L’adaptation française du P.P.R.F., un outil identifiant les facteurs de personnalité susceptibles de prédire la performance au travail

L’étude concerne l’adaptation française d’un nouveau questionnaire d’analyse de poste, le P.P.R.F. (Personality-Related Position Requirements Form), destiné à identifier les facteurs de personnalité susceptibles de prédire de la performance à un poste de travail. Le P.P.R.F. a été élaboré par Raymark, Schmit et Guion (1997) dans le cadre théorique de la personnalité des Cinq Grands Facteurs (Big Five). Il est étudié sur un poste d’aide-soignant afin d’identifier les facteurs de personnalité considérés comme importants pour ce poste. Les résultats montrent que l’accommodement, la conscience et la stabilité émotionnelle sont des facteurs de personnalité importants par rapport au métier. L’outil P.P.R.F. montre de bonnes fidélités inter-évaluateurs (alpha de Cronbach), ainsi que de bons indices d’accord inter-évaluateurs (r*WG(J)de Lindell). Il apparaît qu’il est un outil intéressant pour une application dans le monde professionnel ainsi que pour élaborer des hypothèses concernant l’étude de la validité prédictive de la personnalité au poste de travail.The study describes the French adaptation of the P.P.R.F. (Personality-Related Position Requirements Form), a job analysis form to be used in making hypotheses about personality factors predictive of job performance. Raymark, Schmit and Guion (1997) developed the P.P.R.F. using the framework of the The Big Five personality factors. The study was conducted on a nurse’s aide (U.S.) or a nursing auxiliary (G.B.) job profile to identify the personality factors which are important for the job. Results show adaptation, conscientiousness, and emotionnal stability to be important for job performance. Additional results show good inter-rater reliabilities for the P.P.R.F. (alpha de Cronbach), and good inter-rater agreement (Lindell’s r*WG(J)) indexes. The P.P.R.F. appears to be useful for assisting practitioners and also for developing hypotheses about the predictive validity of personality at work.Relearning to learn in order to succeed in higher educatio

Éditorial

Cette livraison des Cahiers de l’Urmis rassemble des contributions présentées aux Journées d’études sur la discrimination organisées conjointement par l’unité de recherche Migrations et société (Urmis-Soliis) et le Laboratoire de psychologie expérimentale et quantitative (LPEQ) en mai et décembre 2005 à la Maison des sciences de l’homme (MSH) de Nice dans le cadre du programme « L’étranger dans la cité ». Si le thème de la discrimination a été retenu pour la séance inaugurale de ce programme,..

Gluons, tadpoles, and color neutrality in a two-flavor color superconductor

Considering cold, dense quark matter with two massless quark flavors, we demonstrate how, in a self-consistent calculation in the framework of QCD, the condensation of Cooper pairs induces a non-vanishing background color field. This background color field has precisely the right magnitude to cancel tadpole contributions and thus ensures overall color neutrality of the two-flavor color superconductor.Comment: 10 pages, contribution to the proceedings of the Erice school "Heavy-Ion Collisions from Nuclear to Quark Matter" 200

The oil-dispersion bath in anthroposophic medicine – an integrative review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anthroposophic medicine offers a variety of treatments, among others the oil-dispersion bath, developed in the 1930s by Werner Junge. Based on the phenomenon that oil and water do not mix and on recommendations of Rudolf Steiner, Junge developed a vortex mechanism which churns water and essential oils into a fine mist. The oil-covered droplets empty into a tub, where the patient immerses for 15–30 minutes. We review the current literature on oil-dispersion baths.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The following databases were searched: Medline, Pubmed, Embase, AMED and CAMbase. The search terms were 'oil-dispersion bath' and 'oil bath', and their translations in German and French. An Internet search was also performed using Google Scholar, adding the search terms 'study' and 'case report' to the search terms above. Finally, we asked several experts for gray literature not listed in the above-mentioned databases. We included only articles which met the criterion of a clinical study or case report, and excluded theoretical contributions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among several articles found in books, journals and other publications, we identified 1 prospective clinical study, 3 experimental studies (enrolling healthy individuals), 5 case reports, and 3 field-reports. In almost all cases, the studies described beneficial effects – although the methodological quality of most studies was weak. Main indications were internal/metabolic diseases and psychiatric/neurological disorders.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Beyond the obvious beneficial effects of warm bathes on the subjective well-being, it remains to be clarified what the unique contribution of the distinct essential oils dispersed in the water can be. There is a lack of clinical studies exploring the efficacy of oil-dispersion baths. Such studies are recommended for the future.</p

Effect of color superconductivity on the mass and radius of a quark star

We compare quark stars made of color-superconducting quark matter to normal-conducting quark stars. We focus on the most simple color-superconducting system, a two-flavor color superconductor, and employ the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model to compute the gap parameter and the equation of state. By varying the strength of the four-fermion coupling of the NJL model, we study the mass and the radius of the quark star as a function of the value of the gap parameter. If the coupling constant exceeds a critical value, the gap parameter does not vanish even at zero density. For coupling constants below this critical value, mass and radius of a color-superconducting quark star change at most by ca. 20% compared to a star consisting of normal-conducting quark matter. For coupling constants above the critical value mass and radius may change by factors of two or more.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

The Subsystems Approach to Genome Annotation and its Use in the Project to Annotate 1000 Genomes

The release of the 1000(th) complete microbial genome will occur in the next two to three years. In anticipation of this milestone, the Fellowship for Interpretation of Genomes (FIG) launched the Project to Annotate 1000 Genomes. The project is built around the principle that the key to improved accuracy in high-throughput annotation technology is to have experts annotate single subsystems over the complete collection of genomes, rather than having an annotation expert attempt to annotate all of the genes in a single genome. Using the subsystems approach, all of the genes implementing the subsystem are analyzed by an expert in that subsystem. An annotation environment was created where populated subsystems are curated and projected to new genomes. A portable notion of a populated subsystem was defined, and tools developed for exchanging and curating these objects. Tools were also developed to resolve conflicts between populated subsystems. The SEED is the first annotation environment that supports this model of annotation. Here, we describe the subsystem approach, and offer the first release of our growing library of populated subsystems. The initial release of data includes 180 177 distinct proteins with 2133 distinct functional roles. This data comes from 173 subsystems and 383 different organisms

International Perspectives on the Legal Environment for Selection

Perspectives from 22 countries on aspects of the legal environment for selection are presented in this article. Issues addressed include (a) whether there are racial/ethnic/religious subgroups viewed as "disadvantaged,” (b) whether research documents mean differences between groups on individual difference measures relevant to job performance, (c) whether there are laws prohibiting discrimination against specific groups, (d) the evidence required to make and refute a claim of discrimination, (e) the consequences of violation of the laws, (f) whether particular selection methods are limited or banned, (g) whether preferential treatment of members of disadvantaged groups is permitted, and (h) whether the practice of industrial and organizational psychology has been affected by the legal environmen

Rapid and mobile determination of alcoholic strength in wine, beer and spirits using a flow-through infrared sensor

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ever since Gay-Lussac's time, the alcoholic strength by volume (% vol) has been determined by using densimetric measurements. The typical reference procedure involves distillation followed by pycnometry, which is comparably labour-intensive and therefore expensive. At present, infrared (IR) spectroscopy in combination with multivariate regression is widely applied as a screening procedure, which allows one to determine alcoholic strength in less than 2 min without any sample preparation. The disadvantage is the relatively large investment for Fourier transform (FT) IR or near-IR instruments, and the need for matrix-dependent calibration. In this study, we apply a much simpler device consisting of a patented multiple-beam infrared sensor in combination with a flow-through cell for automated alcohol analysis, which is available in a portable version that allows for on-site measurements.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During method validation, the precision of the infrared sensor was found to be equal to or better than densimetric or FTIR methods. For example, the average repeatability, as determined in 6 different wine samples, was 0.05% vol and the relative standard deviation was below 0.2%. Accuracy was ensured by analyzing 260 different alcoholic beverages in comparison to densimetric or FTIR results. The correlation was linear over the entire range from alcohol-free beers up to high-proof spirits, and the results were in substantial agreement (R = 0.99981, p < 0.0001, RMSE = 0.279% vol). The applicability of the device was further proven for the analysis of wines during fermentation, and for the determination of unrecorded alcohol (i.e. non-commercial or illicit products).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The flow-through infrared device is much easier to handle than typical reference procedures, while time-consuming sample preparation steps such as distillation are not necessary. Therefore, the alcoholic strength can be economically and quickly controlled (requiring less than 60 s per sample). The device also gives the opportunity for mobile on-site control in the context of labelling control of wine, beer and spirits, the process monitoring of fermentations, or the evaluation of unrecorded alcohols.</p

Empirical research on Waldorf education

Waldorf education began in 1919 with the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart and nowadays is widespread in many countries all over the world. Empirical research, however, has been rare until the early nineties and Waldorf education has not been discussed within educational science so far. This has changed during the last decades. This article reviews the results of surveys during the last 20 years and is mainly focused on German Waldorf Schools, because most investigations have been done in this field. Findings are reported with respect to the following central aspects of Waldorf education: the holistic and integrative approach, the self-governance in the organization of the Waldorf schools, the Waldorf curriculum, and the principle of class teachers from 1st to 8th grade. Furthermore, Waldorf education also provides its own unique teacher training. All of these aspects have been explored and evaluated from different points of view and with different methods. The results show strengths as well as weaknesses of Waldorf education in the daily practice in schools, which indicates the kinds of challenges Waldorf education will have to face in the upcoming decades. The authors themselves have contributed in several investigations to the field of Waldorf education