La presión laboral tendenciosa (Mobbing)

El trabajo de investigación surge en el año 2001, ante la necesidad de hacer frente a una nueva realidad jurídica, el mobbing. Para ello fue decisivo el estudio de lo publicado (básicamente de ramas ajenas al Derecho) pero sobre todo las entrevistas con las víctimas de mobbing y sus asociaciones; este extremo, unido a la ausencia de un tratamiento internacional, obligó a un camino autodidacta para definir mobbing jurídicamente. La Tesis define mobbing como la presión laboral tendente a la autoeliminación de un trabajador mediante su denigración (presión laboral tendenciosa), y con ello por primera vez se tiene una definición de mobbing en línea y media, con plena validez jurídica, que es susceptible de ser memorizada y por lo tanto divulgada, para corregir el problema. El denominado "concepto uniformado de mobbing" recalca la denigración como mecanismo frente a los tratos degradantes y recalca la autoeliminación como finalidad de un comportamiento doloso. El trabajo aporta fórmulas para deslindar casos de mobbing de otras figuras próximas, y en este sentido debe citarse "la regla del 9" para saber si hay mobbing; en sede de estadísticas se critican metodológicamente muchas de ellas presentadas hasta el momento y se aporta alguna en sede de Tribunales; pero sobre todo se advierte de los riesgos jurídicos de una previsible regulación específica antimobbing, mediante el examen de las distintas definiciones que se han esgrimido hasta el momento. La segunda parte de la Tesis profundiza sobre el grado de sensibilización de nuestro ordenamiento jurídico y Tribunales, a cuyo fin se ha trabajado con más de un centernar y medio de sentencias dictadas sobre la materia, y por supuesto la totalidad de las recogidas en las bases de datos de las editoriales. El análisis sirve para apreciar la bondad de la sistemática aquí defendida, poniendo en evidencia errores, y contradicciones. La Tesis advierte que la presión laboral tendenciosa más allá de vulnerar el derecho constitucional al trabajo, o los derechos fundamentales a la integridad moral y el honor, es una transgresión a todo un "espíritu constitucional", y en este sentido se analiza con detalle tanto la posibilidad de recurrir en amparo, como el derecho a la indemnidad para quien se enfrenta a esta situación. Advirtiendo de las ventajas de efectuar esta reacción mediante la modalidad procesal de tutela de los derechos fundamentales, se analiza la recurrida acción del art.50 ET, donde se realizan aportaciones sugerentes como el plazo prescripción o la "doctrina de los antecedentes", y se otorgan respuestas a las preguntas sobre obligación de seguir trabajando y ejecución provisional. En sede de acciones de Seguridad Social, la Tesis distingue entre la incapacidad temporal y permanente (depresiones) y la muerte y supervivencia, aportándose sobre la primera la técnica denominada "interpretación en tres niveles" y descartando la posibilidad de considerar accidente de trabajo el suicidio tras un mobbing por imperativo legal, pero aportando un sucedáneo bastante razonable como es el accidente no laboral. Junto a ello se razona por la viabilidad del recargo del art.123 LGSS. Civilmente, la Tesis se posiciona de "lege ferenda" por reconducir este tipo de acciones resarcitorias del daño psíquico y moral al orden civil, por una mayor explicación sobre el origen del quantum, pero sobre todo considera inadmisible la STS 11-3-04, y ello por una pluralidad de argumentos, pero sobre todo por cuanto viene a autorizar "de facto" este tipo de conductas. La posibilidad de accionar administrativamente frente a este riesgo psicosocial se analiza en un doble terreno, la empresa y la Administración. Si bien el cauce sobre el primero tiene algunos meandros que se desbelan, la situación es radicalmente frustrante en la Administración -donde se encuentra el mayor caldo de cultivo del mobbing- , y ello por el RD 707/2002, pero todavía en mayor medida por el Criterio Técnico 34/2003 mediante el cual la interpretación del Director General de la Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social ha venido tácitamente a derogar parcialmente la Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales para la Administración. En materia penal, la Tesis se decanta "a priori" por dos tipos penales, los delitos contra los derechos de los trabajadores, y el delito de trato degradante; sin embargo, en la práctica sólo este segundo es el camino que puede alcanzar buen puerto. Finalmente se realiza un estudio detallado de la Ley 62/2003, ley que se divulgó como reguladora del acoso moral, y que después se defiende como un avance frente al mobbing. La Tesis advierte que no es cierto ni lo uno, ni lo otro, habiendo creado un "espejismo legal" que puede perjudicar a las víctimas de mobbing, además de no servir su estructura para una futura regulación explícita antimobbing.

Why are some handaxes symmetrical? Testing the influence of handaxe morphology on butchery effectiveness

The morphology of Acheulean handaxes continues to be a subject of debate amongst Lower Palaeolithic archaeologists, with some arguing that many handaxes are over-engineered for a subsistence function alone. This study aims to provide an empirical foundation for these debates by testing the relationship between a range of morphological variables, including symmetry, and the effectiveness of handaxes for butchery. Sixty handaxes were used to butcher 30 fallow deer by both a professional and a non-professional butcher. Regression analysis on the resultant data set indicates that while frontal symmetry may explain a small amount of variance in the effectiveness of handaxes for butchery, a large percentage of variance remains unexplained by symmetry or any of the other morphological variables under consideration.

Administrador escolar: especialista ou educador?: uma análise a partir do caso sergipano

A administração da educação pública sergipana se tem submetido as determinações do contexto histórico-estrutural do estado, as quais têm reduzido as escolas públicas a meros espaços de manobras político-partidárias. As direções das instituições escolares são ocupadas, via de regra, por pessoas arbitrariamente indicadas pelo Estado, que estão deixando fluir até a clientela a ideologia da classe dominante. Na hegemonia em curso, seu papel tem sido o de reforço à evasão e seletividade da escola pública e o de controlador da distribuição do saber elaborado junto as crianças oriundas das camadas populares. E nesse sentido não se verifica qualquer diferença a partir da habilitação desses administradores. Considerada a escola pública numa perspectiva progressista e dada a insatisfação geral registrada, sobretudo nas escolas estaduais da capital e municipais do interior do estado, sugere-se dentre outras medidas, que todo o processo de formação do educador enfatize sua possibilidade como organizador de propostas pedagógicas coletivas, vinculadas ao movimento de democratização da sociedade. Isto desde as licenciaturas, às escolas normais e programas especiais de preparação do professor leigo, portanto extrapolando o âmbito das discussões sobre uma habilitação do Curso de Pedagogia. Também se propõe a união de forças da sociedade civil e a deflagração de um amplo processo de discussão na sociedade, a ser desenvolvido por etapas (municipal, micro-regional e estadual) tendo em vista a definição de diretrizes para uma política educacional em Sergipe. A mediação que se espera do organizador da escola é o exercício de uma administração de um direito civil básico de todo e cada cidadão sergipano: o domínio competente do saber social acumulado; essa prática ensejará ao diretor de escolas evoluir da postura de intelectual tradicional para a de intelectual progressista.

Learning in peer-to-peer markets: evidence from Airbnb

Peer-to-peer markets are highly uncertain environments due to the constant presence of shocks. As a consequence, sellers have to constantly adjust to these shocks. Dynamic Pricing is hard, especially for non-professional sellers. We study it in an accommodation rental marketplace, Airbnb. With scraped data from its website, we: 1) describe pricing patterns consistent with learning; 2) estimate a demand model and use it to simulate a dynamic pricing model. We simulate it under three scenarios: a) with learning; b) without learning; c) with full information. We have found that information is an important feature concerning rental markets. Furthermore, we have found that learning is important for hosts to improve their profits.

Epithelial cells treated with genistein inhibit adhesion and endocytosis of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis

Paracoccidioidomycosis is caused by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, which although not formally considered an intracellular pathogen, can be internalized by epithelial cells in vitro and in vivo. The mechanisms used by P. brasiliensis to adhere to and invade non-professional phagocytes have not been identified. The signal-transduction networks, involving protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) and protein phosphatase activities, can modulate crucial events during fungal infections. In this study, the involvement of PTK has been investigated in P. brasiliensis adherence and invasion in mammalian epithelial cells. A significant inhibition of the fungal invasion occurred after the pre-treatment of the epithelial cells with genistein, a specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor, indicating that the tyrosine kinase pathway is involved in P. brasiliensis internalization. In contrast, when the fungus was treated, a slight (not significant) inhibition of PTK was observed, suggesting that PTK might not be the fungus' transduction signal pathway during the invasion process of epithelial cells. An intense PTK immunofluorescence labeling was observed in the periphery of the P. brasiliensis infected cells, little PTK labeling was found in both uninfected cells and yeast cells, at later infection times (8 and 24 h). Moreover, when the epithelial cells were treated with genistein and infected with P. brasiliensis, no labeling was observed, suggesting the importance of the PTK in the infectious process. These results suggest that PTK pathway participates in the transduction signal during the initial events of the adhesion and invasion processes of P. brasiliensis to mammalian epithelial cells.

Avaliação de moléculas de adesão e da via endocítica na interação Paracoccidioides brasiliensis-células do hospedeiro

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Motociclistas vítimas de acidentes em Paranavaí, 2011

Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva - FMB

The silent survival of Staphylococcus aureus phagocyted by HL-60 derived neutrophils

Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram positive pathogen that causes various human infections and represents one of the most common causes of bacteremia. S. aureus is able to invade a variety of non-professional phagocytes and that can survive engulfment by neutrophils, producing both secreted and surface components that compromise innate immune responses. In the contest of our study we evaluated the functional activity of vaccine specific antibodies by opsonophagocytosis killing assay (OPKA). Interestingly a low level of killing of the staphylococcal cells has been observed. In the meanwhile intracellular survival studies showed that S. aureus persisted inside phagocytes for several hours until a burst of growth after 5 hours in the supernatant. These data suggest that the strong ability of S. aureus to survive in the phagocytes could be the cause of the low killing measured by OPKA. Moreover parallel studies on HL-60 cells infected with S. aureus done by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) interestingly showed that staphylococcal cells have an intracellular localization (endosomal vacuoles) and that they are able not only to maintain the integrity of their membrane but also to replicate inside vacuolar compartments. Finally in order to generate 3D volume of whole bacteria when present inside neutrophilic vacuoles, we collected a series of tomographic two-dimensional (2D) images by using a transmission electron microscope, generating 5 different tomograms. The three-dimensional reconstruction reveals the presence of intact bacteria within neutrophil vacuoles. The S. aureus membrane appears completely undamaged and integral in contrast with the physiological process of phagosytosis through vacuoles progression. S. aureus bacteria show a homogenous distribution of the density in all the three dimensions (X, Y, Z). All these evidences definitely explain the ability of the pathogen to survive inside the endosomal vacuoles and should be the cause of the low killing level.

Il ruolo della metafora nella comunicazione della fisica contemporanea

Il presente lavoro si rivolge all’analisi del ruolo delle forme metaforiche nella divulgazione della fisica contemporanea. Il focus è sugli aspetti cognitivi: come possiamo spiegare concetti fisici formalmente complessi ad un audience di non-esperti senza ‘snaturarne’ i significati disciplinari (comunicazione di ‘buona fisica’)? L’attenzione è sulla natura stessa della spiegazione e il problema riguarda la valutazione dell’efficacia della spiegazione scientifica a non-professionisti. Per affrontare tale questione, ci siamo orientati alla ricerca di strumenti formali che potessero supportarci nell’analisi linguistica dei testi. La nostra attenzione si è rivolta al possibile ruolo svolto dalle forme metaforiche nella costruzione di significati disciplinarmente validi. Si fa in particolare riferimento al ruolo svolto dalla metafora nella comprensione di nuovi significati a partire da quelli noti, aspetto fondamentale nel caso dei fenomeni di fisica contemporanea che sono lontani dalla sfera percettiva ordinaria. In particolare, è apparsa particolarmente promettente come strumento di analisi la prospettiva della teoria della metafora concettuale. Abbiamo allora affrontato il problema di ricerca analizzando diverse forme metaforiche di particolare rilievo prese da testi di divulgazione di fisica contemporanea. Nella tesi viene in particolare discussa l’analisi di un case-study dal punto di vista della metafora concettuale: una analogia di Schrödinger per la particella elementare. I risultati dell’analisi suggeriscono che la metafora concettuale possa rappresentare uno strumento promettente sia per la valutazione della qualità delle forme analogiche e metaforiche utilizzate nella spiegazione di argomenti di fisica contemporanea che per la creazione di nuove e più efficaci metafore. Inoltre questa prospettiva di analisi sembra fornirci uno strumento per caratterizzare il concetto stesso di ‘buona fisica’. Riteniamo infine che possano emergere altri risultati di ricerca interessanti approfondendo l’approccio interdisciplinare tra la linguistica e la fisica.

Il child language brokering a Ravenna e provincia: la parola agli studenti e ai professori

The main aim of this study is to provide a description of the phenomenon defined as Child Language Brokering (CLB), a common practice among language minority communities but which has received less attention in the academic literature. As the children of immigrants often learn the host language much more quickly than their parents, they contribute to family life by acting as language and cultural mediators between a family members and different language speakers. Many immigrant families prefer a language broker from within their own family to an external mediator or interpreter, even though there is a well-found resistance to the use of these young interpreters by professionals. In this study I report some findings from surveys of teachers in schools in Ravenna where there has been some use of students as CLBs and of students who have acted or are still acting as mediators for their families in different contexts, not only while at school. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. Chapter one aims at providing an overview of recent migration to Italy and of the differences between first-generation immigrants and second-generation immigrants. The chapter also discusses the available professional interpreting facilities provided by the municipality of Ravenna. Chapter two presents an overview of the literature on child language brokering. Chapter three provides a description of the methodology used in order to analyze the data collected. Chapter four contains a detailed analysis of the questionnaires administered to the students and the interviews submitted to the teachers in four schools in Ravenna. Chapter five focuses on the studies carried out by the researchers of the Thomas Coram Research Unit and University College London and draws a general comparison between their findings from on-line surveys of teachers in schools and my own findings on teachers’ points of view. The results of this study demonstrate that CLB is a common practice among immigrant children living in Ravenna and, although almost all students reported positive appreciation, further work is still needed to assess the impact of this phenomenon.

Siberian Wooden Churches: Reality and Symbolics

The preservation of Siberia's cultural heritage poses a serious problem. Many Siberian churches were destroyed or reconstructed, without their original form being carefully described. Mainicheva studied the question of Siberian wooden churches of the 17th-18th centuries, producing a complex analysis of their symbolism, phenomenology and morphology. Published and archival materials show that such unique churches as the Sophia Cathedral in Tobolesk (1621), the Trinity Church in Tomsk (1654) and the Church of Kazan Holy Mother in Ilimsk (1679) directly reflected the main features of medieval Russian culture combined with new perceptions of Man and the Universe. These Russian Orthodox churches have considerable significance for understanding the natural development of Russian architecture as a part of the Russian culture of permanently moving people. All these churches, which no longer exist in their original form, were built by unknown folk builders and represented a good example of non-professional architecture. Mainicheva developed full descriptions of the churches, including graphic reconstructions of their original plans and facades.

Outer membrane protein UspA1 and lipooligosaccharide are involved in invasion of human epithelial cells by Moraxella catarrhalis

Invasion of non-professional phagocytes is a strategy employed by several mucosal pathogens, but has not been investigated in detail for Moraxella catarrhalis, a major cause of human respiratory tract infections. We investigated the role of outer membrane protein (OMP) UspA1 and lipooligosaccharide (LOS) in M. catarrhalis invasion into epithelial cells. An isogenic mutant of strain O35E, which lacked expression of the UspA1 adhesin, demonstrated not only severely impaired adherence (86%) to but also reduced invasion (77%) into Chang conjunctival cells in comparison with the wild-type strain. The isogenic, LOS-deficient mutant strain O35E.lpxA was attenuated in adherence (93%) and its capacity to invade was severely reduced (95%), but not abolished. Inhibition assays using sucrose and cytochalasin D, respectively, demonstrated that clathrin and actin polymerization contribute to internalization of M. catarrhalis by Chang cells. Furthermore, inhibition of UspA1-mediated binding to cell-associated fibronectin and alpha5beta1 integrin decreased invasion of M. catarrhalis strain O35E (72% and 41%, respectively). These data indicate that OMP UspA1 and LOS profoundly affect the capacity of M. catarrhalis to invade epithelial cells.

The Swiss Schools have been Governed by Local Lay Authorities

After the introduction of the liberal-democratic constitutions in the Swiss cantons in the first half of the 1830ies the grid of existing schools has been systemized and broadly expanded. The school systems have ever since been characterized by one key element: a special local authority type called „Schulkommission“ or „Schulpflege“. They take the form of committees consisting of laymen that are appointed by democratic elections like all the other executive bodies on the different federal levels in Switzerland. When it comes to their obligations and activities these community level school committees conform very much to the school boards in the American and Canadian school systems. They are accountable for the selection and supervision of the teachers. They approve decisions about the school careers of pupils and about curricular matters like the choice of school books. Normally their members are elected by the local voters for four year terms of office (reelection remains possible) and with regard to pedagogics they normally are non-professionals. The board members are responsible for classes and teachers assigned to them and they have to go to see them periodically. These visitations and the board meetings each month together with the teachers enable the board members to attain a deep insight into what happens in their schools over the course of their term of office. But they are confronted as laymen with a professional teaching staff and with educational experts in the public administration. Nevertheless this form of executive power by non-professionals is constitutive for the state governance in the Swiss as well as in other national political environments. It corresponds to the principles of subsidiarity and militia and therefore allows for a strong accentuation of liberty and the right of self-determination, two axioms at the very base of democratic federalist ideology. This governance architecture with this strong accent on local anchorage features substantial advantages for the legitimacy and acceptability of political and administrative decisions. And this is relevant especially in the educational area because the rearing of the offspring is a project of hope and, besides, quite costly. In the public opinion such supervision bodies staffed by laymen seem to have certain credibility advances in comparison with the professional administration. They are given credit to be capable of impeding the waste of common financial resources and of warranting the protection and the fostering of the community’s children at once. Especially because of their non-professional character they are trusted to be reliably immune against organizational blindness and they seem to be able to defend the interests of the local community against the standardization and centralization aspirations originating from the administrational expertocracy. In the paper these common rationales will be underpinned by results of a comprehensive historical analysis of the Session protocols of three Bernese school commissions from 1835 to 2005.

Requirements for Staphylococcus aureus in vitro cellular internalization

Staphylcoccus aureus is a prokaryotic organism capable of causing numerous superficial and severe human infections. Adhesion of S. aureus to host tissues or cells is believed to be a crucial event in S. aureus infections. Subsequently, S. aureus can seed into the bloodstream resulting in metastasis of the infection. Several reports show that S. aureus can be internalized by non-professional phagocytes, a process which has been proposed to be important in S. aureus dissemination. An intracellular residence has also been proposed to provide safe harbor to reservoirs of dormant bacteria contributing to the persistence of infection. This dissertation describes an investigation into the molecular mechanisms of S. aureus internalization into both fibroblast and epithelial cells. Bacterial requirements for internalization were found to be limited to expression of proteins that bind the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin. A previously unknown fibronectin-binding region in the S. aureus fibronectin-binding protein A was discovered after showing competitive inhibition of S. aureus internalization. This novel fibronectin-binding activity is characterized. Internalization also required cell-based factors. The presence of fibronectin and cell surface receptors of the β1 integrin class, which are known to bind and internalize fibronectin, were found to be necessary for optimal internalization of S. aureus. These results led to the conclusion that fibronectin acts as a bridge between the bacterium and integrins on the host cells. The internalization process exhibits features characteristic of integrin-mediated cell migration on fibronectin-coated surfaces. Both processes involved an active form of the β1 integrin subunit and the protein tyrosine kinase Src. Finally, a Src inhibitor previously shown to be effective in reducing osteoporosis in an in vivo rat model is capable of greatly reducing S. aureus internalization. ^

Web-based Biodiversity Citizen Science Database (assembled 2012)

The collective impact of humans on biodiversity rivals mass extinction events defining Earth's history, but does our large population also present opportunities to document and contend with this crisis? We provide the first quantitative review of biodiversity-related citizen science to determine whether data collected by these projects can be, and are currently being, effectively used in biodiversity research. We find strong evidence of the potential of citizen science: within projects we sampled (n = 388), ~1.3 million volunteers participate, contributing up to US Dollar 2.5 billion in-kind annually. These projects exceed most federally-funded studies in spatial and temporal extent, and collectively they sample a breadth of taxonomic diversity. However, only 12% of the 388 projects surveyed obviously provide data to peer-reviewed scientific articles, despite the fact that a third of these projects have verifiable, standardized data that are accessible online. Factors influencing publication included project spatial scale and longevity and having publically available data, as well as one measure of scientific rigor (taxonomic identification training). Because of the low rate at which citizen science data reach publication, the large and growing citizen science movement is likely only realizing a small portion of its potential impact on the scientific research community. Strengthening connections between professional and non-professional participants in the scientific process will enable this large data resource to be better harnessed to understand and address global change impacts on biodiversity.