- Flexible forms of working hours Flexibility is hotly debated term in the recent years and not only in a relation to labour market. This diploma thesis deals with flexible forms of working hours, which represents one of the means to achieve greater flexibility of labour law as well as flexible labour market. Increased options in adjusting working hours based on the needs of the subjects of labour-law relations contributes to more efficient use of employees work, provides new possibilities for some risk groups of employees on the labour market and helps employees in achieving work- life balance. These factors also have positive influence on unemployment rate. The thesis is divided into four chapters, which are further divided into subchapters. The first chapter introduces selected legal principles with the regards to the subject of the thesis. Main focus is on subsidiary relation between civil and labour law and "what is not forbidden, is allowed" principle, which is crucial for flexible forms of working hours, followed by an overview of selected basic principles of labour-law relations and introduction of flexicurity concept. The second chapter builds a foundation and much needed context for subsequent chapters by defining working hours and it's legal regulation on national as well as...

Name The validity of specific tests of flexibility toward climbing performance Goal To attest the validity of specific tests of flexibility in climbing Method 202 subjects were measured, of this number 136 were men 176,8 cm ± 8,9 cm tall and weighing in at 68,9 kg ± 12,0 kg and 66 were women 168,2 cm ± 15,2 cm tall and weighing in at 62,8 kg ± 13,1 kg. Specific flexibility was measured through three tests: bent knee foot raise test, straight knee foot raise test and foot loading test. The degree of validity of tests has been expressed by the correlation between the climbing performance and the results of the specific flexibility tests. Results All the tests were showing medium dependence to the climbing performance with the correlating coefficient values being: bent knee foot raise test r=0,49, foot loading test r=0,49 straight knee foot raise test r=0,44. These correlating coefficients were calculated from the relative values of test results by averaging the left and right foot results and dividing the resulting number by the height of the subject. Summary Tests used are a suitable indicator of climbing specific flexibility. Keywords Validity, flexibility, sport climbing

This thesis is a comparative study of academic mothers in China and the UK. It takes as its point of departure the proposition that academic mothers can be successful in combining academic work and motherhood. Drawing on the sociological approach of separate spheres, it addresses issues concerning how motherhood is constructed by academic mothers in the two different countries and how academic mothers make commitments to both academic work and family responsibilities in different contexts. By comparing academic mothers' experiences of juggling work and family between different cohorts and different countries, the thesis examines the interrelated issues that academic mothers confront, such as competition and pressure in academic work, advantage of the flexibility of academic work, childcare facilities and social support in the two countries, the priorities between work and children, what is good mothering, etc. Academic mothers' own perceptions of their double roles as an academic as well as a mother suggest that these two worlds are closely related to each other in spite of dilemma and conflicts they have in combining the two. By manifesting academic mothers' achievements in and contributions to both the public and private spheres, the thesis concludes that mothers can be successful in an academic career.

As a result of the increased flexibility of today’s jobs higher demands are being put on the individuals to on their own create a distinction between the different spheres of work and leisure. Free working conditions generate both possibilities and stress for the employees. This essay examines and analyses the impacts and consequences of boundless labor. The purpose is to study how HR-Managers perceive boundless work and its effects. The issues this essay is based upon examines HR-Managers demarcation between leisure and work, and also on their experience of how leisure, close relatives and well-being is affected by boundless work. Previous research regarding the subject has shown that the transition between work and leisure is very significant to avoid the boundaries of both work and leisure to collide, something that is very common when you work from home. The evolution of technology has made it possible to be connected and available around the clock, this is also the biggest factor to why work in today’s society is portable. The flexibility creates an unhealthy stress among the employees. This study, which is based on seven interviews with different HR-Managers, shows that the effects of boundless work is individual, but that it is also influenced by the culture of the workplace and their own spatial arrangement. The study also shows that boundless work primarily has a negative effect on the human well-being and that it is often through the stress of high workload this occurs. When it comes to the impact on leisure, it is clear that the family is prioritized before the individuals own private interests. / I och med ökad flexibilitet i dagens arbeten ställs högre krav på individen att på egen handskapa åtskillnad mellan de olika sfärerna arbetsliv och fritid. Fria arbetsvillkor genererar i sin tur både möjligheter och belastningar för medarbetarna. I den här uppsatsen undersöks effekterna av det gränslösa arbetet. Syftet är att studera hur HR-chefer hanterar gränslöst arbete samt hur de upplever att det påverkar det har på det övriga livet. De frågeställningar uppsatsen utgår ifrån undersöker HR-chefers gränsdragning mellan fritid och arbete samt hur de upplever att fritid, nära anhöriga och välmående påverkas av gränslöst arbete. Tidigare forskning om ämnet visar att skiftet mellan sfärerna arbete och fritid är av stor vikt för att undvika flytande gränser, vilket lätt uppkommer i samband med arbete i hemmet. Tekniken, som gör det möjligt att vara uppkopplad och tillgänglig dygnet runt, är den största bidragande faktorn till att arbetet idag är bärbart. Flexibiliteten skapar således en ohälsosam stress hos medarbetare. Denna studie, som baseras på sju kvalitativa intervjuer med HR-chefer, påvisar att det gränslösa arbetets påverkan på det övriga livet är individuellt, men att det influeras av såväl kulturen på arbetsplatsen som egna rumsliga arrangemang. Studien visar också att det gränslösa arbetet till största del påverkar välmåendet negativt och ofta via stress då arbetsbelastningen generellt är hög. När det gäller inverkan på fritiden är det tydligt att egentiden väljs bort före familjen.

ABA has demonstrated utility with a number of populations. One population that has had limited research devoted toward them is neurotypical adults. While there is much research on job satisfaction and what causes employees to be unhappy (mostly miscommunication), there is little research that explores what can be done to change the lack of satisfaction in the workplace. Through surveys designed to assess a variety of participants’ levels of expressive language and psychological flexibility, this study aims to determine if there are statistically signification relationships between expressive language abilities, psychological flexibility, and job satisfaction. This study found that there are statistically significant, positive correlations between job satisfaction, relational responding rates, and psychological flexibility. Additionally, this study explores potential treatment and trainings to combat employee dissatisfaction in the workplace.

ABSTRACT Phenotypic flexibility in basal metabolic rate (BMR) in response to short-term thermal acclimation was assessed in the Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis), a common resident bird species distributed throughout most of southern Africa. I hypothesised that S. senegalensis would display flexibility in BMR over short time scales and that this flexibility would be reversible. Additionally, I hypothesised BMR to be repeatable, and that changes in BMR would be correlated with changes in organ mass. I tested these hypotheses by measuring BMR in three groups of 10 birds before and after a short-term (21 day) thermal acclimation period to one of three air temperatures (10o, 22o & 35oC). After acclimation the three temperature groups were randomly divided and reverseacclimated for another 21 days to one of the two thermal environments not yet experienced. After this reverse-acclimation period BMR was measured again. The dry masses of the stomach, kidney, heart, intestines, liver and pectoral muscles of acclimated birds were used to determine possible mechanistic correlates of BMR adjustments. Additionally, by monitoring BMR every 4-6 days during cold (10oC) and heat (35oC) acclimation I was able to assess the temporal dynamics of adjustments in BMR in response to short-term thermal acclimation. BMR was both flexible and reversible in S. senegalensis as a consistent relationship between BMR and acclimation air temperature was observed after acclimation and reverse-acclimation. BMR increased with decreasing acclimation temperature. Furthermore, a significant proportion (25%) of the observed variation in BMR was repeatable in the 22oC group in spite of the change in BMR induced by thermal acclimation. The mechanistic correlate of BMR adjustment in S. senegalensis appears to be metabolic intensity and not organ size, as the only organ to show a significant increase in size was the intestine of the acclimated 10oC group, which was significantly heavier than the intestine of the 22oC group. BMR also decreases in response to the reduction of flight and/or exercise. Since this reduction was not accompanied by a correlated change in organ mass or body mass, the reduction in BMR as a response to captivity appears to be linked to metabolic intensity of the organs and skeletal muscles. In S. senegalensis adjustments in BMR occur during the first 30 days of captivity and thermal acclimation. The response in BMR to acclimation temperature is clearly evident as BMR of the heat-acclimated group was significantly lower than the coldacclimated group after 21 days. During the response period, which lasts approximately 30 days, BMR adjusts as a mechanism to offset the costs of thermoregulation and habituation to captivity while other metabolic parameters such as body mass, body temperature, and minimum wet thermal conductance adjust to captivity and the thermal environment. After 30 days BMR of the cold and heat-acclimated groups converge on 0.68W, indicating that once the associated metabolic parameters adjust and stabilize in response to the thermal environment, BMR continues to adjust to captivity.

Working hours, their duration and work schedule Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the topic of working hours and related institutes in Czech labor law in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the valid legal regulation. In addition, the work deals with the issues of breaks and rest periods, which are inseparably related to working hours. The thesis is divided into six chapters, which are subdivided into subchapters. The first chapter contains a historical excursion into the history of working hours regulation in the Czech lands from the Middle Ages to the present. I also mention the valid legal regulation of working hours at international and national level. The second chapter defines the concept of working hours, followed by a detailed description of each of the related institutes - its length, scheduling of work, work overtime, night work, on-call duty and working hours register. The following chapters discuss the organization of working hours for employees who look after children or other natural persons, pedagogical workers, workers in transportation and employees working under agreements to work outside the scope of employment. For these employees, there are some deviations from the general legal regulation of working hours or special conditions, as I refer here. The last chapter deals with...

Dans un environnement économique décrit comme turbulent, la flexibilité est perçue comme un facteur clé de succès que les entreprises devraient maximiser. Pourtant, la notion de flexibilité est souvent présentée comme un concept relatif au domaine étudié. Celle-ci reste par conséquent un concept difficile à appréhender de façon globale et est souvent limitée à une fonction analytique malgré les nombreux travaux dont elle a fait l’objet depuis le début du XXe siècle. La complexité provient essentiellement de la multiplicité des domaines d’application, en témoignent les travaux portants sur la classification des différents types de flexibilités et de l’absence d’approche homogène pour traiter ces problématiques. L’enjeu, pour développer une gestion de la flexibilité au sein des niveaux stratégique, tactique et opérationnel, est alors d’intégrer cette dimension au processus décisionnel. Aujourd’hui, seules certaines décisions ont pour objet la flexibilité alors que tout processus de décision, par le changement d’état qu’il opère, modifie la topologie de l’espace des situations atteignables et par conséquent la capacité du système à être flexible. En vue d’établir une véritable politique de couverture du risque efficiente en univers incertain pour les entreprises, notre recherche s’est attachée à proposer une unité de gestion commune pour la flexibilité que nous avons nommée « potentialité ». Nous avons ainsi défini un cadre conceptuel sur lequel repose une méthodologie permettant de concevoir un système à flexibilité souhaitée. Nos travaux ouvrent des perspectives de recherches importantes sur deux axes majeurs. Le premier consiste à formaliser l’expression du besoin en termes de flexibilité dans le cadre de la méthodologie proposée. Le second, concerne le développement d’une politique de flexibilité basée sur la gestion d’un portefeuille de potentialités à l’instar d’une gestion de stock. / In an economic environment described as turbulent, flexibility is perceived as a key success factor which firms should maximize. Nevertheless, notion of flexibility is often presented as a concept relative to field studies. Therefore, flexibility remains a difficult concept to take on board in a global manner. Despite the fact that there are many studies on the subject since the beginning of XXth century, flexibility is often limited to an analytical function. Complexity results essentially from fields applications’ multiplicity and on lack of homogeneous approach to handle these problems as shown in carrying works on different flexibility types classifications. The aim in developing a flexibility management within strategic, tactical and operational levels, is to integrate this dimension into decisionmaking process. In today’s business, only few decisions process have for object flexibility while every decision making process, by the change of state that it operates, modifies space typology to reachable situations and consequently, modifies as well system capacity to be flexible. To establish a real policy for efficient risk cover in uncertain universe for today’s bussinesses, our research attempted to propose a unit of common management for flexibility, which we named "potentiality". Therefore, we defined a conceptual framework in which a methodology allows designing a “wished flexibility” system. Our works open on perspectives researches based on two major axes. The first one consists in formalizing expression of need in terms of flexibility within the proposed methodology framework. The second axe concerns developing a flexibility policy based on a potentialities portfolio management following stock management example.

Mudanças no panorama econômico, social e político têm apontado novos critérios de competitividade e padrões de produção, com ênfase para a produção integrada e flexível. Flexibilidade não é uma necessidade universal dos sistemas de produção, sendo derivada das estratégias de negócios e de produção (relação produto-processo-mercado). É um conceito multidimensional, envolvendo variáveis intra e extrafirma, sendo avaliada pelos critérios de tempo, custo, qualidade e inovação. Na produção integrada e flexível, são potenciados as variabilidades, imprevistos e incidentes inerentes à produção material, o que restringe o espaço de soluções técnico-organizacionais com alto teor de prescrição do trabalho: a pronta intervenção operatória humana é que garante o andamento da produção, mesmo nos sistemas mais automatizados. Apesar disso, as abordagens organizacionais correntes atêm-se basicamente à discussão de estrutura e comportamento, desconsiderando o papel das atividades operatórias não previstas e as restrições que os projetos técnico-organizacionais colocam a elas. Nesse sentido, é preciso incorporar instrumentos não prescritivos de análise do trabalho, posto que as necessidades de flexibilidade devem ser equacionadas e analisadas integradamente, envolvendo concepção, organização, gestão e trabalho real de operação dos sistemas de produção. / Changes in the economic, social and political panorama have brought about new patterns of production and competitiveness. Flexibility is not a universal necessity for all production systems, but is derived from a combination of business and production strategies (i.e., the relationship between product - process market). Flexibility is a multidimensional concept, involving intra-firm and extra-firm variables, and should be evaluated according to criteria such as time, cost, quality and innovation. Unforeseen variables tend to arise more frequently under integrated and flexible production, thereby restricting the scope for techno-organizational solutions which control the labour process: prompt human intervention guarantees the smooth operation of production, even in the most automated systems. Nevertheless, current organizational approaches are restricted principally to structural and behavioural factors, overlooking the role of unantecipated operator intervention and the limitations placed on operator activities by techno-organizational projects. In this way, it is necessary to incorporate non-prescriptive instruments for the analysis of work, so the necessity for flexibility can be analysed in an integrated manner.

Thesis advisor: Lisa Feldman Barrett / The aim of the present study was to examine whether individual differences in Time Insensitivity are related to subjective experiences of emotion and cognitive performance. Sixty-five undergraduates (52% female) completed self-report measures of cognitive flexibility and provided subjective self-reports of emotions following two time pressured cognitive tasks. As predicted, Time Insensitivity was related to self-reported cognitive flexibility, better cognitive performance during a time pressured task, as well as less negative subjective experience in response to these tasks. The results of the present study suggest that Time Insensitivity may have some beneficial outcomes. Limitations and implications for future directions are discussed. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2004. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology. / Discipline: College Honors Program.