Space, conversations and place: lessons and questions from organisational development

Physical workspace is distinguished from workplace. The latter embodies culture and should become the greater concern of FM. In the field of individual and group development spaces can add an extra gear to stimulate cognitive processes. We provide various examples and suggest modern workplaces, with their emphasis on interaction need to also focus on environments and spaces for individual and collective reflection

Large collection of astrophysical S-factors and its compact representation

Numerous nuclear reactions in the crust of accreting neutron stars are strongly affected by dense plasma environment. Simulations of superbursts, deep crustal heating and other nuclear burning phenomena in neutron stars require astrophysical S-factors for these reactions (as a function of center-of-mass energy E of colliding nuclei). A large database of S-factors is created for about 5000 non-resonant fusion reactions involving stable and unstable isotopes of Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne, Na, Mg, and Si. It extends the previous database of about 1000 reactions involving isotopes of C, O, Ne, and Mg. The calculations are performed using the Sao Paulo potential and the barrier penetration formalism. All calculated S-data are parameterized by an analytic model for S(E) proposed before [Phys. Rev. C 82, 044609 (2010)] and further elaborated here. For a given reaction, the present S(E)-model contains three parameters. These parameters are easily interpolated along reactions involving isotopes of the same elements with only seven input parameters, giving an ultracompact, accurate, simple, and uniform database. The S(E) approximation can also be used to estimate theoretical uncertainties of S(E) and nuclear reaction rates in dense matter, as illustrated for the case of the 34Ne+34Ne reaction in the inner crust of an accreting neutron star.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. C, accepte

BIBIMBAP: Identity Construction in Korean Third Culture Kids During Higher Education

Amidst increasing interconnectedness and transmigration of the 21st century, a number of families are leaving South Korea for business, work, or education; their children are raised as Third Culture Kids (TCKs)—children who accompany their parents abroad. This study used the lens of cultural globalization to examine how Korean TCKs used their life experiences to inform their identity construction, especially during higher education. Participants were Korean students and recent alumni from universities in Korea, the United States, and abroad who had spent at least three childhood years living outside Korea with their families. Data were collected through a series of unstructured biographical narrative interviews with each participant; the conceptual framework and three themes (cultural context, politics of belonging, and identity) emerged from constant comparative analysis of the data. The data suggest that Korean TCKs construct their identity within the context of their home and host cultures and cultural globalization, that language functions as a currency with which participants negotiate their ability to fit in, and that ethnicity mediates their life experiences. Participant experiences reflect—and trouble—the distinctions of Korean culture in the marriage of education to family honor and coconstructions of ethnicity and national identity. These findings suggest that the process of identity construction is not distinct to Korean TCKs—even while context fundamentally informs this process, implying broad applications within the context of globalization. Participants’ decontextualized English and Korean languages were devalued, and hybrid language emerged as way to assert a non-marginalized identity based on shared experience, language, and ethnicity. Finally, this study calls for special attention to Korean TCKs—and others who construct their identity in the wake of mobility across cultures—as they are uniquely positioned to assume key roles representing the world to Korea and Korea to a globalizing world

Elementary excitations of the symmetric spin-orbital model: The XY limit

The elementary excitations of the 1D, symmetric, spin-orbital model are investigated by studying two anisotropic versions of the model, the pure XY and the dimerized XXZ case, with analytical and numerical methods. While they preserve the symmetry between spin and orbital degrees of freedom, these models allow for a simple and transparent picture of the low--lying excitations: In the pure XY case, a phase separation takes place between two phases with free--fermion like, gapless excitations, while in the dimerized case, the low-energy effective Hamiltonian reduces to the 1D Ising model with gapped excitations. In both cases, all the elementary excitations involve simultaneous flips of the spin and orbital degrees of freedom, a clear indication of the breakdown of the traditional mean-field theory.Comment: Revtex, two figure

Body Temperature In Captive Long-Beaked Echidnas (Zaglossus Bartoni)

The routine occurrence of both short-term (daily) and long-term torpor (hibernation) in short-beaked echidnas, but not platypus, raises questions about the third monotreme genus, New Guinea's Zaglossus. We measured body temperatures (Tb) with implanted data loggers over three and a half years in two captive Zaglossus bartoni at Taronga Zoo, Sydney. The modal Tb of both long-beaks was 31 degrees C, similar to non-hibernating short-beaked echidnas, Tachyglossus aculeatus, in the wild (30-32 degrees C) and to platypus (32 degrees C), suggesting that this is characteristic of normothermic monotremes. Tb cycled daily, usually over 2-4 degrees C. There were some departures from this pattern to suggest periods of inactivity but nothing to indicate the occurrence of long-term torpor. In contrast, two short-beaked echidnas monitored concurrently in the same pen showed extended periods of low Tb in the cooler months (hibernation) and short periods of torpor at any time of the year, as they do in the wild. Whether torpor or hibernation occurs in Zaglossus in the wild or in juveniles remains unknown. However, given that the environment in this study was conducive to hibernation in short-beaks, which do not easily enter torpor in captivity, and their large size, we think that torpor in wild adult Zaglossus is unlikely

The nature of science as a foundation for fostering a better understanding of evolution

Misunderstandings of the nature of science (NOS) contribute greatly to resistance to evolutionary theory especially among non-scientific audiences. Here we delineate three extended instructional examples that make extensive use of NOS to establish a foundation upon which to more successfully introduce evolution. Specifically, these instructional examples enable students to consider evolutionary biology using NOS as a lens for interpretation of evolutionary concepts. We have further found, through our respective research efforts and instructional experiences, that a deep understanding of NOS helps students understand and accept the scientific validity of evolution and, conversely, that evolution provides an especially effective context for helping students and teachers to develop a deep understanding of the nature of science. Based on our research and instructional experiences, we introduce six key factors necessary for enhanced instructional success in teaching evolution. These factors are: (1) foster a deep understanding of NOS; (2) use NOS as a lens for evolution instruction; (3) explicitly compare evolution to alternative explanations; (4) focus on human evolution (where possible); (5) explicitly recognize the power of historical inference and (6) use active, social learning. Finally, we elaborate and ground these key factors in supporting literature

Thermodynamics of the one-dimensional SU(4) symmetric spin-orbital model

The ground state properties and the thermodynamics of the one-dimensional SU(4) symmetric spin system with orbital degeneracy are investigated using the quantum Monte Carlo loop algorithm. The spin-spin correlation functions exhibit a 4-site periodicity, and their low temperature behavior is controlled by two correlation lengths that diverge like the inverse temperature, while the entropy is linear in temperature and its slope is consistent with three gapless modes of velocity $\pi/2$. The physical implications of these results are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

Ultrafast supercontinuum spectroscopy of carrier multiplication and biexcitonic effects in excited states of PbS quantum dots

We examine the multiple exciton population dynamics in PbS quantum dots by ultrafast spectrally-resolved supercontinuum transient absorption (SC-TA). We simultaneously probe the first three excitonic transitions over a broad spectral range. Transient spectra show the presence of first order bleach of absorption for the 1S_h-1S_e transition and second order bleach along with photoinduced absorption band for 1P_h-1P_e transition. We also report evidence of the one-photon forbidden 1S_{h,e}-1P_{h,e} transition. We examine signatures of carrier multiplication (multiexcitons for the single absorbed photon) from analysis of the first and second order bleaches, in the limit of low absorbed photon numbers (~ 10^-2), at pump energies from two to four times the semiconductor band gap. The multiexciton generation efficiency is discussed both in terms of a broadband global fit and the ratio between early- to long-time transient absorption signals.. Analysis of population dynamics shows that the bleach peak due to the biexciton population is red-shifted respect the single exciton one, indicating a positive binding energy.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure