Whether close or far: Social distance effects on perceived balance in friendship networks.

Under what circumstances are individuals' perceptions of friendship relations shaped by the balance schema? Using data from 4 organizations varying in size from 21 to 33 members, the authors investigated how ego's perception of the social distance from ego to alter affected the proportion of alter's friendships perceived by ego as balanced. Balance involves both (a) reciprocated friendships between 2 people, and (b) transitive triplets, in which 2 friends of a person are themselves friends. Graphical and regression analyses supported a composite curvilinear model that combined the predictions of emotional tension and cognitive miser perspectives: People tended to perceive relations close to and distant from themselves as more balanced than relations of intermediate distance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The snowball effect: Turnover embedded in communication networks.

Investigated the relation between turnover and communication networks in 3 fast-food restaurants. Although most research assumes an independent, stochastic quality to turnover, it was hypothesized that turnover occurs in clusters that would be significantly related to the degree to which employees occupied similar informal roles as defined by perceived communication patterns. 53 employees (average age 19 yrs) completed a communication network questionnaire. Over the next month, 12 Ss left the restaurants. A social network concept called regular equivalance was used to measure the degree to which Ss were perceived similar to each other in these communication roles. Three separate analyses were conducted, each based on different assumptions about the data. A meta-analysis across the 3 sites in all 3 analytical approaches confirmed the hypothesized relation between turnover clusters and perceived roles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Functional turnover: An empirical assessment.

Proposed that the traditional method of categorizing employee turnover as voluntary or involuntary has the effect of overstating the gravity of turnover on the organization. A recently suggested taxonomy was used to identify the extent of functional/dysfunctional and unavoidable/controllable employee separations. Analysis of data on employees (N?=?1,389) of Western bank branches, which considers both the replaceability and quality of departing employees, indicated substantial levels of functional (71%) and unavoidable (52%) turnover. Results suggest that the traditional dichotomy may in fact substantially overstate the impact of voluntary turnover. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broadband parallel-fiber optical link for short-distance interconnection with multimode fibers

In a multimode step-index fiber the propagation angle of a beam is conserved over short distances even if the fiber is bent slightly. This behavior can be exploited for a multiplexed signal transmission by the assignment of different channels to different propagation angles [angle-division multiplexing (ADM)]. Thus parallel transmission can be achieved. Because each channel occupies only a subrange of the fiber's numerical aperture, modal dispersion is reduced compared with single-channel transmission through the same fiber. The transmission properties of an ADM-based transmission line are analyzed for short propagation distances. Passive all-optical setups for multiplexing and demultiplexing operations are proposed. Cross-talk measurements are shown for a transmission with a length of 8 m and 13 multiplexed channels.