NETWORKS OF SMES: THE ECOLEAD APPROACH TO SUPPORT COLLABORATION AMONG SMES

Faced to the globalization of the markets, SMEs develop new forms of relationships aimed at reinforcing their productivity. One of them is based on the development of networks of SMEs. Even if this concept is not new (see Italian Industrial Districts in the 19th century), it is now growing at a dynamic pace. The concept of Virtual Organizations Breeding Environment (VBE) is one expression of this phenomenon deeply developed in the Ecolead\u27s project. This paper proposes to deliver insighst on this promising concept, associated ICT tools and also a presentation of an in- progress case study

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua due in part to lack of access to health services. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the implementation phase, community residents were randomly selected to participate in the cookstove intervention. Survey data were collected on demographic variables, cooking methods, layout of the homes, and health. During the evaluation phase, survey data were collected on the same parameters at follow-up. Results: Compared with the initial survey, responses from the post-survey one year after stove installation showed statistically significant differences in the improvement of health factors related to cough, shortness of breath, eye irritation, and headaches among the women who received a stove. Conclusions: The results show that installing improved cookstoves with chimneys has decreased many symptoms previously experienced by residents of homes in which cooking had been over open fires in the past

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua due in part to lack of access to health services. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the implementation phase, community residents were randomly selected to participate in the cookstove intervention. Survey data were collected on demographic variables, cooking methods, layout of the homes, and health. During the evaluation phase, survey data were collected on the same parameters at follow-up. Results: Compared with the initial survey, responses from the post-survey one year after stove installation showed statistically significant differences in the improvement of health factors related to cough, shortness of breath, eye irritation, and headaches among the women who received a stove. Conclusions: The results show that installing improved cookstoves with chimneys has decreased many symptoms previously experienced by residents of homes in which cooking had been over open fires in the past

High elevation of low-relief surfaces in mountain belts: does it equate to post-orogenic surface uplift?

International audienceWe present experiments of upraising and relaxing topographies showing that peneplanation can occur above the ultimate base level (sea level). After active uplift, the erosion of a topography bounded by a piedmont generates a final smooth and highly elevated topography. Smoothing at high elevation is even possible during active uplift if the evolution of topography is disrupted by the deposition of the products of erosion on its piedmont which is the case at the transition from underfilled to overfilled conditions in foreland basins

Reply to comment by Yanni Gunnell and Marc Calvet on "Origin of the highly elevated Pyrenean peneplain"

4 p.International audienceGunnell and Calvet [2006] (hereinafter referred to asGC) challenge the recent model that we proposed for theorigin of the highly elevated Pyrenean peneplain by contest-ing our morphometric analysis of this chain and the relationwe made between the morphological evolution and thepiedmont sedimentation. Their reasoning is as follows: (1)According to Calvet [1996] (on which their comment islargely based) the high-elevation, low-relief surfaces in theEastern Pyrenees are remnants of a peneplain that devel-oped before the Pliocene from applanation near to sea level,and which was later uplifted by 2000 m during the Plio-Quaternary (in other words, GC belong to the ‘‘applanation’’school, whereas we woul d belong to the ‘‘altiplanation’’school); (2) high-elevation, low-relief surfaces do not existin the Central Pyrenees; (3) therefore the relationships wemade between the morphology of the Central Pyrenees andthe pattern of the detrital sedimentation in the adjacent Ebroforeland basin is meaningless; (4) contrary to the initialinterpretation of Calvet [1996], GC recognize that crustalthickening did not develop since the Pliocene in the EasternPyrenees, so they appeal to another geodynamical processsuch as extension or lithosphere delamination to explain thesupposed uplift

Beyond the Volcanoes: A Community Partnership for Health in Rural Nicaragua

Background: Health inequities related to gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography exist in rural Nicaragua. The purpose of this ongoing project is to improve health equity in rural Nicaragua through social transformation using community-based participatory action research. Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological model of human development, school health, and primary health care theories provided the framework for this research. Methods: Community-based participatory action research involves six phases: partnership, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination. In the evaluation phase, the goal was to use the data obtained during the assessment, planning, and implementation phases to evaluate the cookstove intervention in its ability to reach the community\u27s health-related goals. Pre- and post-test surveys were used to assess indoor air pollution including: kitchen layout, stove type, fuel usage, and women and children\u27s health. Results: Forty-eight community members participated in the cookstove evaluation. Pre-test surveys indicated that the community members used open fire stoves in closed kitchen spaces with wood being the primary fuel source. Women reported suffering from headaches, eye irritation, and chronic coughing. One year following the implementation phase, post-test surveys indicated a sustainable, significant improvement in women\u27s health (p=.05) but no significant change in the amount of wood used for cooking. Conclusion: Results from the cookstove evaluation were used by community members to guide the re-engineering of the cookstoves\u27 firebox to decrease wood consumption and improve deforestation. Partnership in community health research provides a mechanism to engage community members in social justice through working toward a common goal – sustainable health for all

Building the bench: developing the leadership capacity of assistant principals

Our disquisition is founded in both the leadership literature and empirical data from four North Carolina school districts. Our work and the literature suggest that support is needed for assistant principals to develop their leadership capacity and prepare them for the principalship (Chan, Webb, & Bowen, 2003; Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004). We utilized improvement science methods to identify a problem of practice to be addressed with an improvement initiative (Bryk, Gomez, Grunow, LeMaheiu, 2016). Our improvement initiative was employed through a combined framework of succession planning (Lynn, 2001; Peters, 2011) and social justice leadership theory (Theoharis, 2007; 2009). Called the Assistant Principal Professional Leadership Experience (APPLE), our implementation consisted of three components including an orientation session, monthly professional development sessions, and shadowing experiences. Utilizing a PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) approach, we collected data throughout the initiative to make decisions. Using both qualitative (interviews, focus groups)and quantitative instruments (surveys), we analyzed the pre-initiative and post-initiative data to find statistically significant growth in several leadership areas, including: equity, student assessment, teacher evaluation, teacher remediation, data-driven decision making, studentdecision making, and school safety. The data showed mean increases in assistant principalcreated goals as well as increases in the pre- and post-measurements of the North CarolinaStandards for School Executives. The qualitative and quantitative shadowing data showed positive findings that acknowledged the success of the experience.Keywords: leadership, assistant principals, administrator support, shadowing, professional development, orientation, succession planning model, social justice leadershi

Lightweight, High-Temperature Radiator for Space Propulsion

For high-power nuclear-electric spacecraft, the radiator can account for 40% or more of the power system mass and a large fraction of the total vehicle mass. Improvements in the heat rejection per unit mass rely on lower-density and higher-thermal conductivity materials. Current radiators achieve near-ideal surface radiation through high-emissivity coatings, so improvements in heat rejection per unit area can be accomplished only by raising the temperature at which heat is rejected. We have been investigating materials that have the potential to deliver significant reductions in mass density and significant improvements in thermal conductivity, while expanding the feasible range of temperature for heat rejection up to 1000 K and higher. The presentation will discuss the experimental results and models of the heat transfer in matrix-free carbon fiber fins. Thermal testing of other carbon-based fin materials including carbon nanotube cloth and a carbon nanotube composite will also be presented