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Lean Construction has become a popular concept to improve performance and reduce costs in construction projects. Assessment tools and implementation strategies that focus on lean practices such as the Last Planner System, the use of Kanbans, the routine of Kaizens and, recently, the integration with information technology are also common. However, barriers to the wide adoption of lean principles remain and implementation challenges continue to intrigue scholars. Previous studies suggest that barriers to the successful implementation can be either political, economical, social and/or technical, with the focus on lack of knowledge about lean concepts, resistance to the required organisational culture change, and lack of support from top management. Few studies present the lean implementation process from the practitioners’ perspective. Using the narrative enquiry methodology, the authors aim to describe how a construction company from Brazil matured from the implementation of lean operational tools to achieve excellence in the lean culture and mindset. Key themes that emerge from this study for a successful lean construction journey are; effort to stabilise the environment, knowledge creation and management, transparency in the process to enable simplicity and shared understanding, and building trust for further growth. ®

ResumoO Cryptosporidium descrito, pela primeira vez em 1976, como causador de doença no Homem assume, actualmente, particular importância como uma zoonose emergente, responsável por epidemias de diarreia secundárias à ingestão de água contaminada e como causador de diarreia aguda auto-limitada em crianças imunocompetentes.

The antigenic components of a semipurified fraction of Leishmania donovani infantum were determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis using 14 serum samples from dogs with symptomatic visceral leishmaniasis and 11 serum samples from apparently healthy dogs collected in an area endemic for canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL). It was found that these antigens were composed of many polypeptides, among which seven components recognized by symptomatic CVL sera, had molecular weights of approximately 18, 28, 30, 33, 63, 70, and 72 kilodaltons (kD) ; two components of 63 and 70 kD were recognized by three of 11 healthly dog sera. These findings suggest that specific antigens induce humoral immune response in dogs with asymptomatic or active visceral leishmaniasis. Infected dogs are not readily identifiable by their symptoms. The potential interest of the immunoblot test for CVL diagnostic purposes is discussed.

In certain contexts, and historical moments, the press has become an instrument of a dominant group that turns media discourse into a weapon, in order to carry out ideological manipulation of the recipient (Charaudeau 2003: 42 ). This is the case in the magazines that are the subject of this work: Legiones y Falanges (1940-1943) and Y, Revista para la mujer nacionalsindicalista (1938-1945), two exemplary publications in which the power elites propose to extol the ideological basis of the young Francoist dictatorship and to build the identity of the woman that the regime needs. With this objective, institutional locutors adopt a wide range of argumentative strategies, legal and not, forging a clearly populist discourse, in which the denunciation of evil (Charaudeau 2011) and the exaltation of the saviour (Franco and his institutions) stand out, generating a highly emotive language (evaluative lexicon, metaphors ...), often based on irrationality. I have used the theoretical framework of pragmatic linguistics (Fuentes Rodríguez 2013 and 2017), the theory of argumentation (Anscombre and Ducrot 1994) and its grammar (Lo Cascio 1991 and 2009; Fuentes Rodríguez and Alcaide Lara 2002), the instruments of critical discourse analysis, as well as Van Dijk's studies on ideology, discourse, and manipulation (especially 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 y 2010). En determinados contextos y momentos históricos la prensa ha llegado a identificarse con un instrumento de orientación y coacción, como una instancia de un grupo dominante que convierte el discurso mediático en un arma destinada al servicio de la manipulación ideológica del blanco receptor (Charaudeau, 2003: 42). Es este, como me propongo demostrar, el caso de las revistas objeto de este trabajo: Legiones y Falanges (1940-1943) e Y, Revista para la mujer nacionalsindicalista (1938-1945). Se trata de dos publicaciones ejemplares en las que las élites del poder se proponen ensalzar los fundamentos ideológicos de la joven dictadura franquista y construir la identidad de la mujer que necesita el régimen. Con este objetivo, los locutores institucionales adoptan una amplia gama de estrategias argumentativas, lícitas y no, forjando un discurso claramente populista, en el que sobresalen la denuncia del mal (Charaudeau, 2011) y la exaltación del salvador (Franco y sus instituciones), que se verbalizan en un lenguaje altamente emotivo (léxico valorativo, metáforas…), a menudo basado en la irracionalidad. Desde el punto de vista metodológico, he trabajado de forma transversal, recurriendo a la lingüística pragmática (Fuentes Rodríguez, 2013 y 2015), a la teoría de la argumentación (Anscombre y Ducrot, 1994) y a su gramática (Lo Cascio, 1991 y 2009; Fuentes Rodríguez y Alcaide Lara, 2002 y 2007), a los instrumentos del análisis crítico del discurso, así como a los estudios sobre ideología, discurso y manipulación de Van Dijk (sobre todo 1996, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009 y 2010).