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ObjectivesThe objectives of this study were to investigate new nurses’ experiences of workplace incivility; verify the mediating role of work ability in the relationship between workplace incivility and job performance and examine the moderating role of career expectations in the relationship between workplace incivility and job performance.DesignThis cross-sectional survey was conducted in China in May 2016.SettingsThe research settings included 54 cities across 29 provinces of China.ParticipantsOf the 903 participants recruited, 696 new nurses (<3 years of nursing experience) agreed to complete the online questionnaire of the study. The effective response rate was 77.1%. The inclusion criteria were voluntary participation, <3 years of nursing experience and recognition as a registered nurse. The exclusion criteria were refusal to participate, >3 years of nursing experience or not recognised as a registered nurse.ResultsNew nurses (60.7%) experienced some level of workplace incivility in the previous year, and it was more frequent among those with higher educational degrees. Work ability mediated the relationship between workplace incivility and job performance, and this relationship was moderated by career expectations.ConclusionIncivility towards new nurses was relatively common in the workplace. Workplace incivility impairs job performance by weakening the work ability of new nurses. Higher career expectations may buffer workplace incivility and contribute to the maintenance of job performance by buffering the detrimental effects of workplace incivility.

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A novel dual-channel chaotic synchronization configuration is proposed. This system is constructed on the basis of two unidirectionally coupled vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), where a VCSEL subjected to polarization-rotated optical feedback is used as a transmitter and the other VCSEL subjected to polarization-rotated optical injection is used as a receiver. The synchronization and communication performances of such a system are numerically investigated. The results show that, similar to polarization-preserved coupled system with polarization-preserved optical feedback at the T-VCSEL port and polarization-preserved optical injection at the R-VCSEL port, such polarization-rotated coupled system can also realize complete synchronization between each pair of linear polarization (LP) modes and the total output of T-VCSEL and R-VCSEL. Compared with the polarization-preserved coupled system, this proposed system has higher tolerance to mismatched parameters. Furthermore, the average intensities of two orthogonal LP modes are almost the same so that this framework may be used to realize dual-channel chaos communication. Under the additive chaos modulation (ACM) encryption scheme, the encoded messages can be successfully extracted for both of orthogonal LP modes.

Bi2Te3-based compounds are important near room temperature thermoelectric materials with commercial applications in thermoelectric modules. However, new routes leading to improved thermoelectric performance are highly desirable. Incorporation of superparamagnetic nanoparticles was recently proposed as a means to promote the thermoelectric properties of materials, but its feasibility has rarely been examined in mainstream thermoelectric materials. In this study, high quality single-crystalline Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 nanoplates and Ni nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by solvothermal and thermal decomposition methods, respectively. Bulk nanocomposites consisting of Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 nanoplates and superparamagnetic Ni nanoparticles were prepared by spark plasma sintering. It was found that incorporation of Ni nanoparticles simultaneously increased the carrier concentration and provided additional scattering centers, which resulted in enlarged electric conductivities and Seebeck coefficients. The greatly improved ZT was achieved due to the increase in power factor. Spark plasma sintered bulk nanocomposites of Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 nanoplates incorporated by 0.4 mol %Ni nanoparticles (in molar ratio) showed a figure-of-merit ZT of 0.66 at 425 K, equivalent to 43% increase when compared to pure Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 nanoplates. The results revealed that incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles could be an effective approach for promoting the thermoelectric performance of conventional semiconductors.