Administrative Supervision and Counselor Burnout

Mental health counselors continue to experience burnout due to their roles and the nature of their work. The supervisory working alliance and clinical supervision have been shown to be one protective factor against burnout, however the research to date on administrative supervision’s relationship to burnout is scant. This quantitative study involved a sample (N =110) of mental health counselors, who met specific criteria, who completed a series of three inventories: the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI), the Brief Supervisory Working Alliance Trainee Form (BSWAT), and the Satisfaction of Administrative Supervision Scale (created by researcher). A multiple regression using the enter method was employed to determine whether the supervisory working alliance and administrative supervision significantly predict burnout. It was found that the supervisory working allinace did significantly predict burnout and accounted for 34% of the variance in burnout scores. Implications and future directions for research are presented

Inversiones chinas en el transporte ferroviario: la rehabilitación del FFCC Blegrano Cargas como eje logístico para el desarrollo y crecimiento del comercio interno y externo

A lo largo de este trabajo de tesis desarrollaremos la conveniencia de China como socio estratégico para la rehabilitación del Ferrocarril Belgrano Cargas. Teniendo en cuenta el análisis de los factores que influyeron en la desinversión del sistema ferroviario argentino y describiendo los planes del Gobierno en concepto de transporte ferroviario. Luego se elaborará un análisis comparativo, en forma cualitativa y cuantitativa, del transporte por FFCC vs. el transporte automotor de carga. También, identificaremos las ventajas competitivas del FFCC Belgrano Cargas. Por último analizaremos la motivación del Gobierno Chino y sus compañías en invertir en proyectos de esta índole, y fundamentalmente en nuestro país

Toward an understanding of the impact of discretion upon the hr-performance link

The field of strategic human resource management attempts to investigate the role and contribution that human resources may provide to organizations. Although various theoretical perspectives have been applied to the field of strategic human resource management, some scholars still label this field as atheoretical. I apply discretion theory to this atheoretical discussion with the expectation that discretion theory will allow a better examination of what may be occurring in the “black box” between human resource practices (i.e. high performance work practices) and organizational outcomes. Specifically, my intent was to determine under what conditions human resource managers might influence the high performance work practices/organizational outcomes relationship. I surveyed dyads consisting of one senior human resource manager and one other human resource employee within various organizations to assess 1) the nature of the human resource practices that each organization employs, 2) the intensity of the senior human resource manager’s individual discretion, and 3) the intensity of the organization’s contextual discretion. Moderated regression analysis was utilized to test each hypothesis. Upon testing each hypothesis, partial support was found for the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1a: The use of high performance work practices will be negatively related to absenteeism, Hypothesis 1b: The use of high performance work practices will be negatively related to turnover, Hypothesis 2a: The use of high performance work practices will be positively related to ROA, Hypothesis 3b: Individual discretion will moderate the relationship between HPWPs and turnover: specifically, HPWPs will be more strongly related to turnover (i.e. less turnover) when individual discretion is high than when individual discretion is low, and Hypothesis 4a: Individual discretion will moderate the relationship between HPWPs and ROA; specifically, HPWPs will be more strongly related to ROA (i.e. higher levels of ROA) when individual discretion is high than when individual discretion is low. No support was found for Hypotheses 2b, 3a, and 4b. With respect to each of the three-way interaction hypotheses, slope difference tests revealed that none of the slopes for were significantly different from one another, hence no support was provided for Hypotheses 5a-5c, 6a-6c, 7a-7c, and 8a-8c

Design and fabrication of MOMS-based ultrasonic probes for minimally invasive endoscopic applications

A Micro-opto-mechanical systems (MOMS) based technology for the fabrication of ultrasonic probes on optical fiber is presented. Thanks to the high miniaturization level reached, the realization of an ultrasonic system constituted by ultrasonic generating and detecting elements, suitable for minimally invasive applications or Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) of materials at high resolution, is demonstrated. The ultrasonic generation is realized by irradiating a highly absorbing carbon film patterned on silicon micromachined structures with a nanosecond pulsed laser source, generating a mechanical shock wave due to the thermal expansion of the film induced by optical energy conversion into heat. The short duration of the pulsed laser, together with an appropriate emitter design, assure high frequency and wide band ultrasonic generation. The acoustic detection is also realized on a MOMS device using an interferometric receiver, fabricated with a Fabry-Perot optical cavity realized by means of a patterned SU-8 and two Al metallization levels. In order to detect the ultrasonic waves, the cavity is interrogated by a laser beam measuring the reflected power with a photodiode. Various issues related to the design and fabrication of these acoustic probes are investigated in this thesis. First, theoretical models are developed to characterize the opto-acoustic behavior of the devices and estimate their expected acoustic performances. Tests structures are realized to derive the relevant physical parameters of the materials constituting the MOMS devices and determine the conditions theoretically assuring the best acoustic emission and detection performances. Moreover, by exploiting the models and the theoretical results, prototypes of acoustic probes are designed and their fabrication process developed by means of an extended experimental activity

El costo del calentamiento global: mecanismos de adaptación a una nueva realidad

Los efectos del clima ponen en riesgo los ecosistemas y, a su vez, atentan contra un desarrollo sostenible de las sociedades. La exposición a temperaturas extremas trae aparejados múltiples costos, puesto que estas impactan en la salud de las personas. Entre los impactos potenciales del cambio se encuentra un aumento de las tasas de mortalidad. Por ende, en aquellos países menos desarrollados, donde la pobreza alcanza niveles realmente altos y los recursos son escasos, la población enfrenta un riesgo aún mayor. Frente a estas alteraciones, las sociedades desarrollan mecanismos de adaptación, cambios en su comportamiento vinculados al uso intensivo de tecnologías. En particular, uno de los principales motores de esta adaptación es el uso del aire acondicionado. Estas medidas que ayudan a suavizar el impacto, sin embargo, acarrean otros costos. En la Argentina, la demanda eléctrica ha registrado un aumento del 52 % entre el 2003 y el 2014. Este crecimiento exponencial y sostenido, en conjunto con la baja proporción de artefactos con alta eficiencia energética, ha generado cuellos de botella y problemas de distribución a lo largo del país, principalmente en verano (Beyrne et al, 2015). El uso intensivo del aire acondicionado supone un potencial aumento en el consumo para los días situados en el extremo derecho de la distribución de temperatura. Mientras que en el invierno, una parte considerable de la población utiliza la calefacción a gas para hacer frente al frío, motivada en gran parte por el menor precio relativo al de la electricidad en provincias como Santa Fe o Córdoba (Mastronardi et al, 2016), lo que indicaría cierta estabilidad en el consumo para estos valores. En este trabajo buscamos micro fundamentar estos costos de adaptación que, en conjunto con los de mortalidad, constituyen el social cost of carbon, para la Argentina. A tal fin, el trabajo complementario Valoración de la mortalidad atribuible a las temperaturas extremas actuales y al cambio climático futuro (Rabassa et al, 2020), nos ayudará a fundamentar este análisis.Por motivos relacionados con los derechos de autor este documento solo puede ser consultado en la Biblioteca Di Tella. Para reservar una cita podés ponerte en contacto con [email protected]. Si sos el autor de esta tesis y querés autorizar su publicación en este repositorio, podés ponerte en contacto con [email protected]

Fabrication of high-resolution strain sensors based on wafer-level vacuum packaged MEMS resonators

The paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of high-resolution strain sensors for structural materials based on Silicon On Insulator flexural resonators manufactured by polysilicon Low-Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition vacuum packaging. The sensors present sensitivity of 164 Hz/με and strain resolution limit of 150 pε on steel for a measurement time of 315 ms, in both tensile and compressive strain regimes. The readout of the sensor is implemented with a transimpedance oscillator circuit implemented on Printed Circuit Board, in which a microcontroller-based reciprocal frequency counter is integrated. The performance of the sensors on steel are investigated for measurement bandwidths from 1.5 to 500 Hz and a comparison with conventional metal strain gauges is proposed.The contribution of Mr. Filippo Bonafè, Mr. Fabrizio Tamarri, Mr. Michele Sanmartin and Mr. Giulio Pizzochero in the clean room processing employed for the manufacturing of the MEMS sensors is acknowledged. The contribution of Dr. Michele Bellettato in sample preparation is also acknowledged.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2016.01.00

Evaluation and Diagnostic Potential of Serum Ghrelin in Feline Hypersomatotropism and Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGROUND: Ghrelin is a growth hormone secretagogue. It is a potent regulator of energy homeostasis. Ghrelin concentration is down‐regulated in humans with hypersomatotropism (HS) and increases after successful treatment. Additionally, ghrelin secretion seems impaired in human diabetes mellitus (DM). HYPOTHESIS: Serum ghrelin concentration is down‐regulated in cats with HS‐induced DM (HSDM) compared to healthy control cats or cats with DM unrelated to HS and increases after radiotherapy. ANIMALS: Cats with DM (n = 20) and with HSDM (n = 32), 13 of which underwent radiotherapy (RT‐group); age‐matched controls (n = 20). METHODS: Retrospective cross‐sectional study. Analytical performance of a serum total ghrelin ELISA was assessed and validated for use in cats. Differences in serum ghrelin, fructosamine, IGF‐1 and insulin were evaluated. RESULTS: Ghrelin was significantly higher (P < .001) in control cats (mean ± SD: 12.9 ± 6.8 ng/mL) compared to HSDM‐ (7.9 ± 3.3 ng/mL) and DM‐cats (6.7 ± 2.3 ng/mL), although not different between the HSDM‐ and DM‐cats. After RT ghrelin increased significantly (P = .003) in HSDM‐cats undergoing RT (from 6.6 ± 1.9 ng/mL to 9.0 ± 2.2 ng/mL) and the after RT ghrelin concentrations of HSDM cats were no longer significantly different from the serum ghrelin concentration of control cats. Serum IGF‐1 did not significantly change in HSDM‐cats after RT, despite significant decreases in fructosamine and insulin dose. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE: Ghrelin appears suppressed in cats with DM and HSDM, although increases after RT in HSDM, suggesting possible presence of a direct or indirect negative feedback system between growth hormone and ghrelin. Serum ghrelin might therefore represent a marker of treatment effect

Strain sensing on steel surfaces using vacuum packaged MEMS resonators

The paper presents a technology for strain sensing on steel using resonant MEMS packaged in vacuum. For this purpose, a custom sensor fabrication technology and a novel vacuum packaging technique have been developed. The MEMS sensors have been fabricated by surface micromachining of thick (15 μm) Silicon On Insulator substrates with heavily doped handle layers View the MathML source(ρ = 0.005 Ωcm). Using this process, Double-Ended Tuning Fork (DETF) parallel-plate resonators with reduced coupling gaps (less than 1 μm) have been fabricated, using a high-performance Deep Reactive Ion Etching performed on submicrometer features realized by near-UV lithography combined with a maskless line narrowing technique. The devices have been bonded to a thin steel bar by epoxy glue, packaged in vacuum and tested by applying strain to the bar, showing good tolerances to packaging parasitics, measurement reversibility, and strain sensitivity of View the MathML source10Hz/με