Contextual effects of power differentials: Construct validation and concurrent validity of the Power Differential Scale

Power distance can produce contextual effects that surpass the cultural level of analysis, allowing predicting how the assimilation of these cultural values impacts individuals motivations to attain power positions and behaviors towards authorities. Power distance value can be conceived both at a micro and macro level of analysis. However existing measures used at a cultural level have been the object of several critics, and others applied at the individual level need further study in terms of their psychometric properties. This article presents the main psychometric properties of the Earley and Erez (1997) Power Differential Scale. This scale measures the acceptability of power and status differences both at micro and macro level. Two studies analyse the scale’s construct validity and its factorial invariance across groups of participants (Study 1); and its predictive validity at an individual level (Study 2). The results obtained support the proposed unidimensionality of the scale. Furthermore, it demonstrated predictive power by showing the role of power distance in the prediction of individual motivations to attain power and to respond to power situations using withdrawal or confrontational strategies. Future research is discussed, specifically the impact of power differential construct in individual attitudes and behavior.

Vicarious Power: The Interpersonal Transference of Power

Thesis (Ph.D, Psychology) -- Queen's University, 2016-07-29 15:58:26.695

Average-case analysis of power consumption in embedded systems

Power efficiency is one of the most important constraints in the design of embedded systems since such systems are generally driven by batteries with limited energy budget or restricted power supply. In every embedded system, there are one or more processor cores to run the software and interact with the other hardware components of the system. The power consumption of the processor core(s) has an important impact on the total power dissipated in the system. Hence, the processor power optimization is crucial in satisfying the power consumption constraints, and developing low-power embedded systems. A key aspect of research in processor power optimization and management is “power estimation”. Having a fast and accurate method for processor power estimation at design time helps the designer to explore a large space of design possibilities, to make the optimal choices for developing a power efficient processor. Likewise, understanding the processor power dissipation behaviour of a specific software/application is the key for choosing appropriate algorithms in order to write power efficient software. Simulation-based methods for measuring the processor power achieve very high accuracy, but are available only late in the design process, and are often quite slow. Therefore, the need has arisen for faster, higher-level power prediction methods that allow the system designer to explore many alternatives for developing powerefficient hardware and software. The aim of this thesis is to present fast and high-level power models for the prediction of processor power consumption. Power predictability in this work is achieved in two ways: first, using a design method to develop power predictable circuits; second, analysing the power of the functions in the code which repeat during execution, then building the power model based on average number of repetitions. In the first case, a design method called Asynchronous Charge Sharing Logic (ACSL) is used to implement the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) for the 8051 microcontroller. The ACSL circuits are power predictable due to the independency of their power consumption to the input data. Based on this property, a fast prediction method is presented to estimate the power of ALU by analysing the software program, and extracting the number of ALU-related instructions. This method achieves less than 1% error in power estimation and more than 100 times speedup in comparison to conventional simulation-based methods. In the second case, an average-case processor energy model is developed for the Insertion sort algorithm based on the number of comparisons that take place in the execution of the algorithm. The average number of comparisons is calculated using a high level methodology called MOdular Quantitative Analysis (MOQA). The parameters of the energy model are measured for the LEON3 processor core, but the model is general and can be used for any processor. The model has been validated through the power measurement experiments, and offers high accuracy and orders of magnitude speedup over the simulation-based method.

Does an In-Season Detraining Period Affect the Shoulder Rotator Cuff Strength and Balance of Young Swimmers?

Aims: To compare the physical activity, sedentary activity and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in institutionalized vs. non-institutionalized elderly, and to establish a pattern of relationship and prediction of physical and sedentary activity with physical and mental components of HRQoL. Methods: The sample consisted of 383 elderly with ≥ 75 years old (n=187 institutionalized and n=196 non-institutionalized). Were administered the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) for evaluated the physical and sedentary activity and HRQoL. Also was used the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) as exclusion criteria for cognitive problems in the elderly. Results: Differences between institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly were found in moderate-intensity activities and walking, a favour of non-institutionalized. The institutionalized elderly remain more minutes in sedentary activity. Also, were observed differences between both groups in physical component of HRQoL, a favour of non-institutionalized elderly. The mental component remained unchanged. The multivariate regression analyses showed that physical activity predicted the physical (8 to 12%) and mental (5 to 8%) components of HRQoL for institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly. Conclusions: Non-institutionalized elderly were more physically active, spent less time in sedentary activity and showed better perception physical component of HRQoL that institutionalized elderly. An important and encouraging result of this study was that physical activity is a predictor of improved physical and mental component of HRQoL for institutionalized and non-institutionalized elderly.

“The Landscape of wheat - A landscape of power��� pp: 66-70

Portugal in the end of the 19 th century was characterized by a huge economic and political instability. This situation led to the publication of the Hunger Law (1899), which is identified as the critical breaking point since it imposed a political ideology over a vernacular landscape. The Alentejo (south of Portugal), between (1889-1929) emerges as a paradigmatic landscapes where an abrupt transformation take place: an ancient landscape with the loss of their ecological memory was lost and a false identities was created. The diversity and ecological richness of the vernacular landscape gave way to the monotony of the cereal and the ecological and social system that for centuries had built up and evolved was abruptly compromised. To analyze and understand the important transformation that happened in the ancestral countryside of Alentejo, the research was based on the concept of landscape as a system, and that the landscape represents the relationship between the natural system and the cultural.

Intake, digestibility, and nitrogen balance of rations containing different levels of murumuru meal in sheep diets.

A pesquisa objetivou estudar o potencial de utilização da torta de murumuru (Astrocaryum murumuru var. murumuru, M art.) (TM) em dietas de ovinos, em substituição à gramínea Mombaça (Panicum maximum Jacq) com teores crescentes. Realizou-se ensaio metabólico, com 20 ovinos machos, castrados, na Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Belém, Pará, durante 26 dias. O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado, em cinco dietas e quatros repetições. TM0: 100% de gramínea; TM10: 10% de TM e 90% de gramínea; TM20: 20% de TM e 80% de gramínea; TM40: 40% de TM e 60% de gramínea e TM60: 60% de TM e 40% de gramínea. Foram avaliados o consumo e o coeciente de digestibilidade aparente da matéria seca (CMS e CDMS), matéria orgânica (CMO e CDMO), proteína bruta (CPB e CDPB), bra em detergente neutro (CFDN e CDFDN), bra em detergente ácido (CFDA e CDFDA), extrato etéreo (CEE e CDEE), celulose (CCEL e CDCEL), hemicelulose (CHEM e CDHEM) e balanço de nitrogênio (BN) das dietas experimentais. O CMS, CMO, CMM, CPB, CFDN e CFDA apresentaram efeito linear decrescente em função dos teores de substituição da gramínea Mombaça por TM na dieta. O CEE e o CLIG apresentaram efeitos quadráticos em função dos teores de substituição da TM na dieta. O CDMS, CDMO e CDHEM tiveram efeitos lineares crescentes, entre TM0 e TM60. O CDEE, CDFDN, CDFDA e CDCEL apresentaram efeito quadrático, com teores de substituição ótimos de 56,65%, 41%, 31,33% e 27,46%, respectivamente. O balanço de nitrogênio apresentou efeito linear negativo no intervalo de inclusão de 0% a 60% de torta. Conclui-se que a torta de murumuru constitui alternativa para a suplementação alimentar de ruminantes, em substituição à gramínea Mombaça, pois proporciona aumento na digestibilidade dos nutrientes por ovinos. Entretanto, deve-se respeitar um limite de inclusão, considerando-se que a partir de 27,46%, 31,33%, 41% e 56,65% de substituição ocorrem decréscimos, respectivamente da CDCEL, CDFDA, CDFDN e CDEE, embora não ocorra valor negativo para o balanço de nitrogênio.

A methodological framework to assess the carbon balance of tropical managed forests.

Background: Managed forests are a major component of tropical landscapes. Production forests as designated by national forest services cover up to 400 million ha, i.e. half of the forested area in the humid tropics. Forest management thus plays a major role in the global carbon budget, but with a lack of unified method to estimate carbon fluxes from tropical managed forests. In this study we propose a new time- and spatially-explicit methodology to estimate the above-ground carbon budget of selective logging at regional scale. Results: The yearly balance of a logging unit, i.e. the elementary management unit of a forest estate, is modelled by aggregating three sub-models encompassing (i) emissions from extracted wood, (ii) emissions from logging damage and deforested areas and (iii) carbon storage from post-logging recovery. Models are parametrised and uncertainties are propagated through a MCMC algorithm. As a case study, we used 38 years of National Forest Inventories in French Guiana, northeastern Amazonia, to estimate the above-ground carbon balance (i.e. the net carbon exchange with the atmosphere) of selectively logged forests. Over this period, the net carbon balance of selective logging in the French Guianan Permanent Forest Estate is estimated to be comprised between 0.12 and 1.33 Tg C, with a median value of 0.64 Tg C. Uncertainties over the model could be diminished by improving the accuracy of both logging damage and large woody necromass decay submodels. Conclusions: We propose an innovating carbon accounting framework relying upon basic logging statistics. This flexible tool allows carbon budget of tropical managed forests to be estimated in a wide range of tropical regions

Safety culture in supply chains : 'Customer is king'

Despite the presence of many regulations governing the operation of heavy vehicles and supply chains in Australia, the truck driving sector continues to have the highest incidence of fatal injuries compared to all other industries. The working environment has been the focus of attention by safety researchers during the past few decades, with particular consideration been given to the concept ‘safety culture’ and how to maintain, modify and advance responses to occupational risk. One important aspect of the heavy industry which sets it apart is the existence of cultural or sub-cultural influences at an industry wide and occupation-specific level rather than organisational level. This paper reports on the findings of stakeholder’s perceptions of the influences of power and control, and culture on industry safety. In-depth structured interviews were conducted during 2011 with Australian industry stakeholders (n=31). The questioning surrounded decision-making processes with regards to identifying risks, self-monitoring and reducing risky activities; as well as how power-affected relationships may influence the operational performance of supply chains and impacts on driver safety. One of the most significant findings from these interviews relates to the notion of power. The perception that the ‘Customer is King’ was widely viewed, with the majority of stakeholders believing that there exists a ‘master slave mentality’ in the industry. There appears to be great frustration in the industry as to the apparent immunity of customers (particularly retail supply chains) to their responsibilities. There was also a strong perception that the customer holds the balance of power by covertly employing remuneration-related incentives and pressures. Smaller trucking companies are perceived as being more vulnerable to the pressure of customer expectations.

Developing and sustaining successful mentoring relationships

As mentor teachers hold the balance of power in the relationship, how do they build and sustain positive mentor-mentee relationships? This study involved eleven pairs of mentors and mentees (n=22) with audio-recorded interviews to explore their relationships, mentors’ support and mentors’ expectations for mentees’ involvement in the school. Findings suggested ways to build and sustain mentoring relationships (e.g., professionalism, respect, and support). Indeed, support in providing information for planning, access to resources, two-way dialoguing with feedback and reflections, and establishing safe, risk-taking environments to trial and evaluate newly-learnt teaching practices were considered as a ways to build and sustain relationships.

Getting published — and cited in entrepreneurship : reflections on ten papers

I grew up in academic heaven. At least for me it was. Not only was Sweden in the late 1980s paradise for any kind of empirical research, with rich and high-quality business statistics being made available to researchers without them having to sign away their lives; 70+ percent response rates achieved in mail surveys to almost any group (if you knew how to do them), and boards of directors opening their doors to more qualitatively orientated researchers to sit in during their meetings. In addition, I perceived an environment with a very high degree of academic freedom, letting me do whatever I found interesting and important. I’m sure for others it was sheer hell, with very unclear career paths and rules of the game. Career progression (something which rarely entered my mind) meant that you tried as best you could and then you put all your work – reports, books, book chapters, conference papers, maybe even published articles – in a box and had some external committee of professors look at it. If you were lucky they liked what they saw for whatever reasons their professorial wisdom dictated, and you got hired or promoted. If you were not so lucky you wouldn’t get the job or the promotion, without quite knowing why. So people could easily imagine an old boys club – whose members were themselves largely unproven in international, peer review publishing – picking whoever they wanted by whatever criteria they choose to apply. Neither the fact that assessors were external nor the presence of an appeals system might have completely appeased your suspicious and skeptical mind, considering the balance of power.

Empowerment in nursing : paternalism or maternalism?

The aim of this article is to explore whether patient empowerment flourishes in the wake of current health reforms or if there is a power struggle between nursing and medicine as to what is in the patients' best interest. Shifting the balance of power from healthcare professionals to patients has become a key element of healthcare policy in England. The RCN's definition of nursing places patient empowerment as a central remit of nurses. However, achieving genuine patient empowerment is not easy and requires individuals and organizations to alter their beliefs, values and behaviours. To empower patients nurses must be in a position to share power and this may require a realignment of the traditional power base within health care. Although empowerment is often viewed on a one-to-one level between professionals and patients, for true patient empowerment to occur, issues of power and control must also be addressed at a national and political level.

Social media in selected Australian federal and state election campaigns, 2010-15

Campaigning in Australian election campaigns at local, state, and federal levels is fundamentally affected by the fact that voting is compulsory in Australia, with citizens who are found to have failed to cast their vote subject to fines. This means that - contrary to the situation in most other nations – elections are decided not by which candidate or party has managed to encourage the largest number of nominal supporters to make the effort to cast their vote, but by some 10-20% of genuine ‘swinging voters’ who change their party preferences from one election to the next. Political campaigning is thus aimed less at existing party supporters (so-called ‘rusted on’ voters whose continued support for the party is essentially taken for granted) than at this genuinely undecided middle of the electorate. Over the past decades, this has resulted in a comparatively timid, vague campaigning style from both major party blocs (the progressive Australian Labor Party [ALP] and the conservative Coalition of the Liberal and National Parties [L/NP]). Election commitments that run the risk of being seen as too partisan and ideological are avoided as they could scare away swinging voters, and recent elections have been fought as much (or more) on the basis of party leaders’ perceived personas as they have on stated policies, even though Australia uses a parliamentary system in which the Prime Minister and state Premiers are elected by their party room rather than directly by voters. At the same time, this perceived lack of distinctiveness in policies between the major parties has also enabled the emergence of new, smaller parties which (under Australia’s Westminster-derived political system) have no hope of gaining a parliamentary majority but could, in a close election, come to hold the balance of power and thus exert disproportionate influence on a government which relies on their support.

A implementação da lei das cotas e a discussão das ações afirmativas no IFRS

A presente dissertação tem como tema a implementação da lei das cotas e a discussão da política de Ações Afirmativas no IFRS. A identificação e análise da adoção de ações afirmativas frente à diminuição da desigualdade racial no Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Sul constituem o cerne dessa pesquisa. As indagações a respeito das contribuições das ações afirmativas no IFRS levaram a três questionamentos: o primeiro foi acerca da importância efetiva de existir uma política de ações afirmativas no âmbito da instituição; o segundo residiu sobre o porquê de uma política interna ter sido pensada apenas após a aprovação da lei 12.711/12; e o terceiro questionamento pairou sobre a efetividade do uso da lei das cotas e da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS como instrumentos sólidos de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Destarte, o objeto desta pesquisa foi analisar o impacto e a implementação desta política no IFRS na perspectiva de diminuição da desigualdade racial. Foram realizadas análises qualitativas através da utilização do método de observação participante nas reuniões do Grupo de Trabalho de Ações Afirmativas e análises socioeconômicas dos ingressantes via reserva de vagas no vestibular de inverno do campus Erechim e análise documental do documento base da política de ações afirmativas do IFRS. Foram também utilizadas análises quantitativas através dos dados, fornecidos pela instituição, dos estudantes no que concerne ao perfil racial. Os resultados mostraram que a utilização de cotas nos vestibulares de 2013 e 2014 evidenciou um aumento significativo de estudantes negros e em situação de vulnerabilidade socioeconômica, bem como a necessidade imediata de formação e capacitação dos servidores que executam a lei no cotidiano. Evidenciou também que a adoção das ações afirmativas não é consensual no âmbito da instituição e que tem sido executada, analisada e refletida junto a um jogo de correlação de forças aí existentes. Ainda que realizadas de forma pontual e sem sistematização adequada, a adoção de ações afirmativas no IFRS, tanto na forma obrigatória da execução da lei como nade forma não obrigatória - através da política interna de ações afirmativas, perpassam dois direitos fundamentais: direito à reparação e direito a condições mínimas de equidade no corpo discente de uma instituição pública.

Innovation and hybrid genres: disturbing social rhythm in legal practice.

This paper explores the non-adoption of an innovation via the concept of hybrid genres, that is digital genres that emerge from a non-digital material precedent. As instances of innovation these are often resisted because they disturb the order of activity and balance of power relations in a given situation, or require users to make conceptual and physical adaptation efforts that they consider too costly. The authors investigate such issues with a case study of the introduction of a hybrid digital genre, ODR or online dispute resolution, in legal practice

Competências estratégicas de negociação em gestão comercial

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciências Empresariais