Meeting Employers Expectations of DevOps Roles: Can Dispositions Be Taught?

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Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of Soil and Hypolithic Microbial Communities in Miers Valley, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica are an extreme polar desert. Mineral soils support subsurface microbial communities and translucent rocks support development of hypolithic communities on ventral surfaces in soil contact. Despite significant research attention, relatively little is known about taxonomic and functional diversity or their inter-relationships. Here we report a combined diversity and functional interrogation for soil and hypoliths of the Miers Valley in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The study employed 16S rRNA fingerprinting and high throughput sequencing combined with the GeoChip functional microarray. The soil community was revealed as a highly diverse reservoir of bacterial diversity dominated by actinobacteria. Hypolithic communities were less diverse and dominated by cyanobacteria. Major differences in putative functionality were that soil communities displayed greater diversity in stress tolerance and recalcitrant substrate utilization pathways, whilst hypolithic communities supported greater diversity of nutrient limitation adaptation pathways. A relatively high level of functional redundancy in both soil and hypoliths may indicate adaptation of these communities to fluctuating environmental conditions

Application of the Repetitions in Reserve-based Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale for Resistance Training

Ratings of perceived exertion are a valid method of estimating the intensity of a resistance training exercise or session. Scores are given after completion of an exercise or training session for the purposes of athlete monitoring. However, a newly developed scale based on how many repetitions are remaining at the completion of a set may be a more precise tool. This approach adjusts loads automatically to match athlete capabilities on a set-to-set basis and may more accurately gauge intensity at near-limit loads. This article outlines how to incorporate this novel scale into a training plan

Persistent Asymmetric Structure of Sagittarius A* on Event Horizon Scales

The Galactic Center black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a prime observing target for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which can resolve the 1.3 mm emission from this source on angular scales comparable to that of the general relativistic shadow. Previous EHT observations have used visibility amplitudes to infer the morphology of the millimeter-wavelength emission. Potentially much richer source information is contained in the phases. We report on 1.3 mm phase information on Sgr A* obtained with the EHT on a total of 13 observing nights over 4 years. Closure phases, the sum of visibility phases along a closed triangle of interferometer baselines, are used because they are robust against phase corruptions introduced by instrumentation and the rapidly variable atmosphere. The median closure phase on a triangle including telescopes in California, Hawaii, and Arizona is nonzero. This result conclusively demonstrates that the millimeter emission is asymmetric on scales of a few Schwarzschild radii and can be used to break 180-degree rotational ambiguities inherent from amplitude data alone. The stability of the sign of the closure phase over most observing nights indicates persistent asymmetry in the image of Sgr A* that is not obscured by refraction due to interstellar electrons along the line of sight

Work-family Conflict and Employee Loyalty: Exploring the Moderating Effects of Positive Thinking Coping

This paper extends the job-related outcomes predicted by work-family and family-work conflict by exploring employee loyalty. Employee loyalty is defined as active behaviours, whether through voice or actions, that express pride and support in the organisation. Despite the importance of employee loyalty, it is a seldom explored outcome in the work-family field. With a sample of 203 New Zealand Government department workers, conflict of both types (work-family and family-work) was found to be negatively associated with employee loyalty. Furthermore, positive thinking coping was explored as a moderator of these negative relationships. Positive thinking coping was found to have significant moderating effects, with respondents with low levels of positive thinking having lower levels of employee loyalty than those with higher positive thinking when both types of conflict increased. The implications for future outcome related studies of work-family conflict are discussed

Cucker-smale Flocking Under Asynchronous Update Dynamics

The effects of asynchronous updating of the state of the agents in a Cucker-Smale flocking model is considered in this paper. The study of asynchronous update is important because in practical implementations the agents typically have internal clocks that are not synchronized. We considered how asynchronous update will affect the time it takes to achieve flocking (flocking time) as well as how close the agents in the flock are moving (flock diameter). These factors were largely ignored in most previous works as achieving asymptotic convergence was their main focus. Furthermore, previous simulations typically assume that the agents move with the same speed. We considered the effects of achieving consensus of both the speed and the heading. Through computer simulations, we showed that both the flocking time and flock diameter increase significantly with asynchronicity. Results also showed that the diameter of the flock is substantially larger when the agents start with different speeds. These results should be taken into account when designing flocking agents in practice

Investigating the Effects of Robot-assisted Therapy Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Biomarkers

Therapeutic pet robots designed to help humans with various medical conditions could play a vital role in physiological, psychological and social-interaction interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In this paper, we report our findings from a robot-assisted therapeutic study conducted over seven weeks to investigate the changes in stress levels of children with ASD. For this study, we used the parrot-inspired therapeutic robot, KiliRo, we developed and investigated urinary and salivary samples of participating children to report changes in stress levels before and after interacting with the robot. This is a pioneering human-robot interaction study to investigate the effects of robot-assisted therapy using salivary samples. The results show that the bio-inspired robot-assisted therapy can significantly help reduce the stress levels of children with ASD

Women in the Boardroom and Their Impact on Climate Change Related Disclosure

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the relationship between gender diversity and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score/index. Specifically, the study describes extant research on theoretical perspectives, and the impact of women on corporate boards (WOB) on carbon emission issues in the global perspective. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses the carbon disclosure scores of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) from 2011 to 2013 (inclusive). A total observation for the three year periods is 1175 companies. However, based on data availability for the model, our sample size totals 331 companies in 33 countries with firms in 12 geographical locations. We used a model which is estimated using the fixed-effects estimator. Findings -The outcomes of the study reveal that there is a positive relationship between gender diversity (WOB) and carbon disclosure information. In addition to establishing a relationship between CDP score and other control variables, this study also found a relationship with Board size, asset size, energy consumption, and Tobin’s Q, which is common in the existing literature. Research limitations/implications -The limitations of the study mostly revolve around samples and the time period. To further test the generalizability and cross-sectional validity of the outcomes, it is suggested that the proposed framework be tested in more socially responsible firms. Practical implications -There are increasing pressures for WOBs from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, Fortune and FTSE rankings and best places for women to work lists. The study offers insights to policy makers implementing gender quota legislation. Originality/value -The study has important implications for putting into practice good corporate governance and in particular, gender diversity. The outcomes of our analyses advocate that companies that included women directors and with a smaller board size may expect to achieve a higher level of carbon emission performance and to voluntarily disclose the level of carbon information assessment requested by the CDP

A Māori Crisis in Science Education?

This article is written for teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand schools who teach science to Year 7-10 students or as part of a primary classroom programme under NZC (the New Zealand Curriculum). What can teachers do about inequity in science education for Māori students? Clear understanding of this complex issue is required, so this article offers a synopsis of the Māori science curriculum debate. Written from my perspective as an insider-researcher interested in this topic for many years, this article engages with important comments about Māori-medium science education made by Sir Peter Gluckman in a major report on science education (2011), and an earlier challenge by Graham Hingangaroa Smith (1995) about the ‘Māori crisis’ in science education. The article lists and discusses options for teachers, including the potential of ‘bilingual science’ both as a useful practical approach for any classroom teacher, and as a way of navigating the current theoretical impasse or ‘crisis’ in Māori science education

Moving Backwards, Moving Forward: The Experiences of Older Filipino Migrants Adjusting to Life in New Zealand

Purpose: To explore the experiences of older Filipino migrants adjusting to living permanently in New Zealand. Method: The qualitative descriptive approach taken in this study involved 17 individual face-to-face interviews of older Filipino migrants in New Zealand. Results: Three main themes emerged from the data. The first theme was “moving backwards and moving forward”, which described how these older Filipino migrants adjusted to challenges they experienced with migration. The second theme was “engaging with health services” and presented challenges relating to the New Zealand healthcare system, including a lack of knowledge of the nature of health services, language barriers, and differences in cultural views. The third theme, “new-found home”, highlighted establishing a Filipino identity in New Zealand and adjusting to the challenges of relocation. Conclusion: Adjustment to life in New Zealand for these older Filipino migrants meant starting over again by building new values through learning the basics and then moving forward from there