Employee Racial Discrimination Complaints: Exploring Power Through Co-Cultural Theory

The primary purpose of this case study was to examine the influence of power on an employee’s decision to file a formal racial discrimination complaint against their employer with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Additionally, this case study explored the communicative strategies that lead up to and follow the filing of such a complaint. This study used both Orbe’s (1998) co-cultural theory and French and Raven’s theory on power bases (1968) as both theoretical foundations and lenses to analyze this occurrence. Four minority women from Central Texas participated in this qualitative case study. Specifically, in depth interviews were conducted where co-researchers were asked to provide narratives regarding the events that surrounded their complaint and narratives that revealed the communicative practices that were used to communicate with superiors and other employees before, during, and after the complaint process. These narratives were analyzed using the existing typologies provided by the two noted theories. McCracken’s (1988) guidelines were used to guide the emergence of new categories. Five central conclusions were drawn based on the analysis that materialized from the proposed research questions. First, employees seek to address an occurrence of racial discrimination in house prior to filing legal charges, which provides organizations an opportunity to rectify the issue and avoid further legal consequences. Second, complainants maintain a heightened level of scrutiny regarding the actions of the organization during the process of the complaint. As such, it is critical that all decisions appear unbiased. Third, the absence of expert power and the use of coercive and legitimate power may increase the likelihood of an employee filing a formal racial discrimination complaint. Fourth, once an employee files a formal racial discrimination complaint with EEOC, communicative interaction between the employee and employer appears to halt. Fifth, a racial discrimination experience permanently alters an individual’s future communicative experiences in current organizations. Combined, these results offer both theoretical implications as well as practical applications

Graph Element Networks: adaptive, structured computation and memory

We explore the use of graph neural networks (GNNs) to model spatial processes in which there is no a priori graphical structure. Similar to finite element analysis, we assign nodes of a GNN to spatial locations and use a computational process defined on the graph to model the relationship between an initial function defined over a space and a resulting function in the same space. We use GNNs as a computational substrate, and show that the locations of the nodes in space as well as their connectivity can be optimized to focus on the most complex parts of the space. Moreover, this representational strategy allows the learned input-output relationship to generalize over the size of the underlying space and run the same model at different levels of precision, trading computation for accuracy. We demonstrate this method on a traditional PDE problem, a physical prediction problem from robotics, and learning to predict scene images from novel viewpoints.Comment: Accepted to ICML 201

Combining Physical Simulators and Object-Based Networks for Control

Physics engines play an important role in robot planning and control; however, many real-world control problems involve complex contact dynamics that cannot be characterized analytically. Most physics engines therefore employ . approximations that lead to a loss in precision. In this paper, we propose a hybrid dynamics model, simulator-augmented interaction networks (SAIN), combining a physics engine with an object-based neural network for dynamics modeling. Compared with existing models that are purely analytical or purely data-driven, our hybrid model captures the dynamics of interacting objects in a more accurate and data-efficient manner.Experiments both in simulation and on a real robot suggest that it also leads to better performance when used in complex control tasks. Finally, we show that our model generalizes to novel environments with varying object shapes and materials.Comment: ICRA 2019; Project page: http://sain.csail.mit.ed

Provider Insight on Surmounting Specialty Practice Challenges to Improve Tdap Immunization Rates among Pregnant Women

Background Pertussis, or “whooping cough,” is an acute, contagious pulmonary disease that, despite being vaccine-preventable, has become an increasingly widespread problem in the United States. As a result, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists updated recommendations stating clinicians should give a Tdap dose during every pregnancy, preferably at 27–36 weeks. Despite this recommendation, reported Tdap vaccine receipt rates during pregnancy vary from 16–61%, and previous studies have shown that clinician recommendation and vaccine administration are strongly associated with vaccine uptake among pregnant women. Methods Our aim was to inform new strategies to increase uptake of the Tdap vaccine among pregnant women and, ultimately, reduce pertussis-related morbidityand mortality in infants. We conducted interviewswith a sample of 24 ob-gyns. We subsequently performed grounded theory analyses of transcripts using deductive and inductive coding strategies followed by intercoder reliability assessment. Results All physicians interviewed were familiar with the most recent recommendation of giving the Tdap vaccine during the third trimester of every pregnancy, and the majority of physicians stated that they felt that the vaccine was important and effective due to the transfer of pertussis antibodies from the mother to the fetus. Most physicians indicated that they recommended the vaccine to patients during pregnancy, but not all reported administering it on site because it was not stocked at their practice. Implementation challenges for physicians included insurance reimbursement and other challenges (i.e., patient refusal). Tdap vaccinationduring pregnancy was a lower clinical priority for some physicians. Physicians recognized the benefits associated with Tdap vaccination during pregnancy. Conclusions Findings indicate while most ob-gyns recognize the benefits of Tdap and recommend vaccination during pregnancy, barriers such as insurance reimbursement and financial concerns for the practice can outweigh the perceived benefits. This resulted in some ob-gyns reporting choosing not to stock and administer the vaccine in their practice. Recommendations to address these concerns include 1) structural support for Tdap vaccine administration in ob-gyns practices; 2) Continuing medical education-equivalent educational interventions that address management techniques, vaccine coding, and other relevant information; and 3) interventions to assist physicians in communicating the importance of Tdap vaccination during pregnancy

Cadena de suministros y productividad en el área de fertilizantes de Ransa Comercial S.A., 2020

La presente investigación tuvo como propósito establecer una propuesta de mejora en la cadena de suministros para cambios positivos en la productividad del Área de Fertilizantes de Ransa Comercial S.A., 2020, teniendo de muestra por conveniencia, sus 7 servicios; de tipo aplicada, diseño no experimental, descriptivo; enmarcada en el ámbito de las Ciencias Aplicadas, que considera primordialmente a la Gestión de Procesos. La información fue recabada con guías de observación, fichas de registro, hojas de estudio de tiempos, fichas de procesos y hoja de rotación de inventarios; y las mejoras, brindadas por medio del Mapa de Flujo de Valor, Análisis ABC, Técnica SMED, Layout y Metodología PHVA. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron niveles de eficacia y de eficiencia al 79 % y 65 %, respectivamente, una proyección de 600 sacos diarios aproximadamente y un B / C de 1,77. Por lo tanto se concluyó, que en determinado periodo de tiempo, su correspondiente aplicación reducirá las demoras de despachos realizados a clientes, dará estabilidad a cada una de las operaciones, optimizará la calidad de los diferentes productos que son almacenados y posibilitará mayor competitividad del área

Lower Willamette River Model: Boundary Conditions and Model Setup

Water Environment Services of Clackamas County is in the process of planning upgrades on several of its sewage treatment plants which discharge into the Lower Willamette River. The goals of the modeling effort are to: • Gather data to construct a computer simulation model of the Lower Willamette River system including part of the Lower Columbia River and the Willamette River above the Oregon City Falls; Because of the tidal influence in the Lower Willamette River, portions of the Columbia River that might affect the Lower Willamette River water quality were also modeled. Also, a section of the Willamette River above the head of tide, the Oregon City Falls, was modeled because of the lack of good boundary condition data at the Falls. • Ensure that the model accurately represents the system physics and chemistry (flow, temperature, dissolved oxygen and nutrient dynamics); • Use the model to evaluate how to meet various future discharge scenarios for the sewage district. A hydrodynamic and water quality model, CE-QUAL-W2 Version 3 (Wells, 1997), is being applied to model the Willamette-Columbia system. CE-QUAL-W2 is a two dimensional (longitudinal-vertical), laterally averaged, hydrodynamic and water quality model that has been under development by the Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiments Station (Cole and Wells, 2000). In order to model the system, the following data were required: • Willamette and Columbia River flow, water level and water quality data • Tributary inflows and water quality • Meteorological conditions • Bathymetry of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and several side channels • Point source inflows and water quality characteristics Many local, state and federal agencies have been collecting data in the Lower Willamette and Columbia Rivers. This report summarizes data used in the modeling effort

Expresión grafico plástico en los niños de nivel inicial

El siguiente trabajo de investigación monográfica “Expresión Grafico Plástico En Los Niños Del Nivel Inicial”, tiene como propósito conocer las expresiones gráfico plásticas que realizan en la Educación Inicial. El trabajo de investigación contiene definiciones de la expresión grafico plástico el cual se atribuye a la expresión de las emociones humanas expresadas a través del color, la línea, el movimiento, el ritmo y la melodía según la realidad; esto se logra a través de la libre expresión de cada niño, creando arte real o imaginario a partir de los sentimientos y emociones que son resultado de sus etapas intelectuales y creativas; también describir fundamentos teóricos según los diferentes autores presentados en esta investigación. Así mismo se alcanzan algunas sugerencias de actividades grafico plásticas con el fin de ser ayuda en la planificación diaria en el aula y fortalezcan la motricidad fina en los niños y niñas

Resistencia antimicrobiana por Escherichia coli en urocultivos utilizando el método antibiograma en pacientes que acudieron al hospital Víctor Ramos Guardia, Huaraz-2019

El presente trabajo de investigación denominado \"Resistencia antimicrobiana por Escherichia coli en urocultivos utilizando el método antibiograma en pacientes que acudieron al hospital Víctor Ramos Guardia, Huaraz-2019\", tuvo como objetivo determinar los resultados de los urocultivos con mayor resistencia antimicrobiana con relación a las características sociodemográficas. La metodología empleada en este estudio fue de tipo aplicativo, enfoque cuantitativo, retrospectivo, de diseño no experimental - correlacional, transversal. La población y muestra estuvo conformada por 63 pacientes, los datos fueron obtenidos de las historias clínicas a través de una ficha de recolección de datos que fueron procesados con el software SPSS y Excel 2019. Entre los principales resultados se obtuvo: El 82.5% de urocultivo fueron positivos, donde el 87.3 % son jóvenes, siendo el 88.9% de género femenino. Se empleó 8 tipos de antimicrobianos siendo de mayor resistencia la gentamicina con un 68.3%, amikacina un 58.7%, amoxicilina + ácido clavulánico un 57.1%, levofloxacino un 55.6%, ceftriaxona con 54.0% se determinó mediante el estudio del antibiograma. Se concluye que hay relación del género y antimicrobiano de mayor resistencia por Escherichia coli, así mismo se puede visualizar que el género vs. gentamicina, amoxicilina + ácido clavulánico, levofloxacino, ceftriaxona, cefalexina, amikacina, nitrofurantoina y cefuroxima tienen una relación altamente significativa (p? 0,000).Tesi