Digital platforms for (female) domestic workers in Chile: Precarization, invisibilization, and mercantilization

Digital platforms for Domestic Workers (DW) are widespread, entailing work management and employment challenges. In Chile, DW has inherited colonial and class dynamics that are still present. Besides, this role has shown a significant occupation rate where one out of 10 women is DW; from this, one of every three are migrants. This study aims to analyze digital platforms for DW in Chile critically. For this, following Fairclough's model (1989), we develop a Critical Discourse Analysis through the micro (textual), meso (production), and macro (Sociocultural) levels in three Chilean digital platforms for DW. The results expose how the platforms are organized and how the DW as a subject is conceived. In this sense, personal characteristics, such as age, gender, nationality, and lifestyle, are marketized as part of a product where workers are easily replaceable, unveiling the commodification of DW. Hence, there is a dominance and commodification over the worker's time, private life, and corporality, a dynamic that we call chronoproperty. We discuss that DW's labor is presented as a good rather than a service, reflecting on the managerial system built in Chilean society through discourses and practices. We reflect on the international implications of our findings amidst the rise of digital platforms for DW and the need to advance toward an intersectional understanding of the working logic, considering that domestic work is mostly performed by migrant women crossed by class and race dynamics

Picture This! Reflecting on the Use of Posters as Expressions of PhD Research Projects

The presentation of posters at scientific conferences to visually represent research projects is a widespread international practice. The main purpose of this paper is to offer reflections relating to posters as visual representations of research studies conducted by PhD candidates. As the basis for our reflections, we consider the main purposes and intended learning outcomes linked to posters and reflect on some of the design and assessment issues associated with the multi-faceted purposes of posters in contexts such as postgraduate research conferences. Notably, the paper includes a set of illustrative vignettes written by a group of PhD students from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Manchester who were required to design and exhibit posters at an annually held postgraduate research conference. This reflexive dialogue raises a series of issues for consideration by those who are actively involved with the design, presentation, observation and assessment of posters produced by PhD candidates.Exploring Visual Representation of Concepts in Learning and Teaching in Higher Educatio

Cultural characteristics of Chilean and Brazilian workers and strategic management: An integrative literature review

Latin American countries have experienced an increase in the number of international organizations, especially Chile and Brazil. However, frequently, the specialized literature analyzes the Latin American cluster comprising all its countries as an undifferentiated entity, without acknowledging the particu- lar local characteristics or exceptional cases of development, such as Chile and Brazil. Thus, based on the GLOBE (global leadership and organizational behavior effectiveness) cultural dimensions, this chapter aims to provide a revised perspective regarding the principal cultural characteristics of these countries, as well as the management strategies they have developed. The methodology adopted in our study is a review of the literature published in the Web of Science and Scopus. Content analysis is developed after an inclusion/ exclusion process. Among the findings, both these countries evidence signifi- cant cultural differences. Brazil is characterized by hierarchical relationships where workers are loyal and trust their leaders; the Jeitinho is a trait that affects transversally in all the aspects of their lives and relates to an easy-going and non-confrontational behavior that allows them to obtain what they desire. In Chile, a paternalistic and hierarchical style shapes passive relationships characterized by the fear to confront and question authority. Compadrazgo is a mechanism to establish beneficial relationships and contacts. Also, the Chilean culture is pessimistic and fatalistic about its future. Among the man- agement strategies, research in Brazil has shown a significant development in comparison to the Chilean, evidencing pending challenges. Finally, we expected to contribute to the literature by providing knowledge about the cultural particularities of two countries under-researched by the literature on strategic management and culture

Cholinergic abnormalities, endosomal alterations and up-regulation of nerve growth factor signaling in Niemann-Pick Type C Disease

Background: Neurotrophins and their receptors regulate several aspects of the developing and mature nervous system, including neuronal morphology and survival. Neurotrophin receptors are active in signaling endosomes, which are organelles that propagate neurotrophin signaling along neuronal processes. Defects in the Npc1 gene are associated with the accumulation of cholesterol and lipids in late endosomes and lysosomes, leading to neurodegeneration and Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) disease. The aim of this work was to assess whether the endosomal and lysosomal alterations observed in NPC disease disrupt neurotrophin signaling. As models, we used i) NPC1-deficient mice to evaluate the central cholinergic septo-hippocampal pathway and its response to nerve growth factor (NGF) after axotomy and ii) PC12 cells treated with U18666A, a pharmacological cellular model of NPC, stimulated with NGF. Results: NPC1-deficient cholinergic cells respond to NGF after axotomy and exhibit increased levels o

Cholinergic Abnormalities, Endosomal Alterations and Up-Regulation of Nerve Growth Factor Signaling in Niemann-Pick Type C Disease

Abstract Background Neurotrophins and their receptors regulate several aspects of the developing and mature nervous system, including neuronal morphology and survival. Neurotrophin receptors are active in signaling endosomes, which are organelles that propagate neurotrophin signaling along neuronal processes. Defects in the Npc1 gene are associated with the accumulation of cholesterol and lipids in late endosomes and lysosomes, leading to neurodegeneration and Niemann-Pick type C (NPC) disease. The aim of this work was to assess whether the endosomal and lysosomal alterations observed in NPC disease disrupt neurotrophin signaling. As models, we used i) NPC1-deficient mice to evaluate the central cholinergic septo-hippocampal pathway and its response to nerve growth factor (NGF) after axotomy and ii) PC12 cells treated with U18666A, a pharmacological cellular model of NPC, stimulated with NGF. Results NPC1-deficient cholinergic cells respond to NGF after axotomy and exhibit increased levels of choline acetyl transferase (ChAT), whose gene is under the control of NGF signaling, compared to wild type cholinergic neurons. This finding was correlated with increased ChAT and phosphorylated Akt in basal forebrain homogenates. In addition, we found that cholinergic neurons from NPC1-deficient mice had disrupted neuronal morphology, suggesting early signs of neurodegeneration. Consistently, PC12 cells treated with U18666A presented a clear NPC cellular phenotype with a prominent endocytic dysfunction that includes an increased size of TrkA-containing endosomes and reduced recycling of the receptor. This result correlates with increased sensitivity to NGF, and, in particular, with up-regulation of the Akt and PLC-γ signaling pathways, increased neurite extension, increased phosphorylation of tau protein and cell death when PC12 cells are differentiated and treated with U18666A. Conclusions Our results suggest that the NPC cellular phenotype causes neuronal dysfunction through the abnormal up-regulation of survival pathways, which causes the perturbation of signaling cascades and anomalous phosphorylation of the cytoskeleton.</p