Higher Hierarchical Levels Research Articles

Social networks, psychological empowerment, and work outcomes: mediating role of psychological empowerment dimensions on the relations between social networks, job dedication, and individual creativity

In this study, we linked social networks with work related outcomes. We tested dimensions of psychological empowerment as mediators between internal bonding networks, external bridging networks, job dedication and individual creativity with random coefficient modelling using Mplus 7. With a sample of 317 higher hierarchical level employees and their supervisors, it has been found, competence and self-determination dimensions of empowerment mediate the relationship between internal bonding networks and job dedication and between external bridging networks and job dedication. Meaning, competence and self-determination dimensions of psychological empowerment mediate the relationship between internal bonding networks and individual creativity and between external bridging networks and individual creativity. Contrary to our prediction, impact dimension of psychological empowerment was not significant with internal bonding networks and external bridging networks. Our findings suggest that membership of social networks enhance empowerment perceptions of employees which in turn enhance their dedication towards job and their individual level creativity.

Social control and transparency of state power: to state the problem of deconstruction of the state in the social discourse of liberalism and neo-liberalism

Liberalism and neo-liberalism considered as two fundamental ideologies of the present, which review the state from the perspective of its unproductive influence on society. The state as the centralizing power in these ideologies often appears as a totalitarian monster that restricts market competition, adversely affects human rights, in every way attempts to usurp administrative resources and create different monopolies. All these phenomena estimated in liberal ideology as an inevitable social evil. That is why the topic of deconstruction of state power in the liberal ideological discourse often actualized.The nexus paradigm common to liberalism shared by neoliberalism, whose theorists are looking at the state as a tool for securing the privileges of those social groups that are already at the highest hierarchical levels in the stratification system.In Ukraine, we do not have to deal with a similar liberal and neo-liberal consistency, since the tendencies in the state genesis not so much related to a market economy and a democratic society, but to feudal renovations. The latter determine the reverse of the deconcentration and decentralization of the growth of the power resource, which the state tries to increase, if not reduce, when it is possible.However, in many aspects from a scientific point of view, there is reason to speak about the crisis of statehood due to the reduction of social efficiency of state power. This reduced efficiency for the society manifested in the substantial criminalization of the ruling elites, unproductive consumption, corruption practices, multiple theft and misuse of budget funds, low effectiveness of assistance to socially vulnerable groups of the population.For Ukrainian sociology, the very formation of the problem of state deconstruction seems, although premature, but quite possible in connection with the breakthrough crisis events that may arise due to regional separatism, the inability to pay debt, the growth of corruption to a level that would lead to the delegitimization of the state increasing centrifugal tendencies. The above gives grounds to assert that the problem of crisis and deconstruction of the state is now a terra incognita for Ukrainian sociology and may therefore be considered as an interesting subject of analytical research.

Gene network analysis of poplar root transcriptome in response to drought stress identifies a PtaJAZ3PtaRAP2.6-centered hierarchical network.

Using time-series transcriptomic data from poplar roots undergoing polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced drought stress, we built a genetic network model of the involved putative molecular responses. We found that the network resembled a hierarchical structure. The highest hierarchical level in this structure is occupied by 9 genes, which we called superhubs because they were primarily connected to 18 hub genes, which are then connected to 2,934 terminal genes. We were only able to regenerate transgenic plants overexpressing two of the superhubs, suggesting that the majority of the superhubs might interfere with the regeneration process and did not allow recovery of transgenic plants. The two superhubs encode proteins with closest homology to JAZ3 and RAP2.6 genes of Arabidopsis and were consequently named PtaJAZ3 and PtaRAP2.6. PtaJAZ3 and PtaRAP2.6 overexpressing transgenic lines showed a significant increase in both root elongation and lateral root proliferation and these responses were specific for the drought stress conditions and were highly correlated with the levels of overexpression of the transgenes. Several lines of evidence suggest of regulatory interactions between the two superhubs. Both superhubs were significantly induced by methyl jasmonate (MeJA). Because jasmonate signaling involves ubiquitin-mediated proteasome degradation, treatment with proteasome inhibitor abolished the MeJA induction for both genes. PtaRAP2.6 was upregulated in PtaJAZ3 transgenics but PtaJAZ3 expression was not affected in the PtaRAP2.6 overexpressors. The discovery of the two genes and further future insights into the associated mechanisms can lead to improved understanding and novel approaches to regulate root architecture in relation to drought stress.

Social, Environmental and Behavioral Determinants of Asthma Symptoms in Brazilian Middle School Students-A National School Health Survey (Pense 2012).

Biological and psychosocial factors are recognized contributors to the worldwide burden of asthma. However, the relationship between psychosocial factors and asthma symptoms among students in low- and middle-income countries remains underexplored. We aimed to identify socioeconomic, environmental, psychosocial, family-related and lifestyle factors associated with the self-reporting of asthma symptoms in Brazilian adolescents. This is a cross-sectional study using data from the 2012 PeNSE survey (n = 109,104). We analyzed the following variables: socioeconomic conditions, demographic characteristics, lifestyle, family context and dynamics, psychosocial indicators, smoking, and exposure to violence. Our outcome variable was the self-report of asthma symptoms in the past 12 months. The prevalence of wheezing was 22.7% (21.5–23.9). After adjusting for sex, age and the variables from higher hierarchical levels, exposure to violence (feeling unsafe at school, being frequently bullied, being exposed to fights with firearms) and physical aggression by an adult in the family were the environmental factors that showed the strongest associations with self-reporting of asthma symptoms. For psychosocial indicators of mental health and social integration, feelings of loneliness and sleeping problems were the strongest factors, and among individual behavioral factors, the largest associations were found for tobacco consumption. Our findings were consistent with previous studies, showing an association between self-reported asthma symptoms and socio-economic status, family context and dynamics, psychosocial indicators of mental health, exposure to violence and social integration, as well as a sedentary lifestyle and tobacco use.

The myth of racial democracy in the labour market: a critical analysis of the participation of afro-descendants in brazilian companies

ABSTRACT This research sought to identify the participation of different races in organizations and to investigate the opportunities for black people, in terms of employability and professional growth, in Brazil. To meet this objective, documentary research was undertaken with 117 companies, which are among the 500 largest in Brazil. The results indicated that racial democracy is a myth in our society, hence the need to move forward with social policies that minimize inequalities between white and black people in the most significant company positions. The process of producing and reproducing racism continues to restrict the of black people to the highest hierarchical levels. In order to achieve equality for black people in the labour market, we must evolve from social policies of ‘good intentions’ to the concept of praxis and be positioned among the benchmarks of militant sociology, establishing a set of affirmative government policies, accompanied by practices that encourage diversity in companies and denounce ideologies which reinforce the myth of racial democracy.

Institutional Support of the Renewable Energy Industry in Ukraine

The article considers the institutional aspect of the renewable power industry development in Ukraine as a complex of formal and informal institutions, certain rules that actively influence the development and implementation of technologies. The development of the renewable energy industry through institutional transformations should be at the highest hierarchical level. The factors hindering the development of renewable energy sources (RES) are highlighted and systematized. In order to eliminate these factors, significant institutional changes that can not be carried out outside targeted state policies are needed, including financial support for the industry, the elimination of regulatory barriers, and the formation of demand for equipment by the strengthening of environmental norms and other tools for stimulating the development of renewable energy power industry and coordination of energy market participants. Key segments that influence the development of RES are formulated. Certain institutional transformations are needed for qualitative development of renewable energy power industry in Ukraine. Necessary institutional changes in energy supply, and now the state needs to systematize and harmonize the RES-policy. Institutional transformations are reduced to the problems of the development of renewable energy power industry in Ukraine, the ways of their solution are determined. The actions of economic entities in the economic space with the distribution (regulation) of each of them for the stable functioning of the system, which are the basis of the institutional relationship of renewable energy sources in Ukraine for the purpose of energy saving, are presented.

SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BELIEVERS AND NON-BELIEVERS, SERVING THEIR SENTENCES (AS ILLUSTRATED BY CHRISTIANITY)

The object of the work was the research of religiousness as the factor affecting on nature of punishment, future plans, view of life and self-concept. In the work were used the following research methods: personal psychological characteristic examination, assessment of convicted person by the staff, social diagnostics of such factors as conscience of guilt, attitude toward punishment and punishment administration analysis.There were revealed trends in the study testifying an influence of religiousness on persons serving their sentences. Thus, religiousness is a trigger for correctional facility adaptation because there is a decrease of offences and violations of custodial control. Psychological diagnosis showed that the religious have higher opinion of themselves than the irreligious. 63, 2% of the religious have high or average level of inherent value and only 42, 9% of the irreligious have such level of inherent value. The faith promotes positive attitude to life and lower rate of depression among the religious testifies this. Religious convicted persons’ aim in life is to realize their moral standards of higher hierarchical level and this is a favorable background for their life after deinstitutionalization.Thus, research of religiousness as the factor affecting on convicted persons serving their prison terms has showed positive influence of faith on nature of punishment, future plans after deinstitutionalization, view of life and self-concept.

Consistency in land‐cover mapping: Influence of field workers, spatial scale and classification system

AbstractQuestionsLand‐cover maps are used for nature management, but can they be trusted? This study addresses three questions: (1) what is the magnitude of between field worker inconsistencies in land‐cover maps and what may cause such inconsistencies; (2) in which ways and to what extent do spatial scale and mapping system influence inconsistencies between maps; and (3) are some biomes mapped more consistently than others, and if so, why?LocationGravfjellet, Øystre Slidre municipality, southern Norway.MethodsTwo different mapping systems, designed for mapping at different spatial scales, were used for parallel mapping by three different field workers, giving a total of six maps for the study area. Spatial consistency of the resulting maps was compared at two hierarchical levels for both systems.ResultsThe average pair‐wise spatial consistency at the highest hierarchical level was 83% for both systems, while the average pair‐wise spatial consistency at the lowest hierarchical level was 60.3% for the coarse system and 43.8% for the detailed system. Inconsistencies between maps were partly caused by the use of different land‐cover units and partly by spatial displacement.ConclusionsField workers made different maps despite using the same mapping systems, materials and methods. The differences were larger at lower hierarchical levels in the mapping systems and increased strongly with system complexity. Consistency among field workers should be estimated as a standard quality indicator in all field‐based mapping programmes.

Virtually optical information verification with a hierarchical structure

A virtually optical system with a hierarchical structure is designed for optical verification. At each hierarchical level, two phase-only masks are alternately generated using an iterative approach and then are sparsified. All sparse phase-only masks generated at the lower hierarchical levels are fixed and applied as constraints at the higher hierarchical level. Since sparse phase-only masks are applied for the decoding, the recovered images are invisible and instead can be further verified by a nonlinear correlation algorithm. The results are presented to show validity of the proposed method, and the proposed method provides a promising strategy for optical verification.

Social Networks, Promotions, and the Glass-Ceiling Effect

Empirical studies show that female workers are under-represented in highest hierarchical positions of companies, which is known as the glass-ceiling effect. In this study we investigate the relationship between social networks and the glass-ceiling effect. Specifically, we develop an equilibrium search and matching model where job ladders consist of three hierarchical levels and social networks are generated endogenously. Male and female workers move up in the hierarchical ladder via job-to-job transitions between firms and internal promotions within firms. They also accumulate experience which is a necessary requirement for applying to jobs in the highest hierarchical level. Open vacancies can be filled by formal matching of applicants to jobs or by referrals, which implies that senior workers recommend their social contacts for the job. Social networks exhibit gender homophily, which reflects the fact that social ties are more likely to be formed between workers of the same gender. In a setting when female workers are the minority, there are too few female contacts in the social networks of their male collegues. This disadvantage implies that female workers are refereed less often for the jobs and under-represented in senior hierarchical positions of firms. We show that referrals via homophilous social networks can explain part of the total wage gap stemming from the glass-ceiling effect in Germany (6,4%). The mechanism is amplified by more hierarchical firms structures, stronger clustering of social networks, and earlier ppromotion times.

Full-Body Locomotion Reconstruction of Virtual Characters Using a Single Inertial Measurement Unit.

This paper presents a method of reconstructing full-body locomotion sequences for virtual characters in real-time, using data from a single inertial measurement unit (IMU). This process can be characterized by its difficulty because of the need to reconstruct a high number of degrees of freedom (DOFs) from a very low number of DOFs. To solve such a complex problem, the presented method is divided into several steps. The user’s full-body locomotion and the IMU’s data are recorded simultaneously. Then, the data is preprocessed in such a way that would be handled more efficiently. By developing a hierarchical multivariate hidden Markov model with reactive interpolation functionality the system learns the structure of the motion sequences. Specifically, the phases of the locomotion sequence are assigned in the higher hierarchical level, and the frame structure of the motion sequences are assigned at the lower hierarchical level. During the runtime of the method, the forward algorithm is used for reconstructing the full-body motion of a virtual character. Firstly, the method predicts the phase where the input motion belongs (higher hierarchical level). Secondly, the method predicts the closest trajectories and their progression and interpolates the most probable of them to reconstruct the virtual character’s full-body motion (lower hierarchical level). Evaluating the proposed method shows that it works on reasonable framerates and minimizes the reconstruction errors compared with previous approaches.

Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Speaking Up About Patient Safety Questionnaire.

Speaking up about safety concerns by staff is important to prevent medical errors. Knowledge about healthcare workers' speaking up behaviors and perceived speaking up climate is useful for healthcare organizations (HCOs) to identify areas for improvement. The aim of this study was to develop a short questionnaire allowing HCOs to assess different aspects of speaking up among healthcare staff. Healthcare workers (n = 523) from 2 Swiss hospitals completed a questionnaire covering various aspects of speak up-related behaviors and climate. Psychometric testing included descriptive statistics, correlations, reliabilities (Cronbach α), principal component analysis, and t tests for assessing differences in hierarchical groups. Principal component analysis confirmed the structure of 3 speaking up behavior-related scales, that is, frequency of perceived concerns (concern scale, α = 0.73), withholding voice (silence scale, α = 0.76), and speaking up (speak up scale, α = 0.85). Concerning speak up climate, principal component analysis revealed 3 scales (psychological safety, α = 0.84; encouraging environment, α = 0.74; resignation, α = 0.73). The final survey instrument also included items covering speaking up barriers and a vignette to assess simulated behavior. A higher hierarchical level was mostly associated with a more positive speak up-related behavior and climate. Patient safety concerns, speaking up, and withholding voice were frequently reported. With this questionnaire, we present a tool to systematically assess and evaluate important aspects of speaking up in HCOs. This allows for identifying areas for improvement, and because it is a short survey, to monitor changes in speaking up-for example, before and after an improvement project.

More Dispersion, Higher Bonuses? On Differentiation in Subjective Performance Evaluations

We investigate the claim that supervisors do not differentiate enough between high- and low-performing employees when evaluating performance. In a first step, this claim is illustrated in a formal model showing that rating compression reduces performance and subsequent bonus payments. The effect depends on the precision of performance information and may be reversed when cooperation is important. We then investigate panel data spanning different banks and find that stronger differentiation indeed increases subsequent bonus payments. The effect tends to be larger for larger spans of control and at higher hierarchical levels but is reversed at the lowest levels.

MYC2 Orchestrates a Hierarchical Transcriptional Cascade That Regulates Jasmonate-Mediated Plant Immunity in Tomato.

The hormone jasmonate (JA), which functions in plant immunity, regulates resistance to pathogen infection and insect attack through triggering genome-wide transcriptional reprogramming in plants. We show that the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor (TF) MYC2 in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) acts downstream of the JA receptor to orchestrate JA-mediated activation of both the wounding and pathogen responses. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) coupled with RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) assays, we identified 655 MYC2-targeted JA-responsive genes. These genes are highly enriched in Gene Ontology categories related to TFs and the early response to JA, indicating that MYC2 functions at a high hierarchical level to regulate JA-mediated gene transcription. We also identified a group of MYC2-targeted TFs (MTFs) that may directly regulate the JA-induced transcription of late defense genes. Our findings suggest that MYC2 and its downstream MTFs form a hierarchical transcriptional cascade during JA-mediated plant immunity that initiates and amplifies transcriptional output. As proof of concept, we showed that during plant resistance to the necrotrophic pathogen Botrytis cinerea, MYC2 and the MTF JA2-Like form a transcription module that preferentially regulates wounding-responsive genes, whereas MYC2 and the MTF ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR.C3 form a transcription module that preferentially regulates pathogen-responsive genes.

Religion, administration & public goods: Experimental evidence from Russia

In this paper, I argue that religion matters for the provision of public goods. I identify three normative foundations of Eastern Orthodox monasticism with strong economic implications: 1. solidarity, 2. obedience, and 3. universal discipline. I propose a public goods game with a three-tier hierarchy, where these norms are modeled as treatments. Obedience and universal discipline facilitate the provision of threshold public goods in equilibrium, whereas solidarity does not. Empirical evidence is drawn from public goods experiments run with regional bureaucrats in Tomsk and Novosibirsk, Russia. The introduction of the same three norms as experimental treatments produces different results. I find that only universal discipline leads to the provision of threshold public goods, whereas solidarity and obedience do not. Unlike in Protestant societies, in Eastern Orthodox societies free-riding occurs at lower than at higher hierarchical levels. Successful economic reforms in Eastern Orthodox countries start with the restructuring of the middle- and lower-ranked public sector. Authoritarian persistence is defined by the commitment of the dictator to overprovide public goods.

Integrated hierarchical forecasting

Forecasts are often made at various levels of aggregation of individual products, which combine into groups at higher hierarchical levels. We provide an alternative to the traditional discussion of bottom-up versus top-down forecasting by examining how the hierarchy of products can be exploited when forecasts are generated. Instead of selecting series from parts of the hierarchy for forecasting, we explore the possibility of using all the series. Moreover, instead of using the hierarchy after the initial forecasts are generated, we consider the hierarchical structure as a defining feature of the data-generating process and use it to instantaneously generate forecasts for all levels of the hierarchy. This integrated approach uses a state space model and the Kalman filter to explicitly incorporate product dependencies, such as complementarity of products and product substitution, which are otherwise ignored. An empirical study shows the substantial gain in forecast and inventory performance of generalizing the bottom-up and top-down forecast approaches to an integrated approach. The integrated approach is applicable to hierarchical forecasting in general, and extends beyond the current application of demand forecasting for manufacturers.

Electrostatic assembly of zwitterionic and amphiphilic supraparticles

We demonstrate the electrostatic assembly of oppositely charged silica particles into an ensemble of well-defined core-satellite supraparticles, which are a type of patchy particle. To achieve controlled heteroaggregation, we used oppositely charged silica particles with different sizes ranging from 5nm to 150nm at several concentrations. The assembly works best with larger particles, resulting in a fairly low polydispersity and a low amount of bridging between the individual clusters. Using smaller particles produces high polydispersity, large clusters and uncontrolled aggregation and bridging. Furthermore, even with controlled aggregation into well-defined clusters in the case of bigger particles, we observe an uneven covering of the central particles with around 1–6 satellite particles adsorbed to the central particle. This behavior is not predicted by simple pairwise DLVO potentials which would anticipate an even spacing of the satellite particles on the core. We explain these observations by taking into account the interactions of the adsorbing particles within the ionic cloud of the central particle. We hypothesize that when the adsorbing satellite particles are small compared to the diameter of the ion cloud of the core particle, they aggregate within the ion cloud and therefore do not create a well-defined monolayer on the surface of the core particle, instead forming small agglomerates during adsorption.Finally, both the assembled zwitterionic clusters and clusters that were partially hydrophobized were tested for their capabilities as Pickering emulsifiers. The zwitterionic clusters showed a strongly increased surface activity compared to the individual particles, while the hydrophobized particles changed the emulsion type from w/o to o/w. Interfacial dilatational rheological tests supported the observations from the emulsion tests. With this, we demonstrate that a relatively unordered ensemble of supraparticles is able to show well-defined functionality at a higher hierarchical level as Pickering emulsifiers.

Current-Ideal Culture Incongruence, Hierarchical Position, and Job Satisfaction in Government Agencies

ABSTRACTPerson–organization (PO) fit theory assumes that employees’ perception of organizational culture affects their attitudes and that this relationship is modified by individual differences. Based on the person–culture (PC) fit literature, this study defines current-ideal culture incongruence (CICI) as the extent of the discrepancy between an individual’s perceptions of the current and ideal states of the same organizational culture. CICI is measured for hierarchical, rational, group, and developmental cultures with the competing values framework, which is applicable in Korean central agencies because of the Confucian tradition and NPM reforms. This study then links the CICI dimensions to job satisfaction. The OLS regression results show that the CICI dimensions are negatively associated with job satisfaction. Furthermore, this article reports that the negative associations become weaker at higher hierarchical levels. This study discusses implications of these findings for the growing literature on PC fit or PO fit and job satisfaction in public management.

GESTÃO ESTRATÉGICA EM INCUBADORA TECNOLÓGICA DE COOPERATIVAS POPULARES NA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA PARAÍBA – UFPB, CAMPUS III, BANANEIRAS – PB

Este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender os elementos que compõem o processo de gestão estratégica em incubadora Tecnológica de Cooperativas Populares da Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), campus III, Bananeiras – PB. Portanto, a metodologia constou de duas etapas principais. A primeira etapa constituiu-se em uma pesquisa e revisão bibliográfica. Na segunda etapa foi feita uma pesquisa de campo, que forneceram dados para a verificação do tema proposto. Pode-se dizer que os fatores que causam a maioria dos problemas estratégicas da INCEPS são: grande dependência de terceiros, falta de recursos humanos capacitados, comprometimento e proativas, falta de apoio dos níveis hierárquicos superiores da UFPB, comprometendo assim o planejamento da Incubadora. Portanto, é importante considerar que cada organização deve definir sua estratégia de atuação, no caso do presente trabalho o planejamento estratégico deve ter a participação de todos os colaboradores ou pelo menos os que compõe o GT de Gestão da INCEPS.

Effects of job demands and social interactions on fatigue in short sea cargo shipping

ABSTRACTAlthough fatigue is considered an important problem in shipping, little is known about potential mitigating factors or resources for coping. Adopting a Job Demands–Resources framework, this article examines the effects of both job demands (stressors) and resources on fatigue, focusing on social interactions on board as a potential source of social support. Using an incomplete repeated-measures design, the study combined information from documents with surveys on seven cargo ships. Findings indicated that fatigue levels were highest for those working on deck and for individuals at higher hierarchical levels. Higher numbers of port calls (and to some extent lower numbers of days at sea) also increased fatigue levels. By contrast, night watches and the number of days in port had no effect on fatigue. Supportive social interactions reduced fatigue (main effect), but their effect was weaker when the number of port calls increased (interaction effect). All main effects were mediated by individuals’ perceptions of work pressure. Taken together, findings highlight the importance of considering social interactions on board to advance our understanding of stressors and strain in seafaring.