Decent Work and Work Motivation in Knowledge Workers: the Mediating Role of Psychological Capital

This article aimed to investigate the role of Decent Work as a predictor of different types of Work Motivation and to explore the possible role of Psychological Capital in mediating this relationship. The Decent Work Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale, and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire were administered to 3004 knowledge workers, in Portugal and Brazil. Results from Structural Equation Modeling analyses support the hypothesized model, showing the predictor role of Decent Work and complete and partial mediation effects of PsyCap in different relationships between DW and Work motivation variables. The results also support the idea that a decent work context predicts more autonomous work motivations again with the mediation of PsyCap. In sum, the results suggest that decent work plays an important role in promoting a positive approach to work, and that Psychological Capital is an important mediating variable in the promotion of autonomous Work motivation. Limitations and practical implications conclude the article.     

Rumination, Inhibition and Stress: The Construction of A New Scale for Assessing Emotional Style

Emotional rumination and inhibition were identified in the Emotion Control Questionnaire (ECQ—Roger and Nesshoever 1987; Roger and Najarian 1989) as two relatively independent dimensions of emotional style, and the two measures have subsequently been shown to be important moderator variables in a range of health and forensic settings. Two other dimensions that emerged in the ECQ, labelled aggression control and benign control, have been shown to form part of the extraversion constellation, and the present paper describes the construction and validation of a new scale focusing exclusively on rumination and inhibition. Revised and expanded item pools for the scales were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which endorsed the two-factor structure. The new scales were validated concurrently against related scales in different samples, and were shown to be systematically related to two independent indices of health status.     

Hippocampal PKA/CREB pathway is involved in the improvement of memory induced by spermidine in rats

Spermidine (SPD) is an endogenous polyamine that modulates N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor function, and has been reported to facilitate memory formation. In the current study we determined whether or not the PKA/CREB signaling pathway is involved in SPD-induced facilitation of memory of inhibitory avoidance task in adult rats. The post-training administration of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) inhibitor, N-[2-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinoline sulfonamide [H-89, 0.5 ρmol intrahippocampal (ih)] or the antagonist of the NMDA receptor polyamine-binding site (arcaine, 0.02 nmol ih) with SPD (0.2 nmol ih) prevented memory improvement induced by SPD. Intrahippocampal administration of SPD (0.2 nmol) facilitated PKA and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) phosphorylation in the hippocampus 180 min, but not 30 min, after administration, and increased translocation of the catalytic subunit of PKA into the nucleus. Arcaine (0.02 nmol) and H-89 (0.5 ρmol) prevented the stimulatory effect of SPD on PKA and CREB phosphorylation. These results suggest that memory enhancement induced by the ih administration of SPD involves the PKA/CREB pathways in rats.     

Technology, Methodology and Intervention: Performing Nanoethics in Portugal

During the last few decades we have witnessed a proliferation of exercises dealing with the public participation of citizens in various different dimensions of their societies, including issues of science and technology. On the one hand, these mechanisms provide more robust forms of public engagement with matters that were traditionally dealt with by experts; on the other hand, they raise concerns relating to their design, efficiency or potential for the empowerment of citizens. As part of the EC-funded project DEEPEN (Deepening Ethical Engagement and Participation in Emerging Nanotechnologies) a research team in Coimbra, Portugal, was put in charge of identifying the ethical and social “impacts” of emerging nanotechnologies, transforming the traditional focus groups through the incorporation of two methodological innovations: the Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the Theatre of the Oppressed. This article reflects on the outcomes and complexities of the introduction of these two methodologies. Since the participants had little or no information on nanotechnologies, we reflect on the politics of these focus groups by exploring how issues of intervention, subjectivity, representation and agency were interconnected during this exercise of public participation in Science and Technology, analyzing the role of social sciences in developing nanoethics.     

Categorizing facial identities, emotions, and genders: attention to high- and low-spatial frequencies by children and adults

Three age groups of participants (5-6 years, 7-8 years, adults) matched faces on the basis of facial identity. The procedure involved either low- or high-pass filtered faces or hybrid faces composed from two faces associated with different spatial bandwidths. The comparison stimuli were unfiltered faces. In the three age groups, the data indicated a significant bias for processing of low-pass information in priority. In a second task, participants were asked to identify the emotion (smiling or grimacing) or gender (male or female) of hybrid high-pass/low-pass faces. Opposite results emerged in the two tasks irrespective of the age group; the gender discrimination task indicated a bias for low-pass information, and the emotion task indicated a bias for high-pass information. These differences suggest independent processing routes for functionally different types of information such as emotion, gender, and identity. These routes are already established by 5 years of age.     

Activation of adenosine receptors in the posterior cingulate cortex impairs memory retrieval in the rat

Adenosine A1 and A2A receptor agonists and antagonists have been reported to alter learning and memory. The aim of our study was to investigate the involvement of adenosinergic system in memory retrieval into posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) of Wistar rats. To clarify this question, we tested specifics agonist and antagonists of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors in rats submitted to a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task. The stimulation of adenosine A1 and A2A receptors by CPA and CGS21680, respectively, impaired memory retrieval for inhibitory avoidance task, into PCC. These findings provide behavioral evidence for the role of adenosinergic system in the memory retrieval into PCC.     

The New Orleans Forensic Aftercare Clinic: a seven year review of hospital discharged and jail diverted clients

This paper provides a review of the Forensic Aftercare Clinic Conditional Release Program (FAC), which has been operating since December, 1995, in New Orleans, LA. The FAC is a community based program that provides clinical, rehabilitative, and supervisory services to individuals who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity or unrestorably incompetent to proceed and who have been discharged from inpatient settings or diverted from jail settings and placed on conditional release by district court orders. 119 clients participated in FAC over a 7 year period. Forty-one (34.4%) had their conditional release revoked. Of the total population, 12 (10.1%) were re-arrested on at least one charge, 3 (2.4%) were arrested on felony charges, and 9 (7.6%) on misdemeanors. Only two of these charges were violent, resulting in no significant harm to victims. Twenty (16.8%) were hospitalized at least once due to relapse. Clients diverted from jail to community settings did not differ significantly on most variables from clients who were discharged from long-term hospitalization. Data related to public safety and client diversion demonstrate that clients, when appropriate, can be safely diverted to the community in lieu of hospitalization. The number of statewide clients who have been discharged from the forensic hospital into the community has increased steadily from 13 in 1995 to 29 in 2002, and statewide diversion clients have steadily increased from 0 in 1992 to 20 in 2002. The increase in statewide diversion clients and forensic discharges over this 7 year period indicates that stakeholders see the viability of the program as an alternative to as well as a step-down from long-term forensic hospitalization.