Does customer-based reputation add to social and mass media reputation in judging social responsibility of banks?

Purpose: Reputation is a critical asset for finance and banking organizations where the mere suspicion of a problem suffices to trigger media turmoil with high risk of market share losses. Investing in media to build reputation has been therefore a priority for banks. However, another source of reputation may stem from direct front-office contact and it is yet unknown to which extent it plays a role when confronted with the widespread social and mass media reach. This study aims at testing the extent of the importance of customer-based reputation, as against media-based reputation, in explaining customer outcomes.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects of an educational intervention on angolan adolescents’ knowledge of human reproduction: A quasi-experimental study

Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a non-equivalent control group, pre-test post-test design. It was conducted with students from three secondary schools (6th to 12th grade, two public and one private) in Huambo (Angola), between June and December 2017. First, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the students’ knowledge on aspects related to sexual maturation, psychological development, gynecological organs’ anatomy, human fertilization, contraception, and risks of unprotected sexuality. Then, an educational program was developed by the principal investigator along with the school’s moral and civic education and biology teachers selected for a group of students (experimental group, EG); the others constituted the control group (CG). Classes were held on non-working days, on Saturday mornings (8:00 to 10:00 a.m.), so as not to interfere with the school calendar. The initial questionnaire was redistributed two months later to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: Of the 589 individuals included (mean age of 16.8 ± 2.5 years), 56.7% were males. EG (n = 241) consisted of students from the public school and CG (n = 348) by students from public and private schools. The last part of the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions to assess students’ knowledge, and in 23 of these questions, both groups showed no differences at baseline. After the intervention, the EG showed significant improvements (p < 0.05), while the CG revealed only slight improvements. Conclusions: Students from Huambo province have a significant lack of knowledge on human biology and sexuality. Rigorous development and evaluation of interventions addressing multiple individual and environmental level factors is needed, notably for effective education in human biology and sexuality.Acknowledgments: To the directors and teachers of the schools: Instituto Médio Agrário (IMA), Escola Politécnica do Huambo (EPH) and Irmãs Teresianas, for allowing the first author to be part of the collective. To all students of schools and guardians, especially of the school of Irmãs Teresianas, for the affection and willingness to participate in the research. To all those who directly or indirectly made possible the completion of this work. A. Teixeira thanks the research grant 6585/BPD_B3-A/2018 for the project “NanoSTIMA: Macro-to-Nano Human Sensing: Towards Integrated Multimodal Health Monitoring and Analytics, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000016”, funded by the NORTE 2020 program through PORTUGAL 2020 and the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). N. Martins would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT–Portugal) for the Strategic project ref. UID/BIM/04293/2013 and “NORTE2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012). N. Almeida would like to thank the Angolan State through the National Scholarship Management Institute (INAGBE)

Doctor-patient relationships (DPR) in China: managers and clinicians’ twofold pathways from commitment HR practices

Purpose: The first objective of this research is to develop and test theory on how commitment human resource (HR) practices affect hospital professionals’ job satisfaction that motivates them to generate desirable patient care and subsequently improve doctor-patient relationships (DPR). The second objective is to examine how commitment HR practices influence in different ways hospital managers and clinicians. Methodology: Using a cross-sectional survey, data were collect from 508 clinicians and hospital managers from 33 tertiary public hospitals in China. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was employed to test the relationships among the constructs. Results: Commitment HR practices positively affect the job satisfaction of the healthcare professionals surveyed. Results also show that they perceive a positive relationship between job satisfaction and DPR. Overall, the model indicates a reversal on the strongest path linking job satisfaction and DPR whereby managers’ main association operates through extrinsic job satisfaction while for clinicians it occurs through intrinsic job satisfaction only. Implications for Practice: DPR may be improved by applying commitment HR practices to increase both healthcare professional’s intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction. In addition, intrinsic factors may serve as stronger motivators for clinicians rather than hard economic incentives in achieving DPR improvements. Originality/value: This study contributes to the small but growing body of research on HRM in the healthcare sector with new evidence from the perspective of clinicians and hospital managers in the Chinese hospital context. It also demonstrates the importance of effective HRM in improving both hospital managers and clinicians’ work attitudes

Análise dos custos de produção e rentabilidade do melão produzido na região do Submédio São Francisco.

Nesse estudo procurou-se analisar o custo de produção e a rentabilidade da exploração do melão na região do Submédio São Francisco, que é o segundo maior pólo de produção dessa olerícola no país. Os dados foram levantados nas unidades agrícolas típicas de produção de melão da região em estudo. Para a determinação da viabilidade econômica da exploração utilizou-se o método de orçamentação parcial do Instituto de Economia Agrícola. Os resultados indicaram que o segmento insumos é o que mais onera os custos operacionais da exploração do melão, respondendo por 68,50% desses custos. A análise de viabilidade econômica revelou que a exploração do melão na região do Submédio São Francisco apresenta resultados economicamente satisfatórios em diversos índices de eficiência econômica. A taxa de retorno foi de 0,37%, o ponto de nivelamento correspondeu a produção de 12.369 kg/ha-1 e a margem de segurança registrou a cifra de -0,27.Suplemento 1. Edição dos Resumos do 42 Congresso Brasileiro de Olericultura; 11 Congresso Latino Americano de Horticultura, Uberlândia, jul. 2002

Danos de Rizopertha dominica (Coleoptera, Bostrichidae) e sua influência na germinação de sementes de arroz Oriza sativa L.

Neste trabalho avaliou-se a presença de R. dominica, sua influência na germinação de sementes de arroz, e apresentadas medidas de controle para conter esta praga.bitstream/item/24659/1/cot297-rizopertadominica.pd

Acumulação de metais pesados pelo uso de insumos agrícolas na microbacia de Caetés, Paty do Alferes, RJ.

O município de Paty do Alferes, localizado na região serrana do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, inserido no bioma Mata Atlântica e com declividade de até 50%, tem exclusivamente a horticultura, com uso intensivo de insumos, como atividade econômica (40% de todo o tomate do estado e um grande percentual de outras hortaliças - repolho, pepino, vagem, pimentão), mas, em função do declínio rápido da produtividade, as áreas estão sendo abandonadas, dando lugar a pastagem com pouco manejo. Diante do diagnóstico do uso excessivo de agroquímicos, este trabalho teve o objetivo de avaliar o seu impacto na contaminação do solo, água, sedimentos e plantas hortícolas por metais pesados na microbacia de Caetés (Paty do Alferes, RJ) e a influência da topografia e do uso agrícola na acumulação de metais pesados. Para tanto selecionaram-se duas toposseqüências de solos representativas da microbacia de Caetés: (a) toposseqüência 1 (T1) apresenta menor declividade e pendente longa, com três formas distintas de uso: capoeira, pasto (antiga área de horticultura) e horticultura atual; (b) na outra (T2), observa-se declividade mais acentuada (45%) e pendente curta, sendo os tipos de uso do solo os mesmos de T1. Notou-se que a contaminação por metais pesados nos solos da microbacia de Caetés concentrou-se onde ocorria a aplicação intensiva de agroquímicos (áreas de horticultura), mas não atingiu os níveis críticos estabelecidos para solos e estava distribuída em formas químicas pouco biodisponíveis (tomate, pimentão, repolho e pepino). A acumulação de metais pesados só não foi maior devido ao terreno ser muito declivoso, o que promoveu um arraste excessivo e contínuo da camada arável, sendo depositado nos córregos pelo uso agrícola inadequado à topografia. Em virtude do processo erosivo, constataram-se nos sedimentos da microbacia de Caetés incrementos nos teores totais de metais pesados de acordo com a posição de coleta na área, todavia esses metais não estavam presentes em formas químicas biodisponíveis. Entretanto, houve contaminação da água do córrego e do açude, que apresentou teor total de Mn e Cd acima dos padrões máximos estabelecidos para água potável.bitstream/item/159432/1/bp05-1998.pdfConvênio Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Comunidade Econômica Européia (CEE) e Fundo Nacional de Meio Ambiente (FNMA)

Sistema de Integração Lavoura-Pecuária: o modelo implantado na Embrapa Milho e Sorgo.

bitstream/CNPMS/20485/1/Circ_93.pd

Chromosomal mapping, gene structure and characterization of the human and murine RAB27B gene

BACKGROUND: Rab GTPases are regulators of intracellular membrane traffic. The Rab27 subfamily consists of Rab27a and Rab27b. Rab27a has been recently implicated in Griscelli Disease, a disease combining partial albinism with severe immunodeficiency. Rab27a plays a key role in the function of lysosomal-like organelles such as melanosomes in melanocytes and lytic granules in cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Little is known about Rab27b. RESULTS: The human RAB27B gene is organised in six exons, spanning about 69 kb in the chromosome 18q21.1 region. Exon 1 is non-coding and is separated from the others by 49 kb of DNA and exon 6 contains a long 3' untranslated sequence (6.4 kb). The mouse Rab27b cDNA shows 95% identity with the human cDNA at the protein level and maps to mouse chromosome 18. The mouse mRNA was detected in stomach, large intestine, spleen and eye by RT-PCR, and in heart, brain, spleen and kidney by Northern blot. Transient over-expression of EGF-Rab27b fusion protein in cultured melanocytes revealed that Rab27b is associated with melanosomes, as observed for EGF-Rab27a. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the Rab27 subfamily of Ras-like GTPases is highly conserved in mammals. There is high degree of conservation in sequence and gene structure between RAB27A and RAB27B genes. Exogenous expression of Rab27b in melanocytes results in melanosomal association as observed for Rab27a, suggesting the two Rab27 proteins are functional homologues. As with RAB27A in Griscelli Disease, RAB27B may be also associated with human disease mapping to chromosome 18

Rab27a targeting to melanosomes requires nucleotide exchange but not effector binding

Rab GTPases are important determinants of organelle identity and regulators of vesicular transport pathways. Consequently, each Rab occupies a highly specific subcellular localization. However, the precise mechanisms governing Rab targeting remain unclear. Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs), putative membrane-resident targeting factors and effector binding have all been implicated as critical regulators of Rab targeting. Here, we address these issues using Rab27a targeting to melanosomes as a model system. Rab27a regulates motility of lysosome-related organelles and secretory granules. Its effectors have been characterized extensively, and we have identified Rab3GEP as the non-redundant Rab27a GEF in melanocytes (Figueiredo AC et al. Rab3GEP is the non-redundant guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rab27a in melanocytes. J Biol Chem 2008;283:23209-23216). Using Rab27a mutants that show impaired binding to representatives of all four Rab27a effector subgroups, we present evidence that effector binding is not essential for targeting of Rab27a to melanosomes. In contrast, we observed that knockdown of Rab3GEP resulted in mis-targeting of Rab27a, suggesting that Rab3GEP activity is required for correct targeting of Rab27a. However, the identification of Rab27a mutants that undergo efficient GDP/GTP exchange in the presence of Rab3GEP in vitro but are mis-targeted in a cellular context indicates that nucleotide loading is not the sole determinant of subcellular targeting of Rab27a. Our data support a model in which exchange activity, but not effector binding, represents one essential factor that contributes to membrane targeting of Rab proteins.publishersversionpublishe

Uso de marcadores ISSR na caracterização molecular de abacaxizeiro, para uso na produção de polímeros biodegradáveis.

As fibras naturais têm emergido como uma alternativa de baixo custo, pouco peso e com um apelo ambiental superior a outros materiais usados na indústria, substituindo, principalmente as fibras de vidro e gerando um impacto ambiental significativamente menor. A Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura possui um total de 670 acessos do gênero Ananas e outras bromeliáceas, sendo considerada a maior coleção de abacaxizeiro e espécies afins do mundo.Em paralelo aconteceram também os seguintes eventos: V Seminário de Pesquisa do Recôncavo da Bahia; V Seminário Estudantil de Pesquisa da UFRB; V Seminário da Pós-Graduação da UFRB; II Seminário Regional de Pesquisa da EBDA; 5ª Jornada Científica da Embrapa Mandioca e Fruticultura; VIII Seminário Estudantil de Pesquisa e Extensão da FAMAM; Semana de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação no Agronegócio; Fórum de Gestores de Iniciação Científica e Tecnológica da Bahia; II Simpósio Baiano de Defesa Agropecuária; I Semana de Educação Tutorial da UFRB