Satisfação profissional dos enfermeiros

Nos tempos conturbados que vivemos em termos profissionais a satisfação no trabalho é sem dúvida um assunto pertinente e actual. Neste âmbito surge a necessidade de identificar a satisfação profissional dos enfermeiros face a cinco dimensões em estudo que são: a satisfação com o salário, com as chefias, com os colegas, com as promoções e por fim com a natureza do trabalho, bem como, identificar o locus de controlo das suas características pessoais ou seja em que medida um individuo sente que controla o que lhe acontece, e efectuámos também a caracterização sócio-demográfica e profissional da amostra que incidiu no Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental E.P.E. tendo sido aplicado um questionário a 249 enfermeiros dessa instituição. Foi utilizada uma metodologia descritiva e correlacional tendo sido definido como objectivo geral: conhecer o nível de satisfação dos enfermeiros face à actividade profissional. Como objectivos específicos: conhecer as características sócio-demográficas e profissionais dos enfermeiros em estudo; identificar face a cinco dimensões de trabalho as que provocam maior satisfação/insatisfação profissional; identificar as características pessoais (locus de controlo) que influenciam a motivação profissional dos enfermeiros; correlacionar o locus de controlo motivacional dos enfermeiros com o nível de satisfação profissional. O instrumento utilizado para a recolha de dados foi o questionário salientando-se as seguintes conclusões: a maioria da amostra é do sexo feminino e situa-se na faixa etária entre os vinte e os trinta anos, a satisfação com os colegas é das cinco dimensões a que provoca maior satisfação; a característica pessoal (locus de controlo) que caracteriza a maior parte dos enfermeiros em estudo é a internalidade; encontramos correlação positiva para um nível de significância de 5 apenas para satisfação com os colegas/satisfação com a natureza do trabalho. De salientar que a satisfação com os colegas não depende do género mas existe dependência face à formação profissional e o locus de controlo é independente do estado civil e do horário praticado.

As modalidades de formação contínua e a sua adequação à melhoria das práticas profissionais

A presente dissertação pretende investigar quais as modalidades de formação contínua que contribuem de forma mais significativa para os professores adotarem a aprendizagem por projetos para promover o desenvolvimento dos seus alunos. Começamos por estudar a literatura sobre o Movimento da Escola Moderna, modelo pedagógico que sempre adotámos na nossa prática educativa quotidiana. Concluímos nesse estudo que a aprendizagem curricular por projetos constitui a característica dominante neste modelo, para melhorar a qualidade da educação dos nossos alunos. Importava por consequência descrever as práticas educativas deste modelo em detalhe, a fim de as correlacionar com as características de formação que conduzam à adoção das primeiras. Encontrámos fundamentação para caracterizar os grandes domínios reveladores das práticas educativas na pesquisa documental efetuada sobre obras de referência na matéria. Esta fundamentação legitimou a identificação sistemática de práticas educativas do modelo, em trabalhos académicos que se dedicaram ao seu estudo. Conseguimos caracterizar as práticas reais de sala de aula, identificando oitenta e sete descritores de práticas do modelo. Baseados na pesquisa documental desenvolvida sobre os conceitos de isomorfismo e transferência concluímos que o aumento de indicadores isomórficos entre as práticas educativas e as práticas de formação poderão proporcionar uma maior capacidade de transferência daquelas práticas educativas para o exercício profissional dos formandos. Este estudo de correlação desenvolvido entre os 88 descritores de práticas e as seis modalidades de formação disponíveis, revelou-nos que as modalidades de Estágio e Oficina apresentam uma correlação, mais consistente de isomorfismos entre as suas características e os descritores de práticas. A proposta de resolução do problema identificado neste trabalho consistiu na conceção e planeamento de uma ação de formação contínua dirigida aos professores do nosso agrupamento, organizada segundo a modalidade de Oficina de Formação.

O elemento revolucinário na cidade industrial de Hard Times: do utilitarismo ao valor do senso comum

Na sequência da leitura que fazem da obra Hard Times, Edwin Percy Whipple e John Ruskin acusam Charles Dickens de não compreender a filosofia utilitarista e de revelar falta de rigor no tratamento dos assuntos que a esta filosofia dizem respeito. Este artigo procura demonstrar que Dickens não pretende apresentar uma teoria político-económica completa e precisa através de Hard Times. O autor procura mostrar a necessidade da entrada da fantasia na cidade industrial e utilitarista de Coketown e esta obra deverá ser observada como um veículo de reflexão e de crítica, bem como um movimento revolucionário, na medida em que resulta de um exercício artístico que sugere uma nova ordem e que permite uma transmissão de ideias cujo valor deverá ser considerado, ainda que possam revelar a simplicidade do senso comum.

Narrativas seriales e intimidad amatoria: estudio de caso de Grey's Anatomy

El aparecimiento de la televisión por cable implicó profundas transformaciones en los relatos mediáticos, particularmente en lo que respecta a las series televisivas, que rompen con la narrativa melodramática tradicional. El propósito de este trabajo es el de establecer la forma en que se narra el amor romántico, y que tipo de relación amorosa se representa, en una serie de televisión por cable que se emite en el Ecuador a través de Sony Entertainment: Grey’s Anatomy. Se indaga acerca del amor como un sistema de comunicación altamente complejo, y de resolución improbable, por la cantidad de variables que intervienen para que el amor pasión se consolide. Este sistema, por otra, parte tiene un sustrato genético determinado cerebralmente, cuando se produce simplemente es devastador. Las relaciones amorosas están condicionadas por factores culturales y sociales lo que obliga a establecer distinciones entre el amor romántico y la “relación pura” de pareja cuya característica es construirse a partir de la confianza y la “reflexividad” en la modernidad. Será la relación pura la que fundamentalmente se narre en la serie. La narrativa serial aprovecha esta experiencia universal del amor, para con recursos y técnicas que provienen del campo de la cinematografía establecer una narrativa amorosa particular. Formalmente el montaje, los planos y los movimientos de la cámara, se unen a los efectos emocionales que provoca la música en cada episodio para construir significaciones que conducen a despertar la rememoración emocional del espectador.

Serial clustering of extratropical cyclones

The clustering in time (seriality) of extratropical cyclones is responsible for large cumulative insured losses in western Europe, though surprisingly little scientific attention has been given to this important property. This study investigates and quantifies the seriality of extratropical cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere using a point-process approach. A possible mechanism for serial clustering is the time-varying effect of the large-scale flow on individual cyclone tracks. Another mechanism is the generation by one parent cyclone of one or more offspring through secondary cyclogenesis. A long cyclone-track database was constructed for extended October March winters from 1950 to 2003 using 6-h analyses of 850-mb relative vorticity derived from the NCEP NCAR reanalysis. A dispersion statistic based on the varianceto- mean ratio of monthly cyclone counts was used as a measure of clustering. It reveals extensive regions of statistically significant clustering in the European exit region of the North Atlantic storm track and over the central North Pacific. Monthly cyclone counts were regressed on time-varying teleconnection indices with a log-linear Poisson model. Five independent teleconnection patterns were found to be significant factors over Europe: the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the east Atlantic pattern, the Scandinavian pattern, the east Atlantic western Russian pattern, and the polar Eurasian pattern. The NAO alone is not sufficient for explaining the variability of cyclone counts in the North Atlantic region and western Europe. Rate dependence on time-varying teleconnection indices accounts for the variability in monthly cyclone counts, and a cluster process did not need to be invoked.

Efficient operator pipelining in a bit serial genetic algorithm engine

The authors propose a bit serial pipeline used to perform the genetic operators in a hardware genetic algorithm. The bit-serial nature of the dataflow allows the operators to be pipelined, resulting in an architecture which is area efficient, easily scaled and is independent of the lengths of the chromosomes. An FPGA implementation of the device achieves a throughput of >25 million genes per second

Estimating numbers of infectious units from serial dilution assays

The paper concerns the design and analysis of serial dilution assays to estimate the infectivity of a sample of tissue when it is assumed that the sample contains a finite number of indivisible infectious units such that a subsample will be infectious if it contains one or more of these units. The aim of the study is to estimate the number of infectious units in the original sample. The standard approach to the analysis of data from such a study is based on the assumption of independence of aliquots both at the same dilution level and at different dilution levels, so that the numbers of infectious units in the aliquots follow independent Poisson distributions. An alternative approach is based on calculation of the expected value of the total number of samples tested that are not infectious. We derive the likelihood for the data on the basis of the discrete number of infectious units, enabling calculation of the maximum likelihood estimate and likelihood-based confidence intervals. We use the exact probabilities that are obtained to compare the maximum likelihood estimate with those given by the other methods in terms of bias and standard error and to compare the coverage of the confidence intervals. We show that the methods have very similar properties and conclude that for practical use the method that is based on the Poisson assumption is to be recommended, since it can be implemented by using standard statistical software. Finally we consider the design of serial dilution assays, concluding that it is important that neither the dilution factor nor the number of samples that remain untested should be too large.

Input and output modality effects in immediate serial recall

In immediate recall tasks, visual recency is substantially enhanced when output interference is low (Cowan, Saults, Elliott, & Moreno, 2002; Craik, 1969) whereas auditory recency remains high even under conditions of high output interference. Ibis auditory advantage has been interpreted in terms of auditory resistance to output interference (e.g., Neath & Surprenant, 2003). In this study the auditory-visual difference at low output interference re-emerged when ceiling effects were accounted for, but only with spoken output. With written responding the auditory advantage remained significantly larger with high than with low output interference. These new data suggest that both superior auditory encoding and modality-specific output interference contribute to the classic auditory-visual modality effect.

The relationship between absolute and proportion scores of serial order memory: simulation predictions and empirical data

The capability of a feature model of immediate memory (Nairne, 1990; Neath, 2000) to predict and account for a relationship between absolute and proportion scoring of immediate serial recall when memory load is varied (the list-length effect, LLE) is examined. The model correctly predicts the novel finding of an LLE in immediate serial order memory similar to that observed with free recall and previously assumed to be attributable to the long-term memory component of that procedure (Glanzer, 1972). The usefulness of formal models as predictive tools and the continuity between short-term serial order and longer term item memory are considered.

Memory operations in rapid serial visual presentation

Short-term memory (STM) has often been considered to be a central resource in cognition. This study addresses its role in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) tasks tapping into temporal attention-the attentional blink (AB). Various STM operations are tested for their impact on performance and, in particular, on the AB. Memory tasks were found to exert considerable impact on general performance but the size of the AB was more or less immune to manipulations of STM load. Likewise, the AB was unaffected by manipulating the match between items held in STM and targets or temporally close distractors in the RSVP stream. The emerging picture is that STM resources, or their lack, play no role in the AB. Alternative accounts assuming serial consolidation, selection for action, and distractor-induced task-set interference are discussed.

Serial persistence in individual real estate returns in the UK

Persistence of property returns is a topic of perennial interest to fund managers as it suggests that choosing those properties that will perform well in the future is as simple as looking at those that performed well in the past. Consequently, much effort has been expended to determine if such a rule exists in the real estate market. This paper extends earlier studies in US, Australian, and UK markets in two ways. First, this study applies the same methodology originally used in Young and Graff (1996) making the results directly comparable with those in the US and Australian property markets. Second, this study uses a much longer and larger database covering all commercial property data available from the Investment Property Databank (IPD), for the years 1981 to 2002 for as many as 216,758 individual property returns. While the performance results of this study mimic the US and Australian results of greater persistence in the extreme first and fourth quartiles, they also evidence persistence in the moderate second and third quartiles, a notable departure from previous studies. Likewise patterns across property type, location, time, and holding period are remarkably similar leading to the conjecture that behaviors in the practice of commercial real estate investment management are themselves deeply rooted and persistent and perhaps influenced for good or ill by agency effects

Measurement of paraben concentrations in human breast tissue at serial locations across the breast from axilla to sternum

The concentrations of five esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (parabens) were measured using HPLC-MS/MS at four serial locations across the human breast from axilla to sternum using human breast tissue collected from 40 mastectomies for primary breast cancer in England between 2005 and 2008. One or more paraben esters were quantifiable in 158/160 (99%) of the tissue samples and in 96/160 (60%) all five esters were measured. Variation was notable with respect to individual paraben esters, location within one breast and similar locations in different breasts. Overall median values in nanograms per gram tissue for the 160 tissue samples were highest for n-propylparaben [16.8 (range 0–2052.7)] and methylparaben [16.6 (range 0–5102.9)]; levels were lower for n-butylparaben [5.8 (range 0–95.4)], ethylparaben [3.4 (range 0–499.7)] and isobutylparaben 2.1 (range 0–802.9). The overall median value for total paraben was 85.5 ng g−1 tissue (range 0–5134.5). The source of the paraben cannot be identified, but paraben was measured in the 7/40 patients who reported never having used underarm cosmetics in their lifetime. No correlations were found between paraben concentrations and age of patient (37–91 years), length of breast feeding (0–23 months), tumour location or tumour oestrogen receptor content. In view of the disproportionate incidence of breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant, paraben concentrations were compared across the four regions of the breast: n-propylparaben was found at significantly higher levels in the axilla than mid (P = 0.004 Wilcoxon matched pairs) or medial (P = 0.021 Wilcoxon matched pairs) regions (P = 0.010 Friedman ANOVA).