The Reactions of Generation Y to the Use of Social Networking Websites in Personnel Selection in China

This study examines the reactions of Generation Y to the use of social networking websites (SNW) in personnel selection of in China. In particular, the roles of perceived privacy invasion, fairness perceptions and intentions of job pursuit of participants and the influence of the presence of justifications for SNW screening on participants’ reactions are examined. Because using SNW to screen and select applicants is increasingly popular in organisations, it seems to be helpful to study the reactions of Generation Y to the use of this selection tool when they are in the scenario of being applicants. Organisations can decide whether to use SNW as a selection tool or not and realise how to influence the applicants’ reactions to this selection tool according to the results of current study. The study employs an experimental research in which 654 participants were allocated to read one of three different scenarios before completing the survey questions of perceived privacy invasion, fairness perceptions, intentions of job pursuit and demographic information. The results show that when an organisation uses selection process involving SNW screening, the participants are likely to consider the selection process to be invasive to personal privacy and less fair. Besides, they are also less likely to pursuit jobs within this organisation. However, when the justifications for SNW screening are provided, the levels of fairness perceptions of participants are higher. Another finding of the study is that fairness perceptions can mediate the effect of perceived privacy invasion on intentions of job pursuit as well as the effect of the presence of justifications for SNW screening on intentions of job pursuit. In conclusion, Generation Y in China generally have negative reactions to the use of SNW in personnel selection. However, the negative reactions can be reduced by measures which can improve the fairness perceptions of applicants, such as providing the justifications for using SNW as a selection tool. This is because the mediation effects of fairness perceptions on the outcomes of using SNW as a selection tool can be rather powerful

Black soldier fly (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larval heat generation and management

: Mass production of black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), larvae results in massive heat generation, which impacts facility management, waste conversion, and larval production. We tested daily substrate temperatures with different population densities (i.e., 0, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10 000 larvae/pan), different population sizes (i.e., 166, 1000, and 10 000 larvae at a fixed feed ratio) and air temperatures (i.e., 20 and 30 °C) on various production parameters. Impacts of shifting larvae from 30 to 20 °C on either day 9 or 11 were also determined. Larval activity increased substrate temperatures significantly (i.e., at least 10 °C above air temperatures). Low air temperature favored growth with the higher population sizes while high temperature favored growth with low population sizes. The greatest average individual larval weights (e.g., 0.126 and 0.124 g) and feed conversion ratios (e.g., 1.92 and 2.08 g/g) were recorded for either 10 000 larvae reared at 20 °C or 100 larvae reared at 30 °C. Shifting temperatures from high (30 °C) to low (20 °C) in between (∼10-d-old larvae) impacted larval production weights (16% increases) and feed conversion ratios (increased 14%). Facilities should consider the impact of larval density, population size, and air temperature during black soldier fly mass production as these factors impact overall larval production

Feature-based encoding of face identity by single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe

Neurons in the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) that are selective for the identity of specific people are classically thought to encode identity invariant to visual features. However, it remains largely unknown how visual information from higher visual cortex is translated into a semantic representation of an individual person. Here, we show that some MTL neurons are selective to multiple different face identities on the basis of shared features that form clusters in the representation of a deep neural network trained to recognize faces. Contrary to prevailing views, we find that these neurons represent an individual’s face with feature-based encoding, rather than through association with concepts. The response of feature neurons did not depend on face identity nor face familiarity, and the region of feature space to which they are tuned predicted their response to new face stimuli. Our results provide critical evidence bridging the perception-driven representation of facial features in the higher visual cortex and the memory-driven representation of semantics in the MTL, which may form the basis for declarative memory

The Reactions of Generation Y to the Use of Social Networking Websites in Personnel Selection in China

This study examines the reactions of Generation Y to the use of social networking websites (SNW) in personnel selection of in China. In particular, the roles of perceived privacy invasion, fairness perceptions and intentions of job pursuit of participants and the influence of the presence of justifications for SNW screening on participants’ reactions are examined. Because using SNW to screen and select applicants is increasingly popular in organisations, it seems to be helpful to study the reactions of Generation Y to the use of this selection tool when they are in the scenario of being applicants. Organisations can decide whether to use SNW as a selection tool or not and realise how to influence the applicants’ reactions to this selection tool according to the results of current study. The study employs an experimental research in which 654 participants were allocated to read one of three different scenarios before completing the survey questions of perceived privacy invasion, fairness perceptions, intentions of job pursuit and demographic information. The results show that when an organisation uses selection process involving SNW screening, the participants are likely to consider the selection process to be invasive to personal privacy and less fair. Besides, they are also less likely to pursuit jobs within this organisation. However, when the justifications for SNW screening are provided, the levels of fairness perceptions of participants are higher. Another finding of the study is that fairness perceptions can mediate the effect of perceived privacy invasion on intentions of job pursuit as well as the effect of the presence of justifications for SNW screening on intentions of job pursuit. In conclusion, Generation Y in China generally have negative reactions to the use of SNW in personnel selection. However, the negative reactions can be reduced by measures which can improve the fairness perceptions of applicants, such as providing the justifications for using SNW as a selection tool. This is because the mediation effects of fairness perceptions on the outcomes of using SNW as a selection tool can be rather powerful

Thermal Preference and Tolerance of the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) Based on Development Stage, Age, Size, Sex, and Nutrition

Thermal tolerance and preference are traits commonly used for mass-producing farmed animals as such traits impact their optimal production. In this study, impacts of stage, age, size, sex, and nutrition (i.e., a low protein (7% dry weight (dw)) high carbohydrate (35% dw) diet (i.e., P7C35), a high protein (35% dw) low carbohydrate (7% dw) diet (i.e., P35C7), and the Gainesville diet as a control (~15% protein and ~ 36% carbohydrate)) of black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) on their thermal tolerance and thermal preference were examined. Results indicate, 1) for larvae and prepupae, median heat knockdown temperature decreased (e.g., by ~2℃) ontogenically within large size group, while small size resulted in less (e.g., by ~1℃) phenotypic variation. Mean cold knockdown temperature increased (e.g., by ~5℃) from large, young larvae to large, old larvae, while small size young larvae had significantly lower (e.g., by ~5℃) cold knock down temperature. Median thermal preference decreased (e.g., by ~10℃) ontogenically with old prepupae as exceptions. 2) For adults, the individual heat knockdown temperature ranged from 45.0-51.0℃ with larger or older adults having a ~1℃greater than smaller and younger adults on median. However, no differences were found between sex. The individual cold knockdown temperature ranged from 8.0-13.0℃ with ~1℃ greater on median in larger or older females. 3) For nutrition, compared to those developed on the control diet, shifts in diet composition (i.e., synthetic diets) resulted in greater (i.e., at least 0.7, 0.4, and 0.2℃ on average for larvae, prepupae, and adult respectively) heat knockdown temperatures except for those adults fed the P7C35 as larvae. Stage (i.e., differed for 8.7 min on average) impacted black soldier fly chill coma recovery times more than diet. Synthetic diets resulted in lower (i.e., at least 7.3℃ on average) larval thermal preferences but greater (i.e., at least 1℃ on average) adult thermal preferences. These data provide references for black soldier fly mass rearing. However, results are likely population specific, and caution should be applied by industry attempting to calibrate their temperature systems for their farmed population

The Current Status of Laboratory Animal License Administration in Guangdong Province

This study examined and summarized the operations and achievements of laboratory animal license administration in Guangdong Province and presents preliminary suggestions based on the deficiencies in the current administration. The study utilized laboratory animal licensing data of Guangdong Province obtained from the National Laboratory Animal License Inquiry and Administration System, and uses a combination of statistical analysis, literature review, and comparative research. Various aspects of the workings of the laboratory animal license administration in Guangdong Province were analyzed, including license issuance, regional distribution, animal species, organization types, facility scale, and development trend of laboratory animal license administration in Guangdong Province to identify areas of improvements. The following measures were recommended to the Guangdong Province: increasing social awareness about the importance of using laboratory animals, promoting the publicity and implementation of laws and regulations on laboratory animals, strengthening the strategic resource reserve of experimental animals, improving the management system of aquatic laboratory animals, and optimizing information management. Through such measures, we aimed to provide reference for the administration of laboratory animals in other regions

Prediction of surface roughness of CO2 laser modified poplar wood via response surface methodology

Due to the advantages of short treatment period, no wastewater and oil produced, the CO2 laser is applied as an environment friendly thermal treatment for wood materials to improve the wood properties, such as appearance, color and wettability, etc. However, the morphological features of treated wood surface are also changed, which have negative effects on wooden product properties. To reveal the change tendency of surface roughness during laser irradiation, the common indexes of average roughness (Ra) and mean peak-to-valley height (Rz) were chosen to evaluate the surface roughness. The response surface methodology was selected to arrange the experiments and analyze the influences of laser parameters on surface roughness. The results showed that the poplar wood got rougher with the increased laser power, but the surface roughness decreased with increased feed speed and path spacing, due to the total heat absorption varied under different combination of laser parameters. The ANOVA results showed that the selected quadratic models for Ra∥, Rz∥, Ra⊥ and Rz⊥were significant due to the values of probability value (“Prob>F”) less than 0,05. In this case, all the input laser parameters were also the significant model terms for variation of surface roughness. The values of correlation coefficient were very close to 1, which meant the selected quadratic models could give accurate prediction of surface roughness for laser treated wood. Therefore, it is of great significance to predict the surface roughness of the modified wood surface scientifically and to guide the selection of reasonable modification process parameters