A constituição de estudo acerca da ritmicidade biológica do indivíduo, e sua expressão social no mundo contemporâneo foi objetivo desta dissertação, ela integra as Ciências Humanas com as Ciências Biológicas. Estuda-se a construção cultural da virtude relacionada ao trabalho intenso e extenuante, faz-se isso analisando inicialmente o processo histórico na transição do feudalismo para o capitalismo mercantil até o capitalismo contemporâneo. No decorrer desta construção histórica, observa-se a inversão de valores voltados ao trabalho, que de castigo torna-se virtude. Essa transformação está associada a conflitos e revoluções de ordem religiosa e econômica. A relação trabalho-tempo se transforma de um modo de produção tradicional, no feudalismo, no qual o tempo do trabalho é o tempo da terra, é o tempo do plantar e do colher, é o tempo da natureza para uma relação trabalho-tempo ditada por salários, pelo sincronismo das máquinas, pela doutrinação religiosa, pelo controle dos horários e pela coação da lei. Essa relação trabalho-tempo que emerge no capitalismo mercantil reverbera nos dias atuais através do fenômeno ideológico moldado nos últimos quatro séculos por meio de mecanismos semelhantes, econômicos, religiosos e legais. De forma que contemporaneamente, de forma geral, se entende que quanto mais tempo se dedica ao trabalho, quanto mais cedo se acorda para trabalhar mais virtuoso é o indivíduo. Por lado quanto mais tarde se acorda para trabalhar e quanto mais se invade a noite para o lazer mais vagabundo. No entanto de uma área da Biologia surgida nos meados do século XX; a Cronobiologia, emerge o conhecimento sobre o tempo biológico que surge então como elemento adicional para se pensar o tempo e o trabalho. O tempo na cronobiologia é a integração entre o tempo dos organismos e o tempo da natureza, do dia e da noite, é o dia interior ajustado ao dia exterior. É, portanto individual, é genético e ontogênico. Os horários sociais nos quais se exerce as rotinas de trabalho nem sempre estão em harmonia com o tempo biológico o que leva parte da população a uma espécie de desarranjo temporal ou a pratica de horários não triviais como acordar nas primeiras horas da tarde, por exemplo. Imposições temporais como o horário de verão, horário de aula para alunos, turnos de trabalhos invertidos, não levam em consideração resultados de estudos de grande parte da literatura na área de cronobiologia, e resultam em consequências para a saúde da população. Assim concluímos que estigmatizar quem pratica horários incomuns ou estabelecer uma rigidez de horários nos quais se deve exercer atividades como trabalho ou dormir são construções ideológicas historicamente determinadas, as quais o saber cronobiológico descontrói, pois a compreensão do tempo biológico resulta em entender sua adaptabilidade no contexto dos horários sociais. Além disso, entende se que são necessárias Políticas Públicas relacionadas a intervenções nos horários de trabalho e educação do quotidiano que levem em consideração estes novos conhecimentos surgidos no final do século XX que terão papel preventivo em doenças contemporâneas como câncer e doenças psiquiátricas / The study of individual biological rhythmicity and its social expression in the contemporary world was objective of this dissertation, which integrates Human and Biological sciences. We have studied the cultural construction of virtue related to intense and hard work. We analyzed initially the historical process of the transition from feudalism to the mercantile capitalism and to contemporary capitalism. During this process there were an inversion of values; the work from punishment becomes virtue. This transformation is associated with conflicts and revolutions of religious and economic order. The relationship \"work-time\" changes from a traditionalist production method, in feudalism, in which working time is the time of the land, is the time of planting and harvest, is the time of nature, to a temporal relationship dictated by wages, the timing of machines, by religious indoctrination, by schedule control and enforcement of the law. This working time relationship that emerges in mercantile capitalism reverberates today through an ideological phenomenon in the last four centuries, through similar, economic, religious and legal mechanisms. Contemporaneously, in general, it is understood that the more time is devoted to work, the sooner one agrees to work more virtuous he is. On the other side who wakes up to work at noon and breaks the night for leisure is a vagabond . However an area of Biology that emerged in the mid-twentieth century, the Chronobiology, brings knowledge about the biological timing as an additional element to think about the time and work. Time in chronobiology is the integration between the time of nature day and night, and time of body , is the day inside adjusted to the day outside. It is, therefore, individual, it is genetic and ontogenetic. Social schedules and work routines are not always in harmony with the biological timing what leads people either to a kind of temporal misalignment or to practice nontrivial temporal schedules like waking up in the afternoon, for example. Time impositions for daylight saving time, class time for students, inverted shifts to workers, do not take into account the results of most studies of chronobiology literature and result in consequences for the health of the population. Thus, we can conclude that stigmatize those who practice unusual times or set a rigid schedule to carrying out activities such as work or to sleep are ideological constructions historically determined, which the knowledge in Chronobiology deconstructs since it can interpreted that the understanding of biological timing allows to understand its adaptability to social context. We also considered that public policies related to interventions in working hours and education that take into account this new knowledge that emerged in the late twentieth century in Biology will have a role in preventive medicine in contemporary diseases such as cancer and psychiatric disorders

Tendo por teoria norteadora a Semiótica Discursiva de linha francesa analisamos o filme As horas (The Hours, Stephen Daldry, 2002), adaptação fílmica do romance homônimo de Michael Cunningham (The Hours, 1998). Embora se trate de uma adaptação intersemiótica, não fazemos aqui um estudo sobre este tema. Nosso principal objetivo é analisar o filme As horas à luz da Semiótica Discursiva, identificando os elementos intertextuais contidos no filme e desvelando o papel destes no processo de construção dos efeitos de sentido da obra. O corpus escolhido é constituído por diversos intertextos, já que se trata de uma obra baseada no romance Mrs. Dalloway (WOOLF, 2003 [1925]) e na biografia de Virginia Woolf, proporcionando assim vários níveis de leitura. Sua análise é, portanto, desafiadora, principalmente quanto ao recorte a ser adotado. O texto apresenta diferentes níveis de produção de efeitos de sentido, dependentes da competência do enunciatário em identificar remissões ou citações ali presentes. Partimos de uma análise imanente estrita ao filme baseando-nos na teoria semiótica clássica (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 2008 [1979]), na semiótica tensiva (ZILBERBERG, 2006 [1988] & FONTANILLE, 1995) e na sociossemiótica (LANDOWSKI, 2004; 2005a; 2005b) , passamos pelas questões de intratextualidade (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 1986) e de enunciação enunciada (DONDERO, 2013a; 2013b; 2014), mostrando como o filme reflete sobre si mesmo e sobre o fazer literário, adquirindo um caráter metassemiótico (KLINKENBERG, 2000), e finalizamos pela discussão sobre a intertextualidade do filme (FIORIN, 2003) e sobre sua autonomia enquanto produtor de sentido (DISCINI, 2004 [2001]). / The movie The Hours (Stephen Daldry, 2002), a filmic adaptation of the homonymous novel by Michael Cunningham (The Hours, 1998) is analyzed within the framework of Discourse Semiotics. Our main objective is the identification of the intertextual elements and the unveiling of their role in the process of construction of meaning effects deriving from the film. The chosen corpus consists of several intertexts, since it is based on Virgina Woolfs novel Mrs. Dalloway (first published in 1925) and on Woolfs biography, providing several levels of pertinence for interpretation and thus several levels of interpretation. Its analysis is, therefore, challenging, especially regarding the level of pertinence to be adopted. The text offers different levels of production of meaning effects, which depend on the competence of the enunciatee to identify references or citations. We start with an immanent analysis, i.e. strict to the movie, based on classic semiotics methodology (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 2008 [1979]) and on its most recent developments (ZILBERBERG, 2006 [1988]; FONTANILLE, 1995; LANDOWSKI, 2004; 2005a; 2005b). We also treat issues such as intratextuality (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 1986) and enunciated enunciation (DONDERO, 2013a; 2013b; 2014), showing how the movie reflects itself and the literary creation process, establishing itself as a metasemiotic object (KLINKENBERG, 2000). Finally, we discuss its intertextual figures (FIORIN, 2003) and its autonomy in the process of producing meaning (DISCINI, 2004 [2001]).

近年來我國勞動基準法歷經多次修法，然而台灣的長工時現象卻持續引發許多社會問題，勞工的過勞事件仍舊層出不窮，因此有必要檢討現行的勞動基準法工時制度是否對勞工的保障仍有不周。 在經濟全球化的浪潮下，勞動基準法逐步導入各種彈性化的工作時間制度。而在先進各國中日本在地緣關係與社經文化上與我國較為接近，對於我國勞動法制有深刻的影響，且其勞動法規中設有許多彈性的工作時間制度並作有大量的研究檢討報告，應可作為我國之借鏡。因此本文欲探究日本與我國各種工時制度與長時間勞動間的關聯，分析其原由，檢視我國現有規範及行政措施的成效，並提出改善建議，作為未來工時制度設計上的參考。 就結論而言，本文認為我國勞動基準法應導入移動工時制度，同時第84條之1的適用範圍與法律效果應予調整。最後，尚應根據過勞的認定基準，設定工作時間的絕對上限，以防堵極端情形發生，保障勞工所應有的權益。 / Labor Standards Act has revised several times in recent years. However, the phenomenon of long working hours in Taiwan is causing lots of social issues, and tragedies of Karoshi never end. Hence, it is necessary to review the legal regulations of working hours. As the influence of Economic globalization, special working time systems such as variable working hours system, de facto working hours system are introduced into Labor Standards Act. Across developed countries, Japan has similar geopolitical position and culture to Taiwan. Furthermore, Japan is not only influencing Taiwan on Labor Law, but also has made a lot of researches on special working time systems. Therefore, the author examined the legal regulations of working hours and effects between Labor Standards Laws of Taiwan and Japan for the purpose of improving the rights of labors. In conclusion, it is necessary to introdece flexible working hours system into Labor Standards Laws of Taiwan and adjust the range and effect of article 84-1. In addition, absolute limit of working hours based on the guideline of Karoshi should be set to avoid extreme cases of long working hours.

I denna studie har syftet varit att undersöka om oregelbundna arbetstider påverkar fritidsintressen och familjelivet. Med följande frågeställningarna vilka hinder som påverkar fritidsintresset ock familjelivet vid oregelbunden arbetstid samt vilka möjligheter till att hitta balansen mellan arbetet, fritidsintresset och familjelivet trots oregelbunden arbetstid? Studien är kvalitativt uppbyggd med åtta stycken intervjuer. Det resultat som framkom var att vissa av informanterna upplevde även att det inte fanns någon större påverkan på familjelivet och fritidsintressen, medans de andra informanter upplevde en påverkan med en oregelbunden arbetstid på fritidsintresset och familjelivet. / In this study, the purpose has been to investigate how irregular working hours affect leisure and family life. With the following questions what the obstacles affects leisure and family life during irregular working hours and what are the opportunities for finding the balance between work, leisure and family life despite irregular working hours? The study is qualitatively structured with eight interviews. The result showed that some of the informants also felt that there was no major impact on family life and leisure interests, while the other informants experienced an impact on irregular working hours on leisure and family life.

Decisions about where and when to seek advice about illness are known to be complex and are often bound up with issues of risk, responsibility and legitimacy. They can be particularly difficult in situations where the meaning and severity of symptoms is unclear. In deciding whether or not to seek help, people must negotiate the tension between using health services in ways that are considered appropriate, while not taking risks with their health or that of the person they are caring for. This thesis explores how individuals account for a specific decision to call NHS 24 about symptoms in themselves or someone they were caring for and how that decision fits within their use of health services more generally. Building on what is already known about help-seeking behaviour, it seeks to understand how people interpret symptoms as needing or not needing attention and what is understood by appropriate help-seeking in the context of out-of-hours care. There have been significant changes to the way that out-of-hours health care is provided in Scotland. An increase in routes into care means that people must negotiate a complex health system when seeking help. At the same time, pressure on resources has created an imperative to ensure that health care is used in the most efficient way possible. NHS 24 is primarily an out-of hours triage service providing assessment and, where necessary, referral to other services. At its inception, NHS 24 was presented as being designed to simplify access to health care by acting as a ‘gateway’ to the NHS in Scotland. However, increasing demand has led to attempts to limit use of NHS 24, in the out-of-hours period, to situations where symptoms are considered to be too urgent to wait for a GP appointment. NHS 24 can now be understood as one of a number of different points of access to health care that people must choose between; this requires individuals to engage in a process of categorising their symptoms according to urgency as a way of ensuring that their call is considered appropriate. The thesis draws on data from 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with people who had called NHS 24 in the out-of-hours period. The symptoms the participants had called about were generally, though not universally, what might be classed as minor symptoms. Most of the interviewees were given self-care advice rather than referral for a face-to-face consultation. The interviews focussed on a specific contact with NHS 24 but aimed to situate the call in the context of the interviewee’s understanding of NHS 24, as well as their illness behaviour and use of health services more generally. The analysis suggests that people’s understandings of NHS 24 are not straightforward and that this can cause some confusion and even anxiety for callers. Interviewees’ accounts emphasise uncertainty about the severity of symptoms, a sense of worry that symptoms may be indicative of a serious problem, and the inadequacy of their own knowledge in the face of potential risks. In talking about their reasons for calling NHS 24, they describe seeking, and obtaining, reassurance that they were ‘doing the right thing’. Although they generally construct themselves as healthy individuals, confident in their ability to self-care, and as responsible users of health services, people spoke frequently about their reliance on expert clinical knowledge in decision-making. The analysis suggests that when explored in the context of individual circumstances and the broader social context, calling NHS 24 about minor symptoms can be constructed as a rational and responsible act. While this thesis is primarily an exploration of the accounts of individuals who have called NHS 24, the accounts are situated within the broader social and structural context in which those individuals make their decisions about symptoms and help-seeking. A social constructionist perspective sees illness behaviour as shaped by the social structures and values of a society and by the health system operating in that society. Equally, the health system is shaped by individual actors, who define it by how they choose to use it and what they expect it to deliver. This thesis argues that understandings of risk and individual responsibility, as well as a policy emphasis on self-surveillance and self-care, shape the decisions made by individuals as well as the discourses available to them to account for those decisions. Drawing on theories of medicalisation and lay re-skilling, the thesis also aims to develop an understanding of the space that NHS 24 occupies in Kleinman’s (1980) model of the health system, and whether the service might best be conceptualised as ‘legitimation’ or ‘colonisation’ of the popular sector (Stevenson et al. 2003).

The working hours, as a very important life part of most of the economically active people, are a significant indicator of the job market's flexibility. The first part of this thesis deals with the economic analysis of an individual person's time, forming of the labour supply and demand, and State's interference with job market. Afterwards follows the outline of the historical development of working hours, with the origins and progression of a regulation of this area. The third part is focusing on the legal form of working hours in the Czech Republic, including regulation of breaks, working hours' set out, privilege leave and special arrangements for a certain groups of employees. The next part analyses unusual working modes that are helping to create a more flexible job market and more job opportunities, such as part-time work or labour time account. The thesis includes a part where is being compared regulation of the working hours with the world, from the point of view of certain international institutions such as the World Bank. A special emphasis is placed on the confrontation with countries of the European Union. The last part deals with the analysis of the contemporary adjustment of working hours in the European Union, which greatly influences the competitiveness of the job market in the EU.

In the first chapter of the diploma thesis I am concerned with the women employment and I define the term of special women working conditions. The second chapter describes the evolution of special women working conditions as well as the evolution of working hours and child labour. The next part of the diploma thesis summarizes international, european as well as czech sources of law that are connected with special women working conditions. The last chapter is devoted to the current legal regulations of special women working conditions that is compared to the previous legal regulations and there are the results of the checklist research in Chrudim region.

Although participation of Canadian women in the labour force has significantly increased in the past decade, and in turn the number of maternity leave claims, information is limited on actual employment behavior following maternity leave and the factors which influence this behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the employment behavior following maternity leave for 313 women of varying occupations from a large metropolitan hospital in order to: isolate significant variables which influence this behavior, examine return rates and employment patterns for women who return to work, identify the major problems women experience upon their return to work, examine the experience of women with the current maternity leave legislation, obtain their opinions on whether flexible work policies encourage staff retention and finally, to develop a set of recommendations to assist organizations in achieving staff retention following maternity leave. Data respecting the positions of the women, their personal characteristics and their employment behavior following their leave were collected from personnel records. The dependent variables for the study were three distinct types of employment behavior: employees who terminated following their maternity leave, employees who terminated following their return to work and employees who remained employed at the hospital. There were nine independent variables which were tested as potential employment behavior influences namely level of education, age, organizational tenure, employment status, union/management affiliation, salary level, occupational level, number of previous maternity leaves and organizational division. The Chi Square test of Independence was run for six variables and the One Way Analysis of Variance for three variables. In-depth structured interviews were conducted with five women selected randomly from the sample in order to identify the major problems they encountered in returning to work as well as to obtain their opinions on the current maternity leave legislation. They were also questioned regarding the effectiveness of flexible work policies. Two of the variables tested were found to be significant employment behavior influences: type of union and organizational tenure. It was also found that the least flexible union had the highest termination rate. Although the majority of women returned to work and remained employed at the hospital, a high percentage transferred to part-time and casual employment. The interviews revealed that the major concerns women had were the need for more flexible work policies, an increase in part-time opportunities and child-care concerns including the need for on-site day care. All of the women interviewed felt that 18 weeks was an inadequate length of time for a maternity leave and some of the women wanted maternity benefits for their entire leave and not just 15 weeks. It was concluded from the results of the study that flexible work policies and organizational support systems encourage staff retention following maternity leave, it was recommended that in order for organizations to achieve staff retention following maternity leave that they must introduce flexible work policies and a specific staff retention plan. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Problemformulering: Att ha kontroll över sin arbetstid har visat sig ha både positiva och negativa effekter för återhämtning. Återhämtning har central betydelse för att minska arbetsrelaterad stress som uppskattas vara ett av de största arbetsmiljöproblemen i Europa. Det saknas dock forskning kring hälsa och verksamhetsanpassade arbetstider och även kring delaktighetens påverkan på uppfattningar om ledarskap. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka uppfattningar om förändringar i ledarskap, samt för- och nackdelar med arbetsprocessen, hos chefer, resursplanerare och medarbetare i en större svensk offentlig myndighet efter en genomförd arbetsplatsinriktad intervention för att öka delaktigheten vid planering av arbetstider. Metod: Tre chefer och tre resursplanerare valdes ut genom ett målstyrt urval och sex medarbetare valdes ut genom ett obundet slumpmässigt urval. En kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer och en fenomenografisk analysmetod användes. Huvudresultat: Resultatet består av följande huvudkategorier; likartat ledarskap, utvecklat ledarskap, större förståelse på arbetsplatsen, mer dialog på arbetsplatsen, bättre balans mellan arbetsliv och fritid, högre faktisk och upplevd möjlighet att kunna påverka och mer arbete för resursplanerarna. Slutsats: Resultatet tyder på att det ur ett arbetshälsovetenskapligt perspektiv kan vara positivt med medarbetarinflytande över schemaläggning och arbetsplatser med schemalagt arbete kan därför med fördel låta medarbetare ha inflytande över sin schemaplanering. / Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate how managers, resource planners and employees, in a bigger swedish public authority, perceive changes in leadership, and advantages and disadvantages with the work process, after a workplace-oriented intervention to increase participation in planning of working hours. Mehods: Three managers and three resource planners were selected through a targeted selection and six employees were selected through a random sampling. A qualitative method with semi structured interviews were used to collect data, and a phenomenographical method was used to analyze the interviews. Main results: The analyzed data resulted in the following descriptive categories; unchanged leadership, strengthened leadership, greater understanding at the work place, more dialogue between different work roles, better work-life balance, higher actual and perceived opportunity to influence and more work for the resource planners. Conclusion: Employee participation in schedule planning can be positive from an occupational health science perspective. Workplaces with scheduled work can therefore advantageously let employees participate in schedule planning.

Masters of Commerce / In the twenty first century, the traditional roles in a nuclear family have changed. In the majority of modern families, both partners have careers and full-time jobs. Burnett, Gatrell, Cooper and Sparrow (2010) explain that the approach to working life is changing, both men and women want to find a balance between work, family and caring responsibilities. Guest (2002) also elaborates that work-life balance has always been a concern for those interested in the quality of working life and the relation to broader quality of life. Due to the challenges which employees are currently facing, flexible work arrangements have become an increasingly popular business practice around the globe as a means to reduce work-life conflict. Many organisations offer flexible work arrangements with the goal of facilitating positive outcomes for both organisations and employees (Joiner & Bakalis, 2006). However, other organisations are still resistant to introducing flexible work arrangements as they fear it might impact negatively on productivity (Johnson, 2004; Martinez-Sanchez, Perez-Perez, Jose Vela-Jimenez & de-Luis Carnicer, 2008). While literature on flexible working hours has increased in recent times, no study has been found on the relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment in the retail sector in South Africa. Therefore this study focused on the relationship between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study followed a quantitative approach and the questionnaires were completed by 161 respondents. The two statistical approaches used to draw conclusions for this study are descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found significant relationships between flexible working hours, employee engagement and organisational commitment. The study also found a significant relationship between different age groups and flexible working hours as well as male and female and their use of flexible working hours. In conclusion, if retailers want to remain competitive in the retail industry where international competition is rife, they will have to ensure that they have the best talent. In order to acquire top talent, they will need to implement policies that will attract and retain them. Based on the findings and results, flexible working hours could substantially assist by increasing their employee engagement and organisational commitment and thereby attracting and retaining the top talent in the South African retail industry.