Performance impacts of appraisal and coping with stress in workplace settings: The role of affect and emotional intelligence

We review the literature on stress in organizational settings and, based on a model of job insecurity and emotional intelligence by Jordan, Ashkanasy and Härtel (2002), present a new model where affective responses associated with stress mediate the impact of workplace stressors on individual and organizational performance outcomes. Consistent with Jordan et al., emotional intelligence is a key moderating variable. In our model, however, the components of emotional intelligence are incorporated into the process of stress appraisal and coping. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of these theoretical developments for understanding emotional and behavioral responses to workplace.

Virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae: PsaA mutants are hypersensitive to oxidative stress

psaA encodes a 37-kDa pneumococcal lipoprotein which is part of an ABC Mn(II) transport complex. Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 psaA mutants have previously been shown to be significantly less virulent than wild-type D39, but the mechanism underlying the attenuation has not been resolved. In this study, we have shown that psaA and psaD mutants are highly sensitive to oxidative stress, i.e., to superoxide and hydrogen peroxide, which might explain why they are less virulent than the wild-type strain. Our investigations revealed altered expression of the key oxidative-stress response enzymes superoxide dismutase and NADH oxidase in psaA and psaD mutants, suggesting that PsaA and PsaD may play important roles in the regulation of expression of oxidative-stress response enzymes and intracellular redox homeostasis.

Observações preliminares sobre a malformação em inflorescencias de mangueira (Mangifera indica L.) e fungo, alguns insetos e ácaro nelas encontrados

A malformação de infloresc��ncias e o superbrotamento de gemas terminais e axilares de mangueiras dos Estados de São Paulo e Pernambuco são relacionados com o ácaro Aceria mangiferae Sayed, 1946 (Acarina, Eriophyidae) e o fungo Fusarium moniliforme subglutinans, sendo êste último considerado, empíricamente, como o principal agente causal da doença. Varios insetos associados às infloresc��ncias de mangueiras foram coletados: lagarta de Eupithecia sp. (Tephroclystis), (Lepidoptera, Geometriidae, Hydriomeninae); Frankliniella cubensis Hood, 1925 (Thysanoptera, Thripidae); coleopteros pertencentes às familias Nitidulidae e Cryptophagidae.

Musical training intensity yields opposite effects on grey matter density in cognitive versus sensorimotor networks.

Using optimized voxel-based morphometry, we performed grey matter density analyses on 59 age-, sex- and intelligence-matched young adults with three distinct, progressive levels of musical training intensity or expertise. Structural brain adaptations in musicians have been repeatedly demonstrated in areas involved in auditory perception and motor skills. However, musical activities are not confined to auditory perception and motor performance, but are entangled with higher-order cognitive processes. In consequence, neuronal systems involved in such higher-order processing may also be shaped by experience-driven plasticity. We modelled expertise as a three-level regressor to study possible linear relationships of expertise with grey matter density. The key finding of this study resides in a functional dissimilarity between areas exhibiting increase versus decrease of grey matter as a function of musical expertise. Grey matter density increased with expertise in areas known for their involvement in higher-order cognitive processing: right fusiform gyrus (visual pattern recognition), right mid orbital gyrus (tonal sensitivity), left inferior frontal gyrus (syntactic processing, executive function, working memory), left intraparietal sulcus (visuo-motor coordination) and bilateral posterior cerebellar Crus II (executive function, working memory) and in auditory processing: left Heschl's gyrus. Conversely, grey matter density decreased with expertise in bilateral perirolandic and striatal areas that are related to sensorimotor function, possibly reflecting high automation of motor skills. Moreover, a multiple regression analysis evidenced that grey matter density in the right mid orbital area and the inferior frontal gyrus predicted accuracy in detecting fine-grained incongruities in tonal music.

Hippocampal volume predicts fluid intelligence in musically trained people.

Recently, age-related hippocampal (HP) volume loss could be associated with a decrease in general fluid intelligence (gF). In the present study we investigated whether and how extensive musical training modulates human HP volume and gF performance. Previously, some studies demonstrated positive effects of musical training on higher cognitive functions such as learning and memory, associated with neural adaptations beyond the auditory domain. In order to detect possible associations between musical training and gF, we bilaterally segmented the HP formation and assessed the individual gF performance of people with different levels of musical expertise. Multiple regression analyses revealed that HP volume predicts gF in musicians but not in nonmusicians; in particular, bilaterally enhanced HP volume is associated with increased gF exclusively in musically trained people (amateurs and experts). This result suggests that musical training facilitates the recruitment of cognitive resources, which are essential for gF and linked to HP functioning. Musical training, even at a moderate level of intensity, can thus be considered as a potential strategy to decelerate age-related effects of cognitive decline. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Stability-dependent behavioural and electro-cortical reorganizations during intentional switching between bimanual tapping modes

This study investigated behavioural and electro-cortical reorganizations accompanying intentional switching between two distinct bimanual coordination tapping modes (In-phase and Anti-phase) that differ in stability when produced at the same movement rate. We expected that switching to a less stable tapping mode (In-to-Anti switching) would lead to larger behavioural perturbations and require supplementary neural resources than switching to a more stable tapping mode (Anti-to-In switching). Behavioural results confirmed that the In-to-Anti switching lasted longer than the Anti-to-In switching. A general increase in attention-related neural activity was found at the moment of switching for both conditions. Additionally, two condition-dependent EEG reorganizations were observed. First, a specific increase in cortico-cortical coherence appeared exclusively during the In-to-Anti switching. This result may reflect a strengthening in inter-regional communication in order to engage in the subsequent, less stable, tapping mode. Second, a decrease in motor-related neural activity (increased beta spectral power) was found for the Anti-to-In switching only. The latter effect may reflect the interruption of the previous, less stable, tapping mode. Given that previous results on spontaneous Anti-to-In switching revealing an inverse pattern of EEG reorganization (decreased beta spectral power), present findings give new insight on the stability-dependent neural correlates of intentional motor switching. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Auction Sale Notice

Auction Sale notice concerning a brick and stone carpenter shop; a frame wheel-house building and a stone machine shop building all located on Cascade Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Superintendent of the State Reservation at Niagara is listed as Thomas W. Welch. The names Thomas Dolphin – Suspension Bridge; W.A. Frazer – Suspension Bridge; Alice L. [illegible] – Niagara Falls and James C. [illegible] are written on the notice in blue pencil. There is a tear at the top of the notice and wear along the sides. Text is not affected. The item is slightly discoloured and mounted on cardboard, 28 cm x 20 cm, January 27, 1886.

The question solved, an answer to Rev. Dr. Clark's Question of the hour and his other anti-catholic problems

UANL

Vida y muerte empresarial, estudios empíricos de perdurabilidad proyecto : empresas saludables ; caso : Crepes & Waffles

Este proyecto aspira comprender el proceder que le ha permitido a Crepes & Waffles generar perdurabilidad empresarial, motivo por el cual fue galardonada con el Premio Empresario Colombiano Mariposa de Lorenz (2008). La práctica empresarial de Crepes & Waffles permite resaltar su gestión de calidad, identidad organizacional y estrategia, factores que contrastaremos con las herramientas de medición de perdurabilidad empresarial planteados por la Universidad del Rosario y generar un diagnostico sobre la efectividad de estos en la empresa.

Análisis del proceso que condujo a la construcción del concepto de explotación inserto en el Protocolo para prevenir, reprimir y sancionar la trata de personas, incorporado a la legislación colombiana a través de la Ley 800 de 2003

El objetivo de este trabajo de grado es describir una disputa política por el significado del concepto de explotación en el marco de la redacción del “Protocolo para prevenir, reprimir y sancionar la trata de personas, especialmente mujeres y niños”, en el cual se define aquello que se entiende por trata de personas. La construcción de este concepto excluye e invisibiliza otros tipos de explotación comunes en el sistema de producción capitalista contemporánea que pertenecen al universo de violencia objetiva sistémica a través del énfasis en la explotación sexual que hace parte de la violencia subjetiva.

El servicio al cliente como generador de ventaja competitiva en una entidad financiera Colombiana Caso Davivienda

En la investigación se hace referencia a la planeación estratégica y dentro de ella a la posibilidad de escoger lineamientos que diferenciarán a una empresas de otras o que generarán ventajas sobre los competidores.