Team reflexivity and innovation:the moderating role of team context

We developed and tested a team level contingency model of innovation, integrating theories regarding work demands, team reflexivity - the extent to which teams collectively reflect upon their working methods and functioning -, and team innovation. We argued that highly reflexive teams will be more innovative than teams low in reflexivity when facing a demanding work environment. The relationships between team reflexivity, a demanding work environment (i.e. quality of the physical work environment and work load) and team innovation was examined among 98 primary health care teams (PHCTs) in the UK, comprised of 1137 individuals. Results showed that team reflexivity is positively related to team innovation, and that there is an interaction between team reflexivity, team level workload, and team innovation, such that when team level workload is high, combined with a high level of team reflexivity, team innovation is also higher. The complementary interaction between team reflexivity, quality of physical work environment, and team innovation, showed that when the quality of the work environment is low, combined with a high level of team reflexivity, team innovation was also higher. These results are discussed in the context of the need for team reflexivity and team innovation among teams at work facing high work demands.

Calvin Liu measuring mangrove tree heights, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

(Table DR1) Biofacies, percentages of important benthic foraminifera and isotope data at ODP Site 758

The Indian monsoon system, as recorded by ocean-floor biota (benthic foraminifera) at Ocean Drilling Program Site 758 in the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean, has varied dramatically over the past 5.5 m.y., long after the onset of the monsoons at 10-8 Ma. Benthic foraminifera that thrive with high productivity year-round were common before the formation of Northern Hemisphere continental ice sheets ca. 3.1-2.5 Ma, indicating that the summer (southwest) monsoon had high intensity and long seasonal duration. Ca. 2.8 Ma benthic faunas became dominated by taxa that flourish with a seasonally strongly fluctuating food supply, indicating that the northeast (winter) monsoon, during which primary productivity is relatively low, increased in duration and strength to form a system similar to that of today. The change occurred coeval with the initiation of the Northern Hemisphere glaciation, documenting a close link between the development of the Indian monsoon and Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

Time series of seawater carbonate chemistry calculated throughout incubation periods of Boreogadus saida and Gadus morhua during exposure to different CO2 and temperature conditions

Oceans are experiencing increasing acidification in parallel to a distinct warming trend in consequence of ongoing climate change. Rising seawater temperatures are mediating a northward shift in distribution of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), into the habitat of polar cod (Boreogadus saida), that is associated with retreating cold water masses. This study investigates the competitive strength of the co-occurring gadoids under ocean acidification and warming (OAW) scenarios. Therefore, we incubated specimens of both species in individual tanks for 4 months, under different control and projected temperatures (polar cod: 0, 3, 6, 8 °C, Atlantic cod: 3, 8, 12, 16 °C) and PCO2 conditions (390 and 1170 µatm) and monitored growth, feed consumption and standard metabolic rate. Our results revealed distinct temperature effects on both species. While hypercapnia by itself had no effect, combined drivers caused nonsignificant trends. The feed conversion efficiency of normocapnic polar cod was highest at 0 °C, while optimum growth performance was attained at 6 °C; the long-term upper thermal tolerance limit was reached at 8 °C. OAW caused only slight impairments in growth performance. Under normocapnic conditions, Atlantic cod consumed progressively increasing amounts of feed than individuals under hypercapnia despite maintaining similar growth rates during warming. The low feed conversion efficiency at 3 °C may relate to the lower thermal limit of Atlantic cod. In conclusion, Atlantic cod displayed increased performance in the warming Arctic such that the competitive strength of polar cod is expected to decrease under future OAW conditions.

Análisis de la información y documentación científica española sobre el fenómeno de las smart cities, el hábitat de los nativos digitales

Estudiosos de todo el mundo se están centrando en el estudio del fenómeno de las ciudades inteligentes. La producción bibliográfica española sobre este tema ha crecido exponencialmente en los últimos años. Las nuevas ciudades inteligentes se fundamentan en nuevas visiones de desarrollo urbano que integran múltiples soluciones tecnológicas ligadas al mundo de la información y de la comunicación, todas ellas actuales y al servicio de las necesidades de la ciudad. La literatura en español sobre este tema proviene de campos tan diferentes como la Arquitectura, la Ingeniería, las Ciencias Políticas y el Derecho o las Ciencias Empresariales. La finalidad de las ciudades inteligentes es la mejora de la vida de sus ciudadanos a través de la implementación de tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación que resuelvan las necesidades de sus habitantes, por lo que los investigadores del campo de las Ciencias de la Comunicación y de la Información tienen mucho que decir. Este trabajo analiza un total de 120 textos y concluye que el fenómeno de las ciudades inteligentes será uno de los ejes centrales de la investigación multidisciplinar en los próximos años en nuestro país.

Les verbes causatifs dans les textes scientifiques : essai de typologie

La causalité est une des notions les plus fondamentales de la vie humaine. La vulgarisation scientifique se base sur l’établissement fréquent de relations causales par le truchement d'indices linguistiques. Ainsi, la causalité y est perceptible à l'aide de marques explicites, se manifestant au niveau lexical. Dans de nombreuses situations, afin de valider la relation causale, il faut récupérer des termes plus ou moins explicites qui apparaissent au niveau morphosyntaxique. Viennent enfin les procédés implicites d’expression de la cause ou "la causalité non marquée" linguistiquement.  

La atención educativa al alumnado de educación especial en Europa

Las personas con discapacidad intelectual son uno de los grupos sociales más desfavorecidos en los países europeos. Este estudio recoge y describe las principales líneas de apoyo al alumnado con discapacidad intelectual en Europa a través de una descripción de los tres países representativos (Finlandia, Francia y Alemania). Con el fin de hacer comparaciones entre los diferentes países, se identificaron varios elementos clave: evaluación de diagnóstico y elección del tipo de centro, tipos de escolarización, medidas de apoyo específico profesorado, evaluación y certificación. Finalmente, se concluye con una breve reflexión sobre el impacto de los diferentes tipos de apoyo en Europa, abordando las políticas específicas relacionadas con la atención educativa de los alumnos con discapacidad intelectual.

Implementación de la gestión por procesos en la Escuela Militar de Chorrillos Coronel Francisco Bolognesi (EMCH CFB)

El presente trabajo de investigación titulado “Implementación de la Gestión por Procesos en la Escuela Militar de Chorrillos Coronel Francisco Bolognesi (EMCH CFB)” ha sido elaborado con la finalidad de mejorar la calidad de los productos que ofrece esta escuela al Ejército del Perú y a la sociedad, de manera que se logre incrementar en forma significativa la satisfacción de éstos respecto a la calidad de dichos productos recibidos, como son: i) oficiales del grado de subteniente o alférez, profesionales en Ciencias Militares; ii) servicios de consultoría en temas de seguridad y defensa; iii) publicaciones científicas relacionadas con temas de seguridad, defensa y desarrollo nacional; iv) apoyo a poblaciones vulnerables en temas de capacitación y mejora de su bienestar y v) servicios de defensa interna del territorio nacional. Siendo imperativa la mejora de la calidad de los bienes y servicios que ofrece la EMCH CFB y además mandatorio por la ley, es necesario implementar en ella la gestión por procesos y rediseñarla proponiendo una estructura híbrida donde predomine la estructura horizontal (basada en procesos) por encima de la funcional, y que esté enfocada en torno a los procesos centrales transfuncionales en lugar de tareas y funciones.

A more reliable PCR for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical samples

Diagnostic techniques based on PCR have two major problems: false-positive reactions due to contamination with DNA fragments from previous PCRs (amplicons) and false-negative reactions caused by inhibitors that interfere with the PCR. We have improved our previously reported PCR based on the amplification of a fragment of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex-specific insertion element IS6110 with respect to both problems. False-positive reactions caused by amplicon contamination were prevented by the use of uracil-N-glycosylase and dUTP instead of dTTP. We selected a new set of primers outside the region spanned by the formerly used primers to avoid false-positive reactions caused by dTTP-containing amplicons still present in the laboratory. With this new primer set, 16 copies of the IS6110 insertion element, the equivalent of two bacteria, could be amplified 10(10) times in 40 cycles, resulting in a mean efficiency of 77% per cycle. To detect the presence of inhibitors of the Taq polymerase, which may cause false-negative reactions, part of each sample was spiked with M. tuberculosis DNA. The DNA purification method using guanidinium thiocyanate and diatoms effectively removed most or all inhibitors of the PCR. However, this was not suitable for blood samples, for which we developed a proteinase K treatment followed by phenol-chloroform extraction. This method permitted detection of 20 M. tuberculosis bacteria per ml of whole blood. Various laboratory procedures were introduced to reduce failure or inhibition of PCR and avoid DNA cross contamination. We have tested 218 different clinical specimens obtained from patients suspected of having tuberculosis. The samples included sputum (n=145), tissue biopsy samples (n=25), cerebrospinal fluid (n=15), blood (n=14), pleural fluid (n=9), feces, (n=7), fluid from fistulae (n=2), and pus from a wound (n=1). The results obtained by PCR were consistent with those obtained with culture, which is the "gold standard." We demonstrate that PCR is a useful technique for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis at various sites.

Transitiiviset ja intransitiiviset verbiparit ja niiden paikallissijaiset rektiotäydennykset edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden kirjoituksissa

Tämän tutkielman aiheena ovat transitiiviset ja intransitiiviset verbiparit ja niiden rektiotäydennykset. Tavoitteena on kuvata frekvenssin ja variaation keinoin, miten edistyneet suomenoppijat (S2-informantit) käyttävät transitiivisia ja intransitiivisia verbejä sekä niiden paikallissijaisia rektiotäydennyksiä ja verrata niiden esiintymiä suomea äidinkielenä puhuvien S1-informanttien esiintymiin. Lisäksi tavoitteena on kuvata aineiston verbiesiintymien finiitti- ja infiniittimuotoja. Tutkielma kuuluu suomi toisena kielenä -alaan ja keskittyy pääosin syntaksiin ja sanastoon. Se on aineistopohjainen korpustutkimus, jonka aineisto on kerätty Turun yliopiston Lauseopin arkiston Edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden korpuksen (LAS2-korpuksen) tenttivastauksista. Tutkielma on poikittaistutkimus, jossa käytetään sekä kvantitatiivista että kvalitatiivista analyysia kuvattaessa ja vertailtaessa esiintymien frekvenssejä ja variaatioita kahdella informanttiryhmällä. Tutkielman aineisto käsittää 1137 verbiesiintymää. Tutkimuskohteena on 22 verbiä, joista puolet on transitiivisia A-kantaverbejä ja puolet intransitiivisia U-johdos-verbejä, esimerkiksi aiheuttaa ja aiheutua. Käsittelen näitä verbejä verbiparikkeina, jotka muodostavat 11 verbiparia. Tuloksena on, että kumpikin informanttiryhmä suosi intransitiivisia verbejä transitiivisiin verbeihin verrattuna, mutta S2-aineistossa intransitiiviverbit (70 %) olivat huomattavasti yleisempiä kuin S1-aineistossa (55 %). Tulosta selitti tenttivastausten kolme frekventeintä verbiä liittyä, kehittyä ja muuttua. Koska S2-aineiston verbien esiintymistä vain 9 % oli niiden verbiparikkien tehtävissä, kanta–johdos-verbiparikkien sekaantumien vähäisyys ja U-johdosverbien yleisyys indikoivat edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden vahvaa kielitaitotasoa. Tutkittavilla verbiesiintymillä oli 992 rektiotäydennysesiintymää, joista 714 eli 72 % oli S2-aineistossa ja 278 eli 28 % S1-aineistossa. Sekä S2- että S1-aineistossa yleisin rektiotäydennyksen sija oli illatiivi ja toiseksi yleisin elatiivi. S1-aineistossa esiintyi viisi rektiotäydennyssijaa, kun taas S2-aineistossa sijoja esiintyi kymmenen. S2-aineiston täydennyssijojen huomattava variaatio selittyi neljällä norminvastaisesti käytetyllä rektiotäydennyssijalla. Verbien ja rektiotäydennysten lisäksi finiittisten ja infiniittisten verbinmuotojen esiintymissä oli aineistokohtaisia eroja. S2-aineistossa infiniittisiä verbinmuotoja esiintyi huomattavasti vähemmän kuin S1-aineistossa. Kompleksisten rakenteiden hallintaa ilmentävät infiniittiverbit eivät siis ole samalla tavalla S2-informanttien vahvuus kuin U-verbit.

Multiscale Schemes for the BGK--Vlasov--Poisson System in the Quasi-Neutral and Fluid Limits. Stability Analysis and First Order Schemes

This paper deals with the development and the analysis of asymptotically stable and consistent schemes in the joint quasi-neutral and fluid limits for the collisional Vlasov-Poisson system. In these limits, the classical explicit schemes suffer from time step restrictions due to the small plasma period and Knudsen number. To solve this problem, we propose a new scheme stable for choices of time steps independent from the small scales dynamics and with comparable computational cost with respect to standard explicit schemes. In addition, this scheme reduces automatically to consistent discretizations of the underlying asymptotic systems. In this first work on this subject, we propose a first order in time scheme and we perform a relative linear stability analysis to deal with such problems. The framework we propose permits to extend this approach to high order schemes in the next future. We finally show the capability of the method in dealing with small scales through numerical experiments.

Unfolding Operator Method for Thin Domains with a Locally Periodic Highly Oscillatory Boundary

We analyze the behavior of solutions of the Poisson equation with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions in a two-dimensional thin domain which presents locally periodic oscillations at the boundary. The oscillations are such that both the amplitude and period of the oscillations may vary in space. We obtain the homogenized limit problem and a corrector result by extending the unfolding operator method to the case of locally periodic media.