“Brick & Mortar” Education and “Real World” Experience: Assessing HRM Alumni Perceptions of their Early Professional Development

In this research we examined the extent to which three distinct human resource management (HRM) undergraduate programs provide coverage of the 13 core content areas specified by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and explored the usefulness of various ways of learning including their undergraduate coursework, an internship, and previous work experience as related to early professional development. Based on perceptions of HRM alumni, the findings reveal that the three curricula provided significant differences in levels of proficiency in seven of the core areas and in perceived usefulness of the learning methods. Implications for HRM curriculum development and students’ professional development are discussed

The Impact of Passing the Professional in Human Resources Exam on Early Career Success for Undergraduates Entering the Human Resource Field

This study investigates the impact of passing the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification exam on the early career success of recent college graduates. Data were gathered from alumni of three Midwestern universities who earned an undergraduate degree in business administration (i.e., BBA) with a major in human resources. The survey was designed to measure early career success indicators including finding a job in the HR field, starting salary, and number of promotions. Results reveal that the probability of one’s first job after graduation being in human resources was significantly greater for those who had passed the PHR exam compared with those who did not pass or did not take the exam. Passing the PHR exam was not associated with significant differences in starting salary or early career promotions. Implications, study strengths and limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed

Contrasted morphologies of the Western and Eastern Piedmonts of the Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia

The Mt Lofty Ranges is a horst that evolved in two stages. The western margin developed as part of the South Australian Shatter Belt during the separation of Australia and Antarctica. Gulf St Vincent formed at this time. Though recurrently active the upland dates essentially from the Early Eocene with major uplift in the later Cenozoic. By contrast, the eastern faulted margin postdates the Middle Miocene. Also, whereas the western piedmont and upland were affected by Late Cenozoic sea level changes and all that those imply for river behaviour, the eastern sector was buttressed against such fluctuations by the massive Miocene limestone deposited in the Murray Basin immediately to the east. Consequently, the western piedmont is dominated by alluvial fans, but the eastern is complex, with well-developed scarp-foot depressions, exhumed landforms, and dunefields in some sectors.La cadena montañosa del Monte Lofty es un horst que se originó en dos etapas. Su margen oeste se desarrolló como parte del “Shatter Belt” de Australiadel Sur durante la separación de Australia y la Antártida. El golfo de San Vicente se originó en esa época. Aunque recurrentes en el tiempo, los levantamientos tectónicos se inician esencialmente al inicio del Eoceno y con el mayor ascenso al final del Cenozoico. Por el contrario, el margen fallado del este es al final el Mioceno Medio. Por otra parte, mientras el piedemonte y las zonas levantadas del oeste se vieron afectadas por los cambios del nivel del mar durante el Cenozoico tardío, y lo que ello implicó en el comportamiento de los ríos, el sector este fue protegido de esos cambios por la gran masa de calizas del Mioceno que rellenan la cuenca Murray, inmediatamente al este. Por tanto, el piedemonte oeste está dominado por abanicos aluviales mientras que el del este es complejo, con depresiones de pie de escarpe bien desarrolladas, formas exhumadas y campos de dunas en algunos sectores

Paradigms for On-Line Learning: A Case Study in the Design and Implementation of an Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) Course

This paper examines paradigms used in on-line learning, with a specific emphasis on how to effectively employ asynchronous learning networks for delivery of on-line courses. Recent progress in ALNs is presented, methodologies for getting started in creating an ALN course given, and relationships between traditional teaching and learning methods and ALN-based courses discussed. To illustrate a specific ALN model, the paper presents a case study about the creation of an on-line course. The prospects for on-line education and the challenges that face the ALN field are considered

Nanoconnectomic upper bound on the variability of synaptic plasticity

Information in a computer is quantified by the number of bits that can be stored and recovered. An important question about the brain is how much information can be stored at a synapse through synaptic plasticity, which depends on the history of probabilistic synaptic activity. The strong correlation between size and efficacy of a synapse allowed us to estimate the variability of synaptic plasticity. In an EM reconstruction of hippocampal neuropil we found single axons making two or more synaptic contacts onto the same dendrites, having shared histories of presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. The spine heads and neck diameters, but not neck lengths, of these pairs were nearly identical in size. We found that there is a minimum of 26 distinguishable synaptic strengths, corresponding to storing 4.7 bits of information at each synapse. Because of stochastic variability of synaptic activation the observed precision requires averaging activity over several minutes

The ATHENA COVID-19 Study: Cohort profile and first findings for people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Queensland, 1 January to 31 December 2020

Background : To date, there are limited Australian data on characteristics of people diagnosed with COVID-19 and on how these characteristics relate to outcomes. The ATHENA COVID-19 Study was established to describe health outcomes and investigate predictors of outcomes for all people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Queensland by linking COVID-19 notification, hospital, general practice and death registry data. This paper reports on the establishment and first findings for the ATHENA COVID-19 Study. Methods : Part 1 of the ATHENA COVID-19 Study used Notifiable Conditions System data from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020, linked to: Emergency Department Collection data for the same period; Queensland Health Admitted Patient Data Collections (from 1 January 2010 to 30 January 2021); and Deaths Registrations data (from 1 January 2020 to 17 January 2021). Results : To 31 December 2020, a total of 1,254 people had been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Queensland: half were female (49.8%); two-thirds (67.7%) were aged 20–59 years; and there was an over-representation of people living in less-disadvantaged areas. More than half of people diagnosed (57.6%) presented to an emergency department (ED); 21.2% were admitted to hospital as an inpatient (median length of stay 11 days); 1.4% were admitted to an intensive care unit (82.4% of these required ventilation); and there were six deaths. Analysis of factors associated with these outcomes was limited due to small case numbers: people living in less-disadvantaged areas had a lower risk of being admitted to hospital (test for trend, p < 0.001), while those living in more remote areas were less likely than people living in major cities to present to an ED (test for trend: p=0.007), which may reflect differential health care access rather than health outcomes per se. Increasing age (test for trend, p < 0.001) and being a current/recent smoker (age-sex-adjusted relative risk: 1.61; 95% confidence interval: 1.00, 2.61) were associated with a higher risk of being admitted to hospital. Conclusion : Despite uncertainty in our estimates due to small numbers, our findings are consistent with what is known about COVID-19. Our findings reinforce the value of linking multiple data sources to enhance reporting of outcomes for people diagnosed with COVID-19 and provide a platform for longer term follow-up.This project was funded by Health Innovation, Investment and Research Office (HIIRO), Queensland Healt

Rapid Adaptive Responses to Climate Change in Corals

Pivotal to projecting the fate of coral reefs is the capacity of reef-building corals to acclimatize and adapt to climate change. Transgenerational plasticity may enable some marine organisms to acclimatize over several generations and it has been hypothesized that epigenetic processes and microbial associations might facilitate adaptive responses. However, current evidence is equivocal and understanding of the underlying processes is limited. Here, we discuss prospects for observing transgenerational plasticity in corals and the mechanisms that could enable adaptive plasticity in the coral holobiont, including the potential role of epigenetics and coral-associated microbes. Well-designed and strictly controlled experiments are needed to distinguish transgenerational plasticity from other forms of plasticity, and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and their relative importance compared with genetic adaptation