Equilíbrios Difíceis: stress laboral, equilíbrio trabalho/família e diferenças de género entre os colaboradores de uma empresa de tecnologias da informação

O stress é não apenas inerente para o ser humano, como indispensável para a sua sobrevivência. À medida que as sociedades humanas evoluíram, assim também se alteraram as principais fontes de stress. Actualmente o stress organizacional é uma das principais áreas de investigação, bem como as suas relações com a família e a vida pessoal. Em foco estão ainda as variáveis individuais que servem como moderadoras da experiência de stress, como o coping e o suporte social. Neste trabalho procurou-se conhecer os níveis de stress experienciados pelos colaboradores da Cisco Systems Lda, identificando diferenças de género e entre os tipos de trabalho. Pretendeu-se ainda relacionar o stress no trabalho com o equilíbrio trabalho/família, equlíbrio vida pessoal/trabalho, suporte social e coping. Através de um estudo não experimental transversal, descritivo/descritivo correlacional, com 42 sujeitos, utilizando o PMI – Pressure Management Indicator, foi possível identificar quatro factores, com α a partir de 0,531 para as variáveis moderadoras ate 0,904 para as variáveis stressoras. Os trabalhadores da amostra trabalham em média 49,7 horas por semana, apontando como principal razão “para que o trabalho seja feito”; 31,7% consideram estar a sofrer de pressão negativa iniciada há mais de 3 meses. Estão muito satisfeitos com a organização, mas sentem pressão devido ao volume de trabalho, ao relacionamento interpessoal e às dificuldades em desligar do trabalho quando em casa, fazendo uso de estratégias focadas no problema e de suporte social. Existem diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre homens e mulheres nas subescalas “Estado de espírito” e “Nível de confiança”, indicando níveis mais altos de segurança e satisfação com o seu estado mental para o grupo dos homens. No que respeita aos tipos de trabalho, foi possível identificar diferenças entre as categorias Sénior gerência/profissional e Manual/hábil nas subescalas “Nível de energia”, “Volume de trabalho” e “Equilíbrio vida/trabalho”. Existe correlação positiva entre as variáveis stressoras e a subescala “Equilíbrio trabalho/família” (r=0,890; p<0,000) e entre as variáveis stressoras e a escala de Coping (r=0,748; p<0,000), sugerindo que níveis de stress elevados interferem com a vida familiar e conduzem a maior utilização das estratégias de coping. Apesar das políticas de recursos humanos da empresa no sentido de promover a conciliação entre trabalho e vida pessoal e familiar, há ainda margem para intervir e melhorar. / Stress is not only inherent to the human being, it’s essential to survival. As the humans societies evolved, so did the major sources of stress. These days, organizational stress is one of the main areas of research, as it is it’s relation with family and personal life. Under the spotlight are also individual variables that moderate the stress experience, such as coping and social support. With this paper, we intended to know the levels of stress experienced by the workers of Cisco Systems Lda, identifying gender and work type differences. We were also intending to relate work stress with home/work balance, life/work balance, social support and coping. Using a cross sectional correlational study, with n=42, using the PMI, we were able to identify four factors, with α starting on 0,531 for moderator variables to 0,904 for stressor variables. The workers on this sample work an average of 49,7 hours per week, naming “to get the job done” as the main reason for it. 31,7% consider to be suffering from negative pressure that started more than 3 months ago. They are very satisfied with the organization, but feel pressure due to workload, interpersonal relationship and the difficulties in switching off from work when at home. They use mostly Problem focus strategies and social support.There are statically significative differences between men and women in the subscales “State of mind” and “Confidence level”, which indicate higher levels of security and satisfaction with their state of mind for men. Regarding work types, we were able to identify differences between senior Management and Manual categories on subscales “Energy level”, “Workload” and “Life/work balance”. There is a positive correlation between stressor variables and the subscales “Home/work balance” (r=0,890; p<0,000) and between stressor variables and Coping scale (r=0,748; p<0,000), suggesting that high levels of stress interfere with family life and lead to higher use of coping mechanisms. Despite the company’s human resources policies to promote the balance between work and personal and family life, there is still place to intervene and improve.

Resilience of small-scale societies: a view from drylands

To gain insights on long-term social-ecological resilience, we examined adaptive responses of small-scale societies to dryland-related hazards in different regions and chronological periods, spanning from the mid-Holocene to the present. Based on evidence from Africa (Sahara and Sahel), Asia (south margin of the Thar desert), and Europe (South Spain), we discuss key traits and coping practices of small-scale societies that are potentially relevant for building resilience. The selected case studies illustrate four main coping mechanisms: mobility and migration, storage, commoning, and collective action driven by religious beliefs. Ultimately, the study of resilience in the context of drylands emphasizes the importance of adaptive traits and practices that are distinctive of small-scale societies: a strong social-ecological coupling, a solid body of traditional ecological knowledge, and a high degree of internal cohesion and self-organization.

Creating restoration landscapes: partnerships in large-scale conservation in the UK

It is increasingly recognized that ecological restoration demands conservation action beyond the borders of existing protected areas. This requires the coordination of land uses and management over a larger area, usually with a range of partners, which presents novel institutional challenges for conservation planners. Interviews were undertaken with managers of a purposive sample of large-scale conservation areas in the UK. Interviews were open-ended and analyzed using standard qualitative methods. Results show a wide variety of organizations are involved in large-scale conservation projects, and that partnerships take time to create and demand resilience in the face of different organizational practices, staff turnover, and short-term funding. Successful partnerships with local communities depend on the establishment of trust and the availability of external funds to support conservation land uses. We conclude that there is no single institutional model for large-scale conservation: success depends on finding institutional strategies that secure long-term conservation outcomes, and ensure that conservation gains are not reversed when funding runs out, private owners change priorities, or land changes hands.

Resilience of small-scale societies’ livelihoods: a framework for studying the transition from food gathering to food production

The origins of agriculture and the shift from hunting and gathering to committed agriculture is regarded as one of the major transitions in human history. Archeologists and anthropologists have invested significant efforts in explaining the origins of agriculture. A period of gathering intensification and experimentation and pursuing a mixed economic strategy seems the most plausible explanation for the transition to agriculture and provides an approach to study a process in which several nonlinear processes may have played a role. However, the mechanisms underlying the transition to full agriculture are not completely clear. This is partly due to the nature of the archeological record, which registers a practice only once it has become clearly established. Thus, points of transitions have limited visibility and the mechanisms involved in the process are difficult to untangle. The complexity of such transitions also implies that shifts can be distinctively different in particular environments and under varying historical and social conditions. In this paper we discuss some of the elements involved in the transition to food production within the framework of resilience theory. We propose a theoretical conceptual model in which the resilience of livelihood strategies lies at the intersection of three spheres: the environmental, economical, and social domains. Transitions occur when the rate of change, in one or more of these domains, is so elevated or its magnitude so large that the livelihood system is unable to bounce back to its original state. In this situation, the system moves to an alternative stable state, from one livelihood strategy to another.

Indirect Effects of Parental Coping on Children’s Psychosocial Adjustment in the Context of Pediatric Cancer

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Ecoviability for small-scale fisheries in the context of food security constraints

This paper applies a stochastic viability approach to a tropical small-scale fishery, offering a theoretical and empirical example of ecosystem-based fishery management approach that accounts for food security. The model integrates multi-species, multi-fleet and uncertainty as well as profitability, food production, and demographic growth. It is calibrated over the period 2006–2010 using monthly catch and effort data from the French Guiana's coastal fishery, involving thirteen species and four fleets. Using projections at the horizon 2040, different management strategies and scenarios are compared from a viability viewpoint, thus accounting for biodiversity preservation, fleet profitability and food security. The analysis shows that under certain conditions, viable options can be identified which allow fishing intensity and production to be increased to respond to food security requirements but with minimum impacts on the marine resources.

The psychometric properties of the brief Other as Shamer Scale for Children (OAS‐C) : preliminary validation studies in a sample of Portuguese children

Shame is a social emotion with adaptive functions involved in human be-havior and social interactions. This emotion is regarded as an involuntary response associated with increased self-awareness, loss of status and self-devaluation (Gilbert, 1998), that may render individuals more prone to psychopathology (Gilbert, 1998; Pinto-Gouveia & Matos, 2011). Thus, identifying and assessing feelings of shame in childhood is essential in addressing the actual impact of shame on individual’s developmental trajectory. The Other As Shamer Scale (OAS; Goss, Gilbert & Allan, 1994) is a widely used measure of external shame, adapted and translated to several languages — including Portuguese (Matos, Pinto-Gouveia, Gilbert, Duarte & Figueiredo, 2015) — to adult and to adolescent populations (OASB-A - Other As Shamer Brief for adolescents; translated and adapted by Cunha, Xavier, Cherpe & Pinto-Gouveia, 2014). The current study aims to adapt and to explore the psychometric proper-ties of the brief OAS in a sample of Portuguese children attending to elementary schools.

Geothermal district heating networks: modelling novel operational strategies incorporating heat storage

The value of integrating a heat storage into a geothermal district heating system has been investigated. The behaviour of the system under a novel operational strategy has been simulated focusing on the energetic, economic and environmental effects of the new strategy of incorporation of the heat storage within the system. A typical geothermal district heating system consists of several production wells, a system of pipelines for the transportation of the hot water to end-users, one or more re-injection wells and peak-up devices (usually fossil-fuel boilers). Traditionally in these systems, the production wells change their production rate throughout the day according to heat demand, and if their maximum capacity is exceeded the peak-up devices are used to meet the balance of the heat demand. In this study, it is proposed to maintain a constant geothermal production and add heat storage into the network. Subsequently, hot water will be stored when heat demand is lower than the production and the stored hot water will be released into the system to cover the peak demands (or part of these). It is not intended to totally phase-out the peak-up devices, but to decrease their use, as these will often be installed anyway for back-up purposes. Both the integration of a heat storage in such a system as well as the novel operational strategy are the main novelties of this thesis. A robust algorithm for the sizing of these systems has been developed. The main inputs are the geothermal production data, the heat demand data throughout one year or more and the topology of the installation. The outputs are the sizing of the whole system, including the necessary number of production wells, the size of the heat storage and the dimensions of the pipelines amongst others. The results provide several useful insights into the initial design considerations for these systems, emphasizing particularly the importance of heat losses. Simulations are carried out for three different cases of sizing of the installation (small, medium and large) to examine the influence of system scale. In the second phase of work, two algorithms are developed which study in detail the operation of the installation throughout a random day and a whole year, respectively. The first algorithm can be a potentially powerful tool for the operators of the installation, who can know a priori how to operate the installation on a random day given the heat demand. The second algorithm is used to obtain the amount of electricity used by the pumps as well as the amount of fuel used by the peak-up boilers over a whole year. These comprise the main operational costs of the installation and are among the main inputs of the third part of the study. In the third part of the study, an integrated energetic, economic and environmental analysis of the studied installation is carried out together with a comparison with the traditional case. The results show that by implementing heat storage under the novel operational strategy, heat is generated more cheaply as all the financial indices improve, more geothermal energy is utilised and less fuel is used in the peak-up boilers, with subsequent environmental benefits, when compared to the traditional case. Furthermore, it is shown that the most attractive case of sizing is the large one, although the addition of the heat storage most greatly impacts the medium case of sizing. In other words, the geothermal component of the installation should be sized as large as possible. This analysis indicates that the proposed solution is beneficial from energetic, economic, and environmental perspectives. Therefore, it can be stated that the aim of this study is achieved in its full potential. Furthermore, the new models for the sizing, operation and economic/energetic/environmental analyses of these kind of systems can be used with few adaptations for real cases, making the practical applicability of this study evident. Having this study as a starting point, further work could include the integration of these systems with end-user demands, further analysis of component parts of the installation (such as the heat exchangers) and the integration of a heat pump to maximise utilisation of geothermal energy.

Effects of trawling on sessile megabenthos in the Great Barrier Reef and evaluation of the efficacy of management strategies

A series of related research studies over 15 years assessed the effects of prawn trawling on sessile megabenthos in the Great Barrier Reef, to support management for sustainable use in the World Heritage Area. These large-scale studies estimated impacts on benthos (particularly removal rates per trawl pass), monitored subsequent recovery rates, measured natural dynamics of tagged megabenthos, mapped the regional distribution of seabed habitats and benthic species, and integrated these results in a dynamic modelling framework together with spatio-temporal fishery effort data and simulated management. Typical impact rates were between 5 and 25% per trawl, recovery times ranged from several years to several decades, and most sessile megabenthos were naturally distributed in areas where little or no trawling occurred and so had low exposure to trawling. The model simulated trawl impact and recovery on the mapped species distributions, and estimated the regional scale cumulative changes due to trawling as a time series of status for megabenthos species. The regional status of these taxa at time of greatest depletion ranged from ∼77% relative to pre-trawl abundance for the worst case species, having slow recovery with moderate exposure to trawling, to ∼97% for the least affected taxon. The model also evaluated the expected outcomes for sessile megabenthos in response to major management interventions implemented between 1999 and 2006, including closures, effort reductions, and protected areas. As a result of these interventions, all taxa were predicted to recover (by 2-14% at 2025); the most affected species having relatively greater recovery. Effort reductions made the biggest positive contributions to benthos status for all taxa, with closures making smaller contributions for some taxa. The results demonstrated that management actions have arrested and reversed previous unsustainable trends for all taxa assessed, and have led to a prawn trawl fishery with improved environmental sustainability. © 2015 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea 2015. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Predicting Pollicipes pollicipes (Crustacea: Cirripedia) abundance on intertidal rocky shores of SW Portugal: a multi-scale approach based on a simple fetch-based wave exposure index

Understanding and predicting patterns of distribution and abundance of marine resources is important for con- servation and management purposes in small-scale artisanal fisheries and industrial fisheries worldwide. The goose barnacle (Pollicipes pollicipes) is an important shellfish resource and its distribution is closely related to wave exposure at different spatial scales. We modelled the abundance (percent coverage) of P. pollicipes as a function of a simple wave exposure index based on fetch estimates from digitized coastlines at different spatial scales. The model accounted for 47.5% of the explained deviance and indicated that barnacle abundance increases non-linearly with wave exposure at both the smallest (metres) and largest (kilometres) spatial scales considered in this study. Distribution maps were predicted for the study region in SW Portugal. Our study suggests that the relationship between fetch-based exposure indices and P. pollicipes percent cover may be used as a simple tool for providing stakeholders with information on barnacle distribution patterns. This information may improve assessment of harvesting grounds and the dimension of exploitable areas, aiding management plans and support- ing decision making on conservation, harvesting pressure and surveillance strategies for this highly appreciated and socio- economically important marine resource.

“English Language Learning Strategies used by the Foreign Language Department Seminar Students Year 2006 with Either Above Eight Grade or Below it Obtained in Their Studies in the Basic Skills Area.

Nowadays language communication plays an important role in the world. For the technological explosion in the 20th century, the electronic mass media collapsed space and time barriers in human communication, enabling people to interact and live on a global scale. In this sense, the earth has been turned into a village by the electronic mass media. It not only changes the distance between countries, societies, but also shortens it between people. It means that the technological advancement makes the earth become a village. Since the distance between people is shortened, language communication becomes more important than before. To enhance language abilities, people can apply many different types of language learning strategies according to the learning styles that they have in order to learn the target language. In the Foreign Language Department of University of El Salvador Seminar students year 2006 apply different language learning strategies which make some of them get a grade either above eight or below it. To understand learning strategies, people can go back to basic term, strategy. This word comes from the ancient Greek term strategia meaning generalship or the art of war. A different, but related, word is tactics, which are tools to achieve the success of strategies. The two expressions share some basic implied characteristics: planning, competition, conscious manipulation, and movement toward a goal.

Burnout em auxiliares de acção médica e sua relação com traços de personalidade e estratégias de coping

Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Clínica

Relationship between religiosity, religious coping and socio-demographic variables among out-patients with depression or diabetes mellitus in Enugu, Nigeria.

Background: Religion is a powerful coping strategy. Diabetes and depression are common conditions in our environment that induce psychological distress, thus requiring coping for better outcome. Studies indicate that increased religiosity is associated with better outcome in clinical and general populations. Therefore, studies of the distribution of religiosity and religious coping among these populations are essential to improve outcome. Objectives: To assess the association between religiosity, religious coping in depression and diabetes mellitus, and selected sociodemographic variables (age, gender and occupational status). Methods:Using simple random sampling we recruited 112 participants with diabetes and an equal number with depression consecutively, matching for gender. Religiosity was determined using religious orientation scale (revised), religious coping with brief religious coping scale and socio-demographic variables with a socio-demographic questionnaire. Results: Intrinsic religiosity was greater among older people with depression than among older people with diabetes(t=5.02,p<0.001); no significant difference among young people with depression and diabetes(t=1.47,p=0.15).Positive religious coping was greater among older people with depression than among older people with diabetes(t=2.31,p=0.02); no difference among young people with depression and diabetes(t=0.80,p=0.43). Females with depression had higher intrinsic religiosity scores than males with depression(t=3.85,p<0.001); no difference in intrinsic religiosity between females and males with diabetes(t=0.99,p=0.32).Positive religious coping was greater among participants with diabetes in the low occupational status(t=2.96,p<0.001) than those in the high occupational status. Conclusion: Religion is indeed a reliable coping method, most commonly used by the elderly and females with depression. Positive religious coping is more common among diabetic patients who are in the low occupational status.

Effects of two teaching strategies on the relationship between nursing students’ self-efficacy and performance in BLS/AED

Purpose: Nurses and nursing students are often first responders to in-hospital cardiac arrest events; thus they are expected to perform Basic Life Support (BLS) and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) without delay. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between nursing students’ self-efficacy and performance before and after receiving a particular training intervention in BLS/AED. Materials and methods: Explanatory correlational study. 177 nursing students received a 4-h training session in BLS/AED after being randomized to either a self-directed (SDG) or an instructor-directed teaching group (IDG).1 A validated self-efficacy scale, the Cardiff Test and Laerdal SkillReporter® software were used to assess students’ self-efficacy and performance in BLS/AED at pre-test, post-test and 3-month retention-test. Independent t-test analysis was performed to compare the differences between groups at pre-test. Pearson coefficient (r) was used to calculate the strength of the relationship between self-efficacy and performance in both groups at pre-test, post-test and retention-test. Results: Independent t-tests analysis showed that there were non-significant differences (p-values > 0.05) between groups for any of the variables measured. At pre-test, results showed that correlation between self-efficacy and performance was moderate for the IDG (r = 0.53; p < 0.05) and the SDG (r = 0.49; p < 0.05). At post-test, correlation between self-efficacy and performance was much higher for the SDG (r = 0.81; p < 0.05) than for the IDG (r = 0.32; p < 0.05), which in fact was weaker than at pre-test. Finally, it was found that whereas the correlation between self-efficacy and performance increased from the post-test to the retention-test to almost reach baseline levels for the ILG (r = 0.52; p < 0.05), it slightly decreased in this phase for the SDG (r = 0.77; p < 0.05). Conclusion: Student-directed strategies may be more effective than instructor-directed strategies at promoting self-assessment and, therefore, may help to improve and maintain the relationship between nursing student self-efficacy and actual ability to perform BLS/AED.

High protein flexibility and reduced hydration water dynamics are key pressure adaptive strategies in prokaryotes

Water and protein dynamics on a nanometer scale were measured by quasi-elastic neutron scattering in the piezophile archaeon Thermococcus barophilus and the closely related pressure-sensitive Thermococcus kodakarensis, at 0.1 and 40 MPa. We show that cells of the pressure sensitive organism exhibit higher intrinsic stability. Both the hydration water dynamics and the fast protein and lipid dynamics are reduced under pressure. In contrast, the proteome of T. barophilus is more pressure sensitive than that of T. kodakarensis. The diffusion coefficient of hydration water is reduced, while the fast protein and lipid dynamics are slightly enhanced with increasing pressure. These findings show that the coupling between hydration water and cellular constituents might not be simply a master-slave relationship. We propose that the high flexibility of the T. barophilus proteome associated with reduced hydration water may be the keys to the molecular adaptation of the cells to high hydrostatic pressure.