The prospective effects of workplace violence on physicians' job satisfaction and turnover intentions: the buffering effect of job control

Background: Health care professionals, including physicians, are at high risk of encountering workplace violence. At the same time physician turnover is an increasing problem that threatens the functioning of the health care sector worldwide. The present study examined the prospective associations of work-related physical violence and bullying with physicians’ turnover intentions and job satisfaction. In addition, we tested whether job control would modify these associations.

Methods: The present study was a 4-year longitudinal survey study, with data gathered in 2006 and 2010.The present sample included 1515 (61% women) Finnish physicians aged 25–63 years at baseline. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were conducted while adjusting for gender, age, baseline levels, specialisation status, and employment sector.

Results: The results of covariance analyses showed that physical violence led to increased physician turnover intentions and that both bullying and physical violence led to reduced physician job satisfaction even after adjustments. We also found that opportunities for job control were able to alleviate the increase in turnover intentions resulting from bullying.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that workplace violence is an extensive problem in the health care sector and may lead to increased turnover and job dissatisfaction. Thus, health care organisations should approach this problem through different means, for example, by giving health care employees more opportunities to control their own work.

Is Brand Equity an Asset or a Liability in Brand Harm Crisis? Buffering and Amplifying Effects and Contingent Conditions

Brand harm crisis often result in negative consumer responses. This thesis addresses the buffering and amplifying theoretical perspectives of brand equity effects. We theorize that brand equity may interplay with the nature of brand-harm crisis in shaping consumer reactions. Results from focus group studies provide interesting insights into the amplifying and buffering effects. Moreover, research findings from two experiment studies show that brand equity amplifies consumer negative responses in a performance-related crisis but only when the crisis is extremely severe. When the crisis becomes less severe, the amplifying effect diminishes from outset. However, in a value-related crisis, the amplifying effect of brand equity is pervasive regardless of the level of crisis severity. The current thesis adds to the extant literature by demonstrating that brand equity can have very complex effects on consumer responses, which are contingent on the severity and domain of a crisis. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Modelling and validation of Lactobacillus plantarum fermentations in cereal-based media with different sugar concentrations and buffering capacities

An unstructured mathematical model is proposed to describe the fermentation kinetics of growth, lactic acid production, pH and sugar consumption by Lactobacillus plantarum as a function of the buffering capacity and initial glucose concentration of the culture media. Initially the experimental data of L plantarum fermentations in synthetic media with different buffering capacity and glucose were fitted to a set of primary models. Later the parameters obtained from these models were used to establish mathematical relationships with the independent variables tested. The models were validated with 6 fermentations of L. plantarum in different cereal-based media. In most cases the proposed models adequately describe the biochemical changes taking place during fermentation and are a promising approach for the formulation of cereal-based probiotic foods. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A buffering layer to support derived types and proprietary networks for Java HPC

MPJ Express is our implementation of MPI-like bindings for Java. In this paper we discuss our intermediate buffering layer that makes use of the so-called direct byte buffers introduced in the Java New I/O package. The purpose of this layer is to support the implementation of derived datatypes. MPJ Express is the first Java messaging library that implements this feature using pure Java. In addition, this buffering layer allows efficient implementation of communication devices based on proprietary networks such as Myrinet. In this paper we evaluate the performance of our buffering layer and demonstrate the usefulness of direct byte buffers. Also, we evaluate the performance of MPJ Express against other messaging systems using Myrinet and show that our buffering layer has made it possible to avoid the overheads suffered by other Java systems such as mpiJava that relies on the Java Native Interface.

A buffering layer to support derived types and proprietary networks for Java HPC

MPJ Express is our implementation of MPI-like bindings for Java. In this paper we discuss our intermediate buffering layer that makes use of the so-called direct byte buffers introduced in the Java New I/O package. The purpose of this layer is to support the implementation of derived datatypes. MPJ Express is the first Java messaging library that implements this feature using pure Java. In addition, this buffering layer allows efficient implementation of communication devices based on proprietary networks such as Myrinet. In this paper we evaluate the performance of our buffering layer and demonstrate the usefulness of direct byte buffers. Also, we evaluate the performance of MPJ Express against other messaging systems using Myrinet and show that our buffering layer has made it possible to avoid the overheads suffered by other Java systems such as mpiJava that relies on the Java Native Interface.

Buffering of recovery from acidification by organic acids

In the United Kingdom, as in other regions of Europe and North America, recent decreases in surface water sulphate concentrations, due to reduced sulphur emissions, have coincided with marked increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. Since many of the compounds comprising DOC are acidic, the resulting increases in organic acidity may have the potential to offset the benefits of a decrease in mineral (sulphate) acidity. To test this, we used a triprotic model of organic acid dissociation to estimate the proportional organic acid buffering of reduced mineral acidity as measured in the 22 lakes and streams monitored by the UK Acid Waters Monitoring Network. For an average non-marine sulphate decrease of 30 μeq l− 1 over 15 years from 1988–2003, we estimate that around 28% was counterbalanced by rising strong organic acids, 20% by rising alkalinity (partly attributable to an increase in weak organic acids), 11% by falling inorganic aluminium and 41% by falling non-marine base cations. The situation is complicated by a concurrent decrease in marine ion concentrations, and the impact this may have had on both DOC and acidity, but results clearly demonstrate that organic acid increases have substantially limited the amount of recovery from acidification (in terms of rising alkalinity and falling aluminium) that have resulted from reducing sulphur emissions. The consistency and magnitude of sulphate and organic acid changes are consistent with a causal link between the two, possibly due to the effects of changing acidity, ionic strength and aluminium concentrations on organic matter solubility. If this is the case, then organic acids can be considered effective but partial buffers to acidity change in organic soils, and this mechanism needs to be considered in assessing and modelling recovery from acidification, and in defining realistic reference conditions. However, large spatial variations in the relative magnitude of organic acid and sulphate changes, notably for low-deposition sites in northwestern areas where organic acid increases apparently exceed non-marine sulphate decreases, suggest that additional factors, such as changes in sea-salt deposition and climatic factors, may be required to explain the full magnitude of DOC increases in UK surface waters.

Phosphate forms in plant and their internal buffering in five soybean cultivars

Diferenças inter e intra-específicas na habilidade de suportar períodos de estresse nutricional podem dever-se à capacidade de armazenar e liberar íons dos vacúolos, e, ou, à intensidade de retranslocação de nutrientes em tais condições. Neste trabalho, pretendeu-se avaliar diferenças varietais quanto ao tamanho do pool não-metabólico de Pi; velocidade de liberação do Pi previamente armazenado (VLPi), quando o P citoplasmático cai a um valor limite; capacidade de transportar Pi de regiões menos ativas para aquelas mais ativas metabolicamente e definir compartimentos que são preferencialmente fontes e os que são preferencialmente drenos para o Pi, em condições de absorção limitada de P. Avaliaram-se a produção de matéria seca e os teores internos de Pi, orgânico (Po) e total solúvel em ácido (Pts), de diferentes órgãos de plantas dos cultivares de soja (Glycine max L. Merrill) Santa Rosa, Uberaba, IAC8, Doko e UFV1, submetidos a oito dias de omissão do elemento. A VLPi foi estimada como tangente às equações obtidas para Pi como função do perído de omissão no ponto médio do período de omissão em que houve maior decréscimo em Pi (zero a quatro dias de omissão de P), t = dois dias, considerando-se que -deltaPi/deltat expressa a velocidade de liberação de Pi. A capacidade interna de tamponamento de Pi (CTIPi) foi calculada como o inverso da VLPi. O cultivar Santa Rosa apresentou maior capacidade de armazenar Pi, quando o suprimento externo foi alto, liberando-o mais intensamente sob condições de baixo suprimento de P que os cultivares IAC8 e UFV1. O cultivar Uberaba mostrou-se superior ao Doko em sua habilidade de armazenar e utilizar o Pi. Folhas superiores mostraram ser o principal dreno para o Pi armazenado em folhas medianas e inferiores, seguidas por raízes e caules. Raízes comportaram-se como fontes ou drenos para o Pi. Raízes e folhas superiores apresentaram maiores (VLPi) e menores valores de CTIPi que folhas medianas e folhas inferiores, sendo o caule o compartimento com menor VLPi e maior CTIPi. Dentre as variedades, as diferenças foram pequenas, destacando-se a maior VLPi e menor CTIPi do cultivar Santa Rosa. O cultivar Doko apresentou a menor VLPi e maior CTIPi, enquanto Uberaba, IAC8 e UFV1 ocuparam posição intermediária quanto a essas características.

A Novel Fiber Delay Line Buffering Architecture for Optical Packet Switching

Due to the lack of optical random access memory, optical fiber delay line (FDL) is currently the only way to implement optical buffering. Feed-forward and feedback are two kinds of FDL structures in optical buffering. Both have advantages and disadvantages. In this paper, we propose a more effective hybrid FDL architecture that combines the merits of both schemes. The core of this switch is the arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and the tunable wavelength converter (TWC). It requires smaller optical device sizes and fewer wavelengths and has less noise than feedback architecture. At the same time, it can facilitate preemptive priority routing which feed-forward architecture cannot support. Our numerical results show that the new switch architecture significantly reduces packet loss probability.

Tuning remoto di filtering, pre-processing e buffering per scenari internet of things

La tesi propone una soluzione middleware per scenari in cui i sensori producono un numero elevato di dati che è necessario gestire ed elaborare attraverso operazioni di preprocessing, filtering e buffering al fine di migliorare l'efficienza di comunicazione e del consumo di banda nel rispetto di vincoli energetici e computazionali. E'possibile effettuare l'ottimizzazione di questi componenti attraverso operazioni di tuning remoto.

Maximizing Product Formation and Minimizing Degradation: A Look at Buffering Conditions and Post-Reaction Degradation for the In-Line Jaffe Reaction with Capillary Electrophoresis

Creatinine levels in blood serum are typically used to assess renal function. Clinical determination of creatinine is often based on the Jaffe reaction, in which creatinine in the serum reacts with sodium picrate, resulting in a spectrophotometrically quantifiable product. Previous work from our lab has introduced an electrophoretically mediated initiation of this reaction, in which nanoliter plugs of individual reagent solutions can be added to the capillary and then mixed and reacted. Following electrophoretic separation of the product from excess reactant(s), the product can be directly determined on column. This work aims to gain a detailed understanding of the in-capillary reagent mixing dynamics, in-line reaction yield, and product degradation during electrophoresis, with an overall goal of improving assay sensitivity. One set of experiments focuses on maximizing product formation through manipulation of various conditions such as pH, voltage applied, and timing of the applied voltage, in addition to manipulations in the identity, concentration, and pH of the background electrolyte. Through this work, it was determined that dramatic changes in local voltage fields within the various reagent zones lead to ineffective reagent overlapping. Use of the software simulation program Simul 5 enabled visualization of the reaction dynamics within the capillary, specifically the wide variance between the electric field intensities within the creatinine and picrate zones. Because of this simulation work, the experimental method was modified to increase the ionic strength of the creatinine reagent zone to lower the local voltage field, thus producing more predictable and effective overlap conditions for the reagents and allowing the formation of more Jaffe product. As second set of experiments focuses on controlling the post-reaction product degradation. In that vein, we have systematically explored the importance of the identity, concentration, and pH of the background electrolyte on the post-reaction degradation rate of the product. Although prior work with borate background electrolytes indicated that product degradation was probably a function of the ionic strength of the background electrolyte, this work with a glycine background electrolyte demonstrates that degradation is in fact not a function of ionic strength of the background electrolyte. As the concentration and pH of the glycine background increased, the rate of degradation of product did not change dramatically, whereas in borate-buffered systems, the rate of Jaffe product degradation increased linearly with background electrolyte concentration above 100.0 mM borate. Similarly, increasing pH of the glycine background electrolyte did not result in a corresponding increase in product degradation, as it had with the borate background electrolyte. Other general trends that were observed include: increasing background electrolyte concentration increases peak efficiency and higher pH favors product formation; thus, it appears that use of a background electrolyte other than borate, such as glycine, the rate of degradation of the Jaffe product can be slowed, increasing the sensitivity of this in-line assay.

Comparison of three strip-type tests and two laboratory methods for salivary buffering analysis

This study evaluated the correlation between three strip-type, colorimetric tests and two laboratory methods with respect to the analysis of salivary buffering. The strip-type tests were saliva-check buffer, Dentobuff strip and CRT(®) Buffer test. The laboratory methods included Ericsson's laboratory method and a monotone acid/base titration to create a reference scale for the salivary titratable acidity. Additionally, defined buffer solutions were prepared and tested to simulate the carbonate, phosphate and protein buffer systems of saliva. The correlation between the methods was analysed by the Spearman's rank test. Disagreement was detected between buffering capacity values obtained with three strip-type tests that was more pronounced in case of saliva samples with medium and low buffering capacities. All strip-type tests were able to assign the hydrogencarbonate, di-hydrogenphosphate and 0.1% protein buffer solutions to the correct buffer categories. However, at 0.6% total protein concentrations, none of the test systems worked accurately. Improvements are necessary for strip-type tests because of certain disagreement with the Ericsson's laboratory method and dependence on the protein content of saliva.