As automation and structural transformations mark the new digital realities of the twenty first century, contemporary organizations demand a highly resilient and engaged workforce to sustain their ...competitive edge. Despite an eminent literature revolving around learning organization in the management discourse, there is a lack of research investigating the effect of learning organization on employee resilience and work engagement. With this precept in mind, this study developed and tested a mediation model linking learning organization to employee resilience and work engagement. The present study draws on the tenets of Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory and conservation of resource theory for supporting the study results. This study used cross sectional surveys of 300 IT professionals in India. Structural equation modeling was used for empirically testing the study hypotheses. Additionally, the study utilized Preacher and Hayes mediation analyses to investigate the mediating effect of employee resilience on the relationship between learning organization and work engagement. The results revealed significant relationship between variables of the study and shows that learning organization positively effect employee resilience and work engagement. The findings suggest that employee resilience partially mediate the effect of learning organization on work engagement. This study offers concrete insights to HR managers for fostering employee resilience which in turn can play a key role in building a highly engaged workforce. Future implications for theory and HRM practitioners are discussed.
Executive Summary
With incessant global competition, technological innovations, organizational restructuring, and turbulent business environment, contemporary organizations need resilient employees, ...who in turn are capable to face unprecedented changes and adapt successfully to challenging roles, tasks, and situations ( Shin, Taylor, & Seo, 2012 ). Consequently, this necessitates a validated employee-centric measure of resilience for assisting the organizations in fostering and measuring employee resilience development, which would enable employees to meet the challenges and growing work demands ( Hodliffe, 2014 , The development and validation of the employee resilience scale (EmpRes): The conceptualisation of a new model (Doctoral dissertation), New Zealand: University of Canterbury; Masten, 2001 , American Psychologist, 56(3), 227; Winwood, Colon, & McEwen, 2013 , Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 55(10), 1205–1212). To address this gap, the study assessed the psychometric properties of the ‘resilience at work’ (RAW) scale.
The study sample comprised employees working in IT organizations operating in the Indian National Capital Region (NCR). The study is based on cross-sectional questionnaire responses from 546 Indian employees working in the IT industry. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the factorial validity followed by an analysis of convergent and discriminant validity of the scale items. To evaluate the convergent validity, this study utilized three standard criteria which are standard factor loadings, composite reliability, and average variance extracted (AVE) ( Anderson & Gerbing, 1988 , Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423). In addition, the study tested the nomological validity of the RAW scale.
The study results reveal that the RAW scale exhibits high reliability and the results of CFA validated the seven-factor model of the RAW scale. The results of CFA and reliability of the scale demonstrate that the scale can be utilized to develop and measure resilience among Indian employees. Furthermore, the results of the nomological validity exhibit a significant relationship between resilience and work engagement. This study offers significant implications for both researchers and HRD practitioners. The study provides preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the scale in t he Indian organizational context and signifies its potential for the cross-cultural implementations. The RAW scale, thence, can be utilized by organizations as a validated tool for measuring and developing resilience among employees.
To present the association between mutations affecting the Wnt-signaling receptor protein (FZD4), inherited vitreoretinopathies, and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).
Retrospective analysis of ...prospective samples at a tertiary referral center.
Patients referred to our practice for management of a variety of pediatric vitreoretinopathies were offered participation in an ophthalmic biobank (421 participants with vitreoretinopathies were included in this study). Full-term healthy infants (n = 98) were recruited to the study as controls.
Patients with various vitreoretinopathies were prospectively enrolled in an ophthalmic biobank, approved by the Human Investigation Committee at William Beaumont Hospital. Retrospective genetic analysis of the FZD4 gene was performed (Sanger sequencing). Participants with a diagnosis of familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), Norrie disease, Coats' disease, bilateral persistent fetal vasculature, and ROP were reviewed for the presence of a FZD4 variant. Data retrieval included status of retinopathy (including staging when possible), gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW) (when available), and family and birth histories.
The association of FZD4 variants with the presence of vitreoretinopathy.
The sequence variation p.P33S(;)P168S is the most prevalent FZD4 variant and is statistically significant for ROP and FEVR (P = 4.6E-04 and P = 2.4E-03, respectively) compared with full-term newborns (P = 1.7E-01). In addition, infants expressing the sequence variation tended to have significantly lower BWs for respective GA (P = 0.04). This suggests that the FZD4 p.P33S(;)P168S variant may be a risk factor for retinopathy and restricted intrauterine growth.
Testing for FZD4 gene mutations is useful in patients with suspected FEVR and ROP. The relatively high prevalence of the p.P33S(;)P168S variant in ROP and intrauterine growth restriction suggests that it also may be a marker for increased risk of developing ROP and preterm birth.
This study describes the long-term visual and anatomic outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) treatment using a treat and extend dosing regimen.
This cross-sectional cohort study ...consisted of 224 treatment-naïve eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD) from 202 patients that were treated with anti-VEGF agents bevacizumab, ranibizumab, and aflibercept using a treat and extend (TAE) regimen by four physician investigators in a large urban referral center from 2008 to 2015. Subjects were evaluated for visual acuity, injection frequency, and optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Over a seven-year follow-up period (mean 3.4 years), an average 20.2
14.7 injections were administered with 8.4 injections in the first year and 5.5 injections by the seventh year of remaining eyes undergoing treatment. Visual acuity was 0.70 logMAR (20/100 Snellen) at the first visit and 0.67 logMAR (20/93 Snellen) at the final visit, with 74% of eyes maintaining or gaining more than 2 lines of vision. Long-term, 45.1% of eyes achieved 20/50 or better, while 27.1% were 20/200 or worse. Of the treated patients, 61.2% received monotherapy with no difference in visual acuity outcomes or number of injections between the agents used. OCT analysis showed decreased fluid from initial to final follow-up visit: 70.1-15.6% with sub-retinal fluid (SRF) and 47.3-18.8% with intra-retinal fluid (IRF) with no difference between the agents were used.
This study demonstrates that most patients (74%) improve or maintain visual acuity long-term using a TAE model with a significant portion (45.1%) achieving 20/50 or better visual acuity with sustained treatment.
Executive Summary
With increased popularity of positive psychology, there is a greater emphasis on exploring positive human resource strengths to address the workplace challenges and augment ...organizational performance. Previous research suggests that resilience positively relates to desired employee attitudes, behaviours, and performance such as organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). However, it would be intriguing to understand the underlying mechanism of resilience-OCB relationship. Towards this, the study examines the mediating role of organizational commitment.
In the light of identified research gaps, the study explores the mechanism of the relationship between resilience and OCB in the context of Indian organizations. The study sample comprised employees (N = 345) working in the manufacturing industries of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in India. Data were collected with the help of self-administered questionnaires through systematic random sampling. A model was developed and tested in which the effects of resilience on OCB were hypothesized to be mediated by organizational commitment. The hypotheses testing was done using hierarchical multiple regression and for testing the mediating effects, bootstrapping in SPSS was used.
The results provide empirical evidence for the positive relationship between resilience and OCB. Also, the results emphasize that resilience influence organizational commitment as well. As hypothesized, results have also supported the mediating effect of organizational commitment in the relationship between resilience and OCB, explaining the underlying mechanism of resilience-OCB relationship. The mediation is partial which means that resilience influences OCB directly as well as indirectly through organizational commitment.
The study offers significant advancements for both resilience and OCB research. The results also offer direction to organizations which desire to stimulate and maintain employee outcomes in their organizations for competitive advantage. Employee outcomes in organizations can be improved by developing resilience among its employees. Implications of promoting resilience at workplace are discussed.
Use of nano‐materials as lubricant additives is gaining tremendous importance due to their capabilities in enhancing the tribo‐performance. The nano‐particles of various elements and compounds are ...efficiently blended in mineral base oils enhancing their physico‐chemical as well as tribological properties. However, in recent times due to the environmental concerns, focus is being shifted toward bio based lubricants. Bio lubricants are obtained from plant oil by various chemical modification techniques. They are environment friendly, biodegradable and have better lubricating properties than the mineral oil based counterparts. The major challenge however for these lubricants is the selection of appropriate additives. The commercial additives developed for mineral base oils are generally toxic and not suitable for the Biolubricants. In this context, the present paper attempts to investigate the efficacy of Cu nano‐particles as additive for Biolubricants. The non‐edible karanja oil has been chemically modified to karanja ester and used as biolubricant. The functionalized Cu nano‐particles have been blended in various concentrations in biolubricant and the tribological performance investigated using four ball tribo‐tester. In order to ascertain the efficacy of Cu nano‐particles as additives, the tribo‐performance of Cu nano‐particle blended biolubricant has been compared with that of Zinc dialkyl dithio phosphate (ZDDP) blended biolubricant in equal concentrations. ZDDP is a conventional commercially available multi‐purpose additive that enhances the tribo‐performance of lubricating oils. The comparative study of experimental results showed that ZDDP helps in enhancing the anti‐wear performance of bio‐lubricant while the Cu nano‐particles aided in enhancement of anti‐friction behavior of biolubricant.
Bowen's disease is an intraepidermal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), also termed as carcinoma in situ. It usually occurs in 6th–8th decades of life, predominantly in the head-and-neck area.1 It ...presents as well-defined gradually progressing erythematous patches or plaques with scaly or crusted surface.2 Early diagnosis and treatment are required as it has the risk of progression to invasive SCC. We herewith report a case of retroauricular Bowen's disease considering the rarity of the site being involved and to depict the successful therapeutic response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) cream.
The main objective of the study is to empirically explain the relationship between the construct mindfulness (MDF) and the job performance (JP) of employees. This study also examines the mediating ...effect of basic need satisfaction at work (BNS-W), between the MDF and JP of employees. The sample comprises responses from 327 employees working in IT companies based in India. Correlation and hierarchical regression analysis were employed to analyze the proposed measurement model. The results show a significant relationship among the study variables. BNS which is one of the concepts of self-determination theory (SDT), found partially mediated the relationship between MDF and JP of the employees. Examining the relationship between MDF and basic psychological need satisfaction on the JP has significant implications for organizations. The proposed study framework can be utilized by the researchers and human resource practitioner to reframe the organizational practices. First, the general understanding of the relationship between MDF and JP is limited in literature. Second, the study extends the previous research by investigating the mediating effect of BNS, a concept within SDT, on the relationship between MDF and JP.
Wild species are weedy relatives and progenitors of cultivated crops, usually maintained in their centres of origin. They are rich sources of diversity as they possess many agriculturally important ...traits. In this study, we analysed 25 wild species and 5 U triangle species of
for their potential tolerance against heat and drought stress during germination and in order to examine the early seedling stage. We identified the germplasms based on the mean membership function value (MFV), which was calculated from the tolerance index of shoot length, root length, and biochemical analysis. The study revealed that
(GSC-6) could withstand high temperatures and drought. Other genotypes that were tolerant to the impact of heat stress were
(RBT 2002),
,
(Rawa),
, and
(PC-6).
resisted drought but did not perform well when subjected to high temperatures. Tolerance to drought was observed in
(Spain),
(RBT 2003),
(late),
,
(EC694145),
(EC400058) and
(Pusa Jaikisan). This investigation contributes to germplasm characterization and the identification of the potential source of abiotic stress tolerance in the Brassica breeding programme. These identified genotypes can be potential sources for transferring the gene(s)/genomic regions that determine tolerance to the elite cultivars.
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