6,329 research outputs found

    Meaning in Work in Nursing as a Positive Personal Attribute.

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    The purpose of this dissertation was to introduce the concept of meaning in work and to provide evidence for why the concept is important in nursing. The specific aims were to: (1) develop and test an instrument to measure meaning in work, (2) explore direct relationships between meaning in work and nursing outcomes (job satisfaction, burnout), and (3) explore indirect relationships among meaning in work, the nursing work environment, and nursing outcomes (job satisfaction, burnout). Data were collected from surveys mailed to a convenience sample of 500 registered nurses (RNs) randomly selected from an RN list from the North Carolina Board of Nursing. To develop an instrument to measure theoretical constructs of meaning in work, items from four instruments used to measure meaning in the workplace were selected. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test construct validity of the new instrument. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was performed to explore relationships among meaning in work, the nursing work environment, job satisfaction, and burnout. A total of 158 RNs were included in data analysis. The newly developed instrument of meaning in work consisted of 25 items in four sub-scales. CFA supported construct validity (CFI=.907, RMSEA=.080) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=.95) of the instrument. SEM supported (1) a positive relationship between meaning in work and job satisfaction (β =.67, SE=.05), (2) an inverse relationship between meaning in work and burnout (β =-.55, SE=.06), and (3) indirect relationships of meaning in work to job satisfaction (β =.35, SE=.11) and burnout (β =-.49, SE=.13), mediated by the nursing work environment. The results of this study supported hypothesized models, showing (1) significant direct relationships between meaning in work, job satisfaction, and burnout, and (2) an indirect positive relationship between meaning in work and job satisfaction, mediated by the nursing work environment and an indirect inverse relationship between meaning in work and burnout, mediated by the nursing work environment. Meaning in work is a positive personal attribute that provides a motivational force to work, and moreover has a possible role in positively influencing nurses’ perceptions of the nursing work environment and creating healthy nursing work environments.PhDNursingUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113359/1/soohee_1.pd

    Conductive Copper Paste for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

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    In photovoltaic industries, the main technique of metallization is screen printing with silver pastes due to its simple and quick process. However, the expensive price of silver paste is one of the barriers to the production of low-cost solar cells. Therefore, the most focused target in photovoltaic research is the decreasing consumption of silver paste or substitute silver for other materials. As a proper candidate, copper has been researched by many institutes and companies since it has a similar conductivity with silver even though the price is inexpensive. To apply copper as a contact for solar cells, the plating technique has been actively researched. However, copper paste, which was mainly developed for integrated circuit applications, has been recently researched. Mostly, copper paste was developed for the low-temperature annealing process since copper tends to oxidize easily. On the other hand, firing type copper paste was also developed by coating copper particles with a barrier layer. This chapter discusses recent development of copper paste for the application of solar cells and its appropriate annealing conditions for better electrical properties. Also, the light I-V characteristics of copper paste on the solar cells in other research papers are summarized as well

    Immunoglobulin VH Chain Gene Analysis of Peripheral Blood IgM-Producing B Cells in Patients with Kawasaki Disease

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    PURPOSE: Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis, and its etiology and pathogenesis are still not clear. Our study was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of the activation of B cells in the peripheral blood of Kawasaki disease (KD) patients and evidence of stimulation by superantigens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples were obtained from three patients (2 males, 1 female) with KD, who were admitted to our Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The mean age was 1.2 years. Distribution of B cells was studied in the acute and subacute phases of KD patients. From the RNA of B cells, we obtained complementary DNA (cDNA) and performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To determine the oligoclonal expansion of immunoglobulin M (IgM) V(H) family, we cloned and sequenced the PCR products from each group and analyzed DNA. RESULTS: In the peripheral blood of acute phase patients, T cells were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), whereas B cells were significantly increased (p < 0.05). When the first PCR was done on the B cell chains, V(H)1 to V(H)6 were all found to be expressed. The number of micro gene clones obtained from 3 patients was 312, and they belonged to V(H)3, V(H)4 and V(H)5 family. M99686 germ line was most frequently used and the next most frequently used, were X92224/J, L21967 and L21964. A similar order was seen in patients. Among the clones, 20 sets of clones showed the same base sequence and this was frequent between V(H)2 and V(H)5. There was one set, which showed almost the same base sequence between different patients, and the homology was 99.5%. Twenty sets of clones that had the same base sequence showed high similarity to the germ line (94 - 100%). Among these, the clones that utilized the M99686 germ line were 4 sets which were most frequent. The 3-dimensional structure of one of these clones showed typical beta, sheet structure of immunoglobulin chains. CONCLUSION: The IgM transcripts expressed by the B cells in the peripheral blood of KD patients in the acute phase of the disease clearly showed an oligoclonal expansion, suggesting that KD is caused not by stimulation of a superantigen, but rather by a conventional antigen.ope

    5-dim Superconformal Index with Enhanced En Global Symmetry

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    The five-dimensional N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theory with Sp(N) gauge group and SO(2N(f)) flavor symmetry describes the physics on N D4-branes with N-f D8-branes on top of a single O8 orientifold plane in Type I&apos; theory. This theory is known to be superconformal at the strong coupling limit with the enhanced global symmetry ENf+1 for N-f <= 7. In this work we calculate the superconformal index on S-1 x S-4 for the Sp(1) gauge theory by the localization method and confirm such enhancement of the global symmetry at the superconformal limit for N-f <= 5 to a few leading orders in the chemical potential. Both perturbative and (anti) instanton contributions are present in this calculation. For N-f = 6, 7 cases some issues related the pole structure of the instanton calculation could not be resolved and here we could provide only some suggestive answer for the leading contributions to the index. For the Sp(N) case, similar issues related to the pole structure appear.1151sciescopu
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