Ranking workplace competencies: Student and graduate perceptions

Students and graduates from a variety of business studies programs at a New Zealand tertiary institution completed a questionnaire in which they ranked the relative importance of a list of 24 competencies for graduates entering the workforce using a 7-point Likert scale. These competencies were identified from literature reports of the characteristics of superior performers in the workplace. The results show a close similarity between students and graduates’ ranking of competencies with computer literacy, customer service orientation, teamwork and co-operation, self-confidence, and willingness to learn ranked most important. There was little difference between the two groups in their rankings of cognitive or ‘hard’ skills and behavioral or ‘soft’ skills. However, the graduates placed greater importance on most of the competencies, resulting in a statistically significant difference between the graduates and students’ ranking of both hard and soft skills. The findings from this study suggest that cooperative education programs may help develop business students’ awareness of the importance of graduate competencies in the workplace

Next Generation Nuclear Plant GAP Analysis Report

As a follow-up to the phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) studies conducted recently by NRC on next generation nuclear plant (NGNP) safety, a study was conducted to identify the significant 'gaps' between what is needed and what is already available to adequately assess NGNP safety characteristics. The PIRT studies focused on identifying important phenomena affecting NGNP plant behavior, while the gap study gives more attention to off-normal behavior, uncertainties, and event probabilities under both normal operation and postulated accident conditions. Hence, this process also involved incorporating more detailed evaluations of accident sequences and risk assessments. This study considers thermal-fluid and neutronic behavior under both normal and postulated accident conditions, fission product transport (FPT), high-temperature metals, and graphite behavior and their effects on safety. In addition, safety issues related to coupling process heat (hydrogen production) systems to the reactor are addressed, given the limited design information currently available. Recommendations for further study, including analytical methods development and experimental needs, are presented as appropriate in each of these areas

Matching intrepreneurs, culture and HR practices in entrepreneurial organisations: a key to building intrepreneurial human capital

There much been much research into the characteristics of entrepreneurs and the commonality of the findings suggests these people are definitely different from the general population. There are many instruments for measuring the entrepreneurial profile or tendencies of individuals. This paper will examine the characteristics of students enrolled in a post graduate qualification in innovation and entrepreneurship using Team Management Profile Quotient (TMPQ) developed by Margersion and McCann. While many entrepreneurs establish new firms in order to commercialise an idea or innovation, there are those who conduct the entrepreneurial process within an existing organisation, and often called intrapreneurs. Such individuals are likely to thrive in some organisations, but not in others. The entrepreneurial human capital in a firm is better likely to be developed when the intrapreneur operates within an organisational culture that is supportive of his/her entrepreneurial aspirations and where the cultural characteristics bear some similarity to the profile of the individual themselves. Culture tacitly guides the thinking, feelings perceptions and behaviours of many organisational members in similar ways. Organisational culture has long been reported as being a critical factor in promoting innovation within organisations, a prerequisite to supporting an entrepreneurial economy. High levels of innovation are often associated with a change promoting culture. Three cultural typologies will be explored that enable a firm to be profiled in a manner that highlights characteristics associated with innovative behaviour of entrepreneurs. Organisations with an established entrepreneurial orientation are likely to have HR policies and practices that support innovative and entrepreneurial activity and in particular enhancing the performance of the entrepreneurs themselves

Cultural perceptions of western project managers operating in the Asian region comparisons of self and Asian project team

Western project managers frequently manage projects in Asia, which also requires them to supervise a host country project team. Successful projects require the project manager to have an understanding of the implications of any cultural differences between themselves and members of the project team in order to minimise dysfunctional work activities. This study in a single international organisation assesses the perceptions that Western project managers have about themselves and their teams concerning various cultural dimensions. The results suggest these project managers are aware of cultural differences that coincide with cultural challenges faced in their role being primarily concerned with the cultural dimensions of power, thinking, time and emotion

Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination I: Identification of tracks in aerogel

Here, we report the identification of 69 tracks in approximately 250 cm2 of aerogel collectors of the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector. We identified these tracks through Stardust@home, a distributed internet-based virtual microscope and search engine, in which > 30,000 amateur scientists collectively performed >9 × 107 searches on approximately 106 fields of view. Using calibration images, we measured individual detection efficiency, and found that the individual detection efficiency for tracks > 2.5 ?m in diameter was >0.6, and was >0.75 for tracks >3 ?m in diameter. Because most fields of view were searched >30 times, these results could be combined to yield a theoretical detection efficiency near unity. The initial expectation was that interstellar dust would be captured at very high speed. The actual tracks discovered in the Stardust collector, however, were due to low-speed impacts, and were morphologically strongly distinct from the calibration images. As a result, the detection efficiency of these tracks was lower than detection efficiency of calibrations presented in training, testing, and ongoing calibration. Nevertheless, as calibration images based on low-speed impacts were added later in the project, detection efficiencies for low-speed tracks rose dramatically. We conclude that a massively distributed, calibrated search, with amateur collaborators, is an effective approach to the challenging problem of identification of tracks of hypervelocity projectiles captured in aerogel