Measuring exposure to bullying at work:The validity and advantages of the latent class cluster approach

This paper addresses the construct and predictive validity of two methods for classifying respondents as victims of workplace bullying. Although bullying is conceived as a complex phenomenon, the dominant method used in bullying surveys, the operational classification method, only distinguishes two groups: victims versus non-victims. Hence, the complex nature of workplace bullying may not be accounted for. Therefore a latent class cluster approach is suggested to model the data, which was obtained by using the Negative Acts Questionnaire (NAQ) administered to employees in Belgium (n=6,175). Latent class modelling is a method of analysis that does not appear to have been used in occupational health psychology before. In this study, six latent classes emerged: “not bullied,” “limited work criticism,” “limited negative encounters,” “sometimes bullied,” “work related bullied,” and “victims.” The results show that compared to the traditional operational classification method, the latent class cluster approach shows higher construct and higher predictive validity with respect to self-assessments and indicators of strain and well-being at work. The consequences of these results for theory, future research, and practice are discussed

When does exposure to daily negative acts frustrate employees’ psychological needs? A within-person approach

Based on self-determination theory, this two-sample study investigates the effects of negative acts on psychological need frustration in greater depth using a within-person perspective. More specifically, through two distinct diary studies, we aim to contribute to the dearth of research on the daily effects of bullying by investigating the daily relationship between exposure to negative acts and need frustration as well as the moderating role of perceived emotional support at work in this relationship. Overall, results from both studies show that employees experience greater need frustration (perceptions of rejection, oppression, and incompetence) on days they are confronted with negative acts and that daily emotional support buffers the impact of direct negative acts (humiliation, physical intimidation) on frustration of the needs for competence and relatedness at the daily level. As such, the results of the present two-sample study provide a better understanding of the boundary conditions under which exposure to negative acts may result in psychological costs by identifying emotional support as a key resource in the workplace that can offset the immediate harmful effects of certain negative behaviors. © 2022 American Psychological Associatio

Effects of shading and droplines on object localization in virtual rehabilitation for patients with neurological conditions

Virtual environments (VE) are emerging for the creation of effective and motivating exercise therapy for neurorehabilitation of MS and stroke patients. Although these interactive systems are promising tools in rehabilitation, the targeted end users often suffer from visual system disorders and cognitive dysfunctions, which may influence their capabilities while navigating in a virtual 3D world. Cues like shades are proven to be effective navigation and localization aids in a 3D environment for healthy people, but little is known about their benefit for persons with a neurological disease. Therefore, we conducted a user study to test the impact of visual cues such as shading on navigation tasks in a VE for a population of MS and stroke patients. We compared 3 visual conditions in the environment: one without shading, one with shading, and one with shading as well as a dropline between the shade and the object representing the person's location in the environment. Participants in the user study were 11 persons diagnosed with MS, 9 with stroke and 9 healthy control persons. Subjective measures were not uninfluenced by the use of shade or a dropline, but objective measures show a significant increase in speed, and lower execution time resulting from the addition of object-shading

Integrative and perturbation-based analysis of the transcriptional dynamics of TGFβ/BMP system components in transition from embryonic stem cells to neural progenitors

Cooperative actions of extrinsic signals and cell-intrinsic transcription factors alter gene regulatory networks enabling cells to respond appropriately to environmental cues. Signaling by transforming growth factor type β (TGFβ) family ligands (eg, bone morphogenetic proteins [BMPs] and Activin/Nodal) exerts cell-type specific and context-dependent transcriptional changes, thereby steering cellular transitions throughout embryogenesis. Little is known about coordinated regulation and transcriptional interplay of the TGFβ system. To understand intrafamily transcriptional regulation as part of this system's actions during development, we selected 95 of its components and investigated their mRNA-expression dynamics, gene-gene interactions, and single-cell expression heterogeneity in mouse embryonic stem cells transiting to neural progenitors. Interrogation at 24 hour intervals identified four types of temporal gene transcription profiles that capture all stages, that is, pluripotency, epiblast formation, and neural commitment. Then, between each stage we performed esiRNA-based perturbation of each individual component and documented the effect on steady-state mRNA levels of the remaining 94 components. This exposed an intricate system of multilevel regulation whereby the majority of gene-gene interactions display a marked cell-stage specific behavior. Furthermore, single-cell RNA-profiling at individual stages demonstrated the presence of detailed co-expression modules and subpopulations showing stable co-expression modules such as that of the core pluripotency genes at all stages. Our combinatorial experimental approach demonstrates how intrinsically complex transcriptional regulation within a given pathway is during cell fate/state transitions

Culture of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells with Serum but without Exogenous Growth Factors Is Sufficient to Generate Functional Hepatocyte-Like Cells

Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC) have been used to study lineage specification in vitro, including towards a hepatocyte-like fate, and such investigations guided lineage differentiation protocols for human (h)ESC. We recently described a four-step protocol to induce hepatocyte-like cells from hESC which also induced hepatocyte-like cell differentiation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells. As ESC also spontaneously generate hepatocyte-like cells, we here tested whether the growth factors and serum used in this protocol are required to commit mESC and hESC to hepatocyte-like cells. Culture of mESC from two different mouse strains in the absence of serum and growth factors did not induce primitive streak/definitive endoderm genes but induced default differentiation to neuroectoderm on day 6. Although Activin-A and Wnt3 induced primitive streak/definitive endoderm transcripts most robustly in mESC, simple addition of serum also induced these transcripts. Expression of hepatoblast genes occurred earlier when growth factors were used for mESC differentiation. However, further maturation towards functional hepatocyte-like cells was similar in mESC progeny from cultures with serum, irrespective of the addition of growth factors, and irrespective of the mouse strain. This is in contrast to hESC, where growth factors are required for specification towards functional hepatocyte-like cells. Culture of mESC with serum but without growth factors did not induce preferential differentiation towards primitive endoderm or neuroectoderm. Thus, although induction of primitive streak/definitive endoderm specific genes and proteins is more robust when mESC are exposed to a combination of serum and exogenous growth factors, ultimate generation of hepatocyte-like cells from mESC occurs equally well in the presence or absence of exogenous growth factors. The latter is in contrast to what we observed for hESC. These results suggest that differences exist between lineage specific differentiation potential of mESC and hESC, requiring optimization of different protocols for ESC from either species

Dominant culture and bullying : personal accounts of workers in Malaysia

Workplace bullying has been termed the cancer of the workplace; it is a widespread and often intractable problem. Internationally, a wealth of research has examined the prevalence of workplace bullying and its negative effects. This research base and the scientific definition of workplace bullying are, however, based on Western perspectives and supported by theories, models, and research studies conducted in Western cultures. The differences in cultural perspectives of Western and Eastern countries mean that workplace bullying may not be understood in the same way across different cultural groups, particularly when cultures differ along the Individualism-Collectivism dimension. Given that Malaysia is an Eastern country with a number of ethnic groups, a more comprehensive understanding of workplace bullying in the Malaysian context is important. Through a case study comprising in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 employees from different organisations in Malaysia, this chapter reveals six lay beliefs of workplace bullying and 19 lay beliefs about bullying behaviors. The study also found that the 12 bullying behaviors are work related while the other seven are personal-nature bullying behaviors. These results emphasize the influence of culture on how bullying is perceived within the Malaysian context, and the importance of understanding lay representations of workplace bullying from the Eastern context that apparent across nation. Based on the interviews, a general definition of workplace bullying from Malaysian employees' perspectives is presented and developed. The chapter concludes with implications for understanding bullying as an important psychosocial hazard at work and recommendations for future research and practice across the Asia Pacific region