The Death and Burial Practices of the Berawan

This research paper is about the small tribe of Berawan people, a subgroup of Kenyah, of Borneo, Indonesia. The Berawans live in an egalitarian and agricultural society in the rainforest very similar to the tribes they are derived from. These people have a distinct way of treating their dead that generations of people around the world have been intrigued by. Their treatment of the dead consists of secondary treatment or secondary burial of the body where the body is first placed in a clay jar on the corner of their slash-and-burn gardens to decompose into the earth; the second part of the burial occurs when the bones are dry and put into a decorative box/coffin for permanent burial with the ancestors. This poster will go over the death and burial practices and rituals of the Berawan people and briefly compare them to those of neighboring tribes.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1082/thumbnail.jp

Examining the Relationship of Emotional Intelligence, Trust, and Performance in Self- Directed, Professional Teams in a U.S. Private Wealth Services Work Environment

This dissertation examines the relationship of team emotional intelligence, intra-team trust, and team performance in self-directed, professional teams in a Private Wealth Services work environment. Teams represented four of the institution’s geographic divisions, with twenty-nine professional advisors who reported to thirteen supervisors. A conceptual model linking team emotional intelligence-individual resource, intra-team trust, and team emotional intelligence-synergy to team performance is presented. The model depicts a novel way of thinking about the team emotional intelligence relationship to team performance. The findings offer leaders the opportunity to design targeted interventions with a goal of improving team performance

Webometrics Ranking and Its Relationship to Quality Education and Research inAcademic Institutions in Kenya

Examine the relationship between webometrics ranking and the quality of education and research in academic institutions in Kenya; and suggest appropriate solutions to enhance the practice. Descriptive survey design applied quantitative and qualitative research where structured questionnaire and document reviews were used to collect data from the respondents. Webometrics ranking promotes quality of education and research in academic institutions through visibility that showcases research activities and enriches knowledge. Collaboration and partnerships was the leading strategy for high webometrics ranking practice and performance in academic institutions. Numerous strategies were recommended for maintaining and improving webometrics ranking performance including use of web champions, marketing and awareness. Practice of webometrics ranking as a basis for evaluating performance in institutions of higher learning and education is gaining momentum worldwide. Excellence performance based on webometrics matrix provides practical lessons, suggestions and local solutions for other institutions of higher learning. Webometrics ranking promotes quality research and education in institutions of higher learning; provides public information on academic standing and performance; fosters competition in academic institutions; provides evidence that stimulates the evolution of centres of excellence; and enhances additional rationale for allocation of funds. Practice supports teaching, research related activities and scholarly communications that promotes the need for development of standards and policies in higher education and learning. Fundamental in fostering competition and promoting quality education and research through enrichment of knowledge and content repositories. Strategies for sustainable webometrics ranking performance need to be stipulated in achieving excellence performance in higher education and learning

Survey of Approaches to Disposing of Surplus Corporate Real Estate

The purpose of this research was to test two hypotheses: 1. firms ignore profitable opportunities in disposing of surplus property because they do not believe they are in the real estate business; 2. Firms treat surplus property as they would any new product and develop a marketing strategy to yield the greatest return. Half of the corporate real estate executives surveyed responded in a manner consistent with hypothesis 1; half responded in a manner consistent with hypothesis 2. The biases in the survey favor hypothesis 2, implying that a majority of corporations behave consistently with hypothesis 1.

Evaluation of MODIS and VIIRS Cloud-Gap-Filled Snow-Cover Products for Production of an Earth Science Data Record

MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cryosphere products have been available since 2000 following the 1999 launch of the Terra MODIS and the 2002 launch of the Aqua MODIS and include global snow-cover extent (SCE) (swath, daily, and 8 d composites) at 500 m and 5 km spatial resolutions. These products are used extensively in hydrological modeling and climate studies. Reprocessing of the complete snow-cover data record, from Collection 5 (C5) to Collection 6 (C6) and Collection 6.1 (C6.1), has provided improvements in the MODIS product suite. Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Collection 1 (C1) snow-cover products at a 375 m spatial resolution have been available since 2011 and are currently being reprocessed for Collection 2 (C2). Both the MODIS C6.1 and the VIIRS C2 products will be available for download from the National Snow and Ice Data Center beginning in early 2020 with the complete time series available in 2020. To address the need for a cloud-reduced or cloud-free daily SCE product for both MODIS and VIIRS, a daily cloud-gap-filled (CGF) snow-cover algorithm was developed for MODIS C6.1 and VIIRS C2 processing. MOD10A1F (Terra) and MYD10A1F (Aqua) are daily, 500 m resolution CGF SCE map products from MODIS. VNP10A1F is the daily, 375 m resolution CGF SCE map product from VIIRS. These CGF products include quality-assurance data such as cloud-persistence statistics showing the age of the observation in each pixel. The objective of this paper is to introduce the new MODIS and VIIRS standard CGF daily SCE products and to provide a preliminary evaluation of uncertainties in the gap-filling methodology so that the products can be used as the basis for a moderate-resolution Earth science data record (ESDR) of SCE. Time series of the MODIS and VIIRS CGF products have been developed and evaluated at selected study sites in the US and southern Canada. Observed differences, although small, are largely attributed to cloud masking and differences in the time of day of image acquisition. A nearly 3-month time-series comparison of Terra MODIS and S-NPP VIIRS CGF snow-cover maps for a large study area covering all or parts of 11 states in the western US and part of southwestern Canada reveals excellent correspondence between the Terra MODIS and S-NPP VIIRS products, with a mean difference of 11 070 sqkm, which is 0.45 % of the study area. According to our preliminary validation of the Terra and Aqua MODIS CGF SCE products in the western US study area, we found higher accuracy of the Terra product compared with the Aqua product. The MODIS CGF SCE data record beginning in 2000 has been extended into the VIIRS era, which should last at least through the early 2030s

An experimental and theoretical study of the aerodynamic characteristics of some generic missile concepts at Mach numbers from 2 to 6.8

A study has been made of the experimental and theoretical aerodynamic characteristics for some generic high-speed missile concepts at Mach numbers from 2 to 6.8. The basic body for this study had a length-to-diameter ratio of 10 with the forward half being a modified blunted ogive and the rear half being a cylinder. Modifications made to the basic body included the addition of an after body flare, the addition of highly swept cruciform wings and the addition of highly swept aft tails. The effects of some controls were also investigated with all-moving wing controls on the flared body and trailing-edge flap controls on the winged body. The results indicated that the addition of a flare, wings, or tails to the basic body all provided static longitudinal stability with varying amounts of increased axial force. The control arrangements were effective in producing increments of normal-force and pitching-moment at the lower Mach numbers. At the highest Mach number, the flap control on the winged body was ineffective in producing normal-force or pitching-moment but the all-moving wing control on the flared body, while losing pitch effectiveness, still provided normal-force increments. Calculated results obtained through the use of hypersonic impact theory were in generally good agreement with experiment at the higher Mach numbers but were not accurate at the lower Mach numbers