Search Results (30)

Previous studies conducted in Portugal on work–family conflict and turnover intention have focused on analyzing how difficulties in balancing employees’ work and personal lives affect individual commitment and performance, and little attention has been paid to analyzing factors that may reduce turnover intentions. Therefore, the present study fills a relevant gap in the literature by analyzing other factors that influence turnover intention. This study aimed to analyze the direct and indirect relationship between work–family conflict and turnover intention, with job satisfaction and self-efficacy mediating this relationship. The sample included 277 employees from different sectors in Portugal. The results confirmed that work–family conflict is positively related to turnover intention and that job satisfaction and self-efficacy serially mediate the relationship between work–family conflict and turnover intention. These results suggest that managers should consider analyzing workloads while improving well-being at work so that employees can pay attention to some aspects of their personal lives to reduce work–family conflict and turnover intentions. In addition, the results emphasize the importance of promoting self-efficacy through the continuous design of training plans for better guidance and coordination in the execution of tasks. Full article

Aging is a natural process that leads to time-related changes and a decrease in cognitive abilities, executive functions, and attention. In neuronal aging, brain cells struggle to respond to oxidative stress. The structure, function, and survival of neurons can be mediated by different pathways that are sensitive to oxidative stress and age-related low-energy states. Mitochondrial impairment is one of the most noticeable signs of brain aging. Damaged mitochondria are thought to be one of the main causes that feed the inflammation related to aging. Also, protein turnover is involved in age-related impairments. The brain, due to its high oxygen usage, is particularly susceptible to oxidative damage. This review explores the mechanisms underlying neuronal cell rearrangement during aging, focusing on morphological changes that contribute to cognitive decline and increased susceptibility to neurodegenerative diseases. Potential therapeutic approaches are discussed, including the use of antioxidants (e.g., Vitamin C, Vitamin E, glutathione, carotenoids, quercetin, resveratrol, and curcumin) to mitigate oxidative damage, enhance mitochondrial function, and maintain protein homeostasis. This comprehensive overview aims to provide insights into the cellular and molecular processes of neuronal aging and highlight promising therapeutic avenues to counteract age-related neuronal deterioration. Full article

We explore how insider trading returns, disparities in executive pay, and CEO turnover are interrelated. Our findings reveal both independent and interactive effects for insider trading returns, the CEO pay gap, and the likelihood of CEO turnover. First, an increase in abnormal returns from insider purchases lowers the probability of a CEO’s turnover, while an increase in abnormal returns from insider sales increases the likelihood of a CEO’s dismissal. Second, the CEO pay gap negatively affects the probability of CEO turnover for insider purchases, but it does not have a similar effect on insider sales. Third, the interaction between insider abnormal returns and any CEO pay disparity influences the impact of these returns on CEO turnover. Specifically, this interaction diminishes the positive effect of insider selling on the probability of a CEO’s dismissal, offsets the negative effect of insider purchasing on CEO dismissal, and, finally, amplifies the negative impact of CEO pay disparity on the probability of a CEO’s dismissal during periods witnessing insider purchases. Full article

For building projects, the manager is responsible for coordinating the work of subcontractors at the construction site. This includes operations, material flows, and storage. In summary, one of their main roles is to ensure smooth team rotation, maintain fluid circulation, and avoid congestion or relaxation on the site. However, traditional tools lack the ability to consider the planning and management of worksite spaces when calculating the execution schedule and critical path. Consequently, three-week planning is usually carried out separately on independent plans, often using spreadsheets. In addition, a construction site is highly dynamic and mobile in nature, and the positioning of resources and workers can change daily. This makes the management of available space even more complex, and effective space management becomes an imperative. To address this challenge, this paper develops visual dynamic artifacts that present different operation types. The methodology and the conceptual framework facilitate the calculation of the Occupancy Rate (OR) that enables construction project managers to create simple yet dynamic spatiotemporal models of the construction schedule. By incorporating factors such as crew turnover and occupancy evolution, managers can simplify the calculation process and effectively optimize construction work by utilizing site occupancy rates. In summary, this paper presents the Dynamic Model of the Occupancy Rate Schedule (DMORS), a methodology developed through design science. This model utilizes created artifacts representing various operation types to ensure accurate calculations of dynamic occupancy by floor and sector in a site. Consequently, it enables the construction of a more realistic schedule based on critical space ideologies. The DMORS enables managers to use the OR for different floors and sectors of a site, allowing for better space management. A proof of concept demonstrates that this tool can enhance the efficiency and productivity of construction projects by optimizing crew schedules and resource allocation based on site OR. Full article

Gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and oral fluid have emerged as promising diagnostic tools for detecting biomarkers. This review aimed to evaluate the existing literature on using oral fluids as a source of biomarkers for bone turnover diseases affecting the jawbone. A comprehensive search strategy was executed between August 2014 and August 2024 across five major databases (Web of Science, EBSCOhost Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and PubMed) and grey literature sources. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was applied. The screening was facilitated using Rayyan at rayyan.ai and Endnote X20 software tools, culminating in the evaluation of 14,965 citations from databases and 34 from grey literature. Following rigorous scrutiny, 37 articles were selected for inclusion in this review, encompassing diseases such as periodontitis, medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ), and osteoporosis. The quality of the included observational studies was assessed using the Revised Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Non-Randomized Studies (RoBANS 2). Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), sclerostin, osteoprotegerin (OPG), and interleukin-34 (IL-34) emerged as significant biomarkers in GCF, and they were mainly from periodontitis and osteoporosis. Osteocalcin (OC), IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), OPG, and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) were significant in oral fluid or saliva, and they were from periodontitis, MRONJ, and osteoporosis. These findings underscore the potential use of oral fluids, which are regarded as non-invasive tools for biomarker identification in bone turnover. Many biomarkers overlap, and it is important to identify other specific biomarkers to enable accurate diagnosis of these conditions. Full article

Patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) present signs of impaired executive functioning and bone health in adolescence and adulthood, depending in part on the success of therapy in childhood. Therefore, nine children with well-treated PKU (4–7 years old, 22.2% ♀, seven with a full set of data, two included into partial analysis) and 18 age-, gender- and season-matched controls were analyzed for differences in executive functioning and bone parameters in plasma. Plasma was analyzed with commercially available kits. Cognitive performance in tonic alertness, visuo-spatial working memory, inhibitory control and task switching was assessed by a task battery presented on a touch screen. Regarding cognition, only the performance in incongruent conditions in inhibitory control was significantly better in children with PKU than in controls. No further differences in cognitive tests were detected. Furthermore, no significant difference in the bone turnover markers osteocalcin, undercarboxylated osteocalcin and CTX were detected between children with PKU and controls, while children with PKU had a significantly higher vitamin D concentration (69.44 ± 12.83 nmol/L vs. 41.87 ± 15.99 nmol/L, p < 0.001) and trended towards lower parathyroid hormone concentrations than controls (48.27 ± 15.16 pg/mL vs. 70.61 ± 30.53 pg/mL, p = 0.066). In this small group of well-treated preschoolers with PKU, no impairments in cognitive performance and bone turnover were observed, while vitamin D supplementation of amino acid supplements seems to be sufficient to achieve good vitamin D status. Full article

This article investigates the relationship between the decision-making bias known as escalation of commitment and the turnover of non-CEO executives in top management teams. The phenomenon of escalation of commitment is observed when decision makers persist with business investments that have a low likelihood of success. Theoretical explanations for the association between executive turnover and escalation include self-justification and reputation protection. Top managers may conceal prior errors, escalate commitment to earlier decisions, and exit the organization before the outcome of decisions is observed. Successor managers do not have a commitment to earlier decisions and have the capability to stop investments that are discovered to be failing. Empirical analysis utilizing a sample of over 1600 U.S. firms confirms that departures by non-CEO executives from top management teams are associated with an increased likelihood of new reporting of discontinued operations and extraordinary items by firms and a reduction in the firms’ performances relative to their industry. These effects reflect de-escalation activities and are amplified in the years concurrent with and following a joint departure of multiple management team members. Prior empirical studies on escalation and de-escalation behavior focused on CEO turnover. The contribution of this article is its documenting of the key role of non-CEO managers and team turnover in the context of escalation. Full article

The turnover of key talent is a critical issue that can negatively impact an organization’s ability to execute strategies and achieve competitive advantage. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that influence employees’ decisions to change jobs. In this study, we test the antecedent factors that affect Korean employees’ intention to change jobs and the relationships among them. Specifically, to examine the various paths that affect turnover intention (TI), a dual mediation model including organizational justice (OJ), organizational commitment (OC), and innovative work behavior (IWB) is analyzed. To analyze the research model, we use survey data on Korean employees and various analyses, including frequency, reliability, confirmatory factors, and discriminant validity analyses, as well as structural equation modeling analysis using SPSS and AMOS. All the paths in the research model are found to be significant. Additionally, an indirect path from OJ to TI through OC, an indirect path from OJ to TI through IWB, and an indirect path from OJ to TI through OC and IWB are found to be significant. This study may help explore effective countermeasures for strategic development and employee retention in organizations. Full article

In literature relevant to this topic, attention is mainly paid to the qualitative and quantitative identification of defects in housing construction, and the factors that cause these defects. There is a research gap regarding the quantitative relationships between factors and defects, and the identification of factors that have a decisive impact on the occurrence of defects. The authors’ contribution to research regarding quality management in construction investments involves the identification of defects in residential buildings, identification of factors that generate construction defects occurring at various stages of the investment process, and also the assessment of their discriminatory power. This analysis used the results of technical inspections of buildings carried out in Poland in 2017–2020 in the Lower Silesia region. The study of the factors that influence quality in housing construction was carried out using the diagnostic survey method and the survey technique. Discriminant analysis was used for the calculations, with a number of influence factors being found. The following factors have the greatest discriminatory power: C1—a lack of internal control of design documentation before the start of the construction of the facility; C15—a lack of stability of the team (high staff turnover) that conducts contract tenders; C30—a lack of executive potential for preparing the facility for technical acceptance. Identifying the relationships between factors and quality, measured by the number and type of defects, will constitute the basis for developing procedures for conducting and controlling construction works and taking appropriate preventive actions in the form of employee training. Full article

Retaining and maintaining adequate academic talents are the primary discourse topic among corporate executives and human resource specialists. Academic institutions are struggling to attract and retain top talents due to the increasing academic turnover in the educational field. Furthermore, lifestyle transformation has impacted the human resource environment, which focuses on developing alternative values, achieving work–life balance, and performing successful retention strategies. To achieve a sustainable work–life balance practice, the current study aims to examine the relationship between the academic human resource strategy and person–environment fit aspects mediated by sustainable work–life balance and moderated by external job opportunities. The theoretical foundations are the theory of work adjustment and social exchange theory. A cross-sectional research methodology was implemented to collect data from 466 participants through an online survey. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was subsequently conducted to analyse the collected data. The study results revealed that person-organisation fit and person-vocational fit significantly influenced employees’ turnover intention. Furthermore, sustainable work–life balance was not only significantly related employees’ turnover intention, but also significantly mediated the relationship between person–environment fit dimensions and employees’ turnover intention. The findings also discovered that job opportunities significantly moderated the association between sustainable work–life balance and turnover intention. Resultantly, the current study’s thorough retention strategy model could be highly beneficial to the human resource industry, decision-makers, and educational management in developing an effective recruitment and retention plan. Full article

Proteins that use cysteine residues for catalysis or regulation are widely distributed and intensively studied, with many biomedically important examples. Enzymes where cysteine is a catalytic nucleophile typically generate covalent catalytic intermediates whose structures are important for understanding mechanism and for designing targeted inhibitors. The formation of catalytic intermediates can change enzyme conformational dynamics, sometimes activating protein motions that are important for catalytic turnover. However, these transiently populated intermediate species have been challenging to structurally characterize using traditional crystallographic approaches. This review describes the use and promise of new time-resolved serial crystallographic methods to study cysteine-dependent enzymes, with a focus on the main (M^pro) and papain-like (PL^pro) cysteine proteases of SARS-CoV-2, as well as on other examples. We review features of cysteine chemistry that are relevant for the design and execution of time-resolved serial crystallography experiments. In addition, we discuss emerging X-ray techniques, such as time-resolved sulfur X-ray spectroscopy, that may be able to detect changes in sulfur charge states and covalency during catalysis or regulatory modification. In summary, cysteine-dependent enzymes have features that make them especially attractive targets for new time-resolved serial crystallography approaches, which can reveal both changes to enzyme structures and dynamics during catalysis in crystalline samples. Full article

The current study on the intention to leave the organization among nurses and midwives aligns with the broader direction of research on the consequences of demanding jobs. This is particularly important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020 and is ongoing. The aim of the current study was to identify the levels of intention to leave the organization and job satisfaction in a sample of 390 Polish nurses and midwives. A multiple stepwise linear regression was carried out to establish which variables are predictors of job satisfaction and intention to leave the organization. The following measures were used in the study: Nurses’ Occupational Stressor Scale, The Brief Resilience Coping Scale, The Turnover Intention Scale, The Job Satisfaction Scale, and an occupational questionnaire (number of workplaces, weekly number of evening and night shifts, working at a unit dedicated to treating COVID-19, working as a supervisor/executive). The current study showed that almost 25% of the sample reported high turnover intention, and a similar proportion reported low job satisfaction. Resilience was related to nurses’ job satisfaction. In the predictive models for job satisfaction, the organizational factor of the number of workplaces was significant (positively related), while job experience was a negative predictor of intention to leave. The practical implications of the results and the need to continue research on this topic are also discussed. Full article

As the direction and strategies of new ventures depend on the top management team (TMT)’s stability and continuous efforts, we investigate the relationship between executive turnover and research and development (R&D) investment investment. Furthermore, we assess the moderating role of the founder chief executive officer (CEO)’s prior experiences to show that founders’ experiential knowledge mitigates the adverse side effects of executives’ departure. Our empirical analysis utilizes a large pool of firm-level survey datasets comprising 1897 Korean founder-led ventures. The empirical results show that executive turnover reduces R&D intensity, suggesting that new ventures’ longer-term investments may be affected by the instability of the management team. We also show that the negative effects of executive turnover weaken when the founder CEO has a longer prior work experience, prior business group experience, and founding experience. Our findings show that the founder CEO’s entrepreneurship based on valuable prior experiential knowledge mitigates the negative impact of organizational instability. While the TMT factor is essential for a new venture’s survival, our findings show that the manner in which leaders act should also be considered separately. Full article

Tillage has been reported to induce seasonal changes of organic carbon (C_micro) and nitrogen (N_micro) in the biomass of microorganisms. Soil microorganisms execute such ecosystem functions as it is an immediate sink of labile biophil elements; it is an agent of a conversion, catalysis and synthesis of humus substances; it transforms soil contaminants into nonhazardous wastes and it participates in soil aggregation and pedogenesis as a whole. However, the seasonal turnover of microorganisms on arable lands in temperate ecosystems has not been studied at a relevant level. Hence, we are aimed at studying the dynamics of such soil microbial biomass patterns as C_micro, N_micro, microbial index (MI = (C_micro/C_TOC)·100%) and CO₂-C emissions against the background of 9 years of tillage and 22 years of abandoned (Ab) and fallow (F) usage. Our study was conducted on a long-term experimental site on a Mollisol in Northeast China. The maximum C_micro and N_micro contents were recorded at the beginning of the growing season at the 0–10-cm layer and mid-July at the 20–40-cm layer, while the minimum content was during August–October. The C_micro content ranged from 577.79 to 381.79 mg⁻¹ kg⁻¹ using Ab in the spring to 229.53 to 272.86 mg⁻¹ kg⁻¹ in the autumn using CT (conventional tillage) and F in the 0–10- and 10–20-cm layers, respectively. The amplitude of N_micro content changes were several times lower as compared with the C_micro. The smallest quartile range (IQR_0.25–0.75) of such changes was shown when using the following treatments: no till (NT) and Ab in the 0–10-, NT and F in the 10–20- and CT in the 20–40-cm layer. The widest C_micro:N_micro ratio was recorded at F and CT in the 0–20- and CT and rotational tillage (Rot) in the 20–40-cm layer. The MI dynamics were similar to the trends of C_micro and N_micro and changed from 0.72 ± 0.168 to 2.00 ± 0.030%. The highest share of C_micro in C_TOC was at Ab (1.82 ± 1.85%) and NT (1.66 ± 1.52 %) in the 0–10-, Ab (1.23 ± 1.27%) and NT (1.29 ± 1.32%) in the 10–20- and Ab (1.19 ± 1.09%) and F (1.11 ± 1.077%) in the 20–40-cm layer, correspondingly. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between C_micro and C_TOC increased from the upper 0–10- to the lower 20–40-cm layer; it was “strong” and “high” between C_micro and C_TOC. Different uses of Mollisol affected the amplitude of the C_micro and N_micro seasonal changes, but it did not change their trend. Our results suggest the key role of Ab and NT technologies in C_micro accumulation in the total organic carbon (TOC). Full article

All industries around the world have been greatly impacted by the 2019 COVID-19 outbreak. China’s tourism market was almost suspended. Tourism enterprises generally face difficulties in the form of low capital turnover and increased operating pressure, and the overall tourism industry is showing a downturn in its development. In this study, we construct a quasi-natural experiment with the COVID-19 pandemic in public health emergencies using a propensity score matching difference in differences model (PSM-DID) to match the treatment group of tourism enterprises and the control group of non-tourism enterprises. We empirically test that the COVID-19 pandemic has produced a more severe impact on the performance of tourism enterprises than other industries. Further analysis shows that given different enterprise equity natures, the characteristics of the board, supervision, and executive salary incentive levels, the COVID-19 pandemic has a heterogeneous impact on the operating performance of tourism enterprises. Full article