Workplace Abuse: Problems And Consequences

Workplace abuse is a relatively recent phenomenon that affects millions of employee in all types of organizations and occupations. Most of the literature on workplace management deals with employment discrimination and due process. Workplace issues of emotional abuse inflicted on employees by supervisors or managers are seldom addressed. An organization becomes abusive when it permits or tolerates abusive employee treatment by supervisors or managers. In the news each day, the media regularly report on violence facing society such as child, domestic, or elderly abuse. However, workplace abuse is rarely mentioned. As more employees become emotionally and even physically ill as a direct result of the work they do, some employers are examining their workplace management practices. The level of workplace stress has been recently intensified by economic downturn, massive layoffs, mergers, and restructuring. Many organizations worldwide have been forced to cut jobs, resulting in dramatic increase in workplace stress and abuse. This article identifies workplace abuse as an emerging organizational issue by focusing on the problems and consequences for management, employees, and their families. It also provides ideas on how to maintain a healthy workplace

Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity

BACKGROUND/AIM: Injuries and health problems of soccer players may appear abruptly and are often unexpected. However, hypotheses from complex systems theory suggest that these events can be preceded by certain Early Warning Signals (EWSs).1 We tested whether injuries and health problems can be anticipated with a specific type of EWS, that is, an increase in dynamic complexity (DC).2METHODS:Over two competitive seasons, we collected psychological and physiological self-reports (i.e., self-efficacy, motivation, mood, rating of own performance, enjoyment, and recovery) and data from heart rate sensors on every training and match day from 14 youth soccer players. We recorded time-loss injuries daily and players filled in the Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2) once a week. We then calculated the DC of the self-reports and sensor data in a seven-day window to test for increased variability and complexity over time before injuries and health problems.RESULTS:Players experienced 5.6 injuries and 8.4 health problems on average across two seasons (range=1-18 and range=2-26, respectively). Results showed that increases in DC could often anticipate the occurrence of injuries and health problems. In 55% and 37% of the players DC increased up to five days before injuries and health problems, respectively (SD=39% and SD=25%, Min=0% and Min=0%, Max=100% and Max=83%).CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study suggest that EWSs can be used for real-time anticipation of injuries and health problems in daily soccer practice. Future research should test for the robustness of these results within and between individuals and perform sensitivity and specificity tests. In addition, finding out how warning signals can be communicated to soccer players and staff is an interesting avenue.REFERENCES1. Den Hartigh RJR, Meerhoff LRA, Van Yperen NW, et al. Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.20397492. Olthof M, Hasselman F, Strunk G, et al. Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clin Psychol Sci. 2020;8(1):25-35. doi:10.1177/2167702619865969<br/

Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity

BACKGROUND/AIM: Injuries and health problems of soccer players may appear abruptly and are often unexpected. However, hypotheses from complex systems theory suggest that these events can be preceded by certain Early Warning Signals (EWSs).1 We tested whether injuries and health problems can be anticipated with a specific type of EWS, that is, an increase in dynamic complexity (DC).2METHODS:Over two competitive seasons, we collected psychological and physiological self-reports (i.e., self-efficacy, motivation, mood, rating of own performance, enjoyment, and recovery) and data from heart rate sensors on every training and match day from 14 youth soccer players. We recorded time-loss injuries daily and players filled in the Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2) once a week. We then calculated the DC of the self-reports and sensor data in a seven-day window to test for increased variability and complexity over time before injuries and health problems.RESULTS:Players experienced 5.6 injuries and 8.4 health problems on average across two seasons (range=1-18 and range=2-26, respectively). Results showed that increases in DC could often anticipate the occurrence of injuries and health problems. In 55% and 37% of the players DC increased up to five days before injuries and health problems, respectively (SD=39% and SD=25%, Min=0% and Min=0%, Max=100% and Max=83%).CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study suggest that EWSs can be used for real-time anticipation of injuries and health problems in daily soccer practice. Future research should test for the robustness of these results within and between individuals and perform sensitivity and specificity tests. In addition, finding out how warning signals can be communicated to soccer players and staff is an interesting avenue.REFERENCES1. Den Hartigh RJR, Meerhoff LRA, Van Yperen NW, et al. Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.20397492. Olthof M, Hasselman F, Strunk G, et al. Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clin Psychol Sci. 2020;8(1):25-35. doi:10.1177/2167702619865969<br/

Anticipating Injuries and Health Problems in Elite Soccer Players Using Dynamic Complexity

BACKGROUND/AIM: Injuries and health problems of soccer players may appear abruptly and are often unexpected. However, hypotheses from complex systems theory suggest that these events can be preceded by certain Early Warning Signals (EWSs).1 We tested whether injuries and health problems can be anticipated with a specific type of EWS, that is, an increase in dynamic complexity (DC).2METHODS:Over two competitive seasons, we collected psychological and physiological self-reports (i.e., self-efficacy, motivation, mood, rating of own performance, enjoyment, and recovery) and data from heart rate sensors on every training and match day from 14 youth soccer players. We recorded time-loss injuries daily and players filled in the Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2) once a week. We then calculated the DC of the self-reports and sensor data in a seven-day window to test for increased variability and complexity over time before injuries and health problems.RESULTS:Players experienced 5.6 injuries and 8.4 health problems on average across two seasons (range=1-18 and range=2-26, respectively). Results showed that increases in DC could often anticipate the occurrence of injuries and health problems. In 55% and 37% of the players DC increased up to five days before injuries and health problems, respectively (SD=39% and SD=25%, Min=0% and Min=0%, Max=100% and Max=83%).CONCLUSIONS:Results of this study suggest that EWSs can be used for real-time anticipation of injuries and health problems in daily soccer practice. Future research should test for the robustness of these results within and between individuals and perform sensitivity and specificity tests. In addition, finding out how warning signals can be communicated to soccer players and staff is an interesting avenue.REFERENCES1. Den Hartigh RJR, Meerhoff LRA, Van Yperen NW, et al. Resilience in Sports: A Multidisciplinary, Dynamic, and Personalized Perspective. Int Rev Sport Exerc Psychol. 2022. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/1750984X.2022.20397492. Olthof M, Hasselman F, Strunk G, et al. Critical Fluctuations as an Early-Warning Signal for Sudden Gains and Losses in Patients Receiving Psychotherapy for Mood Disorders. Clin Psychol Sci. 2020;8(1):25-35. doi:10.1177/2167702619865969<br/

Response to Nauenberg's "Critique of Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness"

Nauenberg's extended critique of Quantum Enigma rests on fundamental misunderstandings.Comment: To be published in Foundations of Physic

Improvement of identification keys by user-tracking

Identifications keys are indispensable tools for identifying organisms and understanding biodiversity. It is therefore advantageous to give a broad public access to these tools. Due to the fact that these tools are used by very different target groups – pupils, students, researchers, etc. – customisation and quality enhancement are crucial for effective and appealing identification keys. The evaluation of key software by inquiring users is always influenced by various, often subjective impressions and is usually restricted to a small number of them. The identification keys developed in the framework the KeyToNature project are available on electronic devices and allow registering the actions of single users during the identification process. By transferring user actions to an Learning Management System (LMS) like ILIAS OpenSource, where they can be correlated to user-data like experience in the field of identification, courses visited, age etc., it is not only possible to identify the problems a individual user did encounter and the mistakes he made, but also to conduct statistical evaluations to review and substantially improve the keys, to solve problems with single questions, and to optimise customisation to the different user groups