Leader–member exchange (LMX), job autonomy, and creative work involvement

Researchers have claimed that high quality of supervisor–employee relationships (i.e., leader– member exchange; LMX) fosters creativity at work. Moreover, researchers have acknowledged that this relationship is not clear-cut but rather complex. The present study focused on the moderating role of job autonomy in the LMX-creative work involvement relationship. Longitu-dinal field survey data (N = 144) collected in a high-technology firm revealed a positive asso-ciation between LMX and creative work involvement and confirmed our assumptions on the moderating role of job autonomy. The positive relationship between LMX and creative work involvement was stronger when employees experienced greater job autonomy. Our findings point to the importance of considering the interplay of both, the leader–member relationship and job design issues for increasing employees' creative work involvement.

Prevention of vascular dysfunction and arterial hypertension in mice generated by assisted reproductive technologies by addition of melatonin to culture media.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) induce vascular dysfunction in humans and mice. In mice, ART-induced vascular dysfunction is related to epigenetic alteration of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene, resulting in decreased vascular eNOS expression and nitrite/nitrate synthesis. Melatonin is involved in epigenetic regulation, and its administration to sterile women improves the success rate of ART. We hypothesized that addition of melatonin to culture media may prevent ART-induced epigenetic and cardiovascular alterations in mice. We, therefore, assessed mesenteric-artery responses to acetylcholine and arterial blood pressure, together with DNA methylation of the eNOS gene promoter in vascular tissue and nitric oxide plasma concentration in 12-wk-old ART mice generated with and without addition of melatonin to culture media and in control mice. As expected, acetylcholine-induced mesenteric-artery dilation was impaired (P = 0.008 vs. control) and mean arterial blood pressure increased (109.5 ± 3.8 vs. 104.0 ± 4.7 mmHg, P = 0.002, ART vs. control) in ART compared with control mice. These alterations were associated with altered DNA methylation of the eNOS gene promoter (P < 0.001 vs. control) and decreased plasma nitric oxide concentration (10.1 ± 11.1 vs. 29.5 ± 8.0 μM) (P < 0.001 ART vs. control). Addition of melatonin (10(-6) M) to culture media prevented eNOS dysmethylation (P = 0.005, vs. ART + vehicle), normalized nitric oxide plasma concentration (23.1 ± 14.6 μM, P = 0.002 vs. ART + vehicle) and mesentery-artery responsiveness to acetylcholine (P < 0.008 vs. ART + vehicle), and prevented arterial hypertension (104.6 ± 3.4 mmHg, P < 0.003 vs. ART + vehicle). These findings provide proof of principle that modification of culture media prevents ART-induced vascular dysfunction. We speculate that this approach will also allow preventing ART-induced premature atherosclerosis in humans.

An introduction to flow and transport in fractal models of porous media: Part I

This special issue gathers together a number of recent papers on fractal geometry and its applications to the modeling of flow and transport in porous media. The aim is to provide a systematic approach for analyzing the statics and dynamics of fluids in fractal porous media by means of theory, modeling and experimentation. The topics covered include lacunarity analyses of multifractal and natural grayscale patterns, random packing's of self-similar pore/particle size distributions, Darcian and non-Darcian hydraulic flows, diffusion within fractals, models for the permeability and thermal conductivity of fractal porous media and hydrophobicity and surface erosion properties of fractal structures.

Methods and Techniques for Segmentation of Consumers in Social Media

Los medios sociales han revolucionado la manera en la que los consumidores se relacionan entre sí y con las marcas. Las opiniones publicadas en dichos medios tienen un poder de influencia en las decisiones de compra tan importante como las campañas de publicidad. En consecuencia, los profesionales del marketing cada vez dedican mayores esfuerzos e inversión a la obtención de indicadores que permitan medir el estado de salud de las marcas a partir de los contenidos digitales generados por sus consumidores. Dada la naturaleza no estructurada de los contenidos publicados en los medios sociales, la tecnología usada para procesar dichos contenidos ha menudo implementa técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial, tales como algoritmos de procesamiento de lenguaje natural, aprendizaje automático y análisis semántico. Esta tesis, contribuye al estado de la cuestión, con un modelo que permite estructurar e integrar la información publicada en medios sociales, y una serie de técnicas cuyos objetivos son la identificación de consumidores, así como la segmentación psicográfica y sociodemográfica de los mismos. La técnica de identificación de consumidores se basa en la huella digital de los dispositivos que utilizan para navegar por la Web y es tolerante a los cambios que se producen con frecuencia en dicha huella digital. Las técnicas de segmentación psicográfica descritas obtienen la posición en el embudo de compra de los consumidores y permiten clasificar las opiniones en función de una serie de atributos de marketing. Finalmente, las técnicas de segmentación sociodemográfica permiten obtener el lugar de residencia y el género de los consumidores. ABSTRACT Social media has revolutionised the way in which consumers relate to each other and with brands. The opinions published in social media have a power of influencing purchase decisions as important as advertising campaigns. Consequently, marketers are increasing efforts and investments for obtaining indicators to measure brand health from the digital content generated by consumers. Given the unstructured nature of social media contents, the technology used for processing such contents often implements Artificial Intelligence techniques, such as natural language processing, machine learning and semantic analysis algorithms. This thesis contributes to the State of the Art, with a model for structuring and integrating the information posted on social media, and a number of techniques whose objectives are the identification of consumers, as well as their socio-demographic and psychographic segmentation. The consumer identification technique is based on the fingerprint of the devices they use to surf the Web and is tolerant to the changes that occur frequently in such fingerprint. The psychographic profiling techniques described infer the position of consumer in the purchase funnel, and allow to classify the opinions based on a series of marketing attributes. Finally, the socio-demographic profiling techniques allow to obtain the residence and gender of consumers.

Automated data analysis to rapidly derive and communicate ecological insights from satellite-tag data : A case study of reintroduced red kites

Acknowledgements We thank Andrew Spink (Noldus Information Technology) and the Blogging Birds team members Peter Kindness and Abdul Adeniyi for their valuable contributions to this paper. John Fryxell, Chris Thaxter and Arjun Amar provided valuable comments on an earlier version. The study was part of the Digital Conservation project of dot.rural, the University of Aberdeen’s Digital Economy Research Hub, funded by RCUK (grant reference EP/G066051/1).

Brackish groundwater desalination by reverse osmosis in southeastern Spain. Presence of emerging contaminants and potential impacts on soil-aquifer media

Desalinated brackish groundwater is becoming a new source of water supply to comply with growing water demands, especially in (semi-) arid countries. Recent publications show that some chemical compounds may persist in an unaltered form after the desalination processes and that there is an associated risk of mixing waters with different salinity for irrigation. At the university of Alicante campus (Spain), a mix of desalinated brackish groundwater and water from the existing aquifer is currently applied for landscape irrigation. The presence of 209 emerging compounds, surfactants, priority substances according to the 2008/105/EC Directive, 11 heavy metals and microbiological organisms in blended water and aquifer samples was investigated. Thirty-five compounds were detected (pesticides, pharmaceuticals and surfactants) among them two priority substances α-endosulfan and Ni were found above the permitted maximum concentration. Blended water used for landscape irrigation during the summer period is supersaturated with respect to carbonates, which may ultimately lead to mineral precipitation in the soil-aquifer media and changes in hydraulic parameters.

Narrativa digital e infancia. La generación de los creadores colaborativos

La naturaleza de los medios y lenguajes digitales ha posibilitado el desarrollo de diferentes técnicas que, en el canon del mundo analógico, se veían limitadas. Esta combinación ha originado, en los primeros años de vida del ser humano, nuevas formas de aprender envueltas en una nueva realidad. Las técnicas de creación que adquieren los niños en espacios alejados de cualquier currículo escolar, son desarrolladas gracias a su condición de ciudadanos de un contexto de sabios digitales; condición que trae intrínseco un conocimiento en el manejo tecnológico como de manera innata, convirtiendo la narrativa digital en el medio que ellos utilizan para aprender y comunicarse. Como consecuencia, en el modelo EMEREC más individualista se abre paso una generación de creadores colaborativos otorgando, por medio de la participación infantil, una mayor potencialidad a la ley de los tres tercios.

A review on political analysis and social media

En los países democráticos, conocer la intención de voto de los ciudadanos y las valoraciones de los principales partidos y líderes políticos es de gran interés tanto para los propios partidos como para los medios de comunicación y el público en general. Para ello se han utilizado tradicionalmente costosas encuestas personales. El auge de las redes sociales, principalmente Twitter, permite pensar en ellas como una alternativa barata a las encuestas. En este trabajo, revisamos la bibliografía científica más relevante en este ámbito, poniendo especial énfasis en el caso español.

The arts and 504 : a 504 handbook for accessible arts programming /

Shipping list no.: 86-10-P.

Amateurism and the Aesthetics of Lego Stop-Motion on YouTube

Do the “democratization” of media and the proliferation of online participatory culture undermine the aesthetic hegemony of professional filmmakers? This article is a case study of both more and less popular animated Lego videos, also called “brickfilms,” that asks how amateur videos adhere to and/or depart from professionalized aesthetic standards. It addresses the definitions of professionalism and amateurism and proposes that the dichotomy between democratization and ongoing elitism is insufficient to describe the complex dialogue between professional film aesthetics and amateur production—a dialogue that is diverse but nonetheless follows certain patterns. These patterns link Lego videos to silent era cinema as well as contemporary professional live-action and stop-motion animation. Furthermore, a mixture of parody, pastiche, and homage suggest that amateur work has a variety of affective relationships to professional work. Ultimately, amateur filmmaking indicates a negotiation of professional standards rather than slavish adherence.

The Repertory of arts and manufactures.

"Consisting of original communications, specifications of patent inventions, and selections of useful practical papers from the transactions of the philosophical societies of all nations, etc."

Humour and Irony in Dutch Post-war Fiction Film /

This study examines a range of Dutch post-war fiction films and also works as an implicit overview on the basis of types of humour, like low-class comedy, neurotic romances; deliberate camp, homosocial jokes, cosmic irony, grotesque satire.

Terraforming: Ecopolitical Transformations and Environmentalism in Science Fiction /

Terraforming is the process of making other worlds habitable for human life. This book asks how science fiction has imagined how we shape both our world and other planets and how stories of terraforming reflect on science, society and environmentalism.

Of Elephants and Toothaches : Ethics, Politics, and Religion in Krzysztof Kieslowski's 'Decalogue' /

This collection is the first to offer a genuinely interdisciplinary approach to Krzysztof Kie?lowski’s Decalogue, a ten-film cycle of modern tales that touch on the ethical dilemmas of the Ten Commandments. The cycle’s deft handling of moral ambiguity and inventive technique established Kie?lowski as a major international director. Kie?lowski once said, “Both the deep believer and the habitual skeptic experience toothaches in exactly the same way.” Of Elephants and Toothaches takes seriously the range of thought, from theological to skeptical, condensed in the cycle’s quite human tales. Bringing together scholars of film, philosophy, literature, and several religions, the volume ranges from individual responsibility, to religion in modernity, to familial bonds, to human desire and material greed. It explores Kie?lowski’s cycle as it relentlessly solicits an ethical response that stimulates both inner disquiet and interpersonal dialogue.