Syfte: Syftet med studien är att från ett medarbetarperspektiv belysa effekterna av Lean Production, med inriktning på upplevda effekter gällande välbefinnande. Detta görs genom en kartläggning av JDC(S)-modellens tre dimensioner Krav, Kontroll och Stöd. Metod: Studien utgår från den hermeneutiska vetenskapstraditionen med ett socialkonstruktivistiskt förhållningssätt till verkligheten. Genom en deduktiv forskningsansats relateras teori och empiri i en fallstudie. Ett kvalitativt angreppssätt genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer utgör basen för det empiriska materialet, vilket sedermera analyseras i en tematisk analys. Resultat & slutsats: Studien tyder på att medarbetare upplever högre krav i kombination med lägre jobbkontroll som effekter av Lean Production. De negativa effekterna som detta kan medföra på välbefinnandet tycks dock kunna minska om medarbetarna erhåller ett starkt socialt stöd från kollegor, närmsta chef och familj. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: I studien finner vi framförallt två områden där vi tror att en fördjupad förståelse skulle kunna uppnås genom vidare forskning. Det första är en kompletterande anonym surveyundersökning för att studera medarbetarnas relation till sin närmaste chef. Det andra är en fördjupad litteraturstudie kring kollegors inneboende vilja att hjälpa varandra på arbetsplatsen. Därutöver anser vi att en vidare forskning kring huruvida kortare arbetstid kan öka produktiviteten och medarbetares välmående skulle vara intressant. Studiens bidrag: Studien belyser betydelsen av socialt stöd för det upplevda välbefinnandet bland medarbetare. Det sociala stödet tycks vara speciellt viktigt i arbeten som förknippas med höga krav och en låg grad av kontroll, som exempelvis inom tillverkningsindustrin. / Aim: The aim of this study is to highlight the impact of Lean Production from an employee perspective, with a focus on perceived impact of well-being. This is done by mapping the JDC(S)-model's three dimensions Demand, Control and social Support. Method: The study is based on the hermeneutic science tradition with a social constructivist approach to reality. Theory and empirical evidence are related through a deductive research approach in a case study. A qualitative method through ten semi-structured interviews form the basis of the empirical material, which subsequently is analyzed in a thematic analysis. Result & Conclusions: The study suggests that employees experience the effects of Lean Production as higher demands coupled with low job control. However, the negative effects this can entail on the well-being seems to be reduced if the employees receive a strong social support from colleagues, line manager and family. Suggestions for further research: Primarily we find two areas in the study where we believe that a deeper understanding could be achieved through further research. The first is a complementary anonymous survey where employees' relationship with their line manager is studied. The second is a detailed literature study about colleagues' intrinsic desire to help each other in the workplace. In addition, we believe that further research on whether shorter working hours can increase productivity and employee well-being would be interesting. Contribution of the thesis: The study highlights the importance of social support for the perceived well-being among employees. Social support seems to be especially important in jobs that are associated with high demands and low degree of job control, such as in manufacturing.

Nedarbas – sudėtinga socialinė problema, tiesiogiai ir stipriai veikianti tiek atskirus asmenis, tiek ir visą šalį. Darbo rinkoje jaunimas, dažniau susiduria su nedarbo problema bei gauna santykinai mažą darbo užmokestį. Todėl visos Europos Sąjungos šalys, tarp jų ir Lietuva, turi vieningai spręsti jaunimo nedarbo problemą. Šio mokslinio darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti Jaunimo darbo centrų veiklą, nustatyti problemas ir pateikti rekomendacijas joms spręsti. Teorinėje šio darbo dalyje apžvelgiama darbo pasaulio kaitos tendencijos, jaunimo situacija Lietuvos ir Europos Sąjungos darbo rinkoje, analizuojami specifiniai jauno bedarbio bruožai, įsidarbinimo gebėjimai. Šioje dalyje pateikiama informacija apie Lietuvos Jaunimo darbo centrus, jų veiklą, paslaugas. Siekiant išanalizuoti Jaunimo darbo centrų veiklą, dviejuose JDC (Vilniaus ir Panevėžio) atliktas tyrimas, kurio metu apklausti 107 respondentai (JDC lankytojai). Darbe naudojamas tyrimo metodas – anketinė apklausa. / Unemployment is a very difficult social problem, directly and strongly affecting not just separate people but the whole country as well. Youth in the job market oftenly faces unemployment and gets relatively small salary. That is why all European Union countries including Lithuania must solve youth unemployment problems unitely. The aim of this study is to analize Youth Labour Centers’ (YLC) activities, determine problems and give recommendations how to solve them. In the theoretical part of this study labour work tendencies, youth situation in Lithuania and EU labour market are described, specific young uneployed persons features and employment capabilities are analized. Information about Lithuanian Youth Labour Centers, their activities and services is presented also. Seeking to analize Youth Labour Centers’ activities deeper research was made in 2 Сenters (Vilnius and Panevezys). 107 respondents were interviewed (YLC clients), research type is questionnaire. Research showed that Youth Labour Centers activities like organizing special sessions, informing youth about changes in the labour market help solving youth unemployment problems. Thus YLC activities do have some problems and in order to solve them, time, human and financial resources are needed. Gained results are important for YLC workers, clients, specialists, students because they help better understand YLC activities, arising problems and limitations. Knowing YLC limitations we can more effectively organize it’s... [to full text]

The psychological and physiological effects of work-related stress on law enforcement causes high morbidity and mortality rates and rates of alcoholism, substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide higher than the national average. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to examine whether work-related stress experienced by child sexual exploitation (CSE) and child sexual abuse (CSA) investigators differ from that of other duty assigned subgroups. I used Karasek's job demands-control model as the theoretical framework for this study. I conducted the study within a medium sized law enforcement agency in eastern Washington State. The sample in the quantitative study consisted of 27 law enforcement officers from 17 duty-assigned subgroups who completed McCreary and Thompson's Operational Police Stress Survey (PSQ-Op) and Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Org). The sample in the qualitative study consisted of 7 law enforcement officers who answered 5 researcher developed questions during a telephone interview. Descriptive statistics, a Pearson's correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis of the PSQ-Op and PSQ-Org revealed no significant difference in reported work-related stress experienced within the duty-assigned subgroups, revealing no correlative difference of stress experienced by CSE and CSA investigators and the other duty assigned subgroups due to job demands and job control. Content analysis of the qualitative interviews revealed themes that supported the finding of the quantitative study. The findings of this study support the need for law enforcement leaders to take preemptive measures to mitigate the effects of work-related stress on all law enforcement officers.

The importance of organizations for understanding differences in the working conditions and health of employees is often emphasized but rarely explored empirically. The general aim of this thesis is to describe organizational characteristics of workplaces, and to assess their impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees. In modern working life, it is assumed that employees' working conditions and health are affected by a general transformation of workplaces from bureaucracy to post-bureaucracy.  The organizational data used are based on structured interviews with managers at workplaces in different types of operations in mid-Sweden, whereas the individual data consist of a questionnaire to all employees working in the participating workplaces, resulting in a dataset of 90 workplaces and 4306 individuals. Descriptive analysis was carried out for comparison of organizational characteristics in different types of operations, while multilevel analysis was applied to investigate the magnitude of the organizational impact on psychosocial working conditions, and to analyze associations between organizational characteristics, psychosocial working conditions and health. The results showed that the workplaces were mainly displayed by a combination of bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics, and these were unequally distributed between types of operations. A systematic variation in the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees was found between workplaces, and the variation in psychosocial working conditions was attributed to several organizational levels. The variation between workplaces was explained by both organizational characteristics of the workplaces and individual characteristics of the employees. Formalization, centralization, job enrichment, individual responsibility, soft control systems, and performance control were associated with psychosocial working conditions when controlled for occupational class, gender and age of employees, and a high degree of customer adaptation was associated with increased sickness absence of employees.   It is concluded that bureaucracy and post-bureaucracy should not be regarded as dichotomies. Organizational characteristics of workplaces have an impact on the psychosocial working conditions and health of employees beyond occupational class. This has implications for both the theory and the practice of occupational health research. / The Healthy Workplace Study

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer is a planetary exploration mission that aims to study the moons of Jupiter in the planet’s vast magnetosphere. Among the various instruments on board is the Particle Environment Package (PEP), that is led by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) in Kiruna. The Jovian plasma Dynamics and Composition analyzer (JDC) is one of six sensors within PEP and focuses on the characterization of positive ions. To be able to measure their three-dimensional distribution and composition, in-situ and in high time resolution, JDC has to cover a large field of view of 2π sr, for the desired energy range, in just a couple of seconds. An electrostatic analyzer within the sensor determines the energy per charge of such particles and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer measures their mass per charge. Constraints on weight and the radiation environment of Jupiter drive the design of the sensor: small and lightweight to allow extra shielding, but still large enough to accomplish measurements in the harsh radiation environment of Jupiter. This work focuses on a new type of compact, electrostatic analyzer using spherical wedges and the start signal generation for the time-of-flight measurement using new venetian blind-type surfaces. Simulations on the electrostatic analyzer showed that the most promising design is a hybrid variant, using an inner shell with spherical wedges and a spheroidal outer shell. A prototype sensor was built and tested with successful results. A reflectron-type time-of-flight cell measures the time it takes for a particle to pass a linear electric field. The time measurement has to be very accurate and requires that all ions enter the reflectron from the same start position. Commonly this is achieved with thin carbon foils of some nanometer thickness to provide a very accurate start position. Upon impact and after leaving a foil, ions generate secondary electrons that act as start signals for the time measurement. Foils require a substantial pre-acceleration of several kilovolts for the ions to penetrate the foil, thus increasing the size and mass of the instrument. When incident ions are reflected at grazing angles from a surface, secondary electrons are released in the same way as with foils. To increase position accuracy during this reflection process, venetian blind-type start surfaces are investigated, where many smaller surfaces replace a large flat surface. The most promising sample was found to be micro pore optics, that were initially designed to focus gamma rays. In several experiments it could be shown that micro pore optics show good reflection properties when used as start surfaces in the time-of-flight measurement. Both improvements allow a more compact and lightweight sensor that can be better shielded against the harsh radiation environment in Jupiter’s system. Jupiter hosts the strongest radiation environment in the solar system, that could kill an unprotected human thousand times over. / JUICE, PEP

In July 2031, a new chapter in the exploration of the Jovian system will begin with the arrival of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) at Jupiter. Launched on April 14 2024 as part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme, the mission aims to study Jupiter and its icy Galilean moons Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. Juice carries a whole suite of instruments for in-situ and remote ground observations, one of which is the Jovian plasma Dynamics and Composition analyser (JDC). As a part of the Particle Environment Package (PEP), the particle detector will measure the energy, mass, charge and arrival direction of ions and electrons in the Jovian magnetosphere. Spacecraft charging caused by interactions between the spacecraft and its surrounding plasma environment poses a significant problem for JDC because the electrostatic potential of the spacecraft accelerates/decelerates charged particles, resulting in distorted measurements, particularly for the lowest energy particles.  In this report, we show the results of spacecraft charging and instrument simulations performed in the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction System (SPIS) for the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosheath—two environments that Juice will encounter at the start of the cruise phase. We found that the conductive surfaces that cover the majority of the spacecraft become positively charged as a result of a large photoelectron current in both the solar wind and magnetosheath environments. We show that these surfaces are expected to reach potentials of 9 V in the solar wind and 4 V in the magnetosheath. The four radiators on Juice that are covered with dielectric paint and shaded by the sun shield become negatively charged in both simulated environments. The radiator potentials can be as low as -40 V in the solar wind and -100 V in the magnetosheath. We also conclude that due to blocking by the spacecraft main body, the ion population cannot be sampled in the solar wind unless a spacecraft roll is performed. Furthermore, due to the high ion f low energy, spacecraft charging will not influence JDC measurements in this environment.  In the magnetosheath, the ion population can be sampled by JDC, and we identified three distortion mechanisms: (1) repulsion by the main body, (2) attraction by two of the radiators, and (3) repulsion by the MAG boom. Of all the distortion modes, the one originating from a negatively charged (-67.8 V) radiator close to JDC is the strongest, affecting ions with energies above 80 eV. The least powerful but most prevalent mode is the repulsion of ions by the main body. Our results can be compared with future in-situ measurements to identify distortion mechanisms well ahead of the science phase in which the scientifically important measurements will be carried out.