Do Innovative Workplace Practices Foster Mutual Gains? Evidence From Croatia

New survey data for more than 470 employees (more than 80% of production workers) in a single Croatian manufacturing firm exhibits large variation in participation in innovative work practices (IWPs) notably online teams, offline teams, employee ownership, and incentive pay. Amongst IWPs, probit estimates reveal that membership in offline teams most often yields favorable outcomes for firms, notably enhanced provision of discretionary effort by employees and more likelihood of peer monitoring, as well as improved worker outcomes, including enhanced job satisfaction and higher employee involvement. Other IWPs usually are associated with similar favorable outcomes for firms and workers. Participation in sets of IWPs, that include offline teams and financial incentives, is found to yield benefits to both employees and firms. Our findings provide support for the proposition that IWPs will produce mutual gains and also help to identify key channels through which different IWPs work. Women also perceive that they are less empowered and report less willingness to engage in peer monitoring.innovative work practices; employee ownership; Croatia; econometric case study.

Las voces de El juguete rabioso (1926) de Roberto Arlt

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto analizar la sorprendente pluralidad de voces narrativas de El juguete rabioso de Roberto Arlt, modalidades explícitas e implícitas cuya compleja configuración contribuye a la singularidad de la novela. Cada una de estas voces –narrador autobiográfico, memorialista, que habla de sí mismo y que habla de otros y del mundo a propósito de sí mismo, que está dentro del mundo narrativo y fuera de él, distanciado del tiempo de la acción narrada por cinco años- cumplen en el texto diversas funciones que se complementan con una disposición fragmentaria, que parece rechazar la cronológicamente ordenada y continua narración de una vida. De este modo se configura un mundo novelesco donde imperan la libertad, el amor, la locura, que instauran un orden insólito en el incoherente desorden del universo.Fil: Goic, Cedomil

Carbapenem-resistant bacteria in a secondary wastewater treatment plant

Bacterial resistance to carbapenems is an emerging problem of this century. A carbapenem-resistant bacterial population (CRBP) grown at 42°C was monitored in the influent and effluent of a secondary municipal wastewater treatment plant over 10 months. The municipal wastewater consisted of domestic, industrial, hospital and storm wastewaters. Median numbers of CRBP in influent and effluent water were 3.5 and 1.3 log CFU/mL, with its prevalence among total heterotrophic bacteria at 47% and 26%, respectively. Correlation of CRBP with physico-chemical and other bacteriological parameters of wastewater was estimated. Higher numbers of CRBP in influent and effluent were found in cases of nutrient-rich wastewater with higher concentrations of total heterotrophic bacteria and intestinal enterococci. Reduction of CRBP in the wastewater treatment process of 54% was comparable to the reduction of intestinal enterococci. Despite the significant elimination of CRBP in the secondary type of wastewater treatment plant, substantial numbers of CRBP are released through the effluent into the natural receiving waters. Since the CRBP grown at 42°C was not found in natural water samples beyond the vicinity of hospitals, these bacteria may be used as an indicator of hospital wastewaters.Keywords: environmental bacteria, carbapenem-resistant bacteria, public health, wastewate

Hernán Dinamarca, Epitafio a la modernidad Desafío para una crítica post moderna, Universidad Bolivariana, Santiago, 2004, 257 p.

No es frecuente encontrarse con personas que en estos tiempos se dediquen a la discusión teórica y sobre todo que asuman con tanta seriedad la tarea de pensar procesos en los que todos estamos inmersos. El libro se presenta como un desafío a la reflexión, una fuerte provocación cuando muchos tenemos la sensación diaria de que la contingencia llena la mayor parte de las horas del día, y en este sentido creo que es justo en primer lugar valorar el aporte que este ensayo representa para repensa..

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains isolated in a university hospital in Split, Croatia

The prevalence of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae that produce extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) was investigated in patients of a university hospital in Split, Croatia. Patients were grouped according to age (pediatric vs. adult), antibiotic type, and hospital ward. From Jan. 2001 to Dec. 2002, the susceptibility of E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates to antimicrobials was tested. ESBL production was assayed using the double-disk synergy test. ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae were detected in all sites of infection sampled. The percentages of ESBL-positive isolates were higher in the pediatric wards than in the adult wards. The antibiotics most commonly prescribed to patients in all hospital wards belonged to the third-generation cephalosporin group. Among ESBL producers, E. coli isolates were more resistant to aminoglycosides, but less resistant to ciprofloxacin and cotrimoxazole. Resistance of E. coli and K. pneumoniae to ciprofloxacin was exclusively found in isolates from adult patients. None of the isolates, regardless of ESBL production, was resistant to carbapenemes. In addition, the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates differed between pediatric and adult patients. [Int Microbiol 2005; 8(2):119-124

Hernán Dinamarca, Epitafio a la modernidad Desafío para una crítica post moderna, Universidad Bolivariana, Santiago, 2004, 257 p.

No es frecuente encontrarse con personas que en estos tiempos se dediquen a la discusión teórica y sobre todo que asuman con tanta seriedad la tarea de pensar procesos en los que todos estamos inmersos. El libro se presenta como un desafío a la reflexión, una fuerte provocación cuando muchos tenemos la sensación diaria de que la contingencia llena la mayor parte de las horas del día, y en este sentido creo que es justo en primer lugar valorar el aporte que este ensayo representa para repensa..