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With the aging of the global workforce, it is crucial to deepen our understanding of how to keep older workers healthy, motivated, and productive. In this research, we integrate job design with socioemotional selectivity theory to propose that social job characteristics relate to employee performance differently for older and younger workers. Specifically, in a 3-wave survey (N = 454), we tested employee age as a moderator of the relationships between receiving social support and feedback at work, and performance, as well as giving social support and feedback at work, and performance. The results showed that, in general, both receiving and giving social support and feedback are associated more strongly with the performance of older than younger workers. The findings provide important theoretical implications for the study of aging and work; they also offer practical applications for creating workplaces in which older workers can reap the benefits of social relationships to remain productive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patient journey mapping is an emerging field of research that uses various methods to map and report evidence relating to patient experiences and interactions with healthcare providers, services, and systems. This research often involves the development of visual, narrative, and descriptive maps or tables, which describe patient journeys and transitions into, through, and out of health services. This methods corner paper presents an overview of how patient journey mapping has been conducted within the health sector, providing cardiovascular examples. It introduces six key steps for conducting patient journey mapping and describes the opportunities and benefits of using patient journey mapping and future implications of using this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group projects are part of the core educational experience in higher education, but many students report bad experiences with them, characterized by negative emotions and group problems. Group problems may undermine learning and cause stress and frustration. This may be prevented by monitoring and supporting groups, but this is often not feasible for teachers, who lack time and resources. This research aims to find a method for early identification of group work problems via computer-supported assessment. First, interviews and focus groups provided insights into the most common group problems and which visual features students preferred in a peer assessment. Next, two assessment versions were created: a simple, time-efficient version, and a more engaging, interactive one. We also created an initial version of E-Mate, a virtual agent that provides feedback on the assessment. These were tested in a field study. Most students reported a positive experience with the peer assessment, regardless of the version used. Teachers were also positive about its usefulness. Based on the feedback received, new features were added to the peer assessment survey and the E-Mate was redesigned; this new version was tested in a second field study. The results are in line with the previous field study and confirm the positive reception and usefulness of the survey, supporting the use of five attributes to evaluate group collaboration and the usage of a peer assessment survey to assess group work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conduct a discrete choice experiment to investigate how the location of a firm in a rural or urban region affects the perceived job attractiveness for university students and graduates and, therewith, contributes to the rural–urban divide. We characterize the attractiveness of a location based on several dimensions (social life, public infrastructure and connectivity) and vary job design and contractual characteristics of the job. We find that job offers from companies in rural areas are generally considered less attractive, regardless of the attractiveness of the region. The negative perception is particularly pronounced among persons of urban origin and singles. In contrast, for individuals with partners and kids this preference is less pronounced. High-skilled individuals who originate from rural areas have no specific regional preference at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the effectiveness of age-friendly organizational practices tends to focus on older employees' perceptions of these. Drawing on perceptual congruence and psychological contract theory, we hypothesize that leaders' perceptions of these organizational practices are relevant as well. Specifically, we argue that (dis)agreement between leaders' and older employees' perceptions (i.e. perceptual (in)congruence) of organizational practices related to age-friendly organizational climate, management, and work design plays a role in older employees' well-being. Polynomial regression and response surface analysis were applied to a dyadic sample of 484 older employees and their leaders from 100 diverse organizations. Results reveal that leader-employee perceptual congruence on high levels of perceived age-friendly work design was related to higher employee well-being. By contrast, older employees' well-being was lower when leaders evaluated the three age-friendly organizational practices higher than their older employees. Our findings suggest that further theoretical consideration of the role of leader-employee perceptual (in)congruence for aging workforces is needed, and that scholars and organizations should acknowledge the relevance and interplay of different stakeholders' perceptions within an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older adults' smartphone use has been shown to be a double-edged sword, linked to health and social benefits but also creating vulnerabilities. Similarly, the use of smartphones and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) in organizations also affords workers advantages, such as increased flexibility, while exposing them to risks such as exhaustion and distress. This research examines older workers' smartphone use and identifies a contextual characteristic that may buffer the negative implications of smartphone use for work purposes. Following the job demands–resources (JD-R) model, we hypothesized that older workers' daily work-related smartphone use is positively related to their experienced stress and negatively related to their mood, and that these relationships would be attenuated by work scheduling autonomy. We conducted an experience sampling method (ESM) study with a sample of 38 workers (ages 50–64) who completed daily measures over 8 days, and tracked their smartphone use objectively using screenshots of time spent using various apps. Contrary to our expectations, smartphone use was not significantly related to stress or mood. There were significant cross-level interactions, such that smartphone use for work was negatively related to experienced stress and positively related to a positive mood for those with lower levels of scheduling autonomy. We interpret these findings and discuss the effects that technology use for work may have on older workers' well-being through the lens of the JD-R model. Our results suggest that ICT use in the workplace combined with work scheduling autonomy may not be advantageous for workers' well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work design plays an important role in workers' job-related well-being, but not every employee responds to work design in the same way. Given trends toward longer working lives and higher age diversity in the workforce, worker age is an important factor to consider. However, knowledge about the interplay between worker age and work design is limited, especially when considering the multitude of job characteristics that people experience at the same time. Integrating the work design and lifespan/career development literatures and adopting a person-centered approach, we investigated how worker age affects membership in work design profiles and the relationship between work design profiles and occupational well-being. Using two independent samples (N = 989; 980), we conducted latent profile analysis to group workers into work design profiles based on 6 age-relevant job characteristics (autonomy, information-processing, workload, social support, emotional demands, and social conflicts). We identified 3 profiles and linked them to well-being: motivating (most favorable), moderately stimulating, and socially taxing (least favorable). Older workers were more likely to be in, and responded better to motivating work design profiles, and less likely to be in, and responded worse to socially taxing profiles. Meanwhile, younger workers seemed more tolerant of socially taxing work design profiles than older workers. Most age-contingent effects were robust after adding organizational tenure as a covariate. Findings qualify lifespan development theories and shed light on workers' nuanced responses to work design profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal job search has undergone massive transformations in the last two decades with the move to online platforms. This makes more stages of the job search process observable, and allows researchers to intervene in this market and improve the design of the job search process and the information available in it. This paper showcases studies that illustrate the potential of analyzing online job search data and of intervening in the online job search process. It presents the current insights and some open questions and highlights conditions under which some of the recent interventions are likely to improve market outcomes overall, rather than improving only the outcomes for the treated individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confocal X-ray fluorescence analysis is a non-destructive method that enables the determination of the elements depth distribution in the examined sample. Accurate determination of the elements depth distributions in various samples from measured depth profiles is very demanding, and generally, a valid procedure has not been developed as yet. The main aim of this work was to design and test a universal simplified calculation procedure, which would allow the calculation of the approximate shape of the depth profiles for a sample formed from layers of a given thickness and composition. To confirm the proposed calculation method, the standard reference material NIST 1412 was used, which is formed by a homogeneous multicomponent glass containing oxides of several measurable elements. This research compares the results of the measured and calculated depth profiles in the glass reference material, where the resulting depth curves correspond almost perfectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wavelet decompositions of integral operators have proven their efficiency in reducing computing times for many problems, ranging from the simulation of waves or fluids to the resolution of inverse problems in imaging. Unfortunately, computing the decomposition is itself a hard problem which is oftentimes out of reach for large-scale problems. The objective of this work is to design fast decomposition algorithms based on another representation called product-convolution expansion. This decomposition can be evaluated efficiently, assuming that a few impulse responses of the operator are available, but it is usually less efficient than the wavelet decomposition when incorporated in iterative methods. The proposed decomposition algorithms, run in quasi-linear time and we provide some numerical experiments to assess its performance for an imaging problem involving space-varying blurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article suggests that the illuminated initials and borderwork added to ten early printed books in England are attributable to a single illuminator, the 'Incunables Limner', an individual for whom there is circumstantial evidence that he specialized in the illumination of printed books. Five of these books are copies of William Caxton's Golden Legend (Westminster, 1483–84), while the other five are Continental imprints (two from Strasbourg, and one from each of Basel, Verona, and Parma) printed between 1476 and 1484. In addition, a second illuminator can be identified in a sixth copy of Caxton's Golden Legend , working to the same design as that employed within the five copies decorated by the Incunables Limner. The possibility is considered that books illuminated by the Incunables Limner were products of Caxton's overseas trade, and that it was through acting in this capacity that the artist's specialization was viable. The Continental books are explored for what they might imply about Caxton's wider book-selling strategies, and three with evidence for early English ownership are selected for particular attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary describes the creation of a microbiology-themed Monopoly™ gameboard assignment for studying microbial diversity. Students worked in groups to redesign the standard Monopoly™ playing tokens, currency, action cards, properties, and special spaces for any microbial-themed topic using a provided template. A postassignment anonymous survey found that the students enjoyed this assignment and the opportunity to share their knowledge in a unique and creative format. While this assignment is especially amenable to microbiology due the large diversity seen in the microbial world, it could easily be adapted to other topics such as genetics, chemistry, or even math, where categorical associations or patterns are prevalent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focus of Presentation People with disability experience inequality in relation to social determinants of health such as employment, education and housing. Under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Australia must collect data to assess fulfilment of its Convention obligations and to identify and address barriers faced by people with disability in exercising their rights. The objective of our research was to determine the extent to which such data are currently available. Findings With input from people with disability, we developed a monitoring framework and indicators to measure inequalities between Australians with and without disability in relation to social determinants of health. National data sources that included a disability identifier were available to report on 73% of the 128 indicators. For example, in the domain 'Employment', national data were available for indicators of labour force status, long-term unemployment, leave entitlements, and employment in high-skill jobs. Data were not available for the following indicators: under-employment, access to job design modifications, and disability-related discrimination in the workplace. Conclusions/Implications It is currently not possible to quantify inequalities between Australians with and without disability, track change over time, or identify factors that can inform effective policy responses for indicators where we lack national data that include a disability identifier. Key messages Addressing data gaps, including by facilitating disability identification in existing data collections, is essential for tackling disability-related inequalities on social determinants of health and meeting our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]