In response to compatible rhizobia, leguminous plants develop unique plant organs, root nodules, in which rhizobia fix nitrogen into ammonia. During nodule invasion, the rhizobia gain access to newly divided cells, the nodule primordia, in the root inner cortex through plant-derived cellulose tubes called infection threads. Infection threads begin in curled root hairs and bring rhizobia into the root crossing several cell layers in the process. Ultimately the rhizobia are deposited within nodule primordium cells through a process resembling endocytosis. Plant host mechanisms underlying the formation and regulation of the invasion process are not understood. To identify and clone plant genes required for nodule invasion, recent efforts have focused on Medicago truncatula. In a collaborative effort the nodulation defect in the lin (lumpy infections) mutant was characterized. From an EMS-mutagenized population of M. truncatula, two non-allelic mutants nip (numerous infections with polyphenolics) and sli (sluggish infections) were identified with defects in nodule invasion. Infection threads were found to proliferate abnormally in the nip mutant nodules with only very rare deposition of rhizobia within plant host cells. nip nodules were found to accumulate polyphenolic compounds, indicative of a host defense response. Interestingly, nip was also found to have defective lateral root elongation suggesting that NIP has a role in both nodule and lateral root development. NIP was found to map at the upper arm of chromosome 1. In sli, infection threads were observed to bring rhizobia from infection threads to newly divided nodule primordium cells in the roots inner cortex. Polyphenolic accumulation in sli nodule/bumps was found. Lateral roots in sli were found to be clustered at the top of the root, indicating that sli like nip may be defective in lateral root development.

Background: Despite the importance of vaccination in disease prevention some people choose to remain unvaccinated. Nurses are influential in the choice to vaccinate. Considering the possibility of poor public understanding of vaccines and need for continued improvement in vaccination rates, it is essential for nurses to be knowledgeable and adept at addressing vaccine concerns. Vaccination education formally begins in nursing school. Objective: To identify nursing students' vaccine understanding by exploring information learned from formal online vaccine education specifically the Nursing Initiative Promoting Immunization Training Modules (NIP-IT). Design/Setting/Participants/Methods: Nursing students enrolled in a Community Health Nursing course were required to complete three online, self-study, modules entitled Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Vaccine Concerns, and Nursing Roles. The nursing students who completed these modules responded, in writing, to an open-ended prompt asking them to identify what new piece of information they learned. Responses gathered from 244 nursing students between September of 2016 and April of 2018 were categorized and grouped according to theme using a first and second cycle coding process. Responses containing more than one idea were considered separate responses and categorized accordingly totaling 273 responses. Results: Nursing student responses revealed five major themes regarding new information learned from the online modules: (1) barriers to vaccination; (2) components of vaccines; (3) the influence of nurses; (4) vaccine-preventable diseases; and (5) community immunity. Conclusion: Formal vaccine education is a critical component of a comprehensive nursing program. The nursing students in this study described information they learned when completing the NIP-IT modules, thus it was inferred the nursing students did not have a full understanding of vaccine concepts prior to viewing the modules. Formal nursing school vaccine education is essential in developing nurses capable of navigating vaccine issues and promoting health and preventing disease through vaccination advocacy.

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Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2017-01-26T14:45:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Claudio Miraldo.pdf: 1423858 bytes, checksum: 3a3a49b4e2e0f0eff50452e01285f090 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-26T14:45:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Claudio Miraldo.pdf: 1423858 bytes, checksum: 3a3a49b4e2e0f0eff50452e01285f090 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-11-29 / The Active Conflict Mediation was defined as a concept and a method of conflict resolution that seeks consensus and facilitating dialogue between the parties. With this point of vision the Nacional Agency of Suplementary Health of Brazil (ANS) established a procedure called Intermediation Preliminary Notification (NIP), which allows the regulatory agency intermediate conflicts between beneficiaries and health care providers more quickly. From the perspective of healthcare companies these notifications can mean a high cost if not answered promptly. The aim of this work is to present a solution through the implementation of a computerized system requests management and workflow, so that healthcare companies can have ways to ensure the process of responding to requests with a quick information retrieval, allowing answers to ANS, others agencies and the media, timely whenever necessary. This work demonstrates that the implementation of a computerized system contributed to the efficiency of service and improvement of the quality of the services provided by the health care company, presenting significant results in quantitative terms, as well as providing indicators that allow managers to perform real-time monitoring, historical reporting, and quick retrieval of documents. It was used the methodology of action research (Martins & Theóphilo, 2009) in this work and it could contribute to the improvement of services and reduction of risks arising from primary intermediation notifications in healthcare companies. / A Mediação Ativa de Conflitos foi definida como um conceito e um método de solução de conflitos que visa o consenso e a facilitação do diálogo entre as partes. Com esta visão a Agência Nacional de Saúde Complementar (ANS) estabeleceu um procedimento chamado Notificação de Intermediação Preliminar (NIP), que permite à agência reguladora intermediar e mediar conflitos entre os beneficiários e as operadoras de saúde com mais agilidade. Sob a ótica das operadoras estas notificações podem significar um elevado custo caso não sejam respondidas tempestivamente. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar uma solução, por meio da implantação de um sistema informatizado de gestão de solicitações e fluxo de trabalho, para que operadoras de saúde possuam meios de garantir o processo de atendimento às solicitações com uma rápida recuperação de informações, permitindo respostas a ANS, respostas a demais órgãos reguladores e resposta a mídia, tempestivamente, sempre que necessário. Como resultado este trabalho demonstra que a implantação de um sistema informatizado contribuiu para eficiência do atendimento e melhoria da qualidade dos serviços prestados de uma operadora de saúde, tendo apresentado como resultados significativos em termos quantitativos, além de proporcionar a apresentação de indicadores que permitem aos gestores fazer a monitoração da operação em tempo real, relatórios históricos e rápida recuperação dos documentos do processo. Neste trabalho foi utilizada a metodologia de pesquisa-ação (Martins & Theóphilo, 2009) e o resultado deve contribuir para as operadoras de saúde que buscam melhorias dos serviços prestados e diminuição dos riscos decorrentes das notificações de intermediação preliminar.

The title of the research is Sustainability Performance Evaluation Management Systems Model for Individual Organizations and Supply Chains. This research has achieved its aim to develop and demonstrate the practical implementation of a simple and objective sustainability performance evaluation management system model for individual organizations and supply chains. It has resulted in the recognition that a new concept – Network of Interested Partners – underpins the achievement of sustainability. The term acknowledges the interdependence and reflects the essential cooperation that must be achieved between business organisations, their commercially related entities and the local community if progress towards sustainability is to be achieved. It therefore encompasses and extends the concept of a supply chain as currently used. Sustainable Development is defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development as development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future societies to meet their own needs. Organizations, as part of human activities, also have to be sustainable. The sustainability of organizations is directly linked to the continual improvement of business performance. Many organizations have found a way to improve performance through the establishment of management systems. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards are recognized worldwide as reliable and efficient tools for the implementation of management systems. However, they do not always result in the desired improvement in outcomes. Therefore, if the required improvement of business performance is to be achieved, improved methodologies for development and implementation of performance evaluation (PE) processes are necessary. These methodologies must take into consideration sustainability principles. They also have to be applicable to individual entities and supply chains, with or without management systems in place. Supply chains are important because it is being increasingly recognized that overall supply chain performance is a means of adding value and competitive advantage to all businesses. In the first part of the research a performance evaluation model or PE (version 1 model) was developed. This was used as criteria to compare and evaluate existing performance evaluation processes and outcomes of individual organisations and their respective supply chain within the Gladstone region, Australia. Questionnaires have also been used to identify and evaluate the needs of the interested parties in relation to the organizations’ and supply chains’ business performance and processes of performance evaluation. All the information provided in the first part of the research was used by the researcher to develop the Sustainability Performance Evaluation Management Systems model or SPEMS (version 2 model). This incorporates the concepts of Network of Interested Parties/Partners. In particular, one of the outcomes is recognition that organizations need to establish partnerships if effective supply chain performance improvement is to be achieved. Therefore the establishment of partnerships has become a key requirement for the implementation of SPEMS. The establishment of partnership among participants of a supply chain of Gladstone and implementation of the eight first steps of the SPEMS (version 2 model) in this supply chain was commenced successfully through workshops. The supply chain was formed by commercial organizations, government entities and interested parties from the community. SPEMS requires that partners all have the same level of ownership and authority in the decisions of the supply chain. Some new terms and their definitions have been created within the research to support the new SPEMS model. They include: Network of Interested Partners, sustainability for organizations, sustainability KPI and sustainability friendly organizations. All of the above are encompassed within the final SPEMS (version 3 model).

Magnesium with two-thirds of the density compared to aluminium and one-quarter of steel, intrigues product developers and material scientists due to the light metal’s excellent combination of strength to weight ratio as well as their capability of being produced as a High Pressure Die Cast component compared to other ferrous or light metal alloys.   However, a magnesium alloy inherits some concerning drawbacks, limiting the exploitation in structural applications and mechanical design such as automotive, heavy machinery and aerospace components. The need for a magnesium alloy that could withstand a sufficient amount of wear, temperature and corrosive environment, leads towards the investigation and evaluation of a suitable, functional coating as a solution to exploit the evident advantages a magnesium alloy exhibits. A substantial amount of research is required in order to reduce an existing knowledge gap that is the ongoing development in the search for a sufficient functional coating and adherence capability to the highly reactive substrate that is a magnesium alloy.   This industrial master thesis is an early stage investigation to evaluate how the currently used aluminium substrate with an electrodeposited coating relate and compares to a heat-treated electroless deposited coating through tribological and thermophysical induced stresses. These properties are tested with proven industrial standard methods resulted in a comprehensive conclusion and discussion regarding the feasibility of applying the coating onto a commercial magnesium alloy closely related to the Mg-alloy developed by Husqvarna and thereby contributing to technological advances to the highly relevant topic within product development in materials engineering.