Motivating and Counseling the Unemployed

During a ‘learning goal orientation’ training course for unemployed people, one of the participants, a woman in her forties, had a lot of resistance to participate in the course. I persuaded her to stay and assured her that all she had to do was sit down and watch. She persevered in her idea that this was a waste of time and even tried to convince me that I was also wasting my time. Two weeks after the training course, I called her for a follow-up interview to measure her job-search intentions and behavior. Her first response was: “I have to apologize for my behavior. After the training course I passed a temporary agency for elderly people and remembered what you had said about trying different strategies. And guess what, I now have a job and not just any job but exactly the job that I have wanted for so long”. This anecdote illustrates the potential impact that employment counseling and training courses can have on individuals who have lost their job. Losing one’s job is a life event with far reaching economic, psychological, and physical consequences (McKee-Ryan, Song, Wanberg, & Kinicki, 2005; Paul & Moser, 2009) and is considered to be one of the top 10 traumatic life experiences (Spera, Buhrfeind, & Pennebaker, 1994). Besides these consequences, unemployment also deprives a person of the additional gains from being employed, such as time structure, personal identity, interpersonal contact, and activity (Jahoda, 1982; Warr, 1987). Furthermore, the negative consequences of being unemployed tend to increase with increasing duration of unemployment (Rowley & Feather, 1987). Unemployment affects a substantial number of people in present day economies. For example, in the first three months of 2012, 11% of the labor force in Europe and 8.2% of the labor force in the United States were unemployed (Eurostat, 2012; U.S. Department of Labor, 2012). Approximately half of these individuals were long-term unemployed (i.e., more than six months) at that time. These numbers equal the numbers of the 1980s recession

On the hardness of recognizing triangular line graphs

Given a graph G, its triangular line graph is the graph T(G) with vertex set consisting of the edges of G and adjacencies between edges that are incident in G as well as being within a common triangle. Graphs with a representation as the triangular line graph of some graph G are triangular line graphs, which have been studied under many names including anti-Gallai graphs, 2-in-3 graphs, and link graphs. While closely related to line graphs, triangular line graphs have been difficult to understand and characterize. Van Bang Le asked if recognizing triangular line graphs has an efficient algorithm or is computationally complex. We answer this question by proving that the complexity of recognizing triangular line graphs is NP-complete via a reduction from 3-SAT.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 4 table

The role of perceived quality of problems in the association between achievement goals and motivation in problem-based learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of perceived problem quality in the relationship between students’ (N = 226) achievement goals and autonomous motivation to study in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. Specifically, the relationships between students’ achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and mastery-avoidance goals), problem quality-related characteristics (triggering interest, familiarity, stimulating collaborative learning, resulting in intended learning objectives, and promoting critical reasoning), and autonomous motivation to study were investigated. The findings indicate that the perceived quality of problems (i.e., familiarity, resulting in intended learning objectives, promoting critical reasoning, and by that triggering interest) fosters autonomous motivation to study and that the perception of this quality is influenced by students’ achievement goals. Therefore, the quality of problems and students’ achievement goals should be taken into account in a PBL environment

Penerapan Metode Ordinary Kriging Pada Pendugaan Kadar No2 Di Udara (Studi Kasus: Pencemaran Udara Di Kota Semarang)

Air pollution must be addressed. Nitrogen Dioxide is one of the important factors in air pollution. To determine concentration level of the pollutant “Badan Lingkungan Hidup Kota Semarang” already take measurements at several points. However, because of blocked considerable cost, is not much point to do measurements. In this study, will be used Ordinary Kriging method to estimate at some points in Semarang. In this methode will compare the value of the eksperimental semivariogram with some theoretical semivariogram models (spherical, eksponensial, and gaussian) to get the best model that will be used in the estimation. In this study, estimate the concentration of Nitrogen Dioxide in the air in a number of village in Semarang. Based on analysis we found the best model is spherical model with Nitrogen Dioxide produces estimates is the highest in Sub Gebangsari and Nitrogen Dioxide lowest in Sub Patemon

Thriving Under Uncertainty: The Effect of Achievement Goal Orientation on Job Insecurity and Flourishing

Flourishing, a construct encompassing optimal human functioning, is an indicator of well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of employees’ achievement goal orientation (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientation) on flourishing, through the appraisal of quantitative (concerns about continued existence of the job) and qualitative (concerns about continued existence of important job features) job insecurity. Data were collected from 275 employees in an organization on the brink of a substantive downsizing. The results of structural equation modelling showed that mastery approach and—avoidance goal orientation positively predicted flourishing. Furthermore, flourishing was negatively predicted by qualitative job insecurity but not by quantitative job insecurity. Qualitative job insecurity mediated the effects of mastery- and performance-approach goal orientation on flourishing but the effects were not significant. Hence, in an environment with a substantial threat of job loss, a mastery goal orientation contributed directly to flourishing. Our results plead for more attention for the effects of achievement goal orientation and qualitative job insecurity on flourishing under uncertainty

Women\u27s Entrepreneurship Report 2018/2019

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) conducting entrepreneurship research in economies around the world through a system of rigorous data collection, extensive analysis, and widespread dissemination of results. Studies on women’s participation in entrepreneurial behaviors have long been a part of this project, with reports developed approximately every two years. The 2018/2019 report provides analysis from 59 economies, aggregating data from two GEM data collection cycles: 10 economies reporting in 2017 and 49 reporting in 2018. For the purpose of analysis and to allow for comparisons, these countries are grouped into three levels of national income (adapted from the World Bank classification by GNI per capita)1 and six geographic regions: East and South Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, and sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 54 economies were surveyed in the GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship 2016/2017 Report and in this report, providing the basis for calculation of rate changes between the two reports

Detecting the impacts of harbour construction on a seagrass habitat and its subsequent recovery

Managing coastal development requires a set of tools to adequately detect ecosystem and water column degradation, but it also demands tools to detect any post-disturbance improvement. Structural seagrass indicators (such as shoot density or cover) are often used to detect or assess disturbances, but while they may be very sensitive to the impact itself, it is unclear if those indicators on their own can effectively reflect recovery at time scales relevant to managers. We used the construction of a harbour affecting a nearby Posidonia oceanica seagrass community to test the ability of a set of indicators (structural and others) to detect alterations and to evaluate their sensitivity to recovery of environmental quality after harbour construction was complete and the disturbance ceased. We used a Beyond Before After Control Impact (BBACI) design to evaluate effects on one impacted and three control meadows where we used structural, morphological, community and physiological indicators (26 in total) to asses disturbance impacts. Additionally, we measured some of the potential environmental factors that could be altered during and after the construction of the harbour and are critical to the survival of the seagrass meadow (light, sediment organic matter, sediment accrual). Harbour construction caused a clear increase in sediment organic matter and in sediment deposition rates, especially fine sand. Light availability was also reduced due to suspended sediments. Sediment and light conditions returned to normal levels 5 and 15 months after the construction began. As expected, seagrass structural indicators responded unequivocally to these environmental changes, with clear reductions in shoot density. Additionally, reduced light conditions quickly resulted in a decline in carbohydrate content in affected meadows. Unexpectedly, we also recorded a significant increase in metal content in plant tissues. No response was detected in the physiological indicators related to eutrophication (e.g. N and P content in tissues) and in morphological (shoot biomass) and community (epiphyte biomass) indicators. More than three years after the completion of the harbour, structural indicators did not show any sign of recovery. In contrast, physiological indicators, mainly heavy metal and carbohydrates content, were much better in detecting the improvement of the environmental conditions over the fairly short period of this study. These results indicate that while structural indicators are critical to evaluate the immediate effect of disturbances and the recovery on impacted systems, specific physiological indicators may be much better suited to determining the timing of environmental quality recovery. The design of impact and monitoring protocols in the wake of coastal developmental projects need to consider the differential effectiveness and time-response of measured indicators carefully

Thermal and wind structure of the monsoon trough boundary layer

Radiosonde data from Jodhpur, taken at 0530, 1730 and around 1100 hr IST during MONTBLEX 1990, reveal that the distribution of virtual potential temperature0 v below about 500 hPa has a structure characterized by up to three layers each of approximately constant gradient. We are thus led to introduce a characterization of the observed thermal structure through a sequence of the symbolsN, S andU, standing respectively for neutral, stable or unstable conditions in the different layers, beginning with the one closest to the ground. It is found that, of the 29 combinations possible, only the seven classes,S, SS', SNS', NS, NSS', USS' andUNS are observed, whereS' stands for a stable layer with a different gradient of0 r. than in the layerS. It is also found that, in 90% of the launches at 0530 hr, 48% of the launches at 1730 hr and 69% of the launches around 1100 hr, the first radiosonde layer near the ground is stable; the classical mixed layer was found in only 11 % of the data set analysed, and, if present on other occasions, must have been less than 250 m in height, the first level at which radiosonde data are available. Supplementing the above data, sodar echograms, available during 82% of the time between June and August 1990, suggest a stable layer up to a few tens of metres 48% of the time. A comparative study of the radiosonde data at Ranchi shows that the frequent prevalence of stability near the surface at Jodhpur cannot be attributed entirely to the large scale subsidence known to be characteristic of the Rajasthan area. Further, data at Jodhpur reveal a weak low level jet at heights generally ranging from 400 to 900 m with wind speeds of 6 to 15 m/s. Based on these results, it is conjectured that the lowest layers in the atmosphere during the monsoons, especially with heavy clouding or rain, may frequently be closer to the classical nocturnal boundary layer than to the standard convective mixed layer, although often with shallow plumes that penetrate such a stable layer during daytime

A meta-analysis of induced achievement goals: the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing

In this paper, we present a meta-analysis of the motivational and performance effects of experimentally induced achievement goals and the moderating effects of goal standard and goal framing; comprising 90 studies which provided 235 effect sizes (11,247 participants). The findings show that, relative to performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals and no-goals, induced mastery-approach goals enhanced performance, but not motivation. With regards to the goal standard used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals related to better performance than performance-approach goals, when mastery-approach goals were based on task-referenced standards or when social comparison was used as a standard for inducing performance-approach goals. With regards to the goal framing used in the inducement, mastery-approach goals were more beneficial when achievement goals were induced by means of goal content. We therefore conclude that goal framing and goal standard should be taken into consideration in achievement goal research and practice