Subchronic dietary exposure of rats to cadmium alters the metabolism of metals essential to bone health

Cadmium (Cd) was recently identified as a risk factor for osteoporosis. Skeletal damage may be the critical effect of low-level long-term exposure to Cd in the general population exposed via food, but the mechanisms behind this are not clearly understood.We investigated the effects of dietary Cd exposure on metals involved in bone turnover. Female rats received a Cd-supplemented diet (0, 10, 50, or 200 CdCl2 mg/kg diet) for 13 weeks. Cd and essential metals stored in the liver were measured by ICP-MS multianalysis. Mineral content of the livers was modified according to Cd level : iron, magnesium and selenium decreased while copper, zinc and manganese increased with increasing Cd levels. Iron was the most strikingly affected metal, falling to one-fifth of control values at high dietary Cd exposure. In this dosage group, selenium decreased to 36% of mean control concentrations while zinc increased to 168%. This mineral imbalance, especially depleted iron stores, can contribute, at least in part, to the Cd-associated risk of osteoporosis. The association between iron metabolism and Cd exposure should be investigated in humans, as Cd and low iron stores could act synergistically as risk factors for osteoporosis

Generating Random Permutations in the Framework of Parallel Coarse Grained Models

We present three algorithms for generating random permutations in the coarse grained model CGM. For each of the proposed algorithms, we study the number of supersteps, the size of the local memory, the overall communicat- ion cost and we check if it gives a permutation with the uniform distribution or not. The proposed algorithms are intended to be simple and of practical relevance. The difficulty, in this paper, lies in proving that they are the desired properties

The Clermont radiometric reference rocks: a convenient tool for dosimetric purposes

soumis à Ancient TLBoreholes drilled in 8 different rocks situated in the vicinity of the Clermont TL laboratory have been used for testing and calibrating methods devoted to measure the natural radioactivity. The present paper gives updated data for the nuclide contents and internal dose-rates for those reference media. Two examples of application are presented. The first example shows dose-rate calibration of a scintillator gamma probe using a threshold method. The second example shows a routine technique for TL dosimetry, based on the rocks for dose-rate reference

Pecora 18 -Forty Years of Earth Observation…Understanding a Changing World November 14 -17

ABSTRACT Reasons for obsolescence of spatial data infrastructures (SDI) have changed drastically. Classical reasons were linked to the evolution of landscapes and to technological breakthroughs. Products being proposed by legitimate organisations, decisions on obsolescence cases were based on consensual rules. Now those rules still apply but at a different pace, especially in developing countries where urban growth and changing landscapes face rhythms seldomly seen elsewhere. It is also true for sources and technologies which change faster. But for SDI stakeholders, new issues threaten the perceived value of their infrastructure. First, geospatial products and services are more and more used for different uses than their original intended use. Second, new actors (both from the commercial side and from the crowdsourcing side) present both opportunities and threats. Even if strong arguments push to defend the need to build and maintain spatial data infrastructures, new sources, methods and organizations must be used to identify, assess and process obsolescence as soon as possible. The availability of global coverage and crowd sourced data, integrated in a warning system, allow the stakeholder to be the first to anticipate future obsolescence. It also allows initiating the right communication with end users on perceived obsolescence. We present a system developed for defense and oil & gas stakeholders allowing to assess African SDI obsolescence. It is based on alert systems on operational requirements, change detection, availability of sources to and competition from other products or services. Those alerts help to build a dynamic cartography integrated in a quarterly dashboard reporting

Loyautés organisationnelle et professionnelle et choix de carrière : le cas des professionnels en ressources humaines au Québec

Cette étude, réalisée auprès de 1 133 professionnels en ressources humaines au Québec, a identifié, au moyen d'une analyse typologique des loyautés professionnelle et organisationnelle, trois groupes de professionnels. Plusieurs différences de perception concernant les facteurs de remise en question de la carrière ont servi conjointement avec d'autres variables sociodémographiques et de carrière à distinguer et nommer ces trois types de professionnels. Il s'agit des « professionnels établis », « en voie d'être établis » et « non établis ». Une discussion replace ces résultats dans le contexte du renouvellement de la fonction « ressources humaines » qui influence non seulement les tâches et rôles des professionnels du domaine, mais aussi certaines facettes de leur carrière.During the past few years, the human resource function has undergone major transformations. This renewal process will probably have an impact in the near future not only on the content of human resource professionals' tasks and roles, but also on several aspects of their career. The purpose of this study is to better understand a facet of this transformation by identifying factors that would motivate professionals to reconsider their career choice. Furthermore, this topic is examined in more depth by analyzing the joint effect of professional and organizational commitments on the relative importance that human resource professionals give to these factors in reconsidering their career choice.The results of this research are based on data collected by questionnaire. A total of 4283 questionnaires were sent to human resource professionals from lists provided by the two Quebec associations in the field. Out of these, 1155 human resource professionals responded and 22 of the responses were rejected, giving a sample of 1133 respondents or a response rate of 26.4%. Results revealed that different types of professionals would reconsider their career choice for different reasons.First, the respondents were asked to assess the importance of 24 reasons that would push them to reconsider their career choice by answering a number of questions on scales varying from 1 (would not play a role at all) to 5 (would play a totally important role). Principal component analysis of these items revealed five dimensions which, by decreasing order of importance, are as follows: "lack of professional challenges" (e.g., lack of interest, limited roles, dead-end positions), "lack of intrinsic recognition" (i.e., related to the nature of work, such as work not being recognized for its value, being blamed more often than praised, vague performance criteria), "lack of professional stimulation" (e.g., obstacles coming from colleagues or bosses, results too far in the future), "lack of statutory recognition" (being confined to low status positions, to counselling rather than decision-making roles, receiving lower salaries in this profession as opposed to other professions), and "ambiguity due to new roles" (being asked to play new roles without having sufficient competences for them, feeling uneasy about new roles to play, having to reconcile conflicting interests). Second, respondents were asked for their opinion (ranging from 1, totally disagree to 5, totally agree) about a number of items measuring organizational and professional commitments. Then, scales were formed. Organizational commitment was measured by five items (alpha = 0.76) drawn from Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1979), while professional commitment was measured using seven items (alpha = 0.84) drawn from Blau (1988). With these two scales (Wallace 1995), cluster analysis was performed, enabling three groups of professionals to be identified: professionals with a dual allegiance, professionals with a unilateral professional allegiance, and professionals with a mitigated organizational allegiance.The perceptual differences on the above-mentioned factors were used along with differences observed on several demographie and career variables to name the three types of professionals. The first group was called "established professionals" because professionals in this group had reached a good position in their career and felt well anchored both in their profession and in their organization (double allegiance: that is, a mean of 4.46 for professional commitment and 4.32, for organizational commitment). The second group was named "establishing professionals" because this group included professionals who were making progress in their career and who, theoretically, were supposed to be in the process of strengthening their allegiances, either concentrating on their profession, on their organization, or on both, more or less in parallel. However, results indicated that these professionals tended to show a predominating professional allegiance, that is they tended to be more committed to their profession than to their organization (a mean of 4.14 for professional commitment as opposed to 2.65 for organizational commitment). The third and last group was given the name "non-established professionals" because this group covered professionals who, for various reasons, were not well anchored either in their profession or in their organization (e.g., beginners who had not yet demonstrated their potential, professionals who were denied career opportunities due to a lack of training, interests, or job opportunities, etc.). These professionals tended to show less commitment both to their profession and to their organization, although they felt slightly more committed to their organization. In other words, they showed a mitigated organizational allegiance (with a mean of 3.40 for organizational commitment versus 2.82 for professional commitment). Third, it is worth mentioning the relationship between these groups and the factors that would motivate reconsidering one's career. Significant differences (simple anovas) were found, with largest differences between the first and third group. However, certain factors were common to all groups. For example, regardless of the level of professional or organizational commitments, "lack of professional stimulation" remained an important factor in reconsidering one's career for all three groups (respectively 3.24, 3.08, and 3.13). Furthermore, even if "the lack of professional challenges" was considered important by all three groups, the established professionals (first group) were more sensitive to this factor (3.96) than the non-established ones (3.79). It is in fact the most important factor for the first group, followed by "the lack of professional stimulation" (3.24). The non-established professionals (third group) were more sensitive to factors related to "the lack of intrinsic recognition" (3.54), "the lack of statutory recognition" (3.40), and "ambiguity due to new roles" (3.24). Last, the establishing professionals (second group) gave less importance to "the lack of statutory recognition" (3.14) than the non-established professionals (3.40).However, they were more sensitive to "the lack of professional challenge" (3.95 against 3.79) and "ambiguity due to new roles" (3.20) than the established professionals (2.99).To conclude, these results support the theory of compatibility between organizational and professional commitments more than the theory of incompatibility. In particular, the number of professionals with a double allegiance represent 63% of the sample. The particular nature of the human resource profession may push more towards a position of compatibility than the converse, although some incompatibility may not be completer/ ruled out. The results also reveal a link between the three groups of human resource professionals and a career decision (reconsidering one's career choice). Contrasts show that significant differences exist among groups. It appears that the third group, the non-established professionals (about 14.5% of the sample) is most at risk regarding a possible career move such as leaving the human resource field. To a large extent these results are consistent with studies on professional malaise that point towards some sensitive factors for professionals, such as the need for recognition (Guerin, Wils, and Lemire 1996). But other sensitive factors which may be specific to the human resource profession also emerge, such as the ambiguity due to new roles (Labelle and Wils 1995), a factor considered particularly important by the second and third groups. This variable is interesting since it helps to contrast the three groups. In addition, it may take on more importance in the future in view of the transformations in the profession, since it deals not only with the traditional ambiguity observed in the field, such as reconciling conflicting interests (Ritzer and Trice 1969), but with ambiguity related to changes. Other factors specific to the profession relate to the lack of professional challenges and the lack of professional stimulation. These questions should attract the attention of both researchers and leaders in the human resource function who should be aware of the tensions and strains human resource professionals feel and are likely to experience more and more as important changes, such as structural changes or changes in roles and tasks, are contemplated. The survey results suggest that the way in which human resource professionals are managed (especially those belonging to the second and third groups) needs to be improved so as to foster more commitment.Este estudio, realizado con la participaciòn de 1133 profesionales en recursos humanos de Québec, a identificado, mediante un estudio tipologico de las lealtades profesionales y las lealtades para con la organizaciòn, très grupos profesionales. Varias diferencias de percepciòn con relation a los factores de duda en cuanto a una carrera han servido de manera conjunta con otras variables socio-demogràficas para distinguir y nombrar estos très grupos profesionales. Se trata de los profesionales establecidos, en vìas de establecimiento y los no establecidos. Una discusiòn pone en contexto estos resultados con relation a la rénovation de los recursos humanos que influencia no solamente las obligaciones y papeles de los profesionales de un dominio particular, pero también ciertas facetas de sus carreras

L'efficacité des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines : le cas de la gestion des professionnels syndiqués au Québec

La mesure de l'efficacité des pratiques de gestion est une préoccupation forte de la « nouvelle » gestion des ressources humaines (GRH). Pourtant — au-delà du discours — peu de recherches empiriques ont été effectuées sur ce sujet à cause de la complexité des devis de recherche qui exigent le contrôle de nombreuses variables influençant la relation entre les pratiques de GRH et la performance organisationnelle. En mesurant l'efficacité des pratiques de GRH à partir de leur capacité à réduire l'insatisfaction professionnelle de 2 497 professionnels syndiqués québécois, le devis de cette recherche s'avère non seulement réaliste mais aussi efficace puisque cette insatisfaction professionnelle (due à la confrontation des valeurs professionnelles avec les exigences organisationnelles) s'avère positivement reliée à la faible loyauté organisationnelle, au faible rendement perçu et à de nombreux comportements contre-productifs. Une analyse multivariée de 66 pratiques de GRH (qui se regroupent en 26 grappes homogènes) met en évidence l'importance des pratiques de participation, de communication, de formation et de valorisation professionnelle. Le modèle « idéal » de gestion de la main-d’œuvre professionnelle qui se dégage de l'analyse explique 41,3 % de la variance totale de l'insatisfaction professionnelle. Il continue à expliquer 28,3 % de cette variance alors même que 37 variables individuelles et 6 variables organisationnelles sont contrôlées.Evaluating the effectiveness of human resource (HR) practices is a key dimension of the "new" Human Resource Management model. However, despite a great deal of prescriptive literature, little empirical research has been conducted on this topic, mainly because of the complexities involved in designing research that controls for the major variables intervening between the HR practices and organizational effectiveness.By choosing to measure HR management effectiveness in terms of the capacity of HR practices to reduce professional dissatisfaction, the design of the present research is not only practical, but also effective. Based on a sample of 2497 unionized professionals in Quebec, the study shows that professional dissatisfaction — related to the clash of values between managerial and professional cultures — is positively correlated with low organizational commitment, low perceived performance and several deviant behaviors (Raelin 1986a).Among the many HR practices treated in the literature on the management of professionals, a number of practices are given special prominence for their potential to diminish the clash of values between managerial and professional cultures. The sixty-six practices selected for the study can be grouped as follows: (l)job enrichment/enlargement practices (allowing a better use of abilities), (2) communication practices (allowing a better understanding of the corporate vision), (3) "weak" control practices (allowing more autonomy to professionals while maintaining some control over their work), (4) participation practices, (5) development and career practices, (6) recognition practices and (7) other practices related to working conditions, employees' rights and expression mechanisms. Respondents were asked to indicate whether each of these practices existed in their setting. In addition to HR practices, several other variables were measured in the study. For instance, professional dissatisfaction was measured by 33 items (a = 0.92) to assess the gap between specifie professional expectations and their possibility of being met at work (Guerin et al. 1996). The researchers also measured several sets of variables: 10 sociodemographic factors, 10 individual factors, 17 personality factors and 6 organizational factors. Data were collected through questionnaires sent to 8801 professionals belonging to 13 unions. Given the response rate of 28.4%, we ended up with a sample of 2497 unionized professionals. Multivariate analysis reveals that HR practices account for 41.3% of variance in professional dissatisfaction while the other sets of variables account for only 39%. This result demonstrates the importance of HR practices in explaining professional satisfaction. Indeed, the main source of dissatisfaction stems from the absence of a number of HR practices. Furthermore, it was found that 66 HR practices can be clustered into 26 groups and that the ideal model for managing professionals rests upon four core bundles of practices (job enrichment, participation in job design, communication, and development). Such an optimal model can be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different work contexts with respect to the management of professionals. For one thing, an index of HR effectiveness was computed for each of the contexts under study. In addition to being strongly correlated with professional dissatisfaction (r = -0.63), this index allows us to compare the different ways of managing professionals across organizations.In summary, the "ideal" HR model for professionals supports Lawler's theory, which focuses on four forms of sharing — power, information, knowledge and profit. Although not rejecting the contingency approach to HRM, we believe that an effective HR strategy is likely to be a well-balanced mix of two kinds of practices : one set consisting of universal practices (à la Lawler) and the other being more contingent (Dyer and Reeves 1995). Finally, these findings are discussed in light of professionalization and unionization.La medida de la eficacia de las practicas de gestion es una preocupación de importancia en la nueva gestion de los recursos humanos. Sin embargo, — por sobre el discurso — muy pocos estudios empìricos han sido realizados sobre este tema debido a la complejidad del estudio que exige del control de varias variables que influencian la relacion entre las practicas de gestion de los recursos humanos y los resultados organizacionales. Al medir los resultados de las practicas de la gestion de los recursos humanos a partir de su capacidad de reducir la insatisfacción profesional de 2497 profesionales sindicalizados de Québec, esta insatisfacción profesional parece estar ligada a la relativamente débil lealtad organizacional, a los débiles resultados percibidos y a varios comportamientos contra productivos. Un analisis multivariado de 66 practicas de gestion de los recursos humanos (que se reagrupan en 26 grupos homogéneos) pone en evidencia la importancia de las practicas de participación, de comunicación, de formación y de valorización profesional. El modelo « idéal » de gestion de la mano de obra profesional que sobresale del analisis explica el 41.3 % de la variación total de la insatisfacción profesional. Este mismo modelo explica aun un 28.3 % de esta variación aun y cuando 37 variables individuales y 6 organizacionales son controladas

Le malaise professionnel : nature et mesure du concept

Le malaise professionnel — vu comme un conflit entre les valeurs professionnelles et les exigences organisationnelles — a donné lieu à une abondante littérature au cours des quarante dernières années. Le concept est ici repris dans le but d'élaborer un construit qui s'appuie sur les huit principaux points de tension entre les cadres et les professionnels, soit la nature du travail, l'autonomie, la participation à la prise de décision, le style de gestion du supérieur, les conditions de travail, le développement de carrière, la reconnaissance et l'éthique. Construit à partir de questions mesurant tant les attentes professionnelles que les perceptions de réalisation de 2497 professionnels syndiqués du Québec, le construit de 16 indicateurs se révèle cohérent et valide puisqu'il est significativement corrélé avec les attitudes et comportements généralement associés au malaise par les auteurs.The number of salaried professionals in Canada is steadily growing and their contribution to organizational performance is crucial. Unfortunately, professional values are often in conflict with organizational norms and rules, especially in large organizations or mechanistic bureaucracies, and this frequently results in deviant behaviour and low commitment. Is the problem one of excessive expectations on the part of the high-talent manpower or of an incapacity of organizations to implement innovative management practices? Whatever the answer, the golden collar "malaise" or professional-organizational conflict — first put forward during the 1950s and the 1960s — is still a problem today. The goal of this research is to focus on the clash of values, to highlight their incompatibilities and to build a construct whose validity and reliability will open the door to an examination of the key determinants of the malaise and the analysis of its effects.In the first part of this paper, the authors briefly review the roots of managerial and professional cultures. They then examine the complaints that each side makes of the other. From the managerial point of view, professionals wish to remain overprofessionalized, demand excessive autonomy, resist close supervision by insisting on professional standards of evaluation, disregard organizational procedures and display little regard for real-world practices. From the professional point of view, managers are reluctant to share information, maintain excessive and formalized control, set unchallenging and useless tasks, are unable to create an egalitarian atmosphere, do not provide an environment favourable to intellectual work and override their ethical responsibilities. Based on these grievances, well documented by Raelin (1986a) and confirmed by the authors' exploratory interviews, the eight following dimensions of professionals' dissatisfaction (or professional malaise) have been recognized : task content ; autonomy ; involvement ; leadership from superior ; physical settings ; career development ; recognition ; and ethics. In the second part of the paper, the research methodology is described. A questionnaire — consisting of 20 pages and 388 questions — was sent to 8,801 professionals who where members of 13 associations or unions, most of which were affiliated to the Quebec Council of Managers and Professionals. A total of 2,497 usable questionnaires were returned. In this study, professional dissatisfaction is measured by the difference between expectations and the associated possibilities of achievement. In the third part of the paper, the authors note that the highest areas of professional dissatisfaction are career development, involvement, and recognition.The first is caused by the high expectations of the respondents and the latter two by their low possibilities of achievement. The lowest areas of professional dissatisfaction are related to ethics and — surprisingly — to autonomy, a subject that is extensively covered in the literature.In the fourth part of the paper, factor analysis supports the theoretical structure of the professional malaise and reveals — among the 56 initial indicators — those that are most highly correlated with latent dimensions. In the fifth and last part of the paper, two scales are constructed using respectively the 16 and the 8 most significant indicators. The reliability of these scales is good (Cronbach alphas equal respectively 0,93 and 0,87) and construct validity is confirmed by strong associations with scales of professional deviance (such as indifference and boredom, conflict involvement, outside interests, refusais to implement, unethical practices) and mental and physical illness. Convergent validity is also proved with significant correlations involving connected concepts such as professionalism, cosmopolitan/local orientation and bureaucratization. Finally, discriminant validity is weakly asserted by a lower correlation of the scales with (general) work dissatisfaction indicators than with professional dissatisfaction indicators

Facteurs explicatifs des intentions de quitter des cadres : l'importance de la carrière

Facteurs explicatifs des intentions de quitter des cadres : l’importance de la carrièr

Decision-making in information seeking on texts: an eye-fixation-related potentials investigation

Reading on a web page is known to be not linear and people need to make fast decisions about whether they have to stop or not reading. In such context, reading, and decision-making processes are intertwined and this experiment attempts to separate them through electrophysiological patterns provided by the Eye-Fixation-Related Potentials technique (EFRPs). We conducted an experiment in which EFRPs were recorded while participants read blocks of text that were semantically highly related, moderately related, and unrelated to a given goal. Participants had to decide as fast as possible whether the text was related or not to the semantic goal given at a prior stage. Decision making (stopping information search) may occur when the paragraph is highly related to the goal (positive decision) or when it is unrelated to the goal (negative decision). EFRPs were analyzed on and around typical eye fixations: either on words belonging to the goal (target), subjected to a high rate of positive decisions, or on low frequency unrelated words (incongruent), subjected to a high rate of negative decisions. In both cases, we found EFRPs specific patterns (amplitude peaking between 51 to 120 ms after fixation onset) spreading out on the next words following the goal word and the second fixation after an incongruent word, in parietal and occipital areas. We interpreted these results as delayed late components (P3b and N400), reflecting the decision to stop information searching. Indeed, we show a clear spill-over effect showing that the effect on word N spread out on word N + 1 and N + 2