RESILIÊNCIA EM TRABALHADORES: IMPACTO DA AUTO- EFICÁCIA E DA PERCEPÇÃO DE SUPORTE SOCIAL

Resiliência representa o processo dinâmico envolvendo a adaptação positiva no contexto de adversidade significativa. Estudos sobre o conceito têm aumentado com o advento da Psicologia Positiva, pelos potenciais efeitos na saúde e no desempenho dos trabalhadores. Outros conceitos importantes para a saúde circunscritos no escopo da Psicologia Positiva no contexto de trabalho são os de auto-eficácia, definida como crenças das pessoas sobre suas capacidades e/ou seu exercício de controle sobre os eventos que afetam sua vida e o de suporte social no trabalho, que compreende a percepção do quanto o contexto laborativo oferece apoio aos trabalhadores. Pouca literatura existe sobre resiliência no contexto de trabalho e nenhum estudo envolvendo os três construtos foi encontrado. Por isto, esta investigação analisou o impacto da auto-eficácia e da percepção de suporte social no trabalho sobre a resiliência de trabalhadores. Participaram 243 universitários trabalhadores da região metropolitana de São Paulo, com idade média de 23 anos (DP=6,2 anos), em sua maioria do sexo feminino (69,5%), cristãos (católicos=51,5%; protestantes=18,1%), atuantes em cargos de apoio administrativo e técnico (49,1%), oriundos de organizações de diversos ramos. Foi aplicado um questionário para coletar dados sócio-demográficos dos participantes e três escalas brasileiras válidas para medir a percepção de suporte social no trabalho (Escala de Percepção de Suporte Social no Trabalho EPSST), as crenças de auto-eficácia (Escala de Auto-eficácia Geral Percebida) e nível de resiliência (Escala de Resiliência de Connor-Davidson CD-RISC-10). Foram realizadas análises estatísticas exploratórias e descritivas, análises de regressão stepwise, análises de variância (ANOVA) e teste t para descrever participantes, variáveis e testar o modelo. Os dados revelaram que os universitários trabalhadores apresentam níveis de resiliência e auto-eficácia acima da média e de suporte social no trabalho, na média. Auto-eficácia se confirmou como preditor significativo de resiliência ao contrário dos três tipos de percepção de suporte social no trabalho (informacional, emocional e instrumental). Os achados indicaram a necessidade de aprofundamento sobre o tema e foi apontada a necessidade de novos estudos que auxiliem na compreensão dos resultados desta investigação.

No free lunch for cross validation

It is known theoretically that an algorithm cannot be good for an arbitrary prior. We show that in practical terms this also applies to the technique of ``cross validation'', which has been widely regarded as defying this general rule. Numerical examples are analysed in detail. Their implications to researches on learning algorithms are discussed.

Binocular interaction:Contrast matching and contrast discrimination are predicted by the same model

How do signals from the 2 eyes combine and interact? Our recent work has challenged earlier schemes in which monocular contrast signals are subject to square-law transduction followed by summation across eyes and binocular gain control. Much more successful was a new 'two-stage' model in which the initial transducer was almost linear and contrast gain control occurred both pre- and post-binocular summation. Here we extend that work by: (i) exploring the two-dimensional stimulus space (defined by left- and right-eye contrasts) more thoroughly, and (ii) performing contrast discrimination and contrast matching tasks for the same stimuli. Twenty-five base-stimuli made from 1 c/deg patches of horizontal grating, were defined by the factorial combination of 5 contrasts for the left eye (0.3-32%) with five contrasts for the right eye (0.3-32%). Other than in contrast, the gratings in the two eyes were identical. In a 2IFC discrimination task, the base-stimuli were masks (pedestals), where the contrast increment was presented to one eye only. In a matching task, the base-stimuli were standards to which observers matched the contrast of either a monocular or binocular test grating. In the model, discrimination depends on the local gradient of the observer's internal contrast-response function, while matching equates the magnitude (rather than gradient) of response to the test and standard. With all model parameters fixed by previous work, the two-stage model successfully predicted both the discrimination and the matching data and was much more successful than linear or quadratic binocular summation models. These results show that performance measures and perception (contrast discrimination and contrast matching) can be understood in the same theoretical framework for binocular contrast vision. © 2007 VSP.

The politics of exclusion:institutions and immigration policy in contemporary Germany

Immigration is one of the most sensitive issues of modern European politics. Nowhere is this more the case than in Germany, as a result of its history and the sheer scale of immigration it has experienced since 1945. Yet despite this background, Germany's immigration, residence and citizenship policy has been more restrictive when compared to that of many other countries; indeed, official policy long maintained that Germany was not a 'country of immigration'. But why has this been the case? The politics of exclusion provides a new analytical perspective on immigration in Germany, tracing the country's immigration and citizenship policy since the Second World War. The book argues that institutional politics are central to understanding why Germany's policy structures have experienced only incremental change over the past 20 years, and have remained comparatively restrictive. With its lively and accessible style, the book will appeal to advanced scholars and students of immigration and Germany.

The role of meetings in the social practice of strategy

This article addresses the recent turn in strategy research to practice-based theorizing. Based on a data set of 51 meeting observations, the article examines how strategy meetings are involved in either stabilizing existing strategic orientations or proposing variations that cumulatively generate change in strategic orientations. Eleven significant structuring characteristics of strategy meetings are identified and examined with regard to their potential for stabilizing or destabilizing existing strategic orientations. Based on a taxonomy of meeting structures, we explain three typical evolutionary paths through which variations emerge, are maintained and developed, and are selected or de-selected. The findings make four main contributions. First, they contribute to the literature on strategy-as-practice by explaining how the practice of meetings is related to consequential strategic outcomes. Second, they contribute to the literature on organizational becoming by demonstrating the role of meetings in shaping stability and change. Third, they extend and elaborate the concept of meetings as strategic episodes. Fourth, they contribute to the literature on garbage can models of strategy-making.

Sensitivity and reliability of objective image analysis compared to subjective grading of bulbar hyperaemia

Aims: To establish the sensitivity and reliability of objective image analysis in direct comparison with subjective grading of bulbar hyperaemia. Methods: Images of the same eyes were captured with a range of bulbar hyperaemia caused by vasodilation. The progression was recorded and 45 images extracted. The images were objectively analysed on 14 occasions using previously validated edge-detection and colour-extraction techniques. They were also graded by 14 eye-care practitioners (ECPs) and 14 non-clinicians (NCb) using the Efron scale. Six ECPs repeated the grading on three separate occasions Results: Subjective grading was only able to differentiate images with differences in grade of 0.70-1.03 Efron units (sensitivity of 0.30-0.53), compared to 0,02-0.09 Efron units with objective techniques (sensitivity of 0.94-0.99). Significant differences were found between ECPs and individual repeats were also inconsistent (p<0.001). Objective analysis was 16x more reliable than subjective analysis. The NCLs used wider ranges of the scale but were more variable than ECPs, implying that training may have an effect on grading. Conclusions: Objective analysis may offer a new gold standard in anterior ocular examination, and should be developed further as a clinical research tool to allow more highly powered analysis, and to enhance the clinical monitoring of anterior eye disease.