403 research outputs found
Expatriate leaders’ leadership styles vs. local subordinates’ perspectives in a United Arab Emirates higher education institution
This is the final version. Available on open access from the Institute of Rhetoric and Communications via the link in this recordThe main aim of this small scale qualitative pilot exploratory study is to examine how the local subordinates in one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) higher education institutions perceive their expatriate western leaders’ behaviors, what work and personal relationship is established between them, what leadership skills, if any, the UAE local subordinates think their expatriate leaders need to improve or develop to cope with their culture, and what strategies the UAE local subordinates use to adapt to their expatriate leaders’ behaviors. Semi-structured interviews were used to interview three UAE local subordinates in a higher education institution. The purpose was particularly to answer the following research questions as perceived by the local subordinates: 1) What were your expectations of the expatriate leadership? 2) How would you describe your relation with your expatriate leader? 3) What skills do you think your leader needs to develop to cope with your cultural norms? 4) What strategies do you use to cope with your leader’s behaviors? The main findings show a significant contradiction between what local subordinates expected from their expatriate leaders and their perceptions of leadership behavior
Electrical conductivity of MgSiO3 at high temperatures and pressures: implications for the Earth's mantle
The electrical conductivity of magnesium silicate MgSiO3 has been studied,
using the framework of the first-principles density functional theory and the
Boltzmann transport theory, under the thermodynamic conditions of the Earth's
lower mantle. We find that the conductivity of pristine MgSiO3 depends strongly
on the structural phase of the material, as well as on temperature and
pressure. The conductivity of the perovskite phase increases with increasing
pressure (depth of the lower mantle) up to 90 GPa, then decreases at higher
pressures due to a change in the material's band gap transition from direct to
indirect. Finally, the structural phase transition that MgSiO3 undergoes near
the bottom of the lower mantle, from perovskite to post-perovskite, causes an
increase in the conductivity of MgSiO3, which should contribute to the increase
in the electrical conductivity of the Earth's mantle under the thermodynamic
conditions of the Earth's D" layer.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Vacancy complexes in nonequilibrium germanium-tin semiconductors
Understanding the nature and behavior of vacancy-like defects in epitaxial
GeSn metastable alloys is crucial to elucidate the structural and
optoelectronic properties of these emerging semiconductors. The formation of
vacancies and their complexes is expected to be promoted by the relatively low
substrate temperature required for the epitaxial growth of GeSn layers with Sn
contents significantly above the equilibrium solubility of 1 at.%. These
defects can impact both the microstructure and charge carrier lifetime. Herein,
to identify the vacancy-related complexes and probe their evolution as a
function of Sn content, depth-profiled pulsed low-energy positron annihilation
lifetime spectroscopy and Doppler broadening spectroscopy were combined to
investigate GeSn epitaxial layers with Sn content in the 6.5-13.0 at.% range.
The samples were grown by chemical vapor deposition method at temperatures
between 300 and 330 {\deg}C. Regardless of the Sn content, all GeSn samples
showed the same depth-dependent increase in the positron annihilation line
broadening parameters, which confirmed the presence of open volume defects. The
measured average positron lifetimes were the highest (380-395 ps) in the region
near the surface and monotonically decrease across the analyzed thickness, but
remain above 350 ps. All GeSn layers exhibit lifetimes that are 85 to 110 ps
higher than the Ge reference layers. Surprisingly, these lifetimes were found
to decrease as Sn content increases in GeSn layers. These measurements indicate
that divacancies are the dominant defect in the as-grown GeSn layers. However,
their corresponding lifetime was found to be shorter than in epitaxial Ge thus
suggesting that the presence of Sn may alter the structure of divacancies.
Additionally, GeSn layers were found to also contain a small fraction of
vacancy clusters, which become less important as Sn content increases
Electronic structures of free-standing nanowires made from indirect bandgap semiconductor gallium phosphide
We present a theoretical study of the electronic structures of freestanding
nanowires made from gallium phosphide (GaP)--a III-V semiconductor with an
indirect bulk bandgap. We consider [001]-oriented GaP nanowires with square and
rectangular cross sections, and [111]-oriented GaP nanowires with hexagonal
cross sections. Based on tight binding models, both the band structures and
wave functions of the nanowires are calculated. For the [001]-oriented GaP
nanowires, the bands show anti-crossing structures, while the bands of the
[111]-oriented nanowires display crossing structures. Two minima are observed
in the conduction bands, while the maximum of the valence bands is always at
the -point. Using double group theory, we analyze the symmetry
properties of the lowest conduction band states and highest valence band states
of GaP nanowires with different sizes and directions. The band state wave
functions of the lowest conduction bands and the highest valence bands of the
nanowires are evaluated by spatial probability distributions. For practical
use, we fit the confinement energies of the electrons and holes in the
nanowires to obtain an empirical formula.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure
Harnessing nuclear spin polarization fluctuations in a semiconductor nanowire
Soon after the first measurements of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in a
condensed matter system, Bloch predicted the presence of statistical
fluctuations proportional to in the polarization of an ensemble of
spins. First observed by Sleator et al., so-called "spin noise" has
recently emerged as a critical ingredient in nanometer-scale magnetic resonance
imaging (nanoMRI). This prominence is a direct result of MRI resolution
improving to better than 100 nm^3, a size-scale in which statistical spin
fluctuations begin to dominate the polarization dynamics. We demonstrate a
technique that creates spin order in nanometer-scale ensembles of nuclear spins
by harnessing these fluctuations to produce polarizations both larger and
narrower than the natural thermal distribution. We focus on ensembles
containing ~10^6 phosphorus and hydrogen spins associated with single InP and
GaP nanowires (NWs) and their hydrogen-containing adsorbate layers. We monitor,
control, and capture fluctuations in the ensemble's spin polarization in
real-time and store them for extended periods. This selective capture of large
polarization fluctuations may provide a route for enhancing the weak magnetic
signals produced by nanometer-scale volumes of nuclear spins. The scheme may
also prove useful for initializing the nuclear hyperfine field of electron spin
qubits in the solid-state.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure
Knowledge synthesis about ecological stakes related to seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles and canyon deep habitats
En el marco del proyecto MSPMED, se ha llevado a cabo un caso de estudio entre España y Francia en el Golfo de Léon. El presente deliverable ha permitido impulsar los conocimientos existentes para ofrecer una visión transfronteriza actualizada de los intereses ecológicos en el Golfo de León
RĂ©partition des incendies de forĂŞts en fonction des facteurs physiques et biophysiques dans la RĂ©gion du Rif (Maroc)
L’évolution actuelle du régime des incendies de forêts pose de nouveaux défis quant aux pratiques habituelles des plans d’aménagement et stratégies de gestion de ce fléau. La mise en œuvre d’actions de prévention et de lutte nécessite une compréhension fine de l’occurrence et de propagation des feux. Le présent travail vise en une analyse spatio-temporelle des feux de forêt en fonction des facteurs physiques et biophysiques dans la région du Rif au Maroc, considérée comme une des régions les plus touchées par ce fléau à l’échelle nationale. Les incendies survenus dans cette région, entre 1997 et 2011, ont été analysés et classés en trois groupes de sévérité selon l’ampleur des superficies touchées. Cette analyse a montré que presque 80% des superficies incendiées ont été enregistrées durant les mois d’août et septembre. Par la suite, l’utilisation d’une analyse de variance déséquilibrée à deux facteurs a permis de montrer la présence d’une différence significative entre la sévérité de l’année et les types de bioclimat, notamment pour les bioclimats à hiver chaud caractérisés par une production abondante de biomasse. Aussi, l’étude révèle que pendant les années sévères, la végétation des hautes altitudes devient plus vulnérable aux feux, particulièrement pour les altitudes dépassant 2000 m, en revanche, l’effet de la pente et de la continentalité n’est pas significatif et ne présente aucune influence sur l’occurrence des feux
Analyse de la diversité génétique des plasmides d'Escherichia coli antibiorésistants causant la colibacillose aviaire
Les souches d’Escherichia coli aviaires antibiorésistantes sont porteuses de plasmides à une fréquence très élevée. Dans une étude antérieure, l’hétérogénéité de ces plasmides a été montrée. Une sonde d’ADN plasmidique (2 kb) extraite de l’une de ces souches a été utilisée dans la technique du Southern blot pour analyser les relations existantes entre les plasmides. À partir de poulets atteints de colibacillose et provenant de différentes fermes d’élevage, les plasmides de 22 souches d’E. coli ont été isolées. La sonde s’est hybridée avec tous les profils plasmidiques de ces souches, ce qui est en faveur de la présence d’une grande homologie de séquence entre ces plasmides ainsi que leur appartenance au même groupe d’hybridation. Le profil d’hybridation confirme l’hétérogénéité des plasmides contenus dans ces souches
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