NURSES' PERCEPTION REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPUTER-BASED CLINICAL NURSING DOCUMENTATION

This qualitative, exploratory, descriptive study was performed with the objective of understanding the perception of the nurses working in medical-surgical units of a university hospital, regarding the strategies developed to perform a pilot test of the PROCEnf-USP electronic system, with the purpose of computerizing clinical nursing documentation. Eleven nurses of a theoretical-practical training program were interviewed and the obtained data were analyzed using the Content Analysis Technique. The following categories were discussed based on the references of participative management and planned changes: favorable aspects for the implementation; unfavorable aspects for the implementation; and expectations regarding the implementation. According to the nurses' perceptions, the preliminary use of the electronic system allowed them to show their potential and to propose improvements, encouraging them to become partners of the group manager in the dissemination to other nurses of the institution.

Do Academic and Private Entrepreneurs differ? An empirical analysis of the Micro-Foundation of Entrepreneurial Orientation

This Doctoral Thesis focuses on the study of individual behaviours as a result of organizational affiliation. The objective is to assess the Entrepreneurial Orientation of individuals proving the existence of a set of antecedents to that measure returning a structural model of its micro-foundation. Relying on the developed measurement model, I address the issue whether some Entrepreneurs experience different behaviours as a result of their academic affiliation, comparing a sample of ‘Academic Entrepreneurs’ to a control sample of ‘Private Entrepreneurs’ affiliated to a matched sample of Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Building on the Theory of the Planned Behaviour, proposed by Ajzen (1991), I present a model of causal antecedents of Entrepreneurial Orientation on constructs extensively used and validated, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, in sociological and psychological studies. I focus my investigation on five major domains: (a) Situationally Specific Motivation, (b) Personal Traits and Characteristics, (c) Individual Skills, (d) Perception of the Business Environment and (e) Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions. I rely on a sample of 200 Entrepreneurs, affiliated to a matched sample of 72 Academic Spin-offs and Private Start-ups. Firms are matched by Industry, Year of Establishment and Localization and they are all located in the Emilia Romagna region, in northern Italy. I’ve gathered data by face to face interviews and used a Structural Equation Modeling technique (Lisrel 8.80, Joreskog, K., & Sorbom, D. 2006) to perform the empirical analysis. The results show that Entrepreneurial Orientation is a multi-dimensional micro-founded construct which can be better represented by a Second-Order Model. The t-tests on the latent means reveal that the Academic Entrepreneurs differ in terms of: Risk taking, Passion, Procedural and Organizational Skills, Perception of the Government, Context and University Supports. The Structural models also reveal that the main differences between the two groups lay in the predicting power of Technical Skills, Perceived Context Support and Perceived University Support in explaining the Entrepreneurial Orientation Related Dimensions.

Analysis of the Slow Food movement impact on the farmers and rural areas’ sustainable development

The evaluation of the farmers’ communities’ approach to the Slow Food vision, their perception of the Slow Food role in supporting their activity and their appreciation and expectations from participating in the event of Mother Earth were studied. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was adopted in an agro-food sector context. A survey was conducted, 120 questionnaires from farmers attending the Mother Earth in Turin in 2010 were collected. The descriptive statistical analysis showed that both Slow Food membership and participation to Mother Earth Meeting were much appreciated for the support provided to their business and the contribution to a more sustainable and fair development. A positive social, environmental and psychological impact on farmers also resulted. Results showed also an interesting perspective on the possible universality of the Slow Food and Mother Earth values. Farmers declared that Slow Food is supporting them by preserving the biodiversity and orienting them to the use of local resources and reducing the chemical inputs. Many farmers mentioned the language/culture and administration/bureaucratic issues as an obstacle to be a member in the movement and to participate to the event. Participation to Mother Earth gives an opportunity to exchange information with other farmers’ communities and to participate to seminars and debates, helpful for their business development. The absolute majority of positive answers associated to the farmers’ willingness to relate to Slow Food and participate to the next Mother Earth editions negatively influenced the UTAUT model results. A factor analysis showed that the variables associated to the UTAUT model constructs Performance Expectancy and Effort Expectancy were consistent, able to explain the construct variability, and their measurement reliable. Their inclusion in a simplest Technology Acceptance Model could be considered in future researches.

The composition and timing of flower odour emission by wild Petunia axillaris coincide with the antennal perception and nocturnal activity of the pollinator Manduca sexta

In the genus Petunia, distinct pollination syndromes may have evolved in association with bee-visitation (P. integrifolia spp.) or hawk moth-visitation (P. axillaris spp). We investigated the extent of congruence between floral fragrance and olfactory perception of the hawk moth Manduca sexta. Hawk moth pollinated P. axillaris releases high levels of several compounds compared to the bee-pollinated P. integrifolia that releases benzaldehyde almost exclusively. The three dominating compounds in P. axillaris were benzaldehyde, benzyl alcohol and methyl benzoate. In P. axillaris, benzenoids showed a circadian rhythm with an emission peak at night, which was absent from P. integrifolia. These characters were highly conserved among different P. axillaris subspecies and P. axillaris accessions, with some differences in fragrance composition. Electroantennogram (EAG) recordings using flower-blends of different wild Petunia species on female M. sexta antennae showed that P. axillaris odours elicited stronger responses than P. integrifolia odours. EAG responses were highest to the three dominating compounds in the P. axillaris flower odours. Further, EAG responses to odour-samples collected from P. axillaris flowers confirmed that odours collected at night evoked stronger responses from M. sexta than odours collected during the day. These results show that timing of odour emissions by P. axillaris is in tune with nocturnal hawk moth activity and that flower-volatile composition is adapted to the antennal perception of these pollinators.

The relationship between surgical residents' perception of leadership and patient safety culture

Introduction. Patient safety culture is the integration of interrelated practices that once developed is supported by both the culture and leadership of the organization (Sagan, 1993). The purpose of this study is to describe and examine the relationship between surgical residents’ perception of their leadership and the resulting organizational safety culture within their clinical setting. This assessment is important to understanding the extent that leadership style affects the perception of the safety culture.^ Methods. A secondary dataset was used which included data from 68 surgical residents from two survey instruments, Organizational Description Questionnaire (ODQ) and Patient Safety Climate In Healthcare Organizations (PSCHO) Survey. Multiple regressions followed by hierarchical regressions with the introduction of the Post Graduate Year (PGY) variable examined the association between the leadership styles, Transactional and Transformational and the organizational safety culture variables, Overall Emphasis on Safety, Senior management engagement, Organizational resources for safety. Independent t-tests were conducted to assess whether males and females differ among the organizational safety culture variables and either leadership style.^ Results. The surgical residents perceived their organizational leadership to have greater emphasis placed on transformational leadership culture style relative to transactional leadership culture style. The only significant association found was between Transformational leadership and Organizational resources for safety. PGY had no significant effect on the leadership or the safety culture perceived. No significant difference was found between females and males in regards to the safety culture or the leadership style.^ Discussion. These results have implications as they support the premise for the study which is surgical residents perceive their existing leadership and organizational culture to be more transformational in nature than transactional. Significance was found between the leadership perceived and one of the safety culture variables, Organizational resources for safety. The foundation for this association lies in the fact that surgical residents are the personnel which are a part of the organizational resources. Although PGY differentiation did not seem to play a difference in the leadership perceived this could be attributed to the small sample size. No gender difference were found which supports the assumption that within such a highly specialized group such as surgical residents there is no gender differences since the highly specialized field draws a certain type of person with distinct characteristics. In future research these survey tools can be used to gauge the survey audiences’ perception and safety interventions can be developed based on the results. ^

Acoustic study of the Compañía de Jesús church. Characterization by means of objective and subjective parameters

This work shows the objective results of the acoustic quality of the Compañia de Jesús Church in Cordoba, Argentina. The acoustics of this Temple, built by the Orden Jesuita (Jesuit Order) two centuries ago and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, is currently considered optimal by musicians as well as general public. In the second half of XVI century, with the Catholic reform, the need for improved speech intelligibility was given priority, being the Jesuit one of the orders that gave most importance to the construction of their temples. This church has constructive and spatial characteristics consistent with those needs. With the purpose of carrying out the acoustic assessment of the precincts, a work methodology that allowed comparing the results obtained from objective measures was developed by means of implementation of field measurements and space modeling, with subjective appreciation results, by developing surveys, with the aim of characterizing acoustically the sound space. This paper shows the comparison between the subjective results and objective criteria, which allowed important conclusions on the acoustic behavior of the temple to be obtained. In this way interesting data were obtained in relation to the subjective response of the acoustics of the church.

Leaders and their treatment of subgroups: implications for evaluations of the leader and the superordinate group

This experiment examined members' evaluations of a group leader and the group in contexts where a superordinate group comprised two subgroups and the group leader was aligned with one or other subgroup. The design varied group leader (ingroup, outgroup) and leader behavior (ingroup favoring, outgroup favoring) as well as the broader comparative context (intragroup, intergroup). Across a number of measures, results indicated a consistent Group Leader x Leader Behavior interaction that was independent of comparative context. Although group members were most satisfied with an ingroup leader who favored the ingroup, ingroup leaders were perceived positively irrespective of their behavior Outgroup leaders who unexpectedly favored the other subgroup were also perceived positively. However, outgroup leaders who favored their own subgroup were perceived as less fair and as more biased than other leaders. They also engendered less identification with the superordinate group and a less unified perception of the group. Results demonstrate the importance of social identity concerns to leadership in nested group contexts and emphasize the fact that perceptions of leader fairness and concern for the common group mediate responses to the superordinate category. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.

Auditory-visual speech integration by prelinguistic infants: Perception of an emergent consonant in the McGurk effect

The McGurk effect, in which auditory [ba] dubbed onto [go] lip movements is perceived as da or tha, was employed in a real-time task to investigate auditory-visual speech perception in prelingual infants. Experiments 1A and 1B established the validity of real-time dubbing for producing the effect. In Experiment 2, 4(1)/(2)-month-olds were tested in a habituation-test paradigm, in which 2 an auditory-visual stimulus was presented contingent upon visual fixation of a live face. The experimental group was habituated to a McGurk stimulus (auditory [ba] visual [ga]), and the control group to matching auditory-visual [ba]. Each group was then presented with three auditory-only test trials, [ba], [da], and [deltaa] (as in then). Visual-fixation durations in test trials showed that the experimental group treated the emergent percept in the McGurk effect, [da] or [deltaa], as familiar (even though they had not heard these sounds previously) and [ba] as novel. For control group infants [da] and [deltaa] were no more familiar than [ba]. These results are consistent with infants'perception of the McGurk effect, and support the conclusion that prelinguistic infants integrate auditory and visual speech information. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Relevance of the community college curriculum to the international student

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the perception of the level of satisfaction that international students have regarding the services and the relevance of the curriculum offered at Miami-Dade Community College. Trends and issues at universities and community colleges in providing services and an international curriculum for foreign students are outlined. Focus is on characteristics, personal and career needs as well as needs of national development for the students' countries. A sample of students from four developing nations was selected to qualitatively and quantitatively determine their level of satisfaction. The nations are the Bahamas, Colombia, Haiti and Pakistan. Students responses were recorded through group interviews, four personal interviews, an open ended questionnaire and a Likert scaled survey questionnaire. Matrix charts, mean calculations and one way analysis of variance were used to analyze data collected. Country of origin and major program of study were the variables used for statistical analysis. Information gathered through qualitative research presented a variety of perspectives and responses, both positive and negative. Students supplied specific examples of experiences and insights to help explain their various perceptions. Statistically, there were no significant differences between the variables of country of origin and major program of study regarding program services and relevance of the curriculum. Implications and recommendations for community college programs were outlined.

Reframing Scottish Football: Strategy and the short-term nature of the football industry.

Despite football being deeply entrenched in Scottish culture it is under-researched from a business perspective. This research develops a conceptual framework that views professional football clubs from a number of different perspectives. It draws on strategic management literature since this views the firm as the intersection between internal competence, customer perception and competition within an industry. A review of previous sports business research highlighted five main themes that were used to create a structure for the analysis: on-field performance, attendance, finance, the playing squad and the manager. These themes were used as frames to view the firms within the industry from a number of different perspectives. Each frame allows a different aspect of the firm to be considered singly in turn and then collectively to develop a deeper understanding of the existing frames in use within the industry. The research is based on a pragmatic philosophy that allows mixed methods to be combined to provide both an objective and subjective view of the industry. The subjective view was drawn from five interviews with senior figures within Scottish professional football. These participants were from a number of different roles and organisations within the industry to provide a balance of experiences. The views were triangulated with a descriptive analysis of secondary data from a number of industry sources to establish patterns within and between these frames. A peer group of six clubs was selected as they competed in the Scottish Premier League in each of the seasons within an eleven-year period (2000-2011). The peer group clubs selected were: Aberdeen, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), Hibernian, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. By focussing on a small group of clubs with a similar on-field record a broad study across the five frames could be carried out in detail without the findings being influenced by the impact of relegation to a lower division or sustained participation in European football. Within each of the original five frames a number of sub-components were identified and linked to the framework; this expanded the content to reflect the findings of this project. There appeared to be little link between on-field performance and attendance although progress to the later stages of cup competitions allowed clubs to connect with fans who do not regularly attend. The relationship between a club’s income and wage bill should be expanded to include interest repayments since this expenditure can be used to highlight future financial problems caused by increased debt levels. Although all of the interview participants spoke with pride of the players that had progressed from the club’s youth academy to success at the highest level the peer group clubs only produced one player each season that played more than ten matches for the club. Almost half of the players signed from the youth academy left the club without playing for the 1st Team. The importance of the relationship between the manager and club chairman was highlighted, although the speed with which managers were appointed suggests that little consideration was given to this before offering a contract. Once appointed there appeared to be little clarity over the job description and areas of responsibility. Several of the interviewees brought experience from other businesses to football but admitted that short-term decision making and entrenched behaviour made change difficult. The conclusion of the research is that by taking a firm-wide view of the club, longer-term decisions can be taken within football. Player development and supporter relationships were both identified as long-term processes that are impacted by the current short-termism. With greater role clarity for managers and a mixture of short and long-term objectives those involved in the industry are more likely to have opportunities to learn from experience and performance, across the different frames, will improve as a result.

Cooperative learning and its influences on the diminishing of the digital divide

Digital divide is an issue that concerns our technology dominated society. The parents of ubiquitous computing dreamt of a total proliferation of information technology. But the reality we live in is not yet prepared for this future. There is current a need to develop programs in order to diminish this difference between the digitally included and the excluded one. PROEJA-Transiarte is a project ran by Universidade de Brasília in the city of Ceilândia, Federal District of Brazil. It proposes a different approach on the issue of digital divide, by introducing the cooperative creation of cyberart, based on the life stories of each participant, into the regular curriculum of EJA (Educação de Jovens e Adultos) classes, thus implementing the concept of solidary education. This research project investigated the role played by the cooperative learning the students put in practice during the workshops of the project in the diminishing of the digital exclusion a great part of the students feel. It looked into their activities, analyzing the development of their cooperation, putting it next in the context of the digital and social inclusion. After a multi-dimensional research on the theme, in the context of PROEJA-Transiarte, the conclusion shows the impact cooperative learning has in the reduction of the digital divide, analyzing the perception of the currently involved students, the researchers active in the project, or the former students that had their lives improved because of the workshops they participated in.

Attentional modulation of the startle reflex during threat of shock

The present study (N532) investigated attentional modulation of the startle blink reflex at long lead intervals under conditions of differing emotional valence. Participants performed a visual discrimination and counting task while coloured lights indicated whether it was possible for the participant to receive an electrotactile shock (threat of shock) or if no shock would be presented (safe). Latency and magnitude of startle responses to probes during inter-stimulus intervals were facilitated during threat periods relative to safe periods. Startle latency and magnitude modulation were enhanced during attended discrimination and counting task stimuli relative to startle during ignored stimuli. This attention effect did not vary under threat or safe conditions, suggesting that attentional startle modulation is not affected by the emotional valence of the context.

Residents’ perceptions on impacts of hosting the “Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture”: comparisons of the pre-and post-2012 ECOC

Residents tend to have high expectations about the benefits of hosting a mega‐event. So, it was not surprising that the nomination of Guimarães, Portugal, as the 2012 European Capital of Culture (2012 ECOC) had raised great expectations in the local community towards its socio‐economic and cultural benefits. The present research was designed to examine the Guimarães residents’ perceptions on the impacts of hosting the 2012 ECOC approached in two different time schedules, the pre‐ and the post‐event, trying to capture the evolution of the residents` evaluation of its impacts. For getting the data, two surveys were applied to Guimarães` residents, one in the pre‐event phase, in 2011, and another in the post‐event phase, in 2013. This approach is uncommonly applied to Portugal data and it is even the first time it was done to a Portuguese European Capital of Culture. After a factor analysis, the results of t‐tests indicate that there were significant differences (p<0.05) between the samples from the pre‐ and post‐2012 ECOC on two positive impact factors (Community’ benefits and Residents’ benefits) and one negative impact factor (Economic, social and environmental costs). Respondents also showed a negative perception of the impacts in all dimensions, except Changes in habits of Guimarães residents.

The Context Influence in Volunteers Motivations

Volunteers working in different areas or different NPO (Non-profit Organisations) are significantly different according to several variables, namely in terms of motivation, satisfaction and permanence. Thus, the main goal of this research is to understand volunteers’ motivations and the influence of the context on it. Additionally, demographic variables might have an important impact on volunteers’ activities, be an important predictor of volunteering and, at the same time, influence their time commitment. In this paper we present data from twelve different NPO - 10 hospitals and 2 food banks. The model of data collection was a survey conducted by self-administered questionnaire. The results showed significant differences between the volunteers’ belonging to the two organisations and their motivations, confirming that volunteer’ motivations differ according the type/nature of organisation; this is particularly important because the field in which one works is influenced by a self-evident affinity with shared ideologies, religious convictions, and collective identities. These results present important outcomes that should be reflected in the way organisations act. Keywords: Volunteering; Occasional and permanent volunteers; Motivations; Non-profit organisations.

Environmental pressures and impacts of public sector organizations: the case of the Portuguese Military

Progress in Industrial Ecology, An International Journal, nº 4(5), p. 363-381