Identification and dimensionality of difficult situations at work

Attempts to understand why people with adequate communication skills do not always perform well have focused on personality or personal style variables. This research focuses on the situational context and the difficulty inherent in particular encounters. This paper reports two studies concerned with what makes difficult face-to-face communication in work settings difficult or demanding. The first study (Study 1) identifies the types of face-to-face communication encounters that people find difficult to manage in the workplace. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered to define 41 difficult communication situations representing situations difficult for superiors, colleagues and subordinates, as well as generically difficult situations. In Study 2, quantitative data were analysed using multidimensional scaling techniques to reveal the underlying structure of the situations. Four dimensions were identified: protection/approach, vulnerability, self-management, and involvement/engagement. The results provide insight into the ways in which people construe these types of situations and also provide a taxonomy of difficult communication situations in the workplace. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

A dangerous entanglement

Entrapment of guidewires by inferior vena cava filters can occur during the blind insertion of a jugular or a subclavian central venous catheter. Recently, few case reports have been published in the radiology literature. In addition, others have described endovascular techniques aimed at removing entrapped guidewires, avoiding the possibility of vena cava rupture. Given that a temporary hemodialysis venous catheter is frequently used as a first access, the possibility of entrapping the dialysis catheter guidewire should not be neglected.

Smart Alerts: Development of Software to Optimize Data Monitoring

Dherte PM, Negrao MPG, Mori Neto S, Holzhacker R, Shimada V, Taberner P, Carmona MJC - Smart Alerts: Development of a Software to Optimize Data Monitoring. Background and objectives: Monitoring is useful for vital follow-ups and prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of several events in anesthesia. Although alarms can be useful in monitoring they can cause dangerous user`s desensitization. The objective of this study was to describe the development of specific software to integrate intraoperative monitoring parameters generating ""smart alerts"" that can help decision making, besides indicating possible diagnosis and treatment. Methods: A system that allowed flexibility in the definition of alerts, combining individual alarms of the parameters monitored to generate a more elaborated alert system was designed. After investigating a set of smart alerts, considered relevant in the surgical environment, a prototype was designed and evaluated, and additional suggestions were implemented in the final product. To verify the occurrence of smart alerts, the system underwent testing with data previously obtained during intraoperative monitoring of 64 patients. The system allows continuous analysis of monitored parameters, verifying the occurrence of smart alerts defined in the user interface. Results: With this system a potential 92% reduction in alarms was observed. We observed that in most situations that did not generate alerts individual alarms did not represent risk to the patient. Conclusions: Implementation of software can allow integration of the data monitored and generate information, such as possible diagnosis or interventions. An expressive potential reduction in the amount of alarms during surgery was observed. Information displayed by the system can be oftentimes more useful than analysis of isolated parameters.

Loss as a universal concept: Review of the literature to identify common aspects of loss in diverse situations

It has long been recognized that loss and its associated grief are important elements of many adverse life events that affect the entire global population: death, disability, traumatic events, abuse., terminal and chronic illness, aging, addiction, unemployment, relationship breakdown, war, migration, and educational failure. While there is significant empirical evidence of the potential deleterious effects of specific situations of loss across the global community, systematic discussion concerning the common elements of loss that are associated with adverse life situations in general has been limited. This review of the theoretical and empirical literature concerning various losses and the recommendations for care of those affected by such losses identifies common aspects of situations of loss and common recommendations in the care of those confronted by such losses. These common themes of loss are described by simple summary statements that can be communicated to a broad audience, hence enhancing community education and, potentially, community-wide mental health promotion.

A real time pricing approach to deal with excessive wind power situations

The introduction of wind power generation in several countries around the world, including in European countries, where energy policy directives have encouraged the use of renewables, led to several changes in market and power systems operation. The intensive integration of these sources has led to situations in which the demand is lower than the available renewable resources. In these situations a part of the available generation is wasted if not used for storage or to supply additional demand. This paper proposes a real time demand response methodology based on changing the electricity price for the consumers expecting an increase in the demand in the periods in which that demand is lower than the available renewable generation. The consumers response to the changes in electricity price is characterized by their price elasticity of demand considered distinct for each consumer type. The proposed methodology is applied to the Portuguese power system, in the context of the Iberian electricity market (MIBEL). The renewable-based producers are considered as special producers, with special tariffs, and so it is important to use the energy available as it will be paid anyway. In this context, consumers are entities actively participating in the operation of the market.

Virtual power players dealing with excessive wind power situations using real time pricing

The increasing importance given by environmental policies to the dissemination and use of wind power has led to its fast and large integration in power systems. In most cases, this integration has been done in an intensive way, causing several impacts and challenges in current and future power systems operation and planning. One of these challenges is dealing with the system conditions in which the available wind power is higher than the system demand. This is one of the possible applications of demand response, which is a very promising resource in the context of competitive environments that integrates even more amounts of distributed energy resources, as well as new players. The methodology proposed aims the maximization of the social welfare in a smart grid operated by a virtual power player that manages the available energy resources. When facing excessive wind power generation availability, real time pricing is applied in order to induce the increase of consumption so that wind curtailment is minimized. The proposed method is especially useful when actual and day-ahead wind forecast differ significantly. The proposed method has been computationally implemented in GAMS optimization tool and its application is illustrated in this paper using a real 937-bus distribution network with 20310 consumers and 548 distributed generators, some of them with must take contracts.

Aspectos a considerar para a avaliação de riscos no caso da aplicação do óleo descofrante

Mestrado em Higiene e Segurança no Trabalho.

Biomarkers in Cardiology - Part 2: In Coronary Heart Disease, Valve Disease and Special Situations

Cardiovascular diseases are the main causes of mortality and morbidity in Brazil. Their primary and secondary preventions are a priority for the health system and require multiple approaches for increased effectiveness. Biomarkers are tools used to identify with greater accuracy high-risk individuals, establish a faster diagnosis, guide treatment, and determine prognosis. This review aims to highlight the importance of biomarkers in clinical cardiology practice and raise relevant points regarding their application and perspectives for the next few years. This document was divided into two parts. This second part addresses the application of biomarkers in coronary heart disease, valvular diseases, cardio-oncology, pulmonary embolism, and cardiorenal syndrome.

On games corresponding to sequencing situations with precedence relations

In this paper we study a class of cooperative sequencing games that arise from one-machine sequencing situations in which chain precedence relations are imposed on the jobs. It is shown that these sequencing games are convex.

Cross-section data, disequilibrium situations and estimated coefficients: evidence from car ownership demand

The objective of this paper is to analyse to what extent the use of cross-section data will distort the estimated elasticities for car ownership demand when the observed variables do not correspond to a state equilibrium for some individuals in the sample. Our proposal consists of approximating the equilibrium values of the observed variables by constructing a pseudo-panel data set which entails averaging individuals observed at different points of time into cohorts. The results show that individual and aggregate data lead to almost the same value for income elasticity, whereas with respect to working adult elasticity the similarity is less pronounced.

Oxidative potential for fine/ultrafine particles in occupational situations

Introduction : The redox properties of fine/ultrafine particles as well as nanoparticles (NP) are suggested to be important to explain their biological activity and could constitute a novel and promising metric for hazard evaluation. The acellular in vitro dithiothreitol (DTT) assay allows measuring this property. Objectives : (1) to evaluate sampling requirements for fine/ultrafine particle allowing measurement of their oxidative potential (2) to apply the methodology to occupational situations where particle from combustion sources are generated. Material and method : Sampling parameters (type of filters and loaded amount) and storage duration affecting the DTT measurements were evaluated. Based on these results, a methodological approach was defined and applied in two occupational situations where diesel and other combustion particles are present (toll station in a tunnel and mechanical yard for bus reparation). Results : Teflon filters loaded with diesel particles were found more suitable for the DTT assay, due to their better chemical inertness compared to quartz filters: after storage durations larger than 150 hours, an increased reactivity toward DTT was observed only with quartz filters. Reactivity was linearly correlated to the loaded mass until about 1000 μg/filter. Different redox reactivities were determined in both working places, with the mechanical yard presenting a higher DTT consumption rate. Discussion and conclusions : These results demonstrate the feasibility of this method to determine the oxidative potential of fine/ultrafine particles in occupational situations. We propose to include this approach for hazard assessment of work places with exposure to manufactured and other NP.

L'usage de faux documents d'identité: situations récurrentes, profil des auteurs et jugements pénaux

Cette étude vise à mesurer les caractéristiques, l'étendue et l'évolution des cas d'usage de faux documents d'identité traités par la police et le système de justice pénale suisse, ainsi qu'à proposer des mesures de prévention spécifiques pour ce délit. La partie empirique repose sur l'analyse de 445 affaires traitées par la police de deux cantons suisses entre 2005 et 2011, ainsi que sur l'analyse de 172 décisions judiciaires concernant ces affaires. L'analyse des dossiers de police est conduite à travers de la grille de lecture du triangle du crime. Cette grille de lecture proposée par l'approche situationnelle en criminologie permet d'établir les profils des auteurs, des faux documents, des situations dans lesquelles ces derniers ont été utilisés, et des gardiens concernés par la fraude documentaire. La période étudiée permet aussi d'évaluer l'influence de l'entrée de la Suisse dans l'espace Schengen sur l'évolution de ce type de délit. De plus, la combinaison de données policières et judiciaires pour un même groupe d'individus permet également d'observer le processus pénal dès la découverte de l'infraction jusqu'à la décision judiciaire, tout en portant une attention spéciale aux taux de condamnations et aux peines imposées. Finalement, ces analyses permettent de proposer des mesures concrètes de prévention situationnelle de la délinquance qui pourraient être mises en place par la police et par certaines institutions privées concernées par la fraude documentaire.