, guidelines, best practices, and specimen of exemplary open e-learning content; to establish a larger group ofcommitted experts throughout Europe and other continents who not only share theirexpertise but also steer networking, workshops, and clustering efforts; and to foster and support a community of practice in open e-learning content know-how and experiences.

Analyzing hidden semantics in social bookmarking of open educational resources

Web 2.0 services such as social bookmarking allow users to manage and share the links they find interesting, adding their own tags for describingthem. This is especially interesting in the field of open educational resources, asdelicious is a simple way to bridge the institutional point of view (i.e. learningobject repositories) with the individual one (i.e. personal collections), thuspromoting the discovering and sharing of such resources by other users. In this paper we propose a methodology for analyzing such tags in order to discover hidden semantics (i.e. taxonomies and vocabularies) that can be used toimprove descriptions of learning objects and make learning object repositories more visible and discoverable. We propose the use of a simple statistical analysis tool such as principal component analysis to discover which tags createclusters that can be semantically interpreted. We will compare the obtained results with a collection of resources related to open educational resources, in order to better understand the real needs of people searching for open educational resources.

Cultivable mushroom growth-promoting bacteria and their impact on Agaricus blazei productivity

The objective of this work was to identify growth-promoting bacteria isolated from Agaricus blazei and to evaluate their effect on mushroom mycelial growth and productivity. A total of 56 A. blazei-associated bacterial isolates were obtained from casing soil and identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Bacteria were evaluated as to phosphate-solubilization ability, nitrogen-fixation capability, and secretion of cellulase. Superior isolates were tested for their to effect on A. blazei productivity, micelial growth, and on the contents of the polysaccharide-protein complex and of N, P, K, Ca, and Mg. Bacterial isolates were identified as actinobacteria (60%), firmicutes (20%), and proteobacteria (20%). Among them, ten isolates had phosphate-solubilization ability, eight showed nitrogen-fixation capability, and 12 isolates promoted A. blazei mycelium growth. Bacterial inoculation reduces time till harvest in up to 26 days, increases fresh mushroom yield up to 215%, and increases total polysaccharide-protein complex content twofold when compared to the non-inoculated control. The actinobacteria group is the predominant A. blazei-associated phylum.