A Theoretical Study about the Graduation of the Organizational Psychologist

The purpose of this article is to accomplish a theoretical study about the graduation of the organizational psychologist through specialized literature which provides data about the profile of these professionals, their emergent practices, as well as their expectations towards job opportunities, according to the capacity for acting. It is also discussed the role of the psychology courses in the graduation of psychologists in order to act in the organizational area, their deficiencies and the possible manners to remediate them. There is a brief appreciation about the updated conjecture which involves thoroughly the BA degree, likewise the graduation of the psychologist in particular focusing the organizational psychologist

Teaching Environmental Management Competencies Online: Towards “Authentic” Collaboration?

Environmental Management (EM) is taught in many Higher Education Institutions in the UK. Most this provision is studied full-time on campuses by younger adults preparing themselves for subsequent employment, but not necessarily as environmental managers, and this experience can be very different from the complexities of real-life situations. This formal academic teaching or initial professional development in EM is supported and enhanced by training and continuing professional development from the major EM Institutes in the UK orientated to a set of technical and transferable skills or competencies expected of professional practitioners. In both cases there can be a tendency to focus on the more tractable, technical aspects of EM which are important, but may prove insufficient for EM in practice. What is also necessary, although often excluded, is an appreciation of, and capacity to deal with, the messiness and unpredictability of real world EM situations involving many different actors and stakeholders with multiple perspectives and operating to various agendas. Building on the work of Reeves, Herrington and Oliver (2002), we argue that EM modules need to include the opportunity to work towards the practice of authentic activities with group collaboration as a key pursuit. This paper reports on a qualitative study of our experiences with a selected sample taken from two on-line undergraduate EM modules for second and third year students (referred to respectively as Modules A and B) at the Open University, UK where online collaboration was a key component. Our tentative findings indicate that on-line collaboration is difficult to ensure as a uniform experience and that lack of uniformity reduces its value as an authentic experience. Whilst it can provide useful additional skills for EM practitioners the experience is uneven in the student body and often requires more time and support to engage with than originally planned

Developing resilience to England's future droughts: time for cap and trade?

Much of England is seriously water stressed and future droughts will present major challenges to the water industry if socially and economically damaging supply restrictions are to be avoided. Demand management is seen as a key mechanism for alleviating water stress, yet there are no truly effective incentives to encourage widespread adoption of the behavioural and technological demand management practices available. Water pricing could promote conservation, but on its own it is an inefficient tool for dealing with short term restriction in water supply. Raising prices over the short term in response to a drought is likely to be ineffectual in lowering demand sufficiently; conversely, maintaining high prices over the long term implies costs to the consumer which are needlessly high most of the time. We propose a system for developing resilience to drought in highly water stressed areas, based on a cap and trade (C&T) model. The system would represent a significant innovation in England's water market. However, international experience shows that C&T is successful in other sectors, and need not be overly complex. Here, we open the debate on how a C&T system might work in England

Progressing quality control in environmental impact assessment beyond legislative compliance: An evaluation of the IEMA EIA Quality Mark certification scheme

The effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) systems is contingent on a number of control mechanisms: procedural; judicial; evaluative; public and government agency; professional; and development aid agency. If we assume that procedural and judicial controls are guaranteed in developed EIA systems, then progressing effectiveness towards an acceptable level depends on improving the performance of other control mechanisms over time. These other control mechanisms are either absent, or are typically centrally controlled, requiring public finances; this we argue is an unpopular model in times of greater Government austerity. Here we evaluate a market-based mechanism for improving the performance of evaluative and professional control mechanisms, the UK Institute of Environmental Management and Assessments' EIA Quality Mark. We do this by defining dimensions of effectiveness for the purposes of our evaluation, and by identifying international examples of the approaches taken to delivering the other control measures to validate the approach taken in the EIA Quality Mark. We then evaluate the EIA Quality Mark, when used in combination with legal procedures and an active judiciary, against the effectiveness dimensions and use time-series analysis of registrant data to examine its ability to progress practice. We conclude that the EIA Quality Mark has merit as a model for a market-based mechanism, and may prove a more financially palatable approach for delivering effective EIA in mature systems in countries that lack centralised agency oversight. It may, therefore, be of particular interest to some Member States of the European Union for ensuring forthcoming certification requirements stemming from recent amendments to the EIA Directive

Environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation- CCS technology, better having it than not having it at all!

Climate change is happening and already manifested in a range of ways, including: global warming, rising sea levels, floods, heat-waves, stronger and more frequent storms, and droughts. One of the major factors in climate change is anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion for energy generation and it is increasing throughout the world. Fossil fuel burning results in carbon emissions. On the basis of the most recent evidence, this article presents some new insights into the carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology, which can be an environmentally sustainable way to control carbon emissions. The article also focuses on various relevant facts and figures from the literature on CCS technology and explores various challenges that the technology may face in future. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 201

Toric intraocular lenses for correction of astigmatism in keratoconus and after corneal surgery

Ilse EMA Mol,1,2 Bart TH Van Dooren1,2 1Department of Ophthalmology, Amphia Hospital, Breda, 2Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Purpose: To describe the results of cataract extraction with toric intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in patients with preexisting astigmatism from three corneal conditions (keratoconus, postkeratoplasty, and postpterygium surgery).Methods: Cataract patients with topographically stable, fairly regular (although sometimes very high) corneal astigmatism underwent phacoemulsification with implantation of a toric IOL (Zeiss AT TORBI 709, Alcon Acrysof IQ toric SN6AT, AMO Tecnis ZCT). Postoperative astigmatism and refractive outcomes, as well as visual acuities, vector reduction, and complications were recorded for all eyes.Results: This study evaluated 17 eyes of 16 patients with a mean age of 60 years at the time of surgery. Mean follow-up in this study was 12 months. The corrected distance Snellen visual acuity (with spectacles or contact lenses) 12 months postoperatively was 20/32 or better in 82% of eyes. The mean corneal astigmatism was 6.7 diopters (D) preoperatively, and 1.5 D of refractive cylinder at 1-year follow-up. No vision-compromising intra- or postoperative complications occurred and decentration or off-axis alignment of toric IOLs were not observed.Conclusion: Phacoemulsification with toric IOL implantation was a safe and effective procedure in the three mentioned corneal conditions. Patient selection, counseling, and IOL placement with optimal astigmatism correction are crucial. Keywords: toric intraocular lens, phacoemulsification, corneal astigmatism, keratoconus, postkeratoplasty, postpterygium surger

Impact and adaptation to urinary and sexual changes resulting from radical prostatectomy

A prostatectomia radical é o método terapêutico mais utilizado no tratamento do câncer de próstata localizado. O objetivo deste estudo é avaliar a readaptação urinária e sexual no período pós- operatório. Método: Foram estudados 46 homens tratados por Prostatectomia Radical à quatro tempos: pré-cirurgia e após três meses; seis meses e um ano após cirurgia, através dos seguintes instrumentos: escala adaptativa operacionalizada redefinida- (EDAO-R); questionário de avaliação da disfunção sexual masculina - (QSM); questionário de incontinência urinária - (ICIQ-SF) e o questionário de comprometimento cognitivo - (MEEM). Em um ano de estudo a análise estatística avaliou quantitativamente a eficácia adaptativa em quatro setores, estruturados nos seguintes pressupostos: Afetivo-Relacional (A-R); Produtividade (Pr); Orgânico (Or) e Socio-Cultural (S-C). Resultados: Encontrou-se diferença significativa nos valores da adequação diagnóstica pela EDAO-R entre o momento 3 (6 meses de PR: G1 8,7%; G2 15,2%; G3 17,4%; G4 28,3%; G5 30,4%) e o momento 4 (1 ano de PR: G1 8,7%, G2 17,4%; G3 23,9%, G4 19,6%; G5 30,4%) em relação ao momento 1(précirurgíco: G1 28,3%; G2 17,4%; G3 26,1%; G4 17,4%, G5 10,9%). E no momento 3 (6 meses de PR: G1 8,7%; G2 15,2%; G3 17,4%; G4 28,3%; G5 30,4%) houve um aumento significativo em relação ao momento 2 (3 meses de PR: G1 10,9%; G2 17,4%; G3 37,0%; G4 17,4%; G5 17,4%). O ICIQ-SF diagnosticou diferenças significativas entre os todos os momentos (p < 0,001). O MEEM resultou no momento 2 (um ano de PR) com valores significativamente maiores que os apresentados no momento 1 pré-cirúrgico (p=0,001). O QS-M revelou no momento pré-cirúrgico que 80,5% dos pacientes se encontravam num escore de bom a excelente em relação ao desempenho sexual e que 19,5% se encontravam num escore de desfavorável a regular. No momento 4 (um ano de PR), os achados foram: 21,7% dos pacientes classificados na categoria de bom a excelente; 54,4%, na categoria de ruim a desfavorável e 23,9%, na categoria de nulo a ruim. Conclusão: Os homens submetidos à PR durante o período do estudo ficaram comprometidos na organização e na readaptação às alterações urinárias e sexuais decorrentes do tratamentoRadical prostatectomy (RP) is the most widely used therapeutic method in the treatment of localized prostate cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the urinary and sexual rehabilitation in the postoperative period. Methods: A study was done of 46 men treated with radical prostatectomy at four time intervals: pre-surgery, three months, six months and one year postsurgery. The following instruments were used: Revised Operational Adaptive Diagnostic Scale - (ROADS); questionnaire for the assessment of male sexual dysfunction - (QS -M); International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form (ICIQ -SF) and the cognitive impairment test (Mini-Mental State Examination - MMSE). In a year of study the statistical analysis quantitatively evaluated the adaptive efficacy in four sectors, structured in the following assumptions: Affective - relational (AR); Productivity (Pr); Organic (Or) and Socio-Cultural (S- C). Results: There was a significant difference in the values of diagnostic suitability for the ROADS between time interval 3 (6 months of RP: G1 8.7%; G2 15.2%; G3 17.4%; G4 28.3%; G5 30.4%) and time interval 4 (1 year RP: G1 8.7%; G2 17.4%; G3 23.9%; G4, 19.6%; G5 30.4%) relative to time interval 1 (pre-surgical: G1 28.3%; G2 17.4%; G3 26.1%; G4 17.4%; G5 10.9%). Additionally at time interval 3 (6 months of RP: G1 8.7%; G2 15.2%; G3 17.4%; G4 28.3%; G5 30.4%) there was a significant increase compared to the second time interval (RP 3 months: G1 10.9%; G2 17.4%; G3 37.0%; G4 17.4%; G5 17.4%). The ICIQ-SF diagnosed significant differences between all four time intervals (p < 0.001). The MMSE resulted in time interval 2 (1year os RP) having significantly higher values than those presented pre-surgery in time interval 1 (p = 0.001). The QS-M revealed that 80.5% of the patients were found to have a good to excellent score in relation to sexual performance and that 19.5% had an unfavorable to regular score prior to surgery. At time interval 4 (one year PR), the findings were: 21.7% of patients were classified as good to excellent; 54.4% were classified as bad to unfavorable and 23.9% were in the null to bad category. Conclusion: The men submitted to PR during the study period were committed to the organization and rehabilitation of the urinary and sexual changes due to treatmen