This study examines the older worker's position in industrial organizations. The focus of the discussion is concerned with identifying older workers' occupational problems as well as speculating on possible solutions to these problems. In addition, the material seeks to analyze some of the numerous social and economic organizational variables which interact to help determine the overall position of the older worker in our economy. Of specific concern to this study is the training of older workers--training by an industrial organization in order to (1) treat the older worker's unemployment resulting from organizational displacement, (2) facilitate his promotion in an organization, and (3) prepare him for retirement.

The aim of the study described in this thesis is to contribute to our knowledge and understanding of the professional activities of the offshore medic, in particular, their professional position and current status. The study had three stages. Stages one and two were the pilot and main questionnaires. Stage three was an interview survey. The study also sought to place the professional position of the offshore Medic against a background of sociological literature, outlining the characteristics of both the established and semi-professions. The questionnaire and interview surveys sought to obtain the Medic's personal perceptions with other offshore personnel. The study strongly suggests that Medics do not perceive their professional position and status among colleagues, both onshore and offshore as being very high. While Medics do not seem to leave offshore employment readily, many would prefer to be in another form of employment. Most were committed because of the higher salaries paid offshore. All respondents were involved with administrative duties which have very little connection with emergency care or the prevention of ill-health. In some cases, these duties were almost full time occupations. Medics felt that these non-medical tasks tended to erode away professional status. There was also a constant effort to protect patient confidentiality which created tensions. There was little evidence for the frequently supposed total autonomy given to medics to regulate their day to day activity. There was a strong feeling that counselling and health promotion activities were necessary in the offshore situation. Respondents felt strongly that onshore management should encourage active health promotion and counselling by formulating appropriate policy and ascribing health promotion work to the offshore Medics.

Thesis advisor: Mary Tripsas / The technologies that knowledge workers use in the ongoing production of knowledge are becoming increasingly complex, embedding assumptions that previously would have been made by workers themselves. This dissertation aims to unpack this phenomena, exploring how knowledge workers encounter and use technologies in the ongoing construction of knowledge. I present three essays – one theoretical and two empirical – that examine how patterns of interactions shape technology use and consequently knowledge outcomes. In each essay, I draw on several theoretical lenses, including status, coordination, and behavioral strategy to build new theory on how and why technologies are used and understood. The first essay presents a theoretical model of how status dynamics can shape the way new technologies are interpreted and used, including whether or not knowledge workers seek to understand the assumptions in their technologies. The second essay draws on data from a two year ethnographic study of technology use within an investment bank, comparing how different groups validate the outputs of their technologies when theoretical and physical mechanisms are absent. The third essay examines the evolution of technology adoption and use within a knowledge work group, identifying the unique mechanism of departures as prompting shifts in use. This dissertation contributes to literature on knowledge work and the social construction of technology. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

Thesis advisor: John B. Williamson / Today, against the backdrop of the demographic pressures to delay the retirement of older workers, sociologists of aging have begun exploring the impact of national labor market institutions on individual workers’ experiences of aging. Using semi-structured, life story interview data drawn from a sample of 52 male workers in the Tokyo area (born between 1940 and 1953), this dissertation research has contributed to uncovering the ways in which the institution of lifetime employment – the most foundational labor market institution of contemporary Japan – uses age to control individuals’ perceptions and behaviors over the course of their working lives. This dissertation research includes data from pre-mandatory retirement older workers (n=29, aged 55-59) and post-mandatory retirement older workers (n=23, aged 60-68). Based on a social constructionist perspective, this dissertation research has explored three areas of these workers’ experiences of aging over the course of their working lives: (1) perceived instances of being subjected to age discrimination; (2) changes to their attitudes toward these age discrimination experiences; and (3) changes to their self-concepts as workers. A series of thematic data analyses of the interview data, drawn with a life course approach and a grounded theory method, has generated two sets of findings. First, the pre-mandatory retirement experiences of aging of the interview participants (n=52) have contributed to uncovering and describing a social process through which ‘older workers’ are socially constructed within the institutional framework of lifetime employment. Second, the research has found that after mandatory retirement, the post-mandatory retirement workers (n=23) rejected the label of ‘older workers’ and critically viewed lifetime employment as a 'total institution' (Goffman 1961), essentially an institution of social control, harmful to workers in their later working lives. This dissertation research has contributed to the literature by demonstrating that the lifetime employment institution in Japan serves as an intensive age-based social control mechanism that has constructed and reproduced ‘older workers’ in the country’s labor force. Based on the findings of post-mandatory retirement experience of aging, this dissertation research also suggests that the Japanese government should find ways to mitigate the social exclusion, marginalization, and stigmatization that workers experience in their post-mandatory retirement working lives. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Introduction: Single sample TWA samples collected over an 8-hour shift have the potential to mask elevated exposures, excursions or “peaks” that may have occurred thus permitting situations where workers are over-exposed or indeed over-dosed. The objectives of this study, undertaken in a small acrylic sheet manufacturing plant, are therefore to identify tasks that have the potential to exceed short-term occupational exposure levels and then simultaneously monitor employees undertaking these tasks for 8-hour TWA and Short-Term exposure concentrations. The results obtained from this sampling are then compared to their respective legal limits and then finally correlated to establish their statistical significance. Materials and Methods: The study setting comprises a syrup room wherein two employees are assigned per shift. Employees in this setting manufacture an acrylic “syrup” which is achieved by dosing raw materials into any one of 13 mixing vessels. Whilst mixing, these vessels also heat the ingredients until the required viscosity is reached. This “syrup” comprising mostly of liquid methyl methacrylate, is then decanted into a pressure vessel from where it is pipe-fed into a casting chamber and finally poured between two glass sheets. When cured, the final product is stored and sold as a clear or tinted acrylic sheet. All operations with this area are therefore associated with facilitating the syrup manufacture. Personal 8-hour TWA and Task- Based measurements of methyl methacrylate vapour were simultaneously obtained from the breathing zones of six employees over five separate shifts. These employees routinely work within the setting and also undertake tasks that have the potential to exceed the Short-Term Occupational Exposure Limit (ST-OEL) for methyl methacrylate vapour. Tasks were studied and those selected for quantitative monitoring were captured using a qualitative risk assessment tool. These selections were based on studying each task to establish the employee’s exposure probability and severity i.e. whether performing the task could indeed lead to excessive Short-Term exposures. Eight-hour TWA monitoring was undertaken using activated carbon 3M 3500 passive monitoring badges which were attached to each of the subject’s breathing zone and left over 80 % of the shift. The task-based measurements were obtained by using a Drager PAC III electro-chemical monitoring instrument, which was also placed in each each 4 subject’s breathing zone, and provided real-time exposure data whilst the employees were undertaking the various tasks. Results: All measurements (N = 116) were obtained over a series of 5 full-shift monitoring periods. When analysed, 8 of the 10 of the TWA samples returned results that were below the 8-hour TWA OEL. Of the 106 task-based measurements obtained for the nine identified tasks, when averaged, 89.1 % of results exceeded the ST-OEL. When the TWA and ST measurements were correlated, only one of the nine tasks were statistically significant in their correlation. This correlation coefficient was however highly statistically significant (r = 0.339, p = 0.032 and r = 0.337, p = 0.022 respectively). Both negative and positive correlations were obtained however these were statistically insignificant. Discussion: A significantly higher proportion of the sample results were above the STOEL than the 8-hour TWA OEL concentrations contributing to the argument that ST exposure monitoring may add additional insight to employees’ exposure profiles. A major limitation of the study is however the small sample size, which makes it difficult, due to inter-worker variability amongst other factors, to extrapolate the results and their corresponding interpretations to larger, more generalised occupational hygiene monitoring scenarios. Conclusion: The results obtained therefore support the assertion that the inclusion of short-term monitoring is important in characterising employee exposures in situations where these tasks are themselves potential sources of significant chemical exposures. Recommendations: As a basis for undertaking any form of monitoring and particularly in settings where short-term, task-based exposures may exist, the importance of undertaking a systematic approach to hazard identification and risk profiling via the use of a known risk assessment tool to compile a air sampling programme, has been demonstrated in the results of this research. Further research that specifically addresses the problem of characterising workplace exposures would be useful in larger study populations as well as occupational settings which expose employees to the various types of airborne contaminant e.g. fume, mists, particulates and gases.

PhD, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand / Background: Dental procedures associated with dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) in dental health care settings generate aerosolised droplets that have the potential to cause adverse health effects in exposed workers. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk of work-related asthma associated with endotoxin exposure in dental health care workers. Materials and methods: The study population included dental personnel (n = 454) from 5 academic dental institutions in South Africa. Personal air samples (n = 413) in various dental jobs as well as airborne area and water samples from dental handpieces and basin taps were collected. A self-administered modified European Community Respiratory Health Survey questionnaire was used to obtain information on respiratory symptoms and the occupational history. Serum samples were collected to determine atopic status, specific IgE to composite latex (k82) extract and 8 recombinant latex proteins, myeloperoxidase (MPO), eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP), inflammatory cytokines, and endotoxin levels. Spirometry including pre- and post-bronchodilator testing was conducted according to ATS/ERS guidelines. Multivariate linear and logistic regression and factor analysis was used in the data analysis. Results: Airborne endotoxin levels were variable across departments with administration having the lowest and laboratories the highest mean exposures (geometric mean: 2.38 versus 5.63 EU/m3). Job status as a student (compared to staff member) and dental unit characteristics (age, model type, number of units) were important predictors of airborne endotoxin. The most common asthma phenotypes were atopic asthma (6.9%), non-atopic asthma (5.9%) and work-aggravated asthma (4%). Four inflammatory groups related to eosinophilic versus neutrophilic inflammation and chronicity of the response were identified. Acute neutrophilic response was associated with work-related chest symptoms (OR = 4.99, 95% CI: 1.32 - 18.92). Cumulative endotoxin exposures (>51.12 EU/m3-year) was an important predictor of work-related ocular-nasal symptoms (OR = 3.82, 95% CI: 1.01 – 14.41) in non-atopic workers. Borderline significant associations were also observed between current airborne endotoxin concentrations (>5.83 EU/m3) and asthma-related symptoms (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 0.97 – 5.17) as well as suboptimal lung function (FEV1<80% predicted) (OR = 8.02, 95% CI: 0.94 – 68.35) in non-atopic workers. Dental workers using latex gloves and concurrently exposed to low-grade (> 5.83 EU/m3) elevated endotoxin levels were at increased risk (OR = 2.59, 95% CI: 1.20 – 5.60) of presenting with latex sensitisation. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that endotoxin exposures from DUWLs play an important role in the manifestation of non-atopic asthma through the neutrophilic-response mechanism. Neutrophilic inflammatory cell asthma phenotypes coexist with eosinophilic inflammatory cell asthma phenotypes in this group of workers. Furthermore, low-grade elevated endotoxin levels increase the risk of sensitisation to latex among dental workers using latex gloves. This is the first study to demonstrate airway effects associated with low-grade elevated endotoxin exposures in dental settings.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

Cyberbullying (CB) has been a growing concern that has affected students, parents, and professionals in significant ways.One of the main professionals that have been affected by CB are school social workers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify what social workers need to know about CB. This study used a qualitative study design because we wanted to obtain an in-depth examination of CB views and beliefs.Data was gathered from 8 middle school teachers, a school principal and a school counselor from a public school in the western region of the United States.In the study participants were interviewed with ten questions focusing on CB. This study’s findings indicated 10 major themes which are the following:almost all participants were able to provide examples of CB occurring in the social networking website Facebook, more than half of all participants could not name any specific CB school policies or laws,the majority of all respondents had distinct views of the protocol for reporting CB,more than half of all the participants had different views of CB symptoms,the respondents were split in half on their beliefs of CB occurring more than traditional bullying,almost all participants believed that this public elementary and middle school took CB seriously, almost all of the teachers were uncertain whether CB was a problem at this public elementary and middle school, almost all of teachers had different ideas for preventing CB, almost all middle school teachers had different ideas for what helping professionals should know about iv CB, almost all teachers suggested different ideas for social workers to prevent CB. Future research should include training for school professionals on how to address CB as our results found that most participants were uncertain as to what to do and thus would be better able to provide suggestions for what social workers should know on CB.

Research suggests that social workers experience burnout at elevated rates; however, no study has developed an average rate of burnout among general social workers and quantitative research on the topic is lacking in general. This study conducted a systematic review and synthesis of the existing literature on burnout among social workers in order to (1) identify average burnout rates among social workers; and to (2) confirm previous findings showing differences between social worker groups by area of employment. A quantitative secondary data methodology was used that included self‑report data from the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) that contained both cross‑sectional and longitudinal data. The sample was obtained by parsing data from 17 of 379 studies that met inclusion criteria. Included studies utilized both random and non‑random sampling strategies to provide data on 4391 participants.