On a characterization of polynomially barrelled spaces

A locally convex space E is polynomially barrelled if and only if, for every positive integer m and for every Banach space F, the space of all continuous m-homogeneous polynomials from E into F is quasi-complete for the topology of pointwise convergence

On weakly BR-closed functions between topological spaces

In this paper, we offer a new class of functions called weakly BR-closed functions. Moreover, we investigate not only some of their basic properties but also their relationships with other types of already well-known functions

CANFOR Portuguese version: validation study

This study is embedded in the larger project "Needs Assessment of the Mentally Disordered Prisoners" funded by Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (PIC/IC/83257/2007). We acknowledge the General-Director for Prison Services for his authorization, the Prisons' Directors for their support, the medical and non-medical staff who collaborated in this study and detainees for their participation. Special thanks to Dr Ana Cabral for her support inside the prisons and Dr Jorge Pereira for his assistance in manuscript preparation. In memory of our late friend Dr Jose Morais, who collaborated on and supported this study from the beginning.BACKGROUND The increase in prisoner population is a troublesome reality in several regions of the world. Along with this growth there is increasing evidence that prisoners have a higher proportion of mental illnesses and suicide than the general population. In order to implement strategies that address criminal recidivism and the health and social status of prisoners, particularly in mental disordered offenders, it is necessary to assess their care needs in a comprehensive, but individual perspective. This assessment must include potential harmful areas like comorbid personality disorder, substance misuse and offending behaviours. The Camberwell Assessment of Need - Forensic Version (CANFOR) has proved to be a reliable tool designed to accomplish such aims. The present study aimed to validate the CANFOR Portuguese version. METHODS The translation, adaptation to the Portuguese context, back-translation and revision followed the usual procedures. The sample comprised all detainees receiving psychiatric care in four forensic facilities, over a one year period. A total of 143 subjects, and respective case manager, were selected. The forensic facilities were chosen by convenience: one prison hospital psychiatric ward (n=68; 47.6%), one male (n=24; 16.8%) and one female (n=22; 15.4%) psychiatric clinic and one civil security ward (n=29; 20.3%), all located nearby Lisbon. Basic descriptive statistics and Kappa weighted coefficients were calculated for the inter-rater and the test-retest reliability studies. The convergent validity was evaluated using the Global Assessment of Functioning and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores. RESULTS The majority of the participants were male and single, with short school attendance, and accused of a crime involving violence against persons. The most frequent diagnosis was major depression (56.1%) and almost half presented positive suicide risk. The reliability study showed average Kappa weighted coefficients of 0.884 and 0.445 for inter-rater and test-retest agreement, respectively. The convergent validity study presented highly significant correlations between unmet needs scores, GAF and BPRS scores. CONCLUSIONS The CANFOR Portuguese version revealed similar psychometric properties to the original English version. Moreover, the results of the reliability and validity studies indicate that the tool is appropriate for individual care needs assessment and as a guide for the mental health and social interventions in forensic psychiatric services.publishersversionpublishe

Casamento, Estupro, ou Dormindo Com o Inimigo? Interpretando Imagens e Representações dos Sobreviventes de Fusões e Aquisições

Este artigo analisa 120 desenhos, obtidos através de entrevistas em pesquisa de campo com 56 empresas que passaram por processos de fusão e aquisição no Brasil. Tomamos neste artigo somente as representações de grupos em processos de FA (parte da amostra, aqui não considerada, focava o indivíduo e a organização como nível de análise) e analisamos os desenhos de acordo com a classificação de Bion (1975) sobre os pressupostos básicos das dinâmicas dos grupos, que o autor denomina de luta-fuga, dependência e acasalamento. O estudo e as representações dos desenhos dos entrevistados sugere que, quando enfocado o nível de análise grupal em processos de FA, (i) acontecem fortes lutas de poder entre os grupos envolvidos, em geral com riscos e perdas significativas para todos; e (ii) longe de constituírem "casamentos felizes", as uniões que decorrem destes processos mostram sinais de crueldade e dominação. Finalmente, o artigo discute potenciais implicações de pesquisa e sugere caminhos de investigação para sua complementação

Rindo do que? Como consultores reagem ao humor crítico e à ironia sobre sua profissão

Durante a última década, seguindo o rápido crescimento de seu setor, os consultores e as firmas de consultoria passaram a sofrer diversas críticas. Este artigo procura sumarizar as críticas vindas de acadêmicos, jornalistas e, especialmente, aquelas presentes em textos humorísticos e irônicos. Por meio de uma investigação colaborativa, na qual utilizaram-se técnicas de projeção e de análise de conteúdo, foram analisadas as reações a anedotas de uma amostra de consultores de quatro organizações. Os resultados sugerem que esse grupo de profissionais é sensível às críticas, embora apresente uma tendência a racionalizar, de maneira defensiva, as críticas encontradas, no lugar de utilizar as mensagens e os sentidos implícitos para reflexão e auto-desenvolvimento

A necessary and sufficient for a space to be infrabarelled or polynomially infrabarrelled

A locally convex space E is infrabarrelled (resp. polynomially infrabarrelled) if and only if, for every Banach space F (resp. for every positive integer m and for every Banach space F), the space of all continous linear mappings from E into F (resp. the space of all continuous m-homogeous polynomials form E into F) is quasi-complete for the topology of bounded convergence

Fusões e aquisições no Brasil: Uma análise crítica do teatro de operações

Fusões e aquisições estão entre as mais relevantes e dramáticas formas de transformação organizacional. Porém, muitos destes processos falham, resultando em traumas e destruição de valor. Isto faz crer que as razões que contribuem para o seu sucesso não são bem entendidas ou não são praticadas. Este artigo apresenta uma pesquisa exploratória realizada sobre 53 casos de fusões e aquisições que ocorreram no Brasil entre 1996 e 2000. O estudo sugere que a forma como o processo de fusão ou aquisição é conduzido – incluindo medidas como foco na comunicação, redução de demissões ao mínimo e desenvolvimento de atitude de respeito aos funcionários – contribui de forma efetiva para melhores resultados. Este artigo também apresenta uma proposta de tipologia para abordagens reducionistas e discute prováveis razões para sua adoção em processos de fusão ou aquisição.Mergers and acquisitions are among the most relevant and dramatic forms of organizational transformation. However, many of those processes fail, resulting in traumas and destruction of value. That leads to hypothesize that the reasons that contribute for the success are not well understood or not put in practice. This article presents an exploratory survey made among 53 merger and acquisition processes that took place in Brazil between 1996 and 2000. This study suggests that the way the merger or acquisition process is conducted – comprehending attitudes and initiatives such as focus on communication, keeping layoffs to its minimum, as well as developing an attitude of dignity and respect towards employees – contribute to better results. This article also presents the proposal for a typology of reductionistic approaches and discusses probable raisons for their adoption in merger or acquisition processes.Núcleo de Pesquisas e Publicações da FGV-EAES

Amygdala activation in response to 2D and 3D emotion-inducing stimuli

Studying changes in brain activation according to the valence of emotion-inducing stimuli is essential in the research on emotions. Due to the ecological potential of virtual reality, it is also important to examine whether brain activation in response to emotional stimuli can be modulated by the three-dimensional (3D) properties of the images. This study uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to compare differences between 3D and standard (2D) visual stimuli in the activation of emotion-related brain areas. The stimuli were organized in three virtual-reality scenarios, each with a different emotional valence (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral). The scenarios were presented in a pseudo-randomized order in the two visualization modes to twelve healthy males. Data were analyzed through a GLM-based fixed effects procedure. Unpleasant and neutral stimuli activated the right amygdala more strongly when presented in 3D than in 2D. These results suggest that 3D stimuli, when used as “building blocks” for virtual environments, can induce increased emotional loading, as shown here through neuroimaging

Implementação em Portugal de um estudo de prevalência da demência e da depressão geriátrica: a metodologia do 10/66 Dementia Research Group

ResumoIntroduçãoA demência e a depressão têm um impacto social muito significativo. Em Portugal, escasseiam dados epidemiológicos em pessoas idosas na comunidade. Em países em desenvolvimento, o 10/66 Dementia Research Group (DRG) conduziu múltiplos estudos sobre a prevalência e a incidência destes quadros. Os protocolos de avaliação 10/66‐DRG foram validados extensivamente nesses países, havendo vantagens potenciais na aplicação em regiões europeias com populações idosas de baixa escolaridade. Neste estudo, fundamentamos e descrevemos a implementação em Portugal da metodologia 10/66‐DRG para estudo da prevalência da demência e da depressão geriátrica.Materiais e métodosO trabalho de campo desenrola‐se numa fase única, em áreas geográficas definidas, sendo avaliados detalhadamente e de forma sistemática todos os residentes de 65 anos ou mais. A informação é recolhida dos participantes e de informadores próximos (www.alz.co.uk/1066/).ResultadosSelecionámos e mapeámos uma área urbana (em Fernão Ferro) e outra rural (em Mora), definindo amostras finais de 702 e 779 pessoas, respetivamente. Os instrumentos de avaliação foram cuidadosamente traduzidos e adaptados ao contexto português. Teve lugar um treino rigoroso dos entrevistadores, assegurando a fiabilidade de cotação interobservadores.Discussão e conclusãoA aplicação dos protocolos 10/66‐DRG permitirá obter dados robustos de prevalência de demência e de depressão, com amostras comunitárias de pessoas idosas em Portugal. Dada a validade internacional da metodologia utilizada, estes resultados serão comparáveis com os de outros centros 10/66, à escala mundial.AbstractIntroductionDementia and depression have a huge social impact. In Portugal, epidemiological data is scarce regarding community dwelling elderly people with these conditions. In developing countries, the 10/66 Dementia Research Group‐DRG has conducted multiple studies on the corresponding prevalence and incidence. The 10/66‐DRG protocols for population‐based studies were extensively validated in those countries, and there is a rationale to apply them in low literacy elderly populations in Europe. We describe the implementation of the protocols related to the prevalence study (on dementia and geriatric depression) in Portuguese settings.Materials and methodsThis is a one‐phase survey, in which all people 65+ years living in defined catchment areas are comprehensively evaluated. Information is collected directly from participants and from a related informant (www.alz.co.uk/1066/).ResultsWe selected and mapped an urban area (in Fernão Ferro) and a rural one (in Mora). The final samples were n=702 and n=779 respectively. Questionnaires were carefully translated and culturally adapted. Rigorous training procedures took place to ensure inter‐rater reliability.Discussion and conclusionsThe implementation of the 10/66‐DRG protocols will lead to robust data on the prevalence of dementia and depression in community samples of elderly people in Portugal. Given the international validity of our methodology, these results will be comparable with those from other 10/66 centres around the world

An fMRI paradigm based on Williams inhibition test to study the neural substrates of attention and inhibitory control

The purpose of this study is to present an fMRI paradigm, based on the Williams inhibition test (WIT), to study attentional and inhibitory control and their neuroanatomical substrates. We present an index of the validity of the proposed paradigm and test whether the experimental task discriminates the behavioral performances of healthy participants from those of individuals with acquired brain injury. Stroop and Simon tests present similarities with WIT, but this latter is more demanding. We analyze the BOLD signal in 10 healthy participants performing the WIT. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex were defined for specified region of interest analysis. We additionally compare behavioral data (hits, errors, reaction times) of the healthy participants with those of eight acquired brain injury patients. Data were analyzed with GLM-based random effects and Mann-Whitney tests. Results show the involvement of the defined regions and indicate that the WIT is sensitive to brain lesions. This WIT-based block design paradigm can be used as a research methodology for behavioral and neuroimaging studies of the attentional and inhibitory components of executive functions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio