Literature, translation and national identity: Christina Rossetti and Rosal��a de Castro in the work of Pl��cido Castro

Pl��cido Castro���s work has aroused our interest, because it evolves around the question of Galician personality and identity. While working as a journalist and a translator or while writing essays on different literary issues, Pl��cido Castro has never forgotten his roots or his nation. One could even say that his whole life turns around Galicia. Our purpose is to make a critical analysis of his work, especially as a translator, and try to show how he used translation in order to develop national conscience and identity and to see how far his ideology interfered in the interpretation and translation of Rossetti���s poetry, in which he found a great similarity with Rosal��a de Castro���s work.

Work in progress - learning through role play games

It is commonly accepted that the educational environment has been undergoing considerable change due to the use of the Information and Communication tools. But learning depends upon actions such as experimenting, visualizing and demonstrating through which the learner succeeds in constructing his own knowledge. Although it is not easy to achieve these actions through current ICT supported learning approaches, Role Playing Games (RPG) may well develop such capacities. The creation of an interactive computer game with RPG characteristics, about the 500th anniversary of the city of Funchal, the capital of Madeira Island, is invested with compelling educational/pedagogical implications, aiming clearly at teaching history and social relations through playing. Players interpret different characters in different settings/scenarios, experiencing adventures, meeting challenges and trying to reach multiple and simultaneous goals in the areas of education, entertainment and social integration along the first 150 years of the history of Funchal. Through this process they will live and understand all the social and historical factors of that epoch.

Public relations, satisfaction and commitment

The importance of the organizational relationship (senior managers) with an internal public (employees) is the main focus of this research, aiming to understand how this relationship differs between the different publics. Nowadays, the relevance attributed by Public Relations to this relationship is crucial. The main purpose is to identify two consistent models to measure the impact of an organizational relationship on the internal public. The second purpose is to identify how the internal public react to this organizational relationship, namely by gender. The research was conducted in nine Portuguese companies with a sample of 1.244 subjects in order to study the context of the relationship and validate the identified models. The results show the gender stereotypes in the relationship in these companies and that the organizational relationship has an impact on organizational commitment with a consistent model that highlights the impact of Public Relations on a company's productivity.

Public relations, satisfaction and commitment

The importance of the relationship with an internal public is the main focus of our research. Nowadays, the relevance attributed by Public Relations to this relationship is crucial. Our purpose is to identify two consistent models to measure the impact of an organizational relationship on its internal public. The research was conducted in nine Portuguese companies with a sample of 1244 subjects in order to study the context of the relationship and validate the identified models. The results show us the gender stereotypes in the relationship in these companies and that it is possible to identify the impact of Public Relations on a company's productivity.

A satisfa����o dos colaboradores com o sistema de recompensas: um estudo emp��rico em cooperativas agr��colas da Regi��o Norte de Portugal

Esta disserta����o tem como objetivo central o estudo da satisfa����o dos colaboradores com o sistema de recompensas de que beneficiam nas organiza����es onde trabalham. A l��gica subjacente ao seu desenvolvimento privilegia, primeiramente, uma abordagem sobre os conceitos de sistema de recompensas e de satisfa����o e, consequentemente, as teorias que relacionam ambos os conceitos. Foi aplicado um inqu��rito por question��rio a uma amostra de 94 colaboradores de duas cooperativas agr��colas localizadas na regi��o Norte de Portugal. Foram testadas algumas hip��teses de estudo capazes de permitir caracterizar os sistemas de recompensas desenvolvidos nas cooperativas agr��colas objeto de estudo. A an��lise dos resultados permite concluir que: 1) �� menor a satisfa����o com o sistema de recompensas entre os colaboradores do sexo feminino; 2) �� maior a valoriza����o atribu��da �� componente monet��ria do que �� componente n��o monet��ria do sistema de recompensas; 3) a antiguidade na organiza����o n��o influencia a satisfa����o dos colaboradores com o sistema de recompensas de que beneficiam; 4) predomina a componente monet��ria fixa no sistema de recompensas de ambas as cooperativas; 5) a maior satisfa����o com o sistema de recompensas de que beneficiam �� encontrada entre os colaboradores com habilita����es de n��vel superior e; 6) n��o foram encontradas diferen��as na satisfa����o com o sistema de recompensas entre os colaboradores acima versus abaixo dos 45 anos. Baseado nestes resultados, na parte final desta disserta����o s��o discutidas as principais implica����es te��ricas e pr��ticas. Algumas limita����es bem como sugest��es para futura pesquisa s��o tamb��m apresentadas.

A gest��o de boas pr��ticas da manuten����o em equipamentos de anestesia

Mestrado em Gest��o e Avalia����o das Tecnologias em Sa��de

Satisfa����o profissional dos profissionais de sa��de: compara����o entre servi��os com e sem sistema de gest��o da qualidade

Mestrado em Gest��o e Avalia����o de Tecnologias da Sa��de

Sleep, stress and compensatory behaviors in Australian nurses and midwives

OBJECTIVE: To describe sleep, stress and compensatory behaviors in nurses and midwives. METHODS: The study included 41 midwives and 21 nurses working in Australian hospitals between 2005 and 2009. Participation was voluntary. All participants recorded on a daily basis their work and sleep hours, levels of stress and exhaustion, caffeine intake and use of sleep aids for a month (1,736 days, 1,002 work shifts). RESULTS: Participants reported moderate to high levels of stress and exhaustion on 20-40% of work days; experienced sleep disruption on more than 50% of work days; struggled to remain awake on 27% of work days; and suffered extreme drowsiness or experienced a near accident while travelling home on 9% of workdays. Age, perceived sleep duration and work hours were significant predictors of caffeine intake. About 60% of participants reported using sleep aids (about 20% reported taking prescription medications and 44% of nurses and 9% of midwives reported alcohol use as a sleep aid at least once during the study). Stress and workdays were significant predictors of sedative use. Overall, 22% reported being indifferent or mildly dissatisfied with their job. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep problems, high levels of stress and exhaustion and low job satisfaction are prevalent among nurses and midwives. The use of alcohol and sleeping pills as sleep aids, and the use of caffeine to help maintain alertness is also common. Nurses and midwives may use caffeine to compensate for reduced sleep, especially on workdays, and sleeping pills to cope with their daily work-related stress.

Lideran��a aut��ntica e sa��de organizacional: um estudo de caso num hospital

O conceito de Lideran��a tem sido amplamente estudado por diversos autores, sendo j�� considerado pela literatura como um tema cl��ssico evolutivo. A investiga����o que aqui se apresenta pretende compreender a mais recente abordagem a esse conceito - a Lideran��a Aut��ntica, no contexto espec��fico de um CH p��blico em Portugal. Al��m disso, �� seu prop��sito perceber se uma Lideran��a Aut��ntica �� preditora de um Clima Organizacional Autentiz��tico e se ambos os construtos explicam a Satisfa����o - com o trabalho em geral e com a supervis��o - e a Sa��de Mental dos trabalhadores. Procura, ainda, mediante an��lises explorat��rias, estudar a influ��ncia de algumas vari��veis demogr��ficas e profissionais na Lideran��a Aut��ntica, no Clima Organizacional Autentiz��tico, na Satisfa����o e na Sa��de. Participaram neste estudo de caso 278 trabalhadores, de diferentes grupos profissionais e v��nculos contratuais, tendo os resultados obtidos apontado para uma indubit��vel rela����o preditiva entre a Lideran��a Aut��ntica e a Satisfa����o com a Supervis��o, a Satisfa����o com o Trabalho em Geral e a Sa��de Mental. A Lideran��a Aut��ntica �� igualmente uma preditora significativa do Clima Organizacional Autentiz��tico. Este ��ltimo afigura-se, para a amostra, como explicativo de maior Satisfa����o e Sa��de Mental dos trabalhadores. No que respeita ao estudo das vari��veis demogr��ficas (sexo, idade, estado civil e habilita����es liter��rias) e profissionais (v��nculo contratual, grupo profissional, n��vel da organiza����o, antiguidade e sexo do superior hier��rquico) em fun����o das vari��veis em estudo (Lideran��a Aut��ntica, Clima Organizacional Autentiz��tico, Satisfa����o e Sa��de), concluiu-se que as mulheres evidenciam n��veis inferiores de Sa��de Mental, comparativamente aos homens. Os homens denotam menor perce����o de Lideran��a Aut��ntica que as mulheres. Os ���mais escolarizados��� evidenciam menor Sa��de Mental e maior perce����o de Lideran��a Aut��ntica que os ���menos escolarizados���. O grupo ���t��cnico de sa��de��� est�� mais satisfeito com o trabalho em geral mas evidencia menor Sa��de Mental que o grupo ���t��cnico operacional���. Os trabalhadores cuja chefia �� do sexo feminino demonstram n��veis inferiores de Sa��de Mental. Por fim, comparadas as perce����es de Lideran��a Aut��ntica entre chefias e trabalhadores n��o chefias, inferimos que s��o os primeiros a perceber os l��deres como mais aut��nticos. O estudo apresenta as suas conclus��es e aponta estrat��gias de interven����o em termos da Gest��o e Desenvolvimento e Recursos Humanos para o CH em investiga����o.

Bullying no local de trabalho: a perce����o dos profissionais de uma Institui����o de Ensino Superior Polit��cnico norte do pa��s

Disserta����o apresentada ao Instituto Polit��cnico do Porto para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Gest��o das Organiza����es, Ramo de Gest��o de Empresas. Orientada por Prof. Doutor Manuel Salvador Gomes de Ara��jo

Implementa����o do TFM na Sakthi Portugal com recurso �� metodologia Kaizen

No ��mbito da unidade curricular Disserta����o/Projeto/Est��gio do 2��ano do Mestrado em Engenharia mec��nica ��� Ramo Gest��o Industrial do Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, o presente trabalho de disserta����o foi enquadrado num projeto industrial de melhoria com Instituto Kaizen, empresa de consultoria operacional. O projeto foi desenvolvido numa empresa de produ����o de componentes em ferro nodular destinados �� ind��stria autom��vel do mercado europeu, a Sakthi Portugal,SA. A realiza����o deste projeto teve como objetivo a implementa����o do sistema de planeamento em Pull (produ����o puxada) na log��stica interna da Sakthi Portugal,SA recorrendo �� metodologia Kaizen. Esta metodologia consiste na aplica����o de ferramentas de TFM - Total Flow Management, integradas no Kaizen Management System. Neste projeto recorreu-se especialmente a um dos pilares que o constituem, o pilar do ���Fluxo da Log��stica Interna���. Neste pilar encontram-se as v��rias metodologias utilizadas na otimiza����o do fluxo de material e informa����o na log��stica interna. Estas metodologias foram aplicadas, com o objetivo do sistema produtivo operar de acordo com a necessidade do cliente, obtendo deste modo a minimiza����o dos custo e o aumento da produtividade e qualidade. Em resultado da aplica����o da metodologia seguida, foi poss��vel atingir-se os objetivos definidos inicialmente e em alguns casos foi poss��vel superar esses objetivos. Em fun����o da abordagem integrada que foi seguida, conseguiu-se uma diminui����o do ���lead time��� do processo de fabrico, redu����o dos produtos em curso de fabrico, liberta����o de espa��o e redu����o de invent��rios. Estas melhorias resultaram numa movimenta����o interna na f��brica mais facilitada e num aumento global da produtividade. Como consequ��ncia positiva dos efeitos deste trabalho, pode-se apontar o facto de que a Sakthi Portugal SA aumentou a sua competitividade por tornar-se numa empresa mais din��mica, mais adaptada ao mercado e com n��veis de satisfa����o do cliente muito superiores.

Stressful working conditions and poor self-rated health among financial services employees

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between exposure to adverse psychosocial working conditions and poor self-rated health among bank employees. METHODS: A cross-sectional study including a sample of 2,054 employees of a government bank was conducted in 2008. Self-rated health was assessed by a single question: "In general, would you say your health is (...)." Exposure to adverse psychosocial working conditions was evaluated by the effort-reward imbalance model and the demand-control model. Information on other independent variables was obtained through a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed and odds ratio calculated to assess independent associations between adverse psychosocial working conditions and poor self-rated health. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of poor self-rated health was 9%, with no significant gender difference. Exposure to high demand and low control environment at work was associated with poor self-rated health. Employees with high effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment also reported poor self-rated health, with a dose-response relationship. Social support at work was inversely related to poor self-rated health, with a dose-response relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to adverse psychosocial work factors assessed based on the effort-reward imbalance model and the demand-control model is independently associated with poor self-rated health among the workers studied.

Constraint reasoning for differential models

The basic motivation of this work was the integration of biophysical models within the interval constraints framework for decision support. Comparing the major features of biophysical models with the expressive power of the existing interval constraints framework, it was clear that the most important inadequacy was related with the representation of differential equations. System dynamics is often modelled through differential equations but there was no way of expressing a differential equation as a constraint and integrate it within the constraints framework. Consequently, the goal of this work is focussed on the integration of ordinary differential equations within the interval constraints framework, which for this purpose is extended with the new formalism of Constraint Satisfaction Differential Problems. Such framework allows the specification of ordinary differential equations, together with related information, by means of constraints, and provides efficient propagation techniques for pruning the domains of their variables. This enabled the integration of all such information in a single constraint whose variables may subsequently be used in other constraints of the model. The specific method used for pruning its variable domains can then be combined with the pruning methods associated with the other constraints in an overall propagation algorithm for reducing the bounds of all model variables. The application of the constraint propagation algorithm for pruning the variable domains, that is, the enforcement of local-consistency, turned out to be insufficient to support decision in practical problems that include differential equations. The domain pruning achieved is not, in general, sufficient to allow safe decisions and the main reason derives from the non-linearity of the differential equations. Consequently, a complementary goal of this work proposes a new strong consistency criterion, Global Hull-consistency, particularly suited to decision support with differential models, by presenting an adequate trade-of between domain pruning and computational effort. Several alternative algorithms are proposed for enforcing Global Hull-consistency and, due to their complexity, an effort was made to provide implementations able to supply any-time pruning results. Since the consistency criterion is dependent on the existence of canonical solutions, it is proposed a local search approach that can be integrated with constraint propagation in continuous domains and, in particular, with the enforcing algorithms for anticipating the finding of canonical solutions. The last goal of this work is the validation of the approach as an important contribution for the integration of biophysical models within decision support. Consequently, a prototype application that integrated all the proposed extensions to the interval constraints framework is developed and used for solving problems in different biophysical domains.

Professional and community satisfaction with the Brazilian family health strategy

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the strengths and limitations of the Family Health Strategy from the perspective of health care professionals and the community. METHODS: Between June-August 2009, in the city of Vespasiano, Minas Gerais State, Southeastern Brazil, a questionnaire was used to evaluate the Family Health Strategy (ESF) with 77 healthcare professionals and 293 caregivers of children under five. Health care professional training, community access to health care, communication with patients and delivery of health education and pediatric care were the main points of interest in the evaluation. Logistic regression analysis was used to obtain odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals as well as to assess the statistical significance of the variables studied. RESULTS: The majority of health care professionals reported their program training was insufficient in quantity, content and method of delivery. Caregivers and professionals identified similar weaknesses (services not accessible to the community, lack of healthcare professionals, poor training for professionals) and strengths (community health worker-patient communications, provision of educational information, and pediatric care). Recommendations for improvement included: more doctors and specialists, more and better training, and scheduling improvements. Caregiver satisfaction with the ESF was found to be related to perceived benefits such as community health agent household visits (OR 5.8, 95%CI 2.8;12.1), good professional-patient relationships (OR 4.8, 95%CI 2.5;9.3), and family-focused health (OR 4.1, 95%CI 1.6;10.2); and perceived problems such as lack of personnel (OR 0.3, 95%CI 0.2;0.6), difficulty with access (OR 0.2, 95%CI 0.1;0.4), and poor quality of care (OR 0.3, 95%CI 0.1;0.6). Overall, 62% of caregivers reported being generally satisfied with the ESF services. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying the limitations and strengths of the Family Health Strategy from the healthcare professional and caregiver perspective may serve to advance primary community healthcare in Brazil.

Effects of irregular-shift work and physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors in truck drivers

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the putative effect of type of shift and its interaction with leisure-time physical activity on cardiovascular risk factors in truck drivers.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken on 57 male truck drivers working at a transportation company, of whom 31 worked irregular shifts and 26 worked on the day-shift. Participants recorded their physical activity using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire along with measurements of blood pressure, body mass index and waist-hip ratio. Participants also provided a fasting blood sample for analysis of lipid-related outcomes. Data were analyzed using a factorial model which was covariate-controlled for age, smoking, work demand, control at work and social support.RESULTS: Most of the irregular-shift and day-shift workers worked more than 8 hours per day (67.7% and 73.1%, respectively). The mean duration of experience working the irregular schedule was 15.7 years. Day-shift workers had never engaged in irregular-shift work and had been working as a truck driver for 10.8 years on average. The irregular-shift drivers had lower work demand but less control compared to day-shift drivers (p < 0.05). Moderately-active irregular-shift workers had higher systolic and diastolic arterial pressures (143.7 and 93.2 mmHg, respectively) than moderately-active day-shift workers (116 and 73.3 mmHg, respectively) (p < 0.05) as well as higher total cholesterol concentrations (232.1 and 145 mg/dl, respectively) (p = 0.01). Irrespective of their physical activity, irregular-shift drivers had higher total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations (211.8 and 135.7 mg/dl, respectively) than day-shift workers (161.9 and 96.7 mg/dl, respectively (ANCOVA, p < 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: Truck drivers are exposed to cardiovascular risk factors due to the characteristics of the job, such as high work demand, long working hours and time in this profession, regardless of shift type or leisure-time physical activity.