Institutional legacies and capabilities: work practices and employment relations in Portugal and Mozambique

This is a study of institutional change and continuity, comparing the trajectories followed by Mozambique and its formal colonial power Portugal in HRM, based on two surveys of firm level practices. The colonial power sought to extend the institutions of the metropole in the closing years of its rule, and despite all the adjustments and shocks that have accompanied Mozambique’s post-independence years, the country continues to retain institutional features and associated practices from the past. This suggests that there is a post-colonial impact on human resource management. The implications for HRM theory are that ambitious attempts at institutional substitution may have less dramatic effects than is commonly assumed. Indeed, we encountered remarkable similarities between the two countries in HRM practices, implying that features of supposedly fluid or less mature institutional frameworks (whether in Africa or the Mediterranean world) may be sustained for protracted periods of time, pressures to reform notwithstanding. This highlights the complexities of continuities which transcend formal rules; as post-colonial theories alert us, informal conventions and embedded discourse may result in the persistence of informal power and subordination, despite political and legal changes.

A gender approach to work ability and its relationship to professional and domestic work hours among nursing personnel

The association between working hours and work ability was examined in a cross-sectional study of male (N = 156) and female (N = 1092) nurses in three public hospitals. Working hours were considered in terms of their professional and domestic hours per week and their combined impact; total work load. Logistic regression analysis showed a significant association between total work load and inadequate work ability index (WAI) for females only. Females reported a higher proportion of inadequate WAI, fewer professional work hours but longer domestic work hours. There were no significant differences in total work load by gender. The combination of professional and domestic work hours in females seemed to best explain their lower work ability. The findings suggest that investigations into female well-being need to consider their total work load. Our male sample may have lacked sufficient power to detect a relationship between working hours and work ability. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep, ageing and night work

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau and Klein-Cordon-Fock equations for electromagnetic, Yang-Mills and external gravitational field interactions: proof of equivalence

Starting from the Generating functional for the Green Function (GF), constructed from the Lagrangian action in the Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau (DKP) theory (L-approach) we strictly prove that the physical matrix elements of the S-matrix in DKP and Klein-Gordon-Fock (KGF) theories coincide in cases of interacting spin O particles with external and quantized Maxwell and Yang-Mills fields and in case of external gravitational field (without or with torsion), For the proof we use the reduction formulas of Lehmann, Symanzik and Zimmermann (LSZ). We prove that many photons and Yang-Mills particles GF coincide in both theories too. (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.

Manifestly covariant actions for D=4 self-dual Yang-Mills and D=10 super-Yang-Mills

Using an infinite number of fields, we construct actions for D = 4 self-dual Yang-Mills with manifest Lorentz invariance and for D = 10 super-Yang-Mills with manifest super-Poincare invariance. These actions are generalizations of the covariant action for the D = 2 chiral boson which was first studied by McClain, Wu, Yu and Wotzasek.

Association between diastolic blood pressure and cumulative work time

A pressão arterial diastólica foi analisada enquanto indicador genérico de envelhecimento, e sua associação com o tempo de serviço foi estudada após o controle da idade como possível fator de confundimento. O estudo foi realizado entre operários de um curtume brasileiro em julho de 1993. Foi testada a associação entre pressão diastólica e tempo de serviço, ajustando um modelo de regressão linear de segunda ordem, em que a pressão diastólica era função da idade e do tempo de serviço do operário. Ao ajustar o modelo, pode-se prever que, no início do trabalho no curtume, em média, cada período de um ano está associado com um aumento de cerca de 1,5 mmHg na pressão diastólica. O ajuste obtido realça um componente diretamente associado ao trabalho como parte do coeficiente de aumento da pressão no grupo estudado. Esse componente é o dobro daquele diretamente associado com a idade.

Manifestly covariant actions for D = 4 self-dual Yang-Mills and D = 10 super-Yang-Mills

Using an infinite number of fields, we construct actions for D = 4 self-dual Yang-Mills with manifest Lorentz invariance and for D = 10 super-Yang-Mills with manifest super-Poincaré invariance. These actions are generalizations of the covariant action for the D = 2 chiral boson which was first studied by McClain, Wu, Yu and Wotzasek.

Surveys on time use and unpaid work in Latin America and the Caribbean: Experience to date and challenges for the future

Incluye bibliografía.

Contributions of ergonomics to the construction of bus drivers health and excellence in public transport and at work

This article is the product of research that analyzed the work of bus drivers of a public transportation company that is considered a benchmark reference in its field of operations, in which it strives to achieve operating excellence. Within this context, the authors sought to understand how such a company has managed to maintain a policy that is capable of reconciling quality public transport while also providing working conditions compatible with the professional development, comfort and health of its workers. Ergonomic work analysis and activity analysis were the guiding elements used in this study. Initial analyses indicate that the activity of drivers includes serving a population and providing mobility for it, which depends on driving the vehicle itself and on relationships with colleagues, users, pedestrians, drivers and others.