The role of trust in organizations: do foci and bases matter?

A recent literature review shows that the effects of trust on workplace outcomes are less consistent than might be expected (Dirks & Ferrin, 2001). For some work-related outcomes, studies have revealed significant effects of trust whereas others have not. By definition, trust describes a psychological state comprising positive expectations about the behavior and intentions of another. The position of this dissertation is that, to have a full understanding of the effects of trust, researchers need to consider on what basis this positive expectation is formed (i.e., trust’s bases) as well as in whom this positive expectation is placed (i.e., trust’s foci). Based on this position, and with trust bases and foci being explicitly recognized, the effects of trust were examined vis-à-vis the following variables: organizational commitment (affective and continuance), supervisor-subordinate conflict (task- and relationship-related), citizenship behavior directed toward coworkers (task- and person-focused), communication flow (upward and lateral), job satisfaction, task performance, and openness to organizational change. Data via survey were collected from 564 medical center employees (353 subordinates and 210 supervisors). Six combinations of trust bases and foci were found to be distinguishable, and each made a unique contribution to the predicted variance in subordinate job satisfaction. Increases in both cognitive and affective trust in one’s supervisor were found to reduce task supervisory conflict and, with greater magnitude, reduce relationship supervisory conflict. Affective trust in management was found to be an important predictor of affective organizational commitment. Trust in one’s supervisor, especially affective trust in one’s supervisor, significantly predicted task performance. Interactions among subordinates, as indicated by open communication and helping behavior toward one another, were found to be influenced by trust in one’s supervisor. In particular, both cognitive and affective trust in one’s supervisor contributed to the prediction of task- and person-focused interpersonal citizenship behavior toward coworkers. Compared to cognitive trust, affective trust in one’s supervisor was more predictive of both upward and lateral communication. Implications for research and practice, limitations, and future research directions are discussed

Hierarchical stripe phases in IrTe2 driven by competition between Ir dimerization and Te bonding

Layered 5d transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) IrTe2 is distinguished from the traditional TMDs (such as NbSe2) by the existence of multiple charge-density wave (CDW)-like stripe phases and superconductivity at low temperatures. Despite intensive studies, there is still no consensus on the physical origin of the stripe phases or even the ground state modulation for this 5d material. Here we present atomic-scale evidence from scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS) that the ground state of IrTe2 is a q = 1/6 stripe phase, identical to that of the Se-doped compound. Furthermore, our data suggest that the multiple transitions and stripe phases are driven by the intralayer Ir-Ir dimerization that competes against the interlayer Te-Te bonding. The competition results in a unified phase diagram with a series of hierarchical modulated stripe phases, strikingly similar to the renowned "devil's staircase" phenomena.open2

Ameliorative Effects and Mechanism of Aqueous Extract of Moringa oleifera Leaves on Hepatic Fibrosis in Rats

To investigate the ameliorative effects and mechanism of Moringa oleifera Lam (LM) leaf aqueous extract on hepatic fibrosis (HF) in rats. 60 male SD rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, colchicine group (100 mg/kg), and LM high, medium and low dose groups (200, 100 and 50 mg/kg), except for the normal group, rats in the remaining groups were established as HF model by intraperitoneal injection of thioacetamide (TAA) and the corresponding drugs were administered from the 5 th week. At the end of drug administration, rats were examined for body weight, liver index, liver function indexes, including serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). HF indices including serum procollagen type III (PCIII), collagen type IV (IV-C), laminin (LN), hyaluronic acid (HA), liver hydroxyproline acid (HYP). Masson staining was used to observe liver fibrotic tissue lesions. Indicators of Liver oxidative stress, including hepatic reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), were also detected. Real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR and protein immunoblotting were performed to detect hepatic TGF-β1/Smads pathway gene expression. Rats in the HF model group had significantly lower body weight, highly significantly increased liver index, serum ALT, AST, PCIII, IV-C, LN, HA and liver HYP concentrations compared with rats in the normal group (P<0.01). In addition, the liver tissue of rats in the model group showed a significant increase in collagen fibre deposition, severe liver fibrosis, highly significant increase in liver ROS and MDA content, and a highly significant decrease in SOD activity (P<0.01), indicating that the liver of rats in the model group was in a state of oxidative stress and fibrotic lesions, and liver function was impaired. Compared with the model group, serum ALT, AST, PCIII, IV-C, LN, HA and hepatic HYP concentrations were reduced to varying degrees in the LM group rats. In addition, collagen fibre deposition in liver tissue was significantly reduced, liver ROS and MDA content were significantly decreased, and SOD activity was significantly increased in the LM group rats, indicating that LM could reduce the level of liver oxidative stress, ameliorate liver fibrosis and protect liver function in rats (P<0.05, P<0.01). Gene expression detection of the TGF-β1/Smads pathway showed that the mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β1, Smad2, Smad3 and α-SMA genes were significantly increased in the model group compared with the control group. Compared with the model group, the liver TGF-β1, Smad2, Smad3 and α-SMA gene expressions were significantly lower in the LM high and medium dose groups (P<0.05, P<0.01), and the liver Smad3 and α-SMA gene expressions were significantly lower in the LM low dose group (P<0.05, P<0.01), indicating that LM could downregulate liver TGF-β1/Smads pathway gene expression in HF rats. LM would ameliorate TAA-induced liver fibrosis in rats by down-regulating the ROS-TGF-β1/Smads pathway

A Fast Transient Backend to Detect FRBs with the Tianlai Dish Pathfinder Array

The Tianlai Dish Pathfinder array is a radio interferometer array consisting of 16 six meter dish antennas. The original digital backend integration time is at the seconds level, designed for HI intensity mapping experiment. A new digital backend with millisecond response is added to enable it to search for fast radio burst (FRB) during its observations. The design and calibration of this backend, and the real time search pipeline for it are described in this paper. It is capable of forming 16 digital beams for each linear polarisation, covering an area of 19.6 square degrees. The search pipeline is capable of searching for, recording and classifying FRBs automatically in real time. In commissioning, we succeeded in capturing the signal pulses from the pulsars PSR B0329+54 and B2021+51.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, RAA accepte

Dynamic modeling and simulation of an integral bipropellant propulsion double-valve combined test system

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11101023) and the China Scholarship Council (No. 201203070237)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

and constructive feedback for the completion and improvement of my dissertation. I appreciate Professor Robert T. Justis for helping me with locating organizational sites, though without success. I appreciate Professor Randall P. Settoon for assistance with obtaining organizational cites for this study. My heartfelt gratitude is extended to my mentor and dissertation chair, Professor Mossholder, whose professional guidance, emotional support, patience, and the time given to me will stay in my heart and memory. I thank my parents for their limitless love and for not complaining about my being away from home for six years. I also wish to thank Bonnie and John Birchman for being my spiritual mom and dad for always shepherding me at tough times, Lynne Estrada for her care and for proofreading my dissertation during her sixth month of pregnancy, Fred and Deborah Koch for providing me the home environment I needed toward the end of my Ph.D. program, Suzanne Reagan for supplying me with spiritual food and her delicious home-made food, Randy Smith for his timely enlightenment, and all the many church members for their prayers. All in all, I am very grateful for the abundant grace and compassion from my Heavenly Father, the One I am who I am. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. ” (Isaiah 43: 2). “Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in you do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to you. ” (Psalm 143:8). i

Proactive personality, social capital, helping, and turnover intentions

Purpose: Proactive personality is believed to relate to greater interpersonal helping and lower turnover intentions. Accrued social capital should play a mediating role in this relationship. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used structural equation modeling to analyze the longitudinal data collected from 174 individuals at three points in time. Two dimensions of social capital, i.e. the resource dimension as indicated by information exchange and the relational dimension as indicated by trust relationships were specified. Findings: After controlling for the Big Five personality dispositions, information exchange and then trust relationships sequentially mediated the relationship of proactive personality with helping and turnover intentions. Research limitations/implications: The research highlights the importance of understanding proactive personality through the social capital perspective. Multiple source data collection method is recommended for further validation of the results. Practical implications: The research highlights the importance of recruiting individuals high on proactivity, and the importance of further developing and motivating these individuals by cultivating meaningful interactions and nurturing trustful relationships at work. Then, proactive employees would be more likely to engage in helping behavior and to stay with the company. Originality/value: The paper takes the social capital approach in examining the outcomes of proactive personality. It reveals that resource- and relation-related social capital constructs mediate, in sequence, the relationships of proactive personality with outcomes. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Urban Ecological Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors—A Case Study in Henan Province, China

The urban ecological civilization construction relates to welfare of the people and the national future. It is an important field of the high-quality economic development to improve the urban ecological efficiency level. The purpose of this research is to provide a new perspective and method for the quantitative study of the urban sustainable development, and also to provide some decision-making references for the improvement of the urban ecological efficiency in Henan province. This paper uses the slacks-based measure-data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) model containing the undesirable output and the Malmquist index model to fully evaluate the urban ecological efficiency level in Henan province during the period of 2005&ndash;2016, via both the static and dynamic analysis. Based on this, the bootstrap regression model is applied in analyzing the influencing factors of the urban ecological efficiency. The research shows three findings. First, according to the static efficiency analysis, the urban ecological efficiency in Henan province is low as a whole and has a big promotion space. Moreover, there is a significant difference in the urban ecological efficiency level among the five regions because of the different geographical locations and social and economic development situations of the cities. Second, according to the dynamic efficiency analysis, in the last 12 years, the urban ecological efficiency in Henan province has shown an overall growth trend, and the technological progress has played a major role in promoting the urban ecological efficiency in Henan province. Third, according to the influencing factor analysis, the governmental financial support hinders the improvement of the urban ecological efficiency in Henan province, while the level of opening to the outside world, the urban population density, and the urban greening level promote it