Everyday Surveillance: Personal data and social classifications

Surveillance is no longer merely a matter of deliberate, individual scrutiny and consequent fears for personal privacy. It is an everyday experience, run by myriad agencies for multiple purposes and exempting no one. Surveillance is also an ambiguous process, the two faces of which must yet be seen in relation to each other. Numerous data - now including biometric, genetic and video data - are abstracted from embodied persons and manipulated to create profiles and risk categories in a networked, rhizomic system. The resulting classifications are intended to influence and to manage populations and persons. The choices and the chances of data-subjects are thus both directly and indirectly affected, but socio-technical surveillance systems are also affected by people complying with, negotiating or resisting surveillance.     

Exploring the nature of control and its role in the appraisal of workplace stress

The concept of control is a prominent component of theories of stress. From a transactional framework, appraisal of control is seen as important in influencing coping behaviour. However, little attention has been paid to the measurement of the appraisal of control in a work-related situation. In this paper it is argued that situational control should not be reduced to a simple assessment of whether or not an individual has control over a given situation. Instead it is believed that it is important to identify the factors that an individual strives to have control of, as well as the perceived degree of control over those factors. A major component of the present study was the use of a measure that viewed control in this way and that examined control as a multifaceted construct (task control, predictability, self-control and general control). This paper reports on an analysis that examines the multifaceted nature of perceived control with other situational appraisals in the process of coping with workplace stress. A total of 134 employees from four public sector organizations in New Zealand took part in this research. Having control over work tasks was for this sample considered to be less important in giving a sense of control than either predictability or self-control. When it came to reporting how much control they actually had, respondents reported higher levels of self-control than other aspects of control. However, in general respondents reported lower levels of actual control than what they perceived it was important for them to have. This research emphasizes the importance of having a sense of self-control, particularly when it comes to the use of different coping strategies. Overall these findings point to the need to better understand the nature and type of control and its importance if we are to advance our knowledge of work stress.     

我国人口转变模式及其形成机制

通过对我国近 5 0年人口出生率、死亡率、自然增长率统计数据的分析认为 ,我国已经完成了由传统的人口再生产类型向现代的人口再生产类型的人口转变过程。又通过对我国 5 0年来的人口转变模式的分析 ,探讨了其转变机制 ,指出社会经济发展和计划生育政策是人口转变的根本原因     

试析巴以冲突的经济内涵——从以色列对巴勒斯坦经济的全面控制谈起

在2000年9月爆发的巴以冲突中,以色列不仅对巴勒斯坦实行领土占领,而且为保证自身的绝对安全,对巴勒斯坦采取了经济上的全面控制,双方的经济差距由此越来越大,这种差距不仅仅是巴以冲突的结果,更是引发双方冲突的导火线和原因.     

Just-in-time in ATO vehicle manufacturing: The Minivan-Piaggio V.E. case study

The system adopted by Piaggio V.E. to run the production of 'Minivan' aims at conciliating the manufacturing philosophy 'just-in-time' JIT with the creation of a wide range of end-product codes. Some general assumptions for a JIT production, with small lot sizes, are described together with their implementation in the operationorganizing system adopted by Piaggio V.E. for the 'Minivan' assembly line. The strategy pursued by Piaggio V.E. for the Minivan focuses on the quality of the product and the level of service in the form of fast order cycle and a high number of options offered on catalogue. According to the logic of an ATO production system, the customer orders a customized product and the manufacturer does not keep any finished inventory, but aims at effective management of the information flows.     

Employee reactions to behavioural control under conditions of stress: The moderating role of self-efficacy

Extensive research conducted in the occupational stress literature has failed to provide convincing support for the stress-buffering effects of work control on employee adjustment. Drawing on research conducted in the laboratory context, it was proposed that the stress-buffering effects of work control on employee adjustment would be more marked at high, rather than low, levels of self-efficacy. In a sample of 100 customer service representatives, a significant three-way interaction among role conflict, work control and self-efficacy (measured at Time 1) was observed on (low) depersonalization (measured at Time 2). Consistent with expectations, work control reduced the negative effects of work stress on this outcome measure only for employees who perceived high levels of self-efficacy at work. In addition, there was evidence to suggest that self-efficacy moderated the main effects of work control on job satisfaction and somatic health. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical contribution to the job strain model, and also in relation to workplace interventions designed to improve levels of employee adjustment.     

The Demands-Control-Support model,locus of control and job dissatisfaction: A longitudinal study

The Job-Demands-Control model (Karasek, 1979) has been widely studied in the job stress field, but the results obtained are frequently contradictory. Therefore, some investigations have expanded the model by including social support and personality characteristics such as locus of control. However, results obtained with these elaborated models have not been conclusive either. The present study sets out to integrate both types of expansions by simultaneously including social support at work and the employee's locus of control in a longitudinal multi-national study among 542 administrative personnel from Belgium, England, Spain, Italy and Israel. Hierarchical moderated multiple regression showed a significant 4-way interaction term (Demands 2 Control 2 Social support 2 Locus of control) on the change in job dissatisfaction. This effect is qualified by the interaction between job demands and control only for an internal locus of control with high social support. Contrary to the prediction of the JDC model, which posits that high control has a buffering effect on job dissatisfaction, the study result indicates a damaging effect of excess control (perceived job control and high internal locus of control), specifically in high social support situations.     

Exploring the nature of control and its role in the appraisal of workplace stress

The concept of control is a prominent component of theories of stress. From a transactional framework, appraisal of control is seen as important in influencing coping behaviour. However, little attention has been paid to the measurement of the appraisal of control in a work-related situation. In this paper it is argued that situational control should not be reduced to a simple assessment of whether or not an individual has control over a given situation. Instead it is believed that it is important to identify the factors that an individual strives to have control of, as well as the perceived degree of control over those factors. A major component of the present study was the use of a measure that viewed control in this way and that examined control as a multifaceted construct (task control, predictability, self-control and general control). This paper reports on an analysis that examines the multifaceted nature of perceived control with other situational appraisals in the process of coping with workplace stress. A total of 134 employees from four public sector organizations in New Zealand took part in this research. Having control over work tasks was for this sample considered to be less important in giving a sense of control than either predictability or self-control. When it came to reporting how much control they actually had, respondents reported higher levels of self-control than other aspects of control. However, in general respondents reported lower levels of actual control than what they perceived it was important for them to have. This research emphasizes the importance of having a sense of self-control, particularly when it comes to the use of different coping strategies. Overall these findings point to the need to better understand the nature and type of control and its importance if we are to advance our knowledge of work stress.     

An investigation of output flow control,bottleneck flow control and dynamic flow control mechanisms in various simple lines scenarios

Flow control mechanisms have been a topic of academic research for several years. With the growth of business-wide information systems such as enterprise resource planning and supply chain, better planning, scheduling and control of the business transformation process is required in order to achieve increased throughput, reduced inventories, shorter lead times and reduced tardiness. This research compares two new approaches to flow control, output flow control and bottleneck flow control to a real-time flow control system, dynamic flow control. Both output and bottleneck flow control mechanisms are much simpler to implement and manage than dynamic flow control in that they do not require continual feedback and rescheduling. Line characteristics, such as location of breakdowns with respect to the bottleneck, the location of the bottleneck when breakdowns occur, and the impact of variability of processing times on the performance measures (output, WIP level, lateness, and number of tardy jobs) for these three flow control mechanisms are compared. Both output and bottleneck flow control mechanisms perform favourably (particularly bottleneck) under different scenarios and warrant further study across a wider range of scenarios (mixed models, job shops, etc.).