Do it Right or Not at All: A Longitudinal Evaluation of a Conflict Managment System Implementation

We analyzed an eight-year multi-source longitudinal data set that followed a healthcare system in the Eastern United States as it implemented a major conflict management initiative to encourage line managers to consistently perform Personal Management Interviews (or PMIs) with their employees. PMIs are interviews held between two individuals, designed to prevent or quickly resolve interpersonal problems before they escalate to formal grievances. This initiative provided us a unique opportunity to empirically test key predictions of Integrated Conflict Management System (or ICMS) theory. Analyzing survey and personnel file data from 5,449 individuals from 2003 to 2010, we found that employees whose managers provided high-quality interviews perceived significantly higher participative work climates and had lower turnover rates. However, retention was worse when managers provided poor-quality interviews than when they conducted no interviews at all. Together these findings highlight the critical role that line mangers play in the success of conflict management systems

Gas Giant Protoplanets Formed by Disk Instability in Binary Star Systems

We present a suite of three dimensional radiative gravitational hydrodynamics models suggesting that binary stars may be quite capable of forming planetary systems similar to our own. The new models with binary companions do not employ any explicit artificial viscosity, and also include the third (vertical) dimension in the hydrodynamic calculations, allowing for transient phases of convective cooling. The calculations of the evolution of initially marginally gravitationally stable disks show that the presence of a binary star companion may actually help to trigger the formation of dense clumps that could become giant planets. We also show that in models without binary companions, which begin their evolution as gravitationally stable disks, the disks evolve to form dense rings, which then break-up into self-gravitating clumps. These latter models suggest that the evolution of any self-gravitating disk with sufficient mass to form gas giant planets is likely to lead to a period of disk instability, even in the absence of a trigger such as a binary star companion.Comment: 52 pages, 28 figure

Phase noise measurements of the 400-kW, 2.115-GHz (S-band) transmitter

The measurement theory is described and a test method to perform phase noise verification using off-the-shelf components and instruments is presented. The measurement technique described consists of a double-balanced mixer used as phase detector, followed by a low noise amplifier. An FFT spectrum analyzer is then used to view the modulation components. A simple calibration procedure is outlined that ensures accurate measurements. A block diagram of the configuration is presented as well as actual phase noise data from the 400 kW, 2.115 GHz (S-band) klystron transmitter

On The Effect of Giant Planets on the Scattering of Parent Bodies of Iron Meteorite from the Terrestrial Planet Region into the Asteroid Belt: A Concept Study

In their model for the origin of the parent bodies of iron meteorites, Bottke et al proposed differentiated planetesimals that were formed in the region of 1-2 AU during the first 1.5 Myr, as the parent bodies, and suggested that these objects and their fragments were scattered into the asteroid belt as a result of interactions with planetary embryos. Although viable, this model does not include the effect of a giant planet that might have existed or been growing in the outer regions. We present the results of a concept study where we have examined the effect of a planetary body in the orbit of Jupiter on the early scattering of planetesimals from terrestrial region into the asteroid belt. We integrated the orbits of a large battery of planetesimals in a disk of planetary embryos, and studied their evolutions for different values of the mass of the planet. Results indicate that when the mass of the planet is smaller than 10 Earth-masses, its effects on the interactions among planetesimals and planetary embryos is negligible. However, when the planet mass is between 10 and 50 Earth-masses, simulations point to a transitional regime with ~50 Earth-mass being the value for which the perturbing effect of the planet can no longer be ignored. Simulations also show that further increase of the mass of the planet strongly reduces the efficiency of the scattering of planetesimals from the terrestrial planet region into the asteroid belt. We present the results of our simulations and discuss their possible implications for the time of giant planet formation.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Migration of giant planets in planetesimal discs

Planets orbiting a planetesimal circumstellar disc can migrate inward from their initial positions because of dynamical friction between planets and planetesimals. The migration rate depends on the disc mass and on its time evolution. Planets that are embedded in long-lived planetesimal discs, having total mass of $10^{-4}-0.01 M_{\odot}$, can migrate inward a large distance and can survive only if the inner disc is truncated or because of tidal interaction with the star. In this case the semi-major axis, a, of the planetary orbit is less than 0.1 AU. Orbits with larger $a$ are obtained for smaller value of the disc mass or for a rapid evolution (depletion) of the disc. This model may explain several of the orbital features of the giant planets that were discovered in last years orbiting nearby stars as well as the metallicity enhancement found in several stars associated with short-period planets.Comment: 21 pages; 6 encapsulated figures. Accepted by MNRA

Secretly Eccentric: The Giant Planet and Activity Cycle of GJ 328

We announce the discovery of a ~2 Jupiter-mass planet in an eccentric 11-year orbit around the K7/M0 dwarf GJ 328. Our result is based on 10 years' worth of radial velocity (RV) data from the Hobby-Eberly and Harlan J. Smith telescopes at McDonald Observatory, and from the Keck Telescope at Mauna Kea. Our analysis of GJ 328's magnetic activity via the Na I D features reveals a long-period stellar activity cycle, which creates an additional signal in the star's RV curve with amplitude 6-10 m/s. After correcting for this stellar RV contribution, we see that the orbit of the planet is more eccentric than suggested by the raw RV data. GJ 328b is currently the most massive, longest-period planet discovered around a low-mass dwarf.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

The Supernova Triggered Formation and Enrichment of Our Solar System

We investigate the enrichment of the pre-solar cloud core with short lived radionuclides (SLRs), especially 26Al. The homogeneity and the surprisingly small spread in the ratio 26Al/27Al observed in the overwhelming majority of calcium-aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) in a vast variety of primitive chondritic meteorites places strong constraints on the formation of the the solar system. Freshly synthesized radioactive 26Al has to be included and well mixed within 20kyr. After discussing various scenarios including X-winds, AGB stars and Wolf-Rayet stars, we come to the conclusion that triggering the collapse of a cold cloud core by a nearby supernova is the most promising scenario. We then narrow down the vast parameter space by considering the pre-explosion survivability of such a clump as well as the cross-section necessary for sufficient enrichment. We employ numerical simulations to address the mixing of the radioactively enriched SN gas with the pre-existing gas and the forced collapse within 20kyr. We show that a cold clump of 10Msun at a distance of 5pc can be sufficiently enriched in 26Al and triggered into collapse fast enough - within 18kyr after encountering the supernova shock - for a range of different metallicities and progenitor masses, even if the enriched material is assumed to be distributed homogeneously in the entire supernova bubble. In summary, we envision an environment for the birth place of the Solar System 4.567Gyr ago similar to the situation of the pillars in M16 nowadays, where molecular cloud cores adjacent to an HII region will be hit by a supernova explosion in the future. We show that the triggered collapse and formation of the Solar System as well as the required enrichment with radioactive 26Al are possible in this scenario.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ. Resolution of most figures degraded to fit within arXiv size limits. A full resolution version is available at http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/~gritschm/Gritschneder_2011_sun.pd

Dynamical Stability and Habitability of Gamma Cephei Binary-Planetary System

It has been suggested that the long-lived residual radial velocity variations observed in the precision radial velocity measurements of the primary of Gamma Cephei (HR8974, HD222404, HIP116727) are likely due to a Jupiter-like planet around this star (Hatzes et al, 2003). In this paper, the orbital dynamics of this plant is studied and also the possibility of the existence of a hypothetical Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its central star is discussed. Simulations, which have been carried out for different values of the eccentricity and semimajor axis of the binary, as well as the orbital inclination of its Jupiter-like planet, expand on previous studies of this system and indicate that, for the values of the binary eccentricity smaller than 0.5, and for all values of the orbital inclination of the Jupiter-like planet ranging from 0 to 40 degrees, the orbit of this planet is stable. For larger values of the binary eccentricity, the system becomes gradually unstable. Integrations also indicate that, within this range of orbital parameters, a hypothetical Earth-like planet can have a long-term stable orbit only at distances of 0.3 to 0.8 AU from the primary star. The habitable zone of the primary, at a range of approximately 3.1 to 3.8 AU, is, however, unstable.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, submitted for publicatio

Spurious harmonic response of multipulse quantum sensing sequences

Multipulse sequences based on Carr-Purcell decoupling are frequently used for narrow-band signal detection in single spin magnetometry. We have analyzed the behavior of multipulse sensing sequences under real-world conditions, including finite pulse durations and the presence of detunings. We find that these non-idealities introduce harmonics to the filter function, allowing additional frequencies to pass the filter. In particular, we find that the XY family of sequences can generate signals at the 2fac, 4fac and 8fac harmonics and their odd subharmonics, where fac is the ac signal frequency. Consideration of the harmonic response is especially important for diamond-based nuclear spin sensing where the NMR frequency is used to identify the nuclear spin species, as it leads to ambiguities when several isotopes are present.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure