Human Resource Information Systems for Competitive Advantage: Interviews with Ten Leaders

[Excerpt] Increasingly, today\u27s organizations use computer technology to manage human resources (HR). Surveys confirm this trend (Richards-Carpenter, 1989; Grossman and Magnus, 1988; Human Resource Systems Professionals 1988; KPMGPeat Marwick, 1988). HR professionals and managers routinely have Personnel Computers (PCs) or computer terminals on their desks or in their departments. HR computer applications, once confined to payroll and benefit domains, now encompass incentive compensation, staffing, succession planning, and training. Five years ago, we had but a handful of PC-based software applications for HR management. Today, we find a burgeoning market of products spanning a broad spectrum of price, sophistication, and quality (Personnel Journal, 1990). Top universities now consider computer literacy a basic requirement for students of HR, and many consulting firms and universities offer classes designed to help seasoned HR professionals use computers in their work (Boudreau, 1990). Changes in computer technology offer expanding potential for HR management (Business Week, 1990; Laudon and Laudon, 1988)

Human Resource Automation for Competitive Advantage: Case Studies of Ten Leaders

[Excerpt] This report describes findings from a study that we view as a first step in a long term research program conducted by the CAHRS to address sponsor concerns. One of this program\u27s objectives is to identify organization dimensions that predict the success or failure of computer systems in HR. A Second objective is to specify a model that will increase value-added decisions about HR computer system investments and guide the planning and implementation of HR technology strategies

Solid state television camera system Patent

Solid state television camera system consisting of monolithic semiconductor mosaic sensor and molecular digital readout system

Carrier-Induced Magnetic Circular Dichloism in the Magnetoresistive Pyrochlore Tl2Mn2O7

Infrared magnetic circular dichloism (MCD), or equivalently magneto-optical Kerr effect, has been measured on the Tl2Mn2O7 pyrochlore, which is well known for exhibiting a large magnetoresistance around the Curie temperature T_C ~ 120 K. A circularly polarized, infrared synchrotron radiation is used as the light source. A pronounced MCD signal is observed exactly at the plasma edge of the reflectivity near and below T_c. However, contrary to the conventional behavior of MCD for ferromagnets, the observed MCD of Tl2Mn2O7 grows with the applied magnetic field, and not scaled with the internal magnetization. It is shown that these results can be basically understood in terms of a classical magnetoplasma resonance. The absence of a magnetization-scaled MCD indicates a weak spin-orbit coupling of the carriers in Tl2Mn2O7. We discuss the present results in terms of the microscopic electronic structures of Tl2Mn2O7.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Non-Insertive Acupuncture and Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome: A Case Series from an Inner City Safety Net Hospital

OBJECTIVE: We report on the safety of non-insertive acupuncture (NIA) in 54 newborns diagnosed with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) in a busy inner city hospital. METHODS: For this case series, a retrospective chart review was conducted. Data on participant demographics, number of NIA treatments, provider referrals, and outcomes of interest (sleeping, feeding, and adverse events) were collected. RESULTS: Of the 54 newborns receiving NIA, 86% were non-Hispanic White; 87% were on Medicaid, and gestational age ranged from 33.2 to 42.1 weeks. Out of 54 chart reviews, a total of 92 NIA sessions were documented ranging from 1 to 6 sessions per infant. Of the total number of treatments (n = 92), 73% were requested by a physician. Chart reviews reported restless infants calmed down during NIA, babies slept through or fell asleep immediately following NIA, and better feeding was noted following NIA. There were no adverse events noted in the medical records. CONCLUSIONS: This retrospective chart review shows potential for the use of NIA as an adjunctive treatment in newborns with NAS symptoms during hospitalization. More research is necessary to study whether the incorporation of NIA can result in positive outcomes in newborns withdrawing from narcotics

Can accretion disk properties distinguish gravastars from black holes?

Gravastars, hypothetic astrophysical objects, consisting of a dark energy condensate surrounded by a strongly correlated thin shell of anisotropic matter, have been proposed as an alternative to the standard black hole picture of general relativity. Observationally distinguishing between astrophysical black holes and gravastars is a major challenge for this latter theoretical model. In the context of stationary and axially symmetrical geometries, a possibility of distinguishing gravastars from black holes is through the comparative study of thin accretion disks around rotating gravastars and Kerr-type black holes, respectively. In the present paper, we consider accretion disks around slowly rotating gravastars, with all the metric tensor components estimated up to the second order in the angular velocity. Due to the differences in the exterior geometry, the thermodynamic and electromagnetic properties of the disks (energy flux, temperature distribution and equilibrium radiation spectrum) are different for these two classes of compact objects, consequently giving clear observational signatures. In addition to this, it is also shown that the conversion efficiency of the accreting mass into radiation is always smaller than the conversion efficiency for black holes, i.e., gravastars provide a less efficient mechanism for converting mass to radiation than black holes. Thus, these observational signatures provide the possibility of clearly distinguishing rotating gravastars from Kerr-type black holes.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. V2: 14 pages, significant discussion and references added, to appear in Class.Quant.Gra

How to tell a gravastar from a black hole

Gravastars have been recently proposed as potential alternatives to explain the astrophysical phenomenology traditionally associated to black holes, raising the question of whether the two objects can be distinguished at all. Leaving aside the debate about the processes that would lead to the formation of a gravastar and the astronomical evidence in their support, we here address two basic questions: Is a gravastar stable against generic perturbations? If stable, can an observer distinguish it from a black hole of the same mass? To answer these questions we construct a general class of gravastars and determine the conditions they must satisfy in order to exist as equilibrium solutions of the Einstein equations. For such models we perform a systematic stability analysis against axial-perturbations, computing the real and imaginary parts of the eigenfrequencies. Overall, we find that gravastars are stable to axial perturbations, but also that their quasi-normal modes differ from those of a black hole of the same mass and thus can be used to discern, beyond dispute, a gravastar from a black hole.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, minor improvemen

Radiative Models of Sagittarius A* and M87 from Relativistic MHD Simulations

Ongoing millimeter VLBI observations with the Event Horizon Telescope allow unprecedented study of the innermost portion of black hole accretion flows. Interpreting the observations requires relativistic, time-dependent physical modeling. We discuss the comparison of radiative transfer calculations from general relativistic MHD simulations of Sagittarius A* and M87 with current and future mm-VLBI observations. This comparison allows estimates of the viewing geometry and physical conditions of the Sgr A* accretion flow. The viewing geometry for M87 is already constrained from observations of its large-scale jet, but, unlike Sgr A*, there is no consensus for its millimeter emission geometry or electron population. Despite this uncertainty, as long as the emission region is compact, robust predictions for the size of its jet launching region can be made. For both sources, the black hole shadow may be detected with future observations including ALMA and/or the LMT, which would constitute the first direct evidence for a black hole event horizon.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to the proceedings of AHAR 2011: The Central Kiloparse

Radial stability analysis of the continuous pressure gravastar

Radial stability of the continuous pressure gravastar is studied using the conventional Chandrasekhar method. The equation of state for the static gravastar solutions is derived and Einstein equations for small perturbations around the equilibrium are solved as an eigenvalue problem for radial pulsations. Within the model there exist a set of parameters leading to a stable fundamental mode, thus proving radial stability of the continuous pressure gravastar. It is also shown that the central energy density possesses an extremum in rho_c(R) curve which represents a splitting point between stable and unstable gravastar configurations. As such the rho_c(R) curve for the gravastar mimics the famous M(R) curve for a polytrope. Together with the former axial stability calculations this work completes the stability problem of the continuous pressure gravastar.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, References corrected, minor changes wrt v1, matches published versio