A percepção dos colaboradores e gestores de uma agência de uma instituição financeira localizada no interior do Rio Grande do Sul quanto à aplicação de feedback

Uma preocupação presente na rotina das empresas está ligada com a retenção de seus colaboradores. Vistos como peças chave para o sucesso organizacional, elas estão progressivamente incluindo como prática gerencial a manutenção de uma comunicação mais próxima entre líderes e liderados, sendo o feedback uma das formas utilizadas para essa finalidade. Este estudo tem por objetivo identificar a percepção dos colaboradores e dos gestores de uma agência de uma Instituição Financeira localizada no interior do Rio Grande do Sul quanto à aplicação de feedback. A metodologia utilizada foi a abordagem qualitativa, sendo o estudo classificado como descritivo e exploratório. A pesquisa identificou que a agência possui um grupo de colaboradores preocupados com seu desempenho, considerando o feedback uma importante ferramenta de comunicação que aproxima gestores e colaboradores. Esse fator demonstra de maneira positiva que o feedback deve ser mantido e aprimorado na agência. Percebeu-se, ainda, que existem opiniões divergentes acerca do formato de execução do feedback, fator que demonstra a necessidade de um bom preparo por parte dos gestores para personalizar sua forma de abordagem junto aos seus colaboradores no momento do feedback.A concern in the routine of companies is connected to the retention of their employees. Seen as important pieces for organizational success, they are progressively including the communication tool between employers and employees as a managerial practice, the feedback being one of the ways used to do it. This study aims to identify the perception of employees and managers from an agency of a Financial institute located in the upstate of Rio Grande do Sul, regarding to the application of the feedback. The methodology used was the qualitative approach, being the study classified as descriptive and exploratory. The research identified that the agency has a group of employees concerned about their performance, considering the feedback as an important communicative tool that brings together managers and employees. This factor positively demonstrates that feedback must be maintained and improved in the agency. It was also noticed that there are divergent opinions about the format and execution of feedback, a factor that shows the need of a good preparation by the manager to customize their approach to their employees at the feedback moment

Community-Based Governance and Sustainability in the Paraguayan Pantanal

Themegadiverse biome of the Paraguayan Pantanal is in danger due to the expansion of cattle ranching and agricultural frontiers that threaten not only the fragile equilibrium of natural resources, but also that of local governance and cultural identities. As a consequence,weak governance stresses the relations between natural resource-dependent communities, generating socio-environmental conflicts. This perception study seeks to find community-based governance models for sustainability in the context of Paraguayanwetlands. According to the organizational principles of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM), we applied qualitative approaches with the use of the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) to identify problems and social norms. Our findings suggest that the Yshiro indigenous self-organized group (Unión de las Comunidades Indígenas de la Nación Yshiro (UCINY)) can be considered as a model for community-based governance. Besides, we discovered that this specific governancemodel is highly threatened by the impact of the national neo-extractive economy.Peer Reviewe

The Nature and Transport of the Fine-Grained Component of Swift Creek Landslide, Northwest Washington

Extreme sedimentation in Swift Creek, located in the Cascades foothills in NW Washington (48°55’N, 122°16’W), results from erosion of the oversteepened, unvegetated toe of a large (0.55 km2) active earthflow. The amount of bedload in the creek has necessitated several mitigation projects in the channel including annual dredging and temporary sediment traps in an attempt to reduce the risk of flooding and damage to manmade structures downstream. The bedload and suspended sediment in the creek are a direct result of the weathering process of the serpentinitic bedrock, in which the landslide is rooted. The serpentinite weathers to asbestiform chrysotile with minor amounts of chlorite, illite and hydrotalcite, all of which occur in clay seeps on the unvegetated surface of the landslide. The chrysotile fibers average 2 μm in length and make up at least 50%, by volume, of the suspended load transported in Swift Creek. The suspended sediment transported by Swift Creek poses a threat to downstream ecosystems in the Sumas River because of the turbidity and heavy metals that Swift Creek introduces into this fish-producing river. This study does not address the environmental or health implications of the asbestiform chrysotile transport or deposition. During the sampled time between February 2005 and February 2006, the suspended sediment concentrations ranged from 0.02 g/L to 41.6 g/L and the discharge ranged from 0.00 m3/s to 0.51 m3/s. A nonlinear functional model estimated the total suspended sediment flux from detailed precipitation records and discrete suspended sediment concentration and discharge measurements to be 910 t/km2/yr. That number, coupled with the bedload estimate of 17,600 t/km2/yr, which is based on cross-sectional differences and dredged material, resulted in a total sediment yield of 18,510 t/km2/yr. The estimated erosion rate for the Swift Creek watershed is 11 mm/yr and 158 mm/yr for the Swift Creek landslide alone. The majority of the material entering Swift Creek is presumed to be originating on the unvegetated toe of the SCL, where the erosion rate is approximately 950 mm/yr

Neurodevelopmental abnormalities in children with PHACE syndrome.

Prior case reports have identified neurodevelopmental abnormalities in children with PHACE syndrome, a neurocutaneous disorder first characterized in 1996. In this multicenter, retrospective study of a previously identified cohort of 93 children diagnosed with PHACE syndrome from 1999 to 2010, 29 children had neurologic evaluations at ≥ 1 year of age (median age: 4 years, 2 months). In all, 44% had language delay, 36% gross motor delay, and 8% fine motor delay; 52% had an abnormal neurological exam, with speech abnormalities as the most common finding. Overall, 20 of 29 (69%) had neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Cerebral, but not posterior fossa, structural abnormalities were identified more often in children with abnormal versus normal neurodevelopmental outcomes (35% vs. 0%, P = .04). Neurodevelopmental abnormalities in young children with PHACE syndrome referred to neurologists include language and gross motor delay, while fine motor delay is less frequent. Prospective studies are needed to understand long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes

Compositional and Quantitative Insights Into Bacterial and Archaeal Communities of South Pacific Deep-Sea Sponges (Demospongiae and Hexactinellida)

In the present study, we profiled bacterial and archaeal communities from 13 phylogenetically diverse deep-sea sponge species (Demospongiae and Hexactinellida) from the South Pacific by 16S rRNA-gene amplicon sequencing. Additionally, the associated bacteria and archaea were quantified by real-time qPCR. Our results show that bacterial communities from the deep-sea sponges are mostly host-species specific similar to what has been observed for shallow-water demosponges. The archaeal deep-sea sponge community structures are different from the bacterial community structures in that they are almost completely dominated by a single family, which are the ammonia-oxidizing genera within the Nitrosopumilaceae. Remarkably, the archaeal communities are mostly specific to individual sponges (rather than sponge-species), and this observation applies to both hexactinellids and demosponges. Finally, archaeal 16s gene numbers, as detected by quantitative real-time PCR, were up to three orders of magnitude higher than in shallow-water sponges, highlighting the importance of the archaea for deep-sea sponges in general

Evolutionary dynamics of a common sub-Antarctic octocoral family

Sequence data were obtained for five different loci, both mitochondrial (cox1, mtMutS, 16S) and nuclear (18S, 28S rDNA), from 64 species representing 25 genera of the common deep-sea octocoral family Primnoidae. We tested the hypothesis that Primnoidae have an Antarctic origin, as this is where they currently have high species richness, using Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods of phylogenetic analysis. Using a time-calibrated molecular phylogeny we also investigated the time of species radiation in sub-Antarctic Primnoidae. Our relatively wide taxon sampling and phylogenetic analysis supported Primnoidae as a monophyletic family. The base of the well-supported phylogeny was Pacific in origin, indicating Primnoidae sub-Antarctic diversity is a secondary species radiation. There is also evidence for a subsequent range extension of sub-Antarctic lineages into deep-water areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Conservative and speculative fossil-calibration analyses resulted in two differing estimations of sub-Antarctic species divergence times. Conservative analysis suggested a sub-Antarctic species radiation occurred ∼52 MYA (95% HPD: 36–73 MYA), potentially before the opening of the Drake Passage and Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) formation (41–37 MYA). Speculative analysis pushed this radiation back into the late Jurassic, 157 MYA (95% HPD: 118–204 MYA). Genus-level groupings were broadly supported in this analysis with some notable polyphyletic exceptions: Callogorgia, Fanellia, Primnoella, Plumarella, Thouarella. Molecular and morphological evidence supports the placement of Tauroprim

Cost-effectiveness of telecare for people with social care needs: the Whole Systems Demonstrator cluster randomised trial

Purpose of the study: to examine the costs and cost-effectiveness of ‘second-generation’ telecare, in addition to standard support and care that could include ‘first-generation’ forms of telecare, compared with standard support and care that could include ‘first-generation’ forms of telecare. Design and methods: a pragmatic cluster-randomised controlled trial with nested economic evaluation. A total of 2,600 people with social care needs participated in a trial of community-based telecare in three English local authority areas. In the Whole Systems Demonstrator Telecare Questionnaire Study, 550 participants were randomised to intervention and 639 to control. Participants who were offered the telecare intervention received a package of equipment and monitoring services for 12 months, additional to their standard health and social care services. The control group received usual health and social care. Primary outcome measure: incremental cost per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. The analyses took a health and social care perspective. Results: cost per additional QALY was £297,000. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves indicated that the probability of costeffectiveness at a willingness-to-pay of £30,000 per QALY gained was only 16%. Sensitivity analyses combining variations in equipment price and support cost parameters yielded a cost-effectiveness ratio of £161,000 per QALY. Implications: while QALY gain in the intervention group was similar to that for controls, social and health services costs were higher. Second-generation telecare did not appear to be a cost-effective addition to usual care, assuming a commonly accepted willingness to pay for QALYs

Cross-Sectional Study of Sleep Quantity and Quality and Amnestic and Non-Amnestic Cognitive Function in an Ageing Population: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Background The aim was to investigate the association between sleep disturbances and cognitive function in younger and older individuals from an ageing population. Methods 3,968 male and 4,821 female white participants, aged 50 years and over, from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) were studied. Information on sleep quality and quantity as well as both amnestic (memory, ACF) and non-amnestic (non-memory, nACF) function was available at Wave 4 (2008). Analysis of covariance was used to evaluate the relationship between sleep and cognitive function. Results After adjustment for multiple confounders in the younger group (50–64 years) duration of sleep explained 15.2% of the variance in ACF (p = 0.003) and 20.6% of nACF (p = 0.010). In the older group (65+ years) the estimates were 21.3% (p<0.001) and 25.6% (p<0.001), respectively. For sleep quality, there was a statistically significant association between sleep quality and both ACF (p<0.001) and nACF (p<0.001) in the older age group, but not in the younger age group (p = 0.586 and p = 0.373, respectively; interaction between age and sleep quality in the study sample including both age groups: p<0.001 for ACF and p = 0.018 for nACF). Sleep quality explained between 15.1% and 25.5% of the variance in cognition. The interaction with age was independent of duration of sleep. At any level of sleep duration there was a steeper association between sleep quality and ACF in the older than the younger group. Conclusions The associations between sleep disturbances and cognitive function vary between younger and older adults. Prospective studies will determine the temporal relationships between sleep disturbances and changes in cognition in different age groups

Evolutionary analysis and molecular dissection of caveola biogenesis

Caveolae are an abundant feature of mammalian cells. Integral membrane proteins called caveolins drive the formation of caveolae but the precise mechanisms underlying caveola formation, and the origin of caveolae and caveolins during evolution, are unknown