A closer look at the relationship between justice perceptions and union participation.

In this study, a series of nested models was tested to assess the extent to which the relationship between process-related justice and union participation is mediated by perceived union support and union commitment. Members of a steelworkers' local (N = 615) participated in the study. Fit indices most strongly supported a fully mediated model. Unlike previous research, process-related justice was operationalized as 2 distinct variables: procedural and interactional justice. Interactional justice was found to have a substantially stronger relationship with support perceptions than procedural justice. Results also indicated union support accounted for a greater amount of unique variance in union commitment than perceived union instrumentality. The results are discussed in relation to trust theory and the generalization of organization science across different types of organizations.

Tailored logistics: the next advantage.

How many top executives have ever visited with managers who move materials from the factory to the store? How many still reduce the costs of logistics to the rent of warehouses and the fees charged by common carriers? To judge by hours of senior management attention, logistics problems do not rank high. But logistics have the potential to become the next governing element of strategy. Whether they know it or not, senior managers of every retail store and diversified manufacturing company compete in logistically distinct businesses. Customer needs vary, and companies can tailor their logistics systems to serve their customers better and more profitably. Companies do not create value for customers and sustainable advantage for themselves merely by offering varieties of goods. Rather, they offer goods in distinct ways. A particular can of Coca-Cola, for example, might be a can of Coca-Cola going to a vending machine, or a can of Coca-Cola that comes with billing services. There is a fortune buried in this distinction. The goal of logistics strategy is building distinct approaches to distinct groups of customers. The first step is organizing a cross-functional team to proceed through the following steps: segmenting customers according to purchase criteria, establishing different standards of service for different customer segments, tailoring logistics pipelines to support each segment, and creating economics of scale to determine which assets can be shared among various pipelines. The goal of establishing logistically distinct businesses is familiar: improved knowledge of customers and improved means of satisfying them.

[Fatigue of retentive clasps of removable partial dentures. Effect of alloys, thickness and casting techniques. 1]. / Fadiga de grampos de retenção em prótese parcial removível. Efeito de ligas, espessuras e técnicas de fusão. Parte I.

The authors looked for the verification of the fatigue of retentive clasps utilized on the removable partial denture. According to this, it was idealized and built on assay machine, that through movements, simulate the insertion and removal of the clasp for a pattern tooth, manufactured on cobalt-chromium which has all the preparation normally utilized to the correct confection of this type of prosthesis. It was utilized three different commercial alloys based on cobalt-chromium: L1-Biosil; L2-Steldent; L3-Duracron. It was utilized the T clasp of Roach, with was tested upon three different proportions among width and thickness: E1-1.7;E2-2.0 and E3-2.3 and was casted through two casting techniques: F1-oxygen-gas and F2-oxygen-acetylene. The clasps were tested on the machine, which allowed the reading of the number of insertion and removal cycles made until fatigue appeared. The obtained results were submitted to the statistic analysis and the authors concluded that: a) L3 (Duracrom) obtained the best results followed by L1 (Biosil) and finally L3 (Steldent); b) among the analyzed thickness, the best results were obtained by E3, followed by E2 and after this E1; c) form the casting techniques, F2 gave us the best results.

[Fatigue of retentive clasps of removable partial dentures. Effect of alloys, thickness and casting techniques. 2]. / Fadiga de grampos de retenção em prótese parcial removível. Efeito de ligas, espessuras e técnicas de fusão. Parte II.

The authors tested the T clasp of Roach in three differents proportions among width and thickness: E1-1.7; E2-2.0 and E3-2.3, with a constant length of 15 mm. These clasps were casted with three cobalt-chromium alloys (L1-Biosil; L2-Steldent and L3-Duracrom), through two casting techniques (F1-oxygen-gas and F2-oxygen-acetylene). The fatigue of the clasps were verified by using and assay machine, that through movements, simulate the insertion and removal of the clasps for a pattern which were obtained from a premolar, prepared in a surveyor. This machine detect the fatigue of the clasps and count the number of cycles of insertion and removal realized. The obtained results of the interaction between the analysed factors, were submitted to the statistic analysis and the authors concluded that: a) the interaction of factors, Alloy x Thickness, Alloy x Casting Technique and Thickness x Casting Technique did not change the order of effects that the factors showed separately but gave rise to effects of different magnitude for any observed sense; b) the simultaneous interaction of the factors Alloy x Thickness x Casting Technique confirmed the superiority of the L3 alloy, the thickness E3 and the F2 casting technique.

Extended clinical trial and evaluation of urea nitrogen determination with the Ektachem GLU/BUN analyzer.

We followed the "abbreviated precision protocol" of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards for the evaluation of precision, accuracy, and carryover in analysis for urea nitrogen with the multilayer film analysis system ("Ektachem"). We analyzed 456 clinical samples with this instrument, by the manual urease/glucose dehydrogenase method, and with the Beckman System I GLU/BUN Analyzer. Precision and accuracy were estimated for 50, 220, 270, and 500 mg/L urea nitrogen concentrations in 100, 30, or 20 microL of serum. Potential interference of 15 compounds was evaluated. Random error (defined as 1.965 X SD) was 7, 10, 12, and 18 mg/L. Systematic error was 3, 4, 5, and 15 mg/L. Total analytical error was 11, 14, 17, and 34 mg/L for analysis of 100 microL of serum at the above-stated urea nitrogen concentrations. The greatest interference (6 mg/L) was caused by ethanol (300 mg/L) and by hemoglobin (500 mg/L) in the urea nitrogen (at 260 mg/L) determination. Urea nitrogen concentration, as determined with the Ektachem was linearly related to the expected concentration, at least up to 1187 mg/L. Carryover was not statistically significant.

Extended clinical trial and evaluation of glucose determination with the Eastman Kodak Ektachem GLU/BUN Analyzer.

We followed the "abbreviated precision protocol" of the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards for the evaluation of precision, accuracy, and carryover in analyses for glucose with the "Ektachem." We analyzed 760 clinical samples by this technique, by the FDA Proposed Class Standard glucose reference method, and with the Beckman System I GLU/BUN Analyzer. Precision and accuracy were estimated for 500, 1000, 1200, 1500, and 3000 mg/L glucose concentrations in 100, 30, or 20 microL of serum or plasma. Potential interference of 19 compounds was evaluated. Random error (1.965 X SD) was 22, 30, 34, 40, and 88 mg/L. Systematic error was 8, 1.5, -2, -5, and -27 mg/L. Total analytical error was 30, 32, 36, 46, and 110 mg/L for analysis of 100 microL of serum at the above-stated glucose concentrations. The greatest interference (-39 mg/L) in the glucose (at 1200 mg/L) determination was caused by L-ascorbate (40 mg/L). Glucose concentrations as determined with the Ektachem were found to be linearly related to the expected concentration up to at least 5660 mg/L. Carryover was not statistically significant.

Evaluation of three methods for the measurement of urea nitrogen in serum as used on six instruments.

The authors compared three urea nitrogen methods using six instruments: (1) the diacetyl monoxime method used with a continuous flow analyzer Sequential Multiple Analyzer Model 4 + 2; (2) the diacetyl monoxime method used with an older continuous flow analyzer (Sequential Multiple Analyzer Model 6/60; (3) the diacetyl monoxime method used with a third continuous flow system, AutoAnalyzer Model I; (4) the urease-conductivity method performed on the Beckman System I; (5) the urease-glutamate dehydrogenase method performed on the DuPont Automatic Clinical Analyzer; (6) the urease-glutamate dehydrogenase method done on a centrifugal analyzer, CentrifiChem. We evaluated each method for the following: (1) within-run precision; (2) between-day precision; (3) linearity of the relationship between concentration and instrument output; (4) specificity; (5) carry-over; (6) comparison of urea nitrogen values for samples from patients.

The use of "clear" enzyme control materials.

Low turbidity, "clear" enzyme controls commercially produced in three concentrations and conventional human lyophilized control sera, which are more turbid, were evaluated to determine which was superior for quality control purposes. Criteria used to evaluate the controls were: 1) turbidity measurement, 2) daily assays for 30 days to estimate day-to-day precision, and 3) stability of the enzyme assay value for these controls when they were reconstituted and frozen for 0 to 30 days and 0 to 10 days with three aliquots separately prepared and frozen for 0 to 10 days for a total of 30 days. The controls were analyzed for lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, and alkaline phosphatase activities with the Perkin-Elmer KA 150 enzyme analyzer.

Proteinuria: accuracy and precision of laboratory diagnosis by dip-stick analysis.

We studied and compared results of two urine dip-stick procedures for protein with those of quantitative measurements of total protein and albumin in urine. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of "normal" and "abnormal" dip-stick results, assay efficiency, technologist precision, and method association were determined. Precision was poor, attributable largely to variation within each technologist. Relative to a defined measure of precision, technologist performance appears to be uniform within each product. Patients' urinary protein concentrations of less than 200 mg/liter can be distinguished from concentrations greater than 3000 mg/liter with confidence by dip-stick procedures. Urin samples with low albumin/total protein ratios were frequently falsely negative by dip-stick assays.

Urinary nitrite and urinary-tract infection.

Two dipstick procedures and an automated quantitative urinary nitrite assay were used to study nitrite in 786 samples of urine submitted to the bacteriology laboratory for routine culture and sensitivity testing. Many samples that had more than 100,000 nitrite-reducing organisms/ml and no detectable nitrite were studied. Limited nitrate concentration in urine was not a significant cause of false-negative nitrite results. However, in some urine samples nitrite added in vitro was lost during a four-hour incubation in vitro at 37 C in the presence of more than 100,000 nitrite-reducing organisms/ml. Ascorbic acid, abnormal amounts of urobilinogen, and urinary pH below 6.0 are all possible causes of false-negative nitrite determinations.

Accuracy and precision of urinary pH determinations using two commercially available dipsticks.

The accuracy and precision of urinary pH determinations using commercially available dipsticks were studied. Two products were evaluated by 17 MT(ASCP) technologists over the pH range 4.5 to 9.0. The study included accuracy, reproducibility, variation among technologists, and variation between products. The results demonstrated considerable variation among technologists, products, and true pH levels in dipstick urinary pH determinations, and that very good or very poor results could be obtained, depending on the true pH level being sampled and on the choice of technologist.

Evaluation of the Du Pont aca alpha-amylase procedure.

The procedure used with the Du Pont aca for alpha-amylase (1,4,-alpha-D-glucan glucanohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.1) was evaluated in our laboratory and compared with the Roche Diagnostics "Amylochrome" and Perkin-Elmer Coleman 91 amylase assays. The within-run coefficients of variation (CV) for samples of fresh normal sera were: aca 5.8% and 4.3% on two different lots of reagent, Amylochrome 7.4%, and Coleman 91 3.3%. In sera with abnormally high amylase activity, the respective CV's were: aca, 1.2% and 0.8%; Amylochrome, 2.0%; and Coleman 91, 2.8%. Day-to-day precision studies on fresh and lyophilized normal and abnormal sera gave CV's in the following ranges: aca, 1.8% to 6.7%; Amylochrome, 3.0% to 5.2%; and Coleman 91, 4.5% to 5.9%. Results by the aca procedure were linearly related to activity to about 10-fold the upper limit of normal amylase activity. For serum, correlations were: r = 0.977 for aca vs. Coleman 91 and r = 0.974 for aca vs. Amylochrome. For urine they were: r = 0.978 for aca vs. Coleman 91 and r = 0.975 for aca vs. Amylochrome. Mean recovery from 53 supplemented samples was 98%. Icterus, hemolysis, and lipemia did not interfere with method correlation of aca vs. Coleman 91 or Amylochrome.

Clinical laboratory evaluation of the Perkin-Elmer KA-150 Enzyme Analyzer.

We evaluated the Perkin-Elmer KA-150 Enzyme Analyzer in a clinical laboratory situation according to a rigid evaluation protocol. The factors evaluated for five commonly assayed enzymes were as follows: (a) rate of analysis of patient samples, (b) analytical linearity, (c) overall precision (within-run and between-day), (d) carry-over from a sample with activity near 1000 U/liter, (e) error detection at low and high concentrations, (f) correlation of values with those obtained by methods used in our laboratory and (g) normal-value ranges. We find the KA-150 to be an effective and rapid enzyme analyzer.

Measurement of spectral bandwidth, as exemplified with the Beckman "Enzyme Analyzer System TR spectrophotometer".

This paper describes simple methods for determining spectral bandwidth by measurement and by calculation. We measured the spectral bandwidth of the monochromator from the Beckman Enzyme Analyzer TR, and found it to be 3.5-4.0 nm (av 3.8) by two different methods. We visually estimated it to be 4 nm. Using the specifications for the diffraction grafting, focal length, and fixed slit width, we calculated the theoretical spectral bandwidth to be 3.6 nm.

Evaluation of the Beckman "System TR enzyme Analyzer".

We evaluated 16 claims made by Beckman Instruments, Inc. for its Enzyme Analyzer (System TR), under a rigid written protocol for the Product Evaluation Subcommittee of the Standards Committee of the College of American Pathologists. We found the following to be within the company's specifications: (a) accuracy and precision of the temperature control; (b) accuracy and precision of the sample and reagent pipets; (c) instrument precision, both within-run and between-day; (d) carry-over from a sample with activity greater than 1000 U/liter; (e) instrument-to-instrument variation; (f) analytical linearity; (g) analysis time; (h) correlation of the instrument-printed answer with the activity calculated manually from a strip-chart recorder; (i) precision of the instrument's built-in electronic "standard"; (j) effectiveness of the over-range indicators; and (k) correlation between results of these enzyme assay methods and those for kinetic methods used in our laboratory. The instrument performed well.