Working Self Concepts: the Impact of Work Based Learning On Self Identity Amongst Senior HRM/HRD Practitioners

This paper explores the experiences of senior HRM/D managers and strategic line managers who have engaged with a Work Based Learning (WBL) programme, and builds on earlier work by Nichol and Williams (2012) who explored the professional identity of HR/HRD practitioners. The paper seeks to understand the personal impact of this combination of work place yet externally derived learning process on self-identity since this will have lessons for the learners, for the organisation, and for providers of such programmes. The basis of this qualitative, interpretive, paper is a series of one-to-one semi-structured interviews with senior practitioners from across the public, private and not-for-profit spectrum. Analysis and interpretation are guided equally by themes arising from the data and by a priori knowledge of existing theoretical frameworks. The concepts of self-identity operate at multiple levels, which Lord and Brown (2004) refer to as the Individual, Interpersonal and Collective levels of our ‘Working Self Concept (WSC)’. Their model demonstrated how successful leadership processes occur indirectly through follower self-identities, and this current research adapts that model to argue that the WBL process similarly needs to align with participants’ self-identity in order to ensure success. There is evidence of positive impacts on self-views at all levels with affective and behavioural changes that enhanced performance as a result of engagement in WBL. Increased confidence in their own value to their respective organisations, and improved belief in the legitimacy of their accumulated knowledge skills and experience enabled them to further contribute to organisational goals

Working Self Concepts: the Impact of Work Based Learning On Self Identity Amongst Senior HRM/HRD Practitioners

This paper explores the experiences of senior HRM/D managers and strategic line managers who have engaged with a Work Based Learning (WBL) programme, and builds on earlier work by Nichol and Williams (2012) who explored the professional identity of HR/HRD practitioners. The paper seeks to understand the personal impact of this combination of work place yet externally derived learning process on self-identity since this will have lessons for the learners, for the organisation, and for providers of such programmes. The basis of this qualitative, interpretive, paper is a series of one-to-one semi-structured interviews with senior practitioners from across the public, private and not-for-profit spectrum. Analysis and interpretation are guided equally by themes arising from the data and by a priori knowledge of existing theoretical frameworks. The concepts of self-identity operate at multiple levels, which Lord and Brown (2004) refer to as the Individual, Interpersonal and Collective levels of our ‘Working Self Concept (WSC)’. Their model demonstrated how successful leadership processes occur indirectly through follower self-identities, and this current research adapts that model to argue that the WBL process similarly needs to align with participants’ self-identity in order to ensure success. There is evidence of positive impacts on self-views at all levels with affective and behavioural changes that enhanced performance as a result of engagement in WBL. Increased confidence in their own value to their respective organisations, and improved belief in the legitimacy of their accumulated knowledge skills and experience enabled them to further contribute to organisational goals

Population-based outcomes after whole brain radiotherapy and re-irradiation in patients with metastatic breast cancer in the trastuzumab era

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>This study examined the population-based use and outcomes of brain radiotherapy (BRT) for brain metastases (BM) from breast cancer with a focus on repeat BRT in the trastuzumab era.</p> <p>Methods and materials</p> <p>All women with breast cancer diagnosed from 2000-2007 and treated with BRT were retrospectively identified from a provincial database.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 441 women with BM from breast cancer were identified. The median age was 55 years and 40% (176/441) had human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive disease. The median survival (MS) from the initial BRT for all 441 women was 4.5 months. The MS by Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Recursive Partitioning Analysis (RPA) class was: 1 (14.5 months), 2 (6.4 months) and 3 (1.8 months). For the 37 cases receiving repeat BRT, 27% (10/37) had stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and 70% (26/37) had HER2 positive disease, of which, 81% (21/26) received trastuzumab in the metastatic setting. For repeat BRT, the median survival by RPA class was: 1 (9.8 months), 2 (7.4 months) and 3 (2.0 months). For RPA class 1 and 2, the one-year overall survival (OS) was 45%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proportion of cases with HER2 positive disease was increased at repeat BRT compared to initial BRT. RPA class 1 and 2 patients should be considered for repeat BRT.</p

A prototype station for ARIANNA: a detector for cosmic neutrinos

The Antarctic Ross Iceshelf Antenna Neutrino Array (ARIANNA) is a proposed detector for ultra-high energy astrophysical neutrinos. It will detect coherent radio Cherenkov emission from the particle showers produced by neutrinos with energies above about 10^17 eV. ARIANNA will be built on the Ross Ice Shelf just off the coast of Antarctica, where it will eventually cover about 900 km^2 in surface area. There, the ice-water interface below the shelf reflects radio waves, giving ARIANNA sensitivity to downward going neutrinos and improving its sensitivity to horizontally incident neutrinos. ARIANNA detector stations will each contain 4-8 antennas which search for brief pulses of 50 MHz to 1 GHz radio emission from neutrino interactions. We describe a prototype station for ARIANNA which was deployed in Moore's Bay on the Ross Ice Shelf in December 2009, discuss the design and deployment, and present some initial figures on performance. The ice shelf thickness was measured to be 572 +/- 6 m at the deployment site.Comment: 15 pages with 5 figure

First Measurement of the Clustering Evolution of Photometrically-Classified Quasars

We present new measurements of the quasar autocorrelation from a sample of \~80,000 photometrically-classified quasars taken from SDSS DR1. We find a best-fit model of $\omega(\theta) = (0.066\pm^{0.026}_{0.024})\theta^{-(0.98\pm0.15)}$ for the angular autocorrelation, consistent with estimates from spectroscopic quasar surveys. We show that only models with little or no evolution in the clustering of quasars in comoving coordinates since z~1.4 can recover a scale-length consistent with local galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). A model with little evolution of quasar clustering in comoving coordinates is best explained in the current cosmological paradigm by rapid evolution in quasar bias. We show that quasar biasing must have changed from b_Q~3 at a (photometric) redshift of z=2.2 to b_Q~1.2-1.3 by z=0.75. Such a rapid increase with redshift in biasing implies that quasars at z~2 cannot be the progenitors of modern L* objects, rather they must now reside in dense environments, such as clusters. Similarly, the duration of the UVX quasar phase must be short enough to explain why local UVX quasars reside in essentially unbiased structures. Our estimates of b_Q are in good agreement with recent spectroscopic results, which demonstrate the implied evolution in b_Q is consistent with quasars inhabiting halos of similar mass at every redshift. Treating quasar clustering as a function of both redshift and luminosity, we find no evidence for luminosity dependence in quasar clustering, and that redshift evolution thus affects quasar clustering more than changes in quasars' luminosity. We provide a new method for quantifying stellar contamination in photometrically-classified quasar catalogs via the correlation function.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, Accepted to ApJ after: (i) Minor textual changes; (ii) extra points added to Fig.

Measurements of radio propagation in rock salt for the detection of high-energy neutrinos

We present measurements of the transmission of radio/microwave pulses through salt in the Cote Blanche salt mine operated by the North American Salt Company in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. These results are from data taken in the southwestern region of the 1500 ft. (457 m) deep level of the mine on our third and most recent visit to the mine. We transmitted and received a fast, high-power, broadband pulse from within three vertical boreholes that were drilled to depths of 100 ft. (30 m) and 200 ft. below the 1500 ft. level using three different pairs of dipole antennas whose bandwidths span 125 to 900 MHz. By measuring the relative strength of the received pulses between boreholes with separations of 50 m and 169 m, we deduce the attenuation of the signal attributed to the salt medium. We fit the frequency dependence of the attenuation to a power law and find the best fit field attenuation lengths to be 93 \pm 7 m at 150 MHz, 63 \pm 3 m at 300 MHz, and 36 \pm 2 m at 800 MHz. This is the most precise measurement of radio attenuation in a natural salt formation to date. We assess the implications of this measurement for a future neutrino detector in salt.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research,

Combined analysis of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect and cosmological implications

We present a global measurement of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect obtained by cross-correlating all relevant large scale galaxy data sets with the cosmic microwave background radiation map provided by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. With these measurements, the overall ISW signal is detected at the ~ 4.5 sigma level. We also examine the cosmological implications of these measurements, particularly the dark energy equation of state w, its sound speed, and the overall curvature of the Universe. The flat LCDM model is a good fit to the data and, assuming this model, we find that the ISW data constrain Omega_m = 0.20 +0.19 -0.11 at the 95% confidence level. When we combine our ISW results with the latest baryon oscillation and supernovae measurements, we find that the result is still consistent with a flat LCDM model with w = -1 out to redshifts z > 1.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures. Version accepted by PRD. Improved quasar data, revised parameter constraint