An analysis of how children adapt to residential care

This research analyses the personal, social and educational adaptation of 74 children, aged between 6 and 18, under measures of protection in residential care centres. The Autoevaluative Multifactorial Child Adaptation Test (TAMAI) was applied to evaluate the children's level of adaptation. The study also aims to determine the relationship between the different levels of competence and/or functioning in the different areas of adaptation. The results indicate that institutionalised children show a high level of failure to adapt in both personal and social aspects. The fact that children show dissociative maladjustment, negative thoughts and mechanisms for escaping from reality (dreaming, negative opinion of self and undervaluing) is confirmed. There is evidence of the negative effects of neglect on children's perceptions, especially a poor opinion of self and inadequate self esteem. Worthy of note are a maladjusted opinion of self and of reality which makes them pile the tension, fear and uneasiness they live through upon their own shoulders, something which can lead to undervaluing. An inability to adapt to school life manifests itself in a low work level and low motivation to learn and a general dissatisfaction with their schooling situation.     

Elder abuse and neglect in African American families: informing practice based on ecological and cultural frameworks

Despite the rapid growth of the elderly African American population in the U.S., elder abuse and neglect in African American families continue to be underdeveloped areas of study. This article presents an ecological and culturally informed framework for the study of elder abuse in African American populations. The model was developed based on Bronfenbrenner's Human Ecological Theory. The model identifies risk factors associated with different systems that have an influence on the lives of African American families. Cultural protective factors also are identified in the model. The model is intended to provide an understanding of elder abuse and neglect in African American families by considering the influence of contextual factors such as the legacy of slavery, social exclusion, and structural segregation and racism. Specific suggestions for practice are proposed according to cultural strengths of African American communities as well as the ecological premises of the model.     

Social antecedents of the role stress and career-enhancing strategies of newcomers to organizations: A longitudinal study

Newcomers experience uncertainty and stress following entry into an organization. Two features of socialization are important for reducing their stress: socialization tactics and relations with superiors and co-workers. The present study tests a structural equation model, including, first, the effects over time of initial institutional socialization tactics and, second, the association between social relations at the workplace on newcomers’ role stress and career-enhancing strategies, two years later, among a large (N=661) international sample of job and organization stayers. Using LISREL 8.3 the results indicate a good fit between the model and data on several fit indices. Institutional socialization tactics had a significant association with newcomers’ relations with both their superiors and co-workers, and a significant negative association with their role conflict. Newcomers’ relations with superiors had a negative relationship with their role ambiguity, and a positive relationship with two kinds of career-enhancing strategies that they use to aid in their adaptation to their work situation. The relations of newcomers with co-workers were positively related to role conflict and negatively related to role ambiguity. Co-worker relations were also positively related to immediate career-enhancing strategies. Role conflict was positively related to immediate and negatively related to intermediate career-enhancing strategies, while role ambiguity was negatively related to intermediate career-enhancing strategies. The results are discussed in relation to their theoretical and practical importance.     

Beyond demand–control: Emotional labour and symptoms of burnout in teachers

Abstract

Teaching is a profession that involves a high level of emotional labour. This includes such behaviours as surface acting (displaying an emotion that is not actually felt), deep acting (the activity undertaken to actually feel a required emotion), and suppression of emotion. In many professions, this emotional labour is thought to be related to high levels of burnout. The aim of our study was to show that emotional labour has a unique relationship with burnout that is separate from its relationship with the variables of the Demand Control Support (DCS) model. Emotional labour was studied, together with the variables of the Karasek Job Demand Control Support model, in a random sample of 365 mathematics teachers in the Netherlands. We used the Dutch Questionnaire on Emotional Labor (D-QEL) that measures: (1) surface acting, (2) deep acting, (3) suppression, and (4) emotional consonance. In line with other studies, job characteristics were found to be specifically related to emotional exhaustion. Surface acting was significantly related to depersonalization, and emotional consonance (the absence of emotional labour) was related to personal accomplishment. We conclude that whereas the DCS model has been valuable for understanding emotional exhaustion, emotional labour provides an additional perspective for understanding work stress.     

It's Only Temporary: Time Frame and the Dynamics of Creative Project Teams

The success of many knowledge‐intensive industries depends on creative projects that lie at the heart of their logic of production. The temporality of such projects, however, is an issue that is insufficiently understood. To address this, we study the perceived time frame of teams that work on creative projects and its effects on project dynamics. An experiment with 267 managers assigned to creative project teams with varying time frames demonstrates that, compared to creative project teams with a relatively longer time frame, project teams with a shorter time frame focus more on the immediate present, are less immersed in their task and utilize a more heuristic mode of information processing. Furthermore, we find that time frame moderates the negative effect of team conflict on team cohesion. These results are consistent with our theory that the temporary nature of creative projects shapes different time frames among project participants, and that it is this time frame that is an important predictor of task and team processes.     

L(p,q)-labeling of sparse graphs

Let p and q be positive integers. An L(p,q)-labeling of a graph G with a span s is a labeling of its vertices by integers between 0 and s such that adjacent vertices of G are labeled using colors at least p apart, and vertices having a common neighbor are labeled using colors at least q apart. We denote by λ _p,q (G) the least integer k such that G has an L(p,q)-labeling with span k. The maximum average degree of a graph G, denoted by $\operatorname {Mad}(G)$ , is the maximum among the average degrees of its subgraphs (i.e. $\operatorname {Mad}(G) = \max\{\frac{2|E(H)|}{|V(H)|} ; H \subseteq G \}$ ). We consider graphs G with $\operatorname {Mad}(G) < \frac{10}{3}$ , 3 and $\frac{14}{5}$ . These sets of graphs contain planar graphs with girth 5, 6 and 7 respectively. We prove in this paper that every graph G with maximum average degree m and maximum degree Δ has:

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+6p+10q?8 if $m < \frac{10}{3}$ and p≥2q.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+14q?9 if $m < \frac{10}{3}$ and 2q>p.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+6q?5 if m<3.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+4q?4 if $m < \frac{14}{5}$ .

We give also some refined bounds for specific values of p, q, or Δ. By the way we improve results of Lih and Wang (SIAM J. Discrete Math. 17(2):264–275, 2003).     

Cash Is King—How OBM Helped a North American Telecommunications Organization Obtain $76 Million in Receivables

Imagine a freshly formed team of people who are new to their jobs, assigned by top leadership to meet very ambitious targets in the mission-critical department that collects aged (past-due) payments from the company's largest accounts … (cue Mission Impossible theme). At a large telecommunications company in North America, the Senior Leadership Team led an effort to increase collections of aged receivables on its top accounts by $50 million from the previous year. Using OBM techniques, they surpassed the $50 million goal, reaching $76 million. The team also lowered the Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) by 8.5 days.     

Political Institutions,Elites, and Territorial Identity Formation in Belgium

Territorial identities in Belgium require a political rather than a cultural or structural explanation. The forces behind the development of identities in Flanders, Wallonia, Brussels and the German-speaking area are similar to the ones that produced the Belgian identity they are challenging. Political institutions and elites are at the heart of the process of territorial identity formation in Belgium. The emergence of Walloon and Flemish identities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was the by-product of a struggle between the dominant French-speaking bourgeoisie and the traditional Flemish lower bourgeoisie within the institutional context of the early Belgian state. Transformations in the party system and reforms to political-territorial institutions in the last 40 years have strengthened these identities and created entirely new ones.     

Physical Activity, Depression and Anxiety Among the Elderly

The aim of this study was to compare by sex, physical activity, and academic qualifications the symptomatology of depression among elders. The sample consisted of 140 elderly, 70 elements were male and 70 female, aged over 62 years. The instruments used to assess the dependent variables were the Scale of Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity, the Beck Depressive Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Significant gender effects were obtained demonstrating that those who practiced physical activity had lower rates of depression and anxiety. Comparisons showed that women had higher values than men. At the level of educational attainment it was found that individuals with lower level of education tended to have higher values for both depression and anxiety. Finally, a significant correlation was identified between physical activity, depression and anxiety, and for trait anxiety, however this correlation was not statistically significant. It was concluded that physical activity is associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety.