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Employee performance attainment is a pervasive issue in the workplace and is increasingly becoming an important problem for effective human resource management. A review of the extant literature on perceived organizational support (POS) and performance suggests that there is a dearth of research aimed at examining the underlying mechanisms and the boundary conditions of the relationship between POS and performance. One of the objectives of this study is to examine the mediating role of psychological capital on the relationship between POS and performance. Furthermore, this study investigates the moderating role of organizational justice perception in said indirect relationship. Study 1 included a sample of 465 employees from both large private life insurance and telecom organizations. Study 2 was conducted on a sample of 216 employees from a large steel manufacturing firm. Findings suggest that psychological capital mediated the relationship between POS and performance. The indirect relationship of POS and performance via psychological capital was moderated by organizational justice. However, there is a counter-intuitive finding in this research. It was observed that at a high level of organizational justice, it had a smaller effect on performance in contrast to low level of organizational justice. Finally, theoretical contributions and managerial implications are discussed.
We show that a vertical viscosity stratification at a localized region caused by a chemical reaction yields an inconspicuous shear layer. A chemo-hydrodynamic Kelvin–Helmholtz instability or cat-eye-shaped morphology develops at one reaction front, while the other front diffuses steadily over time. Through linear stability and nonlinear simulations, the existence of such instabilities is established if the log-mobility ratio exceeds a critical value. We find unique scalings between the stable and unstable zones that demonstrate how the influence of variations in solute diffusion on instability can be eliminated. The observed unstable patterns agree with existing experimental results.
Manufacturing industries are looking for efficient assembly planners that can swiftly develop a practically feasible assembly sequence while keeping costs and time to a minimum. Most assembly sequence planners rely on part relations in the virtual environment. Nowadays, tools and robotic grippers perform most of the assembly tasks. Ignoring the critical aspect renders solutions practically infeasible. Additionally, it is vital to test the feasibility of positioning and assembling components while employing robotic grippers and tools prior to their implementation. This paper presents a novel concept named by considering both part and tool geometry to propose “tool integrated assembly interference matrices” (TIAIMs) and a “tool integrated axis-aligned bounding box” (TIAABB) to generate practically feasible assembly sequence plans. Furthermore, the part-concatenation technique is used to determine the best assembly sequence plans for an actual mechanical component. The results show that the proposed approach effectively and efficiently deals with real-life industrial problems.
Himalayan glaciers have been shrinking and losing mass rapidly since 1970s with an enhanced rate after 2000. The shrinkage is, however, quite heterogeneous and it is important to document individual glacier characteristics and their changes at the basin scale. We present an updated glacier inventory of the Upper Alaknanda Basin (UAB), Central Himalaya for the year 2020 and report area, debris cover and length changes for the periods 1994–2006 and 2006–2020 based on remote-sensing data. We identified 198 glaciers, comprising an area of 354.6 ± 8.5 km2, and classified them according to their size and morphology. The glaciers of the basin lost 4.2 ± 2.9% (0.16 ± 0.11% a−1) of their frontal area (from 368.6 ± 9.2 to 353.0 ± 5.3 km2) from 1994 to 2020. The average retreat rate was higher in the period 2006–2020 (13.3 ± 1.8 m a−1) in comparison to 1994–2006 (9.3 ± 1.9 m a−1). However, the area change rate was similar for the two periods (0.14 ± 0.27% a−1 for 1994–2006 and 0.16 ± 0.19% a−1 for 2006–2020). The debris-covered area has increased by 13.4 ± 4.4% from 1994 to 2020. A comparison with previous studies in UAB indicates consistent area loss of ~0.15% a−1 since the 1960s.
The surgical treatment of transposition of the great arteries, ventricular septal defect, and significant left ventricular outflow tract obstruction continues to evolve. The survival of an unrepaired transposition of the great arteries into late adulthood is a rarity. Even when large intracardiac shunts are present, it remains a lethal cyanotic CHD if it is not surgically corrected soon after birth. We present our experience of two cases, both of whom underwent a single-stage arterial switch operation and an aortic valve replacement for this defect.
In the twenty-first century, machine learning and deep learning have been successfully used to find hidden information from coarse-grained data in various domains. In Computer Vision, scientists have used neural networks to identify hidden pixel-level information from low-resolution (LR) image data. This approach of estimating high-resolution (HR) information from LR data is called the super-resolution (SR) approach. This approach has been borrowed by climate scientists to downscale coarse-level measurements of climate variables to obtain their local-scale projections. Climate variables are spatial in nature and can be represented as images where each pixel denotes a grid point where the variables can be measured. We can apply the deep learning-based SR techniques on such “images” for statistical downscaling of such variables. This approach of downscaling can be termed as deep downscaling. In this work, we have tried to make HR projection of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall by using a novel deep residual network called ResDeepD. The aim is to downscale the 10 × 10 low LR precipitation data to get the values at 0.250 × 0.250 resolution. The proposed model uses a series of skip connections across residual blocks to give better results as compared to the existing models like super-resolution convolutional neural network, DeepSD, and Nest-UNet that have been used previously for this task. We have also examined the model’s performance for downscaling rainfall during some extreme climatic events like cyclonic storms and deep depression and found that the model performs better than the existing models.
Compulsive buying behavior or pathological buying is increasingly being recognized as a psychiatric disorder, and various psychosocial factors have been proposed to contribute to this problem. This study aimed to identify the association between compulsive buying behavior, stress, anxiety, depression, and impulsivity.
Methods
This cross-sectional, online survey used Google Forms to collect sociodemographic and clinical details of the participants between June 2021 and August 2021. In addition, they were evaluated on Pathological Buying Screener, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 (DASS-21), and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale – Brief (BIS-Brief).
Results
Out of 426 participants with valid responses, 169 (39.7%) qualified for pathological buying. The participant groups “with” and “without” pathological buying were comparable on sociodemographic characteristics, the preferred mode of shopping, and daily Internet use duration. Those “with” pathological buying scored significantly higher on DASS-21 and BIS-Brief. Both DASS-21 and BIS-Brief scores were predictors of pathological buying scores.
Conclusions
There is a significant association between pathological buying, psychological distress, and impulsivity.
The effects of selection on developmental variants have not yet been rigorously investigated on variable prey quantities. We investigated the food exploitation strategy of first (F1) and fifteenth (F15) generation slow and fast developers of Propylea dissecta (Mulsant) in the presence of scarce and abundant quantities of pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), and its effect on adult body mass and reproductive attributes. Both selected slow developers and selected fast developers were higher in number than their counter unselected generation on scarce and abundant diets, respectively. Immature survivals of selected slow developers were depressed after the selection process while it was enhanced for selected fast developers on both diet regimes. On both diets, the total developmental duration was longer for selected slow developers and shorter for selected fast developers. Fecundity and percent egg viability were greater in selected fast developers with plentiful prey supply and lower in control slow developers with inadequate prey supply. More adult body mass was found for pre-selected slow developers than selected slow developers on a scarce diet but selected fast developers enhanced their body weight than unselected individuals of fast developers on an abundant diet. The present experimental evolution findings point to the presence and persistence of developmental variations with variability in their developmental and reproductive traits on allocating scarce and abundant prey supplies.
This work represents a circularly polarized implantable patch antenna operating at the ISM band (2.4–2.48 GHz) for biomedical applications. The presented patch antenna has a compact volume of 50 mm3 i.e., 10 × 10 × 0.5 mm3. All the Simulations have been carried out within homogeneous skin phantom and head scalp phantom. Miniaturization of antenna and enhancement of bandwidth is achieved by using various techniques described in this work. The designed patch antenna has wide axial ratio bandwidth of 20.08 and 15.44% inside scalp phantom and homogeneous skin phantom, respectively. Obtained impedance bandwidths are 56.79 and 49.75% inside scalp phantom and homogeneous skin phantom, respectively. At 2.45 GHz, obtained peak gains are −25.18 and −28.12 dB, respectively. The proposed antenna is enclosed in a biocompatible material to avoid direct contact with the human tissue. For patient safety concerns, simulated maximum specific absorption ratio values are also investigated and are under the limits of the IEEE standard. The allowable input power is also calculated in this work. Link budget analysis is used in this work to determine the far-field communication range of the designed antenna.
In this research article, a metasurface (MTS)-loaded high-gain and broadband circularly polarized (CP) monopole antenna is reported. The proposed antenna configuration consists of a symmetric Y-shaped radiating monopole over a partial ground plane with extended twin parasitic conducting strips (PCS) loaded with a MTS reflector. To achieve left-hand circular polarization characteristics, a metallic copper strip is utilized to short the partial ground plane with one of the twin PCS [PCS(L)]. By using the grid-slotted sub patches on a rectangular MTS a reflector of 2λfa × 1.65λfa × 0.02λfa is placed just below the monopole radiator at a height of 0.33λfa, which provides broadened impedance (IBW) and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) responses with high gain. The proposed prototype with an volumetric dimension of 1.33λfa × 0.9λfa × 0.02λfa at fa = 5 GHz is designed and characterized. It exhibits a measured IBW of 48.45% (3.57–5.89 GHz), ARBW of 25.25% (4.21–5.42 GHz), and CP gain of > 8.35 dBic with the antenna efficiency of > 75% in the desired operating frequency bands. The obtained performances of the proposed MTS antenna confirm its suitability for RF energy harvesting application.
A numerical insight into the radial displacement of two viscously stable reactants undergoing an infinitely fast chemical reaction is obtained. This work broadens the numerical knowledge about the interaction between chemical reaction and hydrodynamic instability. A suitable transformation is utilised to deal with an infinite dimensionless parameter and reduce computational cost. Viscous fingering instability originates when the product has a different viscosity than the reactants. We calculate the onset time $t_{on}$ when the instability begins to appear for different reactants by varying the log mobility ratio $R_c$ and the Péclet number $Pe$. Based on $t_{on}$, we divide the time domain into stable and unstable zones with respect to instability. This helps to characterise reactants so as to have a flow with/without instability. For a fixed $Pe$ and $\vert R_c \vert$, it is found that $t_{on}$ is early for $R_c > 0$ in contrast to the result for rectilinear displacement. This results in a wider stable zone for $R_c < 0$. Interestingly, it is found that the stable zone can be made independent of $Pe$ by using a careful rescaling and we obtain the dependence of the onset time of instability on $R_c$ and $Pe$ as $t_{on} \propto (\vert R_c\vert Pe^{\beta _1}-\beta _2)^{\beta _3}$ where the constant of proportionality and $\beta _i$, $i=1,2,3$, depend upon the sign of $R_c$. In the unstable zone, we find that the length of the fingers depends upon the sign of $R_c$, which is not observed for any radial displacement of reactants undergoing a slow or moderately fast chemical reaction.
The impact of a liquid drop on a solid surface involves many intertwined physical effects, and is influenced by drop velocity, surface tension, ambient pressure and liquid viscosity, among others. Experiments by Kolinski et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 112, no. 13, 2014b, p. 134501) show that the liquid–air interface begins to deviate away from the solid surface even before contact. They found that the lift-off of the interface starts at a critical time that scales with the square root of the kinematic viscosity of the liquid. To understand this, we study the approach of a liquid drop towards a solid surface in the presence of an intervening gas layer. We take a numerical approach to solve the Navier–Stokes equations for the liquid, coupled to the compressible lubrication equations for the gas, in two dimensions. With this approach, we recover the experimentally captured early time effect of liquid viscosity on the drop impact, but our results show that lift-off time and liquid kinematic viscosity have a more complex dependence than the square-root scaling relationship. We also predict the effect of interfacial tension at the liquid–gas interface on the drop impact, showing that it mediates the lift-off behaviour.
Between the sixth and the tenth century, India passed through a new phase of urbanization. This has been identified as the third urbanization in India, setting it apart from two earlier phases. The focus of historical investigations for this period has generally been on capital cities and royal centres, or centres of pilgrimage. Port cities have also received some attention. There are no exclusive studies on unplanned cities from this period other than the overview that a few historians provide. In this article, I am focusing on one of them, Sīyaḍoṇi in central India, in order to understand how urban centres developed in this period without being royal centres, places of pilgrimage or hubs of maritime trade. I propose that Sīyaḍoṇi emerged as a merchant town on an important trade route and its commerce-centred economy was reinforced by deep-seated practices of rent-seeking involving generation of income through ground rent, taxation and interest on loans.
Pietraszewski's model allows understanding group dynamics through the lens of evolved coalitionary psychology. This framework is particularly relevant to understanding group dynamics on social media platforms, where coalitions based on salience of group identity are prominent and generate unique frictions. We offer testable hypotheses derived from the model that may help to shed light on social media behavior.
Protection of biodiversity requires inclusive and gender-responsive programming. Evidence of success in engaging women in large carnivore conservation remains scarce, however, although women play an important role in caring for livestock at risk of predation and could contribute to large-carnivore conservation. We aimed to assess the performance of an income-generation and skills-building programme for women in Spiti Valley (India) that sought to engage women in local conservation action. Annual programme monitoring together with a one-time survey of attitudes, perceptions and social norms in eight communities exposed to the conservation programme and seven ‘control’ communities revealed: a keen interest and increasing levels of women’s participation over 7 years of programme operation; participant reports of multiple programme benefits including additional personal income, social networking and travel opportunities; and more positive attitudes towards snow leopards among programme participants than among non-participants in the control communities. Women from programme communities recorded in their diaries 33 self-directed conservation actions including improving livestock protection and preventing wildlife poaching. These results show a way forward to purposively engage women in conservation programming towards achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes in efforts to promote carnivore–human coexistence.
To quantify the mediating role of childhood diets in the relationship between maternal diets prior to pregnancy and childhood behavioural disorders.
Design:
The Healthy Eating Index score was constructed using a semi-quantitative and validated 101-item FFQ. We assessed childhood behavioural disorders using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Three dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis to explore childhood dietary patterns (high fats and sugar; prudent diets; and diary). A causal inference framework for mediation analysis was used to quantify the mediating role of childhood diets in the association between pre-pregnancy diets and the risk of offspring behavioural problems.
Setting:
This is a national representative population-based survey which covers all Australian citizens and permanent residents in Australia.
Participants:
We included 1448 mother–child pairs from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health and its sub-study mothers and their children’s health.
Results:
We found a 20 % of the total effect of the poor adherence to pre-pregnancy diet quality on the risk of offspring behavioural problems was mediated through childhood high consumptions of fats and sugar. No clear mediating effect through prudent and diary childhood diets was observed.
Conclusion:
This study suggests that childhood high fats and sugar consumption may contribute to the total effects of the pre-pregnancy diets on the risk of childhood behavioural problems.
Rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis is a rapidly progressive disease with high mortality rates of about 60 per cent. The increasing incidence of rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis in coronavirus disease 2019 patients in India and worldwide has become a matter of concern owing to the case fatality rate. This study explored the use of low dose aspirin in decreasing the mortality rate of coronavirus disease 2019 associated mucormycosis.
Method
This was a retrospective observational study. Patients suffering from post-coronavirus disease 2019 mucormycosis were included in the study. Each patient was treated with surgical debridement and systemic amphotericin B. Low dose aspirin was added, and mortality rates were compared with the patients who did not receive aspirin.
Results
The demographic data and rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis staging between the two groups were not significantly different. There was a statistically significant difference in mortality outcomes between the two groups (p = 0.029) and a 1.77 times higher risk of dying for patients not receiving aspirin. Kaplan–Meier survival indicated that patients receiving aspirin had better survival rates (p = 0.04).