Paediatric research in emergency departments international collaborative (PREDICT): First steps towards the development of an Australian and New Zealand research network

Paediatric emergency research is hampered by a number of barriers that can be overcome by a multicentre approach. In 2004, an Australia and New Zealand-based paediatric emergency research network was formed, the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT). The founding sites include all major tertiary children’s hospital EDs in Australia and New Zealand and a major mixed ED in Australia. PREDICT aims to provide leadership and infrastructure for multicentre research at the highest standard, facilitate collaboration between institutions, health-care providers and researchers and ultimately improve patient outcome. Initial network-wide projects have been determined. The present article describes the development of the network, its structure and future goals.

HERÓIS DA NATUREZA: a construção do herói por meio do discurso ambientalista no ciberativismo do Greenpeace

Este estudo propõe uma reflexão sobre o tratamento dado ao imaginário do herói nas campanhas da organização não governamental Greenpeace, em seu site. O corpus de análise foi composto pelos editoriais elaborados para divulgar cada uma de suas frentes de ação: Amazônia, Clima e Energia, Nuclear, Oceano e Transgênicos. Foram ao total cinco editoriais, coletados no dia 18 de abril de 2010. No contexto social, esta ONG está inserida num conflito entre a preservação dos recursos naturais e desenvolvimento industrial e econômico. Além disso, considera-se também a mudança nos paradigmas e valores das relações sociais determinada pelo avanço tecnológico e o consequente surgimento do ciberespaço. O objetivo, portanto, é buscar entender como a relação das ações do Greenpeace com o imaginário do herói beneficia a adesão ao ciberativismo. Para isso usamos a Análise do Discurso da linha francesa como eixo teórico-metodológico, tendo como principais pensadores Patrick Charaudeau e Dominique Maingueneau, cujas ideias ajudaram a examinar a maneira como a linguagem é empregada nesses editoriais, estudando o seu contexto, resultando num discurso ideológico impregnado pelo imaginário do herói. Concluiu-se, que as técnicas discursivas utilizadas nos editoriais auxiliaram na criação do ethos do herói, do bandido e da vítima e que esses elementos valorizam as ações dos Greenpeace elevando a um patamar heróico.

CONSIDERAÇÕES ACERCA DA AUSÊNCIA PATERNA NA ADOLESCÊNCIA

O presente estudo teve por objetivos: a) Caracterizar uma amostra de adolescentes participantes de projetos sociais de uma Instituição de uma cidade do litoral paulista; b) Investigar aspectos da estrutura e dinâmica de adolescentes oriundos de famílias monoparentais, convencionais e de outras configurações familiares e, c) Compreender as relações estabelecidas com as figuras parentais por esses adolescentes pertencentes à essas diferentes organizações familiares.Para isso foi realizado inicialmente uma caracterização do perfil desses adolescentes e, posteriormente estudado seis casos de adolescentes de 12 a 18 anos participantes de Projetos Sociais do Terceiro Setor(Ong) pertencentes a diferentes formas de organizações familiares. Esses adolescentes freqüentavam a Instituição, local onde foram coletados os dados. Foram utilizados como instrumentos a entrevista semi-estruturada e o Teste de Apercepção Temática. De modo geral, os resultados mostraram que os adolescentes de famílias convencionais, ou seja, que possuem o pai e mãe no seio familiar conseguiram introjetar a imago paterna de forma mais integrada e, transitam pela adolescência de maneira mais estável. O esforço frente à elaboração dos lutos é vivenciado condizendo com a dita Síndrome da Adolescência Normal . Já os jovens pertencentes a famílias em que o pai não se faz presente no seio familiar, as defesas e as angustias apresentam-se condizentes aos estágios mais primitivos do desenvolvimento. Conclui-se que são necessários mais estudos frente a esta demanda para que o trabalho preventivo possa criar condições de um bom desenvolvimento psíquico para que este jovem passe pela adolescência e, chegue à vida adulta de maneira integrada.

CONSIDERAÇÕES ACERCA DA AUSÊNCIA PATERNA NA ADOLESCÊNCIA

O presente estudo teve por objetivos: a) Caracterizar uma amostra de adolescentes participantes de projetos sociais de uma Instituição de uma cidade do litoral paulista; b) Investigar aspectos da estrutura e dinâmica de adolescentes oriundos de famílias monoparentais, convencionais e de outras configurações familiares e, c) Compreender as relações estabelecidas com as figuras parentais por esses adolescentes pertencentes à essas diferentes organizações familiares.Para isso foi realizado inicialmente uma caracterização do perfil desses adolescentes e, posteriormente estudado seis casos de adolescentes de 12 a 18 anos participantes de Projetos Sociais do Terceiro Setor(Ong) pertencentes a diferentes formas de organizações familiares. Esses adolescentes freqüentavam a Instituição, local onde foram coletados os dados. Foram utilizados como instrumentos a entrevista semi-estruturada e o Teste de Apercepção Temática. De modo geral, os resultados mostraram que os adolescentes de famílias convencionais, ou seja, que possuem o pai e mãe no seio familiar conseguiram introjetar a imago paterna de forma mais integrada e, transitam pela adolescência de maneira mais estável. O esforço frente à elaboração dos lutos é vivenciado condizendo com a dita Síndrome da Adolescência Normal . Já os jovens pertencentes a famílias em que o pai não se faz presente no seio familiar, as defesas e as angustias apresentam-se condizentes aos estágios mais primitivos do desenvolvimento. Conclui-se que são necessários mais estudos frente a esta demanda para que o trabalho preventivo possa criar condições de um bom desenvolvimento psíquico para que este jovem passe pela adolescência e, chegue à vida adulta de maneira integrada.

AS RELAÇÕES ENTRE CONFLITO TRABALHO-FAMÍLIA, BEM-ESTAR SUBJETIVO E BEM-ESTAR NO TRABALHO

O conflito trabalho-família é um fenômeno freqüente nas sociedades atuais em que homens e mulheres dividem responsabilidades familiares e profissionais. A sua direção pode ser unidirecional ou bidirecional, ou seja, da família para o trabalho, do trabalho para a família ou simultaneamente de uma esfera para outra, afetando sensivelmente as relações familiares e as relações nas organizações, sendo possível afetar diretamente o bem-estar dos indivíduos. Este é um estudo de natureza quantitativa e com desenho transversal. O critério para a escolha de participantes foi o de conveniência. O objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi analisar as relações entre conflito trabalho-família (CTF), bem-estar subjetivo (BES) e bem-estar no trabalho (BET). O estudo contou com a participação de 174 trabalhadores em uma amostra diversificada de profissionais do segmento privado, público e de ONG, sendo 52,9% do sexo feminino, com idade média de 38,29 anos (DP=11,22). Para a obtenção dos dados optou-se por um questionário abrangendo as três variáveis do estudo contendo duas escalas para aferir as dimensões de BES, uma escala para aferir BET e uma escala para aferir CTF/CFT. Para a análise dos dados foi usado o SPSS, versão 20. Foram calculadas frequências, percentuais, médias, desvios-padrão, e índices de correlação, bem como índices de precisão das medidas usadas (Alpha de Cronbach). Os resultados apontaram para uma maior interferência do trabalho na família do que da família no trabalho. Essa interferência foi significativa tanto para o bem-estar no trabalho, quanto para o bem-estar subjetivo, alterando o envolvimento com o trabalho e gerando sentimentos de infelicidade, desânimo e angústia em relação as suas realizações pessoais, e ao futuro. Quanto maior o conflito trabalho-família, menor é o bem-estar no trabalho e menor é o bem-estar subjetivo desses participantes.

Expatriate managers adjustment and its impact on subordinates reactions: a cross cultural leadership study of Kenya and Ethiopia

Research on culture, leadership and adjustment shows that societal culture influences leadership in such a way that it can impact on expatriate managers' effectiveness and adjustment in a new culture. In previous research, cultural background, personality, motives or behaviour of expatriate managers and their followers' reactions to them have been investigated in Europe, America and Asia. However, little attention has been paid on research on expatriate managers in African cultures especially in Eastern Africa. The present study represents an attempt to address the gap by examining how societal culture, leadership and adjustment success are interrelated for expatriate managers in Kenya and Ethiopia. Questionnaire data were obtained from a) local middle managers (N=160) for studying societal culture and leadership in Kenya and Ethiopia, b) expatriate managers in non-governmental organizations - NGOs (N=28) for studying expatriate managers' personality, motives and adjustment success and c) their immediate subordinates (N=125) for studying the expatriate managers' behaviours and their subordinates' reactions to them. Additionally, expatriate managers were interviewed and responses were coded for implicit motives, experiences and adjustment. SPSS was used to analyse data from questionnaires to obtain cultural and leadership dimensions, leader behaviour and subordinate reactions. The NVIVO computer based disclosure analysis package was used to analyse interview data. Findings indicate that societal culture influences leadership behaviours and leadership perceptions while the expatriate managers' motives, behaviours, personality and the cross cultural training they received prior to their assignment impact on the expatriates' adjustment success and on subordinates' reactions to them. The cultural fit between expatriate managers' home country (19 countries) and the target country (Kenya or Ethiopia) had no significant association with adjustment success but was positively related to expatriate behaviour and negatively associated with subordinates reactions. However, some particular societal practices - obviously adopted by expatriates and transferred to their target country - did predict subordinates' commitment, motivation and job satisfaction. Furthermore, expatriates' responsibility motivation was positively related to their adjustment success. Regarding leadership behaviours and effectiveness, expatriate' supportive behaviours predicted subordinates' job satisfaction most strongly. Expatriate managers expressing their management philosophies and experience shed light on the various aspects of adjustment and management of NGOs. In addition, review of Kenyan and Ethiopian cultures and the NGO context in these countries offers valuable information for expatriate managers. This study's general imphcation for Cross Cultural Management and lnternational Human Resources Management is that the combination of culture general and culture specific knowledge and reflections on Eastern Africa countries can inform senior management and international HR staff about the critical issue of what to include in training, coaching, and actual experience in a particular host country in order to ensure effective leadership. Furthennore, this knowledge is expected to influence expatriate managers' behaviour modification to enhance positive subordinate reactions. Questions about how to prepare expatriate managers and subordinates to work more competently and sensitively across cultures are addressed. Further theoretical implications, limitations of the study and directions for future research are also addressed.

Simulating the value of collaboration in multi-actor conservation planning

The loss of habitat and biodiversity worldwide has led to considerable resources being spent for conservation purposes on actions such as the acquisition and management of land, the rehabilitation of degraded habitats, and the purchase of easements from private landowners. Prioritising these actions is challenging due to the complexity of the problem and because there can be multiple actors undertaking conservation actions, often with divergent or partially overlapping objectives. We use a modelling framework to explore this issue with a study involving two agents sequentially purchasing land for conservation. We apply our model to simulated data using distributions taken from real data to simulate the cost of patches and the rarity and co-occurence of species. In our model each agent attempted to implement a conservation network that met its target for the minimum cost using the conservation planning software Marxan. We examine three scenarios where the conservation targets of the agents differ. The first scenario (called NGO-NGO) models the situation where two NGOs are both are targeting different sets of threatened species. The second and third scenarios (called NGO-Gov and Gov-NGO, respectively) represent a case where a government agency attempts to implement a complementary conservation network representing all species, while an NGO is focused on achieving additional protection for the most endangered species. For each of these scenarios we examined three types of interactions between agents: i) acting in isolation where the agents are attempting to achieve their targets solely though their own actions ii) sharing information where each agent is aware of the species representation achieved within the other agent’s conservation network and, iii) pooling resources where agents combine their resources and undertake conservation actions as a single entity. The latter two interactions represent different types of collaborations and in each scenario we determine the cost savings from sharing information or pooling resources. In each case we examined the utility of these interactions from the viewpoint of the combined conservation network resulting from both agents' actions, as well as from each agent’s individual perspective. The costs for each agent to achieve their objectives varied depending on the order in which the agents acted, the type of interaction between agents, and the specific goals of each agent. There were significant cost savings from increased collaboration via sharing information in the NGO-NGO scenario were the agent’s representation goals were mutually exclusive (in terms of specie targeted). In the NGO-Gov and Gov-NGO scenarios, collaboration generated much smaller savings. If the two agents collaborate by pooling resources there are multiple ways the total cost could be shared between both agents. For each scenario we investigate the costs and benefits for all possible cost sharing proportions. We find that there are a range of cost sharing proportions where both agents can benefit in the NGO-NGO scenarios while the NGO-Gov and Gov-NGO scenarios again showed little benefit. Although the model presented here has a range of simplifying assumptions, it demonstrates that the value of collaboration can vary significantly in different situations. In most cases, collaborating would have associated costs and these costs need to be weighed against the potential benefits from collaboration. The model demonstrates a method for determining the range of collaboration costs that would result in collaboration providing an efficient use of scarce conservation resources.

Human resource development for inclusive procurement by intermediation:a situated learning theory application

This paper fills an important gap in the human resource development (HRD) literature by considering the role that NGO intermediation initiatives can play in bringing together and developing corporate procurement officials (CPOs) and ethnic minority business owner-managers (EMBOs) supplying goods and services. It has been suggested that such initiatives hold great promise in helping ethnic minority businesses escape from their disadvantageous sectoral concentration in the UK. Using situated learning theory as an application lens, the main aim of this paper is to demonstrate how nurturing communities of practice of CPOs and EMBOs and facilitating their interaction can help their professional development and their approaches to procuring and supplying, respectively. The paper reports on the authors' experience with an action research programme encompassing two intermediation initiatives of this kind. The lessons drawn from this study are useful for all those concerned with HRD for inclusive procurement; intermediaries promoting inclusive procurement, large procurers who are willing to engage with supplier diversity and ethnic minority suppliers who wish to access corporate procurement systems and 'break-out'. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Trigeneration using biomass energy for sustainable development

Purpose: The paper aims to design and prove the concept of micro-industry using trigeneration fuelled by biomass, for sustainable development in rural NW India. Design/methodology/approach: This is being tested at village Malunga, near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The system components comprise burning of waste biomass for steam generation and its use for power generation, cooling system for fruit ripening and the use of steam for producing distilled water. Site was selected taking into account the local economic and social needs, biomass resources available from agricultural activities, and the presence of a NGO which is competent to facilitate running of the enterprise. The trigeneration system was designed to integrate off-the-shelf equipment for power generation using boilers of approximate total capacity 1 tonne of fuel per hour, and a back-pressure steam turbo-generator (200 kW). Cooling is provided by a vapour absorption machine (VAM). Findings: The financial analysis indicates a payback time of less than two years. Nevertheless, this is sensitive to market fluctuations and availabilities of raw materials. Originality/value: Although comparable trigeneration systems already exist in large food processing industries and in space heating and cooling applications, they have not previously been used for rural micro-industry. The small-scale (1-2 m3/h output) multiple effect distillation (3 effect plus condenser) unit has not previously been deployed at field level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Business-driven social change:a systematic review of the evidence

How can companies help change people's behaviour in order to benefit society? Organizations have the resources and market influence to effect positive change. Through product labeling, supply chain management, cause marketing, corporate philanthropy, employee volunteerism and NGO (non-government organization) partnerships, companies are helping society get active, eat healthy foods, dispose of products properly, use less energy and generally live more sustainable lives. This report reveals the three conditions necessary for changing people's behaviour that create benefits for society. The report also includes 19 mechanisms companies can use to motivate people to change and to create the capabilities and opportunities for change.