Impact of Environmental Uncertainty on Depression and Anxiety Among Chinese Workers: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Purpose: Environmental uncertainty has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. While there is substantial knowledge about the connection between environmental uncertainty and organizational outcomes, limited attention has been devoted to investigating its impact on employees' depression and anxiety symptoms. Grounded in job demands-resources theory, this study aims to explore the relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees' depression and anxiety symptoms, and it further investigates the mediating role of work pressure and the moderating role of union practices. Methods: In September 2022, we undertook a cross-sectional survey study, gathering data from 1081 employees across various enterprises situated in Liaoning, China. Throughout this timeframe, notable global occurrences heightened the awareness of environmental uncertainty. Following the exclusion of participants who did not provide information on the main variables, the final valid sample comprised 940 employees. To test all hypotheses, a series of confirmatory factor analyses and path-analytic procedures were conducted using Mplus 7.0. Results: Our results confirm that environmental uncertainty, as a high job demand, increases employees' work pressure, thereby elevating rates of anxiety and depression; the indirect relationship between environmental uncertainty and employees' anxiety and depression through work pressure is stronger when union practices are lower. Conclusion: Our findings indicate the detrimental impact of environmental uncertainty on employees' mental health, and highlight the roles of work pressure and union practices. In light of this, organizations should take steps to mitigate employees' perceptions of environmental uncertainty and establish mental health programs, in cooperation with union practices, to protect employees' mental well-being.

Work-family conflict and withdrawal behavior among mainland China's IT employees: the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating role of job autonomy.

Since the turn of the millennium, the information technology (IT) industry has been growing rapidly in mainland China. One of the significant characteristics of IT employees in mainland China during the past decades was that they tended to work more overtime, which might result in more work-family conflicts and higher turnover rates. Our study tested the mechanism of work-family conflict and work withdrawal behaviors using data from 389 IT employees in mainland China. Using the job demands-resources model and the conservation of resources theory, we examined the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of job autonomy. The results indicated that work-to-family conflict was negatively related with work withdrawal behaviors, whereas family-to-work conflict was positively related with work withdrawal behaviors. Moreover, we found the opposite moderating role of job autonomy, which enhanced the relationships between emotional exhaustion and work withdrawal behaviors. That is, the relationship was stronger among employees with higher job autonomy than among those with lower job autonomy. These findings indicate that work-family conflict relates to employees' psychological well-being and behavior, and that job autonomy might play a special role between work-family conflict and work withdrawal behaviors.

A stereospecific total synthesis of DL-hexahydroapoerysopine.

A stereospecific total synthesis of DL-hexahydroapoerysopine, an intriguing and historically important Apo rearrangement product of the aromatic Erythrina alkaloids bearing the all-cis ring fusion stereochemistry, was achieved via an efficient acid-mediated stereospecific skeletal rearrangement.

To Change or Not to Change: A Study of Workplace Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees were suddenly required to work more from home. Previous literature on working from home may not be applicable to this mandatory and overall change. In this study, we drew on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to explore the relationships between job demands (workload and work-home conflict) as well as resources (support from leaders, coworkers, and the family) and wellbeing (burnout and work engagement) in employees who still went to the workplace (no-change group) and employees who transitioned into working from home (change group) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed with multivariate structural equation modeling. The results indicate that work-home conflict was detrimental for employee wellbeing in both groups. Interestingly, the workload seems to contribute to work engagement for employees who worked from home. Regarding the resources, the three different sources of social support, leaders, coworkers, and family, were all related to employee wellbeing, but in different ways. It seemed that family support was most important for employees' wellbeing in the change group. This study presents implications for the wellbeing of employees in both the change and no-change group during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the importance of family-friendly policies.

Hydrothermal synthesis of N-doped carbon quantum dots and their application in ion-detection and cell-imaging.

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs), owing to their characteristic luminescent properties, have become a new favorite in the field of luminescence. They have been widely used in light emitting diode, ion detection, cell-imaging, ect. Herein a facile synthesis method of nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) has been developedviaa one-step hydrothermal of glucose and m-phenylenediamine. The chemical composition, surface functional groups, and crystal structure of so prepared N-CQDs were systematically characterized. The characterizations indicate that nitrogen has been chemically doped in the CQDs and the N-CQDs crystallize in a graphene structure. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements show that the N-CQDs emit strong blue emission under the irradiation of ultraviolet. The emission is excitation-dependent, is resistant to photo bleaching and high ionic strength, and slightly decreases with the increase of temperature. The quantum yield of them is about 17.5%. The PL intensity of N-CQDs quenches linearly with the increase of the concentrations of Fe3+(0.5-1.0 mM) and CrO42-(0.3-0.6 mM), which are a kind of excellent fluorescent probe for the detection of Fe3+ and CrO42-. The quenching mechanism of Fe3+ and CrO42-is verified to be a static quenching mechanism based on inner filter effect. The N-CQDs are also found to be a good cell-imaging reagent of Hela cells.

Effectiveness of Psychological Capital Intervention and Its Influence on Work-Related Attitudes: Daily Online Self-Learning Method and Randomized Controlled Trial Design.

Research on positive psychology intervention is in its infancy; only a few empirical studies have proved the effectiveness and benefits of psychological capital interventions in workplaces. From a practical perspective, a more convenient intervention approach is needed for when organizations have difficulties in finding qualified trainers. This study aims to extend the psychological capital intervention (PCI) model and examine its influence on work-related attitudes. A daily online self-learning approach and a randomized controlled trial design are utilized. A final sample of 104 full-time employees, recruited online, is randomly divided into three groups to fill in self-report questionnaires immediately before (T1), immediately after (T2), and one week after (T3) the intervention. The results indicate that the intervention is effective at improving psychological capital (PsyCap), increasing job satisfaction, and reducing turnover intention. The practical implications for human resource managers conducting a flexible and low-cost PsyCap intervention in organizations are discussed. Limitations related to sample characteristics, short duration effect, small sample size, and small effect size are also emphasized. Due to these non-negligible drawbacks of the study design, this study should only be considered as a pilot study of daily online self-learning PsyCap intervention research.

Work-Family Conflict and Mental Health Among Female Employees: A Sequential Mediation Model via Negative Affect and Perceived Stress.

After the implementation of the universal two-child policy in 2016, more and more working women have found themselves caught in the dilemma of whether to raise a baby or be promoted, which exacerbates work-family conflicts among Chinese women. Few studies have examined the mediating effect of negative affect. The present study combined the conservation of resources model and affective events theory to examine the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and perceived stress in the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health. A valid sample of 351 full-time Chinese female employees was recruited in this study, and participants voluntarily answered online questionnaires. Pearson correlation analysis, structural equation modeling, and multiple mediation analysis were used to examine the relationships between work-family conflict, negative affect, perceived stress, and mental health in full-time female employees. We found that women's perceptions of both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict were significant negatively related to mental health. Additionally, the results showed that negative affect and perceived stress were negatively correlated with mental health. The 95% confidence intervals indicated the sequential mediating effect of negative affect and stress in the relationship between work-family conflict and mental health was significant, which supported the hypothesized sequential mediation model. The findings suggest that work-family conflicts affected the level of self-reported mental health, and this relationship functioned through the two sequential mediators of negative affect and perceived stress.

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex affects performance in Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART).

Background: Studies on risk preferences have long been of great concern and have examined the neural basis underlying risk-based decision making. However, studies using conventional transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) revealed that bilateral stimulation could change risk propensity with limited evidence of precisely focalized unilateral high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS). The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of HD-tDCS focalizing the left dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on risk-taking behavior during the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Methods: This study was designed as a between-subject, single-blind, sham-controlled experiment. University students were randomly assigned to three groups: the anodal group (F3 anode, AF3, F1, F5, FC3 returned), the cathodal group (F3 cathodal, AF3, F1, F5, FC3 returned) and the sham group. Subsequently, 1.5-mA 20-min HD-tDCS was applied during the BART, and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), the Sensation Seeking Scale-5 (SSS-5), and the Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Approach System scale (BIS/BAS) were measured as control variables. Results: The cathodal group earned less total money than the sham group, and no significant difference was observed between the anodal group and the sham group. Conclusions: These results showed that, to some extent, focalized unilateral cathodal HD-tDCS on left DLPFC could change performance during risky tasks and diminish risky decision making. Further studies are needed to investigate the dose effect and electrode distribution of HD-tDCS during risky tasks and examine synchronous brain activity to show the neural basis.

Total thyroidectomy as primary definitive treatment for Graves' hyperthyroidism.

The objective of this study was to compare the results of total thyroidectomy (TT) for hyperthyroidism secondary to Graves' disease (GD) with TT for other benign thyroid diseases to determine if TT should be considered more often as first-line therapy for GD. Seven hundred eighty patients underwent TT for benign disease: 203 for GD, 56 for other hyperthyroidisms, and 521 for other benign diseases from March 1, 2003, to December 31, 2009. The perioperative results of these three groups were compared for demographics, blood loss, operative time, complications, and hospitalization. There were no significant differences among the three groups except the patients with GD were more likely to be younger (42 vs 56 vs 57 years; P < 0.001), have more blood loss (154 vs 99 vs 110 mL; P = 0.05), and were more likely to develop permanent hypoparathyroidism (1.0 vs 1.8 vs 0%; P = 0.03) when compared with other causes of hyperthyroidism and other benign thyroid diseases. Permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve injury did not occur in the GD group (0 vs 0 vs 0.4% nerves at risk; P = 0.69) with transient recurrent laryngeal nerve injury occurring in 1.7 versus 2.7 versus 3.1 per cent nerves at risk (P = 0.35). The lack of a euthyroid state preoperatively had no influence on surgical outcomes or complications. Eighty percent of the TTs for GD were done as same-day outpatient procedures. TT offers a safe, low-risk, and rapid cure for GD to justifiably be considered as a reasonable first-line therapy in selected patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism.