<p>Postdoctoral scholars encounter various challenges as they navigate the gap between graduate school and faculty or industry positions, one of which includes the challenge of work-family conflict and balance. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields represent one sector of the workforce where a closer examination of work-family conflict and balance is important due to the rise in prominence of these fields and the unique populations of people who are underrepresented within these fields. Scholars have identified various experiences or constructs (e.g., bias) that suggest that STEM environments may not be particularly welcoming or supportive for racially and ethnically underrepresented minorities (URMs). The transitional stage of being a postdoctoral scholar in combination with high work demands and a “chilly” or unsupportive work environment may contribute to work-family conflict among racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars in STEM, which could contribute to the underrepresentation of racially and ethnically URMs in the STEM fields and/or the premature exit of these postdoctoral scholars from STEM fields. </p><p>Using role congruity perspective (Diekman & Eagly, 2008), I examined the function of goal endorsement (communal or agentic) as a possible cultural moderator in the indirect relationship between work demand and work-family conflict. This study formulated and empirically tested the relationships between work demand, perceived work environment, goal endorsement (communal or agentic), work-family conflict, and satisfaction with work-family balance. Two models were examined to differentiate two different aspects perceived work environment: (a) one using a supportive work environment variable as a mediator of the relationship between perceived work demand and work-family conflict, and (b) one using a hostile work environment variable as a mediator of the relationship between perceived work demand and work-family conflict. Hypotheses regarding the moderating role of a communal goal orientation and an agentic goal orientation in the indirect relationship between work demand and work-family conflict across the two models (supportive work environment and hostile work environment) were assessed. </p><p>Data was collected from 282 racially and ethnically underrepresented minority postdoctoral scholars in the STEM fields enrolled in postdoctoral positions at universities through an online survey. Using structural equation modeling, results revealed that the indirect effect between work demand and work-family conflict was significant and strongest at low levels of a communal goal endorsement and the indirect effect gradually became weaker until it was nonsignificant as racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars’ communal goal endorsement increased. The results suggest that in the face of microaggressions in the workplace, racially and ethnically URM postdoctoral scholars’ high value of communion serves as a protective factor, which reduces the indirect effect of work demand on work-family conflict.Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are presented alongside implications for counseling practice.</p>

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Au Canada, les chercheurs postdoctoraux font face à de nombreux défis qui découlent d’une carence dans leur prise en charge par le système d'éducation supérieure. Puisque leurs données ne sont pas gérées de façon centralisée, leur population et leur contribution au système de recherche demeurent imprécises. Cette étude présente une analyse bibliométrique sur la production scientifique des stagiaires postdoctoraux financés par les organismes subventionnaires fédéraux canadiens et de la province de Québec de 2004 à 2008 (N = 3 454). Les résultats montrent que ces postdoctorants ont en moyenne une productivité égale ou supérieure à celle des doctorants et des membres du corps professoral québécois et que leur impact scientifique est supérieur à celui des deux autres groupes. On observe aussi que les postdoctorants ayant réalisé leur stage aux États-Unis présentent des indicateurs de productivité et d’impact plus élevés. / Canadian postdoc fellows represent an increasingly important group of researchers that faces various problems resulting from deficiencies on the higher education system. Additionally, their contribution to the research system remains largely unknown. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the scientific production of postdoctoral fellows funded by the Canadian and Quebec granting agencies, whose grant application was submitted between 2004 and 2008 (N = 3,454). The results show that the scientific impact, as well as the number of papers authored by postdocs is equal or higher than the ones of PhD students and of faculty members from Québec. We also observe that postdocs who completed their training in the United States obtain higher productivity and impact indicators. This study is the first of its kind in Canada and helps identify the contribution of postdocs to the advancement of knowledge.

According to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, positive emotions -- such as joy, contentment, and love -- help individuals cope with stress, maintain well-being, and flourish in life. Guided by this theory, this dissertation project conducted three studies which explored the multidimensional influences of positive emotions on stress, coping strategies, resilience, trait anxiety, depressive symptoms, and work engagement. Study 1 examined the mediating role of coping strategies on the link between positive emotions and resilience; in addition, the moderating effect of resilience on the influence of stress toward trait anxiety and depressive symptoms was tested. Study 2 investigated if one's positivity would distinguish differences in their levels of stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Finally, Study 3 examined whether stress and positive emotions would account for the variance in work engagement, over and above what has been explained by known predictors -- specifically, work meaningfulness and supervisor support. Path analysis, interaction analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to test the different models within these studies. A sample of 200 postdoctoral fellows completed the survey (38% response rate). Results showed that a) coping strategies partially mediated the link between positive emotions and resilience; b) resilience moderated the effect of stress on trait anxiety and depressive symptoms; c) the different categories of positivity distinguished differences in experienced stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms; d) stress and positive emotions accounted for additional variance in work engagement, above what is already explained by work meaningfulness and supervisor support; and e) positive emotions completely mediated the relationship between supervisor support and work engagement. Findings support the broaden-and-build theory's hypotheses that positive emotions enhance adaptive coping strategies and fuel resilience. The data also demonstrated that resilience protected postdocs from experiencing heightened levels of trait anxiety and depressive symptoms by diminishing their relationships with stress. One strategy to optimize health would be to increase opportunities for postdocs to experience positive emotions, which would subsequently spark the upward spiral toward improved coping, greater resilience, and reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. To promote work engagement, it is important for supervisors to not only be mindful of assigning meaningful work to their employees (or help employees find meaning in their work), but supervisors should also be a supportive leader within a positive workplace environment. / text

In vorhandener Literatur zum Thema „WebMapping“ wird zwar häufig die hohe Bedeutung von WebMapping-Anwendungen hervorgehoben, jedoch existieren kaum empirische Untersuchungen zur diesbezüglichen Relevanz. Mittels einer offenen Web-Befragung wurde anhand eines Fallbeispiels empirisch untersucht, welche Bedeutung eine WebMapping-Anwendung im Rahmen eines größeren Informationskontextes eines Webportals besitzt. Zudem wurde untersucht, welche Funktionalitäten innerhalb der WebMapping-Applikation als besonders wichtig angesehen werden und welche Wichtigkeit eine mobile WebMapping-Anwendung für die Nutzer besitzt.

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Though a major illness in modern society, depression is still not completely understood. A number of empirical observations point to the importance of basic cognitive processes as well as personality variables as antecedents of a depressive disorder. In this work it is argued that “state orientation”, a personality style characterized by the inability to actively influence one’s focus of thought, plays an important role in the development of at least some forms of major depressive disorder. In the present work, it is suggested that (1) state-oriented cognitions are equivalent to sustained information processing, that (2) depressed individuals are characterized in particular by state-oriented cognitions related to prior failure experiences, that (3) sustained processing of affective information will interfere with normal executive cognitive functioning in depressed individuals resulting in impairments of normal behavior, and that (4) both sustained information processing and “affective interference” will be associated with specific dysfunctional patterns of brain activity in depressed individuals. In the first chapter of this thesis, theorizing pertaining to “action control” and the relationship between action control and state orientation are reviewed. After having established the potential functional significance of state-oriented cognitions, their possible link to depression is developed by introducing the “degenerated-intention hypothesis”. Afterwards, the role of state orientation in the advent of the depressive state is discussed against the background of the “functional helplessness” model of depression. Next, recent empirical findings related to executive dysfunction associated with state-oriented cognitions in major depressive disorder and related dysfunctional patterns of brain activity are reviewed. By considering evidence from studies on executive functioning, brain imaging, and neurophysiological studies, support is found for a possible frontocingulate dysfunction associated with a state-oriented cognitive style underlying a major depressive disorder. Consistent with the proposed link between depression and state orientation, in the second chapter of the thesis, Studies 1a – 1c demonstrate that subclinically and clinically depressed individuals are specifically characterized by failure-related state orientation. Moreover, the results of Study 2, described in Chapter 3, reveal that sustained processing of affectively valenced information may indeed interfere with subsequent executive cognitive functioning, especially in individuals demonstrating relatively high levels of depression. Finally, in line with the idea that sustained information processing and affective interference will be related to an individual’s level of state orientation and will be reflected in specific patterns of neural activity, Study 3, presented in Chapter 4, provides considerable evidence for disturbed brain function in clinically depressed individuals during processing of affective information as well as subsequent executive cognitive functioning and its relation to state-oriented thought. The current research supports the idea that state orientation, in particular its failure-focused form, is a crucial process involved in the development and maintenance of a depressive disorder. Specifically, the present findings suggest that certain forms of major depressive disorder are associated with sustained processing of affective information and with the resulting affective interference with executive cognitive functioning. Findings further suggest that sustained information processing is experienced by affected individuals as ruminative, state-oriented thought on past aversive experiences, and that both sustained information processing and affective interference are associated with distinct patterns of brain activity, which are related to early stimulus evaluation, conflict monitoring, and conflict resolution. The processes possibly underlying some forms of depression, as proposed in this thesis, comprise what may be called “the spinning mind”, whose important functional significance is to hinder an individual from adaptive behavior by impairing the ability to direct thought. Although state orientation may therefore appear to be maladaptive per se, it may be argued instead that this mode of action control is also an adaptive process as long as critical limits of certain parameters are met and the spinning mind is prevented. These and similar considerations are addressed in the concluding discussion in Chapter 5.

Livestock grazing is the most important type of land-use in arid and semi-arid regions. In these regions, uncertain and highly variable climate conditions cause scarce and spatio-temporally variable resource availability. The major challenge to livestock grazing is the efficient utilisation of these resources without running the risk of degradation. Therefore, well adapted grazing strategies that consider both local environmental characteristics and the farmers' individual needs and perceptions are crucial for sustaining human livelihoods. Particularly, rotational grazing is presumed to render adaptation to spatio-temporal heterogeneities possible. A systematic investigation, however, that analyses the interrelations between the major components of rotational grazing systems on appropriate spatial and temporal scales was missing so far. This doctoral thesis investigates different management strategies for sustainable livestock grazing in semi-arid rangelands. Using an integrated modelling approach, it enters into the question: how to adapt grazing systems to spatio-temporal heterogeneous rangeland conditions, variable and changing climate conditions, and different individual needs and goals of livestock farmers? In order to address these issues, the taken approach tackles both methodical challenges and applied concerns. In the first part of this study, a generic modelling framework is developed that incorporates important components of grazing systems on appropriate spatial and temporal scales. To parameterise the model, a pattern-oriented approach is developed that uses qualitative patterns to derive a broad range of plausible parameter sets supporting a general model analysis. In the second part, a variety of management strategies is explored under different climatic, ecological, and economic conditions. The research focuses in particular on combined effects between and relative importance of different management components. The question how the results of different management strategies depend on the type of vegetation is investigated. Furthermore, the performance of rotational grazing strategies is analysed under different economic requirements and rainfall conditions. The study also identifies management strategies that are suitable to adapt a grazing system to spatio-temporally variable rangeland conditions. Overall, this thesis contributes to a general understanding of basic principles for adaptation to spatio-temporal heterogeneities as well as the interplay of different management components. The results allow an evaluation of management strategies for specific situations and the identification of strategies that are robust to a broad range of situations including different aspects of global change.

In dieser Arbeit setzen wir ab-initio-Methoden zur Untersuchung einiger Oberflächensysteme und eines Bulksystems ein. Im Wesentlichen greifen wir hierbei auf die Dichtefunktionaltheorie (DFT) und die GW-Approximation (GWA) im Rahmen der Vielteilchenstörungstheorie zurück. Wir nutzen diese Methoden um die Adsorption von TMA auf der Rutil TiO2-Oberfläche zu untersuchen, optische Spektren von TiO2 zu berechnen und um die Adsorption von [7]-HCA auf der Calcit(10-14)-Oberfläche zu verstehen. Weiterhin beschäftigen wir uns intensiv mit PTCDA auf Ag(111), welches mit einer chemisch kontaktierten STM-Spitze manipuliert wird.