Optimistic Managers & Their Influence on Productivity & Employee Engagement in a Technology Organization

The objective of this study is to investigate whether teams are more engaged and productive when led by an optimistic manager. Furthermore, we hypothesize that optimistic managers embody positive leadership—employing a strengths-based approach, maintaining a positive perspective, and frequently providing recognition and encouragement—which increases the engagement and productivity of their employees. In a cross-sectional study of 86 employees and 17 managers in an Information Technology (IT) organization, positive leadership correlated with employee optimism, engagement, and project performance. When we looked at a subset of this data prospectively, with 39 employees and 14 managers, manager optimism predicted project performance. Our data support the claim that positive leadership is correlated with employee engagement and performance, and further extends the importance of optimism in the workplace

Optimistic Managers & Their Influence on Productivity & Employee Engagement in a Technology Organization

The objective of this study is to investigate whether teams are more engaged and productive when led by an optimistic manager. Furthermore, we hypothesize that optimistic managers embody positive leadership—employing a strengths-based approach, maintaining a positive perspective, and frequently providing recognition and encouragement—which increases the engagement and productivity of their employees. In a cross-sectional study of 86 employees and 17 managers in an Information Technology (IT) organization, positive leadership correlated with employee optimism, engagement, and project performance. When we looked at a subset of this data prospectively, with 39 employees and 14 managers, manager optimism predicted project performance. Our data support the claim that positive leadership is correlated with employee engagement and performance, and further extends the importance of optimism in the workplace

Genome Wide Analysis of Drug-Induced Torsades de Pointes: Lack of Common Variants with Large Effect Sizes

Marked prolongation of the QT interval on the electrocardiogram associated with the polymorphic ventricular tachycardia Torsades de Pointes is a serious adverse event during treatment with antiarrhythmic drugs and other culprit medications, and is a common cause for drug relabeling and withdrawal. Although clinical risk factors have been identified, the syndrome remains unpredictable in an individual patient. Here we used genome-wide association analysis to search for common predisposing genetic variants. Cases of drug-induced Torsades de Pointes (diTdP), treatment tolerant controls, and general population controls were ascertained across multiple sites using common definitions, and genotyped on the Illumina 610k or 1M-Duo BeadChips. Principal Components Analysis was used to select 216 Northwestern European diTdP cases and 771 ancestry-matched controls, including treatment-tolerant and general population subjects. With these sample sizes, there is 80% power to detect a variant at genome-wide significance with minor allele frequency of 10% and conferring an odds ratio of ≥2.7. Tests of association were carried out for each single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) by logistic regression adjusting for gender and population structure. No SNP reached genome wide-significance; the variant with the lowest P value was rs2276314, a non-synonymous coding variant in C18orf21 (p  =  3×10(-7), odds ratio = 2, 95% confidence intervals: 1.5-2.6). The haplotype formed by rs2276314 and a second SNP, rs767531, was significantly more frequent in controls than cases (p  =  3×10(-9)). Expanding the number of controls and a gene-based analysis did not yield significant associations. This study argues that common genomic variants do not contribute importantly to risk for drug-induced Torsades de Pointes across multiple drugs

Emotional contagion and its relationship to mood

Ph.D. University of Hawaii at Manoa 2012.Includes bibliographical references.Emotional contagion has been defined as "the tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person's and, consequently, to converge emotionally" (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994, p. 5). Study 1 explores the influence of personality on emotional contagion. Specifically, I propose that people's susceptibility to emotional contagion will be affected by their stable disposition towards happiness/sadness. Study 2 investigates the impact of a person's short-term (primed) mood on his or her susceptibility to emotional contagion. Two competing theoretical traditions will be compared to investigate just how mood--both stable and short-term--affects contagion

What is a Positive Intervention? Theoretical, Empirical and Experiential Perspectives

El presente trabajo sigue tres hilos de investigación interconectados -teórico, empírico, y vivencial- para contestar una pregunta fundamental: ¿Qué es una intervención positiva? La primer parte, propone una definición teórica del término “intervención positiva”, y una hipótesis de cómo funcionan las intervenciones positivas. La segunda parte, presenta un sistema de clasificación basado en la investigación empírica, valor relevante para la longevidad de la Psicología Positiva como una disciplina académica. En la tercera parte, dos intervenciones positivas son exploradas vivencialmente, y relacionadas con el modelo teórico propuesto y la clasificación empírica de las intervenciones positivas. El entretejido de estos hilos provee una comprensión más profunda acerca de las intervenciones positivas, lo que permite su aplicación más efectiva y asegura la duración de la Psicología Positiva como un campo de esfuerzo científico previniendo su declinación en una moda pasajera de auto-ayuda. Three interrelated threads of inquiry -theoretical, empirical, and experiential- are pursued to answer one fundamental question: what is a positive intervention? Part 1 proposes a theoretical definition of the term “positive intervention” and a hypothesis about how positive interventions work. Part 2 presents an empirically based classification system and its value relevant to the longevity of positive psychology as an academic discipline. In Part 3, two positive interventions are experientially explored and related to the proposed theoretical model and empirical classification of positive interventions. Interweaving these threads yields a more thorough understanding of positive interventions, which will enable their more effective application and ensure the durability of positive psychology as a field of scientific endeavor and prevent its declination into a self-help fad.

Qué es una intervención positiva?: Perspectivas Teóricas, Empiricas y Vivenciales

Three interrelated threads of inquiry -theoretical, empirical, and experiential- are pursued to answer one fundamental question: what is a positive intervention? Part 1 proposes a theoretical definition of the term “positive intervention” and a hypothesis about how positive interventions work. Part 2 presents an empirically based classification system and its value relevant to the longevity of positive psychology as an academic discipline. In Part 3, two positive interventions are experientially explored and related to the proposed theoretical model and empirical classification of positive interventions. Interweaving these threads yields a more thorough understanding of positive interventions, which will enable their more effective application and ensure the durability of positive psychology as a field of scientific endeavor and prevent its declination into a self-help fad. El presente trabajo sigue tres hilos de investigación interconectados -teórico, empírico, y vivencial- para contestar una pregunta fundamental: ¿Qué es una intervención positiva? La primer parte, propone una definición teórica del término “intervención positiva”, y una hipótesis de cómo funcionan las intervenciones positivas. La segunda parte, presenta un sistema de clasificación basado en la investigación empírica, valor relevante para la longevidad de la Psicología Positiva como una disciplina académica. En la tercera parte, dos intervenciones positivas son exploradas vivencialmente, y relacionadas con el modelo teórico propuesto y la clasificación empírica de las intervenciones positivas. El entretejido de estos hilos provee una comprensión más profunda acerca de las intervenciones positivas, lo que permite su aplicación más efectiva y asegura la duración de la Psicología Positiva como un campo de esfuerzo científico previniendo su declinación en una moda pasajera de auto-ayuda.

Qué es una intervención positiva? Perspectivas Teóricas, Empiricas y Vivenciales

El presente trabajo sigue tres hilos de investigación interconectados -teórico, empírico, y vivencial- para contestar una pregunta fundamental: ¿Qué es una intervención positiva? La primer parte, propone una definición teórica del término “intervención positiva”, y una hipótesis de cómo funcionan las intervenciones positivas. La segunda parte, presenta un sistema de clasificación basado en la investigación empírica, valor relevante para la longevidad de la Psicología Positiva como una disciplina académica. En la tercera parte, dos intervenciones positivas son exploradas vivencialmente, y relacionadas con el modelo teórico propuesto y la clasificación empírica de las intervenciones positivas. El entretejido de estos hilos provee una comprensión más profunda acerca de las intervenciones positivas, lo que permite su aplicación más efectiva y asegura la duración de la Psicología Positiva como un campo de esfuerzo científico previniendo su declinación en una moda pasajera de auto-ayuda. </div

Analysis of DNA Repair and Protection in the Tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus and Hypsibius dujardini after Exposure to UVC Radiation

Tardigrades inhabiting terrestrial environments exhibit extraordinary resistance to ionizing radiation and UV radiation although little is known about the mechanisms underlying the resistance. We found that the terrestrial tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus is able to tolerate massive doses of UVC irradiation by both being protected from forming UVCinduced thymine dimers in DNA in a desiccated, anhydrobiotic state as well as repairing the dimers that do form in the hydrated animals. In R. varieornatus accumulation of thymine dimers in DNA induced by irradiation with 2.5 kJ/m² of UVC radiation disappeared 18 h after the exposure when the animals were exposed to fluorescent light but not in the dark. Much higher UV radiation tolerance was observed in desiccated anhydrobiotic R. varieornatus compared to hydrated specimens of this species. On the other hand, the freshwater tardigrade species Hypsibius dujardini that was used as control, showed much weaker tolerance to UVC radiation than R. varieornatus, and it did not contain a putative phrA gene sequence. The anhydrobiotes of R. varieornatus accumulated much less UVC-induced thymine dimers in DNA than hydrated one. It suggests that anhydrobiosis efficiently avoids DNA damage accumulation in R. varieornatus and confers better UV radiation tolerance on this species. Thus we propose that UV radiation tolerance in tardigrades is due to the both high capacities of DNA damage repair and DNA protection, a two-pronged survival strategy

Capability of reproduction after UVC irradiation in <i>Hypsibius dujardini</i> and <i>Ramazzottius varieornatus</i>. n/a means no data available.

<p>Capability of reproduction after UVC irradiation in <i>Hypsibius dujardini</i> and <i>Ramazzottius varieornatus</i>. n/a means no data available.</p

Gene structure of putative <i>phrA</i> gene of <i>R. varieornatus</i>.

<p>(A) Exon-intron structures of <i>phrA</i> in <i>R. varieornatus</i> and <i>D. melanogaster</i>. (B) Amino acid sequence alignment of the <i>phrA</i> genes between <i>R. varieornatus</i> and <i>D. melanogaster</i>.</p