Simulação de Robôs Quadrúpedes Utilizando o SimMechanics

Desde sempre o Homem procurou automatizar tarefas repetitivas. Tanto na indústria como no sector doméstico ou de comércio estão constantemente a surgir novos equipamentos procurando aumentar o nível de automação de diversas tarefas. A necessidade de empresas criadoras de produtos inovadores se manterem concorrenciais obrigou à adopção de métodos de projecto e planeamento mais estruturados e eficientes que eliminem os desperdícios tanto de material como de tempo. Diversas construções em termos orçamentais e o aumento da procura de produtos de alta qualidade a baixo custo deu origem a um novo tipo de programas, os programas de simulação virtual. Tal como na indústria, também na investigação nas Instituições de Ensino Superior se procuram adoptar os métodos de trabalho mais eficientes possíveis. Uma parte dos programas de simulação robótica utilizados hoje em dia na investigação no Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto estão concebidos em linguagem C. Embora esta linguagem seja extremamente capaz, existem métodos mais adequados de simulação que aceleram o processo de modelação permitindo a visualização do movimento e simulação de diversas situações potencialmente criticas sem existir a necessidade de construção de um protótipo funcional do robô. Durante o último ano, este projecto permitiu construir um modelo de um robô quadrúpede num programa de simulação virtual chamado Simmechanics™. Embora haja já algum trabalho desenvolvido nesta área, constatou-se que a informação existente possuía algumas lacunas. Com o trabalho desenvolvido preparou-se esta dissertação que pretende clarificar algumas questões que surgem na modelação de um robô. Neste documento explica-se como modelar um robô de corpo flexível, modelar as pernas e as respectivas juntas da anca e do joelho assim como também se apresenta a modelação de um contacto com o solo recorrendo a um modelo descrito na literatura. Este documento foi escrito a pensar no leitor, procurando-se explicar de forma simples mas concisa os diversos passos necessários para construir um modelo virtual de um robô. O autor espera, desta forma, ajudar futuros colegas que pretendam trabalhar com o Simmechanics™ a mais facilmente se integrarem com o programa aumentando desta forma o declive da curva de aprendizagem e permitindo um maior aproveitamento desta ferramenta.

Treatment of Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients: Case Report

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection exists in a large proportion of patients undergoing renal transplantation. Nowadays it is not considered to be an absolute contraindication to transplantation; however, it is associated with an increased risk for the patient and accounts for a shorter half-life of the renal allograft. We present three transplant recipients who displayed serious hepatic dysfunction after renal transplantation due to an HCV infection. In two of these cases, the liver biopsies established the diagnosis of FCH. In the third case, the liver biopsy was compatible with the early stages of FCH. All patients were started on peg-interferon alfa 2-b and ribavirin with subsequent normalization of hepatic function and early complete viral responses.

Sistema de recrutamento e seleção num grande grupo empresarial

Este Projeto de Intervenção visou a reestruturação do sistema de Recrutamento e Seleção para o Grande Grupo Empresarial tendo em conta a realidade das várias Empresas. Este projeto surgiu da necessidade de reconfiguração da visão, filosofia e estrutura da Direção de Pessoas e Comunicação (DPC) e pretendeu desenvolver uma proposta de valor aliciante para os talentos atuais e potenciais do mercado e da Organização, numa lógica de prestação de serviços às seis empresas do Grande Grupo Empresarial, designadas por grupo incubador, que foram o público-alvo deste projeto. Numa primeira fase, foi realizada uma breve apresentação do Grande Grupo Empresarial, seguindo-se de uma auditoria às práticas de Recursos Humanos e uma revisão da literatura ao tema identificado para intervenção deste projeto. Baseado na conjugação das análises realizadas anteriormente, definiu-se a finalidade do projeto que consistiu em garantir que, a partir de Janeiro de 2016, o Grande Grupo Empresarial tenha definido um Sistema de Recrutamento e Seleção adequado à estratégia de comunicação da DPC. Esta finalidade foi desdobrada em dois objetivos estratégicos: Concluir a preparação dos novos procedimento de Recrutamento e Seleção para implementação e Concluir a preparação das ferramentas de Recrutamento e Seleção para implementação e foi desenvolvido todo o planeamento operacional, onde se delinearam atividades, tarefas, recursos, calendarização, orçamento e o momento da avaliação do projeto. A fase de implementação teve a duração de 5 meses (Junho a Outubro de 2015) e a sua avaliação realizou-se durante e no final da implementação. Os resultados confirmam o cumprimento dos objetivos operacionais, estratégicos e da finalidade a que este projeto se propôs. A avaliação inclui o feedback obtido da equipa de Recrutamento e Seleção ao longo do desenvolvimento do projeto. A apreciação final por parte de todos os envolvidos é encorajadora para a adoção de uma nova metodologia de trabalho que permitirá à organização a captação e potenciação de talentos internos.

Melhoria e automação de linhas de montagem

Hoje em dia, e com os avanços tecnológicos a surgirem de forma constante, existem novas áreas que têm de ser consideradas com um foco importante por parte de todas as organizações, sendo uma delas a robótica industrial. Motivada em aumentar o seu output, as condições de trabalho para os seus colaboradores, bem como todas as condições de organização da logística interna, a Grohe Portugal, mais especificamente o departamento da montagem, achou relevante fazer um estudo de métodos e tempos, calculando os ganhos potenciais de aumento de output com introdução de robótica nas linhas dos cartuchos. Os objetivos principais seriam então, fazer uma restruturação de todo o layout dessas linhas, tendo como foco automatizar alguma(s) operação(ões), conseguindo assim uma melhoria significativa do output dessas linhas com o menor payback possível. Posto isto, esta dissertação pretende apresentar o trabalho desenvolvido junto da Grohe Portugal, que teve como objetivo fazer os estudos e a automatização de linhas de montagem de cartuchos, bem como melhorar algumas linhas de montagem tendo em conta fatores ergonómicos. Relativamente à automatização da linha dos cartuchos, foi importante estudar todos os seguintes aspetos:  utilização de unidades robóticas;  ergonomia;  ganhos de produtividade;  automatizar ou semi-automatizar operações;  simplificar processos de montagem;  simplificar setups;  solicitar orçamentos;  elaborar caderno de encargos. Para a realização deste projeto, o trabalho desenvolvido foi decomposto em várias etapas, entre as quais se destacam:  análise e estudo dos métodos e sequências de montagem;  levantamento de todos os componentes e operações de montagem até à obtenção do cartucho final;  estudo de tempos de todas essas operações de montagem;  caraterização de um novo layout para as linhas com a introdução de unidades robóticas, tanto quanto possível, mais adequadas;  elaboração de caderno de encargos para ser enviado a empresas, para estas poderem apresentar uma orçamentação, bem como indicar as unidades robóticas mais adequadas para as tarefas pretendidas;  automatização da linha dos cartuchos. Relativamente ao projeto de novas linhas de montagem tendo em conta fatores ergonómicos, de forma a melhorar os sistemas de abastecimento e as condições de trabalho por parte dos operadores, foram postos em prática diferentes passos, nomeadamente:  identificação de todos os processos de montagem realizados pelos operadores na linha a melhorar;  estudo e definição da disposição dos componentes na nova linha, bem como a sua forma de abastecimento;  projeto da nova linha de montagem em 3D com recurso ao software SolidWorks;  realização prática da linha, acompanhando e ajudando a equipa da ferramentaria. O balanço final do trabalho foi bastante positivo, tanto na automatização das linhas de montagem dos cartuchos, em que todo o seu estudo foi alcançado com sucesso, como no melhoramento ergonómico das linhas de montagem, tendo-se alcançado melhorias em alguns índices de qualidade, tempos de abastecimento, organização das linhas, e nas condições de iluminação, resultando essas melhorias numa avaliação positiva por parte dos colaboradores que nelas trabalham todos os dias.

Are annual budgets being abandoned by companies operating in Portugal?: Evidence from the 500 “Maiores e Melhores”

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Definição de um modelo de incentivo de profissionais de saúde em contexto de integração vertical e financiamento capitativo de cuidados de saúde

RESUMO - Contexto Os indivíduos, tal como as instituições, não são imunes a incentivos. No entanto, enquanto os modelos de incentivos das instituições têm sido alvo de diferentes evoluções, o mesmo não se verificou ao nível dos profissionais. Esta situação não se figura compatível com a complexidade de gestão de recursos humanos, devendo ser obviada para potenciar o alinhamento entre os interesses institucionais e os dos próprios profissionais. Objectivos Estudar a atribuição de incentivos a profissionais de saúde no contexto de organizações com integração vertical de cuidados. Metodologia A metodologia adoptada compreendeu três fases. Numa primeira procedeu-se à revisão sistemática de literatura relativa à: (1) construção de modelos de incentivo a profissionais em diferentes sistemas de saúde e tipo de prestadores; e (2) identificação de medidas de custo-efectividade comprovada. Tendo por base esta evidência, a par de documentação oficial ao nível do modelo de financiamento das ULS, procedeu-se, numa segunda fase, à construção de um modelo de incentivo base com recurso à ferramenta Microsoft Excel. Por último, numa terceira etapa, procedeu-se à adaptação do modelo base construído na etapa transacta tendo por base informação obtida mediante a realização de um estudo retrospectivo in loco na ULS do Baixo Alentejo (ULSBA). Em adição, procedeu-se à estimativa do impacto na perspectiva da ULS e dos profissionais para o cenário base e diversas análises de sensibilidade. Resultados No que respeita à estrutura, o modelo base de incentivos a profissionais apresenta 44 indicadores, distribuídos por cinco dimensões de análise, sendo que 28 indicadores (63,6%) são de processo e 14 (31,8%) de resultado. Relativamente às dimensões em análise, verifica-se uma predominância de indicadores ao nível da dimensão eficiência e qualidade assistencial, totalizando 35 (i.e. 79,5% dos 44 indicadores). No que respeita ao destinatário, 14 indicadores (31,8%) apresentam uma visão holística da ULS, 17 (38,6%) encontram-se adstritos unicamente aos cuidados primários e os remanescentes 13 (29,5%) aos cuidados hospitalares. Cerca de 85% dos actuais incentivos da ULSBA decorre da unidade de pagamento salarial secundada pelo pagamento de suplementos (12%). Não obstante, o estudo retrospectivo da ULSBA confirmou o cenário expectável de ausência de um modelo de incentivo homogéneos e transversal à ULS, transparecendo importantes assimetrias entre diferentes unidades prestadoras e/ou profissionais de saúde. De forma relevante importa apontar a insuficiência de incentivos capitacionais (ao contrário do que sucede com o modelo de incentivo da própria ULSBA) ou adstritos a índices de desempenho. Tendo em consideração o modelo de incentivo concebido e adaptado à realidade da ULSBA, a par do plano de implementação, estima-se que o modelo de incentivos gere: (1) poupanças na perspectiva da ULS (entre 2,5% a 3,5% do orçamento global da ULSBA); e (2) um incremento de remuneração ao nível dos profissionais (entre 5% a 15% do salario base). O supracitado – aparentemente contraditório - decorre da aposta em medidas de custo-efectividade contrastada e um alinhamento entre o modelo proposto e o vigente para o próprio financiamento da unidade, apostando numa clara estratégia de ganhos mútuos. As análises de sensibilidade realizadas permitem conferir a solidez e robustez do modelo a significativas variações em parâmetros chave.

Essay on secular stagnation

In this paper we show that a closed economy, with a balanced budget and unable to increase public spending, can avoid or leave a persistent slump through adequate and timely combination of monetary and fiscal policy based on distortionary taxation. We use a three generations OLG New Keynesian model in which a permanent slump is possible without any self-correcting force to full-employment. Complementing recent work on Secular Stagnation using lump-sum taxation and government spending as fiscal instruments, our contribution is to use distortionary taxes over labor, consumption and capital, in a balanced budget environment with constant (or decreasing) government spending.

Engineering a commercial cold-adapted xylanase for improved low pH stability

Dissertação de mestrado em Genética Molecular

Alterações cutâneas do cão no Kala-Azar sul-americano

According to E. Chagas (1938), South-American Kala Azar is a widespread disease from the jungle, several cases being reported from North Brazil (Estado do Pará: Marajó Island, Tocantins and Gurupi river valleys; Estados do Piauí and Ceará: coast and hinterland). Other cases were found in Northeast Brazil (Estados de Pernambuco, Alagôas and Sergipe: coast and hinterland; Estado da Bahia: hinterland). A few cases were described from Estado de Mato-Grosso (Brazil), Provincia de Salta and Território do Chaco (Argentine), and Zona contestada do Chaco (Paraguai-Bolívia). A well defined secondary anemia associated with enlargement of the liver and spleen are the chief symptoms. Death usually occurs in cachexia and with symptoms of heart failure. Half the patients were children aged less than ten years (CHAGAS, CASTRO & FERREIRA, 1937). Quite exhaustive epidemiological researches performed by CHAGAS, FERREIRA, DEANE, DEANE & GUIMARÃES (1938) in Municipio de Abaeté (Estado do Pará, Brazil) gave the incidence of 1.48% for the natural infection in human, 4.49% in dogs, and 2.63% in cats. The infection was arcribed (CUNHA & CHAGAS, 1937) to a new species of Leishmania (L. chagasi). Latter CUNHA (1938) state, that it is identical to L. infantum. ADLER (1940) found that so far it has been impossible to distinguish L. chagasi from L. infantum by any laboratory test but a final judgment must be reserved until further experiments with different species of sandflies have been carried out. Skin changes in canine Kala Azar were signaled by many workers, and their importance as regards the transmission of the disease is recognized by some of them (ADLER & THEODOR, 1931, 2. CUNHA, 1933). Cutaneous ulcers in naturally infected dogs are referred by CRITIEN (1911) in Malta, by CHODUKIN & SCHEVTSCHENKO (1928) in Taschkent, by DONATIEN & LESTOCQUARD (1929) and by LESTOCQUARD & PARROT (1929) in Algeria, and by BLANC & CAMINOPETROS (1931) in Greece. Depilation is signaled by YAKIMOFF & KOHL-YAKIMOFF (1911) in Tunis, by YAKIMOFF (1915) in Turkestan. Eczematous areas or a condition described as "eczema furfurace" is sometimes noted in the areas of depilation (DONATIEN & LESTOCQUARD). The skin changes noticed by ADLER & THEODOR (1932) in dogs naturally infected with Mediterranean Kala Azar can be briefly summarized as a selective infiltration of macrophages around hair follicles including the sebaceous glands and the presence of infected macrophages in normal dermis. The latter phenomenon in the complete absence of secondary infiltration of round cells and plasma cells is the most striking characteristic of canine Kala Azar and differentiates it from L. tropica. In the more advanced stages the dermis is more cellular than that of normal dogs and may even contain a few small dense areas of infiltration with macrophages and some round cells and polymorphs. The external changes, i. e., seborrhea and depilation are roughly proportional to the number of affected hair follicles. In dogs experimentally infected with South-American Kala Azar the parasites were regularly found in blocks of skin removed from the living animal every fortnight (CUNHA, 1938). The changes noticed by CUNHA, besides the presence of Leishmania, were perivascular and diffuse infiltration of the cutis with mononuclears sometimes more marked near hair follicles, as well as depilation, seborrhea and ulceration. The parasites were first discovered and very numerous in the paws. Our material was obtained from dogs experimentally infected by Dr. A. MARQUES DA CUNHA< and they were the subject of a previous paper by CUNHA (1938). In this study, however, several animals were discarded as it was found that they did develop a superimposed infection by Demodex canis. This paper deals with the changes found in 88 blocks of skin removed from five dogs, two infected with two different canine strains, and three with two distinct human strains of South-American Kala Azar. CUNHA'S valuable material affords serial observations of the cutaneous changes in Kala Azar as most of the blocks of skin were taken every fortnight. The following conclusions were drawn after a careful microscopic study. (1) Skin changes directly induced in the dog by the parasites of South-American Kala Azar may b described as an infiltration of the corium (pars papillaris and upper portion of the reticular layer) by histocytes. Parasites are scanty, at first, latter becoming very numerous in the cytoplasm of such cells. Sometimes the histocytes either embedding or not leishman bodies appear as distinct nodes of infiltration or cell aggregations (histocytic granuloma, Figs. 8 and 22) having a perivascular distribution. The capillary loops in the papillae, the vessels of the sweat glands, the subpapillary plexus, the vertical twigs connecting the superficial and deep plexuses are the ordinary seats of the histocytic Kala Azar granulomata. (2) Some of the cutaneous changes are transient, and show spontaneous tendency to heal. A gradual transformation of the histocytes either containing or not leishman bodies into fixed connective tissue cells or fibroblasts occut and accounts for the natural regression just mentioned. Figs. 3, 5, 18, 19 and 20 are good illustrations of such fibroblastic transformation of the histocytic Kala Azar granulomata. (3) Skin changes induced by the causative organism of South-American Kala Azar are neither uniform nor simultaneous. The same stage may be found in the same dog in different periods of the disease, and not the same changes take place when pieces from several regions are examined in the same moment. The fibroblastic transformation of the histocytic granulomata marking the beginning of the process of repair, e. g., was recognised in dog C, in the 196th as well as in the 213rd (Fig. 18) and 231st (Fig. 19) days after the inoculation. (4) The connective tissue of the skin in dogs experimentally infected with South-American Kala Azar is overflowed by blood cells (monocytes and lymphocytes) besides the proliferation in situ of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells. A marked increase in the number of cells specially the "ruhende Wanderzellen" (Figs. 4 and 15) is noticed even during the first weeks after inoculation (prodomal stage) when no leishman bodies are yet found in the skin. Latter a massive infiltration by amoeboid wandering cells similar to typical blood monocytes (Fig. 21) associated to a small number of lymphocytes and plasma cells (Figs. 9, 17, 21, and 24) indicates that the emigration of blood cells...

Public Service Agreement 2010 - 2014 (Croke Park Agreement) - Departmental Progress Report September 2011

1. Summary of Main Progress Achieved in the Six Month Period April 2011 to September 2011 ICT services and Accounts/Finance services are being provided by the Department to the new Department of Children and Youth Affairs on an ongoing basis.A Special Delivery Unit, as provided for in the Programme for Government, is currently being established.A survey of all staff workloads is currently underway to verify that all staff are appropriately deployed and utilised.   Click here to download PDF 46KB

How to manage a virtual library?

Introduction. The Andalusian Public Health System Virtual Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA) was created in June 2006, after being determined by the II Quality Plan in the key process Guarantee the Knowledge Exchange into the Health System which was established by the Strategy IV, Knowledge Management, 2005-2008. It is a government strategy with its own budget and management with the aim of rationalizing the subscriptions into the Andalusian Health System and democratizing the health professional access to qualify scientific information, regardless of the professional workplace. Andalusia is a wide region with more than 8 million inhabitants, more than 90,000 health professionals for 41 hospitals, 1,500 primary healthcare centres, and 12 centres for non-medical attention purposes, and the Virtual Library was created to cover all this Health Services. Before the creation of the BV-SSPA every centre had its own budget and management decisions concerning scientific resources, with the creation of the BV-SSPA both management and budget were centralized. Objectives. With this work we pretend to analyze if the results after these five years have reached the expectations from an economic point of view and determine if really we can offer a benefit to the Andalusian Professional and Society in general. We will demonstrate the following: - The BV-SSPA supposed a cost reduction. It meant cost-effectiveness. - It resulted in Economics of Scale, as we have every year more resources and services investing a minor proportional amount of money. - In terms of Efficiency it implemented more services than the System had before its creation, we a lower budget. Methods. The BV-SSPA was appointed the only intermediary for contracting electronic resources destined to the Andalusian Health System. This had some consequences which should be analyzed: - Hospitals were not allowed to subscribe any resources. - Services offered for the whole System. - A remote access system was created. - Tools to give more visibility to the Public Health System were developed. - Negotiations techniques changed as the BV-SSPA is stronger than individual hospitals. Results. - The amount of 2,431 electronic reviews, 8 data bases and other scientific information resources at the disposal of the Andalusian Health System Professionals and available worldwide requiring only an internet connection. Before the BV-SSPA, 5,267 titles were subscribed by hospital and 2,967 of them were subscribed repeatedly (by two or more hospitals), this represented more than 55%. The rationalization of the subscription investment has been reached. - The establishment of several important scientific services for the whole territory of Andalusia, not only big hospitals. - The use of appropriate tools through a Web 2.0 and Social Media to be acknowledged by most National Health Professionals. Conclusions. It has been demonstrated that the BV-SSPA has become the Central Unit for purchasing, offering librarian services and a reference for users in terms of knowledge management, but from the point of view of business it has also obtained the following results: - Cost-Effectiveness: Its budget for subscriptions is lower than the hospital former one in a 30% and now more electronic resources are available. - Economics of Scale: Near 95,000 health professionals can access this Virtual Library in 2010. Before its creation Professionals for small hospital and Primary Care centres were not able to access to scientific information subscribed by big hospitals. - Efficiency Besides the central electronic purchasing, services were created for the System, without increasing the expenses: - Remote access to all the library resources independent of the user’s location. The BV-SSPA usage increased in a 147% in 2008, when it was installed. - The Document Supply Service implemented in 2009. - The Institutional Repository which contains the whole intellectual, scientific production generated by the Andalusian Public Health Professionals as a result of their healthcare, research or managing activity. - The creation of an application developed by the BV-SSPA to study the Andalusian Health System Scientific Production. - The visibility of the Andalusian Health System reached thanks to the BV-SSPA, through the numerous events in which it participates and organizes such as the 2nd. European National Digital Libraries of Health Conferences and the National Conference of Health Science Information and Documentation held in Cadiz in 2010; and its profile in social media where it can be contacted by citizens and health professionals all over the world. - Negotiation with electronic resource suppliers is much more advantageous as the BV-SSPA is stronger to deal with them thanks to its consolidated budget, its managing independence and its visibility.

Negotiation Techniques in a Digital Library

The Andalusian eHealth Library (Biblioteca Virtual del Sistema Sanitario Público de Andalucía, BV-SSPA), created in June 2006 as a strategic action of the Andalusian Government with the aim of becoming the engine for the knowledge management of the health system in the region, has meant a radical change of mind in the way libraries can be managed: - As a regional library, it coordinates the 42 document library centers of the hospital network. - It is an organization in charge of its own budget and management. - It is the only intermediary for contracting health science resources. These factors have empowered the library in its dealings with other organizations such as stakeholders, suppliers, universities, etc. The centralization of the purchasing and the librarian network has made this library strong enough to deal with the economic recession and budgetary problems.

Phylogenetic approach reveals that virus genotype largely determines HIV set-point viral load.

HIV virulence, i.e. the time of progression to AIDS, varies greatly among patients. As for other rapidly evolving pathogens of humans, it is difficult to know if this variance is controlled by the genotype of the host or that of the virus because the transmission chain is usually unknown. We apply the phylogenetic comparative approach (PCA) to estimate the heritability of a trait from one infection to the next, which indicates the control of the virus genotype over this trait. The idea is to use viral RNA sequences obtained from patients infected by HIV-1 subtype B to build a phylogeny, which approximately reflects the transmission chain. Heritability is measured statistically as the propensity for patients close in the phylogeny to exhibit similar infection trait values. The approach reveals that up to half of the variance in set-point viral load, a trait associated with virulence, can be heritable. Our estimate is significant and robust to noise in the phylogeny. We also check for the consistency of our approach by showing that a trait related to drug resistance is almost entirely heritable. Finally, we show the importance of taking into account the transmission chain when estimating correlations between infection traits. The fact that HIV virulence is, at least partially, heritable from one infection to the next has clinical and epidemiological implications. The difference between earlier studies and ours comes from the quality of our dataset and from the power of the PCA, which can be applied to large datasets and accounts for within-host evolution. The PCA opens new perspectives for approaches linking clinical data and evolutionary biology because it can be extended to study other traits or other infectious diseases.

Strategic Plan Iowa Workforce Development October, 2004

For the 2004 strategic planning process at Iowa Workforce Development, Director Richard Running asked for as much input from all staff as possible. As a result, planning staff designed an extensive process to gather input over about a three month period during the late spring and summer: • A Guide to Staff Involvement was drafted and distributed to staff in offices throughout the state. This guide provided a brief explanation of the planning process and quoted extensively from the Vilsack/Pederson Leadership Agenda and the 2003 IWD strategic plan to illustrate each step and to show examples of alignment. The guide also provided suggestions for staff in various locations and work units to conduct their own planning sessions. The structure was designed to solicit feedback regarding elements (vision, mission, guiding principles, goals and strategies) of the existing 2003 plan. Particular attention was devoted to securing non-management staff’s perspective during the internal and external assessment exercises. • Several local offices did conduct their own structured input sessions following the suggested guidelines and sent the results to planning staff in the central administrative offices. • Other work units in many locations opted to ask planning staff to facilitate planning sessions for them. The results of these sessions were also gathered by planning staff. In all, dozens of input sessions were held and hundreds of IWD staff participated directly in the process. Because all the sessions followed similar guidelines, it was relatively easy to combine all of the input received and spot common themes that surfaced from the many sessions. A composite of all the flip chart notes was compiled into one large document (for those who like lots of detail) and another document summarized the key themes that emerged. This information was used in a day-long planning retreat on August 20. Management staff members from throughout the department were invited and each work unit and sub-state region also brought a non-management staff person as well. This group reviewed the themes from the earlier sessions and then addressed each element of the 2003 plan, proposing refinements for almost all sections. Subsequently, senior management reviewed the results of the retreat and made the final decisions for the new 2004 plan. This thorough approach, with its special emphasis on input from line staff, did result in some significant changes to IWD’s plan. Local office staff, for example, consistently expressed the need to step up our marketing efforts, especially with employers. Another need that was expressed clearly and often was the need to beef up staff training efforts, much of the capacity for which had been lost in budget and staff reductions a few years ago. Neither of these issues is new, but the degree of concern expressed by IWD staff has caused us to elevate their importance in this year’s plan.

Morphostructural analysis of an alpine debris flows catchment: implication for debris supply

Rock slope instabilities are implicitly linked to the supply of sediment and debris recharging channels prone to debris flow. Hence, the incorporation of bedrock structure and terrain morphology can be relevant in the analysis of sediment budget and debris flow hazard assessment. Here, the mode of debris production of the Manival catchment (northern French Alps) is documented by the study of its morphostructural aspects extracted from high resolution DEM. Terrain implication in the process of debris supply is evaluated by: a) A systematic classification of the major morphological units based on the slope gradient that enables a spatial analysis of zones of debris production and deposition. b) A detailed structural analysis performed on DEM in order to identify potential unstable slopes. c) An analysis of the gullies orientation that informs in term of structural control of the sources zones. d) Localisation of high density joints sets that document about whether sources of continuous debris production are controlled by the structural setting of the catchment. These DEM-based indicators can be used as proxies for assessing the influences of the current topography and enable to quantify a degree of susceptibility to mass wasting and hillslope erosion activity. This present contribution suggests some directions for characterizing sediment flux dynamic in small alpine catchment.