Michel Maffesoli y la razón sensible: una argumentación postmoderna

Se establecen algunas coordenadas de análisis para inscribir la obra de Michel Maffesoli, reconocido sociólogo francés, en el contexto de la reflexión postmoderna. Maffesoli, desde sus primeras obras, se ha interesado por construir una perspectiva en las ciencias sociales que vaya más allá del modernismo cartesiano y positivista. Su propuesta metodológica incorpora temáticas afines al pensamiento postmoderno, en particular, lo correspondiente a un nuevo concepto de razón y de conocimiento. Abstract There are some guidelines for inscribe the Michels Maffesioli writings in the postmodern context ; since his first works he has shown a great interest for build a theoretical perspective for social sciences that go beyond from the modernism and positivism cartesian thought. His method proposal incorporates close thematic areas with the posmodern thought, especially the themes related with a new concept of reason and knowledge.

L’ajustement des expressions référentielles lors d’une interaction verbale

Différents courants théoriques, principalement les courants collaboratifs et égocentriques, ont été élaborés pour expliquer l’adaptation de la production verbale lors d’une interaction avec une autre personne. Toutefois, ces courants s’opposent concernant la considération des besoins réels de l’interlocuteur dans la planification initiale des productions verbales. Ce mémoire comprend deux expérimentations réalisées sous un même devis expérimental. Une tâche a été développée pour départager différents types d’adaptation et sources d’information possibles. Les résultats suggèrent que généralement, les personnes produisent de l’information qu’elles-mêmes connaissent et rajoutent de l’information dans un deuxième temps, lorsque nécessaire. Toutefois, lorsqu’elles rencontrent une personne aux connaissances atypiquement restreintes, elles peuvent prendre en considération le vrai niveau de connaissance et produire les informations les plus utiles. Les résultats suggèrent donc que les personnes sont collaboratives pour produire leurs expressions référentielles et qu’elles s’ajustent au réel niveau de connaissances tôt dans l’interaction, lorsqu’elles peuvent utiliser une heuristique de connaissances prototypiques. Avec un interlocuteur aux connaissances atypiquement restreintes, elles produisent cependant des références ciblées, mais spécifiquement lorsqu’il est rencontré avant un interlocuteur prototypique.

Current findings from research on professional librarian skills development and needs in Brazil

This paper presents reflections on the outcome of a research project conducted at the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo, regarding librarian training, their field of expertise and the need for continued education. The methodological design compiled in the research project involved planning-presenting project, and developing the questionnaire for data collection. The electronic form was applied to an intentionally random, stratified sample of 18,374 active librarians throughout Brazil, totalling 3,320 responses that were statistically treated and compiled. Once the data was collected using the electronic forms, we analysed the collected information and the literature, cleansed the information and standardized the bibliographic records and statistical processing of data that formed the results presented in this research project. As the world gets more sophisticated and diversified, the competence required of the professional librarian, which in a first stage is highly technical – remembering that it is impossible to dispose of or move forward without it being well established – grows and includes other important responsibilities in the new organizational environment. We must work towards a holistic qualification, valuing management, methodological, cultural, multidisciplinary and systemic skills – all highlighted in the economy of knowledge.

Idiosyncratic psychological aspects in entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is having the courage to transform an idea in reality and with it achieve personal, nancial and recognition satisfaction. The psychological ability to handle failure has proven essential in success. We analysed the importance of idiosyncratic psychological aspects in the success of entrepreneurs through an observational study accompanying 20 entrepreneurs from the idea presentation phase to company incorporation. During the observation period 4 distinct psychological phases of the entrepreneurs were observed, being it possible to describe them as follows: absorption of information and knowledge; application of the gathered knowledge to their speci c cases; frustration generated by criticism, namely from investors who didn’t recognise the value of their projects; realism and implementation of the project. Having passed more than 6 months after the analysis period, one can verify that the entrepreneurs who have travelled the 4 phases are today developing their projects being that the remaining ones are in a similar situation as at the end of the initial two months. Conclusion: The ability to cope with frustration and rejection is a determinant factor in the success of the entrepreneur. The ability to learn from rejection, more than resilience help the entrepreneur to proceed.

Editorial

Este volumen del Boletín BIBLIOTECAS y los próximos pretenden ser un medio de inspiración. Inspiración para proponer ideas que ofrezcan a la colectividad bibliotecaria rutas hacia la adaptación a una cultura global y tecnológica que gira alrededor de los avances de los sistemas de información y comunicación. Inspiración que nos mueva a innovar, a cometer errores y a corregirlos.Porque la era de la información lo es también de la creatividad.Creatividad que es la ventaja competitiva del profesional y de las organizaciones modernas. Inspiración para cambiar hacia actitudes abiertas, hacia nuevos proyectos que faciliten la transformación y hacia el reto que significa “ser global”. Inspiración para medir y producir pensamiento constructivo que nos ayude a definir nuevas metas mediante la voluntad de crear y compartir el conocimiento.

Investigating problem-based learning in Saudi Arabian mathematics education: a TIMSS-related study

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) on students’ mathematical performance. This includes mathematics achievement and students’ attitudes towards mathematics for third and eighth grade students in Saudi Arabia. Mathematics achievement includes, knowing, applying, and reasoning domains, while students’ attitudes towards mathematics covers, ‘Like learning mathematics’, ‘value mathematics’, and ‘a confidence to learn mathematics’. This study goes deeper to examine the interaction of a PBL teaching strategy, with trained face-to-face and self-directed learning teachers, on students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics). It also examines the interaction between different ability levels of students (high and low levels) with a PBL teaching strategy (with trained face-to-face or self-directed learning teachers) on students’ performance. It draws upon findings and techniques of the TIMSS international benchmarking studies. Mixed methods are used to analyse the quasi-experimental study data. One -way ANOVA, Mixed ANOVA, and paired t-tests models are used to analyse quantitative data, while a semi-structured interview with teachers, and author’s observations are used to enrich understanding of PBL and mathematical performance. The findings show that the PBL teaching strategy significantly improves students’ knowledge application, and is better than the traditional teaching methods among third grade students. This improvement, however, occurred only with the trained face-to-face teacher’s group. Furthermore, there is robust evidence that using a PBL teaching strategy could raise significantly students’ liking of learning mathematics, and confidence to learn mathematics, more than traditional teaching methods among third grade students. Howe ver, there was no evidence that PBL could improve students’ performance (mathematics achievement and attitudes towards mathematics), more than traditional teaching methods, among eighth grade students. In 8th grade, the findings for low achieving students show significant improvement compared to high achieving students, whether PBL is applied or not. However, for 3th grade students, no significant difference in mathematical achievement between high and low achieving students was found. The results were not expected for high achieving students and this is also discussed. The implications of these findings for mathematics education in Saudi Arabia are considered.

How do servant leaders ignite absorptive capacity?: the role of epistemic motivation and organizational support

This study examines the role of servant leadership in absorptive capacity. Data from manufacturing and service sector organizations found that: a) there was moderation of servant leadership influence on knowledge identification through POS by high need for cognition, b) there was moderation of servant leadership influence on knowledge application through POS by low time pressure, and c) POS mediated relationship between servant leadership and knowledge dissemination. The findings illustrate and support the importance of a comprehensive model integrating servant leadership, POS, and epistemic motivation in determining absorptive capacity.

Pneumonia and influenza: specific considerations in care homes

This review provides an update on current evidence surrounding epidemiology, treatment and prevention of lower respiratory tract infection, with special reference to pneumonia and influenza, in care home residents. The care home sector is growing and provides a unique ecological niche for infections, housing frail older people with multiple comorbidities and frequent contact with healthcare services. There are therefore considerations in the epidemiology and management of these conditions which are specific to care homes. Opportunities for prevention, in the form of vaccination strategies and improving oral hygiene, may reduce the burden of these diseases in the future. Work is needed to research these infections specifically in the care home setting and this article highlights current gaps in our knowledge.

Greater Miami: Stories

GREATER MIAMI: STORIES is a collection of short stories about the disparity between the hoped-for expectations of life in America—as seen through the prism of South Florida—and the reality of a life lived on the margins. The characters, ranging in age from early adulthood to the elderly, attempt to navigate the perils of a new and unfamiliar existence—physical and/or psychological—while seeking to recoup the losses of home and country, love and language. The collection uses Miami as its setting due to the wide demographic range of its inhabitants, and the stories address themes of memory, love, sex, opportunity and privilege, the mayhem born of disinformation, and the anxiety of displacement. Each story in the collection describes a pivotal moment when the characters encounter a truth that had previously eluded them and then must deal with the repercussions of that knowledge.

Development of process control strategies exploiting knowledge from systems biology: application to MDCK suspension cells

Madine Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cell lines have been extensively evaluated for their potential as host cells for influenza vaccine production. Recent studies allowed the cultivation of these cells in a fully defined medium and in suspension. However, reaching high cell densities in animal cell cultures still remains a challenge. To address this shortcoming, a combined methodology allied with knowledge from systems biology was reported to study the impact of the cell environment on the flux distribution. An optimization of the medium composition was proposed for both a batch and a continuous system in order to reach higher cell densities. To obtain insight into the metabolic activity of these cells, a detailed metabolic model previously developed by Wahl A. et. al was used. The experimental data of four cultivations of MDCK suspension cells, grown under different conditions and used in this work came from the Max Planck Institute, Magdeburg, Germany. Classical metabolic flux analysis (MFA) was used to estimate the intracellular flux distribution of each cultivation and then combined with partial least squares (PLS) method to establish a link between the estimated metabolic state and the cell environment. The validation of the MFA model was made and its consistency checked. The resulted PLS model explained almost 70% of the variance present in the flux distribution. The medium optimization for the continuous system and for the batch system resulted in higher biomass growth rates than the ones obtained experimentally, 0.034 h-1 and 0.030 h-1, respectively, thus reducing in almost 10 hours the duplication time. Additionally, the optimal medium obtained for the continuous system almost did not consider pyruvate. Overall the proposed methodology seems to be effective and both proposed medium optimizations seem to be promising to reach high cell densities.

Social networks and performance in knowledge creation. An application and a methodological proposal

El objetivo de esta tesis es predecir el rendimiento de los estudiantes de doctorado en la Universidad de Girona según características personales (background), actitudinales y de redes sociales de los estudiantes. La población estudiada son estudiantes de tercer y cuarto curso de doctorado y sus directores de tesis doctoral. Para obtener los datos se ha diseño un cuestionario web especificando sus ventajas y teniendo en cuenta algunos problemas tradicionales de no cobertura o no respuesta. El cuestionario web se hizo debido a la complejidad que comportan de las preguntas de red social. El cuestionario electrónico permite, mediante una serie de instrucciones, reducir el tiempo para responder y hacerlo menos cargado. Este cuestionario web, además es auto administrado, lo cual nos permite, según la literatura, unas respuestas mas honestas que cuestionario con encuestador. Se analiza la calidad de las preguntas de red social en cuestionario web para datos egocéntricos. Para eso se calcula la fiabilidad y la validez de este tipo de preguntas, por primera vez a través del modelo Multirasgo Multimétodo (Multitrait Multimethod). Al ser datos egocéntricos, se pueden considerar jerárquicos, y por primera vez se una un modelo Multirasgo Multimétodo Multinivel (multilevel Multitrait Multimethod). Las la fiabilidad y validez se pueden obtener a nivel individual (within group component) o a nivel de grupo (between group component) y se usan para llevar a cabo un meta-análisis con otras universidades europeas para analizar ciertas características de diseño del cuestionario. Estas características analizan si para preguntas de red social hechas en cuestionarios web son más fiables y validas hechas "by questions" o "by alters", si son presentes todas las etiquetas de frecuencia para los ítems o solo la del inicio y final, o si es mejor que el diseño del cuestionario esté en con color o blanco y negro. También se analiza la calidad de la red social en conjunto, en este caso específico son los grupos de investigación de la universidad. Se tratan los problemas de los datos ausentes en las redes completas. Se propone una nueva alternativa a la solución típica de la red egocéntrica o los respondientes proxies. Esta nueva alternativa la hemos nombrado "Nosduocentered Network" (red Nosduocentrada), se basa en dos actores centrales en una red. Estimando modelos de regresión, esta "Nosduocentered network" tiene mas poder predictivo para el rendimiento de los estudiantes de doctorado que la red egocéntrica. Además se corrigen las correlaciones de las variables actitudinales por atenuación debido al pequeño tamaño muestral. Finalmente, se hacen regresiones de los tres tipos de variables (background, actitudinales y de red social) y luego se combinan para analizar cual para predice mejor el rendimiento (según publicaciones académicas) de los estudiantes de doctorado. Los resultados nos llevan a predecir el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes de doctorado depende de variables personales (background) i actitudinales. Asimismo, se comparan los resultados obtenidos con otros estudios publicados.

Dental students' knowledge of ergonomic postural requirements and their application during clinical care

Aim:To examine how much final-year undergraduate dental students know about postural dental ergonomic requirements, and how well they apply these requirements clinically.Background:Dentists are vulnerable to diverse mechanical (e.g. postural) and non-mechanical occupational risks.Materials and Methods:Eight postural requirements found in normalising documents were identified, reproduced, photographed, and analysed to develop a test of visual perception (TVP). Photographs of the 69 participating students were taken during their clinical care to ascertain ergonomics compliance, after which the students were administered the TVP. Pearson's test was used to correlate the level of knowledge (TVP) and its clinical application (photographic analysis) among the 552 observations made for each test (total of 1104 observations).Results:65.7% of the TVP questions were answered correctly and 35% of the photographic cases were in compliance with ergonomic requirements (+ 0.67, P < 0.0001).Conclusion:The knowledge of ergonomics postural requirements and their clinical application among the dental students surveyed were not satisfactory. The reasons for the learning difficulties encountered by the students should be identified to improve the learning process. The didactic use of digital images in this study may help in this endeavour.