Sofia Observatory Performance and Characterization

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has recently concluded a set of engineering flights for Observatory performance evaluation. These in-flight opportunities have been viewed as a first comprehensive assessment of the Observatory's performance and will be used to address the development activity that is planned for 2012, as well as to identify additional Observatory upgrades. A series of 8 SOFIA Characterization And Integration (SCAI) flights have been conducted from June to December 2011. The HIPO science instrument in conjunction with the DSI Super Fast Diagnostic Camera (SFDC) have been used to evaluate pointing stability, including the image motion due to rigid-body and flexible-body telescope modes as well as possible aero-optical image motion. We report on recent improvements in pointing stability by using an Active Mass Damper system installed on Telescope Assembly. Measurements and characterization of the shear layer and cavity seeing, as well as image quality evaluation as a function of wavelength have been performed using the HIPO+FLITECAM Science Instrument configuration (FLIPO). A number of additional tests and measurements have targeted basic Observatory capabilities and requirements including, but not limited to, pointing accuracy, chopper evaluation and imager sensitivity. SCAI activities included in-flight partial Science Instrument commissioning prior to the use of the instruments as measuring engines. This paper reports on the data collected during the SCAI flights and presents current SOFIA Observatory performance and characterization

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Human Resource Management in a Public-Sector Context

Human resource management (HRM) scholars studying HRM in a public-sector context hold that the public-sector context is distinctive despite decades of reforms oriented on private-sector management principles. Distinctive characteristics include (1) the multiple goals that public organizations serve, making vertical alignment of HRM difficult; (2) the constraints on managerial autonomy resulting from red tape and trade union involvement; and (3) employees’ public service motivation, which is antithetical to performance management. However, there is a lack of evidence on public- versus private-sector differences in the human resource practices that are actually applied. Using Cranet 2014/15 survey, this chapter examines whether public-sector institutional characteristics affect the application of human resource practices as theoretically expected. The results show that, compared to the late 1990s, HRM in public organizations continues to differ in some respects from HRM in private-sector organizations, but not in other respects. The traditional belief that public-sector HRM is not outright aimed at efficiency and effectiveness still holds. The public service ethic and the resilience of collectivized industrial relations likely contribute to this. However, the traditional public-sector HRM orientation on employee well-being is less distinctive, which will likely affect the position of public organizations in the labor market

Human Resource Management in a Public-Sector Context

Human resource management (HRM) scholars studying HRM in a public-sector context hold that the public-sector context is distinctive despite decades of reforms oriented on private-sector management principles. Distinctive characteristics include (1) the multiple goals that public organizations serve, making vertical alignment of HRM difficult; (2) the constraints on managerial autonomy resulting from red tape and trade union involvement; and (3) employees’ public service motivation, which is antithetical to performance management. However, there is a lack of evidence on public- versus private-sector differences in the human resource practices that are actually applied. Using Cranet 2014/15 survey, this chapter examines whether public-sector institutional characteristics affect the application of human resource practices as theoretically expected. The results show that, compared to the late 1990s, HRM in public organizations continues to differ in some respects from HRM in private-sector organizations, but not in other respects. The traditional belief that public-sector HRM is not outright aimed at efficiency and effectiveness still holds. The public service ethic and the resilience of collectivized industrial relations likely contribute to this. However, the traditional public-sector HRM orientation on employee well-being is less distinctive, which will likely affect the position of public organizations in the labor market

Identification of highly-protective combinations of Plasmodium vivax recombinant proteins for vaccine development

International audienceThe study of antigenic targets of naturally-acquired immunity is essential to identify and prioritize antigens for further functional characterization. We measured total IgG antibodies to 38 P. vivax antigens, investigating their relationship with prospective risk of malaria in a cohort of 1–3 years old Papua New Guinean children. Using simulated annealing algorithms, the potential protective efficacy of antibodies to multiple antigen-combinations, and the antibody thresholds associated with protection were investigated for the first time. High antibody levels to multiple known and newly identified proteins were strongly associated with protection (IRR 0.44–0.74, p90%), EBP, DBPII, RBP1a, CyRPA, and PVX_081550 were most frequently identified; several of them requiring very low antibody levels to show a protective association. These data identify individual antigens that should be prioritized for further functional testing and establish a clear path to testing a multicomponent P. vivax vaccine