Employability and Job Insecurity:Supporting Individuals to Achieve Career Success in the WhiteWater Environment

El rápido ritmo de la cuarta revolución industrial de hoy, junto con la inestabilidad económica y la competitividad global, han resultado en cambios organizativos generalizados y en una creciente inseguridad laboral. Reconociendo que la inseguridad laboral continuará intensificándose en los años venideros, esta investigación, a través de tres estudios, tiene como objetivo actualizar el papel de la empleabilidad en el éxito profesional subjetivo en el mundo laboral contemporáneo y descubrir las condiciones que pueden impulsar el rendimiento al experimentar inseguridad laboral . El estudio 1 ha demostrado que la empleabilidad sigue siendo un concepto relevante en el mercado laboral actual a pesar de la creciente atención sobre la adaptabilidad profesional y que la empleabilidad y la adaptabilidad profesional comparten una cantidad satisfactoria de puntos en común al predecir el éxito profesional subjetivo. El estudio 1 demostró además que la empleabilidad podría tener un papel más importante porque su papel predictivo es más confiable que la adaptabilidad profesional. El estudio 2 demostró que el modelo de moderación es más relevante para describir el rol de la empleabilidad y la inseguridad laboral en la predicción del éxito profesional subjetivo en la dura condición laboral, mientras que la mediación es más relevante en la condición laboral normal. Por último, el Estudio 3 demostró que los empleados podrían intentar asegurar su trabajo aumentando su desempeño cuando se den cuenta de que su desempeño ordinario o la falta de equidad organizacional pueden ponerlos en un gran riesgo de perder su trabajo. Aunque el resultado reflejó una relación positiva entre la inseguridad laboral y el desempeño laboral, el Estudio 3 no indicó claramente que la inseguridad laboral podría impulsar el desempeño cuando el desempeño es fundamental para asegurar el trabajo. En cambio, el Estudio 3 parecía tener condiciones descubiertas que pueden facilitar de manera plausible el manejo de impresiones. Esta investigación destacó la oportunidad de fusionar y refinar la empleabilidad y la adaptabilidad profesional en una sola construcción más parsimoniosa. También destacó la necesidad de presentar el contexto macroeconómico del que se extraen los datos al realizar una investigación, de modo que los consumidores de ciencia puedan estar informados y, por lo tanto, hacer las inferencias y la aplicación apropiadas. Además, la investigación agregó algunas pruebas a la opinión minoritaria que mostró que la inseguridad laboral podría conducir a un aumento en el desempeño laboral. Las implicaciones prácticas incluyen la posibilidad de aplicar el concepto combinado en la capacitación para la empleabilidad, por lo tanto, desarrollar recursos de empleabilidad y adaptabilidad profesional simultáneamente. También subrayó la importancia y los beneficios de desarrollar la empleabilidad independientemente de las condiciones laborales. También se alienta a las organizaciones a invertir en el desarrollo continuo de la empleabilidad de los empleados para cosechar los beneficios duales de la empleabilidad. También se aconseja a las organizaciones que sean más visibles en sus prácticas organizacionales y que tengan cuidado con las posibles tácticas de gestión de impresiones en forma de un mejor rendimiento al tomar decisiones de recursos humanos en tiempos de cambio organizacional.The rapid pace of today's 4th industrial revolution, together with economic instability and global competitiveness, have resulted in pervasive organizational changes and increasing job insecurity. Recognizing that job insecurity will continue to intensify in years to come, this research, through three studies, aims to update the role of employability on subjective career success in the contemporary world of work, and to uncover conditions that can prompt performance when experiencing job insecurity. Study 1 have demonstrated that employability is still a relevant concept in today's labor market despite the rising attention on career adaptability and that employability and career adaptability share a satisfactory amount of commonality when predicting subjective career success. Study 1 further demonstrated that employability might have a larger role because its predictive role is more dependable than career adaptability. Study 2 demonstrated that the moderation model is more relevant in describing the role of employability and job insecurity in predicting subjective career success in the harsh labor condition while the mediation is more relevant in normal labor condition. Lastly, Study 3 demonstrated that employees might attempt to secure their job by increasing their performance when they realize that their ordinary performance or the lack of organizational fairness may put them at great risk of losing their job. Although the result reflected a positive relationship between job insecurity and job performance, Study 3 did not clearly indicate that job insecurity could prompt performance when performance is instrumental in securing one’s job. Instead, Study 3 seemed to have uncovered conditions that can plausibly facilitate impression management. This research highlighted an opportunity to merge and refine employability and career adaptability into a single more parsimonious construct. It also highlighted the need to present the macroeconomic context from which data are drawn when conducting research, such that consumers of science can be informed and hence, make the appropriate inferences and application. In addition, the research added some evidence to the minority view that showed that job insecurity could lead to an increase in job performance. Practical implications include the possibility to apply the merged concept in employability training, hence developing employability and career adaptability resources simultaneously. It also underscored the importance and benefits of developing employability regardless of labor conditions. Organizations too, are encouraged to invest in the continual development of employees' employability to reap the dual benefits of employability. Organizations are also advised to be more visible on their organizational practices and be careful of possible impression management tactics in the form of enhanced performance when making human resource decisions in times of organizational change

Job preservation efforts: when does job insecurity prompts performance?

While job insecurity generally impedes performance, there may be circumstances under which it can prompt performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine a specific situation (reorganization) in which job insecurity may prompt task and contextual performance. The authors propose that performance can represent a job preservation strategy, to which employees may only resort when supervisor-issued ratings of performance are instrumental toward securing one's job. The authors hypothesize that because of this instrumentality, job insecurity will motivate employees' performance only when they have low intrinsic motivation, and only when they perceive high distributive justice

Evaluation of the Proximity of Singaporean Children’s Dietary Habits to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

Dietary habits in children may not only impact current health status but could also shape future, lifelong dietary choices. Dietary intake data in Singaporean children are limited. The current study aimed to define the overall diet quality of Singaporean children using an existing cross-sectional dataset and to consider how demographic factors (i.e., body mass index (BMI) status, ethnicity, age, and sex) were associated with these scores. Existing, cross-sectional dietary data (n = 561 children aged 6–12 years, collected in 2014–2015) from duplicate 24-h recalls were assessed for diet quality using an index based on the Singaporean Health Promotion Board dietary guidelines. Total diet quality scores were calculated from ten different components (frequencies of rice and alternatives, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and alternatives, dairy and alternatives, total fat, saturated fat, sodium intake, and added sugars). Association with demographic factors and BMI category was evaluated by one-way multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) tests, with Bonferroni post hoc analyses. Median (interquartile range) total diet quality scores were 65.4 (57.1–73.0). Median scores for whole grains (0.0, 0.0–33.4), fruits (24.1, 0.0–65.3), vegetables (36.5, 10.4-89.8), and sodium (58.4, 0.0–100.0) intake were frequently sub-optimal. Children of Malay ethnic origin had statistically lower total diet quality scores ((55.3, 47.5–60.3) vs. other ethnic groups (combined median 65.4 (57.1, 73.0); p < 0.001). These findings highlight the need for continuing efforts to improve dietary intake in young Singaporeans and for longitudinal dietary monitoring in this group

COVID-19 as a catalyst to inspire learning and create fresh, meaningful interpersonal interactions : a case study of positive psychology in higher education

Increasingly, school curricula are embedding the principles of positive psychology to enhance wellbeing. To our knowledge, very few universities have taken this step. Since 2018, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia has offered a distinctive programme to develop students’ personal wellbeing and resilience together with academic performance and personal effectiveness. This programme includes four workshops focused on identifying purpose and fostering social responsibility. To overcome the COVID-19 restrictions on teaching, these workshops were redesigned for small-group web-based coaching. This study tests two propositions: i) the workshops achieved wider unintended benefits to students’ sense of belonging, and ii) the concept of belonging derived from research in secondary schools is meaningful in a university setting. Primary data was gathered using semi-structured interviews (n=8). Interview transcripts were analysed using a deductive approach informed by a validated construct of school belonging comprising ten factors. Results showed how the workshops cultivated belonging, especially through teacher support and students’ personal characteristics, consistent with previous school-based research. Regarding their contributions to belonging, the pandemic situation seemed to heighten the importance of peer support and downplay the importance of extracurricular activities. Despite obvious challenges, COVID-19 has been a catalyst to inspire learning and create fresh, meaningful interpersonal interactions in higher education

A comparison of laboratory and in situ methods to determine soil thermal conductivity for energy foundations and other ground heat exchanger applications

Soil thermal conductivity is an important factor in the design of energy foundations and other ground heat exchanger systems. It can be determined by a field thermal response test, which is both costly and time consuming, but tests a large volume of soil. Alternatively, cheaper and quicker laboratory test methods may be applied to smaller soil samples. This paper investigates two different laboratory methods: the steady-state thermal cell and the transient needle probe. U100 soil samples were taken during the site investigation for a small diameter test pile, for which a thermal response test was later conducted. The thermal conductivities of the samples were measured using the two laboratory methods. The results from the thermal cell and needle probe were significantly different, with the thermal cell consistently giving higher values for thermal conductivity. The main difficulty with the thermal cell was determining the rate of heat flow, as the apparatus experiences significant heat losses. The needle probe was found to have fewer significant sources of error, but tests a smaller soil sample than the thermal cell. However, both laboratory methods gave much lower values of thermal conductivity compared to the in situ thermal response test. Possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed, including sample size, orientation and disturbance

Pelajar Berkecerdasan Tinggi dalam Kalangan Pelajar Kelas Rancangan Khas

Falsafah Pendidikan Negara bermatlamat untuk memperkembangkan potensi individu pelajar secara menyeluruh dan bersepadu dari segi jasmani, emosi, rohani dan intelek. Pelbagai rancangan serta strategi sistem pendidikan dilakukan oleh Kementerian Pendidikan bagi merealisasikan hasrat yang dituntut oleh Falsafah Pendidikan Negara dalam melahirkan serta mengembangkan potensi dan kebolehan pelajar. Kajian ini berkaitan tentang pelajar yang mempunyai kecerdasan tinggi. Temu bual kepada para guru bertujuan untuk mengetahui tahap pelajar berkecerdasan tinggi yang terdapat di setiap sekolah di negara Malaysia serta melihat tahap kemampuan pelajar tersebut dalam meningkatkan prestasi dalam bidang akademik mahupun kokurikulum. Kaedah kajian yang digunakan adalah temu bual, pemerhatian, dan rujukan. Kesimpulan kajian ini iaitu pelajar yang berkecerdasan tinggi merupakan pelajar yang mempunyai kebolehan dalam setiap matapelajaran di sekolah. Hal ini dimana pelajar berkecerdasan tinggi ini adalah pelajar yang sering mendapat keputusan peperiksaan yang cemerlang dan pelajar yang menjadi tumpuan guru untuk menaikkan nama baik sekolah ke peringkat yang lebih tinggi dalam peperiksaan awam. &nbsp; Highly Intelligent Students in Special Plan Class Abstract: The philosophy of National Education aims to develop the individual potential of students as a whole and to be physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually integrated. Various plans and strategies for the education system have been implemented by the Ministry of Education to realize the aspiration of the National Education Philosophy in producing and developing students' potentials and abilities. This study is about students with high intelligence. Interviews with teachers aim to find out the level of high-achieving students in every school in Malaysia and to see the level of student achievement in academic and co-curricular achievement. The study methods used were interviews, observations, and references. The conclusion of this study is that students with high intelligence are students who have the ability in every subject in the school. This is where these high-achieving students are the ones who often get excellent test results and students who are the focus of teachers to raise the school's reputation to the next level in public examinations. Keyword: Students, Intelligence, Classroom, Special Plan Class

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Thermal conductivity of soils for energy foundation applications

Ground source heat pumps are a low-carbon method of providing space heating. Thermal energy is extracted by means of a heat transfer fluid pumped through a series of pipes buried in the ground. For new builds, construction costs can be minimised by installing the pipes within the building foundations, eliminating the need for further excavations. These are known as energy foundations. Designing such a system requires knowledge of the ground thermal properties, in particular the thermal conductivity. This can be determined by conducting a field thermal response test, or by laboratory tests on soil samples. In this thesis, the thermal response test was compared to the needle probe and thermal cell laboratory methods. For each method, the main sources of error were investigated. Previously, the needle probe transient temperature data was analysed by visual inspection or rules of thumb. A new analysis method was developed and trialled on agar-kaolin samples, which reduces errors associated with the previous methods. The greatest source of error in the thermal cell method was identified as heat losses. A finite element model of the thermal cell showed that it overestimates the thermal conductivity by at least 35% due to heat losses. The needle probe was found to be the more reliable method. Both laboratory methods gave significantly lower values of thermal conductivity than the thermal response test. Possible reasons for this include differences in scale and sampling disturbances. The final stage of this research considered the required accuracy in soil thermal conductivity measurement for a well-designed energy foundation system. A numerical model of an energy foundation system was used to simulate different thermal loading scenarios. Variations in thermal conductivity had little effect on balanced systems, but had a significant impact on heating only or cooling only systems