Humor at work that works: A multi-level examination of when and why leader humor promotes employee creativity.

Although the role of leadership in fostering employee creativity has been extensively studied, it is still unclear whether and how leader humor affects employee creativity. Drawing upon cultural representation theory (CRT), we examined creative self-efficacy as a mediator and traditionality as a situational factor in the relationship between leader humor and employee creativity by analyzing a sample of 306 employees and 88 leaders (paired data) collected through survey questionnaire from firms based in Hubei Province, China, covering the industries of automobile, IT, and medicine. Following the multi-level examination, leader humor was positively related to employee creativity, and creative self-efficacy was found to mediate the impact of leader humor on employee creativity. Furthermore, traditionality moderated the effect of leader humor on creative self-efficacy, as well as the indirect effect of leader humor on employee creativity through creative self-efficacy. This study provides a social psychological explanation for the association between humor and employee creativity, deepens the current understanding of the influence process of leader humor. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed at the end alongside limitations and recommendations for future research.

Characteristics of boundary layer ozone and its effect on surface ozone concentration in Shenzhen, China: A case study.

In late September 2019, the longest and most extensive ozone (O3) pollution process occurred at Pearl River Delta. Base on the observational data, surface-level O3, vertical distribution characteristics boundary layer O3 as well as its effect on surface-level O3 are thoroughly analyzed. The O3 lidar results showed similar vertical O3 profiles both in pollution episodes and clean periods, from which a high O3 concentration layer between 300 and 500 m and a sub-high O3 concentration layer between 1300 and 1700 m (near the top of the mixing layer) can be found. Besides, the downward O3 transport paths from the high/sub-high O3 concentration layers could be observed along with the boundary layer evolution: At nighttime, large amounts of O3 were effectively stored into the residual layer (RL). Due to the upward development of Mixing layer (ML) in early morning, atmospheric vertical mixing carried the O3 inside the RL down to the surface, which led to a rapid increase in the surface-level O3. The sub-high O3 layer began the downward mixing at noon, and became well-mixed after the boundary layer was fully developed in the afternoon, by which the near surface O3 pollution deteriorated again. Further analysis of the heavy O3 pollution episodes show that, the high O3 concentration inside the RL contributed 54% ± 6% of the surface-level O3 at 9:00 LT and the average contribution of O3 in the sub-high concentration layer to the surface-level O3 at 14:00 LT was 26% ± 9%. Based on the quantitative analysis of the observational data, this paper focus to reveal the importance of the contribution of O3 inside the RL and near the top of the ML to the surface O3.

Trend analysis of surface ozone at suburban Guangzhou, China.

The long-term variations of ozone are the combined results of climate change and air quality management. As Guangzhou is under the influence of both subtropical monsoon climate and rapid economic development, the ozone trend in recent years is uncertain. This paper presents the trend analysis of maximum daily average 8 h (MDA8) ozone and daily meteorological observations in Guangzhou from 2008 to 2018, using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko (KZ) filter method. The observations were conducted at two sites in suburban Guangzhou, thus the datasets were processed in two periods. The first period (P1) is from 2008 to 2013, and the second period (P2) is from 2014 to 2018. Results show that the KZ filter method separates the short-term, seasonal, and long-term components efficiently, leaving a covariance term of 7.3% (5.4%) for P1 (P2). Through linear regression of long-term components, the trends were inferred as -0.06 ±â€¯0.04 ppb year-1 (R2 = 0.00, p < 0.05) for P1, and 0.51 ±â€¯0.08 ppb year-1 (R2 = 0.11, p < 0.05) for P2. It is found that the solar radiation has the strongest impact on ozone. With inclusion of temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed, these four meteorological factors held 71% (76%) variability in baseline ozone (sum of seasonal and long-term ozone) for P1 (P2). After applying the KZ filter method, the results reveal that the variance contribution of emission to long-term ozone variation is larger than that of meteorology in P1, while smaller in P2. Furthermore, 59% of the emission-induced ozone change in P2 could be explained by nitrogen dioxide variation, and their inverse correlation suggests that Guangzhou is mainly under volatile organic compounds-limited regime, despite continuous nitrogen oxides reduction.

[Analysis of Peroxyacetyl Nitrate and Ozone During a Typical Photochemical Pollution Process at the Panyu Atmospheric Composition Station].

The typical photochemical pollution process in Guangzhou was analyzed from 2010 to 2016 by observing photochemical pollutants (ozone (O3), peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitric oxide (NO)) and meteorological factors at the Guangzhou Panyu Atmospheric Composition Station (GPACS). The results showed that during this photochemical pollution process, the average O3 and PAN concentrations were relatively high:O3,max 1 h concentration was 140.6×10-9 and PANmax 1 h concentration was 4.7×10-9. The average concentration of NO was low, which had little effect on O3 titration and PAN elimination. The high NO2 concentration, strong radiation, and low wind speed all led to the formulation and accumulation of O3 and PAN. The linear relationship between O3 and PAN (R2=0.55) was affected by the fact that their precursor VOCs were not similar. Ethene, propane, isoprene, and toluene had a large influence in PAN formation, while isoprene, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, propene, m,p-xylene, and toluene had a large influence on O3 formation potential. When evaluating PA concentration, we found that its daily average concentration ranged from 0.11×10-12 to 0.16×10-12, which were higher than many places around the world, indicating that this photochemical process was relatively intensive.

Impact of typhoon periphery on high ozone and high aerosol pollution in the Pearl River Delta region.

This paper analyzes observation data in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region from 2012 to 2013, and explores the impact of typhoon periphery on high ozone and high aerosol pollution episodes (double high episodes). Observation analysis show that severe tropical storms to severe typhoons are mainly located in the range of 10°N-30°N, 116°E-135°E when double high episodes occur. Meanwhile, obvious high temperature, low humidity, low wind speed, high actinic flux, high aerosol optical depth (AOD), and high single scattering albedo (SSA) can be observed in double high episodes. The diurnal cycle of the PM2.5 is significant in double high episodes, and the average peak concentration in the afternoon can exceed 90 µg/m3. The diurnal cycle of PM2.5 in non-double high episodes is not significant, and the average value is about 34-39 µg/m3. The ozone peak concentration in double high episodes is 81-103 ppbv, which is about 27-40 ppbv higher than that of non-double high episodes. High correlation can be found between the aerosol and ozone diurnal cycles in double high episodes, and r2 reaches 0.76. In double high episodes, black carbon, nitrate, and sea salt decrease while sulfate, ammonium, secondary organic carbon, and total PM2.5 significantly increase in the afternoon. The growth of PM2.5 in double high episodes is mainly contributed by scattered fine particles from photochemical processes and transmission. The mechanisms that control the double high episodes in the PRD are described below. Ozone and aerosol begin to accumulate under unfavorable meteorological conditions. Via local photochemical processes and external transport, the scattered aerosol increases and leads to an increase in multiple scattering and actinic radiation, which is in turn more favorable for photochemical reaction and further increases the ozone concentration. Meanwhile, high oxidizability promotes the formation of scattered aerosol, creating positive feedback. In addition, the scattered aerosol increases backscattering, which increases the photolysis rate and ozone concentration in the middle and upper boundary layer. Meanwhile, downdraft and turbulence transports high-concentration ozone to the ground.

[Effect of VOCs on O3 and SOA Formation Potential During the Combined Pollution Process in Guangzhou Panyu Atmospheric Composition Station].

An analysis was made by using historical observational data of Guangzhou Panyu Atmospheric Composition Station(GPACS). The results showed that typical haze processes accompanied with high ozone episodes happened during the period from September 2rd, 2011 to September 5th, 2011(P1) and the period from June 12th, 2012 to June 15th, 2012(P2) respectively. During the two combined pollution processes (P1 and P2), daily visibility ranged from 5.78 km to 6.91 km and from 5.60 km to 9.25 km, and the maximum 8 h O3reached 92.14×10-9 and 91.29×10-9 respectively. Among the 55 detected volatile organic compounds(VOCs), alkenes and aromatics had the highest reactivity with the 41%, 39% proportions of equivalent propylene concentration and the proportions of 28%, 54% in the aspect of ozone formation potential during P1. Alkenes and aromatics contributed 35% and 46% of equivalent propylene concentration, as well as 22% and 61% to ozone formation potential during P2. In terms of SOA formation potential by FAC estimation, alkanes, alkenes and aromatics accounted for 13.2%, 21.4%, 65.4% during P1 and 4.6%, 13.8%, 81.6% during P2 respectively. Toluene, isoprene, ethylbenzene and m,p-Xylene had large contributions to the ozone and SOA formation. Factors including pollutants transported from the downtown area, continuous gentle wind, high temperature, low humidity and strong radiation gave rise to the occurrence of high ozone episodes in these two haze processes.