Reincentivizing – a new theory of work and work absence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Work capacity correlates weakly to disease concepts, which in turn are insufficient to explain sick leave behavior. With data mainly from Sweden, a welfare state with high sickness absence rates, our aim was to develop an explanatory theory of how to understand and deal with work absence and sick leave.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used classic grounded theory for analyzing data from >130 interviews with people working or on sick leave, physicians, social security officers, and literature. Several hundreds of typed and handwritten memos were the basis for writing up the theory.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper we present a theory of work incentives and how to deal with work absence. We suggest that work disability can be seen as hurt work drivers or people caught in mode traps. Work drivers are specified as work capacities + work incentives, monetary and non-monetary. Also, people can get trapped in certain modes of behavior through changed capacities or incentives, or by inertia. Different modes have different drivers and these can trap the individual from reincentivizing, ie from going back to work or go on working. Hurt drivers and mode traps are recognized by driver assessments done on several different levels. Mode driver calculations are done by the worker. Then follows employer, physician, and social insurance officer assessments. Also, driver assessments are done on the macro level by legislators and other stakeholders. Reincentivizing is done by different repair strategies for hurt work drivers such as body repair, self repair, work-place repair, rehumanizing, controlling sick leave insurance, and strengthening monetary work incentives. Combinations of these driver repair strategies also do release people from mode traps.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Reincentivizing is about recognizing hurt work drivers and mode traps followed by repairing and releasing the same drivers and traps. Reincentivizing aims at explaining what is going on when work absence is dealt with and the theory may add to social psychological research on work and work absence, and possibly inform sick leave policies.</p

Protocol for a feasibility study of a self help cognitive behavioural therapy resource for the reduction of dental anxiety in young people

Background Childhood dental anxiety is very common, with 10–20 % of children and young people reporting high levels of dental anxiety. It is distressing and has a negative impact on the quality of life of young people and their parents as well as being associated with poor oral health. Affected individuals may develop a lifelong reliance on general anaesthetic or sedation for necessary dental treatment thus requiring the support of specialist dental services. Children and young people with dental anxiety therefore require additional clinical time and can be costly to treat in the long term. The reduction of dental anxiety through the use of effective psychological techniques is, therefore, of high importance. However, there is a lack of high-quality research investigating the impact of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches when applied to young people’s dental anxiety. Methods/design The first part of the study will develop a profile of dentally anxious young people using a prospective questionnaire sent to a consecutive sample of 100 young people referred to the Paediatric Dentistry Department, Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, in Sheffield. The second part will involve interviewing a purposive sample of 15–20 dental team members on their perceptions of a CBT self-help resource for dental anxiety, their opinions on whether they might use such a resource with patients, and their willingness to recruit participants to a future randomised controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the resource. The third part of the study will investigate the most appropriate outcome measures to include in a trial, the acceptability of the resource, and retention and completion rates of treatment with a sample of 60 dentally anxious young people using the CBT resource. Discussion This study will provide information on the profile of dentally anxious young people who could potentially be helped by a guided self-help CBT resource. It will gain the perceptions of dental care team members of guided self-help CBT for dental anxiety in young people and their willingness to recruit participants to a trial. Acceptability of the resource to participants and retention and completion rates will also be investigated to inform a future RCT

The Advantage of Standing Up to Fight and the Evolution of Habitual Bipedalism in Hominins

BACKGROUND: Many quadrupedal species stand bipedally on their hindlimbs to fight. This posture may provide a performance advantage by allowing the forelimbs to strike an opponent with the range of motion that is intrinsic to high-speed running, jumping, rapid braking and turning; the range of motion over which peak force and power can be produced. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test the hypothesis that bipedal (i.e., orthograde) posture provides a performance advantage when striking with the forelimbs, I measured the force and energy produced when human subjects struck from "quadrupedal" (i.e., pronograde) and bipedal postures. Downward and upward directed striking energy was measured with a custom designed pendulum transducer. Side and forward strikes were measured with a punching bag instrumented with an accelerometer. When subjects struck downward from a bipedal posture the work was 43.70±12.59% (mean ± S.E.) greater than when they struck from a quadrupedal posture. Similarly, 47.49±17.95% more work was produced when subjects struck upward from a bipedal stance compared to a quadrupedal stance. Importantly, subjects did 229.69±44.19% more work in downward than upward directed strikes. During side and forward strikes the force impulses were 30.12±3.68 and 43.04±9.00% greater from a bipedal posture than a quadrupedal posture, respectively. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These results indicate that bipedal posture does provide a performance advantage for striking with the forelimbs. The mating systems of great apes are characterized by intense male-male competition in which conflict is resolved through force or the threat of force. Great apes often fight from bipedal posture, striking with both the fore- and hindlimbs. These observations, plus the findings of this study, suggest that sexual selection contributed to the evolution of habitual bipedalism in hominins

Drons col·laboratius

La robòtica col·laborativa és senzillament robots dissenyats per dur a terme treballs de col·laboració amb els humans. Els robots col·laboratius o cobots són cada cop més utilitzats a les indústries. La robòtica col·laborativa és un dels àmbits d'actualitat en aquests moments. Però també és un dels més interessants en més d'un sentit. Com es comuniquen dos drons autònoms que col·laboren per fer una tasca? Com són aquests missatges que s'envien? Que poden fer que no podrien fer sols? Aquestes són algunes de les preguntes que ens volem respondre en aquest projecte. En aquest treball es presenta un disseny i implementació de dos drons terrestres que es comuniquen per col·laborar entre ells per resoldre una tasca.Collaborative robotics is simply robots designed to perform collaborative work with humans. Collaborative robots or cobots are increasingly used in industries. Collaborative robotics is one of the current topics now. But it is also one of the most interesting in more ways than one. How do two autonomous drones that collaborate to perform a task communicate? How are these messages sent? What can they do that they could not do alone? These are some of the questions we want to answer in this project. This work presents a design and implementation of two ground drones that communicate to collaborate with each other to solve a task.La robótica colaborativa es sencillamente robots diseñados para llevar a cabo trabajos de colaboración con los humanos. Los robots colaborativos o cobots son cada vez más utilizados en las industrias. La robótica colaborativa es uno de los ámbitos de actualidad. Pero también es uno de los más interesantes en más de un sentido. ¿Cómo se comunican drones autónomos que colaboran para hacer una tarea? ¿Cómo son estos mensajes que es envían? ¿Qué pueden hacer que no lo podrían hacer solos? Estas son algunas de las preguntas que queremos responder con este proyecto. En este trabajo se presenta un diseño e implementación de dos drones terrestres que se comunican para colaborar entre ellos para resolver una tarea