Understanding the differential benefits of training for the unemployed

[Abstract]: This study examined the connection between background variables (such as length of unemployment and number of previous training courses), contextual variables (perceptions of training climate), dispositional variables (positive affect and negative affect), and psychological outcomes for unemployed trainees who attended either a five week occupational skills training program (control group) or the same five week program with an additional two day intervention before the start of the program (treatment group). The trainees in both the treatment and control conditions were found to reduce their levels of psychological distress over the course of a five-week training program. Trainees in the treatment condition who started with the lowest levels of general self-efficacy and the highest levels of psychological distress showed the greatest improvements at time 2 (T2). The measures of length of unemployment, number of previous training courses, and the perceptions of the training climate (with one exception) did not account for any unique variance in either of the well-being measures at time 3 (T3). Positive and negative affect (PA and NA respectively) accounted for 30% of the variance in initial levels of general self-efficacy and 43% of the variance in initial levels of psychological distress. However, PA and NA measured at T1 did not account for any unique variance in the T3 levels of general self-efficacy and psychological distress, after the initial levels of each of the variables were controlled. It was concluded that components of dispositional affect are the main influence on how individuals perceive stimuli in the environment and subsequently regulate their emotional response

Personal effectiveness training for unemployed people: where to now?

Unemployment remains a major social problem in Australia. Successive governments have attempted to address the problem, in part, by funding occupational skills based training programs for the unemployed. This paper reviews the general area of occupational skills/personal effectiveness training for unemployed people, and reports on outcomes for individuals attending 'typical' courses in Australia. Also reported, are outcomes for unemployed people who attended specially devised training, based on the cognitive behavioural (e.g., Beck, 1976) and learned optimism (Seligman, 1990) intervention approaches, that was aimed at improving well-being, confidence and coping abilities. Variables assessed include individual well-being (e.g., psychological distress), confidence (e.g., self-efficacy), attitude-to-work (e.g., work-commitment); training climate; and labour market outcomes such as return-to-work. More positive outcomes were identified for unemployed people attending the specially devised programs. The authors argue that training targeted at unemployed people must be based on sound theoretical principles to produce measurable long-term benefits. Future applications of personal development programs are discussed in relation to occupational skills based training and as stand-alone programs

Integration of a RSI microstructure sensing package into a Seaglider

Seagliders are a type of propeller-less AUV that glide through the water by changing their buoyancy. They have become mainstream collectors of standard oceanographic data (conductivity, temperature, pressure, dissolved oxygen, fluorescence and backscatter) and are increasingly used as trucks to carry a wide variety of hydrographic and bio-geochemical sensors. The extended sensor capability enhances the utility of the gliders for oceanographic observations. Seagliders are designed and optimized for long-term missions (up to 10 months) and deep sea profiling (up to 1000 m). They provide high resolution oceanographic data with very good temporal and spatial density, in near real-time, at a fraction of the cost of ship collected data. These performance parameters are sometimes at odds with the physical dimensions and electrical requirements of the hydrographic and bio-geochemical sensors scientists want installed in gliders. However, as the acceptance of gliders as an integral component of the oceanographic suite of measurement tools grows so do the efforts of sensor vendors to develop products that meet the size, weight and power requirements for successful glider integration. Turbulence microstructure sensors are one measurement system that scientists desired on Seagliders but that until recently did not fit the glider footprint. In collaboration with Rockland Scientific, Inc., a suite of RSI turbulence microstructure sensors was recently integrated into a Seaglider and the system’s performance validated during field tests in Puget Sound near Seattle, WA and in Loch Linnhe on the west coast of Scotland. Ocean turbulence controls the mixing of water masses, biogeochemical fluxes within them, and facilitates ocean-atmosphere gas exchange. As a result, turbulence impacts global ocean circulation, polar ice melt rates, drawdown of atmospheric carbon dioxide and carbon deposition, coastal and deep ocean ecology, commercial fisheries, and the dispersion of pollutants. Turbulent mixing is also recognized as a key parameter in global climate models, used for understanding and predicting future climate change. Seagliders equipped with turbulence microstructure sensors will allow scientists to map the geographical distribution and temporal variability of mixing in the ocean on scales not possible with ship-based measurements. This presentation discusses the technical aspects of the integration of the turbulence sensor suite on a Seaglider with an emphasis on achieving high data quality, while retaining the performance characteristics of the Seaglider. We will also describe applications for this sensor suite, examine the turbulence measurement data already collected by the Seaglider and discuss future deployment plans

Interaction Issues in Computer Aided Semantic\ud Annotation of Multimedia

The CASAM project aims to provide a tool for more efficient and effective annotation of multimedia documents through collaboration between a user and a system performing an automated analysis of the media content. A critical part of the project is to develop a user interface which best supports both the user and the system through optimal human-computer interaction. In this paper we discuss the work undertaken, the proposed user interface and underlying interaction issues which drove its development

Protean career processes in young adults: Relationships with perceived future employability, educational performance, and commitment

Protean career processes of vocational identity awareness, career adaptability, and career agency have been hypothesized to mediate the relationships between protean career orientation and career-related outcomes. To date, the role of these process mechanisms has not been assessed directly in young adults, and little attention has been paid to educational outcomes, which are important career-related goals for young people on the way to their desired career. To address this gap, we tested this indirect-effects model in a sample of young adult undergraduates (N=396; Mage=20.19, SD=2.99; 72.2% women) and included career-related goals (perceived future employability, educational performance, and commitment) as outcomes. Identity awareness and career adaptability partially explained the relationship between protean career orientation and perceived future employability and completely explained the relationships with educational performance and commitment. Contrary to protean career theory, there were no significant indirect paths via career agency to any of the outcomes

Counseling case formulation as metaphor

Case formulation is the rhetorical centerpiece of counseling. Case formulation arises from empirical assessment and directs evidence-based intervention. Case formulation emanates from an epistemology that is enlivened in an arcane rhetoric. Case formulation speaks to ontology of life and an axiology for living a good life. Case formulation is defined by and concomitantly defines the counselor. In the interpersonal dynamic of counseling, the counselor cannot be any other than the one who conceptualizes the life of the other—the client. The counselor’s rhetoric is an aesthetic form found within a very specific discourse that construes the mental life of the client and ipso facto, the counselor. For it is in the conceptualization of the case that the counselor is revealed, consciously or unconsciously, through the rhetoric used to objectify the life of another. Here we focus on the professional practice of case formulation as a highly specialized aesthetic of counseling practice

An Algebraic Theory of Complexity for Discrete Optimization

International audienceDiscrete optimization problems arise in many different areas and are studied under many different names. In many such problems the quantity to be optimized can be expressed as a sum of functions of a restricted form. Here we present a unifying theory of complexity for problems of this kind. We show that the complexity of a finite-domain discrete optimization problem is determined by certain algebraic properties of the objective function, which we call weighted polymorphisms. We define a Galois connection between sets of rational-valued functions and sets of weighted polymorphisms and show how the closed sets of this Galois connection can be characterized. These results provide a new approach to studying the complexity of discrete optimization. We use this approach to identify certain maximal tractable subproblems of the general problem and hence derive a complete classification of complexity for the Boolean case

The Discrepancies between Individual-Set and Parent-Set Career Goals Scale: Development and Initial Validation

As there was no existing, psychometrically sound scale that directly assessed the discrepancies that young people experience between individual-set career goals and parent-set career goals, we developed and provided initial validation for a 15-item scale for use with young adults. In Study 1, items were developed, reviewed by experts, and administered to a sample of first year, undergraduate Indonesian students (N ¼ 426, Mage ¼ 18.42 years). We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the number of items and assess the factor structure and used confirmatory factor analyses on a holdout sample to assess this underlying structure. We then provided evidence for construct validity. Recommendations for use in research and practice are discussed

The Discrepancies Between Individual-Set and Parent-Set Career Goals Scale: Development and Initial Validation

As there was no existing, psychometrically sound scale that directly assessed the discrepancies that young people experience between individual-set career goals and parent-set career goals, we developed and provided initial validation for a 15-item scale for use with young adults. In Study 1, items were developed, reviewed by experts, and administered to a sample of first year, undergraduate Indonesian students (N = 426, M age = 18.42 years). We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the number of items and assess the factor structure, and used confirmatory factor analyses on a hold-out sample to assess this underlying structure. We then provided evidence for construct validity. Recommendations for use in research and practice are discussed. Keywords: career goals, discrepancies, parents, scale development, young peopl

The Discrepancies Between Individual-Set and Parent-Set Career Goals Scale: Development and Initial Validation

As there was no existing, psychometrically sound scale that directly assessed the discrepancies that young people experience between individual-set career goals and parent-set career goals, we developed and provided initial validation for a 15-item scale for use with young adults. In Study 1, items were developed, reviewed by experts, and administered to a sample of first year, undergraduate Indonesian students (N ¼ 426, Mage ¼ 18.42 years). We used exploratory factor analysis to reduce the number of items and assess the factor structure and used confirmatory factor analyses on a holdout sample to assess this underlying structure. We then provided evidence for construct validity. Recommendations for use in research and practice are discussed