How do people perceive, understand, and anticipate responding to flash flood risks and warnings? Results from a public survey in Boulder, Colorado, USA

This study investigates flash flood forecast and warning communication, interpretation, and decision making, using data from a survey of 418 members of the public in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Respondents to the public survey varied in their perceptions and understandings of flash flood risks in Boulder, and some had misconceptions about flash flood risks, such as the safety of crossing fast-flowing water. About 6% of respondents indicated consistent reversals of US watch-warning alert terminology. However, more in-depth analysis illustrates the multi-dimensional, situationally dependent meanings of flash flood alerts, as well as the importance of evaluating interpretation and use of warning information along with alert terminology. Some public respondents estimated low likelihoods of flash flooding given a flash flood warning; these were associated with lower anticipated likelihood of taking protective action given a warning. Protective action intentions were also lower among respondents who had less trust in flash flood warnings, those who had not made prior preparations for flash flooding, and those who believed themselves to be safer from flash flooding. Additional analysis, using open-ended survey questions about responses to warnings, elucidates the complex, contextual nature of protective decision making during flash flood threats. These findings suggest that warnings can play an important role not only by notifying people that there is a threat and helping motivate people to take protective action, but also by helping people evaluate what actions to take given their situation.

Institutional legacies and capabilities: work practices and employment relations in Portugal and Mozambique

This is a study of institutional change and continuity, comparing the trajectories followed by Mozambique and its formal colonial power Portugal in HRM, based on two surveys of firm level practices. The colonial power sought to extend the institutions of the metropole in the closing years of its rule, and despite all the adjustments and shocks that have accompanied Mozambique’s post-independence years, the country continues to retain institutional features and associated practices from the past. This suggests that there is a post-colonial impact on human resource management. The implications for HRM theory are that ambitious attempts at institutional substitution may have less dramatic effects than is commonly assumed. Indeed, we encountered remarkable similarities between the two countries in HRM practices, implying that features of supposedly fluid or less mature institutional frameworks (whether in Africa or the Mediterranean world) may be sustained for protracted periods of time, pressures to reform notwithstanding. This highlights the complexities of continuities which transcend formal rules; as post-colonial theories alert us, informal conventions and embedded discourse may result in the persistence of informal power and subordination, despite political and legal changes.

Plasma concentrations of ascorbic acid in parturients from a hospital in Southeast Brazil

Background & aims: Pregnancy is a period characterized by high metabolic requirements and physiological changes in the female organism. During this period, Low body stores of vitamins and minerals including antioxidants can have adverse effects on the mother and foetus. This cross-sectional. study assessed plasma concentrations of ascorbic acid (AA) in 117 parturients admitted into a university hospital in S (a) over tildeo Paulo city, Brazil. Methods: The concentrations of AA were determined by the high performance liquid chromatographic method. Data concerning socioeconomic, demographic, obstetric and nutritional characteristics of the parturients were collected by a standardized questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of AA deficiency (< 22.7 mu mol/L) among the parturients was 30.8%. Mean plasma AA concentrations were lower in single/divorced women (27.84 +/- 3.48 mu mol./L) compared with married/single with partner women (34.78 +/- 1.85 mu mol/L) (p = 0.047). Blood AA concentrations were significantly correlated with per capita income (r = 0.36, p < 0.001) and vitamin C-rich food intake score (r = 0.42, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The high prevalence of hypovitaminosis C detected in this study is probably due to an inadequate intake of foods rich in vitamin C and tow income. We alert to the need for increasing the intake of vitamin C-rich foods through educational. programs, especially for tow income populations. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

22q11 deletion syndrome and limb anomalies: Report on two Brazilian patients

Objective: To report on two Brazilian patients with chromosome 22q11 deletion who presented with velopharyngeal insufficiency, congenital heart anomalies, developmental delay, and limb anomalies. The pattern of limb anomalies in these patients, which range from ectrodactyly to limb synostosis, is very uncommon in 22q11 deletion syndrome. Conclusion: These patients widen the spectrum of clinical signs of the 22q11 deletion syndrome and alert researchers to conduct additional investigation in patients with limb involvement with velopharyngeal insufficiency and/or cardiac anomalies, along with developmental delay.

Balanoposthitis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa co-producing metallo-beta-lactamase and 16S rRNA methylase in children with hematological malignancies

Balanoposthitis is defined as the inflammation of the glans penis and its foreskin. In the presence of other underlying medical conditions, this localized infection may spread systemically, serving as a source of fever and bacteremia in neutropenic males. Two rare cases of balanoposthitis caused by a clonally related Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolate co-producing the SPM-1 metallo-beta-lactamase and the novel 16S rRNA methylase RmtD are described. Four multidrug-resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa isolates were successively recovered from glans/foreskin swabs and urine cultures from two uncircumcised pediatric patients, one with Burkitt`s non-Hodgkin`s lymphoma and one with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Clinically, preputial colonization by MDR P. aeruginosa evolved to severe balanoposthitis with glans/foreskin lesions as a source of fever. Combination therapy of ciprofloxacin and/or aztreonam (systemic) plus polymyxin B (topical) was effective once reversion of the neutropenic condition was achieved. Although P. aeruginosa remains an unusual cause of balanoposthitis, these cases should alert the physician to the potential pathogenicity of this bacterium. Furthermore, co-production of metallo-beta-lactamase and 16S rRNA methylase has a potential impact on the empirical management of complicated infections caused by P. aeruginosa. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. All rights reserved.

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz`min energy threshold, 6 x 10(19) eV. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.1 degrees from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the Veron-Cetty and Veron 12th catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is (38(-6)(+7))%, compared with 21% expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of (69-(+11)(13))%. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measuring Application Availability,Usage and Performance : Implementation of EnView System

The main objective for this degree project is to implement an Application Availability Monitoring (AAM) system named Softek EnView for Fujitsu Services. The aim of implementing the AAM system is to proactively identify end user performance problems, such as application and site performance, before the actual end users experience them. No matter how well applications and sites are designed and nomatter how well they meet business requirements, they are useless to the end users if the performance is slow and/or unreliable. It is important for the customers to find out whether the end user problems are caused by the network or application malfunction. The Softek EnView was comprised of the following EnView components: Robot, Monitor, Reporter, Collector and Repository. The implemented system, however, is designed to use only some of these EnView elements: Robot, Reporter and depository. Robots can be placed at any key user location and are dedicated to customers, which means that when the number of customers increases, at the sametime the amount of Robots will increase. To make the AAM system ideal for the company to use, it was integrated with Fujitsu Services’ centralised monitoring system, BMC PATROL Enterprise Manager (PEM). That was actually the reason for deciding to drop the EnView Monitor element. After the system was fully implemented, the AAM system was ready for production. Transactions were (and are) written and deployed on Robots to simulate typical end user actions. These transactions are configured to run with certain intervals, which are defined collectively with customers. While they are driven against customers’ applicationsautomatically, transactions collect availability data and response time data all the time. In case of a failure in transactions, the robot immediately quits the transactionand writes detailed information to a log file about what went wrong and which element failed while going through an application. Then an alert is generated by a BMC PATROL Agent based on this data and is sent to the BMC PEM. Fujitsu Services’ monitoring room receives the alert, reacts to it according to the incident management process in ITIL and by alerting system specialists on critical incidents to resolve problems. As a result of the data gathered by the Robots, weekly reports, which contain detailed statistics and trend analyses of ongoing quality of IT services, is provided for the Customers.

A web based decision support system for status assessment in advanced parkinson

The purpose of this work is to develop a web based decision support system, based onfuzzy logic, to assess the motor state of Parkinson patients on their performance in onscreenmotor tests in a test battery on a hand computer. A set of well defined rules, basedon an expert’s knowledge, were made to diagnose the current state of the patient. At theend of a period, an overall score is calculated which represents the overall state of thepatient during the period. Acceptability of the rules is based on the absolute differencebetween patient’s own assessment of his condition and the diagnosed state. Anyinconsistency can be tracked by highlighted as an alert in the system. Graphicalpresentation of data aims at enhanced analysis of patient’s state and performancemonitoring by the clinic staff. In general, the system is beneficial for the clinic staff,patients, project managers and researchers.

Levantamento de problemas em fundações correntes no estado do Rio Grande do Sul

Os resultados de um levantamento de 548 casos patológicos em fundações ocorridos no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul são apresentados com o objetivo de identificar as causas mais freqüentes de problemas, o tipo de fundação mais afetado e a gravidade dos danos. O mecanismo de formação de fissuras e a manifestação típica de fissuramentos causados por movimentação das fundações são descritos. Com o objetivo de auxiliar na prevenção de problemas, as causas patológicas mais freqüentes encontradas na literatura e no levantamento são descritas e separadas de acordo com a etapa da obra e da vida da edificação em que podem ocorrer. É feita uma revisão do comportamento dos solos voltada às fundações, tendo em vista a necessidade do seu conhecimento para o entendimento mais completo dos problemas. Procura-se neste trabalho esclarecer e alertar o meio técnico sobre as principais causas de problemas em fundações, devido ao grande número de edificações afetadas, mas principalmente devido à gravidade dos danos gerados.

Depressão em hospital geral: avaliação do desepenho de escalas de rastreamento e desenvolvimento de instrumento para uso na rotina assistencial

O presente estudo desenvolve-se numa perspectiva prática, visando à integração de conhecimentos gerados pela pesquisa a atividades assistenciais no hospital geral universitário, dirigindo-se, especificamente, à questão da detecção da depressão. A depressão é um problema de saúde pública no mundo inteiro, transtorno mental de alta prevalência, com elevado custo para os sistemas de saúde. Entre pacientes clínicos e cirúrgicos, hospitalizados, aumenta a complexidade dos tratamentos, implica maior morbidade e mortalidade, importando também no aumento do tempo e dos custos das internações. Por outro lado, a depressão é subdiagnosticada. Este estudo, originado de um projeto cujo objetivo foi criar um instrumento para a detecção de depressão, utilizável na rotina assistencial, a partir da avaliação do desempenho de escalas de rastreamento já existentes, desdobra-se em três artigos. O primeiro, já aceito para publicação em revista indexada internacionalmente, é a retomada de estudos anteriores, realizados no final da década de 1980. É apresentada a comparação da detecção de depressão, realizada por médicos não-psiquiatras e por enfermeiros, no Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), em 1987 e em 2002. O segundo artigo apresenta o processo de construção da nova escala, a partir da seleção de itens de outras escalas já validadas, utilizando modelos logísticos de Rasch. A nova escala, composta por apenas seis itens, exige menos tempo para sua aplicação. O terceiro artigo é um estudo de avaliação de desempenho da nova escala, denominada Escala de Depressão em Hospital Geral (EDHG), realizado em uma outra amostra de pacientes adultos clínicos e cirúrgicos internados no HCPA. O segundo e terceiro artigos já foram encaminhados para publicação internacional. Esses estudos, realizados em unidades de internação clínicas e cirúrgicas do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, permitiram as seguintes conclusões: a) comparando-se os achados de 1987 com os de 2002, a prevalência de depressão e o seu diagnóstico, em pacientes adultos clínicos e cirúrgicos internados, mantêm-se nos mesmos níveis; b) foi possível selecionar um conjunto de seis itens, que constituíram a nova Escala de Depressão em Hospital Geral (EDHG), baseando-se no desempenho individual de cada um dos 48 itens componentes de outras três escalas (BDI, CESD e HADS); c) a EDHG apresentou desempenho semelhante aos das escalas que lhe deram origem, usando o PRIME-MD como padrão-ouro, com a vantagem de ter um pequeno número de itens, podendo constituir-se num dispositivo de alerta para detecção de depressão na rotina de hospital geral.

Gestão de pessoas em organizações em processo de transformação: a experiência da Rede Ferroviária Federal em liquidação

This study apprehends the living experiences of the RFFSA employees who still remain in the organization until its final moments of existence. In order to comprehend and analyze these experiences to generate knowledge related to personnel relationships in critical management realities as it is the case in a process of organizational liquidation. Due to the fact that the case study focus on a railroad enterprise, the presence of which is inherent to the history of the nation, social implications related to that liquidation process were investigated under cultural concepts, new organization context, added to a phenomenological approach. Through the consideration of that philosophical dimension of the relationships which constituted the object of this study, the railroader being could be more broadly understood. The employed methods include bibliographic and documental research to describe the organization and to reinforce sources for a deeper study of the railroad employee¿s culture and values. The posture assumed in that investigation was participation with the subjects including the researcher. Some characteristics were extracted out of questionnaires and interviews as a means of answering questions which would not come out trough numbers. What emerges as a fundamental learning in the conclusions can be summarized as follows: the understanding of an organization as a slice detached from society, is a deviation from human relevance paths, since implications of human actions in leabenswelt are ignored and their impacts are not considered concrete. That especial learning which the case study helped to clarify and which is an alert to liquidators and employees, independently of hierarchy, is not limited to liquidation processes. The phenomenon which shows itself in that strategic category of management is that its deviation from human relevance appears in higher dramaticism.

As "Confrarias" como um Fenômeno Organizacional Brasileiro: Notas Etnográficas de um Aprendiz de Bourdieu

Over the last years we have seen a significant increase in scholarly production within the organization studies field in Brazil. However it is still not representative. The tendency to consume foreign and fashionable ideas unrestrainedly, to make use of imported, universal and non-contextualized explanations to inquiry phenomenon which are essentially local and particular, make it difficult to develop a true Brazilian tradition. This work is a result of an ambitious ethnographic adventure" of an acknowledged apprentice of sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's large body of knowledge. It is about taking reflexivity to the limit. It is about learning "through the body" in an effort - both theoretical and empirical - to investigate a Brazilian organizational phenomenon which reproduces the hierarchical side of our society and, under the disguise of the legitimacy offered by organizational discourse, help keeping the very structure of our society in a silent but powerful way. I also want this work to be an alert for the importance of contextualization as a means to avoid a recurring distortion of the scholarly production in administrative science: the mobilization of theoretical references in such a safe way that make explicitness totally unnecessary, the appropriation of concepts whose essence is strange to the nature of the very phenomenon which they aim to explain, and the insistence in the impersonal style, in third-voice narratives, as if it were possible to produce knowledge in social sciences with absolute impartiality. "

Análise das práticas administrativas de uma fundação empresarial aberta

The goal of this work is to present a contribution to the critical analysis of the rationality that supports the action of the members of productive organizations, starting from a perspective of the man's emancipation in the ambit of the work. The focus of attention is related to the administrative practices of one of the largest Brazilian's private foundations that they were analyzed based on the distinction among instrumental and substantive rationality and of the theory of the communicative action. The main research method used was the 'participant observation' that allowed to the author to verify in loco the rationality that permeates the administrative practices of the researched Foundation. The importance of this study is in the fact that are scarce the studies about the management of nonprofit organizations. For increasing, every day, the emphasis that the society is giving to the third sector, for the expectation of its growth, so much in quantitative level as of influence degree about the people's life, and for placing in the position of offering answers and solutions for the problems that the State doesn't get to solve, the third sector and its organizations need a theoretical reference for its administration that is coherent with its emancipatory purpose. The results led to conclusions that alert the managers of the private foundations to review the practices adopted in the management of those organizations and stimulate the debate and the continuity of researches on the theme.

A administração vis-à-vis valores individuais e organizacionais

o presente estudo procura trazer ao saber administrativo uma nova perspectiva, ao evidenciar a natureza parcial e instrumental das teorias organizacionais até então desenvolvidas. Ao buscar introduzir a percepção dos valores no estudo da administração, procura-se fazê-lo sob a ótica dos indivíduos, enfatizando-se o seu ponto de vista. Neste ensaio, a administração é concebida como ciência social não neutra, que tem reproduzido, no ambiente organizacional, os valores do sistema. Na medida em que os diversos arcabouços teóricos se desenvolveram, variadas e cada vez mais complexas foram as formas por intermédio das quais as teorias organizacionais procuraram submeter os indivíduos às necessidades produtivas. Teria a administração se distanciado, tanto de sua razão de ser, o indivíduo, como das grandes discussões desse final de milênio. Ter-se-ia tornado técnica, direcionando-se para o atendimento das demandas organizacionais, entendendo o homem como mero agente produtivo. Para a compreensão dessa feição das teorias organizacionais, o presente estudo lança mão da Teoria Crítica, que é uma proposta de visão do meio social, transpondo seus pressupostos para o domínio organizacional, no intuito de evidenciar os valores das diversas teorias e a caracterização do homem que cada uma delas promoveu. Na busca do entendimento das dificuldades existentes para que outros valores sejam percebidos pela administração, já que no universo consciente os valores do sistema tornaram-se hegemônicos, recorre-se aos ensinamentos de Carl Gustav Jung e suas definições de inconsciente pessoal e coletivo. Em seguida, tratou-se de contextualizar e associar às idéias previamente desenvolvidas sobre valores e teorias organizacionais o universo no qual desenvolveuse a pesquisa de campo, as Forças Armadas Brasileiras. Por fim, a pesquisa de campo desenvolvida constituiu reforço do que, até então, tinha-se procurado deixar evidente: que as teorias organizacionais têm privilegiado outros valores, que não os do indivíduo, que existe outra forma de se ver a realidade, mais substantiva e que, embora a administração tenha-se esforçado, pelo menos ao nível do discurso, para atender às demandas básicas do indivíduo no contexto organizacional, não obteve êxito. A nova perspectiva de que trata o presente estudo refere-se ao entendimento de que existem outros valores, que não os organizacionais, que precisam ser percebidos pelo saber administrativo. Procura-se alertar o corpo teórico quanto ao papel social que incumbe à administração e propõe-se que ela se afaste da instrumentalidade e se aproxime da substantividade, visão de mundo sempre possível e tantas vezes negligenciada por ela e por outras ciências auto-denominadas sociais.

Viabilidade do confinamento de bovinos com feno de resíduos culturais de soja no sistema triângulo

O presente estudo buscou analisar a viabilidade econômica, agronômica e ambiental de um sistema que está em execução em uma propriedade no norte do estado de Goiás. Esse sistema, denominado Sistema Triângulo, vai de encontro com a Integração Lavoura-Pecuária e busca formas alternativas para o uso dos restos culturais (fardos) de soja fornecendo esse material como volumoso para o gado no sistema de confinamento. Para o estudo da viabilidade, foram usadas as informações da própria fazenda num estudo de caso. Para tal, realizou-se uma revisão quanto à adoção de sistema de produção na área agrícola, quanto às interações dos macronutrientes que seriam retirados das áreas por intermédio dos fardos, o papel da matéria orgânica quanto à sustentabilidade do sistema, o cenário atual dos confinamentos no Brasil e os custos que compõem e determinam a lucratividade dessa atividade. Por ser um estudo de caráter incremental, a viabilidade econômica ficou focada à redução dos custos alimentares. Foram utilizadas informações produzidas pela Fazenda Triângulo que é produtora de soja desde 2002. Sendo assim, foi possível acompanhar a evolução dos teores de macronutrientes (nitrogênio, fósforo, potássio, cálcio, magnésio e enxofre) e do carbono em uma área total de 351 ha. Os resultados mostraram uma estabilidade nos níveis dos macroelementos após o início da retirada dos restos culturais mas, apresentou-se inconclusivo no caso do carbono. Foi estimada também a exportação dos macronutrientes por intermédio da retirada dos fardos das áreas de soja. Levantada a composição química dos fardos, foram estabelecidos seis cenários de reposição via adubação específica e esses custos foram acrescidos de custos de processamento dos fardos e o custo dos outros componentes da dieta no confinamento. Calculado o valor presente líquido para cada um dos cenários e comparando com a alternativa tradicional de dieta de confinamento, onde se usa a silagem de milho como 100% do volumoso, mostrou-se uma redução de até 5,02% nos custos alimentares. Com as práticas agronômicas da produção de soja vigentes hoje, recomenda-se a adoção do Sistema Triângulo com a ressalva de uma necessidade de maiores estudos quando seu impacto nos teores de carbono orgânico no solo.