Alone together: Biographical crises in times of pandemix

I have been studying biographical crises for some years now. My interest is in understanding how people cope with very personal difficult moments experienced over the course of their lives. I am examining critical events and periods connected, for example, to the death of someone close, a disease, accidents, severe economic difficulties, among other traumatic occurrences [1]. One of the main features of this type of micro analysis is that it examines extremely private dimensions of a person’s life, and deals with the exceptionality and sometimes even unpredictability of these events in that person’s biography. It is true that many of these crises illustrate the individual dimension of larger societal trends. An accident, a death, or a disease can be understood at the individual level as the result of chance, but if we look at the global picture, these are events that are quite common in people’s biographies. They are individually unexpected but collectively probable. And while they tend to have disruptive effects, there are institutional responses to such circumstances [2]. Societies are prepared, through their institutions, to deal with these negative moments, precisely because they are integral parts of social life.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

On the Hausdorff Dimension of Continuous Functions Belonging to Hölder and Besov Spaces on Fractal d-Sets

The Hausdorff dimension of the graphs of the functions in Hölder and Besov spaces (in this case with integrability p≥1) on fractal d-sets is studied. Denoting by s in (0,1] the smoothness parameter, the sharp upper bound min{d+1-s, d/s} is obtained. In particular, when passing from d≥s to d<s there is a change of behaviour from d+1-s to d/s which implies that even highly nonsmooth functions defined on cubes in ℝn have not so rough graphs when restricted to, say, rarefied fractals. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

Validation of the Portuguese version of the Langer Mindfulness Scale and its relations to quality of work life and work-related outcomes

Mindfulness is an active mindset characterized by novel distinction-drawing and has been related to happiness and well-being. This study aims to validate the Portuguese version of the Langer Mindfulness scale (LMS14), to explore its psychometric and structural properties, and to analyze the role of mindfulness on the relation between work characteristics and performance. We conducted three studies; the first (N = 141) tested the scale’s factorial structure and its psychometric properties. In the second we used two samples (N = 330) and tested the factorial structure of the scale, its reliability and validity. In the third (N = 154) we analyzed the moderating role of mindfulness in the relationship between autonomy and feedback with performance. Results showed three factors — novelty seeking, novelty producing, and engagement — and convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity as the scale correlates with well-being, affect, creativity, and work engagement. Results demonstrated that mindfulness moderates the link between autonomy and feedback with performance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Corporate blended learning in Portugal: current status and future directions

The aim of this study is to characterize the current status of blended learning in Portugal, given that b-learning has grown exponentially in the Portuguese market over recent years. 38 organizations (representing 68% of all institutions certified to provide distance training by the Government Labour Office – DGERT -) participated in this study. The results revealed that in 2007, although the predominant instructional format in Portugal was still face-to-face training (65%), e-learning at 15% came in behind b-learning with 20%. Data also revealed that 50% of distance training department coordinators believe that b-learning produces better training outcomes than face-to-face training alone, when considering the same content and learning objectives. Furthermore, when comparing b-learning and e-learning outcomes with similar content and learning objectives, 78.1% of these coordinators declared that b-learning produces better outcomes than e-learning alone. Hence, the content analysis indicated positive perceptions with regard to the future direction of b-learning, leading to the conclusion that in the long-term, corporate b-learning training will develop considerably in this country

How followers' neuroticism buffers the role of the leader in their daily mental health via daily positive affect: A multilevel approach

This study expands on the existing research on employees' work-related mental health by analyzing (1) the relationship between within-person fluctuations in perceived leadership effectiveness and positive affect and mental health and (2) between-person variations in neuroticism as a relevant boundary condition of this relationship. Multilevel data were collected from 224 working adults (2240 measurement occasions). The results demonstrated that fluctuations in the perception of the leader's effectiveness were positively related to daily positive affect, and this relationship was moderated by the followers' levels of neuroticism, in such a way that higher levels of neuroticism buffered the positive effect of leadership effectiveness on positive affect. The findings also evidenced a positive relationship between daily positive affect and daily mental health, as well as a significant indirect effect from perceived leadership effectiveness to daily fluctuations in mental health via daily fluctuations in positive affect. An effective leader makes employees feel more positive affect during the day, which is beneficial to their daily mental health; however, this relationship is may be impaired by the employees' levels of neuroticism. Practical implications for theory and practice are discussed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Biographical research through the looking glass of social distancing: Reflections on biographical interviewing and online technologies in pandemic times

This paper asks critical questions about biographical interviewing during the coronavirus disease 2019 era and the age of social distancing. How do we ‘do’ biographical research when we are more physically distant from interview participants than ever before? What kinds of challenges and issues emerge when doing biographical research in online spaces? How do we form rapport and strong trusting bonds with interviewees in the current context? This paper provides a critical commentary on these questions, focusing on the limitations and possibilities of online interviewing during pandemic times.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio