Quais as principais características organizacionais das empresas dos diferentes segmentos da construção civil?

Resumo Neste artigo os autores se propõem a identificar os fatores que definem as principais características organizacionais de empresas do subsetor da construção civil, localizadas em Curitiba e região metropolitana, assim como verificar as diferenças existentes entre os cinco segmentos de atividade mais relevantes desse mercado: residencial, industrial e comercial, infraestrutura, serviços especializados e construção industrializada. Para tanto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa exploratória e de natureza quantitativa, em nível de mestrado. O método survey foi escolhido como procedimento principal para este estudo, permitindo a obtenção de dados primários por meio da aplicação de um questionário em um grupo de 118 empresas. Esse questionário procurou identificar o perfil da organização e as características organizacionais das empresas avaliadas. Os dados foram analisados com a aplicação de técnicas multivariadas de análise fatorial e análise discriminante. A análise fatorial evidenciou as estratégias de melhoria, o comportamento do indivíduo no trabalho, a estrutura de funcionamento, a dinâmica de crescimento, o estilo de gestão, as relações interpessoais e o posicionamento da empresa perante o mercado como fatores determinantes. A análise discriminante apontou significativa homogeneidade no desenvolvimento organizacional das empresas que representam os diferentes segmentos de atividade

Air pollution and respiratory health of children: the PEACE panel study in Umea., Sweden.

The Pollution Effects on Asthmatic Children in Europe (PEACE) study examined the acute effects of short-term changes in air pollution on symptomatic children. We were one of 14 research centres in Europe that used a common study protocol. Seventy five children in an urban panel and 72 children in a control panel, selected with a screening questionnaire, were characterized with lung function tests and skin-prick tests and followed in a 12 week diary study. Identical air quality monitoring stations were set up in our two study areas. The levels and ranges in concentrations for all air pollution indices were small. A negative correlation was seen between time spent outdoors and pollution levels, which may have weakened the correlation between personal exposure and outdoor concentrations and obscured any effect of air pollution. No consistent pattern of relations between air pollution and adverse effects were found, but particulates and nitrogen dioxide tended to be associated with a nonsignificant increase in symptoms and medication use on the same day. No clear effect of air pollution on respiratory health could be demonstrated

Location of facilities and network design for reverse logistics of lithium-ion batteries in Sweden

AbstractEstimations of the amount of lithium-ion batteries reaching their end-of-life in 2025 and the amount being recycled indicates large deviations. To enable an efficient recycling process a well-defined and efficient supply chain network for the recovery of discarded lithium-ion batteries must be put in place. This includes analyzing the needs and restrictions of such a network. The aim of this paper is to provide decision support tools, to analyze input, and optimize a future supply chain for discarded lithium-ion batteries. A mixed integer programming model is developed and applied to the Swedish market. The findings show that several aspects will affect a reverse supply chain for discarded lithium-ion batteries, many of which are still uncertain and hard to predict.</jats:p

Exploring the time dependence of serum Clara cell protein as a biomarker of pulmonary injury in humans

We have previously demonstrated Clara cell protein (CC16) [secretoglobin 1A1] in serum to be a highly sensitive biomarker of altered lung epithelial permeability after ozone challenge. As a previous experimental study has indicated a diurnal variation in serum CC 16 in humans, the aims of the present investigation were to confirm this observation and to attempt to model the diurnal variation in CC16 concentrations. In IS healthy nonsmoking subjects, peripheral blood samples were drawn at six sampling points over a 15-h period and repeated twice within 3 to 4 weeks. A clear within-day variation was revealed in serum CC16 concentrations, falling significantly from baseline levels between the 11:30 Am and 10:00 Pm time points (p = 0.000). Furthermore, it was shown that this within-day variation was reproducible regardless of subject or day, enabling the diurnal variation in serum CC16 to be modeled and fitted a second-degree polynomial for the observed time span. In conclusion, the present data demonstrate a pronounced time-dependent diurnal variation in serum levels of CC16, which can be mathematically compensated for, when addressing the issue of an air pollution-induced effect on CC16 in field studie

Effects of Contrast Media on Renal Graft Function and Survival after Cerebral Angiography of Cadaveric Donors

The effects of intravascularly administered ionic contrast media on renal graft function and survival were retrospectively evaluated in 211 recipients of cadaveric renal transplants. The renal grafts were explanted from the donors within 24 hours (mean 16 hours) after cerebral angiography. There were no differences in renal function or graft survival between those exposed and those not exposed to contrast media before nephrectomy. </jats:p