Labor Relations Conflict in the Workplace: Scale Development, Consequences and Solutions

Because the goals of employers and employees are often incompatible, conflicts are inevitable and an essential part of organizational life. The three studies reported in this paper addressed the issues of identifying the dimensions of workplace conflicts within organizations, exploring the consequences of conflicts, and finding appropriate methods of conflict resolution. The first study identified and developed three dimensions of labor relations conflict, including interest-based, rights-based, and emotion-based conflicts. The second study explored two sets of individual outcomes of labor relations conflicts and found labor relations conflicts had a negative effect on employee job satisfaction and affective commitment and positive effects on employee turnover intention and counterproductive work behavior. The third study tested the effectiveness of partnership practices as an alternative method of resolving labor relations conflicts. Suggestions are offered for future research on the labor relations conflict dimensions as well as its outcomes and solutions introduced in these studies

Rapid Determination of Serum Melatonin by ESI–MS–MS with Direct Sample Injection

This paper describes a rapid, simple and sensitive analytical method for the quantitative determination of melatonin in human serum by ESI–MS–MS with direct serum sample injection and on-line extraction. The method uses N-acetyltryptamine as the internal standard. It has high specificity and sensitivity for serum melatonin analysis. The internal calibration curve shows a wide linear range from 0.500 to 200 ng/ml with a correlation coefficient, R2\u3e0.999. The limit of quantitation is 0.500 ng/ml and the limit of detection is 0.100 ng/ml with 10-μl sample injection. The recoveries of serum melatonin at three levels are approximately 70%. The intra-assay precision (n=5) is between 0.8 and 2.0% and the inter-assay precision (n=3) is between 1.5 and 5.9% over the calibration range. This method has a total analysis time of less than 9 min. It can be used for the measurement of melatonin in human blood

Compression of phase-only holograms with JPEG standard and deep learning

It is a critical issue to reduce the enormous amount of data in the processing, storage and transmission of a hologram in digital format. In photograph compression, the JPEG standard is commonly supported by almost every system and device. It will be favorable if JPEG standard is applicable to hologram compression, with advantages of universal compatibility. However, the reconstructed image from a JPEG compressed hologram suffers from severe quality degradation since some high frequency features in the hologram will be lost during the compression process. In this work, we employ a deep convolutional neural network to reduce the artifacts in a JPEG compressed hologram. Simulation and experimental results reveal that our proposed "JPEG + deep learning" hologram compression scheme can achieve satisfactory reconstruction results for a computer-generated phase-only hologram after compression

Role of Nanolaminated Crystal Structure on the Radiation Damage Tolerance of Ti 3

Nanolaminated Ti3SiC2, a representative MAX phase, shows excellent tolerance to radiation damage. In this paper, first-principles calculations were used to investigate the mechanism of intrinsic point defects in order to explain this outstanding property. Formation energies of intrinsic point defects are calculated and compared; and the results establish a low-energy disorder mechanism in Ti3SiC2. In addition, the migration energy barriers of Si vacancy, Si interstitial, and TiSi antisite yield very low values: 0.9, 0.6, and 0.3 eV, respectively. The intercalation of Si atomic plane between Ti3C2 nanotwinning structures dominates the formation and migration of intrinsic native point defects in Ti3SiC2. The present study also highlights a novel method to improve radiation damage tolerance by developing nanoscale-layered structure which can serve as a sink or rapid recovery channel for point defects

A Divide-and-Conquer Algorithm for Machining Feature Recognition over Network

In this paper, a divide-and-conquer algorithm for machining feature recognition over network is presented. The algorithm consists of three steps. First, decompose the part and its stock into a number of sub-objects in the client and transfer the sub-objects to the server one by one. Meanwhile, perform machining feature recognition on each sub-object using the MCSG based approach in the server in parallel. Finally, generate the machining feature model of the part by synthesizing all the machining features including decomposed features recognized from all the sub-objects and send it back to the client. With divide-and-conquer and parallel computing, the algorithm is able to decrease the delay of transferring a complex CAD model over network and improve the capability of handling complex parts. Implementation details are included and some test results are given

Surface-Enhanced Raman Nanoparticle Beacons Based on Bioconjugated Gold Nanocrystals and Long Range Plasmonic Coupling

NIH [P20 GM072069, R01 CA108468, U01HL080711, U54CA119338]; Chinese Ministry of EducationWe have developed a new class of surface-enhanced Raman scattering beacons (SERS beacons) that can be turned on and off by long-range plasmonic coupling, induced by biomolecular recognition and binding events. The beacons are based on colloidal gold nanocrystals in two sizes (40 and 60 nm) and are prepared by spectral encoding with a Raman reporter molecule, functionalized with thiolated DNA probes, and stabilized and protected by low molecular weight poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs). The results show the SERS signal intensities increase by 40-200-fold when the nanoparticle beacons are activated by plasmonic coupling, much higher than the bright-to-dark intensity ratios reported for traditional molecular beacons. Multivalent gold nanoparticles also have exquisite specificity and are able to recognize single-base mismatches or mutations. This class of SERS nanoparticle beacons has novel mechanisms for molecular detection and signal amplification, and its long-range coupling nature raises new opportunities in developing plasmonic probes to detect proteins, cells, and intact viruses