The Positive Face of Human Capital, Psychological Capital, and Well-Being

This chapter analyzes the relation between Positive Psychology, Psychological Capital, and Well-Being. Positive psychology pursues information that flourishes on life. Positive psychology improves the quality of life and investigates the paths towards positive individual characteristics and developing communities through actions that increase well-being and prevents discomfort in situations where life is vicious and meaningless. Psychological capital is associated with many positive results for employees and the organization and promises to increase productivity in today's workplace. In this chapter, the transformation of positive psychology into the concept of psychological capital is explained in the field of organizational behavior, and the state of well-being and psychological capital are examined from a theoretical perspective. Besides, it is explained how psychological capital improves employee wellbeing. Psychological capital and well-being are very effective concepts on employee workplace performance, and there are strong relationships between them.

SARS-CoV-2 Distribution in Residential Housing Suggests Contact Deposition and Correlates with Rothia sp

Monitoring severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on surfaces is emerging as an important tool for identifying past exposure to individuals shedding viral RNA. Our past work has demonstrated that SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) signals from surfaces can identify when infected individuals have touched surfaces such as Halloween candy, and when they have been present in hospital rooms or schools. However, the sensitivity and specificity of surface sampling as a method for detecting the presence of a SARS-CoV-2 positive individual, as well as guidance about where to sample, has not been established. To address these questions, and to test whether our past observations linking SARS-CoV-2 abundance to Rothia spp. in hospitals also hold in a residential setting, we performed detailed spatial sampling of three isolation housing units, assessing each sample for SARS-CoV-2 abundance by RT-qPCR, linking the results to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences to assess the bacterial community at each location and to the Cq value of the contemporaneous clinical test. Our results show that the highest SARS-CoV-2 load in this setting is on touched surfaces such as light switches and faucets, but detectable signal is present in many non-touched surfaces that may be more relevant in settings such as schools where mask wearing is enforced. As in past studies, the bacterial community predicts which samples are positive for SARS-CoV-2, with Rothia sp. showing a positive association.ImportanceSurface sampling for detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is increasingly being used to locate infected individuals. We tested which indoor surfaces had high versus low viral loads by collecting 381 samples from three residential units where infected individuals resided, and interpreted the results in terms of whether SARS-CoV-2 was likely transmitted directly (e.g. touching a light switch) or indirectly (e.g. by droplets or aerosols settling). We found highest loads where the subject touched the surface directly, although enough virus was detected on indirectly contacted surfaces to make such locations useful for sampling (e.g. in schools, where students do not touch the light switches and also wear masks so they have no opportunity to touch their face and then the object). We also documented links between the bacteria present in a sample and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, consistent with earlier studies.

The Place of Inspiration in Heritage Interpretation: Views From the Field

While the idea of inspiration spans the history of the field, inspiration as a topic has been an under-studied phenomenon in the interpretation field. Thirty-three professional interpreters from 21 agencies across North America participated in dialog on the topic of inspiration in interpretation through Internet-based World Café sessions. The dialog was rich and thoughtful, and revealed that these interpreters believed that inspiration is the goal of interpretation and that the nine characteristics of inspiration identified in the literature and reviewed in our prior publication were relevant to interpretation: that inspiration is two-sided, transmissible, positive, individual, transcendent, unexpected, holistic, requires receptivity, and receptivity may be cultivated. Identified barriers to using an inspiration-based approach in interpretation included meeting the needs of agencies, and particularly the agency’s needs for quantitative measurements of attendance and impacts.

Relating Cultural Distance to Self-Other Agreement of Leader–Observer Dyads: The Role of Hierarchical Position

Multisource feedback is important for leadership development and effectiveness. An important asset of such feedback is that it provides information about the self-other agreement between leaders and observers. Self-other agreement relates to several positive individual, dyadic, and organizational outcomes. Given the increasingly intercultural context in organizations, it is imperative to understand whether and how cultural distance between leaders and observers relates to self-other agreement. We hypothesize that cultural distance within leader-observer dyads is negatively associated with self-other agreement. Moreover, we expect that this relationship is stronger for leader-superior than leader-subordinate dyads. We use a unique multi-cultural dataset of 7,778 leaders (52 nationalities) rated by 22,997 subordinates (56 nationalities) and 10,132 superiors (54 nationalities) to test our hypotheses. Results confirm that cultural distance is negatively associated with self-other agreement; we show that this relationship is driven by increased self-ratings and by reduced other-ratings. In addition, we find that these results are more pronounced for leader–superior than for leader–subordinate dyads. Implications for the theory and practice of self-other agreement and multisource feedback are discussed.

Service Workers’ Well-Being During COVID-19: A Strengths-Based Inclusive Theory of Work Perspective

This study tested the Strengths-Based Inclusive Theory of Work (S-BIT of Work), a vocational theory that emphasizes positive psychological and cultural factors, among a sample of service industry workers during COVID-19. Service industry workers ( N = 320) were recruited via social media sources across the United States, and structural equation modeling was used to examine the model. This model included privilege and COVID-19 impact as contextual variables; organizational support and workplace dignity as promotive workplace variables; hope, strengths use, adaptability, empowerment, and perceived COVID-19 threat as individual variables; and fulfilling work and psychological distress as outcome variables. Privilege and workplace dignity were identified as particularly important variables; results suggested privilege was positively associated with a promotive work context and negatively related to psychological distress. Additionally, the greater the amount of privilege and dignity the service industry workers experienced, the greater their positive individual characteristics were able to flourish.

A Positive Psychology Perspective on Stimulating Foreign Language Learning Motivation

Motivation is the most direct factor affecting learning initiative. Previous studies on learning motivation have paid enough emphasis on how to reduce the negative effects of demotivation factors, while positive internal and external factors influencing learning motivation have not been drawn sufficient attention. Positive psychology is a psychological trend of studying positive aspects such as human strength and virtue, and advocates taking the perspective of “whole person” to focus the learning achievements and individual well-being of foreign learners. Based on positive psychology, this paper discusses how to stimulate foreign language learning motivation from the aspects of positive emotional experience, positive individual traits and positive institutions, which provides new ideas and implications for the related study on language teaching.

Self-collection and pooling of samples as resources-saving strategies for RT-PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance, the example of travelers in French Polynesia

In French Polynesia, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected on March 10th, 2020, in a resident returning from France. Between March 28th and July 14th, international air traffic was interrupted and local transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was brought under control, with only 62 cases recorded. The main challenge for reopening the air border without requiring travelers to quarantine on arrival was to limit the risk of re-introducing SARS-CoV-2. Specific measures were implemented, including the obligation for all travelers to have a negative RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 carried out within 3 days before departure, and to perform another RT-PCR testing 4 days after arrival. Because of limitation in available medical staff, travelers were provided a kit allowing self-collection of oral and nasal swabs. In addition to increase our testing capacity, self-collected samples from up to 10 travelers were pooled before RNA extraction and RT-PCR testing. When a pool tested positive, RNA extraction and RT-PCR were performed on each individual sample. We report here the results of COVID-19 surveillance (COV-CHECK PORINETIA) conducted between July 15th, 2020, and February 15th, 2021, in travelers using self-collection and pooling approaches. We tested 5,982 pools comprising 59,490 individual samples, and detected 273 (0.46%) travelers positive for SARS-CoV-2. A mean difference of 1.17 Ct (CI 95% 0.93–1.41) was found between positive individual samples and pools (N = 50), probably related to the volume of samples used for RNA extraction (200 μL versus 50 μL, respectively). Retrospective testing of positive samples self-collected from October 20th, 2020, using variants-specific amplification kit and spike gene sequencing, found at least 6 residents infected by the Alpha variant. Self-collection and pooling approaches allowed large-scale screening for SARS-CoV-2 using less human, material and financial resources. Moreover, this strategy allowed detecting the introduction of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern in French Polynesia.

Surveillance on Healthcare Workers During the First Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic in Italy: The Experience of a Tertiary Care Pediatric Hospital

Healthcare workers (HCWs) play a central role in handling the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Monitoring HCWs, both symptomatic and asymptomatic, through screening programs, are critical to avoid the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in the hospital environment to rapidly identify and isolate infected individuals and to allow their prompt return to work as soon as necessary. We aim to describe our healthcare surveillance experience (April 2–May 6, 2020) based on a combined screening consisting of real-time PCR (RT-PCR) on nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs and rapid serologic tests (RST) for SARS-CoV-2 in all HCWs of Meyer Children's University Hospital in Florence. Among the analyzed workers, 13/1690 (0.8%), all of them without clinical manifestations, was found positive for SARS-CoV-2 by using RT-PCR on NP swab: 8/1472 (0.5%) were found positive during the screening, 1/188 (0.5%) during contact with a positive individual (p > 0.05 vs. screening group), while 4/30 (13.3%) were found positive on the day of re-admission at work after an influenza-like-illness (p < 0.05). Concerning working areas, the majority of RT-PCR positivity (12/13) and serologic positivity (34/42) was found in non-COVID-19 dedicated areas (p > 0.05 vs. COVID-19 dedicated areas). No cases were registered among non-patients-facing workers (p = 0.04 vs. patient-facing group). Nurses and residents represented, respectively, the working role with the highest and lowest percentage of RT-PCR positivity. In conclusion, accurate surveillance is essential to reduce virus spread among HCWs, patients, and the community and to limit the shortage of skilled professionals. The implementation of the surveillance system through an efficient screening program was offered to all professionals, regardless of the presence of clinical manifestations and the level of working exposure risk, maybe wise and relevant.

Analisis dan Evaluasi Budaya Keselamatan Radiasi di RSUPN dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo

The use of ionizing radiation for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes has a significant impact on patient treatment, especially for CT Scan services and interventional procedures that contribute to a high radiation dose. The radiation safety culture of an organization is a combination of positive individual attitudes, priorities, policies and practices towards radiation safety that are oriented towards the safety of patients, staff, and the environment. The benefits of implementing a radiation safety culture are to minimize radiation doses received by patients and staff, increase awareness of the risks caused by radiation, minimize unsafe radiation practices, and improve radiation protection and safety programs. This paper aims to analyze and evaluate the implementation of radiation safety culture at RSUPN dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo. Analysis and evaluation is carried out on practices that reflect radiation safety culture in supporting diagnostic and interventional radiology services. The results of the analysis and evaluation show that the implementation of a radiation safety culture in radiology and interventional services at RSUPN Dr.Cipto Mangunkusumo requires an increase in continuing education, effective communication and collaboration between stakeholders at all levels, as well as the implementation of quality assurance programs. Recommendations are given in an effort to improve radiation safety culture, such as e-learning on radiation safety.