The Relationships between Coping, Gender and Personality on the Experience of Interpersonal Conflict at Work

The present study explored the relations between task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict and several outcomes of employee well-being and organizational importance, examined the role of coping styles as moderators in the stressor-strain process, and investigated how the individual difference characteristics of gender and personality affect these processes. An online questionnaire measuring task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict, dispositional coping styles, job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, turnover intentions, social dysfunction, loss of confidence, anxiety and depression, and several personality dispositions was completed by 178 participants working in the Toronto, Ontario region. All of the participants worked in the IT industry and were recruited from a single organization and the business-orientated networking site LinkedIn. Results showed that both task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict were negatively correlated with job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment, and positively correlated with turnover intentions, social dysfunction, loss of confidence, and anxiety and depression. The coping styles of problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance moderated several of the relationships between task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict and the criterion variables. No gender differences were found in perceptions of relationship-based interpersonal conflict. When faced with relationship-based interpersonal conflict, female employees indicated significantly lower levels of job satisfaction than their male counterparts. While no gender differences were found in the reported use of the problem-focused coping style, female employees reported using the emotion-focused and avoidance coping styles more often than their male counterparts.Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Locus of Control were examined as direct and moderator variables in the experience if interpersonal conflict at work. Conscientiousness was negatively correlated with perceptions of task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict, while Neuroticism was positively correlated with perceptions of both. Internal Locus of Control was positively correlated with perceptions of task-based interpersonal and did not show a significant correlation with relationship-based interpersonal conflict. Both Neuroticism and Conscientiousness moderated the relationships between task-based and relationship-based interpersonal conflict and the coping styles of problem-focused, emotion-focused and avoidance. Findings indicated that Locus of Control did not moderate any of the relationships between both types of interpersonal conflict and the coping styles. Limitations and strengths of the present research are discussed in the final chapter, along with recommendations for future research, practical implications, and a conclusion is drawn from the findings presented

Educating Older Drivers To Improve Acceptance and Utilization of CAV Technologies

As the population of older drivers continues to grow, there is an increasing need to enhance their awareness and understanding of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs). This study utilized an education program aimed at improving the knowledge and awareness of older drivers about CAVs, thereby preparing them to utilize the safety features of these technologies while effectively meeting the challenges that come with them. Through data collection and analysis from study participants, the research provides valuable insights for transportation agencies and technology developers to design and develop more adaptive technologies and associated education for older drivers. The findings from this research will contribute to promoting the acceptance of CAVs among older drivers, thereby improving their social equity among technology users. Overall, this research provides an important contribution to the field of transportation and technology and provides insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners

Possible Applications of Neural Networks in Managing Urban Road Networks

Life-cycle management of urban road networks as a part of an urban system is a very complex process from the management standpoint of social, technical and economic aspects. The complexity and multidisciplinarity of such a problem suggest the need for using soft computing tools as well as multicriteria analysis and group decision-making. Recently, there is a significant increase in using various soft computing tools, especially neural networks, for different prediction purposes in the field of road construction planning and management. Along with known advantages of such a prediction method, yet some applications showed the shortcomings. In that sense, the focus of this research is on possible applications of neural networks related to the life-cycle phases during the management of urban road projects. This is done in both horizontal (projects‘ life-cycle phases) and vertical (hierarchical decisionmaking levels) approach. The final aim of the research is to compare and highlight the possible applications of neural networks as a prediction tool and support for decision-making in urban road management

Beyond cybernetics : connecting the professional and personal selves of the therapist

Text in EnglishThis research explores the meaning of the first and second-order therapeutic stances with reference to the therapist's professional and personal development. The dominant positivist paradigm was reflected in the therapist's initial position of expert observer, outside of the observed. The observed phenomena were a group of children suffering from thalassemia major, a terminal genetic disease, and their mothers. The initial idea of short-term intervention and focus on the observed evolved into six-year journey where the observer and the observed became an interconnected unit of observation, understanding and change. A first-order stance led to therapeutic stuckness, where the therapist's confrontation with her therapeutic failure and the limitations of the dominant paradigm provoked a deconstruction of the expert position and promoted a self-reflexive therapeutic stance. The author's self-searching process took her back to her personal self, her family of origin and the ''wounded healer". The researcher moved from an initial disconnection between her professional and personal selves to an awareness of the interface between the two and, ultimately, to a unification of her professional and personal selves. Such development involved an individuation process moving from a narcissistic belief in her objective stance towards a therapeutic stance where she sees herself less as a powerful agent of change and moves to an increasingly higher order of integration of the professional and personal selves (Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992). The process with the children and mothers shifted from a focus on compliance and medical issues to more personal and emotional stories. The therapist's participation and collaborative stance created a context for change, where greatly improved medical compliance was just one of the many transformations experienced by all the participants. The researcher speculates that development of a second-order stance requires second-order change, which comes "at the end of long, often frustrating mental and emotional labor" (Watzlawick et al., 1974, p. 23), promoting integration between the professional and personal selves of the therapist. The researcher therefore contends that this process has important implications for psychotherapy training, supervision and continuing education.PsychologyD. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology

The effect of rapid high-intensity light-curing on micromechanical properties of bulk-fill and conventional resin composites

Rapid high-intensity light-curing of dental resin composites is attractive from a clinical standpoint due to the prospect of time-savings. This study compared the effect of high-intensity (3 s with 3,440 mW/cm$^{2}$) and conventional (10 s with 1,340 mW/cm$^{2}$) light-curing on micromechanical properties of conventional and bulk-fill resin composites, including two composites specifically designed for high-intensity curing. Composite specimens were prepared in clinically realistic layer thicknesses. Microhardness (MH) was measured on the top and bottom surfaces of composite specimens 24 h after light-curing (initial MH), and after subsequent immersion for 24 h in absolute ethanol (ethanol MH). Bottom/top ratio for initial MH was calculated as a measure of depth-dependent curing effectiveness, whereas ethanol/initial MH ratio was calculated as a measure of crosslinking density. High-intensity light-curing showed a complex material-dependent effect on micromechanical properties. Most of the sculptable composites showed no effect of the curing protocol on initial MH, whereas flowable composites showed 11-48% lower initial MH for high-intensity curing. Ethanol/initial MH ratios were improved by high-intensity curing in flowable composites (up to 30%) but diminished in sculptable composites (up to 15%). Due to its mixed effect on MH and crosslinking density in flowable composites, high-intensity curing should be used with caution in clinical work

Power and persuasion: nonviolent strategies to influence state security forces

Abstract During the Serbian Otpor movement to oust Milosevic (2000) and the Ukrainian ''Orange Revolution' ' (2004), the organizers developed explicit strategies to increase the costs of repression and to undermine the willingness of state security forces to engage in violent acts against them. By employing varying combinations of persuasion and deterrence tailored to the particular institutions they were addressing, the movements were able to successfully avoid a major crackdown