9,217 research outputs found
Brood patch and sex-ratio observations indicate breeding provenance and timing in New Zealand storm petrel (Fregetta maoriana)
We used measurements of brood patch and moult status to estimate the breeding phenology of New Zealand Storm-Petrel, using birds caught at sea within the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park near Auckland, New Zealand. Birds caught October–January had completely downy brood patches, whereas birds caught February–April had bare brood patches with an observed male bias in the February sex-ratio, consistent with a female pre-laying exodus typical of petrels and with the existence of an unknown colony in the region. No birds captured exhibited primary moult, which is known to occur in storm-petrels during their non-breeding season. Our data support the conclusion that the New Zealand storm-petrel breeds during January–June in northern New Zealand and that field surveys for the species on offshore islands in this region during this period are warrante
A longitudinal study of self-assessment accuracy
Although studies have examined medical students' ability to self-assess their performance, there are few longitudinal studies that document the stability of self-assessment accuracy over time. This study compares actual and estimated examination performance for three classes during their first 3 years of medical school. Methods  Students assessed their performance on classroom examinations and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) stations. Each self-assessment was then contrasted with their actual performance using idiographic (within-subject) methods to define three measures of self-assessment accuracy: bias (arithmetic differences of actual and estimated scores), deviation (absolute differences of actual and estimated scores), and covariation (correlation of actual and estimated scores). These measures were computed for four intervals over the course of 3 years. Multivariate analyses of variance and correlational analyses were used to evaluate the stability of these measures. Results  Self-assessment accuracy measures were relatively stable over the first 2 years of medical school with a decease occurring in the third year. However, the correlational analyses indicated that the stability of self-assessment accuracy was comparable to the stability of actual performance over this same period. Conclusion  The apparent decline in accuracy in the third year may reflect the transition from familiar classroom-based examinations to the substantially different clinical examination tasks of the third year OSCE. However, the stability of self-assessment accuracy compares favorably with the stability of actual performance over this period. These results suggest that self-assessment accuracy is a relatively stable individual characteristic that may be influenced by task familiarity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75505/1/j.1365-2923.2003.01567.x.pd
Photometric and proper motion study of neglected open cluster NGC 2215
Optical UBVRI photometric measurements using the Faulkes Telescope North were
taken in early 2011 and combined with 2MASS JHK and WISE infrared
photometry as well as UCAC4 proper motion data in order to estimate the main
parameters of the galactic open cluster NGC 2215 of which large uncertainty
exists in the current literature. Fitting a King model we estimate a core
radius of 1.120.04 (0.240.01pc) and a limiting radius of
0.5 (0.940.11pc) for the cluster. The results of isochrone
fits indicates an age of with a distance of
pc, a metallicity of dex and a reddening of
. A proportion of the work in this study was undertaken by
Australian and Canadian upper secondary school students involved in the Space
to Grow astronomy education project, and is the first scientific publication to
have utilized our star cluster photometry curriculum materials.Comment: 10 pages, 9 Figures, 3 Table
Consequences of Discrimination at the Workplace
Nowadays, although work relationships should be based on the principle of equal treatment of employees, diversity at the workplace has led to an increase in employee inequality in treatment. Despite policies to regulate work-related inequalities, it still exists and develops on the basis of personal characteristics such as gender, age, geographical area, religion, sexual orientation or some chronic disease. Workplace inequality can be defined as that distinction in favor of or against a person or thing on grounds that relate to the group, class or category of which the person or work belongs and which is reflected in wage differences between men and womenunfair practices and opportunities for injustice, especially in regard to employment of people of different ethnic origins
Business Value Is not only Dollars - Results from Case Study Research on Agile Software Projects
Business value is a key concept in agile software development. This paper presents results of a case study on how business value and its creation is perceived in the context of agile projects. Our overall conclusion is that the project participants almost never use an explicit and structured approach to guide the value creation throughout the project. Still, the application of agile methods in the studied cases leads to satisfied clients. An interesting result of the study represents the fact that the agile process of many projects differs significantly from what is described in the agile practitioners’ books as best practices. The key implication for research and practice is that we have an incentive to pursue the study of value creation in agile projects and to complement it by providing guidelines for better client’s involvement, as well as by developing structured methods that will enhance the value-creation in a project
Influential factors of aligning Spotify squads in mission-critical and offshore projects – a longitudinal embedded case study
Changing the development process of an organization is one of the toughest and riskiest decisions. This is particularly true if the known experiences and practices of the new considered ways of working are relative and subject to contextual assumptions. Spotify engineering culture is deemed as a new agile software development method which increasingly attracts large-scale organizations. The method relies on several small cross-functional self-organized teams (i.e., squads). The squad autonomy is a key driver in Spotify method, where a squad decides what to do and how to do it. To enable effective squad autonomy, each squad shall be aligned with a mission, strategy, short-term goals and other squads. Since a little known about Spotify method, there is a need to answer the question of: How can organizations work out and maintain the alignment to enable loosely coupled and tightly aligned squads?
In this paper, we identify factors to support the alignment that is actually performed in practice but have never been discussed before in terms of Spotify method. We also present Spotify Tailoring by highlighting the modified and newly introduced processes to the method. Our work is based on a longitudinal embedded case study which was conducted in a real-world large-scale offshore software intensive organization that maintains mission-critical systems. According to the confidentiality agreement by the organization in question, we are not allowed to reveal a detailed description of the features of the explored project
Rotational and Vibrational Dynamics of Interstitial Molecular Hydrogen
The calculation of the hindered roton-phonon energy levels of a hydrogen
molecule in a confining potential with different symmetries is systematized for
the case when the rotational angular momentum is a good quantum number. One
goal of this program is to interpret the energy-resolved neutron time of flight
spectrum previously obtained for HC. This spectrum gives direct
information on the energy level spectrum of H molecules confined to the
octahedral interstitial sites of solid C. We treat this problem of
coupled translational and orientational degrees of freedom a) by construction
of an effective Hamiltonian to describe the splitting of the manifold of states
characterized by a given value of and having a fixed total number of phonon
excitations, b) by numerical solutions of the coupled translation-rotation
problem on a discrete mesh of points in position space, and c) by a group
theoretical symmetry analysis. Results obtained from these three different
approaches are mutually consistent. The results of our calculations explain
several hitherto uninterpreted aspects of the experimental observations, but
show that a truly satisfactory orientational potential for the interaction of
an H molecule with a surrounding array of C atoms has not yet been
developed.Comment: 53 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev B (in press). Phys. Rev.
B (in press
High resolution characterisation of microstructural evolution in RbFeSe crystals on annealing
The superconducting and magnetic properties of phase-separated
AFeSe compounds are known to depend on post-growth heat
treatments and cooling profiles. This paper focusses on the evolution of
microstructure on annealing, and how this influences the superconducting
properties of RbFeSe crystals. We find that the minority phase in
the as-grown crystal has increased unit cell anisotropy (c/a ratio), reduced Rb
content and increased Fe content compared to the matrix. The microstructure is
rather complex, with two-phase mesoscopic plate-shaped features aligned along
{113} habit planes. The minority phase are strongly facetted on the {113}
planes, which we have shown to be driven by minimising the volume strain energy
introduced as a result of the phase transformation. Annealing at 488K results
in coarsening of the mesoscopic plate-shaped features and the formation of a
third distinct phase. The subtle differences in structure and chemistry of the
minority phase(s) in the crystals are thought to be responsible for changes in
the superconducting transition temperature. In addition, scanning photoemission
microscopy has clearly shown that the electronic structure of the minority
phase has a higher occupied density of states of the low binding energy Fe3d
orbitals, characteristic of crystals that exhibit superconductivity. This
demonstrates a clear correlation between the Fe-vacancy-free phase with high
c/a ratio and the electronic structure characteristics of the superconducting
phase.Comment: 6 figures v2 is exactly the same as v1. The typesetting errors in the
abstract have been correcte
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