Masters of Resilience: The Impact of Internal Communication in International Technology Companies

Today's dynamic and unpredictable VUCA world raises the question of how organizations can react to sudden changes in the most resilient way. This paper examines the contribution of internal communication as a management function to building individual resilience and its impact on the organizational level. The literature review reveals a prevailing theoretical focus within the current state of research, further entailing a lack of empirical work on the contribution of internal communication to strengthening resilience. In order to fill this gap, twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with internal communication experts from international technology companies. The findings confirm the contribution of internal communication to value creation by building resilience potential as an intangible success factor in an increasingly volatile market. Additionally, hypotheses for further quantitative testing are provided. The associated new understanding of the role of employees calls for a reorientation of internal communication itself

Safety and effectiveness of BufferGel and 0.5% PRO 2000 gel for the prevention of HIV infection in women.

Results of the HPTN 035 trial. Abstract 48LB (16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, 2009).Objective: To determine the safety and effectiveness of BufferGel and 0.5% PRO2000 microbicide gels for the prevention of male-to-female HIV transmission. Design: Phase II/IIb, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with three double-blinded gel arms and an open-label no gel arm. Methods: Study participants from Malawi, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the USA were instructed to apply study gel up to 1 h before each sex act and safety, sexual behavior, pregnancy, gel adherence, acceptability, and HIV serostatus were assessed during follow-up. Results: The 3101 enrolled women were followed for an average of 20.4 months with 93.6% retention and 81.1% self-reported gel adherence. Adverse event rates were similar in all study arms. HIV incidence rates in the 0.5% PRO2000 gel, BufferGel, placebo gel, and no gel arms were 2.70, 4.14, 3.91, and 4.02 per 100 women-years, respectively. HIV incidence in the 0.5% PRO2000 gel arm was lower than the placebo gel arm (hazard ratio = 0.7, P=0.10) and the no gel arm (hazard ratio = 0.67, P=0.06). HIV incidence rates were similar in the BufferGel and both placebo gel (hazard ratio =1.10, P=0.63) and no gel control arms (hazard ratio =1.05, P=0.78). HIV incidence was similar in the placebo gel and no gel arms (hazard ratio =0.97, P=0.89). Conclusion: The 0.5% PRO2000 gel demonstrated a modest 30% reduction in HIV acquisition in women. However, these results were not statistically significant and subsequent findings from the Microbicide Development Programme (MDP) 301 trial have confirmed that 0.5% PRO2000 gel has little or no protective effect. BufferGel did not alter the risk of HIV infection. Both products were well tolerated

Phenotypic characteristics of familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD) type 1 and 2

Context: Familial glucocorticoid deficiency (FGD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder as a result of mutation in genes encoding either the ACTH receptor [melanocortin 2 receptor (MC2R)] or its accessory protein [melanocortin 2 receptor accessory protein (MRAP)[. The disorder is known as FGD type 1 and 2, respectively. Objective: The aim of the study was to compare the phenotype/genotype relationships between FGD 1 and 2. Design and patients: Forty patients with missense MC2R mutations and 22 patients with MRAP mutations were included. Forty-four of these patients had been referred for genetic screening and 18 were patients published by other authors. Results: The median age at presentation for FGD type 1 was variable at 2·0 years; range 0·02–16 years, and this was associated with unusually tall stature, mean height SDS + 1·75 ± 1·53 (mean ± SD). In contrast, FGD type 2 presented at a much earlier median age (0·08 years; range at birth to 1·6 years) (P < 0·01) and patients were of normal height SDS + 0·12 ± 1·35 (P < 0·001). No differences in baseline cortisol or ACTH levels were seen between FGD types 1 and 2. Conclusion: FGD type 2 appears to present earlier. This may reflect the functional significance of the underlying mutations in that all MRAP mutations are nonsense or splice site mutations that result in abolition of a functional protein, whereas most of the MC2R mutations are missense mutations and give rise to proteins with some residual function. Tall stature is associated with mutations in MC2R but not in MRAP. There were no other significant clinical distinctions between the two

Four quasars above redshift 6 discovered by the Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey

The Canada-France High-z Quasar Survey (CFHQS) is an optical survey designed to locate quasars during the epoch of reionization. In this paper we present the discovery of the first four CFHQS quasars at redshift greater than 6, including the most distant known quasar, CFHQS J2329-0301 at z=6.43. We describe the observational method used to identify the quasars and present optical, infrared, and millimeter photometry and optical and near-infrared spectroscopy. We investigate the dust properties of these quasars finding an unusual dust extinction curve for one quasar and a high far-infrared luminosity due to dust emission for another. The mean millimeter continuum flux for CFHQS quasars is substantially lower than that for SDSS quasars at the same redshift, likely due to a correlation with quasar UV luminosity. For two quasars with sufficiently high signal-to-noise optical spectra, we use the spectra to investigate the ionization state of hydrogen at z>5. For CFHQS J1509-1749 at z=6.12, we find significant evolution (beyond a simple extrapolation of lower redshift data) in the Gunn-Peterson optical depth at z>5.4. The line-of-sight to this quasar has one of the highest known optical depths at z~5.8. An analysis of the sizes of the highly-ionized near-zones in the spectra of two quasars at z=6.12 and z=6.43 suggest the IGM surrounding these quasars was substantially ionized before these quasars turned on. Together, these observations point towards an extended reionization process, but we caution that cosmic variance is still a major limitation in z>6 quasar observations.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, AJ, in press, minor changes to previous versio

: Familias populares e institução escolar : entre autonomia e heteronomia

Version française de "Familias populares e institução escolar : entre autonomia e heteronomia", Educação e Pesquisa, 2010, vol. 36, n°espcial, p. 65-76International audienceL'article se propose d'analyser quelques problèmes théoriques dans l'étude des relations entre familles populaires et école, problèmes qui sont ceux que rencontre la sociologie dans l'étude des classes populaires et de leurs relations avec le monde dominant et les institutions. Il explore la possibilité de dépasser l'alternative entre une perspective strictement légitimiste qui tend à réduire les classes populaires et leurs pratiques au rapport de domination qui les aliène (hétéronomie) et la perspective relativiste qui les envisage dans une altérité radicale (autonomie) en occultant les rapports sociaux de domination. Il insiste sur l'ambivalence des logiques et des pratiques des familles populaire

Are you sitting comfortably? The political economy of the body

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between the mass production of furniture in modern industrial societies and lower back pain (LBP). The latter has proven to be a major cost to health services and private industry throughout the industrialised world and now represents a global health issue as recent WHO reports on obesity and LBP reveal. Thus far there have been few co-ordinated attempts to deal with the causes of the problem through public policy. Drawing upon a range of sources in anthropology, health studies, politics and economics, the paper argues that this a modern social problem rooted in the contingent conjuncture of natural and social causal mechanisms. The key question it raises is: what are the appropriate mechanisms for addressing this problem? This paper develops an analysis rooted in libertarian social theory and argues that both the state and the capitalist market are flawed mechanisms for resolving this problem. There remains a fundamental dilemma for libertarians, however. Whilst the state and the market may well be flawed mechanisms, they are the dominant ones shaping global political economy. To what extent can libertarians work within these structures and remain committed to libertarian goals

(In)formalization and the civilizing process : applying the work of Norbert Elias to housing-based anti-social behaviour interventions in the UK

This paper uses Norbert Elias's theory of the civilizing process to examine trends in social conduct in the UK and to identify how problematic “anti‐social” behaviour is conceptualized and governed through housing‐based mechanisms of intervention. The paper describes how Elias's concepts of the formalization and informalization of conduct and the construction of established and outsider groups provide an analytical framework for understanding social relations. It continues by discussing how de‐civilizing processes are also evident in contemporary society, and are applied to current policy discourse around Respect and anti‐social behaviour. The paper uses the governance of “anti‐social” conduct through housing mechanisms in the UK to critique the work of Elias and concludes by arguing that a revised concept of the civilizing process provides a useful analytical framework for future studies

Mechanical properties of reciprocating thermally treated NiTi endodontic instruments / Propriedades mecânicas de instrumentos endodônticos de NiTi reciprocantes tratados termicamente

The aim of this study was to evaluate the flexibility, buckling resistance, dynamic cyclic fatigue resistance and roughness pattern of Reciproc R25 M-Wire (R25M), Reciproc Blue R25 (R25B) and WaveOne Gold Primary (WOGP) NiTi reciprocating instruments. Thirty-three R25M, 30 R25B e 30 WOGP, all with 25mm in length, were tested. The flexibility was determined by 45° bending tests according to the standard ANSI/ADA number 101 specification. To determine the buckling resistance an increasing axial load was applied to the instruments until the file underwent an elastic displacement of 1mm. A customized machine was used to perform the dynamic cyclic fatigue test measuring the time to fracture in a metallic stainless steel canal measuring 1.4 mm of diameter, 19 mm of total length, an angle of 86 degrees and 6 mm of curvature radius. The roughness was obtained using a profilometer. Results were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls post-hoc test. Analysis were performed with the significance level (?) of 5%. The instruments presented the following order of flexibility: R25B &gt; WOGP &gt; R25M (P &lt; 0.05); buckling resistance: R25M &gt; R25B &gt; WOGP (P &lt; 0.05); and cyclic fatigue resistance: R25B &gt; R25M &gt; WOGP (P &lt; 0.05). No differences were observed regarding the roughness pattern (P &gt; 0.05). The R25B file presented superior flexibility and performance under fatigue tests. The R25M have higher buckling resistance. Instruments demonstrated similar characteristics of surface. 

Explicitly Covariant Light-Front Dynamics and Relativistic Few-Body Systems

The wave function of a composite system is defined in relativity on a space-time surface. In the explicitly covariant light-front dynamics, reviewed in the present article, the wave functions are defined on the plane \omega \cd x=0, where $\omega$ is an arbitrary four-vector with $\omega^2=0$. The standard non-covariant approach is recovered as a particular case for $\omega = (1,0,0,-1)$. Using the light-front plane is of crucial importance, while the explicit covariance gives strong advantages emphasized through all the review. The properties of the relativistic few-body wave functions are discussed in detail and are illustrated by examples in a solvable model. The three-dimensional graph technique for the calculation of amplitudes in the covariant light-front perturbation theory is presented. The structure of the electromagnetic amplitudes is studied. We investigate the ambiguities which arise in any approximate light-front calculations, and which lead to a non-physical dependence of the electromagnetic amplitude on the orientation of the light-front plane. The elastic and transition form factors free from these ambiguities are found for spin 0, 1/2 and 1 systems. The formalism is applied to the calculation of the relativistic wave functions of two-nucleon systems (deuteron, scattering state), with particular attention to the role of their new components in the deuteron elastic and electrodisintegration form factors and to their connection with meson exchange currents. Straigthforward applications to the pion and nucleon form factors and the $\rho-\pi$ transition are also made.Comment: latex.tar.gz file, 162 pages, 42 figures, to be published in Physics Reports (next issues

FROM TOTAL INSTITUTION TO EXTITUTION? Discussions on the future of monastic life in the Benedictine women’s monasteries of Catalonia (Spain)

On the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Federation of Benedictine Women’s Monasteries of Catalonia (Spain), the five monasteries represented are discussing the following question: what will monastic life be like in the future? This question is added to the debate about “new forms of monasticism”, “urban monastic life” and, in a more general sense, to the modernisations and “the opening up” of the precepts and practices of monastic life at this time. Faced with the ambitious monastic questioning, the author responds with five deliberately provocative debates developed out of a consideration of various chapters of the Rule of St. Benedict that raise profound questions when it comes to responding to the question presented here. Having described these five debates, by way of a summary, the article presents three ideal types of monastery in relation to the current processes of deinstitutionalisation that represent, in an overall way, three provisional responses and serve as a focus for the question discussed here.Con motivo del 50 aniversario de la creación de la Federación de Monasterios Benedictinos de Cataluña, los cinco monasterios miembros se plantean la siguiente pregunta: ¿cómo será la vida monacal en el futuro? Esta cuestión se enmarca en los debates sobre las “nuevas formas de monaquismo”, “monaquismo urbano”, y, de forma más general, en la puesta al día de los preceptos y las prácticas de la vida monástica hoy. Ante la ambiciosa pregunta de los monasterios, el autor responde con cinco debates que se desarrollan partiendo de la Regla de San Benito. Estos cinco debates propuestos a las comunidades monásticas en una metodología cercana a la investigación —acción, desembocan a modo de resumen en la propuesta de tres modelos ideales de vida monástica en relación con los procesos de desinstitucionalización y extitucionalización que viven los mismos. Estos tres modelos ideales representan la respuesta provisional a los debates y a la vez son un nuevo punto de partida del debate con los monasterios sobre su realidad