The Messages of Mute Machines: Human-Machine Communication with Industrial Technologies

This essay argues for the designation of industrial and manufacturing machines as technologies of communication. Within communication scholarship, ICTs are synonymous with the word technology. Many of our theories regarding technology are based on human interaction with and through ICTs. However, ICTs are not the only technologies involved in communication. Drawing on scholarship from media studies, human-machine communication, and science and technology studies, I demonstrate how people’s interactions with “mute” technologies constitute communication. Industrial processes could not occur without the exchange of information between human and machine, and these industrial “rituals” between human and machine produce a particular reality for the worker and the organization. I argue that to understand communication in a machine culture in which people are constantly interacting with a variety of technologies, communication scholars must begin to study the multiplicity of machines and devices that are part of our lives

To What Extent Current In Service Education Programs at Hospital Level in Puerto Rico Help the Newly Professional and Technical Nurse in the Development of Practical Nursing Skills

THE PROBLEM This study was directed to determine to What Extent Inservice Educational Programs in Puerto Rico help the Newly Professional and Technical Nurse in the Development of Practical Nursing skills and Fulfillment of Needs. PROCEDURE Eight current inservice educational programs were analyzed from four private and four state hospitals. The sample was composed of two hundred professional and technical nurses both sexes, plus a number of forty seven administrative nursing personnel included in the study, based on their relationship within inservice programs and graduate nurses\u27 performance in practice. The main instrument used in the study was a questionnaire validated by six nurses from another hospital not included in the study. The instrument was geared to evidence if nurse\u27s needs were considered prior to inservice education. It will evidence also if the inservice programs had a direct relationship with a qualified nursing care provided by nurses. Three private hospitals evidenced excellent inservice programs. The other four were rated as average. The last two programs were incompleted. A number of 100% participants indicated that a relationship exist between the nursing care provided to patients and inservice education. 77.3% agreed that newly professional and technical nurses had limited practical nursing skills upon graduation. A number of 68% agreed that follow up evaluations after inservice improve nursing care and inservice programs. A 67.6% responded that adequacy or inadequacy staffing affect attendance to inservice activities. This implies that the four hypothesis were acceptable by the majority of participants in the study. Recommendations from all participants in the study to improve inservice programs: a. assess nurse\u27s need prior to inservice b. diagnose mastered skill and practice already gained c. provide practice in all clinical areas prior to ward assignment d. use individualized learning in procedures as: intravenous therapies catherization nursing reports doctor\u27s orders Findings were reported in numbers, percentages and descriptive tables

Ontological Boundaries between Humans and Computers and the Implications for Human-Machine Communication

In human-machine communication, people interact with a communication partner that is of a different ontological nature from themselves. This study examines how people conceptualize ontological differences between humans and computers and the implications of these differences for human-machine communication. Findings based on data from qualitative interviews with 73 U.S. adults regarding disembodied artificial intelligence (AI) technologies (voice-based AI assistants, automated-writing software) show that people differentiate between humans and computers based on origin of being, degree of autonomy, status as tool/tool-user, level of intelligence, emotional capabilities, and inherent flaws. In addition, these ontological boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred as technologies emulate more human-like qualities, such as emotion. This study also demonstrates how people’s conceptualizations of the human-computer divide inform aspects of their interactions with communicative technologies

Reglamentación para la administración y supervisión del riesgo operativo en Colombia. Segunda entrega

El documento de investigación número 31 de la Facultad de Administración, titulado “Reglamentación para la administración y supervisión del riesgo operativo en Colombia”, presentó la investigación relacionada con los avances sobre la reglamentación y supervisión de este riesgo hasta febrero del 2006, no sin antes contextualizar al lector respecto al marco teórico, y los avances realizados en países como México y España. Esta segunda entrega se realiza debido a la pertinencia del tema y a la falta de conocimiento por parte de la academia de lo que en el presente ocurre en las empresas. Este documento de investigación, además de presentar la indagación realizada respecto a la reglamentación para la administración y supervisión del riesgo operativo en Chile, Perú y Ecuador, pretende resaltar el trabajo realizado por Andrei Mosquera Torres respecto al sistema administrativo de riesgo operacional para una sociedad comisionista de bolsa. El mencionado trabajo, desarrollado por Andrei Mosquera para optar por el título como Profesional en Finanzas y Comercio Internacional de la Universidad del Rosario, recoge su experiencia respecto a la administración del riesgo operativo (operacional) en una firma comisionista de bolsa

The economic performance of urban gardening in three European cities – examples from Ljubljana, Milan and London

Urban gardening is not a new phenomenon but it has received considerably more practical and academic interest in recent years. Studies on economic aspects such as crop yields, inputs and outputs of production, productivity, gross margins and the contribution to home economics are rare, especially in Europe. While urban gardening plays an important role in the Global South, its role in Western Europe for food productivity and home eco- nomics is currently under-researched. The aim of this study is to analyse European urban gardeners\u2019 economic performance and self-sufficiency on a household level, as well as to reach a better understanding of their con- tribution to food self-provision and food security in the metropolitan areas. In a study carried out in 2014 with on-site personal and with online questionnaires participated 180 urban gardeners from three case study cities (Ljubljana, Milan, and London). Results from the economic analysis showed that although for most urban gar- deners, profit is not their main motivation, the economic calculation shows that productivity in small urban plots can be comparable to market garden production. Urban gardeners are saving money, especially when, compared to retail prices for regular produce or organic produce, their input is included in the gross margin calculation. We conclude that, in the case-study cities, the self-provisional potential of urban gardeners\u2019 households to ade- quately cover the annual vegetable need of five-a-day servings can be met under three conditions: (1) sufficient garden size; (2) increased area productivity, and (3) sufficient labour-hour inputs

Is a low level of free thyroxine in the maternal circulation associated with altered endothelial function in gestational diabetes?

Synthesis of thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and tri-iodothyronine (T3), in the human fetus starts from 17 to 19th weeks of gestation. Despite the majority of normal pregnant women reaching adequate levels of circulating thyroid hormones, in some cases, women with normal pregnancies have low level of free T4 during first trimester of pregnancy, suggesting that T4 action may be compromised in those women and their fetuses. In addition, pathological low levels of thyroid hormones are detected in isolated maternal hypothyroxemia (IMH) and clinical hypothyroidism. Nevertheless, human placenta regulates T3/T4 concentration in the fetal circulation by modulating the expression and activity of both thyroid hormone transporters (THT) and deiodinases. Then, placenta can control the availability of T3/T4 in the feto-placental circulation, and therefore may generate an adaptive response in cases where the mother courses with low levels of T4. In addition, T3/T4 might control vascular response in the placenta, in particularly endothelial cells may induce the synthesis and release of vasodilators such as nitric oxide (NO) or vasoconstrictors such as endothelin-1 mediated by these hormones. On the other hand, low levels of T4 have been associated with increase in gestational diabetes (GD) markers. Since GD is associated with impaired placental vascular function characterized by increased NO synthesis in placental arteries and veins, as well as elevated placental angiogenesis, it is unknown whether reduced T4 level at the maternal circulation could result in an altered placental endothelial function during GD. In this review, we analyze available information regarding thyroid hormones and endothelial dysfunction in GD; and propose that low maternal levels of T4 observed in GD may be compensated by increased placental availability of T3/T4 via elevation in the activity of THT and/or reduction in deiodinases in the feto-placental circulation

Diseño programa de salud ocupacional Agrocafe ltda

El propósito de este trabajo como su nombre lo indica es el de diseñar el programa de salud ocupacional en la empresa AGROCAFE LTDA., ubicada en la finca los Sauces, vereda la Muleta, municipio de Palestina (Caldas). Para la realización de este diseño se hace necesario conocer el proceso realizado por el laboratorio y el recurso humano que se requiere para que la empresa tenga un funcionamiento óptimo y acorde con los objetivos que AGROCAFE se ha trazado para la ejecución de su labor.PregradoProfesional en Seguridad y Salud en el Trabaj