The Effect of Gender and Work Experience on Psychological Attributes at Workplace

For the past few years,the focus of the organizational psychologist is to work on creating a positive workplace environment and focusing on studying the perceived positive psychological attributes at the workplace. One of the primary reasons behind it is to develop and maintain a cordial and positive work climate for employees to have better interpersonal relations, violence-free climate, manager-employee relations, organizational policies, motivators, etc. All these psychological factors may influence the work environment in both a positive and negative manner. One of the perceived positive psychological attributes at the workplace is work locus of control, which describes whether employees reason out internal or external factors as the reason behind their actions and decisions. This might be leading to aggression and violence at the workplace, and thereby their personal growth might get influence. Hence, the present study aimed to explore the effect of gender and years of experience on the psychological constructs- violence prevention climate, work locus of control, and personal growth initiative using a 2x2 factorial design. For standardized scales pertaining to work locus of control, violence prevention climate and personal growth were administered on a sample of 200 employees (both male and female). The findings of the study highlighted that there was no significant gender difference on the three psychological constructs. However, years of experience did have a substantial effect on personal growth initiative and work locus of control. Additionally, a significant difference between years of experience on “practices and response” and “pressure for unsafe practices” dimension of violence prevention climate was also obtained

Low temperature magnetic and magnetocaloric studies in YCr0.85Mn0.15O3 ceramic

We have investigated low temperature magnetic and magnetocaloric properties of manganese (Mn) doped YCr0.85Mn0.15O3 (YCMO) polycrystalline compound, synthesized via solid state reaction route. The lattice volume was found to increase in comparison to that of pristine YCrO3 (YCO) compound. On the other hand, the paramagnetic-antiferromagnetic Néel temperature (TN ∼ 132 K) was found to be lower than that for YCO ceramic. On cooling below TN, under field cooled (FC) mode with an applied magnetic field of 0.02 T, magnetization flipped the polarity from positive to negative at Tcomp = 62 K. Furthermore, the magnetization switching temperature, defined as compensation temperature, exhibited field dependency and decreased with increasing field. Besides, the magnetization reversal phenomenon disappeared under higher applied magnetic field values. For the first time, the magnetocaloric effect for this compound was measured near 36 K through the parameters like magnetic entropy change (−ΔS) = ∼0.186 J kg−1 K−1 and the relative cooling power (RCP) ∼ 6.65 J kg−1, under an applied field of 5 T.publishe

Nanomechanical inhomogeneities in CVA-deposited titanium nitride thin films: Nanoindentation and Finite Element Method Investigations

Refractory metals that can withstand at high temperatures and harsh conditions are of utmost importance for solar-thermal and energy storage applications. Thin films of TiN have been deposited using cathodic vacuum arc deposition (CVA) at relatively low temperatures ~ 300 oC using the substrate bias ~ -60V. The nanomechanical properties of these films were investigated using nanoindentation and the spatial fluctuations were observed. The nanoindentation results were simulated using finite element method (FEM) through Johnson-Cook model. We have found the local nitridation plays an important role on nanomechanical properties of TiN thin films and confirms that the nitrogen deficient regions are ductile with low yield stress and hardening modulus. This study further opens the opportunities of modelling the nanoscale system using FEM analysis

Structural, electrical, optical and magnetic properties of SmCrO3 chromites: influence of Gd and Mn co-doping

Impact of co-doping of Gadolinium (Gd) and Manganese (Mn) ions on the structural, electrical, optical and magnetic properties of SmCrO3 (SCO) orthochromite compound has been systematically investigated for the first time. The lattice volume expanded with only Mn substitution whereas it shrinks in the co-doped compounds. The tolerance factor decreased while the orthorhombic distortion was found to increase with co-doping. Tilt angle, θ[101] (ο) increased in the co-doped compounds. On the contrary, ∅[010] (ο) initially decreased and then increased. The increased orthorhombic distortion with co-doping also influenced the Raman modes. The electrical resistivity got enhanced in the co-doped samples and its behavior was explained based on Mott's variable range hopping model. Hopping energy and mean hopping distance have also been estimated for the co-doped compounds. The optical bandgap of pristine SCO compound was observed to vary with co-doping, signifying the potential applications of these compounds as photocatalyst. Two compensation temperatures (defined as a temperature where the magnetization changes polarity) were noticed in co-doped compounds. The magnetization reversal was observed in all the co-doped compounds under lower applied magnetic field. The low temperature magnetocaloric effect got enhanced significantly with increasing co-doping content implying the usefulness of these compounds as low temperature refrigerant materials.publishe

Influence of crack offset distance on the interaction of multiple cracks on the same side in a rectangular plate

In the present work finite element method has been employed to study the interaction of multiple cracks in a finite rectangular plate of unit thickness with cracks on the same side under uniaxial loading conditions. The variation of the stress intensity factor and stress distribution around the crack tip with crack offset distance has been studied. Due to the presence of a neighbouring crack, two types of interactions viz. intensification and shielding effect have been observed. The interaction between the cracks is seen to be dependent on the crack offset distance. It is seen that the presence of a neighbouring crack results in the appearance of mode II stress intensity factor which was otherwise absent for a single edge crack. It can be said that the proximity of cracks is non-desirable for structural integrity. The von-Mises stress for different crack orientations has been computed. Linear elastic analysis of state of stress around the crack tip has also been done

Enhanced Room Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and Magneto-resistance of Ag-added La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 Composites

In this paper we report an enhanced temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) close to room temperature in La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 + Agy (x = 0.10, 0.15 and y = 0.0 to 0.40) (LCBMO+Ag) composite manganites. The observed enhancement of TCR is attributed to the grain growth and opening of new conducting channels in the composites. Ag addition has also been found to enhance intra-granular magneto-resistance. Inter-granular MR, however, is seen to decrease with Ag addition. The enhanced TCR and MR at / near room temperature open up the possibility of the use of such materials as infrared bolometric and magnetic field sensors respectively.Comment: 22 pages of Text + Figs:comments/suggestions([email protected]